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Operations
Deployments
US Policy
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Reconstruction Issues
Foreign Reactions
News Reports

Current Operations

• Transcript: President Bush Announces Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended The White House 01 May 2003 -- "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country"
• BUSH IRAQ VOA 01 May 2003 -- President Bush says most of the fighting in Iraq is over and the U-S led coalition there is now beginning the difficult job of rebuilding the country. Mr. Bush gave a nationwide address Thursday from the deck of an aircraft carrier returning from the war in Iraq.
• President Bush Proclaims End to Major Combat Ops in Iraq AFPS 01 May 2003 -- Major combat operations in Iraq are over, and America and her allies have prevailed, President Bush said this evening on the flight deck of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier.

• Tensions Remain Between American Troops, Iraqis in Fallujah AFPS 01 May 2003 -- Tensions remain between U.S. soldiers and Iraqi citizens in Fallujah as violence plagued the city for the third straight day, U.S. Central Command officials reported today.
• Bush To Declare 'End Of Major Combat' In Iraq RFE/L 01 May 2003 -- The White House says that U.S. President George W. Bush will declare tomorrow an end to "the major combat operations" in Iraq.
• BUSH / IRAQ VOA 01 May 2003 -- President Bush will give a nationwide address later today declaring that major combat operations in Iraq are over. The president is aboard an aircraft carrier returning from the war in Iraq.
• Focus yields 98 percent mission-capable rate AFPN 01 May 2003 -- An "extra shot of adrenaline" let aircraft maintainers ensure that nearly every scheduled aircraft was available to fly when needed for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• POL troops fuel massive air campaign AFPN 01 May 2003 -- Equipped with not much more than grit and determination, deployed airmen have dispensed jet fuel at a pace up to nine times faster than their stateside counterparts.
• MARINE CORPS SUPER STALLION HELICOPTER DESTROYED CENTCOM 01 May 2003 -- A CH-53 'Super Stallion' heavy-lift helicopter had an engine fire and was forced to make a precautionary landing at approximately 10:30 a.m. April 30 in the vicinity of An Najaf.
• COALITION FORCES FIRED ON THIS MORNING CENTCOM 01 May 2003 -- Iraqis fired at Coalition forces on two separate incidents early this morning.
• Mission evolves for soldiers in Baghdad Army News 01 May 2003 -- Heavy fighting in and around Baghdad has given way to the occasional 15-second exchange of gunfire between Coalition Forces and the few still loyal to Hussein.
• CH-53 Helicopter Destroyed ARCENT CFLCC 01 May 2003

• Success in Iraq result of lessons learned AFPN 01 May 2003 -- The reason the Air Force performed so well during Operation Iraqi Freedom can be traced back to lessons learned from earlier conflicts, according to the deputy chief of staff for air and space operations at the Pentagon.
• Airpower shaped by Iraqi no-fly zones USAFE 01 May 2003 -- During a media interview on the flightline last year, a reporter asked an F-16 pilot if he'd ever previously been a part of Operation Northern Watch.

Deployments

• USS Mobile Bay Comes Home to Cheers and Appreciation Navy NewStand 30 Apr 2003 -- USS Mobile Bay's (CG 53) record nine-month deployment came to an end April 25.
• Tomcatters Return from War Navy NewStand 30 Apr 2003 -- The "Tomcatters" of Fighter Squadron (VF) 31 will return to Naval Air Station Oceana May 2 following their record-setting deployment aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• Carrier Air Wing 5 Aircraft Return Home Navy NewStand 30 Apr 2003 -- The sound of thunder pierced the air on a cloudless spring day, as four F/A-18 Hornets raced across the blue sky and broke formation.
• Reservists Help Protect a City: Mobile Inshore Undersea Warfare Unit 109 Navy NewStand 30 Apr 2003 -- Modern day military operations are seldom planned or operated without the supporting, volunteer forces of Reservists.

US Policy

• Cheney Declares Iraqi Freedom 'Most Extraordinary Military Campaign' AFPS 01 May 2003 -- Vice President Richard Cheney knows what it takes to launch a war in the Persian Gulf. He did just that in 1991 as the nation's 17th defense secretary.
• Powell Meets with Spanish Foreign Minister Palacio Washington File 01 May 2003 -- Spain was on "the right side of history" when it decided to support the coalition that liberated Iraq and will continue to be as it joins the many other countries coming together "not to fight any longer, but to heal, to rebuild a nation, to help people who are in need," Secretary of State Colin Powell said during a press availability with Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio in Madrid May 1.
• Powell Thanks Spain for Coalition Support Washington File 01 May 2003 -- Secretary of State Colin Powell was in Madrid May 1 to express his appreciation for the strong support that Spain provided to the coalition that liberated Iraq.
• Powell Thanks Spain for Political, Material Support in Iraq AFPS 01 May 2003 -- Secretary of State Colin Powell today thanked one of America's staunchest allies for their support before and during the war in Iraq.
• EDITORIAL: IRAQ'S BEDOUINS EMERGE VOA 01 May 2003 -- With the collapse of Saddam Hussein's dictatorial regime, Iraq's Bedouins are emerging from their desert isolation. Since U.S. forces moved into Iraq, the country's southern Bedouin tribes have started shedding their fear. They are returning with their flocks of sheep and camels to fertile grazing grounds near the Euphrates.
• BUSH / IRAQ VOA 01 May 2003 -- President Bush is headed to America's Pacific coast, where he will deliver a nationally broadcast address on Iraq. He will declare combat is over, but stop short of a formal declaration of victory.
• AFGHAN-IRAQ VOA 01 May 2003 -- U-S Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has declared an end to major combat in Afghanistan and says the emphasis is now on reconstruction. But the situation in Afghanistan is still fraught with physical and political danger -- and has some lessons learned that might be put to use in Iraq.

United Nations

• Senior UN relief officials return to Iraq after six-week absence UN News Centre 01 May 2003 -- The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq led a team of senior UN officials across the border from Jordan into Iraq today to re-establish a permanent presence of international personnel in Baghdad for relief operations for the first time since being withdrawn on the eve of hostilities in March.

Reconstruction Issues

• Various Groups Jockey For Position Ahead Of National Conference RFE/L 01 May 2003 -- In a month's time, the various factions and groups competing to lead the new Iraq will meet to establish a transitional government.
• Iraq Reconstruction Controversy VOA 01 May 2003 -- In Focus today: Postwar reconstruction of Iraq. The war has created an urgent need to rebuild infrastructure and restore essential services in Iraq. Many companies domestic and international are eager to participate in the reconstruction, but at least for now, only a selected few have been able to bid for publicly funded contracts.
• Former Opposition Leaders Meet In Baghdad RFE/L 01 May 2003 -- A group of Iraqi political leaders are today expected to meet to try and set up an interim government to fill the political void after the collapse of the former Iraqi regime.
• USAID Awards $10 Million Iraq Health Services Contract Washington File 01 May 2003 -- The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded a $10 million contract to a Massachusetts-based firm to improve health services in Iraq.
• IRAQ: Unexploded ordnance poses great problem in the south IRIN 01 May 2003 -- On the outskirts of Iraq's main southern city, Basra, children play beside pools of contaminated water, their toys often being the detritus of the war they have just witnessed. Alongside an abandoned artillery gun they clamber over are more than 30 unexploded mortar bombs. Not far away, several rocket-propelled grenades lie barely 20 metres from a house, the children in it seemingly unaware of the danger just outside its rough mud walls.

Foreign Reactions

• French Economist Explores Roots of Current U.S.-French Rift Washington File 01 May 2003 -- How great or real is the rift between America and France from the French perspective? And is it based on diametrically opposed approaches to the Iraq crisis or on more deeply rooted economic and political differences?

News Reports

• RUMSFELD / KUWAIT VOA 01 May 2003-- The U-S Secretary of Defense concluded a tour of the Gulf region Thursday in Kuwait where he thanked leaders for their help in the U-S-led overthrow of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein
• MANAGING POST WAR IRAQ VOA 01 May 2003 -- The world press continues to watch how the United States is working to restore order in Iraq. There newspapers suggest the top U-S restoration officer Jay Garner is akin to a Roman Emperor or a British colonial governor or "viceroy."
• TURKEY: Food aid to Iraq continues unabated IRIN 01 May 2003 -- Efforts to move much needed food aid through the Habur gate, the main border crossing point along Turkey's 352-km border with Iraq, continue to reap impressive results.