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Operations
Deployments
US Policy
United Nations
Reconstruction Issues
Foreign Reactions
News Reports

Current Operations

• SOLDIER DIES IN VEHICLE ACCIDENT CENTCOM 21 May 2003 -- A Task Force Ironhorse soldier was killed early this morning near Baqubah, approximately 30 miles north of Baghdad.
• COALITION AND IRAQI POLICE WORK TO MAKE IRAQ SECURE (MAY 21) CENTCOM 21 May 2003 -- Coalition Forces continue to aggressively patrol to make Iraq safer for everyone by eliminating smuggling and trade in weapons and explosives.
• Coalition Efforts Aid Iraq's Recovery - May 21 2003 CENTCOM 21 May 2003 -- Coalition Forces continue to assist in developing a safer and more secure environment in Iraq.
• U-S/IRAQ INSPECTORS VOA 21 May 2003 -- The United States has responded to requests from the International Atomic Energy Agency to allow inspectors back in Iraq.
• V CORPS AND IRAQI POLICE REOPEN BAGHDAD JAIL V Corps Release 21 May 2003-- Representatives of V Corps' 18th Military Police Brigade and Iraqi police officials shared a milestone in their efforts to restore law and order here with the official reopening today of the first fully operational jail in downtown Baghdad since the demise of Saddam Hussein's rule.
• Land Battles Long Hours, Supports Fleet During Operation Iraqi Freedom Navy Newsstand 21 May 2003-- Sailors aboard USS Emory S. Land (AS 39) live up to the submarine tender's motto - The LAND of Opportunity.
• NEWS RELEASE ARCENT CJTF-7 21 May 2003 -- Coalition and Iraqi Police Work to Make Iraq Secure / Task Force 'Vigilant Justice' Conducts First Raid / Coalition Activity / Police Activity in the Last 24 Hours
• Coalition Efforts Aid Iraq's Recovery ARCENT CJTF-7 21 May 2003
• Coalition and Iraqi Police Work to Make Iraq Secure ARCENT CJTF-7 21 May 2003
• SOLDIER DIES IN VEHICLE MISHAP ARCENT CJTF-7 21 May 2003

Deployments

US Policy

• Powell: U.S. Convinced Iraqi Trucks Were Designed for WMD Washington File 21 May 2003 -- Secretary of State Colin Powell says two tractor trailer units found in Iraq were designed and constructed to produce biological weapons, and were a "good example of the kinds of activities that that regime was involved in for so many years."
• Powell-Iraq VOA 21 May 2003 -- Secretary of State Colin Powell flies to Paris late Wednesday for talks focussing on the post-war reconstruction of Iraq with foreign ministers of the other G-8 industrial powers and Russia. Mr. Powell says the United States will not rush the process of creating an interim Iraqi government.
• Romania Can Be Model for Iraq, Wolfowitz Tells Pro TV Washington File 21 May 2003 -- Romania's recent experience in transitioning to democracy, which has been impressive although not yet a complete success, could be an example for the future of newly liberated Iraq, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told Pro TV in Bucharest May 19.
• Senator Submits Resolution Hailing Kuwait Medical Aid to Iraqi Children Washington File 21 May 2003 -- Senator Mary Landrieu (Democrat of Louisiana) introduced a resolution to the Senate May 19 praising the government of Kuwait and its people for providing medical assistance for a severely wounded Iraqi youth, and for other medical help and aid for the children of Iraq.

United Nations

• Spain, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and United States of America: draft resolution Provisional, 21 May 2003 -- "Decides that, with the exception of prohibitions related to the sale or supply to Iraq of arms and related materiel other than those arms and related materiel required by the Authority to serve the purposes of this and other related resolutions, all prohibitio ns related to trade with Iraq and the provision of financial or economic resources to Iraq established by resolution 661 (1990) and subsequent relevant resolutions, including resolution 778 (1992) of 2 October 1992, shall no longer apply" [PDF 30 Kb]
• UN / IRAQ VOA 21 May 2003 -- The United States has called on the U-N Security Council to vote Thursday on a U-S and British-sponsored resolution aimed at ending sanctions against Iraq. The draft is expected to get a majority of the council votes.
• IRAQ / UN VOTE VOA 21 May 2003 -- French, Russian and German foreign ministers said Wednesday they would back a U-S sponsored resolution to lift United Nations sanctions against Iraq.
• Security Council set to vote on Iraqi draft resolution Thursday UN News Centre 21 May 2003 -- The United Nations Security Council has scheduled a vote for Thursday on a new draft resolution on interim arrangements for Iraq, including the role of a UN Special Representative working with the United States and its coalition partners towards restoring full Iraqi national sovereignty.
• IAEA and US discuss modalities for visit by nuclear experts to Iraq UN News Centre 21 May 2003 -- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is discussing with the United States the modalities for a visit by its experts to Iraq to deal with the safety and security of nuclear materials at the al-Tuwaitha nuclear research center.
• Revised Resolution Appears To Meet Security Council Concerns On Postwar Iraq RFE/L 21 May 2003 -- The UN Security Council appears to be on course to approve a resolution that lifts nearly 13 years of sanctions against Iraq and endorses a U.S.-led administration of the country. U.S. officials say they will call for a vote tomorrow, although council members still had some concerns about the scope of the coalition's authority. But the measure has gone through extensive revisions to emphasize a UN role and it is expected to be passed this week.
• Iraq: UN relief official visits looted facilities in Baghdad, warns of risk of illness UN News Centre 21 May 2003 -- The top United Nations relief official in Iraq today drew attention to the looting that had been occurring at a number of public facilities around Baghdad, and warned of the risk of illness and malnutrition resulting from untreated sewage.

Reconstruction Issues

• Iraq: U.S. Says Nation-Building Conference Postponed Until July RFE/L 21 May 2003 -- Recent changes in U.S. plans for the future administration of Iraq have sparked resentment among the country's political groups. Members of the so-called "leadership council" have accused the Americans and their British allies of reversing their previous policy and postponing the handover of power to an Iraqi interim authority. Such concerns may be falling on a deaf ear in Washington, which today announced a possible new delay in Iraq's nation-building process.
• Efforts Under Way To Focus Attention On Plight Of Marsh Arabs RFE/L 21 May 2003 -- There is a growing campaign to restore Iraq's southern marshes, the vast area of wetland between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The region has been inhabited for the last 5,000 years but was largely destroyed over the past 10 years by Saddam Hussein's regime, in retaliation for the Marsh Arabs joining the Shi'ite uprising after the 1991 Gulf War. One expert calls it both genocide and "ecocide," for the damage to the marsh's plants and animals.
• If U.S. Troops Left, Would Civil War, Sectarian Strife Follow? RFE/L 21 May 2003 -- Plans by U.S. and British officials in Iraq to declare an occupation authority in Iraq have made it clear that Western troops and administrators will not be leaving the country anytime soon. Some Iraqi political groups are growing increasingly frustrated with the entrenched Western presence and the continued delays in forming a sovereign Iraqi government. But would Iraq be better off on its own?
• National Conference Delayed As UN Sanctions Vote Also Postponed RFE/L 21 May 2003 -- Iraq's U.S. civilian administrator says a national conference to form a new Iraqi interim government will probably be held in July, not in June as was planned earlier.
• IRAQ / GOVERNMENT VOA 21 May 2003 -- The American administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, says a national conference to select the country's new government could be held in mid-July.
• IRAQ: Fayli Kurds face difficult return IRIN 21 May 2003 -- "The house returned to its owner. The rights returned to its holder," two sentences written along the streets in and around the Utayfiyah area of western Baghdad, where a community of Fayli Kurds, once estimated at one million, used to live. Though Iraqi citizens, many of whom were earlier exiled to Iran, the group faces immense challenges in their struggle to return.

Foreign Reactions

• NATO/POLAND/IRAQ VOA 21 May 2003 -- Ambassadors from the 19 NATO member nations have agreed to help Poland as it prepares to lead a multi-national force in southern Iraq, as part of a post-war stabilization program.

News Reports