• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

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

Current Operations

• THIRD ARMORED CAVALRY SOLDIERS SEIZE GOLD CENTCOM 23 May 2003 -- Soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR) seized a large quantity of what may be gold bars during a routine traffic control vehicle search in Al Qaim yesterday.
• PENTAGON/RUMSFELD/GOLD VOA 23 May 2003 -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says America's next generation of military leaders will likely face a more dangerous world.
• COALITION AND IRAQI POLICE WORK TO MAKE IRAQ SECURE (23 MAY) CENTCOM 23 May 2003 -- Coalition Forces continue to aggressively patrol Iraq safer to eliminate smuggling weapons, trade and explosives.
• COALITION EFFORTS AID IRAQ'S RECOVERY (23 MAY) CENTCOM 23 May 2003 -- Coalition Forces continue to assist in developing a safer and more secure environment in Iraq.
• FH-3: 'Ground Zero for Nation Building' Navy Newsstand 23 May 2003-- Lieutenant Dallas Braham, a Navy Nurse and reservist who was recalled to active duty in February from his day charge nurse duties at Tulane University Hospital in New Orleans, has spent the past 11 weeks as part of Navy Medicine's historical Fleet Hospital 3 (FH-3).
• COALITION EFFORTS AID IRAQ RECOVERY ARCENT CJTF-7 23 May 2003
• COALITION AND IRAQI POLICE WORK TO MAKE IRAQ SECURE ARCENT CJTF-7 23 May 2003

Deployments

• Gator rumbles with excitement of home Marine Corps News 23 May 2003-- USS Saipan (LHA 2) was abuzz with the Marine back load - bringing back Marines and their equipment and making necessary preparations for the trip back home.
• MALS-13 returns home to open arms Marine Corps News 23 May 2003-- Sixty-seven Marines with Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron-13 returned home Saturday from a four and a half month deployment in the Persian Gulf.
• VMA-211 returns from Operation Iraqi Freedom Marine Corps News 23 May 2003-- Members of Marine Attack Squadron-211 returned this weekend from a four-month tour of duty overseas as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• MDSU-1 returns from war Hawai'i Navy News 23 May 2003-- Divers from Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit One (MDSU 1) returned from Iraq May 5 after deploying in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom for more than two months.

US Policy

• Powell: U.S.-French Ties Improve but Rift Is Remembered Washington File 23 May 2003 -- At a press conference in Paris May 22, Secretary of State Colin Powell said that, in supporting the new UN Security Council resolution to end sanctions on Iraq, France has taken "a step in the right direction of moving forward together."
• New Resolution Defines "Vital Role" for U.N. in Iraq Washington File 23 May 2003 -- The United Nations will play a "vital role" in coordinating humanitarian aid and reconstruction assistance in Iraq, says the State Department's Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs, Kim Holmes.
• Text: Bush Hails Unanimous Vote by UNSC Lifting Sanctions on Iraq Washington File 23 May 2003 -- President Bush says the unanimous vote by the U.N. Security Council May 22 to lift sanctions on Iraq "will help the Iraqi people to rebuild their country and work toward a more prosperous and secure future, one in which they will govern themselves, rejoin the world economy, and remain at peace with their neighbors."
• "Legitimacy Found" in Iraq, by Ambassador Richard S. Williamson Washington File 23 May 2003 -- U.S. Ambassador Richard S. Williamson is Alternate Representative to the United Nations for Special Political Affairs. He also served as a senior staffer in the Reagan White House and as ambassador to the U.N. Offices in Vienna.
• Transcript: Powell Interview with French TV on U.S.-French Relations Washington File 23 May 2003 -- Secretary of State Colin Powell says that even though the United States was disappointed with the French decision not to support the coalition in its liberation of Iraq, he is pleased with French support in approving United Nations Security Council 1483, which lifts sanctions on Iraq.
• EDITORIAL: LIBERATION FOR IRAQI WOMEN VOA 23 May 2003 -- Among the beneficiaries of Iraq's liberation are the women of Iraq. Nimo Din' Kha Skander, the owner of a beauty salon in Baghdad, told the New York Times newspaper that she wants "to move freely [and] live a joyful life out in the open." And Dalal Aboud, a teacher at the Baghdad Preparatory School for Girls, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that she wants "to breathe the air of democracy."
• EDITORIAL: PROGRESS IN IRAQ VOA 23 May 2003 -- No country that has made the transition from tyranny to a civil society has done it without overcoming difficulties. Iraq is no exception. There has been looting. There have been disruptions in basic services such as electricity, water, and police. And there has been a leadership vacuum since the ouster of Saddam Hussein.
• EDITORIAL: WINNING THE PEACE IN IRAQ VOA 23 May 2003 -- The war in Iraq was won. Now, the U.S.-led coalition is securing the peace. As U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith said, the coalition is working "to put a free Iraq on its feet and headed toward stable, democratic government."
• EDITORIAL: RIDDING IRAQ OF BAATH PARTY VOA 23 May 2003 -- As with Adolf Hitler's National Socialist party in Germany, the instrument of Saddam Hussein's tyrannical rule in Iraq was an all-powerful party -- the Arab Baath Socialists. Saddam joined the Baath party as a teenager in 1956 and rose quickly and ruthlessly through its ranks to become the Iraqi dictator. Now that Iraq has been liberated from the dictator's rule, it must -- like Germany in 1945 after the Second World War -- be purged of a corrupt and evil party apparatus.
• Iraq.: U.S. Senators Accuse Pentagon Of 'Losing The Peace' RFE/L 23 May 2003 -- U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz spent yesterday defending the Bush administration from allegations by U.S. lawmakers that Washington is losing the peace in Iraq. The charges came from both sides of the political aisle.

United Nations

• Iraq: UN Security Council Unites To Lift Sanctions RFE/L 23 May 2003 -- France, Russia, and Germany, which helped block moves seeking UN approval to launch war against Iraq, now say there is a legal basis to support the country's U.S-led reconstruction. They joined an overwhelming majority of Security Council members in approving a resolution -- Resolution 1483 -- that grants broad powers to a U.S.-British authority. A UN special representative will have independent powers to help guide the political and economic reform process.
• IAEA plans to send team to Iraqi nuclear site soon UN News Centre 23 May 2003 -- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is planning to send a team to the Iraqi nuclear research centre at Tuwaitha soon to verify nuclear material under safeguards there pursuant to Iraq's obligations to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the agency announced in Vienna today.
• UN aid agencies step up Iraq air service, help Iranian refugees go home UN News Centre 23 May 2003 -- United Nations relief agencies have launched a full-scale humanitarian air service for the Iraq crisis and engineered the first repatriation of Iranian refugees from the country in nearly a year.
• Annan expected to announce choice of special envoy for Iraq on Tuesday UN News Centre 23 May 2003 -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to announce his choice for the United Nations special envoy for Iraq at a press conference on Tuesday, a spokesman for Mr. Annan said today.
• U-N ENVOY/ IRAQ VOA 23 May 2003 -- As expected today (Friday), U-N Secretary General Kofi Annan named the global organization's High Commissioner for Human Rights to serve as his special representative for Iraq.
• Text: U.N. To Distribute Food Aid to All Iraqis Starting June 1 Washington File 23 May 2003 -- The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) will begin distributing food aid to the entire Iraqi population beginning June 1.

Reconstruction Issues

• WINNING THE IRAQI PEACE VOA 23 May 2003 -- The U-S-led coalition that liberated Iraq from the regime of Saddam Hussein is now trying to help the people of Iraq get back on their feet. Coalition forces are cracking down on looters and thieves and efforts continue to expand supplies of water, electric power, and other necessities. Paul Bremer, the new civil administrator for Iraq, is focusing on restoring order and protecting public safety. As a first step, Mr. Bremer said that the coalition will root out members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party regime.
• Text: U.S. to Create a Development Fund for Iraq at Iraq Central Bank Washington File 23 May 2003 -- President Bush May 22 issued an executive order to establish a "Development Fund for Iraq" at Iraq's central bank.
• IRAQ/LAND MINES VOA 23 May 2003 -- Land mine experts from the United States are in Iraq beginning the task of removing what could be as many as 10-thousand land mines from throughout the country. Eventually, Iraqis will be trained and land mine removal will become their task.
• Wolfowitz Defends Coalition's Plans for Iraqi Recovery Washington File 23 May 2003 -- Pundits criticizing the coalition Iraq reconstruction effort are demonstrating "an incomplete understanding" of pre-conflict in-country conditions and "an unreasonable expectation" of the progress level, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said to the Senate May 22.
• Transcript: U.S. Team Gains Ground in Recovering Missing Iraqi Artifacts Washington File 23 May 2003 -- A U.S. military official familiar with the investigation to recover items lost from the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad says early reports suggesting that as many as 170,000 pieces had disappeared were "a gross, if (not) dramatic exaggeration."
• IRAQ / ARMY VOA 23 May 2003 -- The American head of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance in Iraq has put an end to the backbone of Saddam Hussein's power. Paul Bremer has issued an order that dissolves the Iraqi army and several government ministries that played key roles in the former regime.
• Iraq: Bremer Dissolves Military, Security Institutions RFE/L 23 May 2003 -- The U.S. civilian administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, has abolished several ministries and institutions of Saddam Hussein's regime, and disbanded the Iraqi army, declaring them illegal.
• Iraq: Political Parties Criticize Delay On Creating Interim Government RFE/L 23 May 2003 -- Some Iraqi political parties are criticizing a U.S. decision to postpone until July a nation-building conference expected to choose an interim government for the country. Iraqi party leaders say the delay -- announced this week by U.S. civilian administrator L. Paul Bremer -- is a major setback. And they say that, if necessary, they will proceed with a conference of their own without U.S. approval.
• IRAQ: Mental hospital forced to start rebuilding IRIN 23 May 2003 -- Baghdad's only public mental hospital is struggling to operate in the wake of the country’s recent war. Soon after American troops entered Baghdad, the Al-Rashad Teaching Mental Hospital in the south of the city was invaded by looters, who stripped the complex and allowed more than half the 1,020 patients to escape.

Foreign Reactions

• CENTRAL EUROPE SUMMIT VOA 23 May 2003 -- Central European heads of state have agreed to resolve differences and work with the United States on Iraq and other issues.
• SYRIA/IRAQ/UN VOA 23 May 2003 -- Syria's state news agency reported Friday that Damascus supports lifting United Nations sanctions on Iraq, even if it did not cast a vote on the measure.
• POLAND/IRAQ VOA 23 May 2003 -- Poland has pledged to raise the troops it needs for a Polish-led multinational stabilization force to keep the peace in a quarter of post-war Iraq. Friday's announcement came at a meeting in Warsaw, where military officials from 15 countries discussed the make-up of the contingent.
• Iraq: OSCE Studies Evidence Of Possible Russian, Belarusian Arms Deals RFE/L 23 May 2003 -- Letters discovered in Baghdad that appear to detail negotiations on the illegal sale of weapons to Saddam Hussein's regime by private Russian and Belarusian firms are being examined by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The information was presented to officials and independent experts during an OSCE forum in Prague this week that focused on trafficking.

News Reports

• RFE/RL Iraq Report, Volume 6, Number 23 23 May 2003 -- U.S. ADMINISTRATOR SAYS INTERIM GOVERNMENT POSTPONED UNTIL JULY / MUSLIMS RALLY FOR UNITY IN BAGHDAD... / SCIRI HEAD DISCUSSES SITUATION IN IRAQ / SCIRI REPRESENTATIVE CRITICIZES U.S. PLAN / LITTLE-KNOWN GROUP ASKS U.S. ADMINISTRATOR TO RECONSIDER DECISION ON BA'ATH PARTY / COALITION'S CRIME-FIGHTING TASK FORCE ROUNDS UP 15 IN BAGHDAD / MORE FORMER REGIME MEMBERS IN COALITION CUSTODY / ANOTHER MASS GRAVE SAID TO HAVE BEEN UNEARTHED NEAR IRAQI BORDER WITH SAUDI ARABIA... / U.S. FORCES DETAIN SIX KURDISH FIGHTERS / JORDAN TO BEGIN REGULAR CARGO FLIGHTS TO BAGHDAD / JORDAN TO HOST FORUM ON STOLEN ARCHEOLOGICAL ITEMS / KUWAIT REOPENS SOME RESTRICTED AREAS / INSPECTORS TO RETURN TO IRAQ -- TEMPORARILY / UN SECURITY COUNCIL ENDS SANCTIONS ON IRAQ / UN SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS HE WILL MOVE QUICKLY ON IRAQ / SENIOR U.K. OFFICER BEING INVESTIGATED FOR WAR CRIMES / G-8 REPORTEDLY SET TO GRANT MORATORIUM ON IRAQ'S FOREIGN DEBT / U.S. REVISES LIST OF MOST-WANTED IRAQIS / INTERNATIONAL FIRMS VIE FOR RECONSTRUCTION ROLE
• BYRD PROFILE VOA 23 May 2003 -- One of the U-S Congress' most vocal opponents of the U-S-led war in Iraq has become a leading critic of the U-S effort to rebuild that country.
• Iraq: U.S. Said to Be Reviewing Intelligence Following War RFE/L 23 May 2003 -- U.S. forces in Iraq have yet to find the weapons of mass destruction that President George W. Bush insists Saddam Hussein was hiding. Now, U.S. intelligence officials are reported to be reviewing the quality of the information on which Bush based his claim.
• GARDINER-IRAQ-UN VOA 23 May 2003 -- The UN Security Council vote to lift economic sanctions against Iraq is going to have both political and economic implications for the country.