Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

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

Current Operations

• Logistics Agency Lines Out Its Support to Forces in Iraq AFPS 06 Jun 2003 -- "Speed can kill the enemy" were some of Army Gen. Tommy Franks' words of wisdom for his commanders and troops during Operation Iraqi Freedom. And the U.S. forces' lightning thrust to Baghdad with minimal Iraqi resistance and few U.S. and coalition casualties substantiates this saying.
• ONE SAILOR KILLED, THREE INJURED AT AL KUT CENTCOM 06 Jun 2003 -- A U.S. Navy Seabee serving with the First Marine Expeditionary Force died early Friday morning in Al Kut after handling unexploded ordnance near a barracks.
• COALITION AND IRAQI POLICE WORK TO MAKE IRAQ SECURE (June 6, 2003) CENTCOM 06 Jun 2003 -- Coalition Forces continue to aggressively patrol Iraq to eliminate crimes against people and property, rid populated areas of weapons, ammunition and explosives, and to stop the black market trade in fuel and other commodities.
• COALITION EFFORTS AID IRAQ'S RECOVERY (June 6, 2003) CENTCOM 06 Jun 2003 -- Coalition Forces continue to assist in developing a safer and more secure environment in Iraq through the following activities.
• Coalition Efforts Aid Iraq's Recovery ARCENT CJTF-7 06 Jun 2003

Deployments

US Policy

• CONGRESS / IRAQ INTELLIGENCE VOA 06 Jun 2003 -- A top U-S defense intelligence official says his agency never had doubts that Iraq had a weapons of mass destruction program, despite news media reports to the contrary. The official met with members of Congress Friday as some lawmakers question whether the Bush administration manipulated U-S intelligence to justify the war against Iraq.
• Wolfowitz Reasserts Iraq War Was Not About Oil Washington File 06 Jun 2003 -- The notion that the Iraq war was about oil "is a complete piece of nonsense," says Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.
• Bennett Defends Administration on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction Washington File 06 Jun 2003 -- Senator Robert Bennett (Republican of Utah) defended the Bush administration's decision to confront Iraq over its weapons of mass destruction in a speech to the Senate June 5, while suggesting that some critics of the administration are practicing a type of historical revisionism made famous in George Orwell's novel 1984.
• BUSH/PORTUGAL/IRAQ VOA 06 Jun 2003 -- President Bush has met with Portugal's Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso to thank him for his support during the U-S led war in Iraq. Friday's White House meeting came amid more questions about what the United States knew about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction in the lead up to the war.
• Rumsfeld Sure WMD Intelligence Will Prove Correct AFPS 06 Jun 2003 -- More searching in Iraq will uncover Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said following a meeting with House members yesterday.
• PENTAGON / INTELLIGENCE VOA 06 Jun 2003 -- The Pentagon now acknowledges its own intelligence agency reported last year having "no reliable information" that Iraq had chemical weapons -- one of the main reasons cited by the Bush administration for war with Baghdad.
• EDITORIAL: EXPELLING SADDAM FROM SCHOOLS VOA 06 Jun 2003 -- Iraq's schools have reopened and students are preparing for final exams. But one thing is missing from the classrooms -- Saddam Hussein.

United Nations

• IAEA Safeguards Inspectors begin inventory of nuclear material in Iraq IAEA 06 Jun 2003 -- On 7 June 2003, a team of seven IAEA safeguards inspectors will begin taking an inventory and securing nuclear material at the nuclear material storage site at the Tuwaitha nuclear complex.
• U.N. Education Agency to Quicken Efforts in Northern Iraq Washington File 06 Jun 2003 -- The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will expedite the implementation of the remainder of its $22 million in commitments for programs in Northern Iraq before the Oil for Food Program is phased out in November, the agency's director general said.
• Iraq: UN inspectors arrive to check on reports of nuclear looting UN News Centre 06 Jun 2003 -- A seven-member United Nations inspection team arrived in Baghdad today to determine how much nuclear material, if any, is missing following reports of looting at an Iraqi site that had been under seal of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
• UN: Blix Urges Role For UNMOVIC In Iraq, But U.S. Continues To Oppose UN Inspectors RFE/L 06 Jun 2003 -- In his final report to the UN Security Council, chief UN inspector Hans Blix repeated that there have been no significant finds of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq for years. He urged the Security Council to make use of UN inspectors in postwar Iraq to try to resolve questions about weapons stocks that are still unaccounted for. But the United States continues to oppose any immediate role for UNMOVIC, saying its own inspectors are renewing efforts to confirm the presence of weapons programs.
• IRAQ/INSPECTORS VOA 06 Jun 2003 -- For the first time since the U-S-led invasion of Iraq, United Nations nuclear inspectors are back in Baghdad. The inspectors are trying to determine if nuclear material may have been stolen from a research facility.

Reconstruction Issues

• Iraq: Is Poland Up To The Task Of Directing A Peacekeeping Zone? RFE/L 06 Jun 2003 -- Poland faces a massive task in organizing the peacekeeping effort in one of the four security zones in Iraq designated by the United States. The move is seen as a gesture of gratitude by Washington for Poland's strong support during the war. But analysts say Poland will struggle to organize the multinational force required.

• IRAQ / BREMER VOA 06 Jun 2003 -- The heads of several political parties in Iraq met Friday with the top U-S official in the country in an effort to try to reach a consensus on Iraq's political future.
• U.S. Officials Tell Senators Iraq Reconstruction Will Take Years Washington File 06 Jun 2003 -- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Senator Richard Lugar (Republican of Indiana) concluded its second hearing June 4 on post-conflict Iraq. The hearing focused primarily on the Bush administration's assessment of the potential costs and length of America's direct involvement in Iraqi reconstruction.
• IRAQ / BREMER VOA 06 Jun 2003 -- The heads of several political parties in Iraq met Friday with the top U-S official in the country in an effort to try to reach a consensus on Iraq's political future.
• IRAQ / PILOT VOA 06 Jun 2003 -- Under Saddam Hussein's almost thirty-year rule, roughly three-million Iraqis fled their homeland. Now, some of those exiles have gone home, and many others are considering it. One Iraqi exile returned last month, but only briefly, and in a very different way than he fled more than 20 years ago.

Foreign Reactions

• UK opposition leader 'uncertain' about legality of Iraq war IRNA 06 June 2003 -- Britain's opposition Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith raised his own doubts for the first time Friday about the legality of the war against Iraq.

News Reports

• RFE/RL Iraq Report, Volume 6, Number 25 06 Jun 2003 -- U.S. SCRAPS NATIONAL CONFERENCE, WILL APPOINT IRAQI INTERIM COUNCIL / U.S. ADMINISTRATOR SAYS NEW MILITARY RECRUITMENT TO BEGIN IN LATE JUNE / U.S. TO ISSUE PINK SLIPS TO 500,000 IRAQI WORKERS... / ...AS DISMISSED SOLDIERS PROTEST AGAINST CPA IN CAPITAL / U.S. TROOPS ARREST MORE BA'ATH PARTY MEMBERS / SCIRI'S BADR BRIGADE DISMANTLED BY U.S., WILL CHANGE FOCUS / BRITISH REOPEN PRISON IN SOUTHERN IRAQ / SUSPECTED MURDERER RELEASED FROM U.S. CUSTODY / SHI'ITE CLERIC DISCUSSES AL-NAJAF HAWZAH / IRAQI CLERIC COMMENTS ON BA'ATH SABOTEURS, CALLS ON EXPATRIATES TO RETURN / KURDISH PAPER SAYS HUSSEIN LOYALIST ASSISTING PUK / KURDS WANT MORE MONEY FROM U.S. / COMMITTEE TO DEVELOP NORTHERN IRAQI AIRPORT / IRAQ NOW TAKES VISA / BAHRAINI KING INVITES IRAQI GROUPS TO NATIONAL CONFERENCE / IRAQIS REPORTEDLY REPATRIATED FROM SYRIA, LEBANON / UN INSPECTION CHIEF ISSUES FINAL REPORT OF HIS TENURE / IAEA HEADS TO IRAQ / FOOD RATIONING RESUMES IN IRAQ / G-8 ENDORSES IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION / BRITAIN RETURNING ASYLUM SEEKERS TO IRAQ / POLISH FORCE WILL BE FULLY STAFFED BY SEPTEMBER / IRAQ SURVEY GROUP PREPARES TO RESTART INSPECTIONS / RUSSIAN CONTRACTS IN IRAQ: FORGIVE OR FORGET?