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

Current Operations

• Two Soldiers Killed In Separate Iraq Incidents AFPS 06 Nov 2003 -- Two U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq over the past two days in separate incidents, according to U.S. Central Command releases.

Deployments

• 112,000 service members tapped for Iraq Army News Service 06 Nov 2003-- About 112,000 service members -- including more than 37,000 National Guard and Army Reserve Soldiers -- should be headed to Iraq and Kuwait early next year to replace the forces already on the ground, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced.
• Transcript: DoD News Briefing - Secretary Rumsfeld and Gen. Myers 06 Nov 2003 -- "The troops deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom have a great deal to be proud of. (...) As we've indicated, the bulk of the U.S. troops that are currently in Iraq will be rotating out beginning next, I guess, January, February, March, April, in that period. And they will, needless to say, be replaced. The combat units serving in Iraq and most of the supporting units in the theater will be replaced over the coming period of months. We've notified some 85,000 combat personnel, comprising active units and three Guard combat brigades, that they'll be rotating into the theater. Two of these Guard units were alerted and mobilized over the past several weeks. The third will mobilize on November 15th."
• Rumsfeld Announces Upcoming Troop Rotations for Iraq, Afghanistan Washington File 06 Nov 2003 -- In unveiling U.S. plans to rotate troops in Iraq next year, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said November 6 that the strategy will be to ensure that the Iraqi people are able to assume responsibility for governing, running essential services, and providing security.
• Predictability, Stability at Heart of Rotation Policy AFPS 06 Nov 2003 -- Predictability and stability are at the heart of the new troop rotation policy DoD officials announced today.
• Members Say Deploying More Troops to Iraq Would Be Counterproductive AFPS 06 Nov 2003 -- Boosting the number of U.S. troops in Iraq would be counterproductive and take away a job best suited for the Iraqis themselves, congressional representatives said today at the Pentagon.
• PENTAGON/IRAQ VOA 06 Nov 2003 -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has unveiled a troop replacement plan for Iraq that should see the overall number of American soldiers in the country decrease next year, if security conditions permit.

US Policy

• Bush Says Emergency Appropriations Support U.S. Mission, Troops Washington File 06 Nov 2003 -- Following is the text of a statement November 6 by the president concerning the signing of the "Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense and for the Reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan, 2004."
• Bush Signs $87 Billion Supplemental Appropriations Act Washington File 06 Nov 2003 -- President Bush reaffirmed the importance of investing in the future peace and stability of Iraq and Afghanistan at a November 6 ceremony at the White House during which he signed legislation granting $87 billion in supplemental appropriations to ongoing military and reconstruction efforts in those two countries.
• U.S. Says It Exhausted All "Credible" Efforts to Avoid War with Iraq Washington File 06 Nov 2003 -- The Bush administration "exhausted every legitimate and credible opportunity" to resolve peacefully the world's differences with Saddam Hussein, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan told reporters November 6, and offered the Iraqi dictator's government "any number of channels" to communicate with it.
• IRAQ WRAP VOA 06 Nov 2003 -- President Bush has delivered a strong message of resolve about the U-S commitment to rebuilding Iraq and bringing democracy to the Middle East, declaring freedom and democracy are worth fighting and dying for. His forceful comments came on a day when two more American soldiers were killed in Iraq and amid more criticism here in Washington from members of his own Republican party -- of the U-S military mission there.
• President Signs $87.5 Billion Package for Iraq, Afghanistan AFPS 06 Nov 2003 -- "No enemy or friend can doubt that America has the resources and the will to see this war through to victory," said President Bush before signing the $87.5 billion supplemental appropriations bill for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• EDITORIAL: IRAQI REBIRTH VOA 06 Nov 2003 -- The Iraqi people are not alone as they work to build a secure, democratic, and prosperous society. The U.S., Britain, South Korea, Japan, Denmark, and other countries are committing billions of dollars in aid and technical assistance to Iraq. President George W. Bush said many other nations are joining this effort
• BUSH/IRAQ/BUDGET VOA 06 Nov 2003 -- President Bush has signed legislation providing 87-point-five-billion dollars for military operations and reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• BUSH/IRAQ DEAL VOA 06 Nov 2003 -- U-S media reports say Saddam Hussein may have tried to make a last-minute deal to avoid the U-S-led invasion of Iraq. The White House says it gave the former Iraqi leader every opportunity to comply with years of United Nations resolutions.
• Bush: Failure of Iraqi Democracy Would Cheer Global Terrorists AFPS 06 Nov 2003 -- If democracy doesn't take hold in Iraq, that failure "would embolden terrorists around the world," President George Bush said here today.

United Nations

• UN says international staff are all out of Baghdad UN News Centre 06 Nov 2003 -- The United Nations confirmed today that all of its international staff have left Baghdad.
• IRAQ: IOM continues medical evacuation programme IRIN 06 Nov 2003 -- Despite the scaling down of staff inside Iraq, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is continuing its medical evacuation programme from the country, having assisted 110 people to date.

Reconstruction Issues

• U.S. Provides Iraq's Mosul University with Computers and Internet Access Washington File 06 Nov 2003 -- After looters stole the computers at Mosul University and burned the computer center, students and teachers had no way to do research and communicate with colleagues around the country and the world.
• Police graduate from Tal Afar Academy Army News Service 06 Nov 2003-- Another trained group of police graduated from the Tal Afar Police Academy in northern Iraq Nov. 3.
• Iraqis Shouldering More of Security Mission AFPS 06 Nov 2003 -- While the number of U.S. forces in Iraq will drop by May 2004, the security capability in the country will increase, DoD officials said today.
• IRAQ: New rotating president calls for better security and an end to corruption IRIN 06 Nov 2003 -- Security is still the biggest problem facing Iraq, the country’s newly named president, Jalal Talabani, said Wednesday, even as the appointed government struggles to create a new constitution for the country.

Foreign Reactions

• UK envoy predicts `rough winter` in Iraq IRNA 06 Nov 2003 -- Britain`s special representative in Iraq Sir Jeremy Greenstock warned Thursday that Anglo-American coalition troops faced months of difficulties in Iraq due to the security situation.
• Iraq: British Envoy Sees Rough Time Ahead For U.S.-led Forces RFE/RL 06 Nov 2003 -- Britain's special representative in Iraq says U.S.-led forces in the country face a "rough winter" following a recent surge of violence.
• Casualties to rise if US prolong stay in Iraq: ex-Pak FM IRNA 06 Nov 2003 -- A former Pakistani foreign minister Gohar Ayub on Thursday cautioned that casualties` ratio would go further up if US prolonged stay in Iraq.

News Reports

• Iraq: Many Iraqis Prefer Satellite Channels To Fledgling State TV RFE/RL 06 Nov 2003 -- When Iraqis sit down in front of the television, many of them say they prefer satellite broadcasts to their own revamped state channel, which was launched this summer with the funding and supervision of the U.S. civil administration. The U.S.-funded Iraqi Media Network (IMN) has AM and FM radio outlets and a television network capable of reaching about two-thirds of Iraqi homes. But Iraqis say IMN's programming presents only the American point of view, and is reminiscent of the state propaganda broadcast by the ousted regime. IMN's Iraqi managers say they are trying to do their best, but that it is hard to compete with professional satellite channels.
• Iraq: After Years Of Devastation, A Slow Resuscitation Of Marshlands Begins (Part 1) RFE/RL 06 Nov 2003 -- The former regime of Saddam Hussein spent years successfully turning Iraq's vast wetlands into a desert in an ecological war designed to root out armed Shia opposition to his rule. Now, with Hussein gone, Iraqi and coalition engineers are slowly returning water to the marshlands and hundreds of thousands of people who once lived there have their first hopes of returning home.
• Iraq: Veteran Correspondent Discusses Difficulties Of Covering Iraq Crisis RFE/RL 06 Nov 2003 -- David Ignatius, a columnist for "The Washington Post," has long covered the Middle East and in recent months has written extensively from Iraq. He visited RFE/RL in Prague today to speak, among other things, about why the media is having such difficulty appearing objective in its coverage of the Iraq crisis.