• 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

• Transcript: Live Video Teleconference with General Abizaid 13 Nov 2003 -- "Clearly, it is not just the United States and its Western allies that fight this battle. This battle is being fought in Pakistan, it's being fought in Afghanistan, it's being fought in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and Yemen. It's being fought throughout the area. And as many Americans that get killed in this battle, you can also see that there are a number of Muslims that are killed in the battles as well. The terrorist enemy will inflict casualties just for the sake of inflicting casualties. Certainly, the battles in Iraq and Afghanistan are important to us. American forces are conducting stability operations there that are among the most important stability operations ever conducted by our armed forces."
• Iraqi Security Forces Assume Increasingly Important Role Washington File 13 Nov 2003 -- Total numbers of security forces are on the rise in Iraq as 118,000 Iraqi troops have assumed their duties alongside coalition forces, according to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. In a series of media interviews November 10, Rumsfeld stressed the importance of the Iraqi forces in bringing security to Iraq.
• U.S. Forces Wield 'Iron Hammer' to Nail Insurgents AFPS 13 Nov 2003 -- A series of coordinated strikes dubbed "Operation Iron Hammer" kicked off Nov. 12 with U.S. forces striking back at anti- coalition insurgents in Iraq.
• Abizaid: 'Despicable Thugs' Cannot Win in Iraq AFPS 13 Nov 2003 -- The terrorists trying to undermine coalition efforts in Iraq are a "despicable bunch of thugs," but no military threat exists in Iraq that can drive the United States out, the commander of U.S. Central Command said today.
• IRAQ / SECURITY VOA 13 Nov 2003 -- U-S military officials in Baghdad say offensive operations aimed at rooting out insurgents targeting coalition forces will continue as long as they are necessary. The U-S missions are part of a new get-tough policy to confront Saddam loyalists and foreign fighters operating in Iraq.

Deployments

US Policy

• No Military Threat Will Drive U.S. From Iraq, Abizaid Says Washington File 13 Nov 2003 -- The U.S. commander of military forces deployed in the Middle East and Southwest Asia says that no military threat will drive U.S. troops out of Iraq and that coalition forces working together will be successful in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• U.S. Wants Iraqis More Involved in Governing Iraq Washington File 13 Nov 2003 -- President Bush says he and his administration want the Iraqis to be more involved in the governance of their country.
• Coalition Will Press Fight in Iraq, Vice Chairman Says AFPS 13 Nov 2003 -- The coalition will continue to press the fight in Iraq, Marine Gen. Peter Pace said during television interviews Nov. 12.
• Iraq: Officials Say U.S. Was Wrong To Dissolve Army, Intelligence Apparatus RFE/RL 13 Nov 2003 -- Coalition officials in Iraq say there are now an average of some 30 attacks on foreign soldiers every day. Yesterday's devastating bombing in Al-Nasiriyah -- which killed at least 19 Italian troops as well as nine Iraqi civilians -- once again raises the question of whether the U.S.-led coalition is failing to get the intelligence it needs to prevent such attacks. Many Iraqis say the coalition may have been too hasty in dissolving Iraq's army and intelligence apparatus, and is now suffering the consequences.
• Iraq: Bremer Returning To Baghdad With Plans To Accelerate Transfer Of Power RFE/RL 13 Nov 2003 -- As the Iraqi resistance intensifies its attacks against coalition forces, the United States is working to accelerate its efforts to hand over sovereignty to Iraqis. L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. civil administrator for Iraq, has ended two days of urgent meetings at the White House, and is returning to Baghdad with Washington's view of how best to quickly make Iraq self-governing.
• EDITORIAL: BUSH ON DEFENDING IRAQ VOA 13 Nov 2003 -- Under the regime of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi people suffered decades of oppression. Now, as Paul Bremer, the Coalition Provisional Authority administrator, puts it, they have an opportunity, "to restore the peace and wisdom and beauty, which have marked the...cradle of civilization."
• BUSH / IRAQ VOA 13 Nov 2003 -- President Bush says Iraqis should play a bigger role in governing their country and he has instructed the U-S administrator for Iraq to work out a deal to speed up the process with the country's Governing Council.
• Rumsfeld: Italians Firm in Their Resolve After Attack in Iraq AFPS 13 Nov 2003 -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld today expressed his sympathies to the families and friends of the 12 Italian military police troops who died when their headquarters in the Iraqi town of Nasiriyah was blown up Nov. 12.

United Nations

Reconstruction Issues

• Iraq Weekly Update Joint Staff/Coalition Provisional Authority 13 Nov 2003 -- Power / Oil / Education / Health Care / Security / Governance / Economics [PDF 4.75 Mb]
• Iraqis Seek More Responsibility for Governance AFPS 13 Nov 2003 -- The governing council wants to take on more responsibility for Iraq, and the Bush administration is more than willing to help them, said Condoleezza Rice, the president's adviser for national security.
• Progress Occurring in Iraq, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Says Washington File 13 Nov 2003 -- Economic progress is occurring in Iraq, according to Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, speaking briefly with a CNN reporter November 12 from Baghdad.
• Powell, Straw: Coalition United in Speeding Iraqi Self-rule Washington File 13 Nov 2003 -- Iraq and Iran were the main topics of conversation when Secretary of State Colin Powell met with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw at the State Department November 13.
• IRAQ WRAP VOA 13 nov 2003 -- With attacks on occupation forces steadily increasing, the United States has begun working with Iraq's U-S-appointed governing council to speed up the transition to Iraqi self-rule. The stepped up strategy to put Iraqis in charge of their own country came just as Japan said it is reconsidering sending troops to Iraq in light of Wednesday's suicide bombing that killed at least 18 Italian paramilitaries and more than a dozen Iraqis near Nasiriyah.
• Ex-Im Bank Proposes to Underwrite U.S. Exports to Iraq Washington File 13 Nov 2003 -- The Export-Import Bank of the United States is proposing a $500 million trade facility with the new Trade Bank of Iraq, which would allow the Iraqis to start taking charge of their economic development, using their own resources to finance the process, according to Philip Merrill, the president and chairman of the bank.

Foreign Reactions

• Iraq: Al-Nasiriyah Attack Testing International Troop Commitments RFE/RL 13 Nov 2003 -- The car bombing of the Italian military police base in Al-Nasiriyah yesterday has reignited debate in Italy over Rome's decision to join the U.S.-led effort in Iraq. At the same time, the deadly attack is also causing Japan to backtrack on plans to send troops to Iraq by the end of the year.
• ITALY/IRAQ VOA 13 Nov 2003 -- Italy is in mourning following a suicide truck-bomb attack at an Italian military police base southern Iraq. The deaths of 18 Italians shocked a nation where many people had not expected casualties in what is supposed to be a mission of peace.
• SOKOR/IRAQ VOA 13 Nov 2003 -- South Korea's government is not likely to send more than three thousand additional troops to Iraq. The troop commitment is far less than the United States has requested.

News Reports

• IRAQ: Civil freedoms needed under Iraq occupation, says report IRIN 13 Nov 2003 -- The occupation of Iraq has served to divest people across the Arab world of many civil freedoms, something which has challenged human development, according to a new Arab Human Development report.
• IRAQ: More than 20,000 Iraqis dead since war started IRIN 13 Nov 2003 -- A new report by in the international health charity Medact estimates that more than 20,000 Iraqi's have died between the start of the war and late last month.