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

Current Operations

• Iraq: Rotating U.S. Troops May Create Security Problems RFE/RL 27 Nov 2003 -- The U.S. Defense Department plans to bring about 100,000 fresh troops into Iraq during the first four months of next year and withdraw most of the 130,000 personnel there now, bringing troops levels down to about 105,000. The resulting force may be fresh, but will it also have sufficient experience and training to do the job?

Deployments

US Policy

• Bush Surprises Troops and the World With Thanksgiving Dinner in Baghdad AFPS 27 Nov 2003 -- About 600 troops gathered for Thanksgiving Day dinner in Baghdad had a surprise guest: their commander in chief, President Bush.
• President Bush Makes Surprise Visit to Baghdad Washington File 27 Nov 2003 -- President Bush made a surprise Thanksgiving Day visit to U.S. troops in Baghdad November 27, flying secretly on Air Force One to Baghdad International Airport, where he spent two and a half hours with a group of about 600 troops before heading back home to Texas.
• BUSH/IRAQ/SECURITY VOA 27 Nov 2003 -- President Bush's surprise Thanksgiving Day visit to Baghdad went forward under extraordinary security measures. News reports say only a handful of people knew about it beforehand.
• IRAQ / BUSH VOA 27 Nov 2003 -- President Bush stunned U-S soldiers in Iraq Thursday when he appeared for a Thanksgiving dinner for some of the troops at the Baghdad Airport. Mr. Bush's trip was a closely kept secret and not made public, until he was on his way back to the United States.
• BUSH IRAQ VOA 27 Nov 2003 -- President Bush has made a surprise visit to Iraq to visit American troops during the U-S Thanksgiving holiday.
• Iraq: Bush Makes Surprise Visit To Baghdad REF/RL 27 Nov 2003 -- U.S. President George W. Bush made a surprise visit to Baghdad today, where he reportedly celebrated the U.S. holiday Thanksgiving with American troops.

United Nations

Reconstruction Issues

• IRAQ / POLITICS VOA 27 Nov 2003 -- The president of Iraq's interim leadership met with the country's top Shiite Muslim to address the cleric's objections to a U-S-backed plan for handing back sovereignty to Iraqis.
• IRAQ: Concern over refugees in Jordanian border area IRIN 27 Nov 2003 -- With the US pounding Iraqi towns with bombs and artillery in an effort to step up raids to catch oppositionists, human rights groups have expressed concern over the impact 'Operation Iron Hammer' could be having on local populations.
• IRAQ: Fears of drop in school attendance due to insecurity IRIN 27 Nov 2003 -- As the school day comes to an end in the southern city of Basra, parents hurry to collect their children, especially if they are girls, from school gates for fear of them being kidnapped or attacked.

Foreign Reactions

• Iraq: Shia Leadership Criticizes U.S. Plan To Transfer Power RFE/RL 27 Nov 2003 -- Iraq's influential Shi'a religious leadership has criticized a U.S.-backed plan to transfer power to Iraqis as incomplete and for not paying enough attention to the role of Islam. Resistance from top clerics may harm the smooth implementation of the plan and could even scuttle it altogether.

News Reports

• IRAQ / THANKSGIVING VOA 27 Nov 2003 -- For many U-S troops in Iraq, Thursday meant taking a brief break from daily street patrols and hunt for insurgents to celebrate the American Thanksgiving holiday.
• RFE/RL Iraq Report, Volume 6, Number 49 27 Nov 2003 -- IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL SUBMITS TIMETABLE FOR END OF OCCUPATION / AL-SISTANI WANTS TRANSITIONAL PLAN RE-EVALUATED / BREMER, ABIZAID SAY ATTACKS TARGETING IRAQI CIVILIANS ON THE RISE / U.K. FOREIGN SECRETARY VISITS BAGHDAD / FORMER RADIATION-TESTING SITE LOOTED IN IRAQ / IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL BANS AL-ARABIYAH NETWORK / UN SECURITY COUNCIL ESTABLISHES COMMITTEE TO HUNT FOR HUSSEIN ASSETS / IRAQ APPOINTS AMBASSADOR TO U.S. / TWO U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED IN MOSUL / IRAQI OIL PIPELINE ON FIRE IN BAYJI / FLIGHTS TO BAGHDAD CANCELED AFTER MISSILE ATTACK ON CARGO AIRCRAFT / BAGHDAD HOTELS HIT BY ROCKETS... / ...AS IS OIL MINISTRY / ASSYRIAN POLITICIAN KILLED IN AL-BASRAH / BUSH DEFENDS IRAQ WAR, WARNS UN ON IRRELEVANCE / PUK OFFICE BOMBED IN KIRKUK / CAR BOMB DETONATED IN AL-RAMADI / SOUTH KOREA TO SEND 3,000 TROOPS ON INDEPENDENT MISSION TO IRAQ / THE POST-HUSSEIN MEDIA ENVIRONMENT IN IRAQ