• 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

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 20 Feb 2004 [PDF]

• Bomb Kills 2 Soldiers; Coalition Operations Continue AFPS 20 Feb 2004 -- Two Task Force All American soldiers were killed and one was wounded in a roadside bomb explosion near Khaldiyah, Iraq, Feb. 19.
• 4TH INFANTRY OPERATIONS FOR THE PAST 24 HOURS CENTCOM Release 20 Feb 2004-- During the past 24 hours 4thID soldiers raided three locations and captured six individuals, four of them suspected of involvement in anti-Coalition activity.
• Iraqi guards working with 3rd ACR to secure border Army News Service 20 Feb 2004-- More than 15,000 pilgrims have passed through the Ar Ar border crossing during the past couple of weeks and the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment has helped the Iraqi border guards keep the western boundary secure.
• More pay goes to 1,500 Soldiers in war zone Army News Service 20 Feb 2004-- About 1,500 Soldiers are eligible to receive an extra $1,000 a month for being involuntarily extended in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Deployments

• Philippines to send 43 humanitarian contingent replacements to Iraq PLA Daily 20 Feb 2004 -- The Philippine government announced Thursday it would send 43 humanitarian contingent replacements to Iraq next week despite 12 Filipinos were hurt in recent suicide car-bombing attacks there.

US Policy

• POWELL / IRAQ VOA 20 Feb 2004 -- Secretary of State Colin Powell Friday again defended the U-S decision to go to war in Iraq. And, in a policy speech at Princeton University in New Jersey, he said he believes the ouster of Saddam Hussein has been a factor in recent decisions by Libya and Iran to reveal details of their nuclear programs.

United Nations

• Iraq: UN Will Seek Consensus On Political Transition RFE/RL 20 Feb 2004 -- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan plans to intensify contacts with Iraqi leaders to break the impasse over the country's political transition. Annan says Iraqis favor direct elections but there is now a consensus that they cannot be properly conducted before the 30 June deadline for the U.S.-led coalition to hand over power to Iraqis.

Reconstruction Issues

• IRAQ/ELECTION REACT VOA 20 Feb 2004 -- Shi'ite groups in Iraq appear to be coming to terms with international assessments that elections will not be possible before the U-S-led coalition hands power to Iraqis at the end of June.
• Iraq: Some Arabs Fleeing Northern Iraq As Kurdish Refugees Return RFE/RL 20 Feb 2004 -- A new UN-sponsored report says some 100,000 Arabs have fled northern Iraq since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in April. The flight of the Arabs -- many of whom were forcibly settled in northern Iraq by Saddam's regime in order to displace Kurds -- comes as some former Kurdish refugees now return to their homes.

Foreign Reactions

• NATO force in Iraq possible if approved by Iraq, UN: French FM PLA Daily 20 Feb 2004 -- France can envisage a NATO force in Iraq if it is approved by a sovereign Iraqi government and by the United Nations, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin saidin an interview published on Thursday.

News Reports

• AL-SISTANI / INTERVIEW VOA 20 Feb 2004 -- Iraqi Shiite leader Ali al-Sistani says he would accept a short delay in general elections, as long as they are prepared according to a U-N Security Council resolution. The top Iraqi Shi'ite cleric spoke in an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel.
• RFE/RL Iraq Report, Volume 7, Number 06 20 Feb 2004 -- IS IRAQ SLIPPING TOWARDS CIVIL WAR? / IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL OPENS DEBATE ON TRANSITIONAL ADMINISTRATION LAW / COALITION FORCES REPEL ATTACK ON ABU GHURAYB PRISON / U.S. FORCES ARREST SEVEN MILITANTS SUSPECTED OF TIES TO AL-QAEDA / WOMEN'S RIGHTS CENTER OPENS IN KARBALA / DOUBLE SUICIDE CAR BOMBS HIT COALITION MILITARY BASE IN AL-HILLAH / AL-SISTANI'S REPRESENTATIVE SAYS BREMER SHOWS U.S. IS 'FEARFUL' OF ISLAM / TALABANI CLAIMS BREAKTHROUGH WITH AL-SISTANI ON ELECTIONS / MILITANTS LAUNCH BRAZEN ATTACK ON POLICE, ICDC IN AL-FALLUJAH / FORMER IRAQI PARLIAMENT SPEAKER RELEASED BY COALITION / IRAQI POLICE CAPTURE ANOTHER 'MOST WANTED.' / IRAQI CIVIL DEFENSE CORPS DEPLOYS 800 MEN TO SECURE NORTHERN BORDERS / FIVE SUSPECTS ARRESTED IN KILLING OF IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL MEMBER / LABOR MINISTRY OPENS UNEMPLOYMENT CENTER / 11,000 IRAQI TEACHERS GRADUATE FROM TRAINING PROGRAMS / BROTHER OF FORMER ANSAR AL-ISLAM LEADER KIDNAPPED IN IRAQ / FORMER IRAQI INTELLIGENCE CHIEF SAYS HE WAS TARGET OF ROADSIDE BOMB / SPOKESMAN FOR DEMOCRATIC ISLAMIC TREND DISCUSSES HIS PARTY'S ASPIRATIONS / IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL MEMBERS SCRAPPING CAUCUS IDEA / U.S. COMMANDER'S CONVOY ATTACKED IN IRAQ / FORMER AL-MAJID BODYGUARD REPORTEDLY GUNNED DOWN IN BAGHDAD / COALITION ANNOUNCES NEW REWARD PROGRAM / IRAQ'S NEIGHBORS MEET IN KUWAIT / IRAN'S DEPUTY INTERIOR MINISTER PROPOSES OPEN BORDER BETWEEN IRAN, IRAQ / UN SAYS ELECTIONS CAN'T BE HELD BY 30 JUNE / UNHCR EXAMINING ISSUE OF REFUGEES DISPLACED BY IRAQ WAR / INTERNATIONAL MONITORING BOARD FOR IRAQ SETS UP WEBSITE / CITIGROUP, OPIC PROPOSE FINANCING IRAQI IMPORTS / U.K. TO GIVE $3.8 MILLION TO REBUILD IRAQI JUSTICE SYSTEM / HUNGARY VOWS TO CONTINUE IRAQ MISSION DESPITE CASUALTIES / SOUTH KOREA COMMITS TROOPS TO IRAQ / REFORMING THE IRAQI ARMY