Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

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

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 27 Apr 2004 [PDF]
• Soldier Killed by Anti-Coalition Gunmen [CJTF-7 News Release] April 27, 2004
• One Marine Killed in Action [CJTF-7 News Release] April 27, 2004
• DoD Identifies Army Casualties

• Transcript: Coalition Provisional Authority Briefing 27 Apr 2004 -- Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, Deputy Director for Coalition Operations; and Dan Senor, Senior Adviser, CPA
• Transcript: Defense Department Operational Briefing 27 Apr 2004 -- Secretary Of Defense Donald Rumsfeld; General Richard Myers, Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff
• Anti-Coalition Forces Fire on Marines from Fallujah Mosque CJTF-7 27 Apr 2004 -- Anti-Coalition forces fired on Marines from a Fallujah mosque Monday with small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades. (...) A short time later, insurgents re-entered the mosque and again fired on Marines. Marines responded with tank fire against the minaret, silencing the attackers.
• Coalition Responds to Enemy Attack in Fallujah AFPS 27 AFPS 2004 -- A U.S. military AC-130 Spectre gunship fired on suspected insurgent positions in Fallujah today, attacking weapons storage sites used by anti-coalition forces.
• Negotiating in Fallujah 'Worth a Try,' Leaders Say AFPS 27 AFPS 2004 -- Negotiating with Fallujans to try to defuse the situation in the Iraqi city is "worth a try," defense leaders said during a press conference today.
• IRAQ SITREP VOA 27 Apr 2004 -- In Iraq, explosions have erupted in the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah with huge blasts lighting up the nighttime sky. They came just minutes after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, at a Pentagon news conference, said negotiations to avoid a full scale military assault would be given more time.
• PENTAGON / IRAQ VOA 27 Apr 2004 -- Despite what a top U-S military commander describes as "very challenging" situations in Iraqi insurgent strongholds like Fallujah and Najaf, the Pentagon is denying that security conditions in Iraq are spiraling out of control.
• Coalition Officials Defend Attack on Iraqi Minaret AFPS 27 Apr 2004 -- Coalition officials in Baghdad today defended the U.S. Marines' decision to call in a strike on a minaret in Fallujah April 26 after determining that insurgents were using it to launch attacks with small- arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.
• Bombs Fall on Fallujah VOA News 27 Apr 2004 -- Heavy shelling is reported in the volatile city of Fallujah, where an extended coalition cease-fire expired Tuesday.
• Iraq: U.S. Forming Elite Defense Corps to Help Fight Insurgency RFE/RL 27 Apr 2004 -- The United States says it is forming an elite Iraqi force to help fight insurgents. The move comes as U.S. military officials plan joint patrols of Al-Fallujah by U.S. Marines and Iraqi security forces, despite recent indications that the Iraqis are reluctant to engage their countrymen.
• 43 Insurgents Killed Near Al-Najaf RFE/RL 27 Apr 2004 -- The U.S. military says 43 guerrillas were killed near the Iraqi Shi'ite holy city of Al-Najaf yesterday.
• 1st FSSG support company mends roads for Iraqi civil defense troops, citizens while keeping front lines stocked Marine Corps News 27 Apr 2004-- Helping to pave the way for a self-governing Iraq, Marines armed with dump trucks and other construction equipment recently repaired rough roads around an infantry outpost on the edge of Fallujah, Iraq, that will soon be home to a battalion of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps.
• 'They fought like lions' Marine Corps News 27 Apr 2004-- Marines in Fallujah repulsed a sustained enemy attack Monday. The attack came just a day after Coalition Forces announced joint Marine and Iraqi patrols were to begin in the city.
• ICDC trains with Marines for Fallujah patrols Marine Corps News 27 Apr 2004-- Teams of Iraqi Civil Defense Corps soldiers and Marines began practicing patrols here Monday in what is shaping up to be the shining hope for decayed security situation in Fallujah.

Deployments

US Policy

• Senators Study Negroponte's Nomination as Ambassador to Iraq Washington File 27 Apr 2004 -- Both Republican and Democratic senators underscored the importance of achieving broader international support for the stabilization and reconstruction of Iraq as they considered President Bush's nomination of John Negroponte for the position of U.S. ambassador to Iraq.
• Powell Says Iraq Will Need to Cede Some Sovereignty Washington File 27 Apr 2004 -- Secretary of State Colin Powell said the Iraqi government that will take power on July 1 will need to cede some of its sovereignty to coalition forces, led by the United States, in order to adequately permit them to provide a secure environment for the government to operate and for elections to take place in January 2005.
• Iraq Ambassador Nominee Meets Senate Committee AFPS 27 AFPS 2004 -- The nominee for U.S. ambassador to Iraq today singled out the challenge facing the United States in Iraq: Establish the conditions by which the Iraqi people can pursue their interests and celebrate their differences through legitimate political channels, rather than through violence and retribution.
• Iraq: Powell Acknowledges Limited Sovereignty For New Government RFE/RL 27 Apr 2004 -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has indicated that the new Iraqi government will get less than full sovereignty in the handover of power set for 30 June.

United Nations

• Security Council backs Brahimi's ideas on formation of Iraqi interim Government UN News Centre 27 Apr 2004 -- The Security Council today gave its backing to ideas outlined by United Nations Special Adviser Lakhdar Brahimi for the formation of an interim Iraqi Government take over from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) at the end of June.
• Brahimi Says Iraqi Caretaker Government Can be Formed by May Washington File 27 Apr 2004 -- Despite the "extremely worrying" security situation in Iraq, a "viable and credible" political process to form a caretaker government to govern the country on June 30 is possible, U.N. Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi told the Security Council April 27.
• Brahimi hopes to have Iraqi interim government named by end of May UN News Centre 27 Apr 2004 -- United Nations Special Adviser Lakhdar Brahimi told the Security Council today he intends to quickly resume talks with Iraqis to reach agreement by the end of May on the composition of a caretaker government to succeed the United States-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), formally bringing an end to the occupation on 30 June.
• Iraq: Brahimi, Veteran UN Troubleshooter, To Play High-Stakes Role RFE/RL 27 Apr 2004 -- The fate of Iraq's political transition rests in large part on the ability of UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to design an interim government acceptable to the country's various factions. With fewer than 70 days remaining before they transfer power, U.S. officials have increasingly deferred to Brahimi's judgment. But his recent comments about U.S. military moves and Israeli policy in the Middle East have aroused criticism, just as he prepares to present his ideas to the UN Security Council.

Reconstruction Issues

• Iraqi Council adopts UN proposal on independent election commission UN News Centre 27 Apr 2004 -- The Iraqi Governing Council has announced that it is adopting recommendations put forward by a United Nations electoral assessment mission on the formation of the Independent Elections Commission of Iraq, a UN spokesman said today.
• Commission to Help Compensate Iraqis Persecuted by Saddam AFPS 27 Apr 2004 -- Coalition officials announced today the formation of a commission to compensate Iraqis who were fired, wrongfully imprisoned or otherwise persecuted by deposed dictator Saddam Hussein.
• IRAQ: Special on efforts to restore Marshlands IRIN 27 Apr 2004 -- In early April, 2003, before the end of the US-led battle to oust the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, Ghazi Assi opened one of the rusted gates that had been built more than 12 years earlier to drain the water from the marshes where he had once lived.

Foreign Reactions

• Middle East: Washington Facing 'Hatred Like Never Before' In Arab World RFE/RL 27 Apr 2004 -- The United States is facing rising animosity in many parts of the Arab world because of its policies on Israel and Iraq. Far from winning over hearts and minds, analysts say U.S. foreign policy may actually be turning more Muslims against America.
• BRITAIN / DIPLOMATIC DISSENT VOA 27 Apr 2004 -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair is fending off a harsh critique of his policies on Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from some leading figures in Britain's foreign affairs establishment.

News Reports

• IRAQ: Printers unhappy with loss of textbook contracts IRIN 27 Apr 2004 -- Electricity is often out, and thieves can break into their offices at any time. But faced with lucrative contracts to reprint all school textbooks in Iraq, many printing firms took out bank loans to buy more modern equipment to handle the work.