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Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 23 Jun 2004 [PDF]

• IRAQ WRAP VOA 23 Jun 2004 -- A U.S. military official says an airstrike against insurgents in Iraq is believed to have killed 20 foreign fighters. The strike came amid threats targeting Iraq's interim prime minister.

Deployments

• Typhoon, Sirocco Join Gulf Maritime Security Operations Task Force Navy Newsstand 23 Jun 2004 -- USS Typhoon (PC 5) and USS Sirocco (PC 6) joined the maritime security operations force in the Northern Arabian Gulf in June, helping to protect the Iraqi oil terminals.

US Policy

• Iraqis Can Hasten Zarqawi's Death or Capture, Official Says AFPS 23 Jun 2004 -- Ordinary Iraqis hold the key to how soon coalition or Iraqi forces will find fugitive terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a senior military official told reporters in Baghdad today.
• CONGRESS/IRAQ/AL QAIDA VOA 23 Jun 2004 -- The U.S. House of Representatives has approved an amendment calling on the to conduct an audit of any evidence it provided to the Bush Administration and Congress concerning a relationship between Iraq and the al-Qaida terrorist network before September 11th, 2001. The measure came as part of House action on legislation to fund U.S. intelligence agencies. That package passed the House, 360 to 61, late Wednesdat.
• CONGRESS/IRAQ/AL QAIDA VOA 23 Jun 2004 -- The U.S. House of Representatives has approved an amendment calling on the CIA to conduct an audit of any evidence it provided to the Bush Administration and Congress concerning a relationship between Iraq and the al-Qaida terrorist network before September 11th, 2001. The measure came as part of House action on legislation to fund U.S. intelligence agencies.
• POWELL / IRAQ ENVOY VOA 23 Jun 2004 -- Secretary of State Colin Powell Wednesday swore in veteran diplomat John Negroponte, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to be the Bush administration's first envoy to Iraq. Mr. Powell said the creation of a U.S. embassy in Baghdad and the end to the Coalition Provision Authority June 30th will mark the "unequivocal end" to the U-S-led occupation.
• CONGRESS/IRAQ PRISONERS VOA 23 Jun 2004 -- Democrats in Congress are taking new steps to press the Bush administration for more information from government investigations into alleged abuse of prisoners by members of the U.S. military in Iraq.
• Powell, Negroponte Speak Hopefully of Iraq's Future Washington File 23 Jun 2004 -- Secretary of State Colin Powell highlighted the importance of the upcoming transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi interim government at the June 23 swearing-in of John Negroponte as the new U.S. Ambassador to Iraq.
• White House Report, June 23: Iraq, North Korea Washington File 23 Jun 2004 -- PRESIDENT BUSH REITERATES COMMITMENT TO IRAQ / U.S. PROPOSES AID IN EXCHANGE FOR N. KOREA NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT

United Nations

• Iraq Beheading Draws Scorn At UN RFE/RL 23 Jun 2004 -- The beheading of 33-year-old South Korean businessman Kim Sun-il yesterday has drawn widespread condemnation. South Korea and other states assisting the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq have nonetheless vowed to maintain their presence in the country.

Reconstruction Issues

• Iraq: U.S., Rights Groups Differ On Prisoners After 30 June RFE/RL 23 Jun 2004 -- Iraq's interim government, under Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, will assume sovereignty next week -- and legal custody of about 6,000 Iraqi prisoners. They range from deposed President Saddam Hussein to street criminals who the U.S.-led coalition says threaten the country's fragile stability. The International Committee of the Red Cross and several human rights groups say that after the coalition cedes sovereignty, international law requires the prisoners be either charged or released. The United States disagrees.

Foreign Reactions

• BRITAIN / IRAN SEIZURE VOA 23 Jun 2004 -- Iran says it will free eight British navy crewmen captured Monday on the strategic waterway that divides Iraq and Iran, but talks on arrangements for the transfer continued into Wednesday evening. Iranian state television reported the Britons would not be freed until at least Thursday. The release would defuse an incident that has threatened to blow up into a diplomatic crisis.
• Kharrazi: British sailors to be released shortly IRNA 23 Jun 2004 -- Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi here Wednesday said that the eight British sailors detained in Iran`s territorial waters on Monday will be released later in the day.
• UK receives confirmation about imminent release of servicemen IRNA 23 Jun 2004 -- The British Foreign Office verified Wednesday that it was expecting the imminent release of eight servicemen detained by Iran for illegally entering its waters earlier this week.
• SOUTH KOREA/HOSTAGE MURDER VOA 23 Jun 2004 -- Asia is reacting with shock at Iraqi militants beheading a South Korean worker they took hostage. The South Korean government is vowing not to be intimidated by such terror tactics and will standby plans to send additional troops to help rebuild the war-torn country.

News Reports

• Iraqi Media Monitoring UNAMI 23 Jun 2004
• Iraq: Kidnappers Preying On Wealthy Locals, Not Just Foreigners RFE/RL 23 Jun 2004 -- Dozens of foreigners have been taken hostage in Iraq over the past few months. Most have been freed. Many are still missing, and at least seven have been killed, including a South Korean who was beheaded by Islamic militants this week. But foreigners are not the only targets of kidnappers in Iraq. Wealthy Iraqis are also becoming victims, and many are paying thousands of dollars in ransom to regain their freedom.