Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

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

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 16 Aug 2004 [PDF]
• BLAST KILLS SOLDIER IN NORTHERN BAGHDAD
• THREE SOLDIERS KILLED IN ACTION IN AN NAJAF PROVINCE
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• DoD Identifies Marine Casualties

• MNF REMAIN IN DEFENSIVE POSTURE IN NAJAF CENTCOM 16 Aug 2004 -- Multi-National Forces continue to safeguard the citizens of Najaf at the request of the Iraqi Prime Minister. They are assisting Iraqi police with vehicle checkpoints around the city and continue to defend themselves against sporadic attacks by the Muqtada Militia.
• IRAQ WRAP VOA 16 Aug 2004 -- Fierce fighting continues in the Iraqi city of Najaf, hours after leaders meeting in Baghdad agreed to make a last-ditch appeal for peace there. In other news, several hostages are freed in Iraq, and the Iraqi soccer team continues an unexpected winning streak at the Athens Olympics.
• POOL REPORT 2 FROM FPRINT PRESS POOLER AT FOB EAGLE, SADR CITY CENTCOM 16 Aug 2004 -- Recapping from Report 1, I am with the 2nd Batallion, 5th Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division at Forward Operating Base Eagle, on the eastern edge of Sadr City.
• Fresh Violence In Al-Najaf, Reporters Told To Leave RFE/RL 16 Aug 2004 -- Renewed fighting is being reported in Al-Najaf as Iraqi troops -- backed by U.S. soldiers -- appear to be nearing the city's Imam Ali shrine, a stronghold of militiamen loyal to radical Shi'a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
• GPS-guided cargo chutes touchdown after first combat drop in Iraq USMC News 16 Aug 2004 -- Steering themselves from nearly two miles high to within less than 200 meters of their target, the Marine Corps' two newest skydivers made their first combat zone landing Aug. 9, 2004, near here.

Deployments

US Policy

United Nations

• IRAQ: Focus on national conference IRIN 16 Aug 2004 -- Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative for Iraq, told delegates on Sunday - the first day of the long-awaited national conference to elect a new national assembly in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, that a credible political transition in Iraq was the best solution to ongoing violence in the country.

Reconstruction Issues

• Iraq: Delegates Debate, Protest In First National Conference RFE/RL 16 Aug 2004 -- As most attention on Iraq remains focused upon Al-Najaf, significant political events are taking place in Baghdad, where some 1,300 delegates from across the country are meeting to form a "people's" council that will advise the interim government. But the conference itself is turning into a vociferous political convention of a kind unimaginable in the Saddam era.
• Conference Sends Delegates To Al-Najaf To Negotiate RFE/RL 16 Aug 2004 -- Around 50 delegates at the Iraqi National Conference today agreed to visit Al-Najaf to urge Shi'a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to end his militia's fighting with U.S. and Iraqi forces in the city.
• DETAINEE RELEASE BOARD TAKES ON IRAQI PARTNERS CENTCOM 16 Aug 2004 -- The release of security detainees interned by the Multi-National Force - Iraq underwent a major change Saturday when the MNF unveiled a new review process that incorporates the Interim Iraqi Government's Ministries of Justice, Interior and Human Rights.
• NEW GENERATOR MEANS MORE LIGHTS ON FOR IRAQ CENTCOM 16 Aug 2004 -- For the third time in two weeks, Iraqi and U.S. engineers have brought more electricity to the people of Iraq by commissioning a power plant in Southern Iraq.
• Iraqi Delegates Hold 2nd Day Of Conference RFE/RL 16 Aug 2004 -- More than 1,000 Iraqi political and religious leaders are meeting for a second day today in Baghdad to select an interim national assembly.

Foreign Reactions

• Iran Warns Iraq Over Missing Diplomat RFE/RL 16 Aug 2004 -- Iran today said it is holding Iraq's interim government responsible for the fate of its diplomat who went missing last week while traveling between Baghdad and Karbala.

News Reports

• Iraqi Ministers of Defense, State speak to Iraqi troops in historical event Marine Corps News 16 Aug 2004 -- Iraq's Minister of Defense Hazem Sha'alan and a Minister of State Kasim Daoud spoke to members of Iraq's Security Forces during a visit to the base here today.