Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

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

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 19 Aug 2004 [PDF]
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• MARINE KILLED IN AL ANBAR PROVINCE
• TWO MNF SOLDIERS KILLED, FIVE WOUNDED IN AL HILLAH ATTACK
• SECOND TF BAGHDAD SOLDIER KILLED IN SADR CITY, AUG. 18
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty

• IRAQ/NAJAF VOA 19 Aug 2004 -- Iraq's interim prime minister has issued, in his words, a "final call" for Shiite militants in the city of Najaf to leave a shrine they have been occupying for weeks. The statement comes a day after their leader, radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, sent word that he was willing to disarm. As VOA's Challiss McDonough reports from Baghdad, the Iraqi leader sounds skeptical that the promise is for real.
• IRAQ WRAP VOA 19 Aug 2004 -- Fighting continues in Najaf even though Iraq's Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has made a final call to Shi'ite militants to lay down their weapons and leave the holy Imam Ali shrine in Najaf. Militants threaten to kill a Turkish hostage and missing American journalist. And, in New York and Geneve a special ceremony marks the one-year anniversary of the deadly bombing of U.N. offices in Baghdad.
• Militants in Iraq Threaten to Execute Turkish Hostage VOA News 19 Aug 2004 -- Militants holding a Turkish truck driver hostage in Iraq, have threatened to execute him if his employer does not pull out of Iraq within 72 hours.
• Iraq: Al-Sadr Aide Rejects Government Ultimatum To End Standoff RFE/RL 19 Aug 2004 -- Iraq's government is warning that a final military showdown to end a violent standoff with Shi'a militants in the southern holy city of Al-Najaf is nearing. The government says it will attack within hours unless Shi'a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ends the uprising, disarms his fighters, and leaves the Imam Ali shrine, where he has been holed up since fighting began two weeks ago.
• AIR COMPONENT DATA CENTCOM 19 Aug 2004 -- In Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, Coalition aircraft on Aug. 18 flew 46 strike sorties in Close Air Support (CAS) for Main Supply Routes (MSR) and Alternate Supply Routes (ASR), and for Troops in Contact (TIC) situations. (...) In Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, Coalition forces flew 19 strike sorties.
• FIRST ID SOLDIERS DETAIN 10 DURING OPERATION WOLVERINE CENTCOM 19 Aug 2004 -- 1st Infantry Division Soldiers detained 10 individuals Aug. 19 during a series of searches near Ad Duluiyah around 2:30 a.m.
• IRAQI SECURITY FORCES AND MNF RESTORE ORDER IN AL HAYY CENTCOM 19 Aug 2004 -- Iraqi Security Forces, with support from Multi-National Forces, conducted raids Tuesday and Wednesday in search of Muqtada Militia and other criminal elements in Al Hayy.
• Iraqi Cleric Agrees Cease-Fire, But Fighting Continues RFE/RL 19 Aug 2004 -- Iraqi radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has reportedly agreed to end the current crisis in the holy city of Al-Najaf, but he has called for a cease-fire to be in place before his forces will pull back.
• Iraqi Minister Sets New Deadline For Al-Sadr RFE/RL 19 Aug 2004 -- An Iraqi government official has said a military offensive against Shi'ite militiamen loyal to Shi'a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the holy city of Al-Najaf will begin in "hours" unless they disarm.

Deployments

US Policy

• White House Report, August 19: Iran, Iraq Washington File 19 Aug 2004 -- IRAN MUST COMPLY WITH INTERNATIONAL LAWS / IRAQ GOVERNMENT TOUGH ON AL-SADR
• IRAQ/PRISONER ABUSE VOA 19 Aug 2004 -- A U.S Army investigation into abuses of Iraqi inmates at Abu Ghraib prison is expected to place blame on low level soldiers, while generally clearing senior commanders of involvement. Seven U.S. soldiers are already facing charges of abuse in connection with a scandal that shocked the world.
• U.S.-IRAN-IRAQ VOA 19 Aug 2004 -- The United States said Thursday Iran should see the American military presence in Iraq as a stabilizing, rather than threatening presence. The comments followed remarks by Iran's Defense Minister that some Iranian generals favor striking U.S. forces pre-emptively if they sensed a threat.
• BUSH/NATIONAL SECURITY VOA 19 Aug 2004 -- President Bush's national security adviser says progress is being made on the political front in Iraq, despite the violence that continues in Najaf and elsewhere. VOA White House Correspondent Paula Wolfson reports Condoleezza Rice is urging patience.

United Nations

• In worldwide ceremonies, UN mourns Baghdad terror victims on first anniversary UN News Centre 19 Aug 2004 -- With solemn words and mournful music, black ribbons and a silent march, the lighting of candles and the unveiling of plaques, the entire United Nations system today marked the first anniversary of the deadly terrorist attack on UN headquarters in Baghdad, one of the darkest days in the world body's history.
• UN wrestling with security questions one year after Baghdad bombing - Annan UN News Centre 19 Aug 2004 -- The terrorist bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad one year ago has forced the world body to wrestle with fundamental questions regarding security, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today at a solemn ceremony in Geneva marking the anniversary.
• More bodies of Kuwaitis missing from Iraqi invasion returned home - UN UN News Centre 19 Aug 2004 -- In his latest report on the fate of 605 Kuwaitis who went missing in Iraq after the 1990 invasion of their country and the subsequent Gulf War, Secretary-General Kofi Annan says 340 bodies have already been repatriated.
• UN/IRAQ/NEW YORK VOA 19 Aug 2004 -- United Nations employees marked the anniversary of the Baghdad bombing with a demand for better security. From U.N. headquarters, Peter Heinlein reports the fear of further attacks hangs heavy as the world body anticipates a greater role in Iraq, and other world hot spots.
• IRAQ: One year on, UN workers still coming to terms with Baghdad bombing IRIN 19 Aug 2004 -- One year on, United Nations staffers who survived a truck bomb attack in Baghdad that killed 22, including Sergio Vieira de Mello, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's special representative to Iraq, are still struggling to come to grips with happened.

Reconstruction Issues

• IRAQ: National assembly a fledgling democracy - experts say IRIN 19 Aug 2004 -- With the announcement that an Iraqi national assembly had been selected during a national conference in Baghdad, experts say it was a good exercise to see a form of democracy in action with participants arguing their points boldly during the event.

Foreign Reactions

• Sistani Warns against final US assault on Najaf IRNA 19 Aug 2004 -- Ayatollah Ali Sistani was reported Thursday to have warned against the US launching a final assault on the holy city of Najaf.
• India Rules Out Direct Talks with Iraq Hostage Takers VOA News 19 Aug 2004 -- India says it will not hold direct talks with the kidnappers of three Indians abducted last month in Iraq.

News Reports