Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

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

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 26 Aug 2004 [PDF]
• SOLDIER KILLED IN MORTAR ATTACK
• DoD Identifies Marine Casualty
• DoD Identifies Marine Casualty

• IRAQ / SISTANI VOA 26 Aug 2004 -- Aides to Iraq's most senior Shia religious leader say radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has agreed to a plan to end the three-week-long standoff in the city of Najaf. The news came after tens of thousands of marchers converged on the city in support of the bid for peace.
• IRAQ WRAP VOA 26 Aug 2004 -- Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, returned home to Najaf Thursday, along with thousands of demonstrators, in a bid to end a bloody three-week uprising by radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Late in the day, his aides announced a peace deal had been reached.
• Iraq: Violence Near Al-Najaf As Shi'a Cleric Arrives On Peace Mission RFE/RL 26 Aug 2004 -- Hundreds of people were crowded into Al-Kufah's golden-domed mosque when the mortar attack came.
• Iraqi Religious Authorities Reach Agreement on Najaf VOA News 26 Aug 2004 -- Aides to Iraq's leading Shi'ite religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, say he has reached a deal to end the three-week long stand-off in the holy city of Najaf led by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
• QUARTERHORSE RIDES TO ENGAGE THE LOCAL POPULACE CENTCOM 26 Aug 2004 -- Since May, levels of Anti-Iraqi Forces activities against coalition forces have increased throughout the country, most of the attacks against Task Force Sabre have happened in the last three months, causing civil affairs projects in the area to cease.
• OFFENSIVE OPERATIONS TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED IN NAJAF CENTCOM 26 Aug 2004 -- At the request of the local and national Iraqi government, Iraqi security forces and the Multi-National Force-Iraq have temporarily suspended offensive military operations to facilitate the return of Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani to the holy city of Najaf.
• IRAQ/KUFA VIOLENCE VOA 26 Aug 2004 -- At least 27 people were killed and scores more injured in a mortar attack on a mosque in the Iraqi city of Kufa. The attack came as thousands of followers of the revered Shia leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani are obeying his call to march on the neighboring city of Najaf, where insurgents have been locked in a stand-off with Iraqi and U.S. forces for the past three weeks.
• Mortar Attack in Al-Kufah Leaves Many Dead RFE/RL 26 Aug 2004 -- Reports say a mortar attack on the main mosque in the Iraqi city of Al-Kufah today left many dead and injured.
• Al-Sadr Supporters Attacked Near Al-Najaf RFE/RL 26 Aug 2004 -- Supporters of radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr were attacked today as they marched from the town of Al-Kufah to the adjacent city of Al-Najaf where al-Sadr's militia has been fighting U.S. forces for several weeks.
• Dismounted infantry ensures success of 'Iron Fury' Army News 26 Aug 2004 -- For every company of armored tanks and Bradleys that pushed into the volatile portion of Baghdad's Sadhr City during the Iron Horse Brigade's Operation Iron Fury, there was a platoon of dismounted Soldiers like the infantrymen of White Platoon, "Comanche" Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment.

Deployments

• 31st MEU departs for Middle East USMC News 26 Aug 2004 -- The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, with about 2,000 Marines and sailors, recently departed Okinawa for the Middle East to support Operation Iraqi Freedom.

US Policy

• U.S.: Rumsfeld Faces Calls to Resign After Iraqi Abuse Reports RFE/RL 26 Aug 2004 -- U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry and other critics are calling on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign after a prestigious independent panel blamed the Pentagon's civilian leadership for creating the conditions that led to the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq. But while the panel also faulted Rumsfeld's slow response to the Iraqi insurgency, it appears unlikely the Pentagon chief will step down -- especially just before U.S. presidential elections. Even the panel members themselves urged Rumsfeld not to resign, saying such a step would help America's enemies. Yet how else can top government officials take responsibility for their mistakes, if not by quitting?

United Nations

Reconstruction Issues

Foreign Reactions

• A Case to Answer: A first report on the potential impeachment of the Prime Minister for High Crimes and Misdemeanours in relation to the invasion of Iraq. by Glen Rangwala and Dan Plesch for Adam Price MP ImpeashBlair.org Aug 2004 -- "This report sets out compelling evidence of deliberate repeated distortion, seriously misleading statements and culpable negligence on the part of the Prime Minister. This misconduct is in itself more than sufficient to require his resignation. (...) The core conclusion of this report is that the impeachment of the Prime Minister has a strong basis in fact, and established precedent in parliamentary law. It is on this basis that a number of parliamentary colleagues have declared their intention to bring a Commons motion of impeachment as an indictment of the methods, practices and conduct of the Prime Minister in relation to the war in Iraq." [PDF 606 Kb]
• MPs publish Blair impeachment report ImpeashBlair.org 26 Aug 2004 -- Adam Price MP today published a report recommending that impeachment procedures are begun against the Prime Minister for his misconduct in relation to the Iraq war. The group of MPs, which includes two parliamentary leaders and a Conservative shadow minister, will, over the next couple of weeks seek to gather further support from their parliamentary colleagues.

News Reports

• Iraqi & Regional Media Monitoring UNAMI 26 Aug 2004
• Top Iraqi Shi'ite Cleric Arrives in Al-Najaf RFE/RL 26 Aug 2004 -- Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, arrived in the city of Al-Najaf today in a bid to end a weeks-long conflict between U.S. forces and militiamen loyal to Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
• IRAQ / SHI'ITE VOA 26 Aug 2004 -- Forces loyal to radical Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have tied up Iraqi and U.S. troops in the holy city of Najaf for weeks, taking refuge in some of Shia Islam's holiest shrines.
• CACI Says the Fay Report Clearly Shifts Focus of Blame Away From Its Employee Named in a Previous Report CACI 26 Aug 2004 -- CACI International Inc (NYSE:CAI) commented on the findings of the recently released U.S. Army’s Fay Report in which three employees were cited.