Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

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

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 27 Aug 2004 [PDF]
• VEHICLE ACCIDENT KILLS ONE, INJURES ANOTHER
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• DoD Identifies Marine Casualty

• IRAQ WRAP VOA 27 Aug 2004 -- Calm reigned in Najaf Friday, as Shi'ite militants abandoned the holy Imam Ali shrine in accordance with a peace deal brokered by Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. The agreement ended a three-week uprising by radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. But violence persists in northern Iraq. And Italy mourns the execution of an Italian hostage in Iraq.
• IRAQ / NAJAF VOA 27 Aug 2004 -- The Iraqi city of Najaf is quiet, after militants loyal to a radical cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, left the Imam Ali mosque -- one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam. A deal was struck between the radical cleric and Iraq's most respected Shia leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to end a three-week stand-off between the insurgents and Iraqi government forces.
• MNF-I OPERATIONS IN IRAQ 26-27 AUGUST 2004 CENTCOM 27 Aug 2004 -- In Operation Iraqi Freedom, coalition aircraft on Aug. 26 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.
• MARINES, IRAQI NATIONAL GUARD UNCOVER HUGE WEAPONS CACHE CENTCOM 27 Aug 2004 -- Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and members of the Iraqi National Guard uncovered a large cache of weapons and ordnance today during a joint raid on a home northeast of Al Haswah, Iraq.
• IRAQ/NAJAF VOA 27 Aug 2004 -- Thousands of Iraqi Shia Muslims have flocked to the Shrine of Imam Ali in the city of Najaf in what appears to be a real end to three weeks of fighting.
• US Strikes Insurgent Target in Fallujah VOA 27 Aug 2004 -- The U.S. military says an American warplane has destroyed an anti-aircraft gun belonging to insurgents in the restive city of Fallujah.
• Marines dedicate Al Taqaddum airfield to fallen aviator USMC News 26 Aug 2004 -- A group of Marines recently gathered on the flightline of Al Taqaddum, Iraq to pay tribute to their fallen brother.

Deployments

• Night Owls return home USMC News 26 Aug 2004 -- Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 2 arrived stateside Sunday after serving more than six months in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II.

US Policy

• Bush Admits Iraq 'Miscalculations' VOA 27 Aug 2004 -- President Bush reportedly has admitted he miscalculated post-war conditions in Iraq.

• Iraqi Security Forces Proving More Capable, U.S. General Says AFPS 27 Aug 2004 -- Iraq's security forces are improving and assuming a growing role in establishing law and order across the country, a senior U.S. military officer stationed in Baghdad said today.
• Prison abuses being "energetically" investigated, Rumsfeld says Washington File 27 Aug 2004 -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was not in Washington when two new reports investigating responsibility for abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody in Iraq, but he responded by saying his department is energetically investigating wrongdoing and prosecuting those who failed in their duties.

United Nations

• S/2004/693: Eighteenth quarterly report UNOMIVC 27 Aug 2004 [PDF]

Reconstruction Issues

Foreign Reactions

• Kuwaiti Firm Bows to Kidnappers' Demands as Militants Kill Italian Hostage VOA 27 Aug 2004 -- A Kuwaiti transportation company says it is stopping work in Iraq, bowing to demands from kidnappers holding seven of its employees.
• NAJAF UNREST: Al-SISTANI BRINGS 'BEACON OF HOPE' US Dept. of State IIP, Foreign Media Reaction 27 Aug 2004
• ITALY / IRAQ HOSTAGE VOA 27 Aug 2004 -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has condemned the killing of an Italian hostage in Iraq, and again vowed to keep Italian forces in the country. An Arab television station said Friday that it received a video showing the killing of Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni. Militants had threatened to execute him if Italy did not withdraw its troops from Iraq.

News Reports

• RFE/RL Iraq Report, Volume 7, Number 32 27 Aug 2004 -- WEEKLY LISTS GOALS OF AL-SADR MILITIA / AL-SISTANI RETURNS TO IRAQ IN APPARENT BID TO END STANDOFF / AL-KUFAH MOSQUE SHELLED / AL-SADR STILL IN AL-NAJAF? / AL-SADR SPOKESMAN SAYS U.S. USED 'BIOLOGICAL BOMBS' IN AL-NAJAF / FIGHTING ESCALATES IN AL-AMARAH / AL-SADR AIDE ARRESTED, ACCUSED OF HAVING ARTIFACTS TAKEN FROM IMAM ALI SHRINE / LEBANESE HOSTAGE RELEASED / IRAQI OLYMPIC SOCCER TEAM LOSES TO PARAGUAY / TWO IRAQI MINISTERS TARGETED IN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS / MILITANTS KIDNAP IRAQI OFFICIALS / DIYALA PROVINCE DEPUTY GOVERNOR ESCAPES ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT / EIGHT OIL PIPELINES ATTACKED IN SOUTHERN IRAQ / PUK HEAD ANNOUNCES 'PURGING CAMPAIGN.' / BAGHDAD REJECTS IRAN'S CALL FOR OIC INVOLVEMENT IN AL-NAJAF / ROYAL JORDANIAN AIRLINES SUSPENDS FLIGHTS TO BAGHDAD / QAZI MEETS WITH IRAQI OFFICIALS / SEVERAL NATIONS CONSIDER EXTENDING TROOP DEPLOYMENTS / U.S. MILITARY COURTS BEGIN HEARINGS ON PRISONER ABUSE / JOURNALISTS FACE TOUGH OBSTACLES IN IRAQ
• IRAQ: Aid agencies and health ministry struggle to help Najaf injured and displaced IRIN 27 Aug 2004 -- Iraqi's health ministry, along with aid agencies, have been battling to cope with hundreds of injured and the feeding of thousands of families made homeless by three weeks of fighting in the southern cities of Najaf and Kufa as Shi'ite rebels began handing in weapons and leaving Najaf's holy shrine on Friday.