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

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 20 OCt 2004 [PDF]

• A STRIKE ON ZARQAWI SAFEHOUSE CENTCOM 20 Oct 2004 -- Multi-National Force-Iraq struck two adjoining Abu Musab al-Zarqawi terrorist safe houses in north east Fallujah Oct. 20.
• MARINES ELIMINATE INSURGENT FIGHTING POSITION CENTCOM 20 Oct 2004 -- Marines destroyed a known insurgent command and control post on the north side of the city at about 1:30 p.m. Oct. 20.
• U.S. Strikes Reportedly Kill Six Iraqis In Al-Fallujah RFE/RL 20 Oct 2004 -- The U.S. military said today's air raids destroyed two safe houses belonging to followers of militant leader Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi in northern Al-Fallujah.
• 1/23 scouts ahead using eye in the sky USMC News 20 Oct 2004 -- Knowledge of the enemy is key to getting the upper-hand in combat. Marines with Company C, 1st Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 7, are employing aerial technology called the dragon eye to get a better picture on the situation.

Deployments

US Policy

• White House Daily Briefing, October 20 Washington File 20 Oct 2004 -- Iraq: Zarqawi connection and U.S. intelligence
• DETAINEE DIES AT CAMP BUCCA CENTCOM 20 Oct 2004 -- A security internee died Tuesday evening, Oct. 19, of unknown causes at Camp Bucca, near the Iraqi town of Umm Qasr. An autopsy is pending to determine the cause of death.
• ARMY STAFF SGT. PLEADS GUILTY TO MISTREATMENT OF PRISONERS CENTCOM 20 Oct 2004 -- On Oct. 20 Staff Sgt. Ivan L. Fredrick II pled guilty to and was found guilty of one specification of conspiracy to maltreat detainees, one specification of dereliction of duty for failure to protect detainees from maltreatment, four specifications of maltreatment of detainees, one specification of assaulting a detainee and one specification of committing an indecent act.

United Nations

• Fiji to provide security detail for UN officials in Iraq UN News Centre 20 Oct 2004 -- Fiji has agreed to provide a protective security detail for senior United Nations officials in Iraq, as well as a guard unit for UN facilities in Baghdad, a spokesperson for the world body said today.
• UN / IRAQ SECURITY VOA 20 Oct 2004 -- The South Pacific island nation of Fiji has become the first to offer troops for a special protection force for United Nations personnel in Iraq. The United Nations remains reluctant to re-commit staff to Iraq, following last year's deadly bombing of its Baghdad offices.
• Insecurity prevents UN from sending staff to Iraq, UN regional official says UN News Centre 20 Oct 2004 -- The United Nations commission for the Middle East is eager to respond to requests by Iraqi officials seeking a stronger presence by the world body in the country, but the security situation remains too unstable, a senior UN official based in the region said today.

Reconstruction Issues

• Iraq Interior Ministry Forms Police Commando Battalions AFPS 20 Oct 2004 -- To add an immediate strike-force capability to Iraq's police forces, the Ministry of Interior -- in one of the Iraqi interim government's first self-initiated security force moves since the June 28 sovereignty handover -- has begun forming six police commando battalions.
• Interim Prime Minister Allawi Outlines Iraq's Future AFPS 20 Oct 2004 -- Looking forward to nationwide elections slated in January, interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi cited in recent remarks the "large strides" his country has made since the April 9, 2003, fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.
• IRAQ: Plans to phase out rations to boost economy still debated IRIN 20 Oct 2004 -- Tomato paste and cheese will be added as a special treat during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan to food rations, distributed to all Iraqi families.

Foreign Reactions

• AUSTRALIA IRAQ AID VOA 20 Oct 2004 -- The international aid organization CARE has suspended its work in Iraq following the kidnapping of its most senior official in Baghdad. Margaret Hassan was taken hostage on Monday as she drove to her office in Baghdad. She was employed through the charity's offices in Australia.

News Reports

• IRAQ / WRAP VOA 20 Oct 2004 -- The humanitarian aid agency CARE has temporarily suspended its operations in Iraq, following the abduction of the organization's chief of operations in the country. Also on Wednesday, the highest-ranking U.S. soldier charged in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal pleaded guilty.
• Iraq: Kidnappers Abduct Head Of International Charity In Baghdad RFE/RL 20 Oct 2004 -- Kidnappers have seized a woman who many consider to be the unofficial head of the international humanitarian community in Baghdad. She is Margaret Hassan, a dual British-Iraqi national who has lived in Iraq more than 30 years and is the head of operations for the international charity CARE. Hassan, believed to be in her late 50s, was born in Dublin and married into a prominent Iraqi family. Throughout Iraq's past decades of crisis -- including UN sanctions and the war last year -- she stayed in Iraq, working on projects to bring water and health care to the poorest sections of society.
• IRAQ: Turkish truck drivers limit operations over insecurity IRIN 20 Oct 2004 -- A month ago, few Turkish truck drivers moving into central and southern Iraq would have spared a glance at Ismailiye, one of the scores of roadside cafes that have sprung up on the dual carriageway connecting the Turkish border to the northern city of Mosul.