Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

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

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 08 Nov 2004 [PDF]
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• DoD Identifies Marine Casualty
• SOLDIER KILLED IN SMALL ARMS ATTACK IN EASTERN BAGHDAD
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty

• Transcript: DoD Briefing - Iraq Security Forces and Multinational Forces Offensive Actions in Fallujah, Iraq 08 Nov 2004 -- Gen. George Casey, Commander, Multinational Force Iraq and Bryan Whitman, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
• Transcript: Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld Press Briefing 08 Nov 2004 -- Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
• FALLUJAH BATTLE VOA 08 Nov 2004 -- Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops have begun a long-awaited ground offensive to retake the Iraqi city of Fallujah from terrorists and insurgents. The top U.S. military commander in Iraq predicts the battle that could become one of the toughest ground combat operations of the Iraq war may last for days. Even so, U.S. military officials do not see the assault on Fallujah as the final showdown for the Iraqi insurgency.
• 'Operation Al Fajr' Begins to Retake Fallujah AFPS 08 Nov 2004 -- American and Iraqi forces are in combat against terrorists and insurgents in the rebel Iraqi city of Fallujah, Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr. said today.
• Iraqi, U.S. Troops Begin 'Al Fajr' Operation in Fallujah AFPS 08 Nov 2004 -- Iraqi and U.S. forces began their long-awaited assault today against insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq, in an operation dubbed "Al Fajr," the Iraqi word for dawn.
• FALLUJAH BATTLE VOA 08 Nov 2004 -- U.S. forces have been bombarding the Iraqi city of Fallujah with heavy artillery and air strikes to soften up the rebel stronghold as marines, army units and Iraqi soldiers entered Fallujah in what is expected to be a major assault. Iraq's Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has given the go-ahead for multinational forces to take the city which has been a base for Sunni insurgents for months.
• Iraq: U.S. Troops Surround Al-Fallujah As Offensive Preparations Continue RFE/RL 08 Nov 2004 -- There was heavy fighting today on both the eastern and western fringes of Al-Fallujah as U.S. forces encircled the insurgent-held city over the past 24 hours. Al-Fallujah's main hospital was seized overnight by U.S. troops and their Iraqi allies. Intense U.S. air and artillery strikes continue to target suspected insurgent positions in what is being described as a "preparatory phase" of for a ground assault that the Iraqi interim prime minister now says he has authorized.
• Multi-National Forces Detain Roadside Bomb Cell, Collect Weapons MNF-I/MNC-I 08 Nov 2004 -- Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 13 people for anti-Iraqi activities and collected a variety of weapons and munitions during the last 48 hours in northern Iraq.
• Insurgents Targeting Iraqi Families, Children MNF-I/MNC-I 08 Nov 2004 -- Terrorist groups in Fallujah and Ramadi have increased their use of intimidation tactics and violence against innocent Iraqi citizens. Many brave Iraqi citizens have stepped forward to inform Multi-National Forces of these actions.
• U.S. Forces Storm Western Outskirts Of Al-Fallujah RFE/RL 08 Nov 2004 -- U.S. soldiers in Iraq continue to shell the rebel-held city of Al-Fallujah after taking control of the main hospital on the western edge and securing two bridges over the Euphrates River leading to the inner city.
• U.S., Iraqi Troops Fight Insurgents In Al-Fallujah RFE/RL 08 Nov 2004 -- U.S. and Iraqi forces have battled insurgents on the outskirts of Al-Fallujah ahead of an expected offensive on the Iraqi rebel stronghold.

Deployments

US Policy

• Elections in Iraq Key to Stability, Rumsfeld Says AFPS 08 Nov 2004 -- Time will tell, but 18 months before Oct. 9, no one gave the Afghan elections much of a chance, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld during an American Forces Press Service interview today.
• Rumsfeld: Fallujah Offensive 'Will Deal a Blow' to Terrorists AFPS 08 Nov 2004 -- The Defense Department's top civilian today predicted victory for U.S., coalition and Iraqi forces as they launched large- scale attacks on insurgent positions in the Iraqi city of Fallujah.
• Terrorist Safehavens Must Be Eliminated from Iraq, Rumsfeld Says Washington File 08 Nov 2004 -- With the coalition military operation to restore law and order in the Iraqi city of Fallujah still in its infancy, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says it is impossible to have a free, democratic nation where a terrorist safehaven also exists.
• U.S. Explains Al-Fallujah Operations To Foreign Officials RFE/RL 08 Nov 2004 -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has called his counterparts in several countries to explain U.S. military operations now under way in the Iraqi city of Al-Fallujah.
• U.S. Officials Braced For Tough Fighting In Al-Fallujah RFE/RL 08 Nov 2004 -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today the operation launched earlier in the day to take the central Iraqi city of Al-Fallujah will mean tough fighting.

• IRAQI WITNESSES TESTIFY IN MURDER HEARING CENTCOM 08 Nov 2004 -- The last in a series of Article 32 hearings was held here Nov. 7 to determine if a U.S. Army Soldier accused of murder will be tried by military court-martial.

United Nations

• UN / IRAQ / FALLUJAH VOA 08 Nov 2004 -- Iraq's prime minister has rejected U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's warning that attacking Fallujah could jeopardize planned elections. In a sharply worded diplomatic rebuke, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi argues that crushing insurgents is the least-damaging choice for making Iraq safe.

Reconstruction Issues

• Iraq: Prime Minister Declares State Of Emergency RFE/RL 08 Nov 2004 -- Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has declared a state of emergency in Iraq that gives him the power to impose martial law in areas where he sees threats to national security. The declaration comes just ahead of an expected U.S.-led assault on insurgents in Al-Fallujah and a first round of national elections in January. But how much difference will declaring a state of emergency really make in improving Iraq's security situation?
• IRAQ/ALLAWI VOA 08 Nov 2004 -- Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi says he has given U.S. and Iraqi forces the authority to rid the city of Fallujah of terrorists. He also set out new emergency measures.
• Iraqi Premier Authorizes Assault On Al-Fallujah RFE/RL 08 Nov 2004 -- Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi says he has authorized a ground offensive by U.S. and Iraqi forces on the rebel-held city of Al-Fallujah.
• IRAQ: Thousands of residents have fled Fallujah IRIN 08 Nov 2004 -- "I cannot find my friends anywhere, I'm feeling like I'm the only child in my town, alone, with my parents and God," Muhammad al-Rabya, a seven-year-old in the city of Fallujah, 60 km from Baghdad, told IRIN.
• IRAQ: Clean up process started in Baqubah IRIN 08 Nov 2004 -- US troops are working in partnership with residents in the city of Baqubah, 60 km northwest of Baghdad, to develop a programme to clear rubbish and debris left behind by fighting between the troops and insurgents.

Foreign Reactions

• IRAQ: MSF withdraws from the country IRIN 08 Nov 2004 -- The Belgian-based medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) pulled out of Iraq on Thursday saying that international organisations had become targets in the light of recent threats and kidnappings of humanitarian workers.

News Reports

• Iraqi Media Monitoring UNAMI 08 Nov 2004
• US/IRAQ/MIDEAST VOA 08 Nov 2004 -- The Bush administration is facing major challenges in the foreign-policy arena.