Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

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

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 15 Nov 2004 [PDF]
• DoD Identifies Marine Casualty
• TRUCK ACCIDENT KILLS COSCOM SOLDIER
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• DoD Identifies Marine Casualties
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• DoD Identifies Marine Casualty

• Transcript: Operational Update on Fallujah, Iraq 15 Nov 2004 -- Colonel Michael Regner, Operations Officer, I Marine Expeditionary Force (G-3, I MEF)
• Fighting Continues In Al-Fallujah, Flares In Ba'qubah RFE/RL 15 Nov 2004 -- Fighting flared today between insurgents and U.S. and Iraqi forces in the city of Ba'qubah as coalition troops moved against remaining pockets of resistance in Al-Fallujah.
• Iraq: U.S. Forces Continue 'Clearing Operations' In Al-Fallujah RFE/RL 15 Nov 2004 -- The U.S. military says it has occupied positions across most of Al-Fallujah after a one-week ground assault there. A senior U.S. field commander says it will be days before the last pockets of resistance have been eliminated so that coalition forces can claim total control of the city. But the assault is now in its final stages. Today, fresh U.S. strikes were called in against an insurgent tunnel network. U.S. Marines also continue house-to-house fighting in what they call "clearing operations."
• IRAQ/FALLUJAH VOA 15 Nov 2004 -- U.S. commanders in Iraq say they have almost complete control of the city of Fallujah, after several days of fighting in which 38 U.S. troops, six Iraqi soldiers and an estimated 12-hundred insurgents have been killed. Pockets of resistance remain in Fallujah, and violence has spread to other areas of Iraq.
• Al-Fallujah Fighting Persists RFE/RL 15 Nov 2004 -- The U.S. military continues to attack insurgent positions in Al-Fallujah with warplanes, artillery, and mortars.
• Operation Al Fajr Update MNF-I/MNC-I 15 Nov 2004 -- Iraqi forces and Multi-National Force-Iraq have wrested most of Fallujah from insurgent control, but operations are not over.
• Anti-Iraqi Forces Conduct Multiple Attacks in Baqubah MNF-I/MNC-I 15 Nov 2004 -- Anti-Iraqi Forces attacked 1st Infantry Division Soldiers with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire near the Mufrek traffic circle and Mufrek Police Station in Baqubah at about 7:05 a.m. on Nov 15.
• Mosul Stable, Stryker Battalion Rejoins Brigade MNF-I/MNC-I 15 Nov 2004 -- Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) continued operations in Mosul Nov. 14 as Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment returned from Fallujah after successfully completing their mission there.
• Defense Department Report, November 15: Iraq Operational Update Washington File 15 Nov 2004 -- Air Force General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says the battle to rid Fallujah of insurgents has proceeded according to plan, but a commander closer to the scene said November 15 that some of the insurgents slipped out of the coalition's grasp and have moved elsewhere to fight anew.
• Fallujah Secure as Mop-up Operations Continue, Marine Officer Says AFPS 15 Nov 2004 -- U.S. and Iraqi forces now control the city of Fallujah, Iraq, a senior American Marine officer said today.
• Iraq Insurgents Face Relentless Pursuit With No Safe Haven AFPS 15 Nov 2004 -- With no other Iraqi city offering them the safe haven they found in Fallujah, insurgents face relentless pursuit by coalition forces, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the commander of Multinational Force Iraq said here today.
• Combined forces control most of Fallujah Army News 15 Nov 2004 -- Iraqi forces and Multi-National Force-Iraq have wrested most of Fallujah from insurgent control, but operations are not over.

Deployments

• Division Commanders Express Optimism in Iraq AFPS 15 Nov 2004 -- The commanders of two Army divisions playing a key role in coalition operations in Iraq expressed optimism when Army Gen. John Abizaid, commander of the U.S. Central Command, visited their headquarters today.

US Policy

• SOLDIER CHARGED WITH PREMEDITATED MURDER CENTCOM 15 Nov 2004 -- The 1st Cavalry Division announced this morning the charges preferred against one Task Force Baghdad Soldier, allegedly involved in wrongful killing of Iraqis.
• Abizaid Visits Fallujah, Calls Battle "Decisive" AFPS 15 Nov 2004 -- The battle against insurgents and terrorists being waged by U.S. troops, Iraqi military units and coalition allies in Fallujah, Iraq, is "decisive," according to the commander of the U.S. Central Command.

United Nations

• UN envoy to Iraq voices hope that elections can be held by end of January 2005 UN News Centre 15 Nov 2004 -- The senior United Nations envoy to Iraq today said "from a technical perspective" elections slated to be held by the end of January 2005 can go ahead as planned.
• CONGRESS /IRAQ / OIL-FOR-FOOD VOA 15 Nov 2004 -- U.S. congressional investigators say the regime of toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein made more than 21 billion dollars in illegal revenue by circumventing sanctions and the United Nations' oil-for-food program, more than double previous estimates.

Reconstruction Issues

• Allawi Expects Continued Efforts to Disrupt Elections AFPS 15 Nov 2004 -- Insurgents and terrorists will inflict all the damage they can and will continue to try to frighten and intimidate Iraqi citizens and security forces as they try to stop the country's upcoming elections, Iraq's interim prime minister said here today.
• Iraq: Experts Say Saddam Hussein Trial Would Be Politically Charged, Legally Ambiguous RFE/RL 15 Nov 2004 -- Prospects for organizing a trial of former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein are daunting due to Iraq's continuing insurgency and plans to hold elections for a transitional government early next year. Still, a panel of experts on the region and war crimes tribunals met recently in New York to consider some of ways Saddam might be tried and to weigh the advantages and drawbacks of different scenarios. There was general agreement among the panelists that any trial of Saddam risks being highly politicized and could be used as a struggle for power among Iraq's competing factions.

Foreign Reactions

• Top Iraqi General Praises Coalition Efforts in Fallujah AFPS 15 Nov 2004 -- A top Iraqi military leader today praised coalition efforts to free Fallujah of terrorists and insurgent fighters.

News Reports

• Iraqi Red Crescent Fails To Deliver Aid To Al-Fallujah RFE/RL 15 Nov 2004 -- A convoy of aid from Iraq's Red Crescent Society has withdrawn from the main hospital on the outskirts of Al-Fallujah after U.S. forces withheld permission for it to deliver supplies to residents inside the city.
• RFE/RL Iraq Report, Volume 7, Number 42 15 Nov 2004 -- IRAQ DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY / MILITANTS MAINTAIN FOCUS ON IRAQI POLICE / SALAFI CLERIC ARRESTED AFTER THREATENING CALL TO WAR / KIDNAPPERS SEIZE MEMBERS OF IRAQI PREMIER'S FAMILY, DEMAND END TO AL-FALLUJAH SIEGE / SUNNI LEADERS VOW SUPPORT FOR MILITANTS / IRAQI ISLAMIC PARTY WITHDRAWS FROM GOVERNMENT / AL-ZARQAWI'S GROUP CALLS FOR RELEASE OF CARE WORKER / VIDEOTAPE OF ARRESTED MILITANTS AIRED / EXPATRIATES TO VOTE IN IRAQ'S JANUARY ELECTIONS / SYRIA REPORTEDLY TAKING CONCRETE STEPS TO SEAL BORDER / IRAN TRAINING KURDS FOR COUNTERINSURGENCY / COALITION MAY DWINDLE AFTER IRAQI ELECTIONS / IRAQI LEADER IN BRUSSELS FOR EU SUMMIT / THE FIGHT TO TAKE BACK AL-FALLUJAH
• IRAQ: Red Crescent reaches edge of Fallujah as humanitarian crisis deepens IRIN 15 Nov 2004 -- As fighting enters its eighth day in Fallujah, the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) is preparing to send a second convoy of aid into the city, after they succeeded in reaching the main hospital on Saturday amid growing fears of a deepening humanitarian crisis.
• IRAQ: Tourism picks up despite violence IRIN 15 Nov 2004 -- Sunglasses on top of her head, her mother sitting next to her in a head-to-toe black abaya covering, Nebras Hussein, 24, is sitting in the front seat of a bus in T-shirt and jeans, bound for holiday spots in Syria.