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Operations
Deployments
US Policy
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Reconstruction Issues
Foreign Reactions
News Reports

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 27 Jan 2005 [PDF]
• One 1st ID Soldier Dies from Gunshot Wound
• Marine Killed in Action South of Baghdad
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• DoD Identifies Marine Casualties
• DoD Identifies Navy Casualty
• DoD Identifies Marine Casualties
• DoD Identifies Marine Casualty

• Insurgents Escalate Attacks Prior To Iraqi Elections RFE/RL 27 Jan 2005 -- Insurgents using suicide bombs, rockets, and roadside explosives spread violence across Iraq today in a mounting campaign to disrupt elections scheduled for 30 January.
• Four Suspected Insurgents Captured MNF-I/MNC-I 27 Jan 2006 -- Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) continued operations to ensure security for the elections, detaining four individuals in northern Iraq today.
• Car Bomber Stopped by Iraqi Army Troops MNF-I/MNC-I 27 Jan 2005 -- Iraqi Army troops stopped a car speeding toward their checkpoint at 4 p.m. on Jan. 27 in western Baghdad with small arms fire, wounding the driver. After a quick look into the vehicle, an explosive ordnance team was called.
• Iraqi citizens Assist Iraqi, U.S. Forces in Advance of Upcoming Elections MNF-I/MNC-I 27 Jan 2005 -- Iraqi citizens continue to assist Iraqi and U.S. forces in ridding the streets and cities of weapons caches in advance of the upcoming Iraqi elections. Marines and Soldiers of the 1st Marine Division of the I Marine Expeditionary Force tirelessly seize weapons caches throughout the Al Anbar Province.
• EOD Airmen destroy explosives AFPN 27 Jan 2005 -- Heat, shock and friction were key ingredients in the controlled detonation of more than 1,000 pounds of explosives Jan. 23.
• Marine tank unit crucial to stabilization of Iraq USMC News 27 Jan 2005 -- In the middle of this barren Iraqi desert, the deafening sounds of cannon fire from an M-1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank punches through the air in a momentary fiery blast.

Deployments

• Written Ministerial Statement to the House of Commons by Secretary of State for Defence, Geoff Hoon UK Ministry of Defence 27 Jan 2005 -- Following the expiry of the Dutch mandate in Iraq and the planned withdrawal of its force of 1,400 personnel from Al Muthanna province in Iraq in March, the United Kingdom has, in its role as framework nation, reviewed with allies how security should continue to be provided in this part of Multi-National Division (South East) (MND(SE)).

US Policy

• Remarks made by Senator Edward M. Kennedy: Address Delivered at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International- Studies - 27 Jan 2005 -- " We must learn from our mistakes. We must recognize what a large and growing number of Iraqis now believe. The war in Iraq has become a war against the American occupation. We have reached the point that a prolonged American military presence in Iraq is no longer productive for either Iraq or the United States. The U.S. military presence has become part of the problem, not part of the solution...America's goal should be to complete our military withdrawal as early as possible in 2006."
• Abizaid: Terrorists Fear Free Elections in Iraq AFPS 27 Jan 2005 -- What's happening today in Iraq is revolutionary in political terms, with millions of Iraqis expected to go to the polls this weekend, the commander of U.S. forces in Southwest Asia told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee Jan. 26.
• Bush Expresses Confidence in Iraqis, Elections AFPS 27 Jan 2005 -- President Bush told Al Arabiya Television that he has confidence in the Iraqi people and a hope they will defy terrorist threats regarding national elections Jan. 30.

United Nations

• Coalition Will Increase Partnership With Iraqi Security Forces Washington File 27 Jan 2005 -- The head of the U.S. Central Command says one of the important things that will happen after the January 30 national elections in Iraq is that coalition forces will increase the level of training and partnership with Iraqi security forces.

Reconstruction Issues

• Iraq Taking Steps to Promote Security During Elections AFPS 27 Jan 2005 -- The interim Iraqi government is taking active steps to reduce the likelihood of violence on election day while encouraging Iraqis to vote, Iraq's minister of state for national security told Pentagon reporters today during a videoconference from Baghdad.
• AUSTRALIA / IRAQ VOTE VOA 28 Jan 2005 -- Iraqi expatriates in Australia have become the first anywhere to vote in Sunday's national elections. Only a small percentage of the Iraqis eligible to take part in the ballot in Australia have registered. Some community leaders have blamed a combination of fear and apathy for the low turnout. Iraqis in 14 countries, including Britain and the United States, are included in this absentee voter program.
• Transcript: DoD Video-teleconference with Iraqi Minister of State Kasim Daoud 27 Jan 2005 -- Iraqi Minister of State Kasim Daoud
• Iraq: Shi'a Parties Will Dominate, But What Will Be State Of Play After Vote? RFE/RL 27 Jan 2005 -- There's little doubt that Shi'a political and religious parties will do well in the 30 January elections for a new Iraqi National Assembly. However, it is difficult to predict which candidate list will win the most votes and which political groupings will dominate.
• Iraq: Security Concerns Make For Unusual Voting Process RFE/RL 27 Jan 2005 -- Iraq is due to hold an election on 30 January under highly unusual circumstances. Security will be tight and most cars will be banned from the streets. In some areas, voters will see the full lists of candidates they must choose from only when they actually enter the polling stations. And international election monitors will not be present.
• Iraqi Political Parties Propose Security Strategies Washington File 27 Jan 2005 -- One of the primary challenges facing the new Iraqi government that emerges from the January 30 elections will be to confront the country's troubled security situation. Consequently, the political parties seeking seats in the new National Assembly have put security measures at the center of their electoral platforms.
• U-S / IRAQ ELECTIONS VOA 27 Jan 2005 -- Millions of Iraqis are scheduled to begin the process of selecting a new democratically elected government on Sunday. The elections in Iraq have sparked debate on whether the U.S. should set a timetable for withdrawing troops from the country.
• IRAQ/ ELECTION DAY VOA 27 Jan 2005 -- Fourteen million people in Iraq are eligible to vote in Sunday's landmark elections to choose a new interim national assembly, candidates for seats in the Kurdish legislature, and candidates for provincial council seats across the country. But with security concerns influencing every aspect of the balloting process, election day in Iraq will be like no other.
• IRAQ/ELECTION/PREP VOA 27 Jan 2005 -- In Iraq, election workers and security forces are bracing for an election on Sunday that many fear could bring bloodshed. Insurgents have vowed to disrupt the polling, and kill anyone who tries to vote. But many people in Shia-dominated southern Iraq are determined to go to the polls regardless of the risk. The Shia see this as a chance to regain control of Iraq after decades of oppression under Saddam Hussein and earlier Sunni-led governments.
• PRE-ELECTION CAMPAIGNING VOA 27 Jan 2005 -- Voters and political activists of the Kurdistan region of Iraq are preparing for Sunday's national elections.
• IRAQ: Focus on election campaigning IRIN 27 Jan 2005 -- With only three days to go until Iraq's historic election, many people in the capital, Baghdad, say they don't have any idea of who they are going to vote for and have little information on what each party is offering.
• Two hundred twelve graduate from DRR course MNF-I/MNC-I 27 Jan 2006 -- Two hundred twelve direct recruit replacements graduated from the Iraqi Training Battalion in Al Kasik, Jan. 27, as part of the Iraqi military's ongoing effort to strengthen its forces.
• N. IRAQ / FUEL SHORTAGE VOA 27 Jan 2005 -- In northern Iraq, the recent imposition of fuel rationing is creating hardships.

Foreign Reactions

• IRAQ / NEIGHBORS VOA 27 Jan 2005 -- A senior Iraqi official has directly accused Syria and Iran of actively supporting the insurgency that is conducting daily deadly attacks on Iraqi and U.S. targets. Speaking from Baghdad to reporters at the Pentagon Minister of State Kasim Daoud called on the two countries to stop allowing insurgents to cross their borders into Iraq.
• IRAQ/POL/NEIGHBORS VOA 27 Jan 2005 -- Two of Iraq's neighbors have particularly strong concerns about the conduct and outcome of Sunday's election. The vote in Iraq puts some stark choices before the leaders of Iran and Syria.
• IRAQ / WORLD OPINION VOA 27 Jan 2005 -- Political leaders and opinion makers around the world are awaiting the outcome of Sunday's election in Iraq with a mixture of hope and doubt about whether the vote can help the country turn the corner from a violence-torn society to a democratic one.

News Reports

• Iraqi Media Monitoring UNAMI 27 Jan 2005