Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

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

Current Operations

• DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• DoD Identifies Marine Casualty
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty

• Transcript: Defense Department Regular Briefing05 May 2005 -- Lawrence Di Rita, Pentagon Spokesman; and Lieutenant General James T. Conway, Director, Operations, Joint Staff
• Twenty-two detained near Bayji MNF-I/MNC-I 05 May 2005 -- Task Force Liberty Soldiers detained 22 suspects involved in an indirect fire attack on a Coalition Forces base near Bayji after 9 p.m. May 4.
• Up-Armored 'Gun Trucks' Save Servicemembers' Lives In Iraq AFPS 05 May 2005 -- New 5-ton armored "gun trucks" fielded in Iraq are providing U.S. troops with effective protection against insurgents' improvised explosive devices and small-arms fire, a senior military researcher said today on Capitol Hill.
• U.S. pilots train Iraqi counterparts to fly C-130 Hercules AFPN 05 May 2005 -- U.S. pilots are training their Iraqi counterparts to fly three C-130 Hercules the Iraqi air force received from the Department of Defense.
• 5th CAG, 3/25 assists citizens of Haqlaniyah, Iraq USMC News 05 May 2005 -- The Marines navigated the streets near the riverside here bearing Beanie Babies, school supplies and soccer balls.
• VMFA-314 Ordnance shop keeps pilots flying high, Marines alive USMC News 05 May 2005 -- One of the main objectives of Marine fighter attack aircraft is to assist ground troops in combat operations.
• 3/4 cripples terrorists on strategic level USMC News 05 May 2005 -- Multiple companies of Iraqi soldiers and more than 200 Marines with 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment conducted Operation Southern Advance, April 24-28.
• 26th MEU Marines keep sharp in Arabian Gulf USMC News 05 May 2005 -- "This is fast rope, not slow rope," shouts a helicopter rope suspension training master from a ledge 20 feet above the flight deck of the amphibious transport dock USS Ponce (LPD 15).

Deployments

US Policy

• Army releases findings in detainee-abuse investigations Army News Release 05 May 2005 -- Today, in a continuing effort to keep the public informed, the Army released a portion of findings from a series of exhaustive investigations into detainee and interrogation operations.
• England court-martial declared a mistrial Army News 05 May 2005 -- A military judge declared a mistrial at 1 p.m. May 4 during the court-martial of a Soldier who is accused of abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib Prison in the fall of 2003 in Iraq.
• US House Approves Military Funding for Iraq and Afghanistan VOA 05 May 2005 -- The U.S. House of Representatives (in a 368 to 58 vote) has given final approval to a bill to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The measure would also tighten immigration law

• Zarqawi Losing Support Among Iraqis, General Says AFPS 05 May 2005 -- Any remaining support among Iraqis for fugitive Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is fading as his network's attacks continue to take aim at their country's security forces and civilians, the director of operations for the Joint Staff said at a Pentagon news conference today.

United Nations

• New U.N. Oil for Food Documents in Hands of Congressional Investigators VOA 05 May 2005 -- A key committee of the U.S. Congress is intensifying its investigation of corruption in the former United Nations Oil-for-Food Program. New documents from a former U.N. investigator are now in the hands of a House of Representatives panel as part of congressional efforts to obtain more information about abuses of the program.
• Annan hopes for quick release of Romanian journalists, guide taken hostage in Iraq UN News Centre 05 May 2005 -- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today expressed concern about three Romanian journalists and their guide who were taken hostage in Iraq in March and deplored all abduction and killing of innocent civilians.

Reconstruction Issues

• Iraq Humanitarian and Reconstruction Assistance Updates USAID 05 May 2005 [PDF]
• Iraq: Insurgent Attack Challenges Country's Newly Resurgent Kurds RFE/RL 05 May 2005 -- Iraqi insurgents have carried out one of their deadliest attacks to date in the heart of Kurdish-administered northern Iraq. The bomb attack yesterday killed some 60 people the day after Iraq swore in a new government that gives the Kurds their most prominent role ever in national politics. So is the insurgent attack a direct challenge to the Kurds' resurgence and how will the Kurds respond?
• USAID Helps Restore Iraqi Marshlands Destroyed by Saddam Hussein Washington File 05 May 2005 -- The homeland of the Shi'ite Marsh Arabs in southern Iraq, which was drained almost dry by Saddam Hussein in the 1990s, now is being rejuvenated under a project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Foreign Reactions

News Reports

• Iraqi Media Monitoring UNAMI 05 May 2005
• Iraqis Forced to be Suicide Bombers VOA 05 May 2005 -- A senior U.S. military officer says there is evidence that more people in Iraq are being forced to become suicide bombers. The phenomenon has been noted before, but the new head of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Lieutenant General James Conway, says that type of attack is increasing.