Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

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

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 09 May 2007 [PDF]
• TASK FORCE LIGHTNING SOLDIERS ATTACKED
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• DoD News: DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• DoD Identifies Army Casualty
• DoD Identifies Army Casualties
• Weekly press conference with Maj. Gen. Willian Caldwell IV, spokesman, MNF-I, and Maj. Gen. David Edgington, director, Air Component Coordination Element, MNF-I, May 9, 2007 MNF-I 09 May 2007 -- TOPIC: SECURITY OPERATIONS IN IRAQ
• Transcript: DoD Operational Update Briefing with Secretary Gates and General Pace from the Pentagon Briefing Room, Arlington Va 09 May 2007 -- Presenter: Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace
• May 8 airpower: F-15Es provide overwatch power AFPN 09 May 2007 -- Coalition airpower supported coalition ground forces in Iraq and International Security Assistance Force troops in Afghanistan in the following operations May 8, according to Combined Air and Space Operations Center officials here.
• Two Insurgents Killed, 34 Nabbed in Iraq AFPS 09 May 2007 -- Coalition forces killed two insurgents, detained 34 others and destroyed improvised explosive devices in Iraq over the past three days.
• NMCB 4 Seabees Transform Lakes of Mud into Gravel Parking Lots Navy NewsStand 09 May 2007 -- What had been large lakes of mud due to a recent rainstorm are now gravel parking lots for the Camp Ramadi dining facility and exchange thanks to the Seabees of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 4, who completed the work April 26.
• May 7 airpower: Tankers key to show-of-force operations AFPN 09 May 2007 -- Coalition airpower supported coalition ground forces in Iraq and International Security Assistance Force troops in Afghanistan in the following operations May 7, according to Combined Air and Space Operations Center officials here.

Deployments

• NPDB 3 Begins Mission in Bucca, NPDB 2 Remains Navy NewsStand 09 May 2007 -- The last major group of more than 400 Sailors assigned to Navy Provisional Detainee Battalion (NPDB) 3 arrived here May 8 to begin their tour at the largest Theater Internment Facility in Iraq.

US Policy

• Gates: September Evaluation Won't Lead to Precipitous Withdrawal From Iraq AFPS 09 May 2007 -- The Baghdad security plan is taking time to implement and will take time to produce results, so the evaluation of the plan in September, even if it's negative, likely won't lead to any precipitous actions, such as withdrawing all troops, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters at the Pentagon today.
• World Community Expects Unity from Iraqi Government, U.S. Says Washington File 09 May 2007 -- Two recent international conferences in Egypt resulted in pledges of more than $30 billion in assistance to Iraq, as well as strong support for the success of the embattled Iraqi government, a senior U.S. diplomat says.
• Cheney: Iraqi Leaders Must Make Progress on Security, Political Issues VOA 09 May 2007 -- U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was in Baghdad on Wednesday, where he said Iraqi officials are showing a greater sense of urgency in reconciling political divisions
• US Defense Secretary Rejects Any Rapid Pullout From Iraq VOA 09 May 2007 -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he does not expect a swift pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq regardless of the conclusions of a planned September evaluation of the ongoing build-up of U.S. forces in the country
• Pentagon Chief: US Pullout From Iraq Could Begin This Year VOA 09 May 2007 -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the United States could begin withdrawing troops from Iraq later this year if progress is made in reducing violence and toward political reconciliation
• September Looms As Key Month in US Debate Over Iraq VOA 09 May 2007 -- September is looming as a key month in the U.S. political debate over the war in Iraq
• General Discusses Milestones for Stability in Iraq's Anbar Province AFPS 09 May 2007 -- Continued vigilance against al Qaeda, improved governance and focused reconstruction are vital to continued success in Iraq's Anbar province, a top military official said today.
• Gates: Early Iraq Withdrawal Would Have 'Dire' Consequences for U.S. AFPS 09 May 2007 -- The United States has a responsibility to leave Iraq with a sense of stability or else face a stronger enemy that threatens the region and Americans at home, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said in congressional testimony here today.
• Cheney Notes 'Greater Sense of Urgency' Among Iraqi Leaders AFPS 09 May 2007 -- After meeting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other Iraqi leaders in Baghdad today, Vice President Richard B. Cheney said he noticed "a greater sense of urgency now than I'd seen previously" on the part of those leaders to meet their obligations toward continuing the country's progress.

United Nations

Reconstruction Issues

• Backgrounder: Why Iraqis Cannot Agree on an Oil Law cfr.org 09 May 2007
• Analysis: Iraq's Tyranny of the Majority cfr.org 09 May 2007 -- Iraqi Sunnis are feeling the pinch of what political scientists call "tyranny of the majority." Efforts at national reconciliation have stalled (RFE/RL) over a series of constitutional demands made by Sunni leader Tariq al-Hashimi, whose minority party, the Iraq Accord Front, controls forty-four seats in parliament (Sunni Arabs comprise roughly 20 percent of Iraq's population).
• Iraq: Sunni Ultimatum Rocks Al-Maliki's Position RFE/RL 09 May 2007 -- Last week U.S. lawmakers expressed anger at the Iraqi government's plan to take a two-month summer recess
• Iraq Weekly Status Report US Dept. of State 09 May 2007 [PDF]

Foreign Reactions

• Iran offers US Iraq exit Strategy IRNA 09 May 2007 -- Iranian deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has offered Tehran's cooperation to the US in developing an "exit strategy " from Iraq.
• Iran ready to help restore stability to Iraq: Gov't spokesman IRNA 09 May 2007 -- Government Spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said on Wednesday that Tehran is ready to cooperate with the Iraqi government restore security to the war-torn country.
• Nearly 2,000 Iraq attacks on UK forces in last 12 months IRNA 09 May 2007 -- British troops have faced almost 2,000 attacks in southern Iraq during the last 12 months, Defence Secretary Des Browne has revealed.

News Reports

• Rare Bombing in Irbil Kills 14; Cheney Meets with Leaders in Baghdad VOA 09 May 2007 -- A truck bomb has exploded near a government office in northern Iraq's Kurdistan region, in a rare attack on the capital, Irbil