March 2004 - Iraq Special Weapons News

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

Current Operations

• OIF/OEF Casualty Update 15 Mar 2004 [PDF]

• Six Soldiers Killed in Weekend Roadside Bomb Attacks AFPS 15 Mar 2004 -- Deadly roadside bomb attacks in Iraq this weekend left six U.S. soldiers dead, Combined Joint Task Force 7 officials said in news releases.
• U.S. Troops May Have Clashed With Iranians at Border AFPS 15 Mar 2004 -- U.S. troops may have traded shots with Iranian guards during a March 14 incident near the Iraq border, a senior U.S. official said at a Baghdad news conference today.
• TASK FORCE OLYMPIA COLLECTS WEAPONS CENTCOM Release 15 Mar 2004-- Soldiers from 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) conducted weapons collection operations in northern Iraq Sunday.
• V CORPS 'ROCKETEERS' BLAST THROUGH LIVE-FIRE EXERCISE IN BAGHDAD V Corps Release 15 Mar 2004-- Butler Range here had several loud visitors last week as some of 1st Armored Division's field artillery Soldiers conducted a three-day live-fire exercise.
• TASK FORCE ALL AMERICAN CONTINUES OPERATIONS CENTCOM Release 15 Mar 2004--Task Force All American conducted 184 patrols Friday and Saturday, including six joint patrols with Iraqi Civil Defense Corps forces.
• TASK FORCE OLYMPIA DETAINS 23, COLLECTS WEAPONS CENTCOM Release 15 Mar 2004-- Soldiers from 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 23 people suspected of anticoalition activities and collected weapons during operations in northern Iraq.

Deployments

US Policy

• Border Crossing Points Between Iraq and Iran to be Reduced to Three Washington File 15 Mar 2004 -- The number of border crossing points between Iraq and Iran will be reduced within days from 19 to three under the new border security initiative being implemented by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), according to CPA senior advisor Dan Senor.
• Cumulative Change Evident in Iraq One Year After War Was Launched Washington File 15 Mar 2004 -- It has been almost one year since "Operation Iraq Freedom" commenced, and, for many Iraqis it has brought a lifetime of change: 25 million Iraqis are free, Saddam Hussein is in custody, his two sons are dead, and the country has a new transitional administrative law.
• Powell Highlights Achievements of Engagement in Iraq Washington File 15 Mar 2004 -- Secretary of State Colin Powell identified what he perceives as the key achievements of U.S. engagement in Iraq over the past year during a March 14 interview with Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace.

United Nations

Reconstruction Issues

• Task Force 1 AD finance Soldiers train Iraqi counterparts ARCENT News 15 Mar 2004-- Soldiers from 1st Armored Division's 8th Finance Battalion, and the 1st Cavalry Division's 15th Finance Bn., conducted a three-day course to give Iraqi Civil Defense Corps members a lesson in "paying for freedom."
• MORE THAN 100 IRAQI NCOs GRADUATE FROM FIRST BAGHDAD PRIMARY LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT COURSE V Corps Release 15 Mar 2004-- The Iraqi Civil Defense Corps strengthened its "NCO backbone" March 11 when it graduated 116 noncommissioned officers from the first Primary Leadership Development Course conducted at Camp Muleskinner here.
• Iraq: In Kirkuk, Triumph And Concern As Basic Law Moves Toward Future RFE/RL 15 Mar 2004 -- The mood is mixed among the different ethnic communities of the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk following the signing of the country's transitional governing law. Kurds, who claim to be the dominant group in the area, have high hopes their wish for broader autonomy will become part of Iraq's permanent legislation, and aspire to see the region included in a Kurdish-controlled zone. But other groups -- Turkomans and Arabs -- are more cautious, and want to see their rights protected as the future of the region is determined.

Foreign Reactions

• SPAIN REACT VOA 15 Mar 2004 -- Spain's incoming prime minister is promising to pull his country's troops out of Iraq if coalition forces there are not put under United Nations control by June 30th. Last Thursday's terrorist bombings in Madrid continue to cause political fallout both within Spain and beyond -- as much of Europe takes a new look at its vulnerability to a terrorist attack.
• U-S/Spain/Iraq VOA 15 Mar 2004 -- After winning Spain's general elections Sunday, the prime minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero says he plans on pulling out 13-hundred Spanish troops in Iraq.
• Straw denies Iraq war has increased terrorist threat IRNA 15 Mar 2004 -- Foreign Secretary Jack Straw Monday rejected suggestions that Britain has exposed itself to a greater threat of terror attack because of its role in the Iraq war.
• SPAIN/ELECTION VOA 15 Mar 2004 -- In the aftermath of Spain's general election the winning Socialist candidate for Prime Minster, José Luis Zapatero, said he will keep his campaign pledge to withdraw Spain's 13-hundred soldiers from Iraq by the end of June. Voter outrage over Thursday's terrorist attacks and the government's handling of the investigation contributed to an unexpected Socialist victory over the ruling Popular Party.
• SPAIN/ELECTIONS VOA 15 Mar 2004 -- Casting their ballots in the wake of the worst terrorist attacks in Spain's history, Spaniards voted Sunday to oust the ruling Popular Party of outgoing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, blaming his staunch backing of the U-S war in Iraq for the bombings that left 200 people dead and more than 1500 injured.
• IRAQ: Aid agencies maintain low profile IRIN 15 Mar 2004 -- Following a conflict, countries usually bustle with international aid agencies, foreigners eating in restaurants, white four-wheel-drive vehicles and high-profile aid projects. There's little of that visible in Iraq.

News Reports

• IRAQ / DEMOS VOA 15 Mar 2004 -- As the first anniversary of the U-S-led war against Iraq approaches, American military families, veterans and peace activists held a procession to honor and mourn those killed there.