"If a country is worth living in it is worth fighting for."
-- Manning Coles

News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Women Soldiers Contribute to Iraqi Freedom
Colonel Receives Distinguished Service Cross
Stryker Soldiers Secure Iraqi Neighborhoods
Uncertainty Persists Over Drafting of Iraq Constitution
Italy Red Cross may have hidden insurgents
Bodies of 36 men discovered in Iraq
Negotiators find 'semi-solution' over federalism

Able Danger
CIA 9/11 Review Suggests Disciplining Top Officials
Senate to Hold Hearings on Able Danger, Info Sharing

BRAC
Base-Closings Panel Urges Closing of Walter Reed
Base-closing panel to decide on Air Force

Homeland Security / War on Terror
Egypt officers killed during suspect hunt

Fox News
Senator: Calif. National Guard Activities 'Questionable'
Iran, IAEA to Meet on Nukes
Uzbekistan Moves Forward to Evict U.S. Troops
Hurricane takes four lives
Fast Facts: Katrina
Bush Monitoring Katrina Landfall
Video
Katrina Batters Florida
Florida Resident Describes Damage
Photo Essays
Sunshine State Soaked

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq
Iran nuke negotiator, IAEA chief to meet
Mahmoud Abbas urges militants to hold fire
Iraqis miss third deadline on constitution
Jordan's constitutional monarchy on hold
Q&A on Iraq's constitution process
Japan scrubs Iraq marshland donor meeting

Reuters: Top News
Merck may settle some Vioxx suits -WSJ
Fire kills 17 in Paris building housing immigrants
Iraq constitution talks go on, head for referendum
China may free dissident ahead of Hu's U.S. visit

Yahoo! News: War with Iraq
Blast hits oil well in Iraq's Kirkuk field
Philippines names national killed in Iraq blast
'We will stay, we will fight and we will win'
Sadr Backers and Foes Clash in Najaf
Islamic Slant in Charter Decried

Department of Defense
Vice Chairman Shares Views, Priorities — Story
Progress Continues Despite Insurgency — Story
Terror Suspects Killed, Captured in Iraq — Story
Around the World in 10 Days, Chairman-Style — Story

ON THE GROUND
IN IRAQ
Iraqi, U.S. Soldiers Bring Goodwill to Horajeb
Iraqi Engineer Regiment Focuses on Training

IN AFGHANISTAN
Military Doctor Gives Afghan Girl Gift of Life
Team Builds Up Remote Corner of Afghanistan
Afghan Engineer District Hosts Contractor Open House

FACE OF DEFENSE
Army Engineer Recognized for Accomplishments in Iraq — Story

AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
Comedians Bring Laughter to Troops — Story
Drew Carey Leads Comic Tour
Comedy Team Visits Southwest Asia

TOP NEWS
IN IRAQ
Two Infantry Battalions to Deploy
U.S. Forces Will Stay and Win
Rumsfeld: Delays Part of Process
Bombing Kills Americans, Iraqis
Iraq Reconstruction
Maps
Iraq Daily Update
Multinational Force Iraq
Iraq Progress Fact Sheet (pdf)
Weekly Progress Report (pdf)

IN AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan Daily Update
Maps
Afghan Reconstruction Group Recruiting

WAR ON TERRORISM
Troops Involved in Noble Causes
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

MILITARY NEWS
Officials Explain Prevention Report
MAG-26 Marines Recognized
BRAC Begins Final Deliberations
National Guard, Reserve Update

CASUALTIES
Officials Identify Army Casualties – Story

Weather
Iraq
Al Azamiyah Al Basrah Al Hillah Al Karkh Al Kazimiyah Al Kut An Nasiriyah Baghdad Baqubah Mosul Najaf Nineveh Tall Kayf

Afghanistan
Bost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul Qandahar

Gitmo

Today in History
55 BC - Roman forces, under Julius Caesar, invade Britain.
1346 - English longbowmen defeat the French in Battle of Cr‚cy
1791 - John Fitch is granted a U.S. patent for his working steamboat.
1846 - W.A. Bartlett is appointed as the 1st U.S. mayor of Yerba Buena (San Francisco).
1883 - Krakatoa erupts; its increasingly large explosions kill 36,000.
1907 - Houdini escapes from chains underwater - in 57 seconds.
1914 - The Germans defeat the Russians in the Battle of Tannenberg.
1920 - The 19th amendment passes, granting women the right to vote.
1942 - 7,000 Jews are rounded up in the Vichy Free Zone of France.
1957 - The U.S.S.R. announces its successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
1973 - The University of Texas at Arlington becomes the first accredited school to offer belly dancing.
1974 - Soyuz-15 carries 2 cosmonauts to the Salyut-3 space station.
1978 - Soyuz-31 carries 2 cosmonauts (one of them an East German) to the Salyut-6 space station.
1982 - NASA launches Telesat-F.

Birthdays
1676 - Sir Robert Walpole (Whig), British PM (1721-42)
1743 - Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry (Oxygen)
1820 - James Harlan (Rep-IA)/U.S. Seretary of the Interior (1865-66)
1850 - Charles Richet, French physiologist, Nobel Prize winner (anaphylaxis-1913)
1873 - Lee De Forest, inventor (Audion vacuum (radio) tube)
1875 - Sir John Buchan, Governor-General of Canada / writer
1884 - Earl Biggers, author ("Charlie Chan" detective series)
1901 - General Maxwell D. Taylor, former US Army Chief of Staff
1906 - Dr. Albert B. Sabin, discoverer of the polio vaccine.
1909 - Frank Gasparro, U.S. chief engraver (1965-81)
1917 - William French Smith, Attorney General (1981-85)
1932 - Joe H. Engle, Brigadier General USAF / astronaut (STS T-2, T-4, 2, 51I)
1935 - Geraldine Ferraro (Rep-NY), first female major-party VP candidate
1942 - John E. Blaha, Colonel USAF / astronaut (STS 29, 33, STS 43)
1960 - Ola Ray, Playboy Playmate (Jun, 1980), actress (Thriller)

Passings
1963 - Larry Keating, actor (George Burns Show, Roger-Mr Ed)
1974 - Charles Lindbergh, aviator
1981 - Roger Nash Baldwin, founder of the ACLU

Reported Missing in Action
1965
Davis, Edward A., USN (PA); A1H shot down, released by DRV February, 1973 - retired as a Captain - alive and well as of 1998

1967
Day, George Everette, USAF (NY); F100F shot down, released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Colonel alive and well as of 1998
*** Medal of Honor winner, "most decorated officer since MacArthur," PFC/Corp WWII - South and Central Pacific April 1942 - November 1945, 2 Tours Air Defense F-84's, Radar tracking vs. Soviet radar, author of "Return with Honor" ***

Fuller, William Otis, USAF (TX); F4C shot down (w/Kilcullen), presumed KIA, body not recovered

Kilcullen, Thomas Michael, USAF (MD); F4C shot down (w/Fuller)

1971
Vennik, Robert N., US Army (NJ); APC ambushed, KIA, body not recovered

1972
Cordova, Sam Gary, USMC (CA); F4J shot down, remains returned December, 1988