Pacific Ocean (Nov. 9, 2005) - An F/A-18F Super Hornet, assigned to the “Diamondbacks” of Strike Fighter Squadron One Zero Two (VFA-102), launches off flight deck of the conventionally powered aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63). Kitty Hawk and embarked Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5) are currently conducting operations in the Western Pacific Ocean. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 3rd Class Jonathan Chandler

It was 40 years ago today that the first battle in the Ia Drang Valley of South Vietnam began. On this morning four decades ago, LTC Harold G. Moore's 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry conducted an air assault into Landing Zone X-Ray near the Chu Pong hills. Around noon, the North Vietnamese 33rd Regiment attacked the U.S. troopers...

Head over to ROFASix for the details on the Battle of Ia Drang Valley - immortalized in the book and movie, "We Were Soldiers Once, and Young."

Garry Owen!

FALLUJAH PATROL — U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Paul B. Hodge of 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, provides security while fellow Marines enter and search a house in Fallujah, Iraq, Nov. 9, 2005. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Robert R. Attebury

News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Three U.S. GIs Killed in Iraq
Britain says troops may start leaving Iraq in 2006
U.S. Casts Doubt on Saddam Deputy's Death
U.S. Operation Near Syria Kills 37
Saddam's Lawyers Want to Move His Trial
371 arrested in Baqouba; detention facility raided

Operation Enduring Freedom
New Afghan Parliament faces Democracy 101

Homeland Security / War on Terror
Indian Cops: Breakthrough in New Delhi Bombings
Sydney nuclear reactor terror plot target-police
Al-Zarqawi Setting Sights Beyond Iraq
U.S. Warns of Possible China Terror Threat
Catching militants will test Indonesia's anti-terror tactics
U.S., Saudis pledge new "dialogue"

Jordan Bombings
The Bomber's Wife
Would-be homicide bomber makes TV confession
Video: Chilling Confession Bomber Caught

Paris Burning
Police: Riots Nearing End
Overall violence down, police say
Video: Tightened Security
France's State of Emergency to Be Extended

Politics
Ethics panel clears senator in 9/11 leak probe

Supreme Court
Focus on Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito

Hurricane Season
Tropical Depression 27 forms in Caribbean

Oddities
Deer gets revenge on drivers, breaks man's ankle
Cops: 12-year-old tried to poison teacher
Iowa woman says she found dead turtle in her Folgers
300 cats to attend funeral for New York dog

Fox News
Parents Found Dead - Daughter Missing
Video: Amber Alert
Iowa Towns Recover After Tornadoes Kill One- Video: Trail of Destruction
Rice: No Illusions About Mideast Democracy
Envoy: Gaza in Danger of Becoming Prison
Musharraf Warms to Israel
Newlywed Cop Fatally Shot
NASCAR Driver Runs Stop Sign, Gets Suspended
Florida PTA: More Study Needed on Stun Guns
Baby Dies After Breast-Feeding Incident
Shark Attacks Florida Surfer
Nine Injured at Minnesota Shopping Mall Concert
Koch Acquires Georgia-Pacific
Stocks to Watch, Nov. 14: Boeing Co., Wal-Mart

Reuters: Top News
Rice: Deal near on Mideast border
Six dead, 30 hurt in Iraq bus blast : hospital
Jump in suspected bird flu cases in people
N.Korea offered not to test nuclear arms - Seoul
Rice: Deal near on Mideast border
AOL, Warner Bros to launch TV service
Climate change could spread plague: scientists
World forest losses slowing but still alarming: UN
Bone marrow cells improve heart after attack-study
Polish conservatives aim to modernize

AP World News
Envoy Urges Deal on Gaza Crossing
Longtime Burkina Faso Leader Faces Voters
Canada Opposition Calls for Jan. Election
Africa Elections Give Reasons for Hope
Azerbaijani Protesters Want Election Rerun
Events Force U.S., France to Face Flaws

The Seattle Times
Bush to talk religion, trade issues on Asia trip
McCain says torture ban vital to U.S. image
Iraq will affect future war votes, Roberts says
Research finds no added risk to heading home after angioplasty
Study shows CPR can be learned in just 20 minutes
Rent snafu thwarts Katrina evacuees
Number of executions, death sentences declined in 2004
Farmers try to keep flu out by keeping turkeys in
Islamic leaders to press case despite ruling on head scarves
Japan's space agency loses contact with probe

Chicago Sun-Times
U.N.'s top nuclear official to push Iran on compromise
Schwarzenegger takes on China's black market
German neo-Nazis clash with cops in cemetery march

Boston Globe: World
Tensions stir ahead of Bush's China visit
Sunni Arabs press US to end offensives
Egypt derails a forum on democracy
Italian chemist explores the science of miracles
Stolen Iraq treasures remain out of reach
Annan meets with top Iraqi officials
Kennedy's tough IRA stance symbolic of his roots, clout
After quake, winter threatens
Rape report sparks protests
In Borneo, a clash over land
Nuclear agency rejects proposal
German parties vow to make deal work

Military.com
Unemployment Rate Skyrockets
Bush Didn't Mislead on War

CENTCOM: News Release
WEAPONS CACHES DISCOVERED

Department of Defense
U.S., Coalition Question Al-Duri's Death -- Story
Rice, Annan Focus on Iraq's Progress -- Story
Rice Chides Syria Over Lebanon, Iraq Policies -- Story

TOP NEWS
SPECIAL REPORTS
Hurricane Coverage
Iraq Transition of Power

IRAQ
Soldier, Marines Killed
Rice Thanks Troops in Iraq
Operation Steel Curtain Continues
Iraq Reconstruction
Maps
Iraq Daily Update
Multinational Force Iraq
Eye on Iraq Update (pdf)
Iraq Progress Fact Sheet (pdf)
Weekly Progress Report (pdf)
'Boots on the Ground' Audio Archive
Fact Sheet: Helping Women in Iraq

AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan Daily Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
Fact Sheet: War on Terror
Fact Sheet: Terror Plots Disrupted
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

MILITARY NEWS
Veterans' Service Ensured Freedom
Veterans Day Special to OIF Vets
Submarine USS Norfolk Deploys
National Guard, Reserve Update

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

National Hurricane Center

Today in History
1666 - Samuel Pepys reports on the first blood transfusion (between dogs).
1732 - The first U.S. professional librarian, Louis Timothee, is hired in Philadelphia.
1792 - Captain George Vancouver becomes the first Englishman to enter San Francisco Bay.
1832 - The first (horse-drawn) streetcar debuts in NYC.
1834 - Ten-year-old William Thomson enters Glasgow University.
1851 - "Moby Dick," by Herman Melville, is published.
1863 - Nathan Bedford Forrest is assigned to command of West Tennessee; Skirmish in Danville, Mississippi.
1881 - Charles J. Guiteau goes on trial for President Garfield's assassination.
1896 - The Niagara Falls power plant begins operation.
1906 - Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. President to visit a foreign country (Panama).
1910 - Norfolk, VA, is the site of the first airplane flight from deck of a ship.
1918 - The Republic of Czechoslovakia is created, with T.G. Masaryk as President.
1935 - FDR proclaims the Philippine Islands a free commonwealth.
1940 - German planes destroy most of Coventry, England.
1969 - Apollo=12 is launched for the second manned Moon landing.
1970 - Marshall University's football team is wiped out in in a plane crash at Kenova, WV.
1975 - Spain abandons the Spanish Sahara.
1977 - Egyptian President Sadat repeats his willingness to visit Israel to Walter Cronkite.
1981 - The second Space Shuttle Mission (Columbia 2) returns to Earth.
1984 - Astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery pluck a second satellite from orbit; NASA launches NATO-3D.
1990 - Michael Heseltine contests Thatcher's leadership of her party.

Birthdays
1765 - Robert Fulton, builder of the first commercial steamboat (or 8/19)
1776 - Henri Dutrochet, discovered and named process of osmosis
1840 - Claude Monet, French impressionist (Water Lilies)
1842 - Walter Williams, claimed to be last survivor of Civil War (d 1959)
1889 - Jawaharlal Nehru, first Indian PM (1947-64)
1896 - Mamie Doud Eisenhower, First Lady
1900 - Aaron Copland, American composer (Billy the Kid, Appalachian Spring)
1909 - Joseph R. McCarthy (Sen-WI), led anti-communist hearings
1929 - McLean Stevenson, actor (M*A*S*H, Hello Larry)
1930 - Edward H. White II, Lt. Colonel USAF / astronaut (Gemini 4)
1933 - Fred W. Haise, Jr., astronaut (Apollo 13 STS T-1, T-3, T-5)
1935 - Hussein ibn Talal I king of Jordan (1953-1999)
1948 - Charles, Prince of Wales

Passings
0565 - Justinian, Roman emperor
1915 - Booker T. Washington, educator / organizer
1990 - Malcolm Muggeridge WW II spy for Britain

Reported Missing in Action
1965
McClelland, Paul T., Jr., USAF (OR); A1E shot down, KIA, body not recovered

1967
Kmetyk, Jonathan P., USMC (NY); KIA, NVA stole body in ambush

Sullivan, Timothy B., USN (MA); F4B shot down (GIB), released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Commander - alive and well as of 1998

1970
Klugg, Joseph R., USN (MI); RF8G lost when tire blew and aircraft slid off carrier during launch, Killed, body not recovered