by Staff Sgt. Jose L. Rodriguez
December 21, 2005
Soldiers from Task Force Eagle deliver humanitarian supplies to a remote village in northern Pakistan via their CH-47 Chinook helicopter. People in that area, devastated by the Oct. 8 earthquake, are in desperate need of food, winter clothing and other supplies, as snow has blanketed much of the area. This photo appeared on www.army.mil.

RE-ENLISTMENT CEREMONY — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld (right) leads U.S. Army Spc. Eric Nico (left) and Spc. Jeremy Reigel (center) in the oath of enlistment during a ceremony at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, Dec. 22, 2005. Nico and Reigel are assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade, Vicenza, Italy. Rumsfeld re-enlisted nine soldiers at the ceremony during his recent visit to Afghanistan. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jacob Caldwell
Hi-Res Photo Story Related Story

News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Iraqi Peace Shattered
More election results released
Ukrainian Leader Visits Troops
Saddam's Brother: I Rejected U.S. Deal

Operation Enduring Freedom
Taliban Leader Threatens Suicide Attacks

Homeland Security / War on Terror
Terrorists Behead Three Christian Teens in Indonesia
Mayor: Terrorists Tried to Attack London

Other News of Note
Cops: Escaped Serial Rapist Suspect Rapalo Nabbed in Florida

Fox News
Asian Tsunami Remembered
Video: Remembering the Asian Tsunami
Australia's Richest Man Dies
Oregon Surfer Says Life 'Much More Precious'
Israeli PM to Have Angioplasty
Video: Sharon's Heart Woes
N.O. Police Shoot, Kill Man
Mother Accidentally Runs Over, Kills Daughter
Video: Katrina Tour Outrage
'Kong' Tops Xmas Box Office
SPORTS NEWS AND SCORES

Reuters: Top News
Asia remembers tsunami disaster with prayer, silence
IEA says formally concludes govt. oil stock release
Bausch & Lomb shares fall on restatement, Korea probe
Certicom stock rises on license-deal announcement
Home-building shares fall on new homes report
Stocks end flat before Christmas
National Beverage declares special dividend
Gunmen kill Iraqi forces, blasts in Baghdad
Israeli warplanes enforce Gaza buffer zone Video
Philippines to charge four U.S. soldiers for rape
Shooting on busy Toronto strip kills 1, wounds six
Holiday retail spending up 8.7 pct: report
US eyes big Pakistan, India arms sales
Saudi telecom stops text vote for Arab talent show

AP World News
President of West Japan Railway to Resign
Nobelists May Attend Bolivia Inauguration
Chile Court Won't Drop Pinochet Charges
India Releases Eight Pakistan Prisoners
Designers Blamed in Russian Roof Collapse
Azerbaijan Airlines Suspends Flights
Sharon Party Favors Palestinian Statehood
Japan Seeks Railway Wind Gauge Inspections
Kidnappings Plague Residents Across Haiti
Pope Marks Feast of 1st Christian Martyr
Thousands Join Britain Holiday Fox Hunt
Israel, Arab World Engage in Hidden Trade

Department of Defense
Command Focus: Train Iraqi Logisticians - Story
Iraqis, U.S. Troops Respond to Car Bombings - Story
U.S. Soldier Killed; Marines Kill Would-be Bomber
Holiday Gifts Cheer Soldiers on Way to War - Story
Balance Crucial in Troop Strength Levels - Story
Pace Explains High Re-up Rate for Deployed

ON THE GROUND
Rumsfeld Honors Task Force Bayonet Troops - Story
'Raging Bulls' Marines, Sailors Return to Iraq - Story
Helo Unit Brings Mail to Ships in Arabian Gulf - Story

IN IRAQ
U.S. Soldiers Bring Wheels to Disabled Iraqi Man
Electrical Work Benefits Baghdad Residents
Platoon Perfects Art of Locating Weapons
Polish Prime Minister Visits Camp Echo
Task Force Baghdad Destroys Weapons Photos

IN AFGHANISTAN
Unit Uses Special Skills to Pursue Enemy

FACE OF DEFENSE
Sailor Enjoys Working with Marines - Story

AMERICA SUPPORTS YOU
Deployed Troops Get Phone Cards - Story
Wounded Get Super-Sized Chess Set

TOP NEWS
IRAQ
Rumsfeld Discusses Troop Reduction
Rumsfeld Announces Reduction
Khalilzad, Casey Issue Statement
No Plans for Long-Term Bases
Casey Explains Reduction Rationale
Rumsfeld Sees Special Ops Training
Iraqi Soldiers Discover Weapons
Casey: Progress 'Unprecedented'
Report: Strategy for Victory in Iraq
Iraq Daily Update
This Week in Iraq (pdf)
Multinational Force Iraq
Eye on Iraq Update (pdf)
State Dept. Weekly Iraq Report (pdf)
'Boots on the Ground' Audio Archive
Iraq Reconstruction
Maps

AFGHANISTAN
Ceremony Marks Bank Renovation
U.S. Troop Levels to Drop Video
Afghanistan Daily Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
Retreat From Iraq 'Wrong Strategy'
Offense Key to Winning, Bush Says
Fact Sheet: War on Terror
Fact Sheet: Terror Plots Disrupted
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

MILITARY NEWS
Bush Expresses Pride in Troops
Rumsfeld Cites Year's Successes
Rumsfeld Visits Bagram, Kandahar
Bush Thanks Caregivers at Hospital
National Guard, Reserve Update

CASUALTIES
Officials Identify Army Casualty - 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
0418 - [Etalius] begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1437 - Albrecht II von Habsburg becomes king of Bohemia
1503 - Battle at Garigliano - Spanish army under G Córdoba beats France
1703 - England & Portugal sign Methuen-Asiento-trade agreement
1741 - Prussian forces take Olmutz, Czechoslovakia
1825 - 1st public railroad using steam locomotive completed in England
1831 - Darwin begins his voyage to South America on board the HMS Beagle
1836 - Worst English avalanche kills 8 of 15 buried (Lewes Sussex)
1845 - Ether 1st used in childbirth in US, Jefferson GA
1850 - Hawaiian Fire Department established
1862 - Battle of Chickasaw Bluffs, MS (Chickasaw Bayou); Battle of Elizabethtown, KY
1867 - Ontario & Québec legislatures hold 1st meeting
1871 - World's 1st cat show (Crystal Palace, London)
1884 - Netherlands recognizes king Leopold II's Congo Free State
1892 - Foundation Stone of the Cathedral of St John laid (New York NY)
1903 - "Sweet Adeline", a barbershop quartet favorite, is 1st sung
1923 - Unsuccessful assassination attempt on prince-regent Hirohito of Japan
1926 - Latkin Square in Bronx named for 1st US Jewish soldier to die in WWI
1932 - Radio City Music Hall opens (New York NY)
1934 - Shah of Persia declares Persia now Iran
1937 - German immigration officials with no explanation bar Juan Carlos Zabala (Argentina), 1932 Olympic marathon champion, from entering Germany
1939 - 8.0 Earthquake in Erzincam Turkey, about 50,000 die
1941 - Japan bombs Manila even though it was declared an "open city"
1942 - 1st Japanese women camp (Ambarawa) goes into use
1943 - German warship Scharnhorst sinks in Barents Sea; Montgomery discusses Overlord with Eisenhower & Bedell Smith
1944 - Greece: British premier Churchill flies back to London
1945 - International Monetary Fund established - World Bank founded
1947 - 1st "Howdy Doody Show" (Puppet Playhouse), telecast on NBC
1949 - Queen Juliana (Netherlands) grants sovereignty to Indonesia
1961 - Belgium & Congo resume diplomatic relations
1972 - New North Korean constitution comes into effect; Belgium recognizes German Democratic Republic
1974 - FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional/Sandinista National Liberation Front) seizes government hostages at a private Managua party
1976 - Albania constitution goes into effect
1978 - King Juan Carlos ratifies Spain's 1st democratic constitution
1979 - Soviet troops invade Afghánistán, President Hafizullah Amin overthrown
1983 - Pope John Paul II pardons man who shot him (Mehmet Ali Agca)
1985 - Terrorists kill 20 & wound 110 attacking El Al at Rome & Vienna airports; President Reagan blames Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Qaddafi
1988 - Bulgaria stops jamming Radio Free Europe after more than 3 decades

Birthdays
1755 - Antons Klemens Theodor king of Saksen (1827-36)
1761 - Michael A Barclay de Tolly Scottish/Russian minister of War
1773 - George Cayley England, found science of aerodynamics
1801 - Guillaume L Baud Dutch minister of Colonies (1848-49)
1803 - John ACA van Nispen Sevenaer Member of Dutch 2nd parliament (1848-75)
1814 - James Henry Carleton Brevet Major General (Union Army), died in 1873
1816 - Eliakim Parker Scammon Brigadier-General (Union volunteers), died in 1894
1822 - Louis Pasteur Dole France, bacteriologist (pasteurization)
1829 - James Clay Rice Brigadier-General (Union volunteers), died in 1864
1831 - Lucius Fairchild Brigadier-General (Union volunteers), died in 1896
1897 - Iwan S Konew Russian marshal/supreme commander pact of Warsaw
1924 - James A McClure (Senator-ID); Mokta Ould Daddah President of Mauritania (1961-78)
1930 - Meg Greenfield US politician(?)
1951 - William Waldorf 4th viscount Astor/English large landowner
1953 - Arthur Kent newscaster [Scud Stud], (NBC-Gulf War coverage)

Passings
0418 - Zosimus, Greek Pope (417-8), dies
0975 - Balderik, bishop of Utrecht (918-75), dies
1065 - Ferdinand I the Great, king of Castile, dies
1590 - Emmanuel-Philibert of Lalaing, marquis of Renty, dies at 33
1641 - François van d'Aerssen, ruler of Sommelsdijk/diplomat, dies at 69
1836 - Stephen Fuller Austin, founder of state of Texas, dies at 43
1919 - Theodoor H de Meester, Dutch liberal premier (1905-08), dies at 68
1936 - Hans von Seeckt, German general/advisor of Chiang Kai-shek, dies at 70
1938 - Emile Vandervelde, Belgian Secretary of State (BWP), dies at 72
1952 - Henri G Winkelman, Dutch supreme commander army/navy 1940, dies at 76
1972 - Lester B Pearson, 14th Canadian PM (Nobel 1957), dies at 75
1978 - Houari Boumédiene, Algerian President, dies after 40 days in a coma at 53
1979 - Hafizullah Amin, President of Afghánistán (1979), murdered
1982 - John Leonard Swigert, Jr., astronaut (Apollo 13), dies of cancer at 51
1994 - Karl AF Schiller, West German economist/SPD-minister, dies at 83

Reported Missing in Action
1966
Ortiz-Rivera, Luis A., US Army (Puerto Rico); released by PRG January, 1968

1967
Innes, Roger B., USN (IL); F4B shot down, presumed KIA

Lee, Leonard M., USN (VA); F4B shot down, presumed KIA

Martin, Sammy A., USAF (TX); F4C shot down, slipped out of rescue sling, Killed, body not recovered

1971
The following Air America Civilians reported Missing in Action when their C123 was shot down:
Ritter, George L.

Townley, Roy F.

Weissenback, Edward J.

1972
Anderson, John W., USAF (OR); F4E shot down (w/Ward), released by DRV February, 1973 (injured) - alive as of 1998

Chipman, Ralph J., USMC (UT); A6A shot down (w/Forrester), KIA, body not recovered

Forrester, Ronald W., USMC (TX); A6A shot down (w/Chipman), presumed KIA

Jefcoat, Carl H., USAF (MS); F4E shot down (w/Trimble), released by DRV March, 1973 - killed in aviation accident in 1987

Trimble, Jack R., USAF (SC); F4E shot down (w/Jefcoat), released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Lt. Colonel - alive as of 1998

Ward, Brian H., USAF (CA); F4E shot down (w/Anderson), released by DRV March, 1973 - alive and well as of 1998