WASHINGTON - President Bush ordered U.S. Marines to Haiti today after the resignation and departure of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

WASHINGTON - Although it was apparent the Iraqi General Council would miss the U.S.-suggested deadline to establish an interim constitution, IGC member Mawaffak Rubaie asserted late Feb. 28 that the signing of the document is imminent, noting, "Failure is not an option."

WASHINGTON - Military value will be the focus for the final selection criteria to be used in the 2005 round of base realignment and closures.

WASHINGTON - As her unit moved toward Baghdad, liberated Iraqis "were tearing down things in celebration of the fall of the regime," Army 1st Lt. Emily Woolsey, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, recalled during a Feb. 26 visit with seventh- and eighth-graders.

WASHINGTON - One key to winning the war on terrorism is "getting the people who are on our side, able to fight with us," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said here today.

KABUL, Afghanistan - The Taliban is dead as a movement or a military factor in Afghanistan, the country's president said here Feb. 26, and former Taliban leaders seeking to return home will be allowed back if they don't have criminal records.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld reaffirmed the U.S. and coalition commitment to helping Afghanistan's people rebuild their nation under President Hamid Karzai's leadership.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. military will stop using always-armed, live landmines after 2010 under a new government policy announced by senior officials at a State Department news briefing today.

WASHINGTON - Iraqi citizens continue to point U.S. troops to sites where weapons and ammunitions are being found even in some cases hand delivering turn-in of the deadly munitions.

WASHINGTON - Military members serving at home and abroad in the war on terrorism will now be recognized for that service. Defense officials announced today the final approval of two new medals and their criteria.

WASHINGTON - The mission of homeland security is like playing an "away game and a home game," said the U.S. military's homeland defense commander. In war, just as in sports, it's the away game that you "want to win," but it is the home game that you "must win."

WASHINGTON - Incidences of sexual assault within the active duty military dropped by half between 1995 and 2002, according to a DoD sexual harassment survey released Feb. 25.

WASHINGTON - Attacks on U.S., coalition and Iraqi security forces in Iraq will not stop the country's march toward self-governance and democracy, a senior U.S. military officer said today.

WASHINGTON - "Our enemies are not idle, and neither are we," said Homeland Security Deputy Secretary James Loy today, echoing the words of President Bush.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department's senior personnel official today assured Senate Armed Services Committee members that the military would get to the bottom of allegations that scores of female service members were sexually assaulted during overseas deployments.

WASHINGTON - Coalition officials this morning gave more details about the death of Abu Mohammed Hamza, a terrorist bomb expert for al Qaeda ally Abu Musab Zarkawi.

ASTANA, Kazakhstan - Had Saddam Hussein followed Kazakhstan's example, the war in Iraq never would have been fought, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here today.

WASHINGTON - The Department of Homeland Security will turn 1 year old March 1, but the past year has not been without challenges, one official said today.

WASHINGTON - The al Qaeda is "seriously damaged," but the main threat facing the United States remains terrorist groups armed with catastrophic weapons, said George Tenet, the director of Central Intelligence.

WASHINGTON - Coalition forces acting on a tip by Iraqis captured a known associate of Izzat Ibrahim al-Dhouri, Coalition Provisional Authority officials announced today.

WASHINGTON - Two detainees at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been charged with conspiracy to commit war crimes and will be tried by military commission, a judge advocate spokesman said here today.

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan - Expressing America's gratitude for Uzbekistan's help in the war on terror, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld met here today with key leaders of this former Soviet republic.

WASHINGTON - -- Even after the June 30 handover of authority in Iraq, the majority of Iraqis would prefer some form of U.S. security force in their country, coalition authorities said today.

WASHINGTON - It wasn't a choice between combating Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq or going after al Qaeda, the nation's top military officer told members of the Council of Foreign Affairs in Baltimore Feb. 23. The United States had to do both.

WASHINGTON - A money savvy Marine Corps sergeant serving in Iraq didn't wait to get back home to buy a shiny new car with his $30,000 re- enlistment bonus. Instead, he invested all of it into the Thrift Savings Plan.

WASHINGTON - The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency outlined the security environment for members of the Senate Intelligence Committee during testimony today.

WASHINGTON - Foreign-born service members can now speed up the process to obtain American citizenship.

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait - A United Nations report that says elections in Iraq can take place late this year or early in 2005 if preparations begin now is helpful, the Coalition Provisional Authority administrator said Feb. 23.

WASHINGTON - Army leaders have recommended canceling a multibillion-dollar helicopter program, citing an Army study that suggests the funds would be more effective improving other areas of the service's aviation program.

WASHINGTON - A standing-room-only crowd watched, teary-eyed but smiling, as a Florida Army National Guardsman was ceremoniously retired from military service at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here Feb. 21. Soldiers, civilians and children filled the conference room for the occasion.

WASHINGTON - Homeland Security Department Secretary Tom Ridge today announced the creation of a new, unified national emergency communications system and an infrastructure database.

WASHINGTON - A team of 50 Marines has departed the United States to beef up security for the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, U.S. Southern Command confirmed today.

WASHINGTON - Combined Forces Command Afghanistan officials have condemned the attack on U.S. contract employees Feb. 22 near Panjawi District, 50 kilometers west of Kandahar, Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON - Task Force Ironhorse soldiers arrived on the scene today at a police station in Kirkuk, Iraq, to provide security and medical assistance following a car bomb attack there, according to a Combined Joint Task Force 7 release.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Polls indicate Iraqis want the occupation of their country to end, but don't want the coalition to leave, the senior spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority said here today.

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait - Meetings with military and civilian officials and visits with U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces in Baghdad Feb. 23 marked Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's fourth visit to Iraq since the country's liberation.

SHANNON, Ireland - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his traveling party weren't the only Americans to refuel here in today's wee hours.

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait - Terrorists have been targeting some of the roughly 200,000 Iraqis participating in their country's security, and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said today the Iraqi people don't like it and they're not giving in.

WASHINGTON - The Coalition Provisional Authority clarified today what CPA administrator Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III said in a Feb. 20 interview on Al Arabiya satellite TV.

WASHINGTON - The International Committee of the Red Cross visited Saddam Hussein today at an undisclosed location, Coalition Joint Task Force 7 officials confirmed.

WASHINGTON - Coalition and Iraqi security forces rounded up several terrorist targets during overnight raids, including a former mayor of Tikrit and a cousin of Saddam Hussein suspected of providing false passports for individuals crossing the Iraq-Syria border.

WASHINGTON - "Over the last 29 months, many terrorists have learned the meaning of justice," President Bush said today in his weekly radio address on progress being made in the war on terror.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Defense Department officials tried to put DoD's best foot forward in attracting minority students to seek careers in the department at Florida A&M University here Feb. 18-19.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - "Think big. Feel good about yourselves. Think positive, and encourage others to do likewise," retired Army Maj. Gen. Eugene R. Cromartie advised students during the Defense Department's African- American History Month observance luncheon here at Florida A&M University.

WASHINGTON - Two Task Force All American soldiers were killed and one was wounded in a roadside bomb explosion near Khaldiyah, Iraq, Feb. 19.

WASHINGTON - Military people and civilians in the Defense Department have the opportunity to "get in on the ground floor" of transformation, DoD's chief of the Office of Force Transformation said in a recent interview.

FORT STEWART, Ga. - Sometimes the biggest heroes are the quietest people, and Spc. Matthew Moss is that kind of hero.

WASHINGTON - A bronze statue of a soldier mourning a fallen comrade traveled from Tikrit, Iraq, to Fort Hood, Texas, this week to become the focal point of a memorial to the soldiers of Task Force Ironhorse who have died during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

WASHINGTON - Decorated World War II aviator and "Ace" Lee Andrew Archer Jr., 84, says he dreamed of becoming a fighter pilot at an early age.

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - A major hurricane, a nuclear accident and a nuclear detonation -- all simulated, and all occurring in Texas -- are among the challenges facing U.S. Northern Command forces during exercise Unified Defense '04.

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon's personnel chief said he hopes to bring the first 300,000 civilian Defense Department employees under the new National Security Personnel System within the next six months.

WASHINGTON - The civilian administrator of the coalition in Iraq today thanked American soldiers now returning to their home bases for their service in Iraq, and reaffirmed the June 30 target date for the return of sovereignty to the Iraqi people.

WASHINGTON - The United States is doing "pretty well" in the war on terror, but more needs to be done and more progress is necessary to transform American military capabilities, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said Feb. 18.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The speaker quoted late Air Force Gen. Daniel "Chappie" James, who said his mother told him, "Don't stand there banging on the door to opportunity, then when someone opens it, you say, 'Wait a minute, I got to get my bags.'

WASHINGTON - If music is the universal language, then the message emanating from a Steinway concert grand piano at a concert today in Baghdad, Iraq, was one of friendship and support.

WASHINGTON - News releases from Combined Joint Task Force 7 in Iraq have provided details of recent coalition successes in capturing insurgents and taking weapons out of circulation.

WASHINGTON - Several hundred Iraqis have new-found mobility, thanks to a public-private partnership that provides wheelchairs to victims of war, disability and disease.

WASHINGTON - The rotation of troops into and out of Iraq is in full swing, DoD officials said today.

WASHINGTON - While not precisely a "chicken-and-the-egg" analogy, many in Iraq are asking which comes first, security or prosperity.

WASHINGTON - Supporting the warfighter is "job No. 1" for U.S. Transportation Command, the TRANSCOM deputy commander said here today.

WASHINGTON - Striving to do one's best is at the core of the military, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers told members of the World Military Games gold-medal modern pentathlon team here Feb. 17.

WASHINGTON - Officials are happy with the progress of 11 provincial reconstruction teams in Afghanistan and are looking to expand the program throughout the country.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Things have come full circle for the soldiers of 8th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment.

WASHINGTON - Education and understanding are what it'll take to establish democracy across an Iraqi society largely operated by centuries-old insular tribal customs and mores, a U.S. military official said in Baghdad today.

WASHINGTON - An enhanced, three-tiered reward program is the coalition's latest weapon against insurgents in Iraq, officials announced at a Baghdad news conference today.

WASHINGTON - This year's Defense Department fund raising efforts was a boon for the National Capital Area Combined Federal Campaign coffers.

WASHINGTON - President Bush credited soldiers and their families at Fort Polk, La., today with "serving with skill and bravery in the war on terror" and leaving "no doubt that the enemy will be defeated and freedom will prevail."

WASHINGTON - Calling the military situation in Iraq "relatively stable," Combined Joint Task Force 7's deputy operations director detailed recent military activity during a Baghdad news conference today.

WASHINGTON - Terrorists are targeting Iraqi security forces not because they're working with the coalition, but rather because the security forces are bringing order and stability to Iraq, coalition officials said today at a Baghdad news conference.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A three-soldier meteorological team, or MET, is on call 24 hours a day to provide vital weather data at Task Force 1st Armored Division's forward operating base at Camp Falcon.

WASHINGTON - U.S. and coalition actions in Afghanistan have forced terrorist groups operating there to change their strategies. So coalition forces continue to adapt their tactical approach in response, the top U.S. general in that country said today.

WASHINGTON - The United States is a nation at war, and detaining enemy combatants is a part of that war, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Feb. 13 in Miami.

WASHINGTON - Places in Iraq like Fallujah are not ready for local control, and U.S.-led coalition forces will not leave an area that's not secure, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said today during a briefing in Baghdad.

WASHINGTON - As the June 30 turnover of sovereignty in Iraq to the Iraqi people approaches, terrorists trying to start a civil war in the country know their window of opportunity is closing, the Coalition Provisional Authority administrator said today.

WASHINGTON - Iraqi police captured another of the 55 most wanted members of Iraq's former regime today in Baghdad.

FAYETTEVILLE - It is different when a National Guard unit deploys.

WASHINGTON - When suicidal terrorists used commercial airliners as bombs on Sept. 11, 2001, it raised the prospect of even worse dangers: terrorists armed with chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons, President Bush said in his weekly radio address today.

WASHINGTON - One U.S. soldier was killed and nine were wounded by a mine Feb. 13 near Ghazni, Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON - Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz hosted an early Valentine's Day lunch today to thank soldiers wounded in the war on terror for their service and to assure them that America holds a special place in its heart for them.

WASHINGTON - The top family readiness programs in the reserve component for 2003 were honored today during the Defense Department's fourth annual awards ceremony in the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes.

WASHINGTON - A "dream team" of all-stars will race this year in NASCAR Busch Series salute to supportive employers of National Guardsmen and reservists.

WASHINGTON - A Washington Army National Guard soldier whose unit is deploying to Iraq was arrested Feb. 12 at Fort Lewis, Wash., for attempting to pass information about military capabilities to al Qaeda operatives.

WASHINGTON - One 16th Military Police Brigade soldier was killed and two others were wounded late Feb. 12 in an attack using an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire, Combined Joint Task Force 7 officials in Baghdad, Iraq, announced today in a news release.

WASHINGTON - With 114,000 service members deployed to Iraq and another 11,000 in Afghanistan supporting the war on terror, Cupid's arrow is going to have to travel a few extra miles this Valentine's Day.

WASHINGTON - Feb. 13, 2004 Suspected terrorists held at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will have the opportunity to appear before an administrative review panel, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee operations said here today.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - "We'll be good. We'll be careful, and we'll be back," was what Army Brig. Gen. Danny H. Hickman promised the thousands of family members gathered at the Crown Coliseum here today.

WASHINGTON - Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, accepted the Intrepid Foundation 2004 Freedom Award in New York City Feb. 11 on behalf of America's men and women in uniform.

WASHINGTON - Two Task Force 1st Armored Division soldiers are dead and another is wounded after a roadside bomb attack in western Baghdad, Iraq, Feb. 11.

WASHINGTON - The top military commander in Southwest Asia and the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division escaped injury today when their convoy was attacked while entering an Iraqi Civil Defense Corps battalion headquarters in Fallujah, Iraq.

WASHINGTON - Acknowledging that the president's budget request for fiscal 2005 represents "an enormous amount of money," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told Congress today it funds investments that ensure the nation's ability to face future threats, including those posed by terrorists.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department has a number of good reasons to delay asking for a wartime supplemental funding request for fiscal 2005, said DoD Comptroller Dov Zakheim, the biggest one being, "We don't know how much to ask for."

WASHINGTON - Britain's Prince Charles paid a surprise visit to Iraq Feb. 9, praising the British troops deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom for maintaining security in southern Iraq and supporting the war on terror.

WASHINGTON - A satellite photo Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld showed the Senate Armed Services Committee recently graphically depicts why Congress authorized the Korean Defense Service Medal.

WASHINGTON - It is no longer enough to be a good manager focusing on efficiency and "optimization," DoD's director of force transformation said here today.

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - A 101st Airborne Division soldier who, despite being critically wounded himself, repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire to treat wounded comrades in Iraq received the Silver Star here Feb. 5.

WASHINGTON - Saying it illustrates a calculated effort by foreign terrorists to derail democracy in Iraq, coalition and Iraqi officials in Baghdad today released a 17-page letter intended for al Qaeda leaders that a courier was carrying when he was captured last month.

WASHINGTON - The United States and its allies "will act on every lead to find the middlemen, the suppliers and the buyers" to stop the spread of deadly weapons, President Bush said today, proposing ways to strengthen the world's efforts toward that goal.

WASHINGTON - Iraqi police and other security forces are assuming more responsibility for security in their country every day, the U.S. general in charge of forces in western Iraq said in Baghdad today.

WASHINGTON - Intelligence is not a perfect art or science, the nation's top military leader said here today. Still, he said, he remains confident that members of the intelligence community are "trying to do the best work they can for this country of ours."

WASHINGTON - A 17-page letter seized in the capture of an al Qaeda courier last month reveals an enemy "terrified" that Iraq is on the road to freedom and self-government, a coalition military official said at a Baghdad news conference today.

WASHINGTON - In his early teens, John D. Hopper Jr. thought he'd grow up to be a scientist or schoolteacher. But that changed in 1963 when a liaison officer from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., visited him at Lyndon McKinley High School in Columbus, Ohio.

FORT BELVOIR, Va. - Opportunities exist at the Defense Logistics Agency for reserve military officers, and officials used last month's Reserve Officers Association conference in Washington, D.C., to spread the word.

WASHINGTON - Another fugitive featured in the deck of 55 playing cards signifying the "most wanted" members of Saddam Hussein's regime is in coalition custody.

WASHINGTON - As a show of support for the men and women in uniform, a San Antonio businessman is giving away free wooden nickels imprinted with the words, "Support Our Troops" and "The Price of Freedom is NOT Free!"

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld mounted a heartfelt defense of the U.S. policy of preemption during a Feb. 7 speech at an international security conference in Munich, Germany.

WASHINGTON - Croatia's prime minister gave a firm show of support Feb. 8 to the U.S. policy of preemption.

BAGHDAD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Iraq - After enduring months of intense heat, long hours, dust and Spartan living conditions since their arrival in May, Army postal units have nearly completed turnover of military postal operations to contractors.

WASHINGTON - A suspected al Qaeda operative's urging of starting a religious civil war in Iraq indicates that terrorists are increasingly uneasy over pro-coalition developments in that country, senior U.S. officials said in Baghdad today.

MUNICH, Germany - The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is potentially the greatest threat to world security, and the most frightening scenario is one in which terrorist groups acquire weapons of mass destruction, according to a recently released European Union security strategy report.

WASHINGTON - The hands-on work of patrols, raids and picking up targeted individuals continues in Iraq.

MUNICH, Germany - Twelve months ago talks among security officials meeting here were stressed and contentious by many accounts. Today, many of those same officials are working together to move forward and overcome those rifts.

MUNICH, Germany - In the past year, "NATO has undergone probably more positive change than in most 10-year periods in its history," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said here Feb. 7.

WASHINGTON - President Bush said he is a "war president," and he makes every foreign policy decision with that in mind.

WASHINGTON - While political progress moves forward, coalition military operations continue to kill or capture anti-coalition forces. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations at Combined Joint Task Force 7, said today in a Baghdad briefing that Iraq has been relatively stable.

WASHINGTON - Prosecuting the war against terrorism necessitates taking the fight to the enemy rather than waiting for another 9-11-style assault, a senior DoD civilian leader said here today.

WASHINGTON - Cornell A. Wilson Jr., a 6-foot-2-inch, 215-pound, former high school baseball and football player, chose academics over sports in college. And even though he was in the Navy ROTC program, he chose a commission in the Marine Corps over one in the Navy.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department is deep-sixing an Internet voting program over concerns about security, a Pentagon spokeswoman said today.

WASHINGTON - Representatives of all five military services in Hawaii will get a special honor this weekend as they take to the Aloha Stadium field in Honolulu to participate in Pro Bowl activities Feb. 8.

WASHINGTON - One of Dan Forant's favorite photos is of his young son wearing an Army helmet. And, one of the duo's favorite pastimes is cycling.

MUNICH, Germany - NATO defense ministers meeting here today discussed expanding the role of NATO forces in Afghanistan.

MUNICH, Germany - NATO defense ministers here today discussed the possibility of pulling all NATO peacekeeping troops out of Bosnia by the end of this year.

WASHINGTON - President Bush today announced seven members of an independent commission that will look into U.S. intelligence capabilities.

MUNICH, Germany - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived here late Feb. 5 on the first leg of a five-day European trip that will also include stops in Zagreb, Croatia, and London.

MUNICH, Germany - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Feb. 5 that it was important for CIA chief George Tenet to talk about successes of U.S. intelligence assets.

WASHINGTON - Multi-service special operations troops have led the way to victory in overseas campaigns during the war against terrorism, a senior U.S. military officer said here today.

WASHINGTON - Like every governmental agency and military service, the Coast Guard had to do some re-evaluation after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and is working hard to close gaps in the nation's waterway security.

WASHINGTON - It is still too soon to know if prewar intelligence estimates about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs were accurate, the U.S. director of central intelligence said here today.

WASHINGTON - Iraqi wrestlers will train in the United States in preparation for this summer's games in Athens, Greece, the senior Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman said today at a Baghdad news conference.

WASHINGTON - A U.S. soldier was killed and another was wounded today in a mortar attack at a checkpoint outside Baghdad International Airport in Iraq.

WASHINGTON - Although the Defense Department provides a travel entitlement for service members and their families in serious medical emergencies, the Fisher House Foundation is hoping to help those service members and families not covered under the rule.

WASHINGTON - "Knowing what I knew then, and knowing what I know today, America did the right thing in Iraq," President Bush told a crowd in Charleston, S.C., today.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - At a firing range on the grounds of Baghdad International Airport, the sharp crack of gunfire echoes out through the palm trees.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld highlighted efforts being made to transform the military even as the war on terror continues.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Much of the coalition forces' work in Iraq focuses on improving the lives of the country's citizens. In some cases, the benefits are not limited to humans.

WASHINGTON - The struggles and challenges the United States and its allies face in the war on terror are similar to those British Prime Minister Winston Churchill knew in World War II, President Bush said here today.

WASHINGTON - Spain stands with the United States in the fight against terrorism, Spanish President Jose Maria Aznar told a joint session of Congress today.

WASHINGTON - No administration official put pressure on any analyst to manipulate intelligence data to hype the threat of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction programs, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here today.

WASHINGTON - Soldiers conducting a cordon-and-search operation near Fallujah, Iraq, captured a man suspected of conducting rocket attacks on coalition field operating bases, Combined Joint Task Force 7 officials announced in a news release today.

WASHINGTON - The military services are making sweeping changes in the way they operate, including what the Pentagon comptroller called "the most revolutionary change in the way the Army has been structured since Napoleon made divisions the central maneuver unit of land forces."

WASHINGTON - With 2.2 million men and women on active duty and in the reserve component, there's no shortage of manpower to support the war on terror, Pentagon Comptroller Dov Zakheim told reporters here during a Feb. 2 briefing.

WASHINGTON - Up to 25,000 Defense Department civilians may be eligible for thousands of dollars in separation pay through an early-buyout program.

KIRKUK, Iraq - The phrase "New Iraq" is on the lips of many in this city. Kirkuk is in many ways a microcosm of the country.

VILLAGE OF HOPE, Iraq - Who got new homes and how they came to be was the big news Feb. 2 at this village near Mosul.

MOSUL, Iraq - A change made to the Stryker infantry vehicle has proven itself in combat.

WASHINGTON - One soldier was killed and another was wounded today in an improvised explosive device attack near Haswah, Iraq.

WASHINGTON - Iraq's new police force is making noticeable contributions to the security environment in Baghdad and elsewhere in the country, senior U.S. officials told reporters in Baghdad today.

WASHINGTON - One day in 1967, Erroll M. Brown, then a high school senior in St. Petersburg, Fla., opened his mailbox and pulled out a 3-by-5-inch white postcard addressed to him. It read in part, "Are you interested in going to the Coast Guard Academy?"

MOSUL, Iraq, Feb. 3 - Stryker Brigade Combat Team -- detained people suspected of anti-coalition activities and recovered weapons and other explosives in northern Iraq Feb. 1.

WASHINGTON - U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq continue to take the fight to the enemy, a senior U.S. military officer reported from Baghdad today.

WASHINGTON - An Iraqi citizen who assisted U.S. forces in the capture of a prominent diehard of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein's regime has become a millionaire.

WASHINGTON - Iraqi deaths caused by the two suicide bombings Feb. 1 in Irbil increased to 67, a senior U.S. officer reported today from Baghdad.

WASHINGTON - The house here in this city's northwest section where the "Father of Black History," lived, worked and launched "Negro History Week" in 1926 is now a National Historic Site, thanks to the U.S. Congress.

WASHINGTON - Top priority in the president's fiscal 2005 defense budget request goes to funding -- and winning -- the war on terror, Pentagon Comptroller Dov Zakheim told reporters here today.

WASHINGTON - Thanks to joint operations, the insurgency in Iraq is less organized and more fearful than it was month ago, the commander of the 1st Armored Division said in a Baghdad news conference today.

WASHINGTON - One 4th Infantry Division soldier was killed and 12 others were wounded during a rocket attack on Logistics Support Area Anaconda near Balad, Iraq, Feb. 1.

WASHINGTON - U.S. troops serving worldwide tuned in to watch Super Bowl XXXVIII and depending on where they were, the game took place Feb. 1 or today.

WASHINGTON - The $401.7 billion defense budget request for fiscal 2005 fully funds current readiness while maintaining course for transforming the military, DoD officials said here today.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The two suicide bombings in Irbil that news reports say killed 56 people and wounded 235, speak "volumes about what these extremists are all about," said Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz here today.

WASHINGTON - Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III expressed anger and dismay over today's suicide bombings in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, in a statement the coalition administrator released from Baghdad today.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The footprint of U.S. troops in Baghdad is changing as Iraqis assume more responsibility for their own security, said the commander of the 1st Armored Division here.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz is here for meetings with coalition military and civilian officials.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A 1st Armored Division soldier put the whole situation in Iraq in context. "We all got it that freedom isn't free, but you also can't give it away."

WASHINGTON - The president's proposed fiscal 2005 budget boosts defense spending to continue the war on terror, providing another pay raise for troops and increasing homeland security spending.