WASHINGTON - Terrorist attacks around the globe in 2002 were down 44 percent from the previous year, State Department experts announced here today.

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon's top civilian medical official praised military doctors, nurses, medics and other health care professionals for their "superb job" in Operation Iraqi Freedom during a roundtable with Pentagon reporters April 29.

WASHINGTON - The Iraqi lawyer who led American Marines to prisoner of war Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch has been granted asylum and is safe in the United States with his family.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The crowd wore Kevlar as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld thanked the soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors of the coalition land forces during a town hall meeting at the international airport here today.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Perhaps symbolizing the importance of special operations forces to Operation Iraqi Freedom, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld arrived in Baghdad on an MC-130 from the Air Force's 919th Special Operations Wing today.

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin Powell asked Congress today to approve protocols that would welcome seven new members into NATO, which would be the alliance's largest expansion in its 54-year history.

PRINCE SULTAN AIR BASE, Saudi Arabia - DoD officials said that the combined air operations center at this base will be mothballed and all U.S. aircraft operating from here will be gone by August.

WASHINGTON - More than 300 delegates representing a cross-section of Iraqi society yesterday hashed out plans for the formation of an interim government at an all-day meeting in Baghdad.

PRINCE SULTAN AIR BASE, Saudi Arabia - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told airmen here that what they accomplished for the Iraqi people, for the region and for the world is truly remarkable.

WASHINGTON - The days of repression of the Iraqi people are over, President Bush told a crowd of Iraqi expatriates in Dearborn, Mich., today. "Iraq will be democratic," he added.

WASHINGTON - The way forward in Iraq and in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict were the two main topics of discussion today in a meeting between Secretary of State Colin Powell and his Jordanian counterpart.

WASHINGTON - Fighting global terrorism and transforming were atop the message list from a top combatant command official to a Senate subcommittee recently.

DOHA, Qatar - The number of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region will drop as a result of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here today.

DOHA, Qatar - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld thanked the service members and civilians of U.S. Central Command here for the jobs they did as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Coalition forces detained Mohammed Muslim Al Zubaidi today near the Coalition Civil Military Coordination Center, according to U.S. Central Command officials.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - The footprint of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region will change in the coming months, but it is too soon to say how, defense leaders said following meetings with leaders of the United Arab Emirates today.

WASHINGTON - With Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and sometime-spokesman Tariq Aziz now in American custody, 12 of the 55 most wanted Iraqis are accounted for, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said today.

WASHINGTON - One American service member was killed and five injured in an attack this morning in Afghanistan, defense officials said.

WASHINGTON - "Some evidence" suggests Saddam Hussein may have died in air strikes that opened Operation Iraqi Freedom, President Bush said April 24.

WASHINGTON - TRICARE, like all other healthcare providers nationwide, is working under stricter rules when it comes to protecting patients' rights and the privacy of their health information.

WASHINGTON - More than 20 years ago, U.S. Army 1st Lt. Steven Bucci was a team leader in the mountains of Greece near the Yugoslavian border. Now, the Special Forces colonel is serving a two-year tour behind a desk at the Pentagon, armed only with a computer and a tomahawk he keeps as a memento from his A Team in 5th Special Forces Group.

WASHINGTON - Non-linguist U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq have been able to communicate with local citizens by using a paperback-book-sized device called the phraselator.

WASHINGTON - The United States' edge in warfighting comes, in part, from the "American spirit of enterprise, from great companies and great workers," President Bush said this afternoon to a group of people who build Abrams tanks for a living.

WASHINGTON - The North Korean government shouldn't feel threatened because the United States, China and other nations want the Korean peninsula to be nuclear- weapon-free, the top U.S. diplomat said here today.

WASHINGTON - The key to the success of Operation Iraqi Freedom was the outstanding cooperation among all of the services and coalition partners, the top Marine in the command said today.

WASHINGTON - American officials are working to reconstitute Iraqi government ministries and get employees back to work and receiving paychecks, the man charged with getting Iraq running again said today.

WASHINGTON - The Iraqi deck lost three more cards April 23, and coalition special operations forces took into custody another regime member who might be able to name all the Iraqi spies in the United States.

WASHINGTON - Coalition forces in Afghanistan believe they killed the man who murdered a Salvadoran Red Cross worker March 27, officials at Combined Joint Task Force 180 said today.

WASHINGTON - Coalition forces are nearing the end of combat operations, but the campaign will continue, the chief of coalition land forces said during an interview from Baghdad.

WASHINGTON - The coalition has trumped the Queen of Spades in the Iraqi most-wanted deck.

WASHINGTON - It's going to take more than returning Pfc. Jessica Lynch to the United States for her to get back to a normal life.

WASHINGTON - If there's a single word that describes the Defense Transformation for the 21st Century Act, it is "flexibility," said David Chu, defense undersecretary for personnel and readiness.

WASHINGTON - The United States has neither asked nor considered asking a future Iraqi government for use of four air bases, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said today.

WASHINGTON - Where can DoD information technology procurement specialists quickly get the best deals on computer software?

WASHINGTON - When Army Pvt. Fernando Gonzalez heard that professional wrestlers "Bradshaw" and "Faarooq" were visiting Walter Reed Army Medical Center recently, he got excited and asked for them to visit his hospital room.

WASHINGTON - At least one more leader of Saddam Hussein's regime is in custody, and another has allegedly turned himself in to the Iraqi National Congress.

WASHINGTON - Thousands of military "brats" took part in a 125-year-old American tradition today the White House Easter Egg Roll.

ARLINGTON, Va. - Everything he has learned about the military during his quarter-century in the West Virginia Army National Guard has made 1st Sgt. Dan Little a friend in need and a friend indeed for the family of former POW Pfc. Jessica Lynch.

WASHINGTON - Tax relief and special pay for service members involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom have expanded.

WASHINGTON - An Iraq newly freed from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein provides "a greater security for our country and for the whole world," U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz said here April 17.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Justice Department worked aggressively to both develop intelligence that the coalition against Saddam Hussein could use and to protect the United States from terrorist attack, said Attorney General John Ashcroft April 17.

WASHINGTON - Coalition forces have released 887 Iraqi prisoners being held in the Theater Internment Facility near Umm Qasr.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Army and Air Force troops at an airfield in southern Iraq are providing military air and logistical support -- and much-needed medical and other assistance to local Iraqis.

WASHINGTON - Iraqi Kurds handed over the Ba'ath Party regional command chairman for East Baghdad to coalition special operations forces yesterday, U.S. Central Command officials said this morning.

WASHINGTON - The successful application of teamwork and technology in Operation Iraqi Freedom marks a turning point in American war fighting, the U.S. military's senior officer said here April 16.

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld thanked the men and women of the department for their service in the campaign in Iraq, but said much still remains to be done.

WASHINGTON - Pfc. Jessica Lynch, former Iraqi prisoner of war now receiving treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here, has asked the public to send cards and letters in lieu of gifts and flowers.

WASHINGTON - Coalition special operations forces captured Saddam Hussein's half-brother during a raid in Baghdad last night, U.S. Central Command officials said during a briefing from Qatar today.

GULFPORT, Miss. - Henry Q. Pike, 79, has lived a long, charmed life. The son of an Alabama coalminer, he fought in three wars and never got a scratch during a total of five years in combat.

WASHINGTON - President Bush signed a $79 billion wartime supplemental at the White House this morning "to cover the needs directly arising from Operation Iraqi Freedom and the reconstruction of Iraq," he said in St. Louis this afternoon.

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department is receiving $62.6 billion as a result of the emergency supplemental bill President Bush signed today.

WASHINGTON - The situation on the ground "continues to brighten in Iraq," the Pentagon's chief spokeswoman said in the Pentagon today. "But our troops are still putting their lives on the line, and the work is still dangerous."

WASHINGTON - Many snipers, suicide bombers and other diehards attacking U.S. and coalition troops in Iraq are non-Iraqis waging holy war, the U.S. military's senior officer said April 15.

WASHINGTON - While major combat action is certainly winding down in Iraq, coalition forces are still conducting operations in the country, said U.S. Central Command officials in Qatar today.

WASHINGTON - Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has lowered the nationwide threat level to "yellow" from "orange."

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is, once again, advising service members that flea and tick collars work great on pets, but not on humans.

WASHINGTON - Coalition special operations personnel in Baghdad captured Palestinian terrorist Abu Abbas April 14, U.S. Central Command officials said today.

WASHINGTON - Everyone knows Donald H. Rumsfeld is one tough hombre. Yet today, a country singer made the straight-talking, no-nonsense defense secretary wipe tears from his eyes.

WASHINGTON - Up to 100 Iraqi representatives from throughout the country began discussing Iraq's future today, Secretary of State Colin Powell said.

WASHINGTON - American troops will be in Iraq "as long as required and not one day longer," the U.S. military's senior officer said here today.

WASHINGTON - "These are good days for the history of freedom," President Bush said during a Rose Garden ceremony this morning.

WASHINGTON - Country artist Darryl Worley and his band will perform in concert at the Pentagon on Wednesday, April 16, at 10:30 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time.

WASHINGTON - The focus of coalition operations in Iraq is on eliminating remaining pockets of resistance, said U.S. Central Command officials during a briefing in Qatar today.

WASHINGTON - Iraqi representatives and American officials met today in Nasiriyah, Iraq, for the first time to begin the process of forming an interim government for that country.

WASHINGTON - It was a memorable, symbolic night at the MCI Center here April 14 as Michael Jordan played the last home game of his legendary and illustrious basketball career. But it would be more than about a game between two NBA teams.

WASHINGTON - As the war in Iraq winds down, the shape and number of coalition forces in the area will change, DoD officials said during a briefing in the Pentagon.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Marines encountered sporadic resistance as they moved into Tikrit today, U.S. Central Command officials said this morning during a press conference in Qatar.

WASHINGTON - Arianna Peel, 23, is grieving over the dire prognosis for her husband's full recovery from severe injuries suffered in a tragic vehicle accident in Saudi Arabia.

WASHINGTON - Kuwait is providing "significant humanitarian assistance" to Iraq while still hoping to recover its prisoners of war from Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion.

WASHINGTON - DoD officials identified the seven American prisoners of war found in northern Iraq today as five members of the 507th Maintenance Company and two Apache helicopter pilots.

WASHINGTON - Saddam Hussein's scientific adviser surrendered to U.S. forces Saturday, proclaiming that Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction.

WASHINGTON - There are no towns under Iraqi regime control now, Army Gen. Tommy Franks said on Fox News Sunday today.

WASHINGTON - Seven U.S. service members listed as missing or prisoners have been returned to American control, U.S. Central Command chief Army Gen. Tommy Franks said today.

WASHINGTON - Coalition forces in Iraq are using a specially created deck of 55 playing cards to identify the "most wanted" members of Saddam Hussein's regime.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Navy may reduce the number of aircraft carriers deployed in the Gulf region if Operation Iraqi Freedom air strike requirements draw down, the commander of coalition naval forces said today.

WASHINGTON - Two worlds collided in Baghdad this week. Coalition forces and Western journalists were shocked by emerging evidence of Saddam Hussein's tyranny and inhumanity, and the long-oppressed Iraqi people experienced the compassion and respect of coalition troops.

WASHINGTON - U.S. and coalition troops are searching out and eliminating pockets of Saddam-regime diehards, while providing much needed humanitarian relief to the Iraqi people.

WASHINGTON - DoD officials identified the seven American prisoners of war found in northern Iraq today as five members of the 507th Maintenance Company and two Apache helicopter pilots.

WASHINGTON - Iraq is capable of creating a viable government, according to Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz. In the meantime, the U.S.-led coalition has a responsibility to ensure food, water, medicine and basic services are provided to the Iraqi people.

WASHINGTON - Plying the Arabian Sea, she's an oasis of medical care and hope for sick or wounded U.S. and coalition troops, Iraqi civilians and enemy prisoners of war.

WASHINGTON - Signs of the disintegration of Saddam Hussein's regime abound in Iraq, U.S. Central Command officials said in a briefing in Qatar today.

WASHINGTON - America's men and women in uniform are brave, tough and courageous, President Bush said today after visiting more than 70 wounded service members and their families at two military hospitals.

WASHINGTON - Seeing televised images of larger-than- life statues of Saddam Hussein tumbling all over Iraq is like "seeing the Berlin Wall come down all over again," America's No. 2 defense official told foreign media today.

WASHINGTON - The war on Iraq hasn't caused the United States to lose its focus on Central and South America, said a DoD official.

WASHINGTON - Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz today told U.S. Senate members that NATO remains a key partner in national security matters, and emphasized the importance for the Iraqis to choose their own leaders in the post-Saddam era.

WASHINGTON - They're intimately familiar with Iraqi language and culture, they wear distinctive uniforms, they serve with U.S. civil affairs troops in Iraq -- and they don't like Saddam Hussein.

WASHINGTON - The deaths of two American service members since Iraqis toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad yesterday emphasized that combat in Iraq is not over.

WASHINGTON - U.S. and coalition forces operating in Iraq will not stop until "Saddam's corrupt gang is gone," President Bush told the Iraqi people this morning.

WASHINGTON - The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced that premiums for the Service members Group Life Insurance will be reduced, handing military members a few extra dollars in their pockets each month.

WASHINGTON - The future of force protection may one day be a roving robot with high-tech sensors that can detect intruders and non-lethally subdue them.

WASHINGTON - The Department of Defense is advising military and civilian personnel to take precaution against the potentially deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. The advisory is especially for those traveling in the Far East, where the flu-like virus is believed to have originated.

WASHINGTON - Following yesterday's scenes of jubilation, there was still fighting overnight in parts of Baghdad, U.S. Central Command officials in Qatar said today.

WASHINGTON - Coalition forces are addressing concerns about Iraqi humanitarian needs, Pentagon spokeswoman Torie Clarke said today.

WASHINGTON - The circus came to town and the clowns went to see a very special audience at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on April 9.

WASHINGTON - Enemy prisoners of war captured in Iraq are being well taken care of.

WASHINGTON - Two American airmen have been missing since their F-15E Strike Eagle went down in Iraq April 6, U.S. military officials in Saudi Arabia said.

WASHINGTON - The collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in Baghdad is evident, yet there may still be hard fighting ahead, Vice President Richard Cheney said this morning.

WASHINGTON - A tragic accident in Afghanistan today killed 11 civilians and wounded one, said Combined Task Force 180 officials.

WASHINGTON - Saddam Hussein's regime is in "disarray, and much of Iraq is free from years of oppression," a U.S. Central Command spokesman said today.

WASHINGTON - The television pictures from Baghdad today were unmistakable and compelling: Iraqis and Americans joining to rip down a statue of Saddam Hussein. Other Iraqis burned pictures of the Iraqi dictator. Still others welcomed American soldiers and Marines as liberators.

WASHINGTON - A dozen years ago, Defense Secretary Richard Cheney directed Operation Desert Storm. Today Vice President Cheney has the historical perspective to compare the 1991 Gulf War with today's Operation Iraqi Freedom.

WASHINGTON - American combat medics are treating scores of Iraqi civilians and service members throughout that country, the Pentagon's chief spokeswoman said today.

WASHINGTON - It might have been "The Big One."

WASHINGTON - Former prisoner of war Army Pfc. Jessica D. Lynch today saw members of her family as she continues to recover from her injuries at a U.S. military hospital in Germany.

WASHINGTON - French military commander and emperor Napoleon Bonaparte declared that an army travels on its stomach.

WASHINGTON - Coalition forces targeted "senior regime officials" in a strike in the Baghdad suburb of al Mansour April 7, a U.S. Central Command official said during a briefing in Qatar today.

WASHINGTON - President Bush said today he doesn't know whether Saddam Hussein survived an April 7 American bombing. But, dead or alive, the Iraqi dictator is loosening his vise-grip on the people of Iraq.

WASHINGTON - President Abraham Lincoln instituted the modern law of war practiced by U.S. troops and most nations' militaries today.

WASHINGTON - Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime is disobeying long-established rules for military conduct during wartime, senior DoD officials asserted here today.

WASHINGTON - The war in Iraq, increased force protection and a declining dollar value overseas have forced Army officials to close three of its armed forces recreation centers in Europe a year earlier than planned.

WASHINGTON - Unknown enemy forces fired missiles at U.S. forces in Afghanistan in three separate incidents over the weekend, a military spokesman in Bagram said today.

WASHINGTON - Units of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division took the Presidential Palace in downtown Baghdad, demonstrating to the world that coalition forces can move at will, U.S. Central Command officials said today.

WASHINGTON - Embedded media are reporting that U.S. soldiers have found Iraqi chemical agents, but Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he will wait for more information before making a statement.

WASHINGTON - Dictator Saddam Hussein's 20-plus-year hold on the Iraqi people is drawing to a close, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said today.

WASHINGTON - U.S. military combat action in Baghdad yesterday may have inflicted thousands of casualties on the enemy, a senior U.S. Central Command spokesperson said today.

WASHINGTON - Americans see the tanks driving through Baghdad, but what they really don't see is the air campaign that helped make it possible.

WASHINGTON - The special operations mission to rescue Army Pfc. Jessica D. Lynch from Iraqi captivity was a triumph of joint planning and execution, said Air Force Maj. Gen. Victor Renuart.

WASHINGTON - Members of the 3rd Infantry Division are moving through downtown Baghdad, U.S. Central Command officials said today.

WASHINGTON - With Iraq's day of liberation drawing near, U.S. officials are hard at work on plans for an interim authority, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said today.

WASHINGTON - Defense Department personnel may make only mission-essential trips to China and Hong Kong because of the threat of severe acute respiratory syndrome, U.S. Pacific Command officials said today.

MARINE COMBAT HEADQUARTERS, Iraq - New heroes have surfaced in the rescue of Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch.

WASHINGTON - Operation Iraqi Freedom is supported by the largest special operations force since the Vietnam War, Defense Department officials said during a press briefing today.

WASHINGTON - Army Pfc. Jessica D. Lynch is at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, recovering from injuries sustained during nine days as a prisoner of war in Iraq, U.S. military officials said today.

WASHINGTON - DoD is taking a watchful approach to its smallpox vaccination program after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta reported investigating whether a sequence of cardiac deaths was associated with the vaccine.

WASHINGTON - With the help of the Kuwaiti government, fresh water is flowing into coalition-held areas of southern Iraq, and food is on the way, the American officer in charge of these efforts said today.

WASHINGTON - Saddam International Airport is under new management and has been renamed Baghdad International Airport, U.S. Central Command officials said today.

WASHINGTON - Precision munitions and careful targeting have enabled Operation Iraqi Freedom planners to maximize the effects of missiles and bombs and minimize unintended Iraqi civilian casualties and collateral damage.

WASHINGTON - Coalition forces have taken outlying areas of Baghdad "and are closer to the center of the Iraqi capital than many American commuters are to their downtown offices," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said at the Pentagon today.

WASHINGTON - Immediately after the Iraqi regime falls, U.S. and coalition military officials will assume responsibility for stabilizing the country, but soon after will transition to an "interim Iraqi authority," Secretary of State Colin Powell said today.

WASHINGTON - "There's no finer sight than to see 12,000 United States Marines and corpsmen -- unless you happen to be a member of the Iraqi Republican Guard," President Bush said this morning in North Carolina.

WASHINGTON - The United States increased its cash donation to the international community to purchase food for the Iraqi people, a senior U.S. government official said here yesterday.

WASHINGTON - A Navy F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet went missing and an Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed in central Iraq April 2, U.S. Central Command officials said this morning.

WASHINGTON - Since the beginning of the war in Iraq, defense officials have pointed out the Iraqi regime's policy of consistently ignoring the laws of armed conflict and the Geneva Conventions.

WASHINGTON - America's and Turkey's top diplomats today agreed on upgrading Turkish military support for U.S. and coalition forces fighting in Iraq.

WASHINGTON - Working from the notion that a picture is worth a thousand words, Pentagon officials this afternoon showed reporters and a live television audience around the world photographs of coalition forces providing food aid to Iraqi civilians.

WASHINGTON - One recalled experiencing a type of blindness caused by darkness and the "fog of war," while the other noted it was hard to see the enemy because of deception.

WASHINGTON - While the fate of Saddam Hussein and his regime of thugs is not in doubt, Marine Gen. Peter Pace today said Iraqi military commanders can still determine their own fate and that of their troops.

WASHINGTON - One Iraqi Republican Guard division is destroyed and others are severely degraded, said Army Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks during a briefing in Qatar today.

WASHINGTON - Coalition special operations forces rescued Army Pfc. Jessica D. Lynch from the hands of her Iraqi captors during a mission into the town of Nasiriyah, U.S. Central Command officials said today.

WASHINGTON - Joy and relief filled the Gregory and Deadra Lynch household in Palestine, W.V., today after learning overnight that their daughter, 19- year-old Jessica Lynch, an Army private first class, had been rescued from captivity in Iraq.

WASHINGTON - April 1 marked the start of an e-mail pen pal program between some service members overseas and some of the nation's top pro sports figures.

WASHINGTON - An American POW taken during fighting around Nasiriyah has been rescued, Central Command officials announced tonight.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. and Britain will partner to establish a joint anti-terrorism working group, the two government's top civil security officials announced at a press briefing here today.

WASHINGTON - It's Day 12 of "Where's Saddam?"

WASHINGTON - U.S. Army units attacked Iraqi Republican Guard units around Karbala within the past day, a senior Central Command official told media this morning.

WASHINGTON - Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has not been seen since coalition forces first launched an air strike on a Baghdad compound March 19, according to Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

WASHINGTON - The only thing the coalition is willing to discuss with the leaders of the Iraqi regime is their unconditional surrender, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said today.

WASHINGTON - Reports that American forces went into Iraq undermanned are "bogus" and "not helpful" while the United States has troops in combat, said the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff today.