At the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, President George W. Bush gave a speech on the Iraq war. “As Iraqi forces grow more capable,” he said, “they’re increasingly taking the lead in the fight against the terrorists.”CNN.comOperation Steel Hammer, intended to end Al Qaeda operations in Hit, west of Baghdad, was launched with a force of 1,500 U.S. Marines, 500 U.S. Army soldiers, and 500 Iraqi soldiers.ABC NewsNineteen Iraqi soldiers were killed in an attack north of Baghdad,Turkish Press/AFPand ten U.S. Marines were killed by a roadside bomb in Fallujah.BBC NewsIn New York City, a defense contractor named David …

General Pervez Musharraf, the president of Pakistan, walked up to President Atal Behari Vajpayee of India and shook his hand at a meeting in Katmandu; Vajpayee then gave a speech denouncing Pakistan’s empty gestures. Indian troops fired at their Pakistani counterparts across the Line of Control in Kashmir. Officials at India’s Archaeological Society were planning to cover the Taj Mahal with green cloth in case of war. A Hindu priest decapitated an eight-year-old boy in a ritual sacrifice to Shiva, the god of destruction, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Prime Minister Hun Sen declared a moratorium on all …

The White House announced that the anthrax used in recent mail attacks probably originated in the United States; Army officials confirmed that the bacteria was a genetic match with anthrax in the Army’s stockpile but pointed out that their supply had come from the Agriculture Department. The F.B.I. was still trying to figure out how many different government labs were experimenting with the bacteria. President Bush announced that the United States will withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. North Korea said it will sign five international antiterrorism conventions. Israelis and Palestinians continued to kill one another; a poll showed …