Royal Australian Navy – Warships will take on a greater policing role to counter escalating threats to shipping and national security such as piracy, kidnappings and smuggling, navy chief Chris Ritchie said. In a speech to a maritime conference in Sydney on the role of the navy post-September 11, Rear Admiral Ritchie said the service was being called on to perform a wider range of tasks beyond traditional warfare. These included intercepting illegal cargos, smugglers, fishermen and traffickers in missiles and weapons of mass destruction.

• The Australian: Navy to shift focus from battles to piracy
  

Background – Iraq – In his March/April 2002 Foreign Affairs article Next Stop Baghdad?, Kenneth Pollack laid out the case for why an invasion of Iraq was both necessary and possible. Nine months after the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime, he provides an update on the situation there.

• Foreign Affairs: After Saddam: Assessing the Reconstruction of Iraq