The Coalition Press Information Center is a centralized

media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

information center that was established during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Operation Iraqi Freedom

During the preparations for

Operation Iraqi Freedom The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States-led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist governm ...

a CPIC was established at the

Kuwait City Kuwait City (; ) is the capital and largest city of Kuwait. Located at the heart of the country on the south shore of Kuwait Bay on the Persian Gulf, it is the political, cultural and economic center of the emirate, containing Kuwait's Seif Pal ...

Hilton, (actually located outside Kuwait City proper in the district of Mangaf). The CPIC was staffed by members of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

, Air Force and Marines; the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

Royal Marines The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...

and

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

and the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...

. The CPIC director was US. Army Colonel Guy T. Shields. The deputy director was British Army Lieutenant Colonel Robert Partridge. A CPIC is normally responsible for delivering

press release A press release (also known as a media release) is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing new information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public releas ...

s and casualty reports, conducting news conferences, arranging interviews, and escorting media to newsworthy events. With the expectation that Kuwait City would be once again invaded by Iraqi forces,

Coalition Forces Land Component Command Coalition Forces Land Component Command, or CFLCC, is a command directing all land forces of different allied countries on behalf of a combatant commander or Joint task force commander. In U.S. military terminology, Unified Combatant Commands or ...

established its headquarters in

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

and the CPIC in Kuwait City ceded to the commanders in Qatar its authority to release any information to the media. The CPIC was established at the Kuwait Hilton in early February, 2003 by the 22nd

MPAD A Mobile public affairs detachment, or MPAD, is a public relations type of unit found in the United States Army. Background A mobile public affairs detachment is a modular, task organizable unit that is assigned to a Division Headquarters, Corp ...

, an active Army unit stationed at Ft. Bragg, NC. The 318th PAOC, a U.S. Army Reserve unit based out of Forest Park, Illinois, took over operation of the CPIC on February 22, 2003. Before the CPIC ceased operations in Kuwait in early May, 2003, credentials were issued to more than 6,500

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

s, permitting them various levels of access to coalition forces. After the 2003 invasion, the CPIC was established on the second floor of the Iraqi Convention Center in Baghdad's Green Zone by the 372nd

, an Army Reserve Unit from

Nashville, TN Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. It was from this location that Coalition Chief Military Spokesman Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt and

Coalition Provisional Authority The Coalition Provisional Authority (; , CPA) was a Provisional government, transitional government of Iraq established following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, invasion of the country on 19 March 2003 by Multi-National Force – Iraq, U.S.-led Co ...

Spokesman

Dan Senor Daniel Samuel Senor (, ; born November 6, 1971) is an American columnist, writer, and political adviser. He was chief spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq and senior foreign policy adviser to U.S. presidential candidate Mitt ...

gave many of their press briefings in the first years of the occupation.see Steve Valley, Inside the Fortress (American Book Publishing, 2009), {{ISBN, 1-58982-566-7 In 2005, the CPIC was moved to a parking structure outside of the convention center to make way for the

Council of Representatives of Iraq The Council of Representatives is the ''de facto'' unicameral legislature of Iraq. According to the Constitution of Iraq, it is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the country. As of 2020, it comprises 329 seats and meets in Baghdad ...

. Embedded: The Media at War in Iraq, An Oral History, by Bill Katovsky, Timothy Carlson https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=79598&page=1

Operation Iraqi Freedom

See also