-------- NUCLEAR (by country)

New Era in Russian-North Korean Relations

NewsMax.com
Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2000
Col. Stanislav Lunev
http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/8/23/114540

Next month Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in the Kremlin with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who is coming to Russia at Putin's invitation. The Russian press reported that Kim's visit is tentatively scheduled for the first half of September, but neither side has officially confirmed the exact dates.

According to Russia's Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, the North Korean leader will make the long journey by train from Pyongyang to Moscow via the Far East port of Vladivostok, where Kim Jong-il would make his first stop before arriving in Moscow.

According to Yevgeny Nazdratenko, the governor of Russia's Primorsky region bordering North Korea, Kim's visit is scheduled for Sept. 1-4.

The visit to Russia would be Kim's second-known foreign trip as the leader of his internationally isolated and impoverished communist state. His trip to China last May remained secret until he returned home. He also visited China in 1983 with his father, Kim Il-sung, then North Korea's dictator. Concerns over a possible coup during any trip abroad are often cited as a main reason for Kim's reluctance to travel.

There is no doubt that Kim's trip to Moscow will have great importance to relations between these two countries as well as for the geo-political environment in East Asia and the Pacific Rim.

For a long time North Korea was one of the most reliable partners and allies of the former Soviet Union, bowing to practically all requests from Moscow and receiving, in return, modern Soviet weapons and economical help and assistance.

According to secret agreements, the former USSR gave Pyongyang different weapons systems, which actually made North Korea one of the most heavily armed countries in world. Pyongyang's current nuclear and missile program is also based on technology and material received directly from Russia, sometimes via China.

The very warm relations that existed from the time of the Korean War between Moscow and Pyongyang cooled in 1990s after the Soviet Union collapsed. In 1995 Russia opted out of their defense agreement with the North while developing links with South Korea.

Pyongyang has counted on the resumption of aid from Moscow, which has been frozen since 1992, but no agreement on that was reached during Putin's recent trip to North Korea.

During this visit last July Russia and North Korea agreed only to set up new joint ventures, mostly in farming, coastal fishing, and farming clams and seaweed.

According to tradition, Moscow and Pyongyang keep secret any military cooperation between two countries, including Russian participation in creation of an air defense system for Pyongyang deploying Russia's modern air and missile defense complexes S-300 and its last modification S-400 around North Korea's capital.

When Putin was in Pyongyang two months ago, Russia's Parliament unanimously ratified a new friendship and cooperation treaty with North Korea, which was signed in Pyongyang last February by Foreign Minister Ivanov. This treaty replaced a 1961 pact, dropping a provision that called for mutual defense obligations, and calling for reunification of the two Koreas on mutually agreed principles.

Specialists believe that the latest developments in relations between Moscow and China, North Korea, and other Asian countries is a some kind of diplomatic advance designed to create a counterweight to American influence in this area.

Putin's current moves in Asia are aimed at maximizing the impression in many foreign capitals that Putin's accession to the presidency heralds a new and more productive era in Russia which is reemerging as a key international player.

The Kremlin is also moving quickly to exploit a mounting international backlash against what is perceived as U.S. "global dominance," and wants to encourage development of a so-called "multipolar" world order, thereby blunting American influence globally.

As Moscow has used U.S. arms policies not popular in some socialist European governments to sharpen tensions within the Western alliance, it is now trying to use the same issues to highlight dissatisfaction with the U.S. among Asian governments.

At the same time, Moscow is clearly angling to use the recent inter-Korean meetings and the apparent promise of a relaxation of tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang to win a central role for itself in the Korean peace process and to project its influence in the peninsula.

Reconciliation between the two Koreas, not coincidentally, challenges one of the key assumptions on which U.S. plans for a national missile defense (NMD) system are based, and thus strengthens the effects of Moscow's attacks on the U.S. arms control policies.

Putin also tried to play on the recent statement of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il that his government will drop its intercontinental ballistic missile program if other countries will launch two or three satellites a year for Pyongyang at their own expense.

Moscow says bringing North Korea out of its half-century of isolation is a better way to counter any threat than a high-tech anti-missile shield proposed by the US where Pyongyang's nuclear-missile program is a pressing concern.

The mainstream U.S. press immediately supported Putin's idea and for almost two months gave the American people information explaining its details.

In particular, what countries could handle satellite launches for North Korea, how much it will cost, etc. The media also underscores the fact that if the North Korean threat is diminished - or if it could be abated with a relatively small investment in satellite launches - that could have a significant impact on the debate over the issue of NMD.

But in mid-August North Korea's Kim Jong-il shocked Moscow and its supporters in the U.S. and elsewhere by saying a proposal he made to Putin last month to junk Pyongyang's nuclear missile program was actually a joke.

As The Washington Times reported on August 17, Putin, hoping to undercut the U.S. plan for an NMD system, touted the idea as a major breakthrough at the Group of Eight summit in Okinawa, Japan, forcing U.S. and Western diplomats to scramble to figure out what Kim had proposed.

Kim's "funny joke," which came at a time when the bomb explosion in Moscow and the tragedy with the nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea had sufficiently undermined Putin's international popularity and respect, makes it very difficult to predict these two leaders' future relationship.

But while both Putin and Kim have few common interests that would encourage them to work closely, they have one interest in common - they are both violently anti-American and this one common feature will favor better relations and cooperation between today's Russia and North Korea.

Kremlin leaders believe that to oppose U.S. "global dominance" successfully it's not enough merely to have just a strategic alliance between Russia and Communist China. They think that in coalition with such countries as North Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Cuba and other so-called rogue states who share their strong anti-American sentiments, the Russian-Chinese strategic and military alliance would be much more successful.

As Putin's press service said on Aug 18, Putin will visit Cuba this year, but the exact date of the trip hasn't been set. Putin has also officially accepted an invitation to Libya, another international outcast that was a close ally of the former USSR.

Unfortunately, Washingtonian's politicians either can't or won't recognize these new threats to U.S. national security.

---

India, Japan Launch Wide-Ranging Partnership

New York Times
August 23, 2000 Filed at 1:42 p.m. ET
By Reuters
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-india-j.html

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India and Japan launched a wide-ranging partnership Wednesday, putting behind strains caused by New Delhi's nuclear tests two years ago and stepping into a security dialogue and closeness fostered by technology.

``Japan and India have become global partners from today,'' Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori told reporters after holding talks with his Indian counterpart, Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Officials from both sides said their countries would have regular dialogue on economic, regional and international issues as part of a broad new range of contacts.

The two Asian nations want to develop close links in information technology, in which Japan needs India's vast pool of professionals, and have a shared interest in joining an expanded United Nations Security Council as permanent members.

``There was a clear meeting of minds,'' Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ryu Yamazaki told reporters.

Japan, the only country to have suffered a nuclear attack when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, has been one of the fiercest critics of the Indian and Pakistani nuclear tests in 1998.

It cut development aid to both countries after their tests.

Japan has repeatedly urged New Delhi to accept the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and has also asked it to reduce tensions with arch-rival Pakistan.

Mori, the first Japanese premier since 1990 to visit the world's second-most populous country, was on a three-day visit.

Vajpayee, who was invited to visit Japan in the first quarter of 2001, said the new relationship was for peace, development and cooperation. ``As a result of this...our bilateral relations have acquired a new dimension and new depth,'' he said.

Mori, who started his visit to India by arriving at Bangalore, the nation's technology capital, is scheduled to make a key business speech Thursday.

The irritant over nuclear tests was set aside with the help of New Delhi's reiteration of its moratorium on fresh tests.

``We have appreciated this positive stance,'' Yamazaki said.

AID, VISA RULES EASED UP

As a result of the new equation, Tokyo also decided to go ahead with fresh foreign aid linked to India's Simhadri thermal power plant and Delhi's underground railway project, aid for which would add up to 19 billion yen ($177.6 million).

Since these projects were already on when India conducted nuclear tests, they would not be covered by the sanctions, which covered only new projects.

``On defense and security issues, a dialogue will be started (and) will take place this year at a date and venue to be decided by the two governments,'' Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh told a news conference.

He said that the first security dialogue will start later this year, and separate consultations will be held on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

Singh said India appreciated Japan's position on CTBT, and in turn expected a similar response. Tokyo took heart from India's position that it would not stop the CTBT from coming into force.

A series of announcements marked a broad range of cultural and economic cooperation.

These include a visit by 5,000 young students from India and other South Asian nations to Japan over a five-year period, the making of a bilateral eminent persons' committee and joint action against software piracy.

Japan will expand its training programs for Indian engineers on Japanese business practices and the Japanese language, and plans to train 1,000 workers over the next three years.

Mori had also said Japan would soon issue multiple-entry business visas for short-stay visits from India. Tokyo's visa policies have been a key irritant in business relations.

Indian industry officials say India's software exports to Japan are likely to increase to $300 million in fiscal 2000/01 (April-March) from $160 million in the previous year.

-------- czech republic

Germany says planned Czech nuclear plant unsafe

Planet Ark
August 23, 2000
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=7888

BERLIN - The German government urged the Czech Republic yesterday to call off a planned nuclear power project after it said a study revealed numerous safety risks at the Temelin plant due to go into operation shortly.

Environment Minister Juergen Trittin said a study the German government had commissioned revealed potential problems with the plant's safety mechanisms in emergency situations.

"This outdated project will not contribute to modern, environment-friendly energy provision in the Czech Republic," Trittin, a member of the ecologist Greens junior coalition partner, said in a statement.

Czech power utility CEZ a.s. gained approval from the Prague government last month to begin loading fuel into the Temelin plant, which is based around two Russian-designed VVER 1,000 megawatt blocks.

U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Company, a subsidiary of British Nuclear Fuel Ltd, is also involved in the project, which has met opposition from environmental groups in the Czech Republic and neighbouring Austria.

----

German power majors eye plant closures, job cuts

Planet Ark
August 23, 2000
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=7887

FRANKFURT - Germany's electricity companies are considering power station closures and job cuts to boost profitability in the wake of deregulation that has pushed prices sharply lower.

German utility E.ON was first off the mark with its confirmation yesterday that it planned to cut up to 2,600 jobs and shut down some conventional plants - gas, coal and oil-fired - due to overcapacity.

Overcapacity in European power production is estimated at 40,000 megawatts (MW), of which Germany accounts for one fourth. E.ON produces 30,000 MW of electricity a year, of which 18,000 MW is from conventional sources.

The company was created through the merger of Viag AG and Veba AG earlier this year.

E.ON Energie spokeswoman Petra Uhlmann denied that the company would shut all its power stations at which the cost of electricity production was more than three pfennigs per kilowatt hour, as had been reported in Hanover-based newspaper Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung earlier yesterday.

"Nobody can produce for less than three pfennigs," she told Reuters.

Of Germany's total annual electricity production of 458 terawatt hours (one terawatt equals a million megawatts), brown coal accounts for 26 percent, hard coal 25.3 percent, gas 7.4 percent and oil 0.3 percent.

CONVENTIONAL POWER WILL NEED TO BACK UP NUKE PHASE-OUT

Germany plans to phase out nuclear power production - which accounts for 34.8 percent of total electricity production - over the next 10 years, and analysts say conventional production will need to increase to replace it.

"It is a natural part of synergies following mergers that power companies have to look at the profitability of each of their plants," Munich-based Hypovereinsbank utilities analyst Karen Brinkmann told Reuters.

"But the phase-out of nuclear power needs to have replacement capacity behind it," she added.

Brinkmann estimates German electricity prices will bottom out by the end of the third quarter and that companies looking to reduce costs by cutting capacity should look at alternatives to closing plants, such as keeping them in reserve.

"There will be an increase in residential power prices, because of the government's Eco-Tax on energy production (introduced last year), but it will be one to two years before industrial prices increase," she said.

"At the moment those prices do not reflect the full cost of production, but in the next round of industrial power supply contracts we will see no price cuts but instead a decrease in production costs.

German electricity prices have fallen 30-35 percent for industry and 15 percent for households since liberalisation of the power market in 1998.

Merging German power majors RWE/VEW/ are considering plant closures but say it is too early to say what their exact plans are.

Hamburg-based utility HEW says it sees no need to change its grid at the moment.

----

Czechs dismiss German nuclear power plant concerns

Planet Ark
August 23, 2000
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=7886

PRAGUE - The Czech Nuclear Safety Office (SUJB) yesterday dismissed German concerns about the safety of a new controversial nuclear power plant due to go into operation close to the German border later this year.

The SUJB said it was surprised by a call from Germany's Environment Minister Juergen Trittin on the Czech government to scrap plans to activate the Temelin plant. The plant, which is about 50 km from the German border, could open within weeks. The German government urged the Czech Republic earlier yesterday to call off the project. It said a study revealed numerous safety risks at the Temelin plant.

Trittin said a study commissioned by the German government revealed potential problems with the plant's safety mechanisms in emergency situations.

But SUJB Chairwoman Dana Drabova told journalists a report based on information exchanged between Czech and German nuclear experts did not support Trittin's concerns. "As far as our knowledge goes there are no facts (in the report) which could lead to doubts about Temelin's fitness to get an (operating) licence," Drabova said.

The office said the last round of safety tests at the plant revealed no major problems and the Czech power company CEZ a.s. could get approval to activate the fuel in Temelin in the first 10 days of September.

CEZ loaded the first 1,000 megawatt block of the $3 billion nuclear power plant with fuel in July. The plant combines Russian-designed VVER-1,000 reactors with western control system supplied by Westinghouse, a unit of British Nuclear Fuel Ltd.

-------- china

Republican Crosscurrents Over China Could Trouble a Bush Presidency

International Herald Tribune
Wednesday, August 23, 2000
By Steven Mufson Washington Post Service
http://www.iht.com/IHT/TODAY/WED/IN/policy.2.html

WASHINGTON - When it comes to China, Vice President Al Gore and Governor George W. Bush of Texas have a lot in common. Both men favor permanent normal trade relations, support the one-China policy of the past three decades, and insist upon a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan issue. But Republicans have been battling to push their presidential candidate to take a tougher line toward Beijing and show more overt support for Taiwan.

That backstage struggle broke into the open during the Republican Party platform drafting. It continues to strain relations between different Republican factions and could spill into the next administration if Mr. Bush wins the election.

One group of Republicans fought during the drafting of the platform to remove any reference to the one-China policy, a formulation from the 1970s under which the United States severed formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan and established them with Beijing. Former Representative Bob Livingston, Republican of Louisiana, a member of the platform committee, led a push to change the first draft of the party platform.

''There is a sloppy tendency in policy to say that our policy in Asia is based on the one-China policy,'' said Bruce Jackson, chairman of the Republican platform subcommittee on foreign policy and a delegate at the Republican convention. ''Nonsense. Our policy in Asia is based on freedom, democracy and the peaceful resolution of disputes.''

But aides close to Mr. Bush back a more moderate view.

''The United States has a very big interest in continuing the policy that has served everyone well: No one changes the status quo,'' said Condoleezza Rice, a National Security Council staffer under former President George Bush who now is the Republican nominee's top foreign policy coordinator.

Led by Ms. Rice and Robert Blackwill, a lecturer at Harvard University and former State Department official, Governor Bush's campaign forged a compromise that acknowledged the existence of the one-China policy without endorsing it. The tiff is just the tip of a wider dispute within each party over U.S. policy toward China. Members of the ''blue team,'' a loose group of people who see China as the biggest future security threat to the United States, want to stop all modernization of the Chinese military.

''I don't see why Beijing needs anything more than a lightly armed police force and a coast guard,'' a Republican congressional aide said.

But others, including Ms. Rice and Mr. Blackwill, accept that China will be a major nuclear-armed force in Asia and are seeking to defuse any threat through diplomacy.

''China is a changing power in Asia and I think it's going to modernize its forces,'' Ms. Rice said in an interview during the convention. ''I don't think China is going to modernize enough - if we keep our nuke secrets to ourselves - to be a threat to our deterrent capabilities. It can modernize enough to threaten our missile defenses, but I'm not putting China in a category of states that would try to blackmail the United States.''

In an earlier meeting with journalists in Washington, Ms. Rice said she could envision China expanding its nuclear missile arsenal beyond its current level of about two dozen to more than 100 without fundamentally changing U.S. nuclear strategy.

Differing views of China's intentions and capabilities also shade Republican views on national missile defense. Many in the Bush camp support a so-called boost-phase missile defense system, which would catch intercontinental ballistic missiles on their way up. That would enable the United States to deploy sea-based defense systems capable of stopping missiles from North Korea or Iraq without threatening the nuclear forces - or nuclear deterrents - of Russia and China. Many boost-phase advocates see that as a virtue because it would avoid diplomatic strains with Moscow and Beijing.

But other Republicans believe that a missile defense should guard against China. They fear that China might try to blackmail the United States to block U.S. aid for Taiwan in the event of a confrontation there.

China, which sees Taiwan as part of its own territory, has not ruled out the use of force against the self-governing island. The United States says it favors a peaceful resolution of differences between Beijing and Taipei.

The Republican platform also erodes the ''strategic ambiguity'' the United States has used to leave unclear what circumstances would bring its intervention in a Taiwan Strait crisis. If China attacks Taiwan, the Republican document bluntly states, ''America will help Taiwan defend itself.''

Mr. Jackson said, ''What we say is that it should be resolved peacefully. We were correcting the imprecision that has been creeping in.''

-------- greenland

Greenland site weighed for missile defense

Washington Times
August 23, 2000
World Scene • Combined dispatches and staff reports
http://208.246.212.80/world/worldscene-2000823212243.htm

NUUK, Greenland - The United States' top arms-control expert met Danish and Greenland officials yesterday amid U.S. efforts to secure support for a controversial shield to protect America from missile attacks.

John Holum, the State Department's undersecretary for arms control and international security, was to discuss proposals to develop an existing U.S. radar station on the arctic island as a part of the new national missile defense (NMD) system.

Russia and China strongly oppose the plan, and Washington's European allies have been skeptical, fearing it would undermine international arms agreements and prompt a new arms race.

-------- india / pakistan

CBI closes 'uranium' case

The Hindu
Wednesday, August 23, 2000
http://www.indiaserver.com/thehindu/2000/08/23/stories/0223000p.htm

CHENNAI, AUG. 22. - Two years after registering the FIR relating to the seizure of `Uranium' and the arrest of three persons, the CBI has now formally decided to close the case.

According to CBI sources, the decision was taken after the Atomic Energy Department, whose complaint was sought to proceed further in the matter, informed the central agency that no case could be made out by it in the matter.

Also, the case was considered time-barred. The chargesheet in the case had not been filed yet.

Three persons - Mr. G.R. Arun of K.K.Nagar, Mr. S. Murthy and Mr. C. Mohan of Erode - were arrested and remanded to judicial custody in connection with the case.

The agency had submitted that Mr. Arun was allegedly in possession of six kg of `Uranium' without licence. The accused were arrested for offences under Cr.P.C. section 41 (D) and under the Atomic Energy Act and the Atomic Energy (working of the mines, minerals and handling of prescribed substances) rules, 1984.

Tests conducted by the IGCAR revealed that the material was only `ilmenite' and did not contain uranium or thorium.

The accused were later released on bail by the X Metropolitan Magistrate, Mr. R. Krishnamurthy. The case took a new turn with one of the arrested persons stating that the seized material was not uranium or any other explosive material and the substance was taken from a rock in Sivanmalai (Erode district) as a Siddha medicine for treating an ailment.

Meanwhile, the CBI wrote to the Atomic Energy Department requesting it to lodge a complaint in the matter to enable the agency to file the chargesheet.

However, the department said that no case could be made out. Following this, the agency has decided to treat the matter as closed, the sources said.

---

BARC allows hospital to resume radiation treatment

The Hindu
Wednesday, August 23, 2000
http://www.indiaserver.com/thehindu/2000/08/23/stories/0223000q.htm

HYDERABAD, AUG. 22. The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has permitted the MNJ Cancer Hospital and Research Institute here to resume radiation treatment for cervical cancer patients which was suspended after it lost a hazardous radioisotope needle.

The hospital was given the permission after its authorities gave an undertaking that they would strictly follow a protocol for handling radioactive material and avoid mishaps.

The BARC is also recommending disciplinary action against the hospital authorities responsible for the negligence.

The Celsium-137 needle, a radioisotope which is a health hazard in uncontrolled conditions, was lost on June 26 after doctors did brachytherapy on a patient.

The hospital says the needle popped out of the spring inside the instrument inserted into the uterus of the patient and was swept into the drainage system.

The doctors claim that the needle poses only an ``insignificant'' hazard. On a scale of one to seven for hazards posed by radioactive material, it is rated two. Beyond a distance of four meters, the radioisotope has no adverse impact on people's health.

A team led by Dr. D. R. Singh of the Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) is hunting for the 15-mm needle. There have been 26 cases of loss of radioactive instruments in the country, but the material has been recovered only in 11 cases. The loss of the needle at the MNJ Cancer Hospital alarmed the BARC and the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), which ordered suspension of brachytherapy since July 27. Treatment will resumed now for about 60 cancer patients left in the lurch since then. The hospital formed a Radioactive Protection and Safety Committee which has prepared a detailed protocol on safety norms, approved by the BARC with some modifications.

The Government was planning to purchase an automatic machine to avoid manual handling of instruments used in brachytherapy, said Dr. S. Aruna, Andhra Pradesh Health Minister, who visited the hospital on Monday. She told reporters that the Government had formally informed the BARC of the missing material on July 3 and it deputed a team of scientists here on July 18, 19 and 20 to gather details. The BARC asked the hospital to send Prof. Subramanyam, head of Radiation Oncology, and Dr. Ramakrishna Rao, Radiation Safety Officer, to Mumbai for an in- depth inquiry.

On August 10, Dr. K. S. Parthasarathy of the AERB and Dr. B. C. Bhatt of the BARC visited the hospital and examined the doctors, patients and their relatives. After detailed meetings of the BARC officials in Mumbai, it was decided to permit the MNJ Cancer Hospital to use the new kit available with it. The hospital has nearly a dozen needles.

-------- iraq

Defiant Iraq awaits new U.N. inspection team ^Eds: CORRECTS Russian Foreign Minister name to Igor; Pickup pvs graf ``The papers ...''

Associated Press
August 23, 2000
By LEON BARKHO
Associated Press Writer
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=h0822150.100&level3=27823&date=20000823

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) _ Iraq is defiant as it awaits another attempt by the United Nations to determine whether it is producing nuclear and chemical weapons _ and confident growing support means it does not risk attack.

In a meeting with army commanders broadcast on Iraqi television late Monday, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein declared there ``is a huge difference'' between conditions today and the situation in 1991, when a U.S.-led multinational force routed Iraqi troops in Kuwait.

There have been no U.N. inspectors in Iraq since a team left in December 1998 ahead of U.S. and British airstrikes meant to punish Saddam for allegedly failing to cooperate with the United Nations.

A new team had been expected to attempt to enter Iraq this month. Iraq has said it will not allow the inspectors in.

Economy-crippling U.N. sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait can only be suspended if Iraq cooperates with the new inspectors and can only be lifted if Iraq is declared free of weapons of mass destruction.

In Iraq, state-run newspapers are full of articles declaring that the U.S.-backed sanctions are fizzling and the once formidable anti-Iraq alliance Washington led is crumbling.

``Every day, the world witnesses serious changes and developments showing the degree of shift (towards Iraq) in the international political climate,'' declared the government newspaper al-Jumhouriya in a front-page article on Tuesday.

It and other state-run papers devoted front-page stories Tuesday to a letter they said Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov had sent to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, saying that his country has lost nearly dlrs 30 billion in trade with Iraq due to sanctions.

The papers also quoted Ivanov as saying that sanctions were preventing Iraq from repaying dlrs 7.8 billion in debts to Russia.

Government officials privately say their rejection of a request by the United Nations to send a new team of inspectors could spark a new diplomatic or perhaps military confrontation with Washington. But they also have seen public opinion _ in Arab and international arenas _ condemn punishment that has hit ordinary Iraqis hardest.

Senior foreign dignitaries are frequently shown on Iraqi television delivering message to Saddam from their heads of state. The stream of international visitors culminated this month with a trip by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the first head of state to call on Saddam since the Gulf War.

U.N. exemptions to the sanctions have enabled Iraq to reemerge as a profitable market in international trade. The oil-for-food program, initially a humanitarian proposal, has also recast it as an important player in an oil-thirsty world.

Iraq's external trade under the U.N.-monitored oil program, which allows it to skirt sanctions as long as most of the proceeds are used to meet the basic needs of ordinary Iraqis, now runs into billions of dollars a year, prompting visits to Baghdad by foreign trade delegations.

---

IRAQ SAYS IT WON'T PERMIT U.N. VISIT

New York Post
AP-NY-08-23-00
By LEON BARKHO
http://www.nypostonline.com/apstories/V0527.htm

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) . Iraq said Wednesday it will not permit a new U.N. weapons inspection team to visit, promising that the country would stand firm even if threatened with the use of force.

Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said Iraq had not changed its position on a U.N. resolution that calls for the resumption of stalled weapons inspections and promises Iraq a suspension of sanctions if it cooperates.

Asked about Aziz's comments, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said: ``That's been their standing policy for some time. Our position is that we will continue to prepare for a new round of inspections.''

Eckhard said at U.N. headquarters in New York that the world body hopes that Iraq will change its position, accept the inspection teams ``and eventually get to a position where we could declare Iraq in full compliance and see the lifting of the sanctions against that country.''

The head of the new inspection program, Hans Blix, is ready to restart international efforts to ensure Iraq has surrendered weapons of mass destruction and the ability to make and deploy them in compliance with U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met with Blix Tuesday and expressed full support for his activities.

Aziz said Iraq will not allow Blix or any of his inspectors to enter the country.

``I have said Iraq will not cooperate with Resolution 1284. This means it will not receive Blix or any person related to this resolution,'' Aziz told reporters.

Blix is a former Swedish foreign minister who also served for many years as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The new program is called the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission. It will replace the U.N. Special Commission, the inspection team that left Iraq in December 1998 shortly before the United States and Britain launched airstrikes to punish Baghdad for allegedly failing to cooperate.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher has ruled out the use of force if Iraq rejects the commission. Boucher said Tuesday that Iraq stands to benefit by cooperating. He said the United Nations won't lift its sanctions, imposed to punish Iraq for invading Kuwait in 1990, unless it does.

Aziz said threats and military action will not compel Iraq to change its stance.

``We have become accustomed to threats. Iraq is ready for all challenges,'' he said.

---

No U.S. Military Actions Planned If Iraq Rejects Arms Inspection

Washington Post
Wednesday, August 23, 2000; Page A06
WASHINGTON IN BRIEF
Compiled from reports by the Associated Press and Reuters
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-08/23/067l-082300-idx.html

With a new United Nations weapons inspection program almost ready for use in Iraq, the State Department said no hostile actions are planned if, as expected, Iraq refuses to cooperate with the initiative.

Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright met with the director of the program, Hans Blix, and expressed full support for his activities, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

The new program is called the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, known informally as UNMOVIC. It will replace the U.N. Special Commission, or UNSCOM, which was expelled by the Iraqis in December 1998, touching off several days of U.S. and British airstrikes against military targets in Iraq.

Boucher said Iraq stands to benefit by cooperating. Unless it does, the United Nations won't lift its sanctions, he said.

While ruling out the use of force if Iraq rejects the commission, Boucher renewed the administration's warning that Iraq could face American military power under other circumstances.

"If he [President Saddam Hussein] reconstitutes his programs for weapons of mass destruction, if he threatens his neighbors or threatens U.S. forces or moves against the [Iraqi] Kurds, we have a credible force in the region, and we're prepared to act at an appropriate time and place of our choosing, as necessary," Boucher said.

---

44 trained to check on Iraqi arms efforts

Washington Times
August 23, 2000
World Scene • Combined dispatches and staff reports
http://208.246.212.80/world/worldscene-2000823212243.htm

NEW YORK - The United Nations' new Iraqi arms control body has recruited and trained enough inspectors to form an advance team should Iraq agree to let the world body resume monitoring, a spokesman said yesterday.

However, said Ewen Buchanan, spokesman for the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, the commission was still far short of full strength, which he estimated at slightly more than 130 people.

-------- israel

Israel 'may have 200 nuclear weapons'
Israel's top secret Dimona nuclear facility

BBC
Wednesday, 23 August, 2000, 16:48 GMT 17:48 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_892000/892941.stm

New satellite photographs published on the internet indicate that Israel could have made enough plutonium for up to 200 nuclear weapons, US scientists say.

The photographs of the secret Israeli nuclear facility at Dimona in the Negev desert appear on the website of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS).

The new images were obtained last month by Space Imaging Corporation's Ikonos satellite.

The FAS draws its conclusions from comparisons of the latest images with pictures of the Dimona facility taken by a US reconnaissance satellite in 1971.

Part of the FAS work is to monitor non-conventional weapons capabilities throughout the world.

The pictures "indicate that no new cooling towers were constructed in the years between 1971 and 2000," the FAS report says.

"This strongly suggests that the reactor's power level has not been increased significantly during this period. This would suggest an annual production rate of plutonium of about 20kg."

Nuclear arsenal

"Based on plausible upper and lower bounds of the operating practices at the reactor, Israel could have thus produced enough plutonium for at least 100 nuclear weapons, but probably not significantly more than 200 weapons," the FAS said.

The latest pictures have been shown on Israeli television and published in the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonoth.

Israeli censorship laws allow local media to quote foreign reports, provided the source is mentioned.

Israel is now the only state with nuclear weapons that does not admit to having such weapons. It has always refused to allow international inspection of the Dimona facility, and is among the few states that have refused to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

Israel maintains what is known as a policy of 'nuclear ambiguity', saying that it will not be the first country to introduce them to the Middle East.

In 1986 Mordechai Vanunu, a former technician at the site, was jailed for 18 years for providing information about Dimona, including photos published in the UK's Sunday Times.

Israeli-US 'understanding'

The Israeli authorities have said they want to question Avner Cohen, an Israeli writer living in self-imposed exile in the United States, in connection with his 1998 book "Israel and the Bomb".

The book argues that there was an Israeli-US understanding that Washington would turn a blind eye to Israel's nuclear programme provided Israel kept a low profile and did not carry out nuclear tests.

The Dimona reactor has been operating since 1965.

The FAS says that by the late 1990s the US intelligence community estimated that Israel possessed 75-130 nuclear weapons.

They would include warheads for mobile Jericho-1 and Jericho-2 missiles, bombs for Israeli aircraft and possibly other tactical nuclear weapons.

---

Arrow test expected soon

Jerusalem Post
Wednesday, August 23 2000 15:07 22 Av 5760
By Arieh O'Sullivan
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/08/23/News/News.11255.html

TEL AVIV (August 23) - Israel Aircraft Industries is preparing another test of its Arrow-2 anti-ballistic missile, with plans to launch it against a live, incoming target missile fired from the Mediterranean Sea in a simulated enemy attack, sources close to the project said yesterday.

The target, dubbed the Black Sparrow, will be dropped from an IAF F-15 from a high altitude and assume the flight path of a Scud.

The Black Sparrow was developed and produced by Rafael, the Armaments Development Authority. It will be the first live test of the Black Sparrow in an Arrow test. Until now, the Arrow missiles have been shooting at a US-made, sea-launched rocket.

Experts involved in the project have reportedly said that using the Black Sparrow will improve the conditions of the test. The Arrow-2 will be fired from its launch site at Palmahim Air Force Base south of Tel Aviv.

The sources wouldn't say when the launch would take place, but past tests of the missile have taken place in September.

The Arrow-2 was handed over to the air force with widely covered fanfare in March. It was declared semi-operational, with further tests needed to move Israel closer to the vital missile shield it seeks.

Maj.-Gen. Yitzhak Ben-Yisrael, director of development of weapons systems and infrastructure, has said that the Arrow-2 system will undergo one or two test launches each year.

The last test was conducted on November 1 and was declared a success. In that test, its seventh, the Arrow-2 for the first time hit a real incoming missile, integrating the Arrow-2 interceptor, the Citron Tree fire-control system, and the Green Pine tracking radar.

Besides this test launch, project leaders reportedly want to conduct tests in the US against a real Scud, which the Americans have managed to procure.

The US has put up about 65 percent of the $1.1 billion spent so far on the project, and is estimated to ultimately fund about half of its final $2 billion cost.

This cost could be reduced if the Arrow-2 is sold to other countries which have expressed interest, such as Great Britain, Turkey, Japan, and reportedly India.

Israel is already planning upgrades for the Arrow to tackle the more advanced missiles, such as the Shihab-3 and Shihab-4 being developed by Iran. Ben-Yisrael has said the Arrow-2 is designed to strike and destroy a warhead, be it nuclear or other, well before it is supposed to explode.

The first battery of Arrow missiles is deployed in the center of the country. A second battery is slated to be placed east of Hadera, but that has been delayed by strong opposition from residents, who claim its radar would be hazardous to their health.

Last week, arbitrators said the air force could prepare infrastructure for the second battery, but could only deploy it in a national emergency situation.

Israel had originally planned to deploy just two Arrow-2 batteries, but has since sought and won promises of funding for a third. The US Congress approved $81.6 million toward the purchase of a third battery, whose total cost is estimated to be about $170 million.

-------- japan

Japan's Kansai Elec cuts nuke power, suspected leak

Planet Ark
August 23, 2000
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=7906

TOKYO - Japan's second-largest utility said yesterday it has cut power output at a nuclear reactor to check a suspected leakage of cooling water.

`Inc found an abnormal rise in the amount of water in a high-pressure cooling water system at the reactor on Monday, a company spokesman said.

It then reduced power output to 75 percent to investigate the cause, he added.

The spokesman said a pipe may be cracked in the heating system at the 826,000-kilowatt plant some 300 km (188 miles) northwest of Tokyo.

The problem occurred in an area not related to the operation of the reactor and there was no danger of radiation leak from the incident, he said.

The incident comes after four malfunctioning nuclear reactors run by Japan's largest power utility, Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc (TEPCO), were shut in July.

Two of those were restarted earlier this month and the other two are undergoing regular maintenance, a TEPCO spokesman said.

Japan has 51 commercial nuclear reactors providing about 30 percent of its electricity but a series of accidents, including the worst nuclear-related incident in Japan last September which killed two uranium plant workers, has led to growing public distrust of the industry.

-------- russia

Kursk must be raised from seabed, Greenpeace says

Planet Ark
UK: August 23, 2000
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=7895

LONDON - Environmental pressure group Greenpeace demanded yesterday that the stricken Russian nuclear submarine Kursk be recovered from the depths of the Barents Sea to prevent leaks of radiation.

The group also called on all countries with nuclear-powered vessels to withdraw them from service.

"If the Kursk is left on the seabed it is not a matter of if but when the reactors will leak nuclear material into the Barents Sea," William Peden, the group's international disarmament campaigner, said in a statement.

"The Kursk is a ticking environmental time bomb that must be made safe," he said.

Greenpeace said the submarine should be raised intact if possible. Only if it were too weak should other options, such as cutting the reactor compartment out and recovering it, or entombing the entire vessel, be considered.

"To do nothing is not an option," Peden said. "Never before has a nuclear submarine sunk at such a shallow depth in one of the world's richest marine environments and crucial fishing areas."

Greenpeace said there were 10 nuclear reactors and more than 50 warheads scattered on the ocean floor.

----

Health Physicist Says Nuclear Sub Design Minimizes Kursk's Risk Of Leaking Radiation

Science Daily Magazine
8/23/2000
Source: American Institute of Physics --
Inside Science News Service (http://www.aip.org)
Contact: Rory Mcgee , Media Coordinator Phone: (301) 209-3088; Email: rmcgee@aip.org
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/08/000822154159.htm

COLLEGE PARK, MD (August 22, 2000) -- While the loss of human life in Russia's Kursk nuclear submarine is tragic, a radiation expert says the environment will likely be spared significant radioactive contamination. So far, measurements have indicated no breakdown in the substantial structural defenses that are designed to prevent a radiation leak from the submarine's nuclear reactors.

Andrew Karam, a health physicist and radiation safety officer at the University of Rochester who has done tours of duty on nuclear-powered submarines, says all such subs have several built-in lines of protection surrounding the nuclear reactor. He adds that, despite recently expressed concerns, these defenses should stay intact--even in sea water--for a long time.

First, the sub's uranium fuel is surrounded by cladding, a material which safely contains the fuel's byproducts, which include radioactive iodine, technetium, strontium, and cesium. The cladding is typically made of stainless steel or a zirconium alloy, which can absorb high levels of nuclear radiation without leaking or degrading.

The physical integrity of the sub's nuclear reactor and coolant system also protects against radiation leaks. The reactor's walls are typically made of very thick steel which resists corrosion and stays structurally stable amidst high temperatures. Karam points out that the protection of the reactor walls is even more robust after the sub sunk and its reactor shut down, since they no longer had to withstand high-temperature nuclear reactions.

The third line of defense is the sub's own hull, which shields the nuclear reactors, and the sub as a whole, from the outside world. Even though the hull was breached when the Kursk sank, there is a twisting path of hundreds of feet from the reactor area to the outer part of the ship. So while the Russian sub was breached at one of its ends, the reactor is better protected because it is in the center of the sub.

Another thing to keep in mind, Karam says, is that the various byproducts of the uranium fuel release radioactivity at a higher rate than the fuel itself. But the positive side is that most of these byproducts decay over a much shorter period of time (over a few years or decades), releasing most of their nuclear radiation in that amount of time rather than remaining a long-term risk.

It's presently unknown as to how and when the nuclear sub will be recovered,but Karam expects the radioactive byproducts of the fuel to stay safe inside the core of the sub in the meantime. In a news conference yesterday, however, former Russian navy captain and environmentalist Alexander Nikitin said he feared radioactive leakage from the Kursk within a month.

Karam disagrees, saying that if there is any leakage, "this is going to take a long time." He agrees with Nikitin that any contamination would be very localized because any radioactive particles that might emerge are likely to quickly bind with clay minerals abundant in the sea floor. Yet Karam suggests that leakage may never occur.

Karam notes that there has been no reported leakage from the other known nuclear subs that have sunk (including the "Thresher" and the "Scorpion") in the past few decades.

Expert: Andrew Karam Radiation Safety Officer University of Rochester (716) 275-1473 ANDREW_KARAM@URMC.ROCHESTER.EDU

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by American Institute of Physics -- Inside Science News Service for journalists and other members of the public. If you wish to quote from any part of this story, please credit American Institute of Physics -- Inside Science News Service as the original source. You may also wish to include the following link in any citation: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/08/000822154159.htm

---

Technical Difficulties Time and money are not on the Russians' side as they ponder what to do with the crippled Kursk

Wednesday, August 23, 2000
TIME EUROPE
By YURI ZARAKHOVICH Murmansk
http://www.time.com/time/europe/webonly/europe/2000/08/salvage.html

Russia's NTV television reported Wednesday morning that signs of radioactive contamination have been registered on the Barents Sea coast. It said measurements taken a few kilometers from the sunken Kursk nuclear submarine indicate levels up to 16 microroentgen - the usual is six or seven microroentgen. Yuri Zarakhovich reports from TIME's Moscow bureau:

Meteorologists in the Murmansk region confirmed this reading on the Barents Sea coast, but said this is not unusual in the area, and is not necessarily related to the Kursk. Admiral Viktor Kravchenko, Chief of Naval Operations of the Russian Navy, hastened to tell the Interfax wire agency that the Barents radiation level remained within the norm.

Per Strand, director of NRPA (the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority) said Wednesday morning that the tests do not indicate any changes in the radiation level after the Kursk submarine disaster. The Norwegians are nevertheless worried enough to keep monitoring the situation. The Kursk sank in shallow waters, and any contamination from its two reactors could be spread by strong currents in the area. Each reactor contains up to 1.5 tons of highly-enriched uranium.

These are the most modern reactors in the Russian navy, and the part of the Kursk where they are located is not reported to be damaged. But even if there are no immediate leaks, there could be in the future as the hull corrodes.

Experts say that if there is a way to do it, the Kursk should be raised. The options are complicated, and lifting the sub is likely to cost in the range of $100 to $500 million. The Rubin design bureau in St. Petersburg, which developed the Kursk, has now been asked to try to come up with a strategy to raise it. Gennadi Sorokin, Rubin's press secretary, told the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily that a project would be presented within a couple of weeks.

After meeting families of the Kursk crew at the Vidyaevo naval base Tuesday night, Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, who is in charge of the salvage operation, told them that it would probably take several months. "It can't be done before 2001," says Admiral Eduard Baltin, former commander of the Black Sea Fleet and a submariner himself. "The salvage operation will take no less than three to four months," he said. Baltin is convinced that Russia does not have these months now. "It usually starts snowing there in the area around September 6," he says. For their part, Stolt Offshore, the Norwegian company who sent the divers to the Kursk last week, and whom the Russians asked to help lift the Kursk, told Moscow late Wednesday that the operation could hardly begin earlier than next summer."

So what are the options? Several radical ideas have been suggested so far:

1. Refloating the sub: the Kursk could be lifted with the help of cables attached to platforms, or by giant air cushions, then towed back to base. Balloonist Per Lindstrand, 49, a U.K.-based Swede, told the Novye Izvestia Russian daily that his Lindstrand Balloons company was ready to lift the Kursk. Lindstrand says the Rubin bureau has already approached him. He sent blueprints and financial calculations to St. Petersburg last Friday.

Lindstrand suggests making 20 huge floats, each at the cost of some $17 million. He estimates he will need four weeks to make the floats, and it would take another four for them to raise the Kursk. He would use Dutch divers. Some Russian experts seem prepared to consider his idea; others see it as too balloony.

2. Cutting up the sub: the Kursk could be chopped into pieces to be hoisted individually. Or the reactor compartment alone could be lifted out - although this would again require special, very expensive, equipment.

3. Moving the Kursk to shallower waters: This may be a short-term option to recover the 118 bodies before winter. The main risk is that the sub might disintegrate while being towed.

4. Sealing off the reactors and leaving the sub where it is. Some experts are saying that the safest option would be to hermetically seal the submarine, preventing radioactive leakage. The sealant would be a biological gel the Russians developed after the Komsomolets submarine sank in 1989. Russian specialists claim that the gel would be effective for 500 years. But today's Russia has neither the technical expertise nor the money to afford any of these options alone. "No single country can handle such an operation," said Klebanov. Which means that Russia will again be needing foreign help.

---

Russians Suspicious of US in Sub

NewsEdge
August 23, 2000
By ROBERT BURNS AP Military Writer
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=h0822135.300&level3=763&date=20000823

WASHINGTON (AP) via NewsEdge Corporation - Russia's initial suspicion of a sinister American role in the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk is rooted in distrust of U.S. motives _ distrust so firmly held that Russian officials still press for answers in the sinking of a Soviet sub in 1968.

Russian officials long have suspected that the Soviet sub K-129 was struck by an American submarine, the USS Swordfish. But the U.S. Navy says the Soviet vessel, armed with nuclear missiles and with a crew of 98, suffered a catastrophic internal explosion when it sank in the central Pacific on March 11, 1968.

As recently as last fall, Russian government officials complained that Washington was covering up its involvement. One accused the Americans of acting like a ``criminal that had been caught and now claimed that guilt must be proved,'' according to the notes of a U.S. participant in a November 1999 meeting on the topic.

The case is so sensitive that at least two CIA directors _ Robert Gates and James Woolsey _ met with Boris Yeltsin while he was the Russian president to review what the American spy agency knew about the sub loss.

In the case of the Kursk, which sank in the Barents Sea on Aug. 12 during a Russian naval exercise, the Pentagon insists that no American ships were involved, although U.S. officials have acknowledged that two U.S. submarines were close enough to record the sound of enormous explosions aboard the Kursk.

While presenting no hard evidence, the Russian military command has insisted from the start that the most likely reason for the loss of the Kursk and its 118-man crew was a collision with an American or British submarine that survived and escaped. Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev went on television to air the theory, and Russian officers claimed fragments of a foreign submarine were found near the Kursk.

``The military still sees the West as the Cold War enemy,'' said Alexander Pikayev, a military analyst with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Noting the lingering suspicions, Defense Secretary William Cohen felt compelled Monday to say ``there were no American ships involved'' in the tragedy.

That is what the Pentagon and the CIA have told the Russians repeatedly regarding the 1968 submarine sinking in the Pacific, but Moscow continues to insist that Washington is hiding its involvement.

When the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POWs and missing servicemen met last November, a senior Russian representative said more than 90 families of the lost crew of the sunken sub _ known in Russia as the K-129 but classified by NATO as a Golf II _ are waiting for information on their loved ones' remains.

The Russians believe not only that a U.S. submarine _ the USS Swordfish, based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii _ collided with the K-129, causing it to sink, but also that secret U.S. salvage operations in 1968 and 1974 removed remains of crew members and highly sensitive equipment that went down with the sub _ possibly including nuclear warheads.

Russian suspicions about the Swordfish are based on records indicating it underwent nighttime repair of a bent periscope at Yokosuka, Japan, on March 17 _ six days after the K-129 sank. The U.S. explanation is that the Swordfish collided with an ice pack and was 2,000 miles away from the Russian sub when it sank.

Moscow has requested the Swordfish's deck logs, to trace its movements, but the Pentagon has refused. The Swordfish apparently had a hand in some highly sensitive operations before and after the K-129 incident. Navy records show that in 1965 it was awarded a Navy Unit Commendation for ``special operations'' conducted in the western Pacific in the fall of 1963 and 1964 and the spring and summer of 1965.

The United States denies any involvement in the K-129 sinking, although it has acknowledged that it salvaged some parts of the sunken sub. U.S. officials provided the Russian government with a videotape of a burial-at-sea ceremony for six crew members whose remains were recovered when the CIA-financed Glomar Explorer salvage ship recovered parts of the submarine in 1974.

Norman Kass, the executive director of the U.S. side of the joint commission, said Tuesday that all recovered personal effects of the Russian crew have already been provided, and nothing more can be done.

``We're at an impasse,'' he said.

---

Russian Military Believes U.S Sank Sub

NewsMax.com
Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2000
http://www.NewsMax.com/articles/?a=2000/8/22/224241

The Russian military believes that a U.S. submarine sank the Kursk by colliding with it, and that the U.S. government is covering up the truth.

Russian claims about U.S. military culpability have been swirling in Moscow for days. Recently, Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev publicly expressed on national television the Russian military belief that a U.S. sub caused the mishap. Sergeyev said debris of another submarine, not the Kursk, had been found near the sunken Kursk.

This new Russian military theory may further antagonize the Russian public toward the U.S. Russian leaders claimed NATO's 1998 war in Yugoslavia was the first step in an attack on Russia.

Other popular sentiments in Russia blame its economic woes, mafia and other social problems on a manipulative United States.

Russian suspicions that the U.S. had a hand in the sinking of the submarine Kursk are rooted in history and based partly on another submarine disaster 32 years ago, when the Soviet submarine K-129 sank in the central Pacific - an incident for which Russia still blames America.

The submarine, carrying a crew of 98 and armed with nuclear missiles, sank on March 11, 1968. The Soviets charged that it went to the bottom after a collision with the USS Swordfish, just as some Russian officials are now saying is what happened to the Kursk, which they insist sank after being hit by another American submarine.

In the case of the K-129, the Soviets pointed to the fact that Swordfish underwent nighttime repair of a bent periscope at Yokosuka, Japan, on March 17 - six days after the K-129 sank. The United States, however, says that the American sub collided with an ice pack and was a full 2,000 miles away when the Russian sub went down.

In the case of the Kursk, which went down in the Barents Sea on Aug. 12 during a Russian naval exercise, the Pentagon insists that no American ships were involved. But Russia points to the fact that U.S. officials have acknowledged that two U.S. submarines were close enough to the Kursk to have been able to record the sound of enormous explosions aboard the submarine.

The K-129 has continued to be a thorn in the Russians' side - they have never stopped complaining that the United States was responsible and have demanded that the U.S. surrender the remains of the sub's crew, which they say the Navy recovered.

When the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POWs and missing servicemen met last November, a senior Russian representative said more than 90 families of the lost crew of the sunken sub were still waiting for information on their loved ones' remains.

The Russians say not only that Swordfish collided with the K-129, causing it to sink, but also that secret U.S. salvage operations in 1968 and 1974 removed the remains of crew members and highly sensitive equipment that went down with the sub - possibly including nuclear warheads.

It is known that a super-secret CIA-run operation using the Hughes Corp.'s Glomar Explorer raised at least part of the Soviet sub, but details as to how much of the sub was recovered remain shrouded in mystery.

According to the Associated Press, the case has so rankled the Russians that last fall government officials charged that Washington was covering up its involvement in the sinking. One accused the Americans of acting like a "criminal that had been caught and now claimed that guilt must be proved,'' according to the notes of one U.S. participant in a November 1999 meeting on the topic.

Russia wants to see the Swordfish's deck logs to trace its movements, but the Pentagon has refused. It appears that Swordfish was involved in some highly sensitive operations before and after the K-129 incident since Navy records show that in 1965 it was awarded a Navy Unit Commendation for "special operations'' conducted in the western Pacific in the fall of 1963 and 1964 and the spring and summer of 1965.

While the U.S. adamantly says it had nothing to do with the K-129 sinking, it has acknowledged that it salvaged some parts of the sunken sub and gave the Russian government a videotape of a burial-at-sea ceremony for six crew members whose remains were recovered when the Glomar Explorer raised parts (or all) of the sub.

It is the memory of that still-mysterious Cold War episode that helps fuel Russian suspicions about the Kursk disaster.

"The military still sees the West as the Cold War enemy,'' Alexander Pikayev, a military analyst with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the AP.

---

RUSSIAN DEFENSE HEADS OFFER TO QUIT

New York Post
AP-NY-08-23-00 1703EDT
By ANGELA CHARLTON
http://www.nypostonline.com/apstories/V0685.htm

MOSCOW (AP) . As Russians mourned in churches, on Web sites and at home, a humble President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he felt responsible and guilty for a submarine disaster that killed 118 sailors and outraged the nation.

Russia's Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev and navy chief Adm. Vladimir Kuroyedov submitted their resignations over the loss of the Kursk, one of Russia's most advanced submarines before an explosion crumpled it Aug. 12, but Putin said he would not accept them. Seeking scapegoats, he said, would be ``the most mistaken response.''

``I take a full sense of responsibility and sense of blame for this tragedy,'' he said in an interview with Russia's RTR television.

In a country where a history of authoritarianism runs deep, Putin's comments demonstrated a sensitivity to public opinion and eagerness to regain the nation's confidence unprecedented for a Russian leader.

Russians assailed Putin and the government for their slow, contradictory reaction to the disaster and the botched rescue operation, and many observers expected Putin to respond by firing top brass . as his predecessor Boris Yeltsin had often done.

Putin's interview came as Russia held a day of mourning for the victims, and after he sat through a harrowing three-hour meeting with the sailors' families late Tuesday night at the submarine's home base of Vidyayevo.

``The conversation was very heartfelt. He admitted his guilt and inactivity, and he said the main thing is a lack of funds,'' said Oksana Dudko, whose husband Sergei was the ship's deputy commander.

Speaking firmly and somberly in the television interview, Putin defended his initial silence and the slow response to foreign rescue help, saying the navy acted as quickly as they could given how little they knew about the submarine's condition.

He also promised to restore the honor of the beleaguered military and the nation.

``It grieves me, the theory lately that together with the Kursk the honor of the navy also drowned, the honor of Russia,'' Putin said. ``Our country has survived a lot.''

``We will overcome it all and restore it all, the military and the navy and the state,'' he said.

The nation lowered flags to half staff and prayed in Orthodox churches Wednesday. Television interrupted some programming, and Russia's most popular web site, anekdot.ru, displayed an empty black screen throughout the day.

Stunned, heartbroken relatives refused to join in the mourning, demanding that their sons and husbands be retrieved from the sea floor first.

Putin promised that the bodies would be recovered, and said the divers might cut a hole in the ship or lift it to shallower waters. He said talks were under way with Norwegian and Dutch divers.

But Mikhail Kuznetsov, commander of the Vidyayevo submarine garrison, said the work couldn't begin until after next spring's thaw.

The Kremlin promised compensation to the families, who had relied on the sailors' meager salaries for subsistence. The federal government promised a one-time payment averaging $7,000 per family. equal to 10 years of pay for a submarine officer, said Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matviyenko.

Putin attacked interest groups that he said were trying to cash in on the tragedy, an apparent shot at tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who is backing the main fund collecting donations for the families. Berezovsky accused Putin of unjustified finger-pointing.

The Norwegian divers who reached the wrecked ship said Wednesday their work at the site was technically simple but emotionally demanding. They took over from Russian teams had struggled for a week without success, and immediately determined that the ship was flooded and all aboard were dead.

Concern has been growing about the ship's two nuclear reactors and other weaponry. The Norwegian Nuclear Protection Authority said Wednesday it had found no sign of a radiation leak.

The cause of the explosion that mangled the ship was unclear.

The Russian high command says the most likely reason was a collision with a foreign submarine, though no concrete evidence has been provided. A likely scenario was an internal malfunction and explosion in the Kursk's torpedo compartment.

---

Mr Putin meets Irina Lyachin, wife of the commander
Putin strives to placate an angry nation

London Times
August 23 2000
FROM ALICE LAGNADO IN MURMANSK
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/08/23/timfgnrus02003.html

PRESIDENT PUTIN last night met relatives of the 118 men killed on the Kursk nuclear submarine, in an attempt to allay the growing criticism of his handling of the disaster.

In what was an extraordinary move for a Russian leader, he met 600 people, relatives and local residents of Vidyayevo and will today lead the country in its day of national mourning by tossing a wreath on to the Barents Sea.

Russian television showed Mr Putin with Irina Lyachin, the wife of the Kursk's commander. He then headed for a meeting with other wives and relatives of the crew. Mr Putin told the families: "The grief is immeasurable - there are not enough words of comfort. My heart hurts, but yours hurt even more." His efforts to repair some of the damage done to his image as a man of action during the nine-day rescue operation is expected to be tightly controlled because of the angry reception expected from relatives of the dead crewmen. The widow of Sergei Dudko, the submarine's second-in-command, said: "It's a shame Putin wasn't with them. Then they would have been rescued within 15 minutes."

Alyona Vershinina, her sister, added: "Putin was afraid to come alone because he knows that he would be torn apart."

Dressed in a black suit, Mr Putin arrived at the base near Murmansk for a two-day visit and quickly shook hands with the Russian Navy's top commanders. He was driven to Vidyayevo, the tiny naval community where the Kursk's crew were based. During the day of national mourning, Russian flags are to be flown at half-mast throughout the country. Television and radio stations have also been asked to drop entertainment shows.

Backing Mr Putin's efforts to improve his public standing, the Russian Patriarch, Aleksei II, said: "The tragedy of the sailors has become a tragedy for the whole country.

"I have seen how strongly Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin feels over this tragedy. I am sure that the President and the Government will do everything to help the families of the dead. Brave your hearts and forgive."

Igor Sergeyev, the Russian Defence Minister, apologised to relatives of the crew yesterday. He said: "We failed to protect them. Forgive us. They were wonderful husbands, sons, fathers and brothers. They loved you, loved life and each time they set to sea they promised to return home."

President Putin's attempt to soften the series of public relations botch-ups that have disgusted Russians throughout the country during the past days looked vdoomed.

One elderly woman in Murmansk said: "I have no words to express what I feel about Putin's behaviour. He should have been here on the first day of the disaster."

---

Putin starts damage-control mission

London Times
August 23 2000
FROM GILES WHITTELL IN MOSCOW
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/08/23/timfgnrus02002.html


VLADIMIR PUTIN is probably wondering what hit him. Ten days ago he might have boasted of being the most popular Russian leader since Peter the Great. Now, assailed on all sides for turning down foreign rescue offers while his sailors drowned, he has flown to Murmansk in an attempt to show that he shares his country's grief.

It is a risky mission because already relatives of the Kursk's crew have shown that they will not be consoled with the lies and cover-ups that served the Soviet Navy so well.

Ilya Klebanov, the Deputy Prime Minister, was publicly humiliated trying to address a group of wives and mothers in Murmansk on Monday. They simply shouted him down.

It is risky, too, because several hundred journalists have gravitated to Murmansk - foreigners not used to the Kremlin's deferential protocols. There are also Russians who had rebelled against the Kremlin to hold Mr Putin personally accountable as Commander-in-Chief for 118 deaths.

Yet damage control is the most he can hope for. When told of the disaster, his first question was about the Kursk's reactors and his second was about the submarine itself, Itogi magazine reported yesterday. Only then did he ask about the crew.

When the deaths were confirmed eight days later, 85 per cent of Muscovites polled blamed Mr Putin for the four-day wait before accepting foreign help.

A total of 79 per cent said yesterday that the Kremlin and military had lied throughout the crisis.

The Echo Moskvy polls were tellingly called "ricochets" - instant, angry feedback of a kind that Mr Putin has not known and that did not exist when Russia's last nuclear submarine sank in 1989.

Then, the local Murmansk newspaper considered it a triumph to record the loss of the nuclear-powered Komsomolets at all.

Today the President will, as far as possible, keep his distance from the press, sailing to the Kursk's watery grave to throw flowers into the Barents Sea.

He has already ordered a day of national mourning, with flags at half-mast throughout the country and television sitcoms cancelled.

His brutal first encounter with the wrath of voters and the free press will not be his last, however.

"The Russian people's faith in their President has been ruined beyond repair," the online newspaper Gazeta.ru declared in one of dozens of similar editorials.

For the first time since the nadir of the Yeltsin years, Duma politicians have begun to talk about a possible impeachment attempt.

A more likely result, but one as damaging for Mr Putin's reform plans, will be an erosion of his support base in parliament, jeopardising vital new laws including the 2001 budget and a Bill to introduce private land sales, to which Communists are fiercely opposed.

Mr Putin said before leaving Moscow that it was too soon to apportion blame, but he promised an "analysis" of what went wrong.

Scapegoats will be found, and Igor Sergeyev, the Defence Minister, could be one of them.

Marshal Sergeyev, coincidentally under pressure for siphoning defence funds away from the Army to prestige weapons such as the Kursk, tried to take some of the blame for the Kremlin's public relations fiasco yesterday by claiming that he urged Mr Putin not to fly straight to Murmansk when the crisis began.

The marshal went on national television yesterday to blame the Navy's poor state squarely on the politicians of the Nineties. "For several years they have been robbing our country, leaving it naked," he told the ORT network.

Thirty-five per cent of Russians who were polled at the weekend blamed the naval command for the disaster, but 23 per cent blamed Mr Putin personally.

There is no question that Russia has come a long way since the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown that prompted the last great Soviet cover-up, but Mr Putin is now in a fight for his political life that he can win only by showing Russia that he has abandoned such Soviet values.

The Russian Orthodox Patriarch, Aleksei II, is one of those who have defended Mr Putin's response to the disaster, saying that the President had felt the tragedy deeply.

---

Kursk wreath-laying cancelled

BBC News
Wednesday, 23 August, 2000,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_892000/892365.stm

President Putin meets a dead sailor's relative President Vladimir Putin has returned unexpectedly to the Kremlin after the cancellation of a ceremony for the 118 sailors who perished on the nuclear submarine Kursk.

The ceremony was abandoned apparently at the request of the relatives, who told Mr Putin at a heated meeting on Tuesday that they were unable to mourn until the bodies were brought up from the seabed.

Mr Putin's return to Moscow comes as Russia observes a national day of mourning for the submarine crew.

Flags have been lowered on all government buildings, and radio and television stations have replaced entertainment programmes with more sombre material.

The Russian president had been expected to visit the scene of the accident to lay a wreath on the waves of the Barents Sea where the nuclear submarine sank on 12 August.

The Northern Fleet has announced that another ship, with room for 200 people, would head for the site on Thursday to allow families to throw flowers into the sea.

Mr Putin's meeting with relatives in Vidyayevo, near Murmansk, followed severe criticism of his leadership during the Kursk crisis.

"The grief is immeasurable, there are not enough words of comfort," Mr Putin told the relatives.

"My heart hurts, but yours hurt even more."

Tense occasion

Russian state television showed one of the relatives of the submariners in the audience venting her anger.

"When will we get them back, dead or alive?" she asked, referring to the bodies of the sailors. "Answer as the president."

Mr Putin replied that he would tell her if he himself knew the answer.

A BBC correspondent in Murmansk, James Coomarasamy, said many people felt Mr Putin's visit to headquarters of the Northern Fleet came much too late.

He says the meeting with relatives lasted several hours, and was clearly a tense occasion.

Mr Putin is also reported to have criticised the state of the Russian navy's rescue equipment.

More than 500 relatives mourning the loss of sons, husbands and fathers converged on the city as efforts to rescue the sailors dragged on unsuccessfully for nine days.

The Kursk rescue operation finally came to an end on Monday after a Norwegian-led team of divers forced open the submarine's rear escape hatch and found that the whole vessel was flooded.

Experts have warned that the recovery of the bodies of the crew could take months.

Radiation watch

Russia's independent NTV on Wednesday reported that radiation levels on the coast near the site where the Kursk went down had doubled overnight.

According to the joint Russian-Norwegian environmental group, Bellona, which monitors nuclear problems across northern Russia and Scandinavia, such variations are normal and harmless.

Bellona's Thomas Nilsen says that there are absolutely no signs of any radiation from the sunken submarine the Kursk showing up on monitors in the Murmansk region.

An inquiry into the disaster will initially focus on examining the seabed around the wreck.

Russia has asked for international help to recover the bodies of the crew, and to raise the submarine to the surface.

The cause of the disaster is still unclear.

Russian officials say they believe the submarine may have collided with a Western submarine that was in the Barents Sea to monitor a large naval exercise in which the Kursk was taking part.

Western experts say the damage to the submarine appears to have been caused by a catastrophic explosion in the torpedo bay.

---

Damage Control While Russia mourns, its leaders pursue a disturbing policy of rewriting the Kursk story

Wednesday, August 23, 2000
TIME EUROPE
By PAUL QUINN-JUDGE Moscow
http://www.time.com/time/europe/webonly/europe/2000/08/kursk.html

AFP Russian president Vladimir Putin shakes hands with a relative of a Kursk crew member while Irina Lyachin, widow of the submarine's commander, looks on

The crew of the Kursk have been given up for dead and Russia has declared Wednesday a day of mourning, but Vladimir Putin is still struggling to control the damage done both to his personal reputation and that of the state he heads. So far, however, the Kremlin's response to the tragedy shows that the Putin administration still cannot face up to its responsibility. Rather than confronting the chaos and the ineptitude of the rescue operation - and countenancing the possibility that a faulty torpedo or other design failure may have caused the disaster - the authorities still prefer either to remain silent, shift the blame elsewhere, or, most disturbingly, to revise the facts in order to present themselves in a more favorable light.

For six hours on Tuesday Putin met with some of the families of the Kursk's crew. Little is known of the meeting, as the only video footage shown in Russia lasted less than 30 seconds and was without sound. The Russian press reported conversations with the families of the victims before the meeting, however, which showed that emotions were still running high. Vidyaevo, the housing complex on the Severomorsk navy base where many of the Kursk families live, will be the only place where mourning is not observed. The families are not prepared to mourn until they receive proof that their loved ones are dead, and all bodies are recovered.

Meanwhile, the military establishment is still trying to shield itself from blame by presenting the tragedy as something caused by outside forces. The explanation most favored by the Russian government is that the Kursk collided with another vessel, most probably a foreign submarine. The commander of the Northern Fleet, Admiral Vyacheslav Popov, declared early this week that he would if necessary spend the rest of his life trying to find "the person who organized" the loss of the Kursk, a statement that took conspiracy theories to new heights. After Norwegian divers inspected the submarine, though, the Norwegian Navy dismissed the collision theory as "propaganda" put out by Moscow for domestic reasons.

The strangest and most cynical-seeming piece of damage control so far appeared on the state-owned TV network, RTR, early this week. The network's news program broadcast a day-by-day summary of the tragedy which made small but significant changes in the chronology. It dated the loss of the Kursk later than it probably happened, and moved forward the starting date of rescue operations by almost two days. It also pushed forward the date on which the Russian government called for foreign assistance. The aim was clear: to create a picture of a prompt rescue operation, vindicate the high command, and deflect attention from the fact that officials are now admitting that all crew members were probably dead by the 14th.

RTR announced that the boat was logged as missing late on Saturday night. Though this may strictly be true, outside specialists are certain that the boat went down much earlier. Specialists in Norway and the U.S. recorded major explosions in the area of the submarine 12 hours earlier than the RTR account - just before 11:30 a.m. Moscow time on Saturday morning. Given the fact that some men survived for about two days after the disaster, 12 hours make a crucial difference.

RTR then declared that rescue operations began late on the 13th. This is at variance with the statements made during the crisis by the Navy's official spokesman, Commander Igor Dygalo, who emphasized repeatedly that his service was committed to proving carefully checked and totally reliable information. It was only on the evening of the 15th that Dygalo announced that the main rescue operations had started. Even more strikingly, RTR asserted that the Russian Navy had accepted Western offers of help on the 15th. In fact, on the afternoon of the 16th, Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov assured the Russian public that no outside aid was needed - the Navy had all the equipment required.

The long-term damage done to Putin's reputation is hard to assess. That people are deeply disillusioned is certain. Putin came into office epitomizing an idea, not a set of policies. He symbolized renewal and energy after stagnation and stasis. His behavior over the Kursk, however, has been depressingly reminiscent of the old Soviet style of leadership, when secrecy concealed failings, not strength, and human life was dispensable. On the other hand, Putin has a long time left in office - his four-year term began in May - and there is no coherent, powerful opposition to capitalize on his disastrous mistakes. Moreover, emotions here can subside as rapidly as they first rose. The Kursk may still claim more victims - high-ranking officers, perhaps, or grief-stricken relatives. Vladimir Putin, however, will not be among them.

---

Russia Mourns Kursk, Putin Faces Sailors' Families

Yahoo News
Wednesday August 23
By Michael Steen
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000823/ts/russia_submarine_dc_132.html

MURMANSK, Russia (Reuters) - Russia lowered national flags and canceled entertainment across the vast country on Wednesday to mourn the 118 sailors who died in the submarine Kursk on the floor of the Barents Sea.

President Vladimir Putin, who decreed that Wednesday should be a day of mourning, returned to Moscow after facing the wrath of sailors' families at a marathon overnight meeting in the northern Russian naval base of Vidyayevo where the Kursk began its final mission.

Criticized for what many saw as a casual approach to the disaster and a failure to prod generals into action during the navy's efforts of over a week to get to the trapped men, Putin struggled at times to make himself heard.

``When will we get them back, dead or alive? Answer as the president,'' shouted a woman in the crowd, referring to the bodies of the sailors, in clips on state-owned RTR television.

``I will answer as I know it myself,'' said Putin, dressed in black and looking somber. The rest of his remarks were lost due to the noise of the crowd and the bad quality of the tape.

Russian media allowed in Vidyayevo said the six-hour meeting -- an unprecedented gathering of ordinary Russians with their president in a crowded room -- ended long after midnight.

The Kremlin said Putin returned to Moscow around 6 a.m. (0200 GMT), but gave no details of his plans for the day of mourning.

Military sources in the Northern Fleet said Tuesday that Putin was expected to fly Wednesday to the disaster area, where the nuclear-powered submarine sank on August 12 after still-unexplained explosions, and lay a wreath on the sea as a tribute to the dead.

But Russian ORT television showed wives of dead sailors late Tuesday urging Putin not to do this. They said any such ceremonies should be postponed until the bodies are recovered, perhaps fearing that any ceremony could suggest that officials have given up hope of even recovering the bodies.

Interfax news agency reported Wednesday that a decision was made at the meeting between Putin and the relatives to cancel mourning ceremonies at Vidyayevo, including a planned church service.

Television and radio stations halted regular light entertainment broadcasts and local authorities canceled shows and concerts.

``It is impossible to believe it is all over,'' Interfax quoted Putin as telling the crowd of up to 600 relatives and local residents. ``The grief is immeasurable, no words can console. My heart is aching but yours much more so.''

Some Russian newspaper carried on with their criticism of the way officials handled the crisis with the focus shifting from Putin to the military and government.

``The military are obsessed with one desire -- to put off the responsibility from their own shoulders,'' Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily newspaper wrote.

However, NTV television, Putin's fierce critic in the past, quoted the military in Vidyayevo as saying that Putin's meeting with relatives was a courageous step.

Tuesday Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Alexiy II urged people not to blame anyone without good reasons and said he was impressed with Putin's sentiments during the crisis.

Environmental Fears

Environmentalists have called for the Kursk to be lifted from the seabed, fearing possible radioactive contamination from its reactors which are likely to have been damaged by the blast that wrecked the submarine on August 12.

Russia has said its main concern is to recover the bodies, but its navy lacks the deep-sea diving equipment to carry out such an operation.

The Norwegian firm whose divers opened the Kursk's hatch on Monday, only to find the submarine flooded, has agreed to study how to salvage the vessel or bring up the bodies, both projects fraught with risk.

The Kursk's designers, meanwhile, said they were working on ways to lift the 17,000-tonvessel and move it to shallower waters. It is lying 108 meters (354 ft) below the surface on the seabed. Experts said such a complex operation could take months.

National Tragedy

The loss of the Kursk and its crew has been felt as a national tragedy in Russia where people tracked every development in the rescue attempts, clinging to the hope that at least some of the 118 sailors would survive.

Interfax news agency said the hundreds of relatives and servicemen gathered in Vidyayevo were allowed free access to Putin. RTR said the Kremlin leader had promised to answer all of their questions.

Many people at the meeting were harshly critical of the military's handling of the failed rescue.

Putin acknowledged the North Sea fleet's rescue service was in a poor state but added that no commanders would be prosecuted unless their guilt was in no doubt, Interfax said.

Top military commanders have taken the extraordinary step of making full, formal apologies on national television. Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev issued a statement on Tuesday: ``We have failed to protect them. Forgive us.''

---

Putin Meets Kursk Wives, Russia Mourns

Yahoo News
Tuesday August 22
By Michael Steen
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000822/ts/russia_submarine_dc_130.html

MURMANSK, Russia (Reuters) - Beleaguered Russian President Vladimir Putin held a tense and emotional meeting on Tuesday with wives and relatives of the 118 sailors who died in the submarine Kursk as Russia prepared for a day of mourning.

Putin traveled to the northern Russian naval base where the Kursk began its last mission for an unprecedented encounter with relatives, where they grilled him and showed their anger.

``When will we get them back, dead or alive? Answer as the president,'' shouted one woman in the crowd, referring to the bodies of the sailors, in clips on state-owned RTR television.

``I will answer as I know it myself,'' said Putin, the rest of whose remarks were lost due to the bad quality of the tape. Independent television NTV showed a somber-looking Putin sitting and talking with Irina Lyachin, the wife of Kursk commander Gennady Lyachin, who died with the rest of the crew after the nuclear-powered vessel sank on August 12.

A reporter for state-owned Russian television RTR said the meeting had lasted three hours by 11 p.m. (1900 GMT) and described it as a ``difficult discussion.'' Putin had promised to talk for as long as people wanted him to, he added.

Putin met between 500 and 600 relatives and local residents. Interfax news agency quoted a source who was at the meeting as saying the Kremlin leader had expressed anger at the poor state of the navy's rescue equipment.

``It is impossible to believe it is all over,'' Interfax quoted Putin as saying. ``The grief is immeasurable, no words can console. My heart is aching but yours much more so.''

Answers Relatives Questions

Putin has been slammed, at home and abroad, for not breaking his Black Sea holiday as soon as the disaster became known on August 12, and for being too slow in requesting foreign aid.

Norwegian divers pronounced all the crew dead on Monday after only 48 hours on the scene of the disaster. Critics have said some of the crew might have been saved if Russia had not taken four days to request outside help.

Putin has already said how deeply he felt the crisis and top military commanders have taken the extraordinary step of making full, formal apologies on national television.

Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev issued a statement on Tuesday: ``We have failed to protect them. Forgive us.''

The source was quoted by Interfax as saying Putin had answered the relatives' questions about the rescue operation and when foreign help was requested.

The relatives were also reported to have questioned the Kremlin chief about the state of rescue equipment and about the need to ask for more foreign help in recovering the bodies.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch, Alexiy II, defended Putin, saying the president had felt the tragedy deeply.

But the Russian media was not in a forgiving mood, and kept up their fierce criticism of Putin's leadership, the heaviest he has experienced since taking power at the beginning of the year.

``God, let their souls rest in peace,'' said a banner headline in the Vremya MN newspaper. Another read: ``The reputation of the Russian leadership is lying on the bottom of the Barents Sea.''

Nine Days Of National Shame''

``Nine days of national shame,'' said a headline in the Novye Izvestia newspaper.

``Those who carried out dive after dive, day and night in the icy waters with the equipment they had, they did all they could. Those who pretended to be a superpower, they will not be excused,'' the daily Izvestia said.

Nine days after the Kursk sank, it was a Norwegian-led team of Norwegian and British deep-sea divers that opened the hatch after less than 24 hours work on the wreck, 108 meters (354 ft) down. A British state-of-the-art rescue mini-sub headed home untested.

The divers' vessel left the site after the team decided it would be of no further use. But the company which provided the team, specializing in oil and gas exploration and development in the North Sea, said it was considering helping the Russians recover the bodies and carry out a salvage operation.

Although there have been no report of radiation, environmental groups called for the sub to be raised.

``The Kursk is a ticking environmental time bomb that must be made safe,'' William Peden, the international disarmament campaigner of pressure group Greenpeace, said in a statement.

Russian officials have said the most likely cause of the accident was an initial explosion, either from inside the vessel or caused by a collision, which wrecked the front of the sub and sent it to the seabed at high speed. That impact led to a detonation of the Kursk's torpedoes, a much bigger blast.

Norway's military said the explosion of a torpedo or another weapon on board the Kursk was the probable cause of the disaster, and dismissed Russian suggestions of a collision as propaganda for domestic consumption.

---

Putin takes blame for sub disaster

Yahoo News
08/23/00
http://usatoday.com/news/world/nwswed07.htm

MOSCOW (AP) - As Russians mourned in churches, on Web sites and at home, a humble President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he felt responsible and guilty for a submarine disaster that killed 118 sailors and outraged the nation.

Russia's Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev and navy chief Adm. Vladimir Kuroyedov submitted their resignations over the loss of the Kursk, one of Russia's most advanced submarines before an explosion crumpled it Aug. 12, but Putin said he would not accept them. Seeking scapegoats, he said, would be ''the most mistaken response.''

''I take a full sense of responsibility and sense of blame for this tragedy,'' he said in an interview with Russia's RTR television.

In a country where a history of authoritarianism runs deep, Putin's comments demonstrated a sensitivity to public opinion and eagerness to regain the nation's confidence unprecedented for a Russian leader.

Russians assailed Putin and the government for their slow, contradictory reaction to the disaster and the botched rescue operation, and many observers expected Putin to respond by firing top brass - as his predecessor Boris Yeltsin had often done.

Putin's interview came as Russia held a day of mourning for the victims, and after he sat through a harrowing three-hour meeting with the sailors' families late Tuesday night at the submarine's home base of Vidyayevo.

''The conversation was very heartfelt. He admitted his guilt and inactivity, and he said the main thing is a lack of funds,'' said Oksana Dudko, whose husband Sergei was the ship's deputy commander.

Speaking firmly and somberly in the television interview, Putin defended his initial silence and the slow response to foreign rescue help, saying the navy acted as quickly as they could given how little they knew about the submarine's condition.

He also promised to restore the honor of the beleaguered military and the nation. ''It grieves me, the theory lately that together with the Kursk the honor of the navy also drowned, the honor of Russia,'' Putin said. ''Our country has survived a lot.''

''We will overcome it all and restore it all, the military and the navy and the state,'' he said.

The nation lowered flags to half staff and prayed in Orthodox churches Wednesday. Television interrupted some programming, and Russia's most popular web site, anekdot.ru, displayed an empty black screen throughout the day.

Stunned, heartbroken relatives refused to join in the mourning, demanding that their sons and husbands be retrieved from the sea floor first. Putin promised that the bodies would be recovered, and said the divers might cut a hole in the ship or lift it to shallower waters. He said talks were under way with Norwegian and Dutch divers.

But Mikhail Kuznetsov, commander of the Vidyayevo submarine garrison, said the work couldn't begin until after next spring's thaw.

The Kremlin promised compensation to the families, who had relied on the sailors' meager salaries for subsistence. The federal government promised a one-time payment averaging $7,000 per family - equal to 10 years of pay for a submarine officer, said Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matviyenko.

Putin attacked interest groups that he said were trying to cash in on the tragedy, an apparent shot at tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who is backing the main fund collecting donations for the families. Berezovsky accused Putin of unjustified finger-pointing.

The Norwegian divers who reached the wrecked ship said Wednesday their work at the site was technically simple but emotionally demanding. They took over from Russian teams had struggled for a week without success, and immediately determined that the ship was flooded and all aboard were dead.

Concern has been growing about the ship's two nuclear reactors and other weaponry. The Norwegian Nuclear Protection Authority said Wednesday it had found no sign of a radiation leak.

The cause of the explosion that mangled the ship was unclear.

The Russian high command says the most likely reason was a collision with a foreign submarine, though no concrete evidence has been provided. A likely scenario was an internal malfunction and explosion in the Kursk's torpedo compartment.

---

Putin Tells Russia He Feels Responsible for Kursk Sub Tragedy

New York Times
August 23, 2000
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/late/23cnd-russian-sub.html

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he felt guilt and responsibility over the Kursk submarine tragedy and pledged that those responsible for the deaths of 118 sailors would be punished, if they were found.

But there would be no hasty decisions, he said, adding that he had refused to accept the resignations offered by Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev, Commander of the Northern Fleet Vyacheslav Popov, and Navy chief Vladimir Kuroyedov.

``I have a great feeling of responsibility and guilt for this tragedy,'' Putin told RTR television, leaving long pauses between his carefully chosen words.

Putin, dressed in a black suit and sitting in front of a Russian flag, said he had been deeply upset when he met the families of the Kursk victims Tuesday in a charged meeting at which the relatives were allowed to interrogate the president and express their sadness.

Putin said he did not have the words to explain how he felt at that meeting. ``First of all about the meeting, what can I say here. Words are not enough, they are difficult to find. I want to wail,'' he said.

``Yesterday and today, rather experienced people, politicians, have said that I must show a strong character and should sack somebody...and best of all, put someone in jail -- but this is the most simple way out of this situation and in my opinion would be a mistake,'' he said.

``It has been like that before,'' he said, in what may have been a reference to his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, who often sacked those in power at times of crisis.

Putin said the tragedy would be thoroughly investigated.

``Nothing will be done, I repeat, until a full understanding has been gained about what happened and why,'' Putin said. ``(We need to find) if there are guilty, truly guilty, or simply a confluence of tragic circumstances.''

Putin's words came a day after Sergeyev and Popov addressed the nation in grim and sorrowful tones.

Sergeyev defended Russia's failed rescue efforts, which lasted for about a week before foreign help came and determined that the 118 sailors had died in or after the accident.

The submarine was flooded and the front section destroyed by one or more explosions, experts said.

---

Sub Officer's Wife Urges Rescue Op

Associated Press
August 23, 2000 Filed at 1:55 a.m. EDT
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Russia-Submariners-Wife.html

MURMANSK, Russia (AP) -- Sergei Dudko had just received a stunning promotion, granted the same day his son turned 10, when he headed out for maneuvers aboard the Kursk nuclear submarine.

He put off celebrations until his return, thinking it would be just a matter of days before he was back from the routine mission.

Dudko's wife, Oksana, was basking in joy over his swift ascent through the Navy's ranks. At only 30, Dudko was the No. 2 man aboard one of Russia's newest and best submarines, and Oksana was becoming a prominent figure at the naval facility in Vidyayevo, a Northern Fleet base on the Barents Sea.

``He said he would return and we would celebrate everything,'' Oksana said Tuesday in nearby Murmansk, her face pale and drawn.

Their plans collapsed in tragedy when the Kursk suffered a huge explosion and sank Aug. 12 with 118 officers and sailors aboard. On Monday, rescuers managed to open an escape hatch and determined that the submarine was completely flooded, with no chance of any survivors.

Oksana, a look of torment in her large gray eyes, refuses to believe her husband is dead. She is appealing to naval authorities and foreign rescuers, urging them to continue searching in case anybody remains alive in compartments rescuers have not reached.

``Knowing my husband, who would hang on as long as possible, I hope he is still alive,'' she said. ``And everything inside me tells me he is still alive.''

The Navy has abandoned the rescue operation and says it will takes weeks or months to retrieve the submarine and the bodies inside, if autumnal storms in the Barents Sea allow.

``We can't even bury them properly,'' Oksana said. ``They say: Wait for a year, the sea is now getting stormy.''

Russian authorities have given slow, conflicting reports about the disaster and the agonizing rescue effort. The Russian military command initially refused foreign help -- a delay that many naval experts say may have cost the lives of some crew members.

Further stoking public outrage, President Vladimir Putin remained on vacation for days while the tragedy unfolded.

Dudko's 10-year-old son, Kostya, is taking his father's death so hard he has to be treated by a psychotherapist, Oksana said.

She is trying to keep the news from her 3-year-old daughter, Sofia. ``She loves her father so much, I haven't been able to tell her yet,'' Oksana said.

The Tuesday before, Oksana cut short her vacation and rushed to Vidyayevo after the military announced the Kursk had sunk.

On a plane from Moscow to Murmansk, Oksana looked worried but still hopeful. Sofia was twisting around in her airplane seat and smiling at other passengers. Kostya was discussing a book about submarine rescue he had just read.

``They say there have been no casualties, and we believe that,'' Oksana told The Associated Press at the time.

A week later, she looked crushed, a shell of her former self. ``The naval command doesn't want to do anything any more,'' she said. ``They are burying our husbands alive.''

Like most people in Murmansk and surrounding military facilities, Oksana blames the Russian command for refusing foreign help for days.

``If they had started immediately, maybe half the crew would already be on land,'' said Oksana's sister, Alyona Vershinina.

Oksana is still hoping her husband will come home for a double celebration of his promotion and Kostya's birthday.

``I will not put on the widow's black headscarf until I see his corpse,'' she said.

---

Facing Grieving Families, Putin Offers Payments to Survivors of Submarine's Crew

New York Times
August 23, 2000
By PATRICK E. TYLER
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/europe/082300russia-sub.html

MOSCOW, Aug. 22 -- President Vladimir V. Putin promised the grieving families of the 118-member crew of the destroyed nuclear submarine Kursk tonight that the government would pay each family the equivalent of an officer's salary for 10 years to compensate them for their loss, Russian state television reported.

In what appeared to be a closely controlled video account of Mr. Putin's first journey to the northern submarine base from which the twin-reactor submarine made its final voyage two weeks ago, Mr. Putin also met with Irina Lyachin, the widow of the Kursk's skipper, Capt. Gennadi Lyachin, his daughter, Dasha, and unidentified relatives in the captain's apartment in Vidyayevo.

No audio account of the conversations was broadcast, and Mrs. Lyachin sat upright and attentive on a couch with her daughter at her side as Mr. Putin was shown speaking to her.

Emerging from the apartment with Mrs. Lyachin, Mr. Putin personally motioned with his hand to a state television crew to stop filming as he descended the grimy stairwell in the apartment building that houses Russian officers and their families, at times without adequate heat and hot water supplies. Some reports said there were frantic efforts to clean the town before Mr. Putin's arrival.

"Vidyayevo is a dead town right now," one young woman told state television earlier in the day. "The houses are standing like after a war. All of the windows are empty. Everything is robbed. The mothers are walking like shadows through the town. People are crying and the men don't raise their eyes."

Before he left Moscow, Mr. Putin declared that Wednesday would be a national day of mourning and ordered flags to fly at half staff. Russian officials said he would fly to the deck of the cruiser Peter the Great to cast a memorial wreath of flowers onto the Arctic waters where the twin-reactor submarine went down on Aug. 12 after suffering a catastrophic series of internal explosions or possible collision.

Media reports said tonight that family members had petitioned the Russian Navy to take them to sea so that they could also participate in the memorial service on Wednesday and pay respects to their loved ones, but navy commanders were reportedly resisting this appeal.

Also tonight, Mr. Putin attended a two-hour session at a meeting hall in Vidyayevo, the Kursk's home base near Severomorsk, the headquarters of the Northern Fleet. Both cities are closed to foreigners, and one Russian media organization, the independent network NTV, said its permit to enter the city was rescinded, presumably to prevent its correspondents from covering Mr. Putin's visit.

From the video accounts on state television, Mr. Putin's exchanges with family members were indistinct.

"When will we get them back, dead or alive?" one woman was heard to shout.

"I will answer as soon as I know myself," Mr. Putin was heard to respond.

The Russian leader, dressed in black, arrived on a military plane in late afternoon and was greeted by top military officials, as well naval commanders and Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, who is heading the investigation into the causes of the explosions or collision that sank the 14,000-ton submarine.

The encounters with family members represent the most sensitive and politically volatile task Mr. Putin faces in dampening the political crisis that has arisen over the loss of the advanced attack submarine and its crew. Many family members have questioned why the Russian government and its military commanders were not able to assure the safety of their loved ones and why the navy could not rescue them when tragedy struck.

In interviews by state television earlier in the day, the wives of some Kursk sailors pleaded for international donations to continue the rescue operation in hopes that even one might still be found alive.

"We were told that the Norwegian rescuers can't keep working because they are not being paid enough money," one unidentified woman said. "Maybe some companies, some big people, philanthropists, will help us by giving money and maybe in 48 hours we'll save these people, and happiness will come, at least one person will come out of this submarine alive and will tell the truth."

Mr. Putin did not travel to Severomorsk with his usual contingent of Russian news organizations, reflecting the concern of his advisers who were afraid that emotional outbursts and recriminations directed at Mr. Putin and broadcast to the nation might prolong the crisis and perhaps threaten the agenda of economic and political reforms he is said to be planning for the fall.

Hours before Mr. Putin arrived by military plane to the region where dozens of secret submarine bases are located along the fjords of the Kola Peninsula, Norwegian and British deep sea divers abandoned their search and rescue work. The crew's bodies remain in the Kursk's wrecked and flooded hull under 350 feet of water, but the Norwegians and British said they might be back with different equipment if they can conclude a contract with Russian officials. That contract would cover the cost of penetrating the hull in a complex operation to recover the remains of the sailors.

Russian navy officials offered to cut giant holes in the hull of the Kursk in order to make entry to the vessel easier and safer for divers involved in the recovery.

Deputy Prime Minister Aleksei Kudrin said the Russian government was prepared to finance the full cost of the crew recovery and a complex and dangerous salvage operation whose estimated cost has already reached $100 million.

Also today, environmental organizations urged Russia to move quickly to salvage Kursk's two atomic reactors because of the threat that radiation could leak into the Barents Sea and its abundant fishing grounds. Experts in both the American and Russian navies asserted that Kursk's reactor compartment would adequately contain any radiation leaks for years, but Aleksandr Nikitin, a former Russian naval officer who disclosed the dumping of radioactive wastes at sea by the Russian navy, warned on Monday that the Kursk's reactors could begin leaking radiation in a matter of weeks.

With winter approaching in the Arctic waters, there were conflicting estimates of whether Russia would be able to recover the crew's remains and finish the salvage this fall, before fierce storms and ice flows set in.

The effort to solve the mystery of how the Kursk sank also continued today.

Aleksandr Rutskoi, former vice president and now governor of the Kursk region, for which the submarine is named, asserted today that the attack boat was carrying an experimental torpedo that was to be test-fired during the maneuvers in which Kursk was operating.

The Kursk had on board a "new torpedo and two civilian engineers," said Mr. Rutskoi, a former war hero and leader of a 1993 parliamentary uprising against former President Boris N. Yeltsin, said. "It is necessary to investigate this aspect, and if a new torpedo was really being tested on the submarine, it is a crime," he said, arguing that test-firings of new weapons should not be conducting during training exercises.

Leaders of the Chechen rebellion in southern Russia offered their own explanation today, suggesting that a kamikaze fighter from the Northern Caucasus was among the crew and triggered the disaster.

---

The Kursk and the Kremlin

New York Times
August 23, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/00/08/23/editorial/23wed1.html

For a week and a half, the tragic plight of the 118 officers and sailors trapped aboard the sunken Russian nuclear submarine Kursk drew expressions of compassion and offers of assistance from around the world. But for most of this period, Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, seemed aloof and distant. He declined, during the most critical days, to cut short his Black Sea vacation and go immediately to the site where his presence could have energized the navy's rescue operations and would, at any rate, have symbolized the government's concern at a moment of national tragedy. Only yesterday did he finally visit the submarine's home base to console grieving relatives.

It is too soon to know if more active leadership on Mr. Putin's part could have saved lives. But his performance has been disheartening for those who hoped to see a more democratic Russia shedding the habits of secrecy and indifference to human suffering that marred so many centuries of czarist and Soviet rule. If Mr. Putin hopes to build the strong democratic state he often speaks of, he must learn some hard lessons from the Kursk affair. In a democracy, public appearances and ceremonies are a key part of leadership, and symbolic shows of concern can do much to heal a nation's grief.

Mr. Putin's government was slow in informing its own people and the world of the desperate situation aboard the Kursk. The first official announcements came two days after the vessel plunged to the bottom of the Barents Sea, and British and Norwegian help was not accepted until four days after the sinking. Mr. Putin let two more days go by before breaking off his vacation.

Such public callousness would be unthinkable in any Western democracy. But it is a long, sad tradition in Russia, dating back to czars like Ivan the Terrible, Alexander III and Nicholas II, and Soviet-era tyrants like Stalin. Mr. Putin is not in that league, but as a Soviet-era K.G.B. agent he was raised in the Russian autocratic tradition, which values state interests above human life. Democracy cannot be built on such foundations, nor in the long run can political stability.

Another unfortunate legacy of Russian history is the heritage of government control and manipulation of vital information. Even a reformer like Mikhail Gorbachev initially tried to conceal the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident. But Mr. Gorbachev came to understand that democratic reform in Russia required a more open and candid government and a free and independent press.

There will be other lessons to draw from the Kursk disaster. Undoubtedly, Russia needs to spend more money on maintenance and safety for its submarine fleet. Plans for international coordination in future rescue attempts should be prepared in advance. NATO and Russia both should move away from close shadowing of each other's submarines that can lead to accidental bumpings, although an explosion and not a collision seems to have sunk the Kursk. But the most intriguing question is whether this tragedy can educate Mr. Putin in the arts of compassionate and accountable leadership.

---

Scandal Strikes Mr. Putin

Washington Post
Wednesday, August 23, 2000; Page A24
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-08/23/009l-082300-idx.html

LOOKING BACK on Vladimir Putin's rise to power in Russia, what's remarkable is the apparent ease with which this previously obscure ex-KGB officer maneuvered his way through the snake pit of post-Soviet politics. He was the right-hand man to St. Petersburg's mayor; then, an indispensable member of Boris Yeltsin's Kremlin staff. Mr. Yeltsin made him head of the Federal Security Service, the KGB's successor agency, before elevating him to prime minister--an appointment that made Mr. Putin Mr. Yeltsin's designated successor. Having ascended to acting president upon Mr. Yeltsin's resignation at New Year's, Mr. Putin won the top job himself earlier this year with barely a public campaign. Through it all, Mr. Putin has advanced by projecting seriousness and dynamism. Whether greasing the bureaucracy on behalf of foreign investors, implacably smashing "terrorism" in Chechnya or raising international pressure against U.S. missile defense plans, the youthful Mr. Putin may have seemed authoritarian, but never incompetent.

Until now. The sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk and the loss of all 118 men on board has forced Mr. Putin to contend with the first serious blast of spontaneously generated public opposition he has faced, not just as president but in his entire career. All previous events in his political rise were, to some degree, scripted by Mr. Putin, or by others on his behalf. This tragedy was not. And so far, Mr. Putin is not coping well with the vicissitudes of life in a democracy--albeit a deeply flawed democracy. He callously remained on vacation while the Kursk foundered. He exercised no control over the errant pronouncements about the crisis by his military chiefs and his own spokespersons. And, more broadly, the businesslike demeanor that, in other contexts, inspired public confidence served him poorly in this emotionally charged moment. As the 1986 Challenger disaster unsettled Americans, the Kursk catastrophe has shaken an already demoralized Russian nation; yet there is no Great Communicator in the Kremlin to articulate the country's sentiments, and by doing so, soothe them.

A majority of Russians supported Mr. Putin for president. Many, aching for relief from chronic poverty and lawlessness, did so because he offered them an implicit deal: I will restore order, even at the price of some of the liberties you have recently come to enjoy; but my government will be effective, and it will put the needs and concerns of ordinary people first. Millions of Russians now see the Putin administration's bumbling in the Kursk tragedy as a violation of that desperate bargain. They see it, rightly, as a scandal.

The good news is that Russia is no longer a country where a KGB man can control all information and ignore shifts in public opinion. One question now is whether Mr. Putin will seek to adapt to that reality or to change reality back to something more to his personal liking.

---

Putin Faces Sub Crew's Families
President Blames Criticism of Rescue Effort on 'Those Who Destroyed the Country'

Washington Post
Wednesday, August 23, 2000; Page A18
By Daniel Williams Washington Post Foreign Service
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-08/23/151l-082300-idx.html

MURMANSK, Russia, Aug. 22-President Vladimir Putin met today with grief-stricken relatives of crewmen who died on the sunken submarine Kursk and, during emotional exchanges, defended the Russian navy's rescue efforts and blamed criticism of the operation on those who "destroyed the country," according to people at the meeting.

It was the first time Putin had visited Severomorsk, the Kursk's home port near this Arctic city, since the nuclear-powered sub sank in the Barents Sea with 118 men aboard on Aug. 12. On Monday, Russian authorities acknowledged that the crew was dead, and today a team of specially trained Norwegian divers who had confirmed the Kursk was flooded and lifeless departed the site where the vessel lies in 350 feet of water.

Today's meeting was extraordinary, partly because it contrasted with the aloofness shown by Putin during much of the crisis. He had been strongly criticized for remaining on vacation at a Black Sea resort for several days following the Kursk's disappearance; moreover, exposing himself to a potentially hostile crowd was politically risky.

Earlier today, Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, who is in charge of an investigation into the disaster, was jostled when he spoke to the same crowd. Witnesses said the audience was more respectful of Putin, but as a precaution, only government television crews were allowed at the meeting and only the briefest portions of his visit were shown on evening television news programs.

About 500 relatives and townspeople from Vidyaevo, a military community adjoining Severomorsk, packed an officers club hall for the meeting after waiting hours in the rain for Putin's arrival. The first questions focused sharply on why efforts to explore the sunken sub had stopped. Putin said that the Norwegian divers had not come to retrieve bodies but to rescue the living; it was one of the few times he referred to the deaths of all the crewmen.

Many in the audience apparently still harbored hope that some aboard the Kursk had survived, and Putin defended himself for having declared Wednesday a national day of mourning for the lost sailors. At the very least, he said, probably 70 percent of the crew had perished almost at once in the forward section of the Kursk, which sustained the heaviest damage and flooded quickly.

"I'm not a specialist," Putin said at one point. "I myself want to believe there are survivors."

Putin, who was dressed in black for the occasion, promised that bodies would be retrieved from the sub, even if it means cutting the vessel into pieces. He also pledged to pay the surviving family members 10 years' worth of each crewman's salary.

When asked about contradictory media coverage and government information on the sinking, Putin spoke heatedly, said one witness, Vek magazine reporter Vladimir Maximov. "Those who destroyed the country scream the most," Maximov quoted Putin as saying.

Putin did not specify whom he meant, but among the harshest critics of the Russian rescue effort have been media outlets of Vladimir Gusinsky, who owns the country's only independent television channel. Gusinsky, who was the subject of a controversial government prosecution attempt this summer, owns NTV, which has broadcast critical coverage of the year-long war in Chechnya. NTV cameras were barred from today's meeting.

Putin promised the families that he would discover who was responsible for the sinking of the 490-foot Kursk--the newest sub in Russia's fleet--and he repeated his government's contention that it went down after a collision during naval exercises, even though other evidence strongly indicates an internal explosion.

The almost private nature of Putin's visit highlighted apparent official concern for Putin's reputation following nine days in which his government's rescue efforts floundered and the navy--the pride of Russia's armed forces--could not open the escape hatches of its own sub. In remarks to reporters, Klebanov responded to criticism of the rescue effort, saying he was "simply shocked by the fact that everyone is trying to make cheap sensation out of this common tragedy."

The dramatic rescue operation, which had gripped the nation, wrapped up quietly and poignantly. A British rescue team had been called to the scene along with the Norwegians, but the fate of the sub's crewmen was sealed before it could launch a deep-sea rescue craft called the LR5. Today, the British team tossed a bouquet of flowers into the Barents Sea above the Kursk's resting place.

"It is very sad," Commodore David Russell, commander of the British rescue team, told reporters. "I think that is the feeling of the entire crew. Our mission was to help the Russians save lives, but I think it proved to be beyond everyone's capabilities."

The Norwegian divers--who never ventured beyond the dual escape hatches that lead to the Kursk's rear compartments--met with Russian officials today and said they were not prepared to explore the Kursk further just to recover bodies. Norwegian navy Vice Adm. Einar Skorgen said the divers, who work for a private firm, lack proper equipment to work amid the debris, oil and possible jagged edges within the sunken sub.

"The Sea Eagle [the divers' mother ship] is leaving because they have done their job, and they cannot do anything else with the situation, with the equipment and the divers they have, for the time being," Skorgen said.

Russian officials said they will try to extract bodies from the Kursk but have not decided how. The chief proposal offered--a major undertaking that would require foreign financial aid--involves moving the sub to shallower water where it would be easier to recover bodies and safeguard the two nuclear reactors within. Officials from the bureau that designed the Oscar II class attack sub said it could make plans and start to move the vessel within two weeks if it receives "additional resources."

The plan, according to designer Igor Baranov, is to strap inflatable pontoons to the vessel--which, filled with water, weighs 26,000 tons--then tow it to a shallower site. Russian commentators and foreign environmentalists warned that moving the Kursk could cause it to break apart and perhaps leak radioactivity from the reactors that would contaminate surrounding waters.

The newspaper Sevodnya--owned by Gusinsky--scorned the proposal as "an extremely lucrative business" and estimated it would cost a half-million dollars to move the Kursk. Sevodnya suggested that Klebanov, who oversees military industries, may be trying to drum up business for cronies.

Stolt Offshore, the Norwegian company whose divers opened the Kursk's hatches, said it has been asked by the Russian government to study the feasibility of moving the sub. A Stolt spokesman, Julian Thomson, said planning alone would take several weeks. "There are dangers," he said, because there are nuclear reactors as well as conventional munitions aboard. "We need to know about the structure of the Kursk, how it was built, how it was damaged," he said.

Environmental groups have warned that at some point, the reactors in the Kursk will leak radioactivity into the Barents Sea and may infect aquatic life in the region. Bellona, a Norwegian organization that closely monitors nuclear pollution off Russian coasts, said that risks from the Kursk range from the "quite slim" possibility that a melted reactor could leak large amounts of radiation to the "most likely scenario" that sea water would keep the reactors cool and that leakage would be minimal.

Western intelligence agencies have said that the submarine most likely sank and flooded following one or more explosions in a forward torpedo room, but today Putin and his government repeated their hypothesis that a British or U.S. submarine shadowing the Russian naval exercises collided with the Kursk. Officials have said sailors aboard surface vessels sighted large objects floating above the Kursk that later disappeared, as well as foreign-style buoys--of the kind that might be released by a stricken submarine to help guide rescuers--that drifted away.

The U.S. and British governments have said repeatedly that, while they had vessels in the area tracking Russian naval maneuvers, their submarines were nowhere near the Kursk. Skorgen, the Norwegian admiral, told the Norwegian newspaper Dagblat that the Russian account was "Russian propaganda for domestic consumption."

---

Our Nuclear Trap

New York Times
August 23, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/00/08/23/letters/l23sub.html

To the Editor:
Re "Russia's Unsafe Nuclear Submarines" (editorial, Aug. 18):

When the Soviet Union collapsed, many of us congratulated ourselves on winning the arms race by finally forcing Moscow into bankruptcy. Now we are worried that Russia's financial trouble may lead to leaks of radioactive material or nuclear weapons falling into the wrong hands.

But instead of trying to solve the problem by openly acknowledging our mistakes, we talk about starting it all over again with a missile defense system that will end up forcing an impoverished Russia to pump more money into new and better nuclear weapons.

If we have won the race, survived its dangers and are in a position to clean up the mess we made, then why don't we do it and stop pretending real concern?

JERRY MEYERLE Charlottesville, Va., Aug. 18, 2000

-------- u.s. nuc facilities

US nuke regulator issues review plan for MOX fuel plant

Planet Ark
USA: August 23, 2000
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=7902

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday announced a final plan for how it would review an expected application for building a mixed oxide fuel fabrication facility to convert weapons-grade plutonium into fuel for commercial nuclear reactors.

The Department of Energy has already announced plans to construct a MOX fabrication facility at its Savannah River site in South Carolina through a contract with Duke Cogema Stone and Webster, known as DCS.

DOE's plan calls for DCS to build and operate the facility as part of a government initiative to dispose of surplus weapons grade plutonium by converting it into civilian use as a fuel for commercial reactors.

The nation's nuclear plants currently use uranium as fuel. MOX fuel would create a combination of uranium and plutonium.

NRC said it was responsible for reviewing potential owners of plutonium facilities, like the MOX plant for South Carolina.

In order to obtain the proper permission, the prospective companies will be reviewed for the following information:

* General information about the applicant and plant site;

* Applicant's financial qualifications to construct and operate the facility;

* Provisions for protection from radiation exposure, chemical exposure, fires and other emergencies;

* Plans to protect against theft or loss of nuclear material;

* Administrative and management procedures.

NRC had published a draft plan in February and received and considered over 300 comments before announcing its final plan.

----

New Scientist

Are radiation monitors accurate? -- Thousands of workers in nuclear plants, hospitals, universities and industry are being exposed to higher levels of radiation than they realise. A new European study has discovered that the monitors they wear to measure beta and neutron radiation can underestimate their doses by up to a factor of 10. (New Scientist)

-------- idaho

Construction begins on treatment plant

Sokane Spkesman Review
August 23, 2000
http://www.spokane.net/news-story-body.asp?Date=082300&ID=s842146&cat=

Idaho Falls _ Construction is under way on a facility to prepare tons of plutonium-contaminated waste for shipment out of state.

Government officials gathered Monday to break ground for the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Facility at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.

The U.S. Department of Energy hopes to complete construction by August 2002. By March 2003, the plant will begin treating waste. By 2018, managers hope 65,000 cubic meters of crushed waste will have left Idaho to a permanent dump in New Mexico.

"This is probably the most ties you will see at this site for the next several years. We've got a lot of work to do here," said Bev Cook, the Energy Department's Idaho operations manager.

"This is an opportunity to reduce the environmental risk, which is hugely important to us," said Paul Miskimin, president of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd., the contractor building the plant.

The project could mean 80 to 100 construction jobs by the end of this year. As construction continues, that number could rise to as many as 300.

-------- new mexico

Bail for Wen Ho Lee

New York Times
August 23, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/00/08/23/editorial/23wed2.html

The federal government's case for refusing bail to Wen Ho Lee, the former Los Alamos scientist accused of improperly downloading and copying classified nuclear weapons data, has been seriously weakened by revelations that the Federal Bureau of Investigation's lead agent in the case provided misleading testimony in two separate bail hearings last December.

Mr. Lee's guilt or innocence will ultimately be determined at trial. But given the government's misrepresentations and new evidence suggesting that the case against Mr. Lee is weaker than first thought, fairness demands that Mr. Lee be granted bail while he awaits trial. Because of the gravity of the charges, he should continue to be kept under strict surveillance, with monitoring devices and any trips from his home approved by the court.

Since his arrest last December, Mr. Lee has been held in solitary confinement and even in shackles because the government contends he poses an extraordinary threat to national security. This picture was created in part by the testimony of Robert Messemer, the lead F.B.I. agent, indicating that Mr. Lee engaged in deliberate deception when he downloaded classified information onto computer tapes, seven of which are now missing.

Last week Mr. Messemer admitted in court that his previous statements under oath were incorrect. He originally said Mr. Lee had told another scientist at Los Alamos that he wanted to borrow his computer to download a résumé. But in F.B.I. interviews and grand jury testimony the colleague did not mention a résumé, and said Mr. Lee had only said that he wanted to download "some files."

Mr. Messemer had also testified that Mr. Lee did not disclose contacts he made with Chinese scientists during an approved trip to Beijing in 1986. But in fact, Mr. Lee filed a report on those contacts after the trip. In addition, Mr. Messemer said last December that Mr. Lee had sent letters to several overseas institutions seeking employment. The government apparently is now operating under the theory that one of Mr. Lee's motives for downloading data was to impress potential employers. But Mr. Messemer admitted this week that while letters were found on Mr. Lee's home computer, there is no evidence they had been sent or received.

Mr. Messemer's erroneous statements are not the only troubling aspect of the government's case. The government has insisted that the data Mr. Lee downloaded were the "crown jewels" of the nuclear defense system and argues that Mr. Lee must be kept in prison because he might transfer nuclear secrets to China or other countries. Yet John Richter, a former top nuclear weapons designer at Los Alamos, and Harold Agnew, former director of Los Alamos, have said that the downloaded data would not be useful to a foreign power, and that much of the information is already in the public record. Mr. Lee has indicated that he was making backup copies of the data, and that his actions were in line with his job.

The trial, scheduled for November, will be the arena to examine the full case against Mr. Lee. The F.B.I.'s misstatements to the court, however, cast troubling doubt on the integrity of the investigation.

---

Rights Groups Granted Special Status

Associated Press
August 23, 2000 Filed at 9:18 p.m. EDT
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-Scientist-Secrets.html

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) -- A judge granted friend-of-the-court status Wednesday to two civil rights groups seeking disclosure of any evidence that a Taiwanese-born nuclear scientist was singled out for a national security prosecution because of ethnic profiling.

U.S. District Judge James Parker, who is weighing several defense motions in the case of Wen Ho Lee, agreed Wednesday to allow the American Civil Liberties Union and the Asian Law Caucus to file briefs in support of the defense petition for disclosure.

Parker is also considering defense motions to dismiss all but 10 counts against Lee, to soften the language of the indictment to show that materials Lee is accused of downloading were not classified secret, and to allow Lee's release on bail pending his Nov. 6 trial.

Lee is charged with 59 counts alleging he transferred restricted data to unsecure computers and tape at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He is not charged with espionage.

The defense contends Lee was selected for prosecution because he is ethnic Chinese. Lee's attorneys have submitted statements by former lab officials confirming such profiling occurred. The FBI has said Chinese government scientists seek out Chinese Americans when seeking scientific secrets.

The ACLU and Asian Law Caucus argued in their friend-of-the-court briefs that the defense had amassed sufficient evidence of profiling to require disclosure by the government.

``If the government has nothing to hide, then it can dispel the specter of racism that has haunted this case from the outset by producing the documents and the discovery that Dr. Lee is seeking,'' Lucas Guttentag, one of the ACLU lawyers who filed the brief, said by telephone from Berkeley, Calif. ``Full disclosure is essential both to protect Dr. Lee's constitutional rights and to restore public confidence that the laws are being applied fairly and equally.''

The prosecution denies profiling and has asked the court to reject the disclosure petitions.

-------- new york

Toxic Scare At Home

Barbara LaMonica
August 23, 2000
Smithtown Edition of Suffolk Life 2000
From: Ndunlks@aol.com

SAFE OR NOT?-Environmental specialists examine toxic materials uncovered at 11 Country Club Road in Bellport last week.

Town of Brookhaven enforcement officials discovered a cache of toxic chemicals in the basement of a Bellport home last week. The residence belongs to Albert Holtz, 82, of 11 Country Club Road, a retired technician who worked at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) from 1954 until 1980. Officials at the scene were uncertain whether Holtz had taken the chemicals to his home from BNL during his tenure at the lab.

The discovery was made after Bellport Village code enforcement officers entered the residence to conduct a clean-up of the premises, according to Bellport Mayor Frank Trotta Jr.

"We were working on a clean-up operation in an agreement with the property owner, because this was an awful, unsightly home," Trotta said. "We went in to inspect for structural damage also, because the place looked unsafe; and when we went in to do the inspection, fire and code enforcement officers discovered chemicals."

By Wednesday, village officials obtained a warrant from district court to seize the chemicals from the home. By the time inspectors from fire and ambulance departments and a chemist from an environmental firm entered the home early Thursday morning to remove the chemicals, Holtz was not at home. Trotta said upon gaining entry, a chemist determined that some of the materials had crystallized, making the situation a potentially more lethal one.

"At this point we called in the police department because this was a potentially dangerous situation, and so they ordered an evacuation of the area," Trotta said. The "potentially dangerous" situation evolved into a crime scene, Trotta said, once inspectors discovered an open cesspool.

According to Fifth Precinct Inspector Robert Croke, Suffolk Crime Scene investigators took ground samples from the cesspool to determine whether toxic chemicals were dumped into the ground. "There was some concern that some of the chemicals had been dumped, but we won't know the results until after the tests," Croke said.

Officials reported there were no chemical spills, and reading from a Geiger counter revealed no signs of radioactivity. According to Suffolk Police Lt. Bill Rohrer, some of the chemicals were also considered flammable.

Officials at the scene identified the presence of sealed bottles of cyanide udylite 8-802; xylene; ammonium nitrate, trichoethylene, carbon tetrachloride and unidentified bottles labeled "poison."

No charges were filed against Holtz as of press time, however, Trotta said, Holtz received numerous violations from the village. "It's not a crime to store chemicals," Trottasaid, "but from the time he was employed in the 1950s, some of these chemicals were not on anybody's hazardous list. We don't know what his thoughts were."

According to the mayor, however, Holtz was issued four violations. "This has been a problem for years. The backyard had a lot of garbage and trucks, and the place looked like Sanford & Son," Trotta said.

"This affected not only the immediate neighbors, but residents on nearby streets." Neighbors described Holtz as a "nice old man," but some had concerns about potentially looming negative impacts upon the environment.

Joanne Prody, who was evacuated from her home, expressed concerns. "It scared me because of possible environmental impacts, which could have been deadly," Prody said.

"He's a nice old man and nice to talk to but everybody complained about the house." Country Club Road resident Ed Gibbons said he would periodically check in on Holtz. "He's disheveled, lives by himself, and the place has been slowly deteriorating,but he's always puttering around and he's very friendly," Gibbons said.

The source of the toxic chemicals had not been determined as of late last week. According to Dr. Peter Paul, BNL Deputy Director for Science, employees receive training on work ethics. "Every employee takes as many as ten instruction courses on what is and what is not allowed," Dr. Paul explained, "and almost all have to do with safety and hazardous materials, and some are repeated every year or two."

While he could not determine whether the same policies were in place during Holtz's tenure at BNL, he did say, "I strongly believe the rules would always forbid anyone to remove [materials] off site without proper approval." Any employee who might be observed removing materials from the lab without authorization, Dr. Paul said, "would be subject to as much as dismissal."

----

Charles R. Pierce, 78, Lilco Chief Who Championed Shoreham Nuclear Plant

New York Times
August 23, 2000
By KURT EICHENWALD
http://www.nytimes.com/00/08/23/news/national/obit-c-pierce.html

Charles R. Pierce, a former chairman of the Long Island Lighting Company who championed the disputed Shoreham nuclear power plant only to see the project upend his 34-year association with the company, died on Monday.

He was 78 and lived at Lloyd Harbor, near Huntington, N.Y.

A precise cause of death has not been determined, according to Peter Connell, the director of the Connell Funeral Home, which is handling the arrangements.

After serving as a bomber pilot in World War II, Mr. Pierce obtained a law degree from Columbia University and in 1949 joined Lilco as a young recruit in the utility company's legal division. He steadily rose through the ranks and was named president and a director in 1974. Four years later, he was selected chairman.

Over the years, Mr. Pierce earned a reputation for smoothing the way for power plants that local residents did not want in their backyards. But it was the Shoreham project that rapidly became most associated with Mr. Pierce.

The project, in Shoreham, 55 miles east of Manhattan on the North Shore, had been undertaken before Mr. Pierce even rose to the level of president. It was originally scheduled to begin operation in 1978, at a cost of $77 million, but delays and numerous cost overruns plagued the project.

By 1982, with resistance to the project growing, Mr. Pierce took to the airwaves with a series of strongly worded radio commercials in favor of Shoreham. The advertisements lasted almost two years and brought Mr. Pierce widespread public recognition.

In defending the project and its cost overruns, Mr. Pierce had long attributed Shoreham's problems to regulatory, construction and financial requirements that he considered unnecessarily stringent, as well as to design changes resulting from "the lessons learned from Three Mile Island." That was the site of a nuclear power plant accident near Harrisburg, Pa., in 1979.

Mr. Pierce's tough stance on the Shoreham controversy, which included a refusal to compromise with critics of the project, began to cause some Lilco directors discomfort. In 1984, Mr. Pierce and other managers most identified with Shoreham resigned under pressure.

Four years later, the magnitude of the Shoreham debacle became clear. The plant never opened, yet the project lifted electric rates, monopolized the talents of hundreds of engineers for more than a decade and drained more than $5.5 billion from the economy. And in the end, it destroyed Lilco, a company where failure was long considered impossible. In May 1988, the Long Island Lighting Company went out of business after 87 years.

Mr. Pierce is survived by his wife, Virginia; two daughters, Theresa Kelly and Janet Duncan; and one son, Charles R. Jr.

-------- u.s. nuc weapons

Hagel says U.S. needs help on missile system

Lincoln Journal Star
08/23/00
BY DON WALTON Lincoln Journal Star
mailto:dwalton@journalstar.com
http://www.journalstar.com/nebraska?story_id=871&date=20000823&past=

The United States needs to build a national missile defense system in cooperation with its allies, Sen. Chuck Hagel told the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention Tuesday.

"Our allies need to be a part of it," Hagel told 4,000 delegates at the convention in Milwaukee.

U.S. leadership will be required to gain "the partnership of our allies," he said. Most of those allies oppose U.S. plans to build a missile defense system.

A national missile defense depends on forward-based radar systems outside the United States, Hagel noted.

"We can't do this unilaterally."

A missile defense system is necessary to "make defense policy relevant to today's challenges," Hagel said. A number of dictators now have the capacity to control or develop weapons of mass destruction, he said.

Hagel told the veterans America needs to "rebuild a culture that makes duty, honor, country more than a slogan (and transforms it into) a way of life."

No American "want(s) our children to inherit a world where America is not the greatest power on earth," he said.

The Republican senator paid tribute to his colleague, Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey, who is leaving the Senate in January, suggesting veterans will miss his presence in Washington.

Nebraska is the only state with a pair of senators who were combat veterans in Vietnam. Both Hagel and Kerrey were wounded in action.

Hagel addressed the VFW convention between speaking appearances by 1996 Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole and Vice President Al Gore, this year's Democratic presidential nominee.

Reach Don Walton at 473-7248 or dwalton@journalstar.com.

---

DOE Laser Facility Facing Problems
GAO Documents $1 Billion Overrun In Arms Simulator

Washington Post
Wednesday, August 23, 2000; Page A23
By Walter Pincus Washington Post Staff Writer
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-08/23/146l-082300-idx.html

A 10-year-old project designed to help maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal indefinitely by building a laser so powerful it could simulate the conditions of a thermonuclear explosion in a laboratory has ballooned in cost to nearly $4 billion and still has serious "unresolved technical problems," according to the General Accounting Office.

The congressionally mandated GAO investigation concluded that not only will the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California cost at least $1 billion more than planned and take six years longer than expected to begin full operations, but the glass lenses needed to focus the laser beams "pose a major technical challenge and . . . there is currently no solution to this problem."

In addition, "technical and cost uncertainties also persist in the research and development needed to design and build a target for NIF's laser beams," the GAO said.

NIF will be a facility the size of a football stadium seven stories high, where 192 high-power laser beams would deliver huge amounts of energy upon a single fusion target to simulate the thermonuclear conditions created by an explosion.

At a time when underground nuclear tests have been halted, NIF would be a key part in the future annual certification of the two stages of thermonuclear weapons: The plutonium "primary" explodes and creates the temperatures and pressure to produce the fusion explosion in the weapon's "secondary," made up of deuterium and tritium.

NIF's current problems will result in its experiments not being available for analyzing proposed changes during the refurbishment already underway in two key strategic weapons, the W76 warhead of the Trident I sub-launched ballistic missile and the W80 for the sea-launched Tomahawk cruise missile. The NIF was originally scheduled to be completed in 2002.

While commending GAO's fact-finding, Energy Department officials believe the technical problems remaining with the longer-lived optics can be solved. "Only one technical challenge remains to be completed, with good progress to date," wrote Madelyn R. Creedon, deputy administrator for defense programs of the new National Nuclear Security Administration, which now runs the weapons program.

The NIF has in recent months become another headache for Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, who has been under fire for more than a year over alleged espionage and security failures at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

When Richardson went to Livermore in June 1999 to celebrate NIF being "within budget and on time," he was reflecting monthly progress reports from the lab that had been reviewed and approved by Energy personnel at Livermore. At the time, dozens of Livermore managers knew Richardson's remarks were wrong, but no one told him.

Two months later, Richardson was blindsided when he heard the first reports that there were overruns and delays.

The GAO found that the NIF manager and his top assistants had no previous experience managing large projects. Nonetheless, according to the GAO, "the laboratory's 'can-do' culture prompted the NIF managers to convince themselves, then [the Energy Department] and others, that they needed no outside help to successfully build NIF."

Adding to the problem was Energy's own failure to require Livermore to "update its estimates for the project's total cost and schedule in its monthly and quarterly reports."

When Congress in early 1999 demanded an outside review of NIF, the contractor chosen for the job failed to report "any significant cost, schedule, or technical issues for NIF," the GAO said. In fact, the contractor found NIF was "by far the best managed of any" federal project. The GAO found that Energy Department officials had "instructed the contractor to not examine NIF supporting research and development" and had the department's manager and NIF's own project manager edit the "contractor's draft report before it was submitted to Congress."

Angered about being misled, Richardson in September said the cost overruns would be handled within Energy's regular defense program budget: "We will reprioritize our national security program to reallocate dollars, people, and other resources--so the U.S. taxpayer does not foot additional bills because of these problems."

Richardson amended his fiscal 2001 budget now before Congress by adding $95 million from other stockpile stewardship programs, over half coming out of different Livermore activities. None was taken from the other nuclear labs.

Up to now, there has been no consensus within Energy and its two other weapons labs about NIF's future. One proposal, by the deputy director of nuclear programs at Los Alamos, was that NIF should be limited to 48 laser beams rather than 192, a level that he said "would support about 80 percent of the experiments the program needs to perform."

Not surprisingly, Livermore's new director for NIF, George Miller, told the GAO that having 192 beams "is critical" to certifying the nuclear stockpile. But, he added, according to the GAO, "Livermore might accept a 'pause' in completing NIF of about three years at the 120 beam level."

---

DIGEST Compiled from reports

by the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Dow Jones News Service and Washington Post staff writers
Washington Post
Wednesday, August 23, 2000; Page E01
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-08/23/118l-082300-idx.html

Compaq Computer won a contract valued at $200 million to build the world's largest supercomputer for the Energy Department. The computer, nicknamed "Q," will simulate the testing of nuclear weapons at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. The "Q" system will be almost the size of five basketball courts and more powerful than all 21 of the world's other supercomputers combined, the company said. It will handle 30 trillion operations a second, or the equivalent of about 20,000 personal computers.


-------- MILITARY (by country)

-------- china

China Voices Concern Over KFOR Seizure of Kosovo Plant

NewsEdge Corporation
August 23, 2000
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=v0822114.1xi&level3=21232&date=20000823

BEIJING (Aug. 22) XINHUA via NewsEdge Corporation - China today expressed its concern over the recent take-over of a steel works by the multinational peacekeeping force in Kosovo (KFOR), expressing the hope that parties concerned should exercise restraint and prevent the situation from further deteriorating.

On August 14, the KFOR forcibly took over the "Trepca" steel works of the North Kosovo, causing conflicts between the two sides with many injuried.

While commenting on the event today, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao stressed it has been the consistent stand of China that any act of the UN troops in Kosovo should be conducive to maintaining the security and stability of Kosovo, the equality and legitimate rights of all the ethnic groups there, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

---

Demanding Release Rights Group Urges China to Free Internet Dissident

ABC News
08/23/00
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/DailyNews/chinanet000823.html

BEIJING, Aug. 23 - A foreign media watchdog group urged China today to free an Internet cafe operator arrested last week for posting criticism of the Communist Party.

Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres urged China to free Jiang Shihua, detained Aug. 16 in the southwestern province of Sichuan.

Jiang, a computer teacher who operated the Silicon Valley Internet Cafe in the Sichuan city of Nantong, was picked up by police for a series of critical articles he posted this month under the pen name "Shumin" (Common Citizen).

Jiang faced charges of subverting state power, which could carry a 10-year jail sentence, RSF said in a statement.

It said the group appealed in a letter to Justice Minister Gao Changli for Jiang's immediate release.

Jiang Not the First

Jiang is the third "Web dissident" known to have been picked up by police this year as China grapples with the dilemma of wanting the scientific and commercial benefits of the Internet while fearing the political impact of a free flow of information.

Huang Qi, a Sichuan man who published information on the Internet about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, faces trial for subversion. Qi Yanchen, of Hebei province, faced the same charges for posting criticism of the government.

Earlier this month, the authorities shut down China's first openly pro-democracy Web site based in China. The Shandong-based www.xinwenming.net (New Culture Forum) drew Beijing's wrath for posting robust debate on democratization.

On Monday, Chinese President Jiang Zemin offered a ringing endorsement of the Internet, saying e-mail, e-commerce, distance learning and medicine would transform China.

"We should deeply recognise the tremendous power of information technology and vigorously promote its development," the official Xinhua news agency quoted him as saying.

Jiang's enthusiastic comments to an international computer conference made only passing references to political concerns that have dogged the Internet's development in China.

China routinely blocks Web sites of Western media outlets, human rights groups, Tibetan exiles and other independent sources of information it deems politically sensitive or harmful.

Domestic sites, which violate party dictates, have also been closed. Beijing forbids increasingly popular domestic portals to post news reports from sources other than state-controlled media.

-------- colombia

Clinton Signs Aid Package For Colombia

Washington Post
Wednesday, August 23, 2000 ; A01
By Ellen Nakashima and Matthew Vita Washington Post Staff Writers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5515-2000Aug22.html

President Clinton last night signed a waiver authorizing distribution of a $1.3 billion aid package to help the Colombian government fight drug traffickers even though it has not met all the human rights conditions set by Congress, administration officials said.

The decision comes one week before Clinton is to make a one-day visit to Colombia to demonstrate his support for President Andres Pastrana's efforts to combat the country's drug trade, which is responsible for 90 percent of the cocaine consumed in the United States. Clinton's signing of the waiver is the final step in a year- long debate over how best to assist the Pastrana government.

Congress approved Clinton's request for Colombia aid in July on a bipartisan basis despite the opposition of human rights groups concerned about human rights abuses by the Colombian military. The U.S. plan calls for more than $1 billion to train and equip the Colombian army and police forces, and includes delivery of 18 Black Hawk helicopters and 42 Huey 2 helicopters. The package also provides money aimed at promoting human rights programs, judicial reform and economic development.

Bowing to concerns that the money would reward the Colombian military despite its poor human rights record and ties to right-wing paramilitary groups, Congress conditioned the package on the Colombian government curbing rights abuses by the armed forces.

Among the conditions was a requirement that Pastrana issue a written statement that military personnel accused of human rights abuses will be brought to justice in the country's civilian courts. Pastrana issued that statement last Wednesday.

"This is an important step," National Security Council spokesman P.J. Crowley said. "It's saying military courts cannot be used to shield human rights abusers from accountability."

Congressional critics of Colombia's human rights policies expressed disappointment that the president would release the aid package, even though his decision was widely anticipated. Some said they wished the administration had pressed harder for human rights improvements.

"These conditions are nothing more than what the Colombian government said they were prepared to do, and it is not too much to ask, given the risks involved and the amount they are asking us to provide," said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.). "We need to see a consistent good faith effort [to curb human rights abuses], and we don't even see that."

The Pastrana directive satisfied one of seven human rights criteria that Congress said had to be met before the money could be released.

State Department officials said they expect two other criteria to be met within the next several weeks. One would require the Colombian army commander to suspend personnel alleged to have committed "gross violations of human rights." The other would require the military to develop a judge advocate general corps to investigate military misconduct. Other provisions include demanding that the government prosecute leaders of paramilitary groups.

The State Department recommended Friday that Clinton waive the criteria that could not be met on national security grounds; to free up the money as soon as possible. "We think it's necessary to get the money out now," a senior State Department official said. "We've already seen the difficulty down there with the program because of delays."

The fact is, administration officials say, that the Colombian government has not had sufficient time to meet all the conditions laid out by Congress.

Perhaps the toughest demand to meet is one calling for the elimination of all coca and opium poppy by 2005, a requirement that conflicts with Colombia's own plan calling for reducing coca production by half in the same time period. That could be why, officials say, Republican supporters of the aid package inserted the national security waiver provision.

Nonetheless, they said Pastrana, who was elected two years ago, has made progress in fighting the drug trade, where his predecessors had not. He has, for example, extradited three major narcotics traffickers; one last week; to the United States to face prosecution here, senior administration officials said.

And though administration officials say "serious" progress still needs to be made in halting human rights abuses, they say Pastrana seems to be heading in the right direction. He has already dismissed several generals who allegedly have been involved in some of the worst atrocities. One of them was reportedly involved in a series of massacres in the state of Norte de Santander in which more than 200 people were killed in a three-month span.

Amid a backdrop of economic disarray, Pastrana is battling a long-running internal conflict featuring powerful drug traffickers, right-wing paramilitary groups and leftist guerrillas.

Clinton will visit Colombia on Aug. 30 to help bolster Pastrana's efforts. He will be accompanied by Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and a large bipartisan congressional delegation headed by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), a leading proponent of aiding Colombia's efforts to curb drug trafficking.

Human rights organizations, which have held a series of meetings with administration officials to discuss Colombia policy, warned that the presidential waiver would reinforce the belief of elements in the country's military that they can act with impunity.

"It's an extremely dangerous policy given the record of the Colombian armed forces and its close ties to paramilitary groups," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, director of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch. "It's not in the best interest of the U.S. government to do business with the Colombian military without real supervision of human rights."

Leahy warned that the Colombian government will face a "tougher standard" next year when Congress is asked to approve the final part of the two-year, $1.3 billion aid package. "We're going to be monitoring it very closely," said Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.). "We'll be watching Colombia. They can't screw it up. The usage of this money will determine whether they get any more."

Leahy, among others, called attention to last week's attack by army troops on a school hiking trip in northwestern Colombia that left six children ages 8 to 10 dead as an example of Colombia's inability to rein in its armed forces.

After initially blaming guerrillas for the deaths, the government announced Saturday that it was investigating 25 soldiers and officers of the army's Fourth Division in connection with the shootings. The army said the attack occurred while army units were chasing insurgent rebels in the region.

----

THE WHITE HOUSE
August 23, 2000
Office of the Press Secretary (South Brunswick, New Jersey)
For Immediate Release

MEMORANDUM OF JUSTIFICATION IN CONNECTION WITH THE WAIVERS UNDER SECTION 3201(a)(4) OF THE EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL ACT, AS ENACTED IN THE MILITARY CONSTRUCTION APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2001

http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-res/I2R?urn:pdi://oma.eop.gov.us/2000/8/23/7.text.1

The challenges faced by Colombia are a matter of national security interest to the United States. Our assistance package is crucial to maintaining our counterdrug efforts and helping the Colombian Government and people to preserve Colombia's democracy. Moreover, the United States has important interests in promoting economic reform, protection of U.S. citizens, and hemispheric stability, all of which are addressed by our support for Colombia. Pursuant to Section 3201(a)(4) of the Emergency Supplemental Act, and for the following reasons, the President has determined that a waiver of the certification requirements in Section 3201(a)(1)(A)(ii) and (iii) and 3201(a)(1)(B)-(E) is in the national security interest.

Colombia confronts a drug emergency that directly affects the United States. In spite of aggressive counterdrug efforts, coca cultivation in Colombia has increased 140 percent over the last five years. This massive rate of increase threatens to reverse the counterdrug successes in Peru and Bolivia. Ninety percent of the world's cocaine is grown, processed, or transported through Colombia. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that up to 75 percent of the heroin consumed on the East Coast of the United States comes from Colombia. Illegal drugs cost our society 52,000 lives and nearly $110 billion each year in health costs, accidents, and lost productivity. The drug trade is also fueling the illegal armed groups involved in Colombia's internal conflict, further exacerbating human rights problems.

The Administration supports the Congress' effort to ensure that human rights are respected and protected in Colombia. As we begin the certification process, the Administration is committed to working with the Colombian Government to protect human rights by making progress in all areas stipulated by the law. While the Government of Colombia is actively taking steps to meet the seven conditions on assistance, we are currently able to certify only one (Section 3201(a)(1)(A)(i)). The Government of Colombia will need some time before we will be able to certify several of the criteria. We continue to press the Government of Colombia to achieve tangible results in these areas. By the terms of the law, another certification or waiver will be required prior to the obligation of further funds in FY 2001. The Administration will continue to engage in an extensive consultative process with the Colombian Government over the coming months as we strive to be able to certify additional provisions.

Consistent with Section 3201(a)(2), the State Department has consulted with internationally recognized human rights organizations. Senior State Department principals met with representatives of these organizations on August 2 to initiate an ongoing consultative dialogue on the implementation of the U.S. assistance package. Meetings were also held on August 10, 17, and 18. Our Embassy officials in Bogota also met with 15 Colombian NGOs on August 2, and agreed to establish a similar consultative process. Additionally, the Colombian Government has instituted its own formal consultative mechanism with Colombian NGOs.

For each of the six certification requirements that the President has waived, this memorandum describes the steps the Colombian government has already taken toward meeting the requirements, the reason they cannot be certified at this time, and the further steps we expect them to take to allow them to meet the conditions for certification in the future.

(1) Secretary of State must certify "that the Commander General of the Colombian Armed Forces is promptly suspending from duty any Colombian Armed Forces personnel who are credibly alleged to have committed gross violations of human rights or to have aided or abetted paramilitary groups. . . ." (Section 3201(a)(1)(A)(ii)).

At the present time, the Military Commander of the Colombian Armed Forces has only limited authority to promptly suspend from duty all Armed Forces personnel credibly alleged to have committed gross violations of human rights or to have aided or abetted paramilitary groups. Currently, the Military Forces have the authority to remove officers with a minimum of 15 years of service. The proposed reform of the military career personnel statutes, which is expected to become law by September 14, 2000, will also give the Military Commander, General Fernando Tapias, the authority to dismiss officers with fewer than 15 years of active duty service. Non-commissioned officers (NCOs) will continue to be subject to removal from the Armed Forces by a senior military commander. The Administration will strongly urge that the Commanding General use the requisite authorities to suspend promptly from service Armed Forces personnel facing credible allegations of involvement in human rights violations or of aiding or abetting paramilitary groups.

In several important cases, usually by order of civilian authorities, senior-level officers have been suspended after charges have been brought against them. Examples include General Jorge Plazas Acevedo, arrested and suspended in April 1999 in connection with the murder of Benjamin Khoudari; Brigadier General Jaime Humberto Uscategui, suspended in April 1999 in connection with the 1997 paramilitary massacre at Mapiripan (Meta); and Lieutenant Colonel Jesus Maria Clavijo, suspended in March 2000 after being arrested on charges of collaboration with paramilitaries and involvement in "social cleansing" killings while a member of the Army's 4th Brigade.

However, there are still a number of documented cases of senior security force personnel remaining on "active duty" even while charges against them were being pursued.

On August 15, six children were killed and five were injured after being shot by Colombian army troops. According to a senior Colombian army officer, the National Liberation Army (ELN), Colombia's second largest guerrilla force, were using the children as "human shields" following a shoot-out between the Colombian army and the ELN. However, witnesses of the incident report that the ELN was not involved. President Pastrana has said he will personally oversee the investigation.

According to the Human Rights Report of the Colombian Ministry of Defense, 32 members of the Armed Forces were separated from service between 1998 and 1999 for presumed human rights violations. During that same period, the military justice system also discharged 65 police officers. We will continue to work with the Government of Colombia in order to monitor further progress in holding military and police personnel accountable for violations of human rights.

Additionally, the Ministry of Defense reported that approximately 63,000 security force members received human rights training in 1999, provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Colombian Red Cross, the Roman Catholic Church, elements of the government and security forces, and foreign governments.

Nevertheless, there remain disturbing, credible allegations that individual Colombian military officers continue to collaborate with paramilitaries. The Government of Colombia needs to take further, and more effective, measures that aggressively prevent collusion between security force personnel and paramilitary groups, and to take decisive disciplinary measures against its personnel where appropriate before we can certify compliance. The Administration has raised these issues with the Government of Colombia repeatedly at all levels of our bilateral dialogue and will continue to work with the Colombian Government to satisfactorily address these concerns.

(2) Secretary of State must certify that "the Colombian Armed Forces and its Commander General are fully complying with Section 3201 (a)(1)(A)(i) and (ii) of the Act. . . ." (Section 3201(a)(1)(A)(iii)).

With respect to Section 3201(a)(1)(A)(i), President Pastrana's directive to the Colombian Armed Forces was issued only recently, so we will need to monitor the extent of their compliance over the next several months. With respect to Section 3201(a)(2)(A)(ii), some Armed Forces personnel have been promptly suspended when credibly alleged to have committed gross violations of human rights; however, there are still many cases where this does not occur.

It is our expectation that the Presidential directive, which was issued on August 17, will provide the requisite authorities with the power to suspend from duty Armed Forces personnel credibly alleged to have committed gross violations of human rights or to have aided or abetted paramilitary groups. We expect the Armed Forces and the Commanding General to take prompt and immediate steps to use the new authority in the Presidential directive. Accordingly, the Armed Forces and its Commander General cannot be said to be "fully" complying at this time.

(3) Secretary of State must certify that "the Colombian Armed Forces are cooperating fully with civilian authorities in investigating, prosecuting, and punishing in the civilian courts Colombian Armed Forces personnel who are credibly alleged to have committed gross violations of human rights. . . ." (Section 3201(a)(1)(B)).

During the Pastrana Administration, there has been a gradual, but steady, improvement in the cooperation between civilian authorities and the Colombian Armed Forces in the investigation, prosecution, and punishment in the civilian courts of military personnel who are credibly alleged to have committed gross violations of human rights, but steps remain to be taken before this condition can be certified. President Pastrana has demonstrated his Government's commitment to human rights by the dismissal of four generals and numerous mid-level officers and NCOs for collaboration with right wing paramilitaries or for failure to confront them aggressively. The military high command, under the leadership of Defense Minister Ramirez and General Tapias, has also stated repeatedly that it will not tolerate collaboration between military personnel and paramilitary groups. However, security force actions in the field are not always consistent with this policy.

The human rights unit of the Prosecutor General's Office (Fiscalia) investigated, indicted, or prosecuted 303 security force members during 1999, including at least 12 officers, on a variety of charges including homicide, torture, and sponsorship of paramilitary groups. The Attorney General's Office (Procuradoria) and the security forces demonstrated a greater willingness to follow up with instructions that those ordered arrested be removed from their duties, denied the right to wear a uniform, or turned over to civilian judicial authorities.

Most recently, five Colombian generals and other ranking officers are being investigated by the Procuraduria for failing to protect residents from paramilitary massacres. In July 2000, the Procuraduria reopened the case against four army Generals and one Lieutenant Colonel for failing to take appropriate measures to protect the residents of Puerto Alvira from a May 1998 paramilitary attack. One of these officers is Brigadier General Jaime Humberto Uscategui, who was rearrested on July 31, 2000 in connection with the 1997 Mapiripan massacre. Additionally, an investigation was opened concerning the former commander of the 5th Brigade, General Alberto Bravo Silva, and four other officers for failure to act to prevent the August 21-22, 1999 paramilitary massacre in the areas of Tibu and La Gabarra.

The military judiciary demonstrated an increased willingness to turn cases involving security force officers accused of serious human rights violations over to the civilian judiciary. The military cites over 500 such cases since the 1997 Constitutional Court decision; however, some of these cases involve the police, and many of them involve criminal activity not directly related to human rights.

Civilian authorities, including the Prosecutor General, have expressed concern over the number of security force personnel who have escaped from military confinement while awaiting trial in civilian courts. As stated in the Department of State's 1999 Country Report on Human Rights for Colombia, there are a number of cases of Armed Forces personnel accused of human rights violations that have been adjudicated in the civilian courts but progress is still insufficient to permit certification of this provision at this time.

The Government of Colombia is making concrete progress in ensuring that military personnel credibly alleged to have committed gross violations of human rights are brought to justice, but continued work is needed. This should include active cooperation with civilian authorities in executing outstanding arrest warrants related to human rights abuses or paramilitary activity; complete sharing of information with civilian authorities; effective detention of alleged perpetrators of human rights violations against whom there are arrest warrants; and, establishment and implementation of effective measures to protect civilian investigators and prosecutors from threats that impede their work.

(4) Secretary of State must certify that "the Government of Colombia is vigorously prosecuting in the civilian courts the leaders and members of paramilitary groups and Colombian Armed Forces personnel who are aiding or abetting these groups. . . ." (Section 3201(a)(1)(C)).

The Colombian military's record in dealing with paramilitary groups remains inadequate. In some locations, elements of the army have attacked and captured members of such groups; in others, individual members tolerated or even collaborated with paramilitary groups. At the end of 1999, Colombian military and security forces began to target more aggressively paramilitary forces.

In taking forceful action against paramilitary forces, many of these armed encounters resulted in paramilitary members' deaths and the capture over 300 paramilitaries according to 1999-2000 data from the Statistics Center of the Colombian Ministry of Defense.

The Department of State's 1999 Country Report on Human Rights on Colombia reports that "the military judiciary demonstrated an increased willingness to turn cases involving security force officers accused of serious human rights violations over to the civilian judiciary, as required by a 1997 Constitutional Court ruling; however, concerns about impunity within the military judiciary remain." The Fiscalia is also vigorously going after a number of military personnel for aiding or abetting paramilitaries. Although the Fiscalia is committed to prosecuting military personnel colluding with paramilitaries, it remains burdened by competing demands and scarce resources. Our supplemental aid package will help the Fiscalia deal with these challenges by augmenting and expanding the recently created Human Rights Special Unit, and by providing training for judges and public defenders. The Fiscalia's Human Rights Special Unit is a task force comprised of more than 100 prosecutors, investigators, and technicians responsible for the investigation and prosecution of human rights crimes. Formed in October 1999, this unit has received initial specialized training in the United States on conducting criminal investigations of cases involving multiple homicides, bombings, and kidnappings.

As stated in the Department of State's 1999 Country Report on Human Rights for Colombia, the Government of Colombia "demonstrated an increased willingness to remove from duty security force officers who failed to respect human rights, or ignored or were complicit in the abuses committed by paramilitary groups." Since the August 1997 Constitutional Court ruling, which more narrowly defined the constitutional provision that crimes by state agents unrelated to "acts of service" must be tried in civilian courts, the military judiciary has turned 526 cases of possible human rights violations over to the civilian judiciary for investigation and possible prosecution. Among the cases transferred during 1999 were those of three full colonels -- the first time that the military judiciary turned over cases concerning several high-ranking officers. However, some of the cases included in this figure do not involve gross violations of human rights.

The Government of Colombia is making progress in bringing to justice paramilitary personnel and armed forces personnel credibly alleged to have aided paramilitary personnel, but must continue to implement effective measures to achieve this objective. The Superior Military Tribunal provided a list of cases transferred from September 1997 to the present consistent with the Constitutional Court decision of 1997. That list indicates that, in 1999, 27 cases (involving murder, deprivation of liberty, personal injury, etc.) were transferred to civilian courts. In January - May 2000, 4 such cases were transferred. In February, the Government created (via executive decree) a Coordinating Center for the Struggle against "Self Defense" and other Illegal Armed Groups. To date, however, this Center has not achieved tangible results, such as the establishment of a "Search Block" to pursue paramilitaries, or the creation of an early warning system to provide better protection to the civilian population, or the development of an effective rapid response team to follow up on investigations of human rights violations by paramilitaries.

The Administration is strongly urging the Government of Colombia to undertake all necessary measures to eliminate impunity within the military justice system and to dedicate to the Fiscalia all necessary resources to permit it to investigate and, as appropriate, prosecute members of the paramilitary groups or members of the government security forces who assist them.

(5) Secretary of State must certify that "the Government of Colombia has agreed to and is implementing a strategy to eliminate Colombia's total coca and opium poppy production by 2005 through a mix of alternative development programs; manual eradication; aerial spraying of chemical herbicides; tested, environmentally safe mycoherbicides; and the destruction of illicit narcotics laboratories on Colombian territory. . . ." (Section 3201(a)(1)(D)).

The Administration does not believe that this criterion can be met. The Colombian Government in Plan Colombia has set a goal of eliminating 50 percent of drug crop cultivation within five years (October 2005). This target is in keeping with the much-heralded reductions achieved in Peru and Bolivia. A 50 percent reduction is significant, realistic, and obtainable.

Any plan for total coca and poppy elimination in this time period would require more resources than are contemplated in Plan Colombia. As the implementation of Plan Colombia proceeds, it may be possible for the Government of Colombia to revise its timetable for drug elimination; this is particularly true for opium poppy elimination. The Administration has asked the Government of Colombia to determine a timetable, and an estimate of resources, that would allow it to work towards a strategy of eliminating coca and poppy production.

With respect to mycoherbicides, we have made clear that the United States will not support the use of mycoherbicides against the Colombian coca crop unless three conditions have been met: first, a rigorous, carefully supervised research and test program in Colombia determines that mycoherbicides are safe, effective, and superior to existing chemical eradication methods; second, a broader national security assessment, including consideration of the potential impact on biological weapons proliferation and terrorism, provides a solid foundation for concluding that the use of this particular drug control tool is in our national interest; and, third, the Colombian Government agrees with proceeding with the mycoherbicide program.

(6) Secretary of State must certify that "the Colombian Armed Forces are developing and deploying in their field units a Judge Advocate General Corps to investigate Colombian Armed Forces personnel for misconduct. . . ." (Section 3201(a)(1)(E)).

The military penal reform bill (which became effective August 12, 2000) requires, for the first time, that the military legal system operate outside and independent of the chain of command. Under this new penal code, the commanding officer in the field would no longer conduct criminal trials. Instead, the code provides for the installation of professional military judges. Criminal investigations will continue to be conducted by "judges of instruction," who in essence are civilians with legal training. According to the Colombian Ministry of Defense, the Colombian military is in the process of establishing a JAG Corps. Given the differences between the U.S. and Colombian legal systems, the Colombian JAG Corps may differ in important respects from the U.S. version. The Administration believes with international support, the JAG Corps will be fully developed and deployed in the near future.

----

Clinton's Colombia Waiver "a Grave Mistake"

Human Rights Watch,
August 23, 2000
In Washington, DC, José Miguel Vivanco -- 202-612-4320
In New York, Joanne Mariner -- 212-216-1218 <marinej@hrw.org>
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/colombia/index.htm http://www.hrw.org/spanish/colombia.html

(New York, August 23, 2000) -- President Clinton's decision to waive human rights conditions on the $1.3 billion military aid package to Colombia will encourage violent abuses, Human Rights Watch said today. On August 23, Clinton signed a waiver allowing the United States to ignore human rights conditions included in the military aid package. In granting the waiver, Clinton not only makes America complicit in ongoing abuses but risks converting a failed drug war into a disastrous human rights policy.

"This is the wrong policy and the wrong time," said José Miguel Vivanco, Executive Director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch. "The message is that the bad apples with the armed forces shouldn't be worried. Ultimately, the waiver defeats the purpose of any policy meant to improve human rights."

Human Rights Watch was among several leading human rights groups who took part in a two-day consultation with the State Department required by law before any certification. During those meetings, all of the human rights groups present, including Human Rights Watch, unanimously opposed Colombia's certification to receive military aid and called on President Clinton not to issue a waiver.

----

THE HEADLONG RACE TOWARDS WAR IN COLOMBIA CONTINUES

Date: Wednesday, August 23, 2000 11:25 AM
From: Mike Ruppert "From The Wilderness" <mruppert@copvcia.com>

As FTW has been consistently predicting for months, the cosmetic human rights provisions included in July's $1.3 billion military aid package would have little deterrent effect in slowing a headlong race toward war in Colombia. As "The Washington Post" revealed today, President Clinton has already used his safety-valve "national security" escape clause to bypass human rights provisions in the aid package which includes more U.S. "advisers" and Blackhawk combat helicopters.

FTW is continuing to predict open hostilities and more U.S. casualties by the end of the year. Full story in the August 31, issue of FTW for paid subscribers only.

[these subscriptions are Mike's income to continue his forefront investigative reporting on the ciadrugsmuggling issue]--dcw

ALSO IN THE AUGUST 31, ISSUE - Reports on one-on-one interviews with and statements from the Shadow Convention in Los Angeles from Jesse Jackson, Maxine Waters, John Conyers, Charlie Rangel, New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, Scott Harshbarger of Common Cause, and Arianna Huffington. We asked the questions you want answers to.

"FTW" MAILS TO SUBSCRIBERS ONLY ON AUGUST 31ST. Mike Ruppert Publisher/Editor "From The Wilderness" www.copvcia.com www.suppressedwriters.com

---

Colombian rebels slam U.S. aid effort

Washington Times
August 23, 2000
By Cesar Garcia ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://208.246.212.80/world/default-2000823213431.htm

SAN VICENTE DEL CAGUAN, Colombia - Leftist rebels who oppose growing U.S. ties to Colombia's military have promised not to stage attacks to disrupt President Clinton's upcoming visit to the South American country.

"We will not impede [the Aug. 30 visit] with guerrilla actions," Andres Paris, a commander and spokesman of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, told the Associated Press in an interview Monday in this southern ranching town.

But the insurgents known as FARC are "calling on the Colombian people - the labor unions, student groups, organizations of the unemployed and others - to protest Clinton's visit," Mr. Paris added.

Mr. Paris said a $1.3 billion U.S. anti-narcotics aid package for Colombia recently approved in Washington is "just a smoke screen to promote imperialist interests," and that the U.S. government aims to exert control over the Andean region's oil and mineral wealth.

Mr. Clinton's planned one-day visit is intended as a show of support for President Andres Pastrana and his "Plan Colombia" - a strategy to revive Colombia's economy and stem the country's booming cocaine and heroin trade to the United States and Europe.

Security is expected to be extremely tight for Mr. Clinton's brief visit and meeting with Mr. Pastrana in Cartagena, a Caribbean port. The president is only scheduled to stay a few hours and will not spend the night in Colombia, one of the world's most violent countries.

Mr. Paris said FARC rejects Mr. Clinton's visit "because he is coming as the head of an empire to shore up Plan Colombia, which is only going to intensify the armed confrontation."

The U.S. aid package will provide battle helicopters and Green Beret training to support a military push into southern jungles where FARC rebels and the militias take payoffs to protect peasant drug plots and traffickers' airstrips and laboratories.

Increased bloodshed is widely expected in the conflict that already claims thousands of lives a year. The rebels, whom the State Department considers a terrorist organization, have claimed repeatedly that they are the real target of the U.S. aid plan.

But U.S. officials insist that Washington is not becoming involved in Colombia's 36-year civil conflict. They concede, however, that U.S.-trained troops and equipment will be used against any guerrilla units who try to block stepped up efforts to eradicate drug crops and destroy labs.

-------- drug war

Anti-drugs plan threatens Colombian peasants
US-supplied Blackhawk helicopter about to pick up Colombian troops

BBC News
Wednesday, 23 August, 2000, 14:49 GMT 15:49 UK
By Jeremy McDermott in the jungles of Putumayo
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_891000/891810.stm

A massive aerial eradication programme is at the centre of a US-inspired policy to defeat the drugs trade in Colombia.

The illicit business has been funding rebel armies and prolonging the 36-year old civil conflict.

Those who will be on the receiving end of this fumigation process say that it will cause only more hunger, poverty and war.

Indeed, it may even feed the guerrillas it is designed to attack.

Manuel Alzate Restrepo, the Mayor of Puerto Asis, one of the largest towns in Putumayo, calls Plan Colombia 'the Plan against Colombia'.

While President Andres Pastrana of Colombia and US President Bill Clinton see the plan as a foundation for peace, Mr Resrepeo sees "only more war and suffering".

Concerns

At a peasant association meeting in Puerto Asis, people are despondent.

They feel that they are going to be the victims of the new US military aid package of $1.3bn, aimed at eliminating the drug crops in Putumayo.

The region is home to some 60,000 hectares of coca, the raw material for cocaine.

Cecilia Anaya is the president of Puerto Asis' peasant association.

"We have seen what happened in Puerto Guzman where they did the first fumigation tests," she says.

"There were people who died because of fumigation, who lived mainly by growing yucca, plantain and rice."

"And now there is misery, hunger and displacement. So we are very worried."

Much of the coca grown in Putumayo is grown by peasant farmers with a few hectares of fields carved from the jungle.

They grow coca as a cash crop alongside pineapples, maize and other subsistence crops.

However, the chemicals dropped by the US-supplied planes cannot distinguish between the different crops.

This means that the livelihood of peasants - already living well below the poverty line - ends up in ruins.

As well as destroying crops other than coca, Esteban Torres, the local schoolteacher says there is evidence that the chemicals dumped on Putumayo's fields are damaging the inhabitants.

"There is no running water in Puerto Guzman," he says.

"And the people drink water from the streams which pass alongside the fields, so when the planes fly over spraying these toxic chemicals, people are drinking this water or preparing their food with it and falling sick."

Poisoning

His assertion is confirmed by Marta Cecilia Guapacha, the head nurse at San Francisco hospital in Puerto Asis.

She has treated too many patients in the immediate aftermath of crop spraying to think coincidence is at work.

"We have had cases of poisoning because of the chemicals, lots of skin rashes, eye conjunctivitis, children more than any, and breathing problems after having inhaled the toxic chemicals," she says.

The effects of aerial eradication on the environment are also said to be frightening.

After fields have been sprayed, crops cannot be grown there for many months afterwards.

Peasants, having lost their food crops as well as the coca, cut down more jungle to replant.

'Illicit crops greatest threat'

Colombian Environment Minister Juan Mayr has admitted that there are serious environmental concerns.

However, he refuses to acknowledge that the US-inspired eradication programme is responsible.

"The Ministry of Environment has come to see illicit crops as the greatest threat to the disappearance of Colombia's biodiversity," he says.

"These crops in the last decade have produced the deforestation of close to a million hectares."

As well as damage to health and the environment, there is evidence that the fumigation programme is not really hurting the guerrillas, but rather providing them with more recruits.

Mr Torres tries to contain his tears as he relates what happened to Puerto Guzman after the aerial eradication.

"Then the people, the youth, including two ex-students of mine, girls, left school to join the guerrillas," he says.

"For the young, there is no other alternative, there are no jobs, they go to the guerrillas."

----

Venezuelan forces recover 2.5 tons of cocaine

USA Today
08/23/00
http://usatoday.com/news/world/nw1.htm#gulf

CARACAS, Venezuela - Security forces seized 2.5 tons of cocaine in a remote jungle corner of northeastern Venezuela during a continuing international drug crackdown that is the largest in the nation's history. National Guard officials discovered the haul Tuesday night after a fresh series of raids on businesses in the jungle region along the eastern delta of the Orinoco River. Last week, Venezuelan and foreign agents recovered a record five tons of cocaine in the Orinoco jungle and arrested 14 people in three countries in an international effort to disband the Los Mellizos drug band. The raids are a result of an eight-month investigation.

---

Drug War Casualties

New York Times
August 23, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/letters/l23col.html

To the Editor:

Re "Colombia Pledges to Investigate Killing of 6 Children by Troops" (news article, Aug. 20):

How can the United States build up the military in Colombia, to the tune of $1.3 billion in aid -- even with the benevolent purpose of fighting drug trafficking -- when there is such clear evidence that this same military is waging a war of terror against the country's villagers?

We have no choice but to look not only at our intentions but also at the results of our actions.

What is the actual result for the lives of average Colombians? Is it a decrease of narcotics trafficking? Or does the narcotics trafficking just end up in better armed and more deadly hands?

Whatever the United States does in Colombia, fostering human rights and the safety of Colombians should be No. 1 on our agenda.

CINDY FRANKLIN New York, Aug. 20, 2000

-------- iraq

Iraq Will Not Permit Visit by U.N. Weapons Inspection Team

New York Times
August 23, 2000
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/late/23cnd-iraq-un.html

BAGHDAD, Aug. 23 -- Iraq said on Wednesday it would not accept the new United Nations arms inspection team established under a Security Council resolution last December.

"Clearly speaking Iraq does not deal with resolution 1284," Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz told reporters and members of parliament. "Hans Blix and his commission is a result of this resolution which Iraq does not deal with.

"When Iraq does not deal with the resolution and its results this means that Iraq will not receive any person who has a relation with the resolution and its results," Aziz said.

Security Council resolution 1284 adopted in December offers to ease longstanding trade sanctions on Iraq if it allows U.N. weapons inspectors empowered to dismantle Iraq's weapons of mass destruction to return to Baghdad.

The resolution set up a new arms inspection body called the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) to replace the former U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM).

Aziz said Iraq could not be intimidated on the issue. "We are accustomed to threats and Iraq is ready to face all challenges in defence of its sovereignty and legitimate rights," he said.

The United Nations is to train a new arms inspection team for duty in Iraq, but a U.N. weapons spokesman said on Tuesday it was uncertain when it would be sent to Baghdad.

Diplomats say that resumption of arms inspections appears to depend on President Saddam Hussein and on how much pressure a divided Security Council is willing to put on him.

U.N. experts seeking to track down and destroy Baghdad's weapons of mass destruction were withdrawn in December 1998 shortly before the United States and Britain launched a four-day bombing campaign prompted by Iraq's failure to cooperate with the arms team.

The former U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) in charge of scrapping Iraq's clandestine arsenals, which came under fierce criticism from Baghdad's supporters on the Security Council, especially Russia, China and France, has since been replaced by UNMOVIC.

---

Dispute Arises on Iraqi Debt for Oil Losses by Kuwaitis

New York Times
August 23, 2000
By BARBARA CROSSETTE
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/global/082300un-kuwait-reparations.html

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 22 -- A dispute pitting the United States against Russia and France over Iraqi reparations to a Kuwaiti oil company has for the first time stymied the work of a United Nations compensation commission set up after the 1991 Persian Gulf war.

At stake is a large claim of $21.6 billion submitted by the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation for lost oil and gas sales resulting from Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, during which oil wells were destroyed or damaged.

The compensation commission, based in Geneva, proposed in June that the Kuwait company be awarded $15.9 billion. Russia and France objected, and no award was made.

Diplomats say the United States is lobbying to line up support for Kuwait before a vote on the issue that may be held at the commission's next meeting, late next month.

Until now, all decisions by the commission have made been by consensus on the advice of experts. The 15-member panel, made up of representatives from Security Council countries, is expected to award claims as income from Iraqi oil sales becomes available.

The disagreement adds another irritant to an already frayed Security Council consensus on how to deal with the government of President Saddam Hussein as economic sanctions imposed on Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait a decade ago drag on.

As a critical moment approaches in the efforts of the United Nations to return arms inspectors to Iraq -- a key to lifting the embargo -- the new dispute over war reparations reopens another divisive debate in a second important area, the oil-for-food program.

The program is an exception to the embargo under which Iraq is permitted to sell oil abroad to pay for the imports of essential civilian goods.

Mr. Hussein, now earning billions in oil sales thanks to the lifting of all restrictions on oil exports last year just as prices were rising, has always objected to the requirement that a third of his oil income should go to compensate the many victims of his invasion and occupation of Kuwait.

Money from the oil sales is also set aside for the Kurdish regions of northern Iraq and to help pay for the arms inspection program.

The Iraqis rejected the oil sales program entirely until 1995, because of the controls on how Iraq could spend the money. In the first few years of the program, with oil prices low and limits on how much oil Iraq could sell, the issue merely simmered. Iraq continued to demand that sanctions be lifted to relieve the hardships of people living under the embargo, but was never able to challenge the reparations plan successfully.

Now the sums being set aside for compensation are rising into the tens of billions and Iraq -- with the backing of Russia and France, both of which are owed money by Iraq and hope for more business in the future -- has become more active in opposing the payments.

In recent years the Iraq compensation commission has paid more than $8 billion in claims, mostly to individuals and small businesses or other institutions hurt by the Iraqi invasion.

But the commission has now begun to process claims from petroleum companies, and the amounts being sought are significant. Last year the Kuwait Oil Company and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation were jointly awarded $2.3 billion for the loss of equipment and other measurable assets.

This year's much larger Kuwaiti request for the loss of less tangible things like thwarted sales ran into technical objections from France, which requested a delay to have its own experts review the claim.

United Nations officials and diplomats said that the Russian objection was more political and that it raised the larger issue of the future of the claims process.

According to unofficial notes from the June meeting, provided by panel officials, the Russians said it would be unacceptable to give that much money to the Kuwaiti oil industry, whether or not the claim was sound, while Iraqis were suffering from a trade embargo.

The Russians then said that they would like a review of the level of Iraq's contribution to the compensation fund from its oil revenues. The money now goes into an escrow account in Paris managed by the United Nations, and any change in its allocation would have to be made by the Security Council.

Diplomats said they expected Russia to raise the issue next month, when all aspects of policy toward Iraq will be open for debate.

-------- ireland

British Arrest Protestant Militant After Violence in Belfast

New York Times
August 23, 2000
By ALAN COWELL
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/europe/082300nireland-violence.html

LONDON, Aug. 22 -- Confronting a wave of violence among Protestant paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland, British officials ordered the re-arrest today of one of the province's most notorious Protestant militants, 11 months after he had been freed under the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement.

The man, Johnny Adair, was seized in a car on the Protestant Shankhill Road in Belfast as British troops returned to the city's streets one day after two men were shot to death in an increasingly violent feud between Protestant "loyalist" organizations. Witnesses said Mr. Adair was ordered out of the car and told to lie on the ground before being driven to a prison outside the city.

British officials depict the fighting between the loyalist paramilitaries as a narcotics-fueled turf war tied to what Peter Mandelson, the senior British official in the province, today called "the dark side of Northern Ireland's society, the mafia culture created by decades of paramilitary conflict."

Mr. Adair, who at the time of his release had served five and a half years of a 16-year sentence on terrorism charges, is a leading figure in the Ulster Defense Association, which has been locked in conflict with another loyalist group, the Ulster Volunteer Force. Ideologically, all of Northern Ireland's loyalist groups support continued British rule, but they are bitterly divided among themselves over personality and territorial disputes.

The two men killed on Monday were said by the police to be members of Mr. Adair's organization. The police said the killers fired nine bullets into the men as they crossed a road to their car. There was speculation that Mr. Adair's arrest would increase pressure among his followers to retaliate.

In September 1999, Mr. Adair was freed from the high-security Maze prison under terms in the peace deal enabling convicted terrorists to be released provided they refrained from violence. But the agreement also permits their so-called good behavior license to be revoked if they are thought to be fomenting violent actions.

Explaining the arrest, Mr. Mandelson, Britain's Northern Ireland secretary, said: "My priority is public safety and I cannot give freedom to an individual intent on abusing it. I am satisfied that this particular individual has breached the terms of his license."

Earlier, he told reporters: "We should be absolutely clear that what we are witnessing has nothing to do with the peace process. It's nothing more or less than squalid, murderous gang warfare."

Before Monday's killings, at least 10 people were hurt and a number of buildings set ablaze. BBC television reported tonight that some residents of the Shankhill Road area were boarding up their homes and leaving in anticipation of further clashes.

The Belfast police said on Monday that the army was returning to the city's streets today as "a short-term measure."

British soldiers withdrew from Belfast after the 1998 peace deal but troops returned briefly last month after the authorities banned a Protestant march through a Catholic area of the city.

---

Cease-fires intact despite 2 deaths

USA Today
08/23/00- Updated 07:53 PM ET
http://usatoday.com/news/world/nw1.htm#gulf

BELFAST, Northern Ireland - Cease-fires remain intact in Northern Ireland Wednesday, despite violence earlier this week that left two people dead. Officials believe members of two militant groups, the Ulster Defense Association (UDA) and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), are engaging in unlawful acts despite a cease-fire that both organizations are acknowledging. A group of UDA militants led a raucous parade up a Belfast road last weekend, inspiring gunfire attacks at UVF-linked pubs and members' homes. Two men died after the UVF retaliated. A UVF member is being questioned in the shootings.

-------- italy

Lockheed Martin Begins Italian C-130J Deliveries to Pisa

NewsEdge Corporation
August 23, 2000
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=p0822084.300&level3=788&date=20000823

MARIETTA, Ga., Aug. 22 /PRNewswire/ via NewsEdge Corporation - On 16 August, the first C-130J for the Italian Air Force departed the Lockheed Martin facility in Marietta. The aircraft was ferried to its new base in Pisa, where it will be operated by the Aeronautica Militare Italiana's (AMI - the Italian Air Force) 46th Air Brigade. This is the first of 22 C-130Js on order for the AMI. The second aircraft will be ferried this Thursday, with four further aircraft being delivered to Pisa this year.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/ATTU012)

A joint AMI/Lockheed Martin crew ferried the first aircraft to Pisa via the Azores. The Italian C-130Js have already been type certified, and crews will begin operational flying as soon as the aircraft arrive in Pisa. The aircraft will initially be used to conduct logistic supply, maximum payload, and tactical missions. Clearance for paratroop, airdrop, assault landings on unprepared fields, and maximum alternate weights missions is anticipated by the end of this year.

During 1999, the AMI evaluated their long-term tactical airlift needs, and determined that the best solution was a mix of aircraft including C-130Js, C-130J-30s, and C-27Js. Last year Italy announced its intent to acquire 12 C-27s, a twin-engined tactical airlifter developed by Lockheed Martin Alenia Tactical Transport Systems (LMATTS).

The Italian configuration is among the most sophisticated yet developed for the aircraft. It has a highly advanced suite of communications and defensive systems equipment. This includes U/VHF combined multi-band radios and a laser warning receiver system. In addition, it is the first C-130J "receiver-tanker" built. This means it has the ability to both refuel other aircraft as well as being refueled itself in-flight. This is a true 'force multiplier' for the AMI as it gives them great operational flexibility in tactical transport missions.

In addition to the 22 C-130Js, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company has signed a contract with the Italian government for the construction of a National Training Center (NTC) at Pisa Air Base, in support of the C-130J aircraft program. The AMI NTC will be used primarily to conduct C-130J aircrew and maintenance training, but will also provide growth potential as well as classroom facilities for other aircraft programs.

SOURCE Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company
CONTACT: Peter Simmons of Lockheed Martin, 770-494-6208, or peter.e.simmons@lmco.com
Web site: http://www.lmasc.com

-------- japan

Forum for a new U.S. base in Okinawa must be dissolved

Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 16:10:04 +0900
From: JPS <jpspress@twics.com>
JPS 08-083

TOKYO AUG 23 JPS -- The first meeting of a forum between the central and local governments will open on August 25 in Tokyo to push ahead with the plan to construct a new U.S. base in Nago City in Okinawa prefecture as a U.S. Futenma Air Station relocation. Akahata on August 23 commented on this as follows:

The consultative forum on alternative facilities, established in accordance with the December 1999 cabinet decision, deals with matters related to the 1996 Japan-U.S. Special Action Committee on Okinawa (SACO) Final Report.

On August 24, similar regional meetings will take place to implement the government promise to drastically increase government subsidies to regional economic developments.

Following the cabinet decision which outlined the new base site around the city's Henoko District in the waters off the U.S. Camp Schwab, the forum is assigned to design a "basic plan," including the work schedule, methods and other details.

Forum members include the Chief Cabinet Secretary, the Foreign Minister, the Defense Agency director general, the Okinawa Prefectural governor, and the Nago City mayor.

This is a "serious situation that would eliminate Okinawa Governor Keiichi Inamine's pledge (for limiting the term of the base within 15 years)" (Okinawa Times on August 18), the government is scheming to push ahead with the new base plan by leaving the 15-year term issue on the shelf.

Hidenao Nakagawa, Chief Cabinet Secretary and Okinawa Development Agency Director General, told the press on August 15 that the 15-year limit issue will not be the forum's agenda, and Governor Inamine accepted the idea on August 21.

Despite Inamine's insistence that he would continue to take up the 15-year term issue, the U.S. government has often dealt negatively with the idea and Kazuo Torashima, Japan's Defense Agency Director General, confessed that it is "difficult" to establish the goal a 15-year use limit. Not a consultation was made on this with the U.S. Government.

If the new base plan goes apart from the issue of a 15-year term, the base construction will proceed as an accomplished matter.

The "basic plan" has serious problems. Some DA sources say that the new base requires to maintain the operational capabilities of the U.S. Futenma Air Station in accordance with the SACO Final Report.

The U.S. Forces maintains that the "Sea-Based Facilities (SBF) and all associated structure shall be designed for a 40 year operational life with a 200 year fatigue life" as a state-of-art base with MV22 Ospreys.

Backed by the cabinet decision that the base plan needs to take into account the civil-military co-use, major contractor construction companies in Japan and the U.S. have advanced various base plans.

The August 11 issue of Ryukyu Shimpo published the result of an opinion poll on the new base plan: 28.8 percent "against," 26.3 percent "rather against" bringing the total of 55.1 percent "against," while 39 percent in favor, including 24.0 percent who said the construction of a new base would be better than nothing.

Of the 39 percent who were in favor of the plan, 64.7 percent attached a condition that a 15-year limit be imposed on its use.

-------- kosovo

COLONY KOSOVO, WHERE COPS DO-GOODERS AND PRIVATEERS RUN THE SHOW

By Christian Parenti,
The San Francisco Bay Guardian,
August 23, 2000
http://www.tenc.net

CLOGGED WITH ALMOST 800,000 souls, Pristina, Kosovo, a city of tower blocks rising from a parched valley floor, now holds twice the population for which it was built. The air reeks of exhaust and burning garbage. Ceaseless hot winds blow litter and clouds of gritty dust from the huge mountain of mine tailings that lies a dozen miles due west. At night one still hears the snap of gunfire and, the next day, rumors of another unsolved murder.

Despite the city's modernist aesthetic (the place was rebuilt from scratch after an earthquake in 1963), Pristina has no public transportation or refuse collection. All the most impressive modernist buildings downtown have been reduced to bombed-out relics. Throngs of cell phone-wielding crowds and streams of new Mercedes and Audis choke the streets below the charred towers. Water and electrical services are intermittent, yet several cybercafés and brothels operate around the clock.

Welcome to ground zero of NATO's reincarnation as what Secretary of State Madeline Albright has called "a force for peace from the Middle East to Central Africa." Billed as the greatest humanitarian intervention since WWII, the U.N.-NATO occupation of Kosovo doesn't look so noble up close. Rather than a multiethnic democracy, Kosovo is shaping up to be a violent, corrupt, free-market colony.

'HUMANITARIAN' IMPERIALISM

Kosovar Albanians may talk about "their country," but the foreign-aid workers in official white SUVs make the real decisions. After NATO's 78-day bombing, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo(UNMIK) was created as an "interim administration." The U.N., in turn, has opened Kosovo to a kaleidoscopic jumble of governmental and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) ranging from Oxfam to obscure evangelical ministries.

At the apex of it all sits Bernard Krouchner, the Secretary General's Special Representative in Kosovo. Founder of Médecins Sans Frontières and a former socialist, Krouchner took a sharp right turn in the 1980s when he championed the use of Western (particularly American) military intervention as the path to human rights. Krouchner's left-wing critics who argue that American and European corporate power and military aid are the main causes of human rights violations internationally see Krouchner as a Clinton-Blair "third way" hypocrite. Meanwhile, many mainstream right-wing commentators see the short, thin Frenchman as a publicity-seeking autocrat.

In Kosovo, Krouchner's responsibilities range from censoring the local press when it offends him to appointing all local government personnel http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/unandthe.htm to schmoozing with international donors.

Adding muscle to Krouchner's administrative decisions such as unilaterally ditching the Yugoslavian dinar for the mark are about 4,000 so called UNMIK police, many of whom are transplanted American cops. For the heavy lifting, Krouchner can count on the 40,000 international soldiers that make up KFOR, the Kosovo Implementation Force. Along with putting down the occasional ethnic riot, protecting convoys of refugees, and guarding the few small Serb enclaves remaining in Kosovo, http://emperors-clothes.com/interviews/simca.htm KFOR and the UNMIK police occasionally uncover caches of weapons belonging to the officially disarmed Kosovo Liberation Army. http://emperors-clothes.com/news/u.htm#disarm

Such operations are usually followed up with robust KFOR statements reaffirming their commitment to "building a multiethnic society."

Yet, strangely, the ethnic cleansing this time Albanian against Serb and Roma (Gypsy) never stops.

VIOLENCE STILL

"This place is a shit hole. All the young people I meet, I tell 'em: get out! Go to another country," booms Doc Giles, a tanned, muscled American cop who speaks in a thick, south-Jersey accent. A longtime narc-officer from hyperviolent Camden, N.J., Giles has spent the last year working homicide in Pristina with UNMIK. The pack on his bike sports a "Daniel Faulkner: fallen not forgotten" button. (Faulkner was the cop whom death row inmate and journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal may or may not have murdered 18 years ago in Philadelphia.)

Giles's maggot's-eye view of interethnic relations is sobering: "Look, all the perps are oo-che-kaa," Giles says, using the Albanian form for the Kosovo Liberation Army's acronym. "They're fucking gangsters. I don't care what anyone says they're an organized crime structure. And all the judges are either scared or pro-KLA. They're like: you shot a 89-year-old Serb grandmother? Good for you. Get out of jail."

Of the province's 276 judges, only two are Serb, so Albanian hit squads operate with near total impunity. Among their favorite targets during the last year have been Orthodox churches and monasteries, more than 85 of which have been burned, looted, or demolished, according to both the U.N. and a detailed report by the Serbian Orthodox Church. After hearing one of Giles's rants about KLA death squads and 15-year-old Maldovan girls "turned out" as prostitutes http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/susan.htm, you'd almost agree with his prescription: "What they should've done was put this place under martial law, get a bunch of American cops from cities like Philly, Dallas, and Denver to come in here and just kick the shit out of everyone for a few months. Then turn it over to your NGOs, or whatever."

Terrified merchants also tell stories of KLA thuggery. http://emperors-clothes.com/news/reporter.htm "Ten percent. They take 10 percent of everything you make. And you pay or it's kaput," says a nervous restaurateur in Prizren, an ancient town near the Albanian border. He's a Kosovar Turk whose great-grandparents probably moved here during the twilight of the Ottoman Empire, but he says that when he gets enough money, he's taking his two children to Canada.

PRIVATIZATION

While Giles and his comrades recycle Albanian "perps" through a nonworking judicial system, the U.N.'s paper pushers and its partner organizations are hard at work trying to turn Kosovo into a free-market paradise.

"We must privatize so as to secure investment and new technology. There is no alternative," says Dianna Stefanova, http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/opening.htm director of the European Agency for Reconstruction's office on privatization, which is working under the auspices of UNMIK and Krouchner.

But the industries located in Kosovo are not UNMIK's to privatize. Nor does the wording of Security Council resolution 1244 the document defining the U.N.'s role in Kosovo give UNMIK the power to sell off local industries. And when Krouchner made his pitch for mass privatization to the Security Council in late June, he met with stiff opposition from the Russians.

Oddly, despite the U.N.-NATO occupation, resolution 1244 recognizes Kosovo as an integral province of Yugoslavia and does not empower the U.N. to privatize. To get around this, Krouchner has devised a creative bit of legerdemain: the U.N. isn't actually selling off assets; it's just offering 10- and 15-year leases to foreign transnationals. The first industry to go was the huge Sharr Cement factory, leased to the Swiss firm Holderbank. "Sharr could produce all the cement for reconstruction, and even export," says Roy Dickinson, a privatization specialist with the European Agency for Reconstruction.

The next assets on the block are a series of vineyards and wine cooperatives, but the ultimate prize is the gargantuan Trepca mining and metallurgical complex that sprawls across northern Kosovo and into the mountains of southern Serbia. http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/inthewee.htm Since Roman times, foreign armies have targeted these massive mineral deposits. Hitler took Trepca in 1941, and thereafter the mines some of the richest in the world supplied German munitions factories with 40 percent of their lead inputs.

Trepca contains all of Yugoslavia's nickel deposits and three-quarters of its other mineral wealth; during the 1990s the 42 mines and attendant factories were one of Yugoslavia's leading export industries. The Belgrade government and a private Greek bank that has also invested in the mines insist that Trepca shall not change hands. The U.N. isn't so sure. "The question of who gets what will be settled by a panel of judges that UNMIK is still setting up," says a coy Stefanova. In the meantime UNMIK is drawing up plans to downsize local industries and streamline enterprise to appeal to foreign investors. But there's another piece in the equation: who controls the land above the mines? That, of course, brings us back to the issue of ethnic cleansing.

BALKAN BELFAST

The swift and shallow river Ibar, bisecting the town of Mitrovic, is the front line in an unfinished war that pits Albanians against Serbs and Roma. All non-Albanians have been expelled from south of the Ibar and all Albanians driven from its northern bank.

[Emperor's Clothes note: Regarding the area North of the Ib, the statement is incorrect, according to Oliver Ivanovic, a key leader on the North shore. He insists that a large Albanian community remains, and though relations are cold the Serbs have no desire to drive these people out; quite the contrary.] http://emperors-clothes.com/interviews/avictory.htm Thus crossing into north Mitrovic is much like entering Serbia: the language, the music, and the beer are all Serbian, and people use the dinar. This is also the heart of the Trepca complex. Here, despite occupation by French troops http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/whyisthe.htm the Belgrade government still pays salaries and pensions and still provides health care.

And if even a fraction of U.N. and KFOR accusations are true, then some of the hard men with mobile phones who lounge at the Dolce Vita Cafe on the banks of the Ibar are probably undercover cops from Serbia (some of whom, you will recall, have been indicted by the International Tribunal on War Crimes at the Hague and could be arrested by KFOR).

"We're in a prison, and under attack," a young Serb named Branislav says. "If I cross that bridge, I'll be killed." This, it seems, is the future: an ethnically "pure" and therefore "stable" Albanian Kosovo in the south, hosting huge NATO installations like the sprawling 775-acre American base Bondsteel, with its 4000 G.I.s on the plains of southeast Kosovo. In the north, on the other hand, astride some small part of the Trepca mines and in a few other spots, Serb and Roma ghettos will remain, possibly as parts of Serbia. And in the places where these communities overlap there will be trouble and, therefore, a plausible reason for the West to maintain a long-term military presence.

-------- mexico

Report: Four Dead in Mexico Chiapas Clash

Yahoo News
Wednesday August 23 1:43 AM ET updated 5:06 AM ET Aug 23
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000823/wl/mexico_chiapas_dc_3.html

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Four people were killed and up to 38 injured on Tuesday in a clash in Mexico's troubled southern state of Chiapas, where the opposition ousted the ruling party in a weekend state governor's election, the Televisa network reported.

The state prosecutor's office said a team had gone to the scene of the confrontation, but as it was a five-hour ride from the nearest town, the investigators had not yet reported in.

``We don't have anything to confirm the reports,'' said a spokeswoman.

Televisa said details were sketchy but it appeared the incident took place near Ocosingo, a hotspot of the 1994 Zapatista Indian rebellion, around 90 miles northeast of the colonial city of San Cristobal de las Casas.

State officials said it appeared the clash may have involved a land dispute between supporters of the Zapatistas and of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which was ousted from the governor's office in an election on Sunday, and from the federal presidency in a July 2 general election.

The scene of the confrontation was the extremely isolated hamlet of Pena Limonar.

The officials said they had heard that 37 people were injured and were unable to confirm the report of four dead.

In a historic vote seen as key to resolving the 6-1/2-year Zapatista revolt, Pablo Salazar, the candidate of an eight-party opposition alliance, on Sunday defeated the gubernatorial candidate of the PRI.

The Chiapas defeat added to the party's humiliation after it was ousted from the president's office it had held for 71 straight years in the July 2 general election.

The Chiapas vote was preceded by rising tensions.

On Aug. 4, supporters of Salazar attacked PRI candidate Sami David with sticks when he tried to hold a rally in Salazar's home town of Soyalo.

Earlier in the month, pro-PRI paramilitaries, which church and human rights activists say sow terror in the Chiapas highlands, expelled 60 pro-Zapatista families from Yajalon in the north of the state, burning down their homes.

The officials said it did not appear that Tuesday's bloodshed was related to Salazar's victory. Land disputes in Chiapas frequently lead to clashes.

The Zapatistas, lead by the charismatic Subcommander Marcos, declared war on the government, and by extension the PRI, on New Year's Day 1994, demanding improved rights for Mexico's 10 million Indians.

After 10 days of heavy fighting in which dozens died, a cease-fire was declared. Peace talks broke down in 1996 and the rebels have been holed up in the jungle, surrounded by a military cordon, ever since.

-------- peru

Peru's Fujimori Questions U.S. Aid for Colombia

Yahoo News
Wednesday August 23 6:26 PM ET updated 11:53 PM ET Aug 29
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000823/pl/usa_peru_dc_1.html

LIMA (Reuters) - Peru on Wednesday cast doubt on Washington's wisdom in giving $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid to Colombia, saying it could spread conflict across the region instead of calming it.

President Alberto Fujimori, still smarting after Secretary of State Madeleine Albright left Peru off a Latin American tour last week, said bluntly that he knew better than Washington what was at stake in the region.

Noting the announcement on Monday that Peru had smashed a ring that smuggled some 10,000 guns to Colombian rebels, Fujimori said, ``We're not asking for congratulations from any government.''

``We just feel satisfied that we've done our bit and perhaps the Americans don't understand the threat to democracy posed by terrorism...as happened with (rebel groups) the Shining Path and the MRTA,'' he told a news conference.

Fujimori, who won a third term in office in May after widely criticized elections, is credited with beating Marxist rebel groups that sowed terror in Peru in the 1990s.

Under the aid package known as ``Plan Colombia,'' U.S. military advisors will train special battalions in fighting the drugs trade and leftist guerrillas who protect and profit from the trafficking.

But Fujimori suggested that spending $1.3 billion on military aid could backfire with ``effects that could spill over to other countries.''

Colombia's neighbors, to varying degrees, say they recognize the gravity of the crisis in Colombia, where the government controls barely half the country.

But they worry that the conflict will spill over into their territory, either in the form of refugees, cocaine production, guerrillas or drug traffickers seeking shelter from a widely expected military offensive.

-------- poland

Polish arms workers plan protest march to demand government contracts

Associated Press
August 23, 2000
By ANDRZEJ STYLINSKI Associated Press Writer
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=h0822092.200&level3=27716&date=20000823

WARSAW, Poland (AP) _ Workers at a heavily indebted Polish arms factory are threatening to stage a 100-kilometer (62-mile) protest march this week to press their demands for back wages and new government contracts to save their jobs.

Union leaders at the Lucznik Metalworks in Radom, south of Warsaw, were meeting Tuesday to prepare for the march, expected to begin Friday morning and end several days later in front of the Cabinet office in Warsaw, Grzegorz Czyzniakowski, a union leader said in a telephone interview.

He said the workers decided to go ahead with their protest following a deadlock in talks with the government on Monday. Another round of talks is planned for Wednesday, but the union leader seemed pessimistic.

``The government does not want to hear anything about positive solutions for Lucznik,'' a disgruntled Czyzniakowski said. ``They propose bankruptcy and the creation of a new arms company with fewer employees instead. But this does not satisfy us.''

Union leaders at Lucznik demand employment for 1,300 people, agreeing to the reduction of some 300 jobs this year. They also want government contracts for arms at a level that could guarantee the company's survival.

Lucznik makes Soviet-designed Kalashnikov assault rifles and a range of smaller weapons that once found a ready market among Warsaw Pact countries.

Sales have plunged in the decade since the demise of communist rule and the Warsaw Pact, leaving Lucznik and other arms-makers on the verge of collapse.

Unemployment in Radom hovers at about 22 percent, nearly double the national average, and worker protests often have turned violent.

Last month, the government announced a plan to equip police and border guards with new weapons in a three-year program of purchases valued at 98 million zlotys (dlrs 23 million). The Interior Ministry said it is ready to begin placing orders with Lucznik if the company improves its Glauberyt light automatic rifle, which would replace the heavier Kalashnikov.

But union leaders have decided to step up pressure on the government, since no orders have been placed so far.

-------- space

Boeing's Delta III blasts off

USA Today
08/23/00- Updated 11:22 AM ET
http://usatoday.com/news/nphoto.htm

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Boeing's newest Delta III rocket successfully delivered a dummy satellite to orbit during a critical test flight Wednesday after back-to-back failures. It is the first successful launch of a Delta III. Boeing spent the past year revamping the program to prevent another embarrassing - and costly - flop. Everything went well as the $85 million rocket lifted off just after 7 a.m. and arced out over the Atlantic. On board was a steel spool designed to mimic the satellite that flew on the last Delta III and wound up in the wrong orbit.

---

New Brazilian Satellite Estrela do Sul to Join Loral`s Expanding Satellite Fleet; Interim Capacity to Serve Brazil Acquired from Telesat Canada

NewsEdge Corporation
August 23, 2000

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 22, 2000 via NewsEdge Corporation - Loral Space & Communications, (NYSE: LOR) announced today that it will expand its fixed satellite services (FSS) fleet with the addition of the new Estrela do Sul satellite, currently under construction by Space Systems/Loral. Loral Skynet do Brasil will offer its customers coverage throughout Latin America with connectivity into North America from its orbital slot at 63 degrees West longitude. The high-powered 1300 satellite will carry 36 Ku-band transponders, with two spot beams, providing a dedicated Ku-band solution for the Brazilian marketplace.

Estrela do Sul is expected to be launched in mid-2002. In order to commence service to Brazil and surrounding areas, Loral Skynet do Brasil has acquired the Anik-C1 satellite from Telesat Canada. This satellite, which has been renamed Brasil 1(T), is now being moved from 106.8 degrees West longitude and is expected to arrive at the 63 degrees slot later this month, where it will provide limited service until the launch of Estrela do Sul.

Brasil 1(T) is an HS376 that was launched in 1985 and currently has 8 Ku-band transponders available for service. In its new location, the satellite will provide coverage of the middle region of Brazil including Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia. The satellite will be used for a variety of full-time and part-time applications, including satellite newsgathering and backup for terrestrial fiber applications.

"This is a significant milestone in Loral's global strategy as it continues to build its fixed satellite services business both in Latin America and around the world," said Mr. Terry Hart, president, Loral Skynet. "The addition of the Estrela do Sul satellite is yet another step in solidifying the Loral Global Alliance as a truly global provider of satellite services."

In March of 1999, Loral Skynet do Brasil was selected as the winner of an auction to acquire a Brazilian orbital satellite slot, giving the company the right to use Brazil's 63 degrees West longitude slot, from which it will offer Ku-band satellite services to customers within Brazil and throughout most of the Western hemisphere. In addition to these services, Loral Skynet do Brasil will also be able to offer coverage in other parts of the world through the member companies of the Loral Global Alliance. Further information regarding satellite usage and services can be obtained by contacting Loral Skynet do Brasil, by phone at 55-21-5558603.

Estrela do Sol will be a version of SS/L's three-axis, body-stabilized 1300 bus. The 1300's modular design is flight-proven and has an excellent record of reliable operation. SS/L's 1300 buses are designed to achieve long useful orbital life through use of bipropellant propulsion and momentum-bias systems for excellent station-keeping and orbital stability. A system of high-efficiency solar arrays and lightweight batteries provide uninterrupted electrical power. Overall, SS/L satellites have accumulated nearly 800 years of reliable on-orbit service.

Loral Skynet do Brasil, a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications, is the first in-country, private Brazilian satellite company offering Ku-band services and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications. The company was formed primarily to address opportunities in the fixed satellite services market in Brazil and South America. The company has the rights and obligations to use the Ku-band frequencies at the 63 degrees West longitude orbital slot, as well as marketing capabilities for all capacity on the Loral Global Alliance fleet. For more information, visit www.loralskynetdobrasil.com.

Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), also a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications, is a premier designer, manufacturer, and integrator of powerful satellites and satellite systems. SS/L also provides a range of related services, including mission control operations and procurement of launch services. Based in Palo Alto, California, the company has an international base of commercial and governmental customers whose applications include broadband digital communications, wireless telephony, direct-to-home broadcast, environmental monitoring, and air traffic control. SS/L is ISO 900 certified. For more information, visit www.ssloral.com.

Loral Space & Communications is a high technology company that concentrates primarily on satellite manufacturing and satellite-based services, including broadcast transponder leasing and value added services, domestic and international corporate data networks, global wireless telephony, broadband data transmission and content services, Internet services and international direct-to-home satellite services. For more information, visit Loral's Web site at www.loral.com.

CONTACT: Loral Space & Communications | Micki LoMonaco, 908/470-2589

---

NASA Deploys Latitude`s E-Conferencing Solution for Real-Time Collaboration
NASA Staff Makes Faster Decisions and Reduces Costs by Standardizing On Meeting Place Throughout the Organization

Individual.com
August 23, 2000
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=p0822083.105&level3=788&date=20000823

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Latitude Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: LATD), the e-Conferencing company, today announced that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has deployed Latitude's MeetingPlace e-Conferencing solution across multiple sites including the John Glenn Research Center, the Kennedy Space Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Used throughout the agency, NASA employees can collaborate in real-time on time-critical, highly visible and complex projects in addition to a wide variety of production oriented meetings.

"E-Conferencing is allowing scientists, engineers and administrators to collaborate on projects in real-time resulting in improved communication," said Steve Prahst of NASA. "Latitude was able to provide us with the functionality, security and scalability we needed."

Prior to deploying MeetingPlace, NASA Glenn used an internal, proprietary conferencing system. The system did not allow for data conferencing, and all voice conference calls had to be coordinated through an administrator, who dialed out to all parties involved with the call. Now with MeetingPlace, NASA Glenn staff have self-service access to e-Conferencing capabilities, without the need for additional administrative support.

"A fundamental transition is taking place in the way government agencies do business," said Emil Wang, CEO and president of Latitude. "As this transition takes place, these organizations are discovering a latent demand for real-time collaboration that is changing the way business is conducted and making e-Conferencing as indispensable as e-mail. NASA is among a rapidly growing number of organizations that are using MeetingPlace to change its business practices and enhance employee productivity."

About MeetingPlace

MeetingPlace is a server-based e-conferencing platform that enables real-time collaboration for all kinds of applications, including: sales team coordination, multi-vendor customer support, marketing Webinars, press and analyst briefings, training for mployees and channel partners, disaster recovery, IT escalation, and staff and project meetings.

With MeetingPlace, users can easily schedule and attend meetings from browsers, groupware systems, and phones; share and edit live documents via the Web or T.120 standard clients such as NetMeeting; and record and access meeting content. Highly scalable and designed to be deployed as part of a company's standard communications infrastructure, MeetingPlace can support tens of thousands of corporate users.

About Latitude Communications

Latitude Communications, Inc. is the leading provider of enterprise e-Conferencing solutions. Latitude's award-winning MeetingPlace system is designed for enterprise and agency-wide deployment to improve the ability of employees, partners, and customers to meet and work. Federal agencies such as NASA, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Public Health Service agency, the US Court of Appeals, and the Federal Reserve Banks are using MeetingPlace's e-conferencing capabilities to hold daily operational meetings, share documents, design and plan major initiatives, and manage emergency response units. Based in Santa Clara, California, Latitude has direct sales and support offices or distribution partners in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. MeetingPlace is also available from leading application service providers. Latitude can be contacted at 408-988-7200 or www.latitude.com.

NOTE: MeetingPlace is a registered trademark of Latitude Communications, Inc.

SOURCE Latitude Communications, Inc.

CONTACT: Ian Bain of A&R Partners, 650-762-2806, or ibain@arpartners.com, for Latitude Communications, Inc.; or Heidi Palmer of Latitude Communications, Inc., 408-988-7238, or heidip@latitude.com

Web site: http://www.latitude.com (LATD)

-------- u.n.

UN report says sanctions hurting poorest, people angry

Associated Press
August 23, 2000
By KATHY GANNON Associated Press Writer
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=h0822081.200&level3=27823&date=20000823

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - United Nations sanctions against Afghanistan are hurting the poorest and making most Afghans, who have been devastated by two decades of war, feel increasingly isolated and bitter, according to a UN report released in neighboring Pakistan on Tuesday.

The report was the result of a two-month U.N. survey of Afghans to try to discover the effect of last November's limited sanctions on residents of this war-ruined country.

The sanctions were imposed to press Afghanistan's ruling Taliban to hand over suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden for trial either in the United States or in a third country.

The U.N. sanctions followed a ban earlier last year by the United States on trade with and investment in Taliban-ruled areas of Afghanistan.

The Taliban rule about 90 percent of the country and their opponents, led by ousted President Burhanuddin Rabbani the remaining 10 percent.

When U.N. sanctions were imposed Afghanistan's 16 million people were already reeling from the worst drought to hit the country in 30 years.

The drought, which has ruined most of southern and western Afghanistan, has resulted in the mass movement of tens of thousands of people. It has killed entire herds and virtually decimated Afghanistan's nomadic tribes, forcing them to be relocated to water and to cities.

The sanctions imposed by the U.N. froze the assets of the Taliban overseas and banned all international flights by the country's domestic airline. This could result in domestic flights becoming increasingly dangerous as spare parts and maintenance becomes more difficult.

The conditions in Afghanistan are horrific and the sanctions have only further hurt people, said the report.

People can barely cope, it said.

``The majority of the population struggles to survive at near subsistence levels and many cannot meet their food and non-food needs,'' says the report. ``Almost all the households without an able-bodied male are vulnerable and rely on food aid, children's work and begging to survive.''

Things have only worsened in recent weeks as a result of a Taliban edict which has banned women from working with international aid organizations, except for a few exceptions in the health sector.

The Taliban have refused to hand over bin Laden saying he is a guest and the United States has not given proof of his involvement in terrorism.

The U.S. administration blames bin Laden for masterminding the twin attacks in 1998 on its embassies in East Africa.

The greatest damage done by the U.N. sanctions is the feeling of isolation it has created among the people, according to the report.

``The sanctions have magnified the extent to which ordinary Afghans feel isolated and victimized,'' says the report. ``There is a widespread perception and resultant bitterness that the United Nations Security Council has set out to harm an innocent population and not the authorities with which it has a quarrel.''

According tot he report people in Afghanistan see no value in further sanctions, however there appeared to be widespread support for an arms embargo. This would be difficult to enforce but would involve trying to get weapons suppliers to both the Taliban and the opposition to halt their supplies.

The opposition says Pakistan is helping the Taliban and the Taliban accuse Russia, Central Asian states and Iran of helping the opposition.

All neighbors deny the charges, but even the U.N. has been sharply critical of Afghanistan's neighbors accusing all of them of interference and pleading with them to stop.

---

U.N. expert pleads for stay of execution for convicted murderer

NewsEdge Corporation
August 23, 2000
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=h0822071.000&level3=27823&date=20000823

GENEVA (AP) via NewsEdge Corporation - A United Nations human rights expert called Tuesday for a stay of execution for a convicted murderer who is due to die in Georgia, citing allegations of ``incompetent handling'' in the case.

Param Cumaraswamy, who reports on the independence of judges and lawyers, said he was ``gravely concerned'' by the planned execution Thursday of Alexander Williams.

Williams was convicted of the abduction, rape and murder of 16-year-old Aleta Bunch in 1986. Hewas 17 at the time of the offense. He would be the first person executed in Georgia since 1998.

Cumaraswamy said he was concerned that the death sentence might have been imposed because of the incompetence of Williams' attorney.

U.N. principles on lawyers say that defendants who cannot afford to pay for a lawyer must be given one who has the experience to handle the case in question.

``The particulars of incompetent handling of the case for Mr. Williams by the attorney, as alleged, are most alarming,'' Cumaraswamy said in a statement.

He asked the U.S. government to pass on his concerns to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles and call on the board to stay the execution and then commute the sentence.

The board will likely decide later Tuesday whether to stay the execution for 90 days while it considers a request for clemency which would commute the sentence to life imprisonment.

The United Nations says prisoners who were under 18 at the time they committed an offense should not be executed.

---

Top Military Brass to Meet at U.N. on Sierra Leone

NewsEdge Corporation
August 23, 2000
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=v0822519.1xi&level3=21232&date=20000823

UNITED NATIONS (Aug. 22) XINHUA via NewsEdge Corporation - Army chiefs from nine countries that contributed soldiers to the U.N. peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone will meet at the United Nations headquarters in New York Wednesday to discuss restructuring and expanding the U.N. force, a senior U.N. official said here Tuesday.

The senior official told a press conference that they are expected to discuss how to make U.N. peacekeeping operations more effective in the war-torn West African country.

Taking part in the Wednesday meeting will be army chiefs of staff or other senior officers from Bangladesh, Ghana, Guinea, India, Jordan, Kenya, Nigeria, Russia and Zambia, the official said.

The commander of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone, Major-General Vijay Jetley of India, and the U.N. special representative for Sierra Leone, Oluyemi Adeniji of Nigeria, will also participate in the upcoming meeting.

The senior official said that some of the peacekeepers were still not properly equipped, and the force suffered from a lack of "team spirit."

The United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone, known as UNAMSIL, is close to its authorized ceiling of 13,000 soldiers, but Jetley of India, said early this month that he had asked the U.N. Security Council for "many more troops" to beef up the U.N. military presence in Sierra Leone, where the U.N. force suffered the humiliation of seeing more than 500 of its soldiers taken hostage by the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), and they were released in batches over the following weeks.

The Security Council voted unanimously on August 4 to toughen its mandate and asked U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan for recommendations for restructuring and strengthening the force.

U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said "the meeting will also address the issues of requirements in UNAMSIL as well as identifying possible means of assistance in this area."

Annan is "confident that in addition to reviewing the mission' s operational aspects, the meeting of the military chiefs will contribute to strengthening the cohesion and coordination with UNAMSIL," the spokesman said.

Nigeria is the largest contributor with 3,218 of its soldiers in the U.N. force in Sierra Leone.

---

U.N. Political Agenda Cloaked in Religious Robes, FRC Says `Like a Wolf Dressed in Sheep`s Clothing, the Millennium Summit Will Cloak Anti-Life, Anti-Family Politics FRC's Maginnis Says

Individual.com
August 23, 2000
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=p0822132.802&level3=27823&date=20000823

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 1000 religious and spiritual leaders will convene at the United Nations from August 28-31 for the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders, but conservatives are outraged that the Dalai Lama and evangelical Christians are being denied participation. "The promised goals of the summit may be peace' and 'tolerance,' but the unspoken agenda is one of leftist politics and Chinese appeasement," said Robert Maginnis, vice president for foreign policy at the Family Research Council (FRC). "Like a wolf dressed in sheep's clothing, the Millennium Summit will cloak anti-life, anti-family politics in the robes of religion," Maginnis said.

More than twelve world religions -- from monotheistic faiths to Confucianism, to tribal religions and Zoroastrianism -- will be represented at the summit, with an agenda including the promotion of population control methods, environmental extremism, and "New Age" ideals of globalized religion. Missing from the religious roundtable will be evangelical Christians and the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of the Tibetan Buddhists. Neither the National Association of Evangelicals nor the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination, has been welcomed to attend the summit, and the Dalai Lama is being specifically excluded due to pressure from the Chinese government.

"China's rulers have a heinous record of crimes against religious freedom in their own country and in Tibet, yet the U.N. is letting them have a final word about who can attend this religious peace summit," Maginnis said. "The hypocrisy of not inviting the Dalai Lama, who is a winner of the Nobel peace prize and renowned spiritual leader, to a summit about the role of faith in promoting peace is outrageous. Beijing's stranglehold on the U.N. is once again polarizing the cause of religious freedom around the world."

The supposedly "independent" and "non-political" summit was announced last October after a meeting between media mogul Ted Turner and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. Mr. Turner, who has been an outspoken advocate of pro-abortion initiatives and has expressed open hostility to evangelical and orthodox people of faith, is serving as honorary chairman of the summit and providing most of the funding. Also involved in organizing the summit is a movement called the United Religions Initiative, which has been condemned by the Vatican for its radical politics and efforts to create a new world religion.

"The political agenda of the summit sponsors, combined with Secretary Annan's deference to the communist government of China, are proof positive that the Millennium Summit will do little to strengthen the cause of religious freedom around the world and will more likely offend the values of the pro- life and pro-family faithful," Maginnis said.

SOURCE Family Research Council
CONTACT: Kristin Hansen, or For Radio: Sharon Sampson, 202-393-2100; both of the Family Research Council
Web site: http://www.frc.org

---

Panel Recommends Sweeping Overhaul of U.N. Peacekeeping Department

New York Times
August 23, 2000
By BARBARA CROSSETTE
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/late/23cnd-nations.html

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 23 -- An international panel of experts appointed by Secretary General Kofi Annan called today for an overhaul of the United Nations peacekeeping department if it is to confront effectively a new age of multiple civil wars and failed governments, a role that international politics has kept it from playing for more than half a century.

The experts' recommendations are contained in a report released just ahead of a summit of world leaders that will take place in early September, when the issue of how much power the United Nations should have to intervene in nations torn by domestic crises is expected to be debated with some passion.

The vision of the panel, drawn from 10 nations including the United States and Russia, is for a United Nations peacekeeping department staffed by skilled professionals, supported by new intelligence-gathering functions that were forbidden during the cold war and free of big-power domination over its day-to-day activities. It is a vision certain to upset both American isolationists and those in the third world who fear that a stronger and independent international organization would mean a new kind of colonialism.

"There are many tasks which the United Nations peacekeeping forces should not be asked to undertake, and many places they should not go," the report said. "But when the United Nations does send its forces to uphold the peace, they must be prepared to confront the lingering forces of war and violence with the ability and determination to defeat them."

The sweeping report, which concentrates heavily on practical measures to fix the shortcomings of an overstretched, outdated peacekeeping department, builds on specific earlier studies of the failures of the United Nations and its member countries to deal with disasters in Rwanda and Bosnia. The study paints a picture of an understaffed department with a perennially temporary air about it, whose every move is micromanaged by the 188-member General Assembly.

Richard C. Holbrooke, the American ambassador to the United Nations, has for months been advocating the strengthening of the peacekeeping department, the core function of the organization when its charter was adopted in 1945. He welcomed the report as "a big step forward."

"The United States doesn't agree with everything in this report," he said in an interview. "But we are prepared to support it and to support a General Assembly resolution calling for its aggressive implementation.

"There will always be people in the United States who view the U.N. as an invasive force that weakens our sovereignty," he said. "But this administration's view is clear: the U.N. is flawed but it is indispensable. This report will, I hope, address some of its flaws."

The American expert on the review panel was J. Brian Atwood, former administrator of the United States Agency for International Development and now president of Citizens International, a private democracy-building organization. The panel's other experts were Colin Granderson of Trinidad and Tobago, who has directed missions in Haiti for the Organization of American States; Dame Anne Hercus, a New Zealander who headed a United Nations mission in Cyprus; Richard Monk, a British police official who was commissioner of a United Nations police force in Bosnia; Gen. Klaus Naumann of Germany, former chairman of NATO's military committee; Hisako Shirmura of Japan, a former director of Latin American and European peacekeeping at the United Nations; Vladimir Shustov, a former Russian representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe; Gen. Philip Sibanda of Zimbabwe, a former United Nations commander in Angola; and Cornelia Sommaruga of Switzerland, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross from 1987 to 1998.

The panel's chairman was Lakhdar Brahimi, a former foreign minister of Algeria who has served an international troubleshooter and envoy of the secretary general for nearly a decade in crises from Afghanistan to Haiti to Zaire, now Congo.

In an interview, Mr. Brahimi drew on his own experiences to illustrate the weaknesses of the peacekeeping bureaucracy, which his report says needs to be transformed into a meritocracy -- not an easy task, he admits. For example, he said, in 1993, when he returned to New York from overseeing the end of apartheid in South Africa, he was asked to go immediately to Yemen, where a civil conflict had broken out.

"The first thing I asked was, 'OK, what do we have on Yemen?' " he said. "The answer was, 'Nothing. Not one thing.' " He had to buy his own research material, in Arabic, on the scene.

One of the panel's central recommendations is the creation of a new information-gathering and analysis office within the United Nations to create data bases and operate as a policy planning staff. In facing crises, the report recommends more honesty in assessing blame and less of a tendency to try to treat all side of a dispute as equals in an effort to appear impartial.

"No failure did more to damage the standing a credibility of United Nations peacekeeping in the 1990s than its reluctance to distinguish victim from aggressor," the report says.

Another core recommendation is the creation of an integrated task force for each mission that combines political analysis, military operations, civilian police, electoral assistance, aid to refugees and displaced people, public information, logistics, finance and recruitment. Mr. Brahimi said that the United Nations, with the help of member governments, needs to compile a roster of experts in many fields who are ready to go to places like Kosovo, Congo or East Timor to do development as well as peacekeeping work.

Procurement procedures must be streamlined, Mr. Brahimi said in the interview. He said that at the moment, the response a crisis is akin to a fire department that waits for a fire to be reported before going out to shop for a fire engine.

"Rules and regulations are made for people sitting in New York organizing conferences," he said. "When they go abroad, they go to Geneva. The rules and regulations are not meant for moving around armies. This is one of the problems we have."

Deputy Secretary General Louise Frechette, who had been an official in the Canadian Defense Ministry, will be given the job of drawing up a plan of action to tackle organizational weaknesses.

"It is clearly not enough to have 32 officers providing military planning and guidance to 27,000 troops in the field," the reports says, "nine civilian police to identify, vet and and provide guidance for up to 8,600 police, and 15 political desk officers for 14 current operations and two new ones, or to allocate just 1.25 percent of the total costs of peacekeeping to headquarters administrative and logistic support."

Mr. Brahimi said that interference from powerful countries in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, known as the D.P.K.O., should stop -- a hope that most diplomats say is unlikely to be fulfilled. "The big boys on the Security Council come through the back door and tell the D.P.K.O. and all of us here, 'Don't say this; don't say that; don't ask for this; don't ask for that,' " Mr. Brahimi said. "They really influence us into self-censorship."

Pressure from the United States kept the United Nations from fielding an effective force in Rwanda in 1994 and has led to cost-cutting for a proposed Congo operation. China has vetoed operations when countries with links to Taiwan ask for help. Russia has kept Chechnya out of the United Nations entirely.

Dennis Jett, a former American ambassador and author of a new book, "Why Peacekeeping Fails" (St. Martin's Press) said in an interview that while Secretary General Annan should be commended for "changing the culture of the U.N." through a series of tough reports he has commissioned, the problems of peacekeeping have been around for a long time and are not going to go away easily.

"There are two U.N.s, the bureaucracy and the member nations," he said. The bureaucracy, he said, will resist efforts to create a meritocracy. "I don't think that's going to happen," he said. "And will the member states give peacekeeping more political and financial support? I don't think that's going to happen either, to the extent that it should."

Tinkering with the organizational charts, "redoing the wiring diagram," is not enough, said Mr. Jett, who is now dean of the International Center at the University of Florida. He said that there is a dearth of political support in the United States for a stronger United Nations, as suggested by the absence of any discussion of the issue in the current political campaigns and the low priority in general of foreign affairs.

Mr. Jett said that the State Department also produced big studies on reform every decade, and then put them on the shelf. He said that if there is not a follow-up report a year from now at the United Nations, this peacekeeping study will meet the same fate.

For Mr. Brahimi and his panel, urgency is essential because of the larger and more complicated assignments the United Nations is being given by its members. Since the end of the cold war, the organization has been asked to assume what were once trusteeship functions, rebuilding governments and societies in Cambodia, Kosovo and East Timor.

"If the U.N. is going into this business, it certainly cannot be done through the D.P.K.O.," he said. He added that the department is being asked to do too many things and is not doing them very well.

"In this very critical field, where you want this body of yours to do business," Mr. Brahimi said, addressing his comments to member nations, "please equip them to serve you better than they have."

-------- u.s.

AWOL Lt. in Israel: 'I'm Not a Spy'

NewsEdge Corporation
August 23, 2000
By JASMINA KELEMEN Associated Press Writer
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=h0821203.100&level3=36180&date=20000823

PETAH TIKVA, Israel (AP) via NewsEdge Corporation - A U.S. Army Reserve intelligence officer who alarmed the American military when he went AWOL turned up Monday in Israel, saying he hasn't revealed any government secrets.

Lt. Col. Jeremiah Mattysse met with U.S. diplomats and Israeli police for more than three hours on the understanding he was free to go when he wants.

``I'm not a spy,'' Mattysse told reporters after leaving Israel's international crimes unit in the Tel Aviv suburb of Petah Tikva. ``There's been many things said about me which aren't true. I didn't give any classified information to anyone.''

Mattysse said he had ``not decided yet'' how long he would stay in Israel. He left the station in a police car, not saying where he was headed.

American military officials said they're especially concerned about Mattysse's absence because of his background in U.S. intelligence.

Joseph Hanley, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Reserve Command in Atlanta, said last week that it would be logical for an investigation to include ensuring that nothing was missing from offices where Mattysse worked.

Police located Mattysse, 50, at a youth hostel in Mitzpeh Ramon, a desert town famed for its crater and its hippie culture. He wore the knitted skullcap typical of Orthodox Jews and a T-shirt with a floral motif.

Police emphasized that he was cooperating of his own free will. Israel has no provision for arresting someone who deserts a foreign army.

Until February, Mattysse commanded the Army Reserve Intelligence Support Center at Camp Bullis in San Antonio, Texas, as a full-time reserve officer. The unit's primary mission was to train reservists in intelligence work. Mattysse failed to report to duty on Aug. 8 after a vacation, making him AWOL, or absent without leave.

Mattysse was reassigned to the 90th Reserve Support Group in San Antonio earlier this year after an investigation began into his wife's allegations that he had an extramarital affair. The San Antonio Express-News reported that his wife, Vanda Mattysse, filed a divorce complaint March 7 in Virginia.

Rivka Artzi-Nir, a woman who lives in Israel and identified herself as Mattysse's girlfriend, has told Israeli newspapers he had become devoted to helping Israel since he converted to Judaism 10 years ago.

Artzi-Nir went to the police station, but said police told her Mattysse had no interest in seeing her and denied a relationship with her. Artzi-Nir, 48, has said Mattysse sent her classified material through the mail. She showed reporters a photo of the two sitting on a porch, arms linked.

Lawyer Yoram Sheftel, who successfully defended Cleveland autoworker John Demjanjuk against charges he committed crimes against humanity while serving as a World War II concentration camp guard, said he was ready to defend Mattysse and accused police of kowtowing to American interests.

Michael Kleiner, a right-wing legislator, compared Mattysse to Jonathan Pollard, the former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst sentenced to life in prison in the United States for selling secrets to Israel.

``Hundreds of Israeli soldiers are in the United States who fled the army, no one arrested them,'' Kleiner said.

The police could deport Mattysse once his tourist visa runs out, but as a Jew Mattysse would be eligible for automatic citizenship. Interior Ministry officials said Mattysse has asked to immigrate to Israel.

---

Advanced Photonix, Inc. Awarded $550,000 Contract for RAM Missile Program

Excite News
Updated 2:43 PM ET August 23, 2000
http://news.excite.com/news/bw/000823/ca-advanced-photonix

CAMARILLO, Calif. (BUSINESS WIRE) - Advanced Photonix, Inc. (ASE:API) today announced that it has received a $550,000 contract from Raytheon Company for the detector fuse used on the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM).

The Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) Guided Missile Weapon System is the world's most modern ship self-defense weapon, and has been specifically designed to provide exceptional protection for ships of all sizes. RAM is currently installed on, or planned for installation on, 83 U.S. Navy and 28 German Navy ships, and has been ordered by the Korean Navy.

RAM is a supersonic, light-weight, quick-reaction, fire-and-forget missile designed to destroy anti-ship missiles. Its autonomous dual-mode passive RF-to-IR guidance design, requiring no shipboard support after missile launch, uniquely provides high-firepower capability for engaging multiple threats simultaneously.

"This award demonstrates our engineering design and manufacturing capabilities for advanced sensors used in commercial and military aerospace programs," said Brock Koren, President and Chief Executive Officer of Advanced Photonix. "The RAM missile has been extremely reliable and successful and we look forward to follow-on orders and repeated sales for many years to come."

Advanced Photonix, Inc. is a high technology company which designs and manufactures silicon photodetectors, optoelectronic hybrid assemblies and proprietary solid state large area avalanche photodiodes. Information on Advanced Photonix is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.advancedphotonix.com. More information on the RAM system can be found at http://www.raytheon.com/es/esproducts/dssram/dssram.htm.

Contact: Advanced Photonix, Inc. Jeff Barbata, 805/987-0146

---

Astronics gets Air Force $5.6 mln orders for F-16 products

BridgeNews
August 23, 2000
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=b0822015.5rg&level3=788&date=20000823

New York--Aug. 22-- Astronics Corp.'s Aerospace and Electronics segment has received three orders worth $5.6 million for products related to the F-16 Night Vision program from the United States Air Force. The U.S. Air Force is now beginning the implementation of the F-16 Night Vision program on a large scale. In July, Astronics had announced record second quarter results.

--Rajan Varghese, BridgeNews

The following is the text of today's announcement with emphasis added by BridgeNews. Bridgestation links to company data have been inserted at the end:

Astronics Adds Air Force Contracts Valued at $5.6 Million

BUFFALO, N.Y., Aug. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- ASTRONICS CORPORATION (NASDAQ: ATRO) TODAY ANNOUNCED THAT ITS AEROSPACE AND ELECTRONICS SEGMENT HAS ITS F-16 NIGHT VISION PROGRAM WITH THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE.

THE ORDERS ARE TO HELP THE USAF WITH THE PROVISIONING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROGRAM, WHICH IS NOW BEGINNING LARGE SCALE PRODUCTION. The first order is for various spare parts that the USAF anticipates needing to successfully manage the installation process. The second order is for higher level assemblies required by the USAF to maintain spares inventory around the world. The third order is to bring some previously modified aircraft up to the current configuration.

ASTRONICS EXPECTS THESE THREE ORDERS WILL BE SHIPPED OVER THE NEXT 12 MONTHS, SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASING ASTRONICS' ACTIVITY ON THE PROGRAM.

ASTRONICS' F-16 PROGRAM RESULTED FROM THE USAF'S DESIRE TO RETROFIT ITS FLEET OF F-16 FIGHTER AIRCRAFT TO NIGHT VISION COMPATIBILITY. Astronics won a competitive bid to be the program's prime contractor in April of 1998. The USAF has exercised options worth $38.9 million of shipments to date, and has one option remaining worth $12 million. Astronics has begun full-scale production, and has executed shipments worth approximately $7.8 million so far.

PETER J. GUNDERMANN, PRESIDENT, AEROSPACE AND ELECTRONICS, SAID "THESE CONTRACTS REPRESENT AN IMPORTANT STEP IN THE EXECUTION OF OUR STRATEGY FOR THE AEROSPACE AND ELECTRONICS SEGMENT. THE USAF WILL SPEND A LOT OF MONEY MAINTAINING THE F-16 FOR MANY YEARS TO COME, AND WE ARE WELL POSITIONED TO BE A MAJOR PLAYER IN THIS ACTIVITY. BY MAKING THESE AWARDS TO ASTRONICS, THE USAF IS DOCUMENTING THAT THEY ARE PLEASED WITH OUR PERFORMANCE."

The Aerospace and Electronics segment also designs and manufactures special lighting systems for aircraft cockpit, cabin, and exterior environments, as well as EL lamps used to backlight liquid crystal displays, which are used commonly in portable telephones, watches, pagers, and personal digital assistants (PDAs).

ON JULY 25, ASTRONICS ANNOUNCED RECORD SECOND QUARTER RESULTS -- CONTINUING ITS 25 QUARTER STREAK OF RECORD EARNINGS.

For further information, contact C. Anthony Rider, Vice President-Finance, Astronics Corporation: 716-447-9013, ext. 435. Astronics Corporation, 1801 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14207. Visit our web site: http//www.astronics.com.

SOURCE Astronics Corporation

/CONTACT: C. Anthony Rider, Vice President-Finance for AstronicsCorporation, 716-447-9013, ext. 435/

---

CPI Aerostructures Announces the Award of a $1.9 Million Military Contract

NewsEdge Corporation
August 23, 2000
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=p0822073.000&level3=788&date=20000823

EDGEWOOD, N.Y., Aug. 22 /PRNewswire/ via NewsEdge Corporation - CPI Aerostructures, Inc. (Nasdaq: CPIA) announced today that it has been awarded a $1.9 million contract to provide the U.S. Air Force with nose cowls for the E-3, an electronic counter-measure aircraft. This brings the total amount of new contract awards for the current year to approximately $8 million.

"This is a very significant award for a variety of reasons," stated CPI's CEO Arthur August. "It is the largest single military award we have received in the past two years. Secondly, this award comes directly from Tinker Air Force base, which would be in addition to the strong business relationship we have already established with the Defense Supply Center, located in Richmond, Virginia," concluded Mr. August.

The above statements include forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including the timely delivery and acceptance of the Company's products and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports.

Founded in 1980, CPI Aerostructures, Inc. is a precision machining and sub-assembly manufacturer servicing the commercial and military sector of the aircraft industry and the electronics industry including automated printed circuit board equipment and materials handling and processing equipment manufacturers.

SOURCE CPI Aerostructures, Inc.

CONTACT: Mergers & Acquisitions - Edward J. Fred, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, of CPI Aerostructures, Inc., 631-586-5200; Steven Bronson, President, of Catalyst Financial, 212-610-2778, sb@ecatf.com, for CPI Aerostructures, Inc.; Investor Relations - John Aneralla, Consultant, of Buttonwood Advisory Group, 800-940-9087, for CPI Aerostructures, Inc.

Web site: http://www.cpiaero.com http://www.buttonwoodadvisor.com (CPIA)

---

Pacific Aerospace gets $1.1 mln order from Lockheed Martin

BridgeNews
August 23, 2000
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=b0822039.3rg&level3=788&date=20000823

New York--Aug 22--Pacific Aerospace & Electronics Inc, a maker of components and assemblies, received a $1.1 million order from Lockheed Martin to supply X-band radar electronic modules.

--Urania Mylonas, BridgeNews

The following is the text of today's announcement with emphasis added by BridgeNews. Bridge Station links to company data have been inserted at the end.

Pacific Aerospace & Electronics Announces order Build up for Titanium/Composite modules

WENATCHEE, Wash.-- --Aug. 22, 2000--Pacific Aerospace & Electronics, Inc. (Nasdaq:PCTH), an international fully integrated manufacturing company specializing in technically demanding components and assemblies, announced today that it has received a new order from Lockheed Martin to supply X-band radar electronic modules based on the Company's high efficiency thermal transfer interconnect packaging technology.

THE ORDER WAS PLACED WITH THE INTERCONNECT DIVISION OF PACIFIC AEROSPACE & ELECTRONICS' U.S. ELECTRONICS GROUP, AND IS VALUED AT APPROXIMATELY $1.1 MILLION. TO DATE, THE COMPANY HAS RECEIVED ORDERS IN EXCESS OF $3 MILLION FOR ITS NEW TITANIUM/COMPOSITE SERIES ELECTRONIC PACKAGING COMPONENTS.

PA&E's titanium/composite electronic packaging technology presents several advantages over alternate solutions. First and foremost is the highly efficient thermal transfer property associated with the composite/titanium metal structure that allows rapid heat dissipation for today's high-power electronic packaging demands. In addition, the optimum lightweight materials and low coefficient of thermal expansion offer customers significant benefits in satellite and defense applications where the cost-per-pound to launch is a driving factor.

"Smaller packages and more powerful internal electronics have resulted in an environment that requires and unprecedented level of power management," said Werner Hafelfinger, COO of Pacific Aerospace & Electronics. "PA&E has designed a family of thermal management devices to meet the demands of airborne electronic packaging designers and to help enable advanced radar and sensor systems technology."

Pacific Aerospace & Electronics Inc. is an international engineering and manufacturing company specializing in technically demanding component designs and assemblies for global leaders in the aerospace, defense, electronics, medical, telecommunications, energy and transportation industries. The Company utilizes specialized manufacturing techniques, advanced materials science, process engineering and proprietary technologies and processes to its competitive advantage. Pacific Aerospace & Electronics has approximately 1,100 employees worldwide and is organized into three operational groups -- U.S. Aerospace, U.S. Electronics and European Aerospace. More information may be obtained by contacting the company irectly or by visiting its Web site at www.pcth.com.

*CONTACT: Pacific Aerospace & Electronics Tom Barrows, 509/667-9600 Investor Relations or Continental Capital Michael Irving, 407/682-2001 Investor Relations


---

Litton Awarded Joint Battlespace Infosphere Distributed Testbed Contract; a Five-Year ID/IQ Award With an Initial Potential Value of $25 Million

NewsEdge Corporation
August 23, 2000
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=b0822091.701&level3=788&date=20000823

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 22, 2000 via NewsEdge Corporation - Litton Industries (NYSE:LIT) today announced that its PRC Inc. subsidiary has won the contract to develop, implement, operate and manage the Joint Battlespace Infosphere Distributed Testbed (JBI-DT).

The Information Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Rome, N.Y., awarded Litton PRC the five-year, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract.

The JBI-DT contract has an initial potential value to Litton of $25 million.

A pivotal program for the U.S. Air Force, the JBI-DT is designed to improve the performance and reduce the life-cycle costs of command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C2ISR) systems. It represents an innovative and unique capability for integrating information from a wide variety of battlefield sensors, systems and users, and intelligently disseminating this tailored knowledge in a timely manner, and in the right format and level of detail, for users at all echelons.

"This is an important win for Litton," said Barry Rhine, president of Litton PRC. "We welcome the challenge of working with our Air Force customers to improve the performance and reduce the costs of C2ISR systems. We take pride in having a significant presence in almost every research facility in the Department of Defense and in contributing significantly to the missions of those facilities."

Under the new contract, Litton PRC will work closely with the Air Force to establish and administer a geographically distributed testbed with nodes linking robust, secure network communications.

Initially, the JBI-DT will consist of four primary nodes to be stood up at the Warfighter Support Center, Langley AFB, in Virginia; the AFRL Information Directorate, in Rome, N.Y.; the C2 Unified Battlespace Environment (CUBE), Hanscom AFB, in Massachusetts; the C2 Battlelab, Hurlburt Field, in Florida; and the Dynamic Battle Control Center (DBCC), at Nellis AFB, Nevada.

The JBI-DT will provide for rapid prototyping, integration, experimentation and operational assessment for legacy and emerging C2ISR systems. It will also allow for future technology insertion and reduce the risks of integrating future technological advances.

The Litton PRC team for JBI-DT includes Litton TASC, General Dynamics, TRW, Boeing, IBM, Comptek PRB, BTG, Capraro Technologies and Zel Technologies.

Litton PRC is a leading provider of scientific, engineering and information-technology-based solutions for public-sector clients. Litton PRC is one of the divisions that comprise Litton's Information Systems Group (ISG). Litton PRC is among the fewer than 2 percent of all U.S. companies that have achieved a Software Engineering Institute (SEI) software capability maturity model (CMM) Level 5 rating.

Litton ISG, with headquarters in Woodland Hills, Calif., employs more than 9,200 employees in 150 offices nationwide and is ranked as one of the federal government's top 10 contractors. It is a leading information-technology (IT) contractor to the U.S. government and provides specialized IT services to commercial customers and government customers in local/foreign jurisdictions.

Litton is the nation's largest builder of non-nuclear ships for the U.S. Navy and designs, builds and overhauls surface ships for government and commercial customers worldwide. The company is a leading information-technology (IT) contractor to the U.S. government and provides specialized IT services to commercial customers and government customers in local/foreign jurisdictions.

Litton is a leading provider of defense and commercial electronics technology, components and materials for customers worldwide. With headquarters in Woodland Hills, Litton has more than 40,000 employees and $5 billion in annual revenue. For more information, visit Litton's Web site at www.litton.com.

CONTACT: Litton Industries Inc. | Randy Belote, 703/413-1521

---

Northrop Grumman Announces Comptek Research Exchange Ratio

NewsEdge Corporation
August 23, 2000
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=p0822090.104&level3=788&date=20000823

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 22 /PRNewswire/ via NewsEdge Corporation - Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) announced today that the exchange ratio in the pending offer for Comptek Research Inc. (Amex: CTK) common stock is .2799 shares of Northrop Grumman common stock for each share of Comptek Research common stock validly tendered by the expiration of the offer, which is currently set for Aug. 23, 2000, at midnight E.D.T.

The exchange ratio was determined by dividing $20.75 by $74.1438, the average closing price of Northrop Grumman common stock during the 20 trading day period ending Aug. 21, 2000. At the close of business on Aug. 21, 2000, 2,308,439 shares of the 6,223,094 shares of Comptek Research common stock outstanding as of May 31, 2000, had been validly tendered and not withdrawn pursuant to the offer.

Requests for assistance or for copies of the offer materials should be directed to the information agent for the offer, Georgeson Shareholder Communications Inc., at 800-223-2064.

Northrop Grumman Corporation, headquartered in Los Angeles, is a world-class, high technology company providing innovative solutions in systems integration, defense electronics and information technology for its U.S. and international military, government and commercial customers, as a prime contractor, principal subcontractor, team member or preferred supplier. The company had revenues of $7.6 billion in 1999 (restated) and has a workforce of approximately 36,000 employees. Northrop Grumman had 69,910,595 shares outstanding on June 30, 2000.

SOURCE Northrop Grumman Corporation

CONTACT: Jim Taft of Northrop Grumman Corporation, 310-201-3335

Web site: http://www.northrop-grumman.com (NOC CTK)

---

Pemco Aviation Group Announces New Addition to its KC-135 Contract

NewsEdge
August 23, 2000
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=b0822160.404&level3=788&date=20000823

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 22, 2000 via NewsEdge Corporation - Pemco Aviation Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: PAGI), with more than 2,200 employees, has announced that additional orders have been placed by the United States Air Force with its Pemco Aeroplex subsidiary located in Birmingham, Alabama to perform Programmed Depot Maintenance (PDM) on ten KC-135 aircraft beyond the twenty-six KC-135 aircraft currently under contract with the government. The PDM process, which consists of disassembly, inspection, heavy maintenance, stripping and repainting, takes approximately one year to complete. Ray Hauck, President of Pemco Aeroplex, Inc., said, "We are pleased that the United States Air Force has elected to have Pemco service its additional aircraft. The increase to the contract is substantial and indicates the confidence the government has in the high quality of work carried out at Pemco Aeroplex. Pemco has always been a leader in this market due to a skilled work force, production capabilities, efficiencies and timeliness in redelivery." Pemco Aeroplex, Inc. has performed approximately 2,280 PDM's on KC-135 aircraft since 1969.

Pemco Aviation Group, Inc., with executive offices in Birmingham, Alabama, and facilities in Alabama and California performs maintenance and modification of aircraft for the U.S. Government and foreign and domestic commercial customers. The company also provides aircraft parts and support and engineering services and develops and manufactures aircraft cargo systems, rocket vehicles and control systems, and precision springs and components.

CONTACT: Pemco Aviation Group Inc., Birmingham | Doris Sewell, 205/591-3009

---

Bush and Gore on the Soldier's Life

NewsEdge Corporation
August 23, 2000
By CALVIN WOODWARD Associated Press Writer
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=h0822025.100&level3=351&date=20000823

WASHINGTON (AP) via NewsEdge Corporation - Disagreeing over a missile defense shield and nuclear arms, presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore are tangling over sky-high strategic questions in their military policies. But neither has forgotten about the soldier on the ground.

From the earliest months of his candidacy, Republican Bush has proposed a $1 billion a year pay raise over and above the increases that military personnel have been seeing in their checks. And Democrat Gore has weighed in with proposals of his own to improve the soldier's life.

Outlining his ideas Monday to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Milwaukee, Bush accused the Clinton-Gore administration of letting morale and manpower slip and got a standing ovation with his vow: ``I will give our military a clear sense of mission.''

Gore, who unlike Bush is a veteran of a foreign war _ Vietnam _ was addressing the group Tuesday.

The quality of life for military families was popularized as a campaign issue by Arizona Sen. John McCain, a former Vietnam prisoner of war, who, in his failed bid for the GOP presidential nomination, called attention to the fact that thousands of service members get food stamps.

Some military analysts don't necessarily think that is a bad thing, regarding food stamps as just another item on a long list of military benefits.

But it has become a mark of shame, and both Gore and Bush say conditions must be improved so that soldiers no longer need to depend on the coupons.

Gore also says the number of active service members receiving the vouchers has dwindled by two-thirds in a decade, to about 6,000, reminding everyone that food stamps in the military date back well before the Clinton-Gore administration.

In the main, the debate over defense policy has turned on the size and timing of a national missile defense system, with Bush pushing for an ambitious and quick deployment and Gore preferring a limited system that could be negotiated with the Russians _ partners in a treaty that forbids such missile shields. In all, Bush has proposed spending $20 billion more over five years for weapons research and development.

As well, Bush has proposed reducing the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile and suggested he would do so even if the Russians don't follow suit. Gore says unilateral cuts could upset the nuclear balance.

On other issues:

_ Bush would raise military pay by $1 billion a year for five years on top of the $76 billion increase approved by Congress and signed by President Clinton this month. Bush says the typical soldier would earn about $750 more in the first year from his plan. Gore supported the 3.7 percent pay increase enacted this month; his position on further increases is unclear.

_ Gore and Bush generally favor re-enlistment bonuses and higher pay for people with special skills.

_ Gore says more pre-emptive diplomacy would limit the need to send soldiers to new crises abroad. Bush says he would review overseas deployments with the aim of reducing the number of troops on foreign soil.

_ Bush proposes spending $310 million to speed the improvement of schools on or near military bases. He favors unspecified increases in housing allowances or renovations to ensure service members ``no longer have to tolerate substandard housing.''

_ Gore says he would ensure ``all military members and families live in adequate, affordable housing,'' by expanding the Clinton administration's effort to improve services. He would ``put the private sector to work building, owning, and managing housing for the military,'' and spend more on employment services and continuing education for military spouses, child care and steps to improve health care.

---

U.S. Marines in Nigeria to Train Peacekeeping Soldiers

NewsEdge
August 23, 2000
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=v0822109.6xi&level3=21232&date=20000823

LAGOS (Aug. 22) XINHUA via NewsEdge Corporation - About 40 U.S. marine officers have arrived in Nigeria to train Nigerian army soldiers for future peacekeeping operations, Nigerian press reported on Tuesday.

The American officers were helping building a training base in Maiduguri, a city in northeastern part of the country.

The training program was decided upon during the visit of U.S. Under-Secretary of State Thomas Pickering to Nigeria last month.

Under the program, the U.S. was committed to spending 12.5 million U.S. dollars for the training and equipment of five battalions of the Nigerian army.

Under another military partnership agreement, the U.S. is to spend 10 million dollars in training, restructuring and professionalizing the Nigerian army.

The troops after training will be ready to be deployed to carry out regional peacekeeping operations like that in Sierra Leone.

Nigerian government has repeatedly stated the country was willing to send more troops to participate the UN operation in Sierra Leone if the U.S. and its allies were willing to pay for the bills.

---

THE MILITARY DEBATE
Reluctantly, Cohen Joins Spending Dispute

New York Times
August 23, 2000
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/082300cohen-military.html

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 _ Ever since President Clinton appointed William S. Cohen secretary of defense in 1996, Mr. Cohen, the only Republican in the cabinet, has repeatedly claimed to represent the bipartisanship needed to manage matters of national security.

Now he finds himself -- by all accounts reluctantly -- at the center of a highly partisan debate over the state of the American military. And it has left him in a highly unusual position: defending the administration while at least indirectly underscoring some of the Republican criticisms leveled against it.

On Monday, Mr. Cohen, who represented Maine in the Senate, launched what amounted to a pre-emptive strike against criticisms by Gov. George W. Bush that the Clinton administration was responsible for a weakened, overextended military.

Appearing only hours before Mr. Bush at the annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Milwaukee, Mr. Cohen noted not only the budget increases approved by Mr. Clinton, including the biggest pay increases for service members in a generation, but also the fact, rarely mentioned by the Bush campaign, that defense budgets started falling rapidly as the cold war ended.

That was when another Bush was president and the governor's running mate, Dick Cheney, was secretary of defense.

The cuts that followed, Mr. Cohen went on to say, reflected a strong bipartisan demand for a "peace dividend" now that the United States no longer faced the Soviet Union.

"My constituents from Maine were demanding it, as were people around the country," Mr. Cohen said.

Vice President Al Gore, who appeared before the group today, offered his own, more partisan defense of the country's military preparedness.

Thrusting defense issues to center stage in the presidential campaign for a second day, Mr. Gore went so far as to say that Mr. Bush's repeated attacks on the state of the military "for political advantage" threatened to undercut American credibility in the world. [Page A16.]

Mr. Cohen had offered a rebuttal, of a sort, to the criticisms that Mr. Bush has repeated throughout his presidential campaign and accentuated since the Republican convention three weeks ago.

Without mentioning Mr. Bush by name -- or for that matter Mr. Clinton or Mr. Gore -- Mr. Cohen launched a lengthy, detailed defense of the nation's armed services, contending that they remained strong and ready and proved it in last year's war against Yugoslavia.

At the same time, however, Mr. Cohen left open the need for improvement, suggesting that more work, and money, was needed to meet the pressures on an ever busier military engaged in operations from the Persian Gulf to the Balkans -- something Mr. Bush said he intended to rethink, if elected.

"We can always do better," Mr. Cohen told the veterans, "and national security is certainly a subject matter that is open to debate and improvement. Hopefully that will be the case whatever administration comes in next year."

Mr. Gore, in his appearance today, made that point in a more overt, more partisan, more full-throated way.

"That's not only wrong in fact," Mr. Gore said of Mr. Bush's contentions, "it's the wrong message to send to our allies and adversaries across the world."

Mr. Cohen's remarks, by contrast, have been more subtle -- and more conflicted.

While his remarks defending the armed services have sought to counter some of Mr. Bush's criticisms, they have also highlighted shortcomings in spending and readiness that have long been the subject of complaints from Republicans in Congress and even some uniformed leaders.

As a Republican surrounded by Democrats, Mr. Cohen has always been an oddity in Mr. Clinton's cabinet. He caused a minor stir when he told Barbara Walters in April that he and his wife, Janet Langhart Cohen, a Democrat, would "in all probability" vote for different candidates.

Mr. Cohen later said, "I indeed did not surrender my Republican credentials when I agreed to serve in the administration."

Now, he simply declines to say whom he plans to vote for.

Long before he accepted Mr. Clinton's offer to be defense secretary, Mr. Cohen had a reputation as an independent willing to cross party lines to build consensus, particularly when it comes to defense. Aides in the Pentagon said he took seriously the president's willingness to choose a Republican, hoping to renew a bipartisan spirit with his colleagues who control the House and Senate.

Mr. Cohen once said in an interview that he had never sat through a purely political meeting with Mr. Clinton and his advisers; the discussions had always been on the substance of the issues. The political discussions, presumably, began after he left the room.

Mr. Cohen's success as a bridge to the Republicans has been mixed.

Working with the Joint Chiefs of Staff two years ago, he persuaded the administration to agree to a $112 billion increase in defense spending over six years. He has also been the leading administration advocate for building a limited national missile defense.

On the other hand, Mr. Cohen has failed to win over Republicans in many areas, like closing more military bases, and Republican criticisms of Mr. Clinton's defense policies have only intensified in Mr. Cohen's years as secretary.

In May, Mr. Cohen invited Mr. Bush to the Pentagon for a briefing on the state of the nation's strategic nuclear arsenal after Mr. Bush pledged to reduce the number of American nuclear warheads.

The invitation was curtly rebuffed.

However proud Mr. Cohen is of his accomplishments at the Pentagon, he is clearly reluctant to weigh in to

the political debate over them now that the campaign is in full swing.

He winced when asked at a news conference at the Pentagon on Friday to respond to Mr. Bush's criticism that morale in the ranks was low. When reporters cornered him on Monday to ask about Mr. Bush's remarks, he began by saying, "Well, I want to keep my comments strictly on the facts and the record and to stay out of the politics as much as possible."

A White House official insisted that no one had asked Mr. Cohen to respond to Mr. Bush's criticisms, although Mr. Cohen's remarks clearly indicated that he had the criticisms in mind.

As for the Gore campaign, "when we think of somebody who can speak for the vice president or the Democratic Party on military issues, Bill Cohen is not the first name that pops in our head," a Gore aide said today.

In fact, when Mr. Gore's campaign aides sought a defense expert to brief reporters on the issues the vice president raised today, they had to reach back to Mr. Cohen's predecessor as defense secretary, William J.

Perry.

Mr. Cohen was added to the list of Monday's convention speakers relatively late, defense officials said today, and only because his wife was receiving an award from the veterans.

"I am not here as a Republican," Mr. Cohen himself said on Monday. "I am not here on behalf of the Democratic administration."

Mr. Cohen's posture reflects the fine line walked by men and women in uniform, who are prohibited by law and by policy from participating in overtly political events and thus carefully couch any discussion of political points as strictly factual.

Still, Mr. Cohen's defense of the armed forces -- including noting the increase in weapons procurement and highlighting pay raises that officials said have led to rising reenlistment rates -- are seen by some as an effective counter to the Republican critiques.

"They can't assail Cohen," one person in Mr. Gore's campaign said. "He's a great surrogate for us. No one can accuse him of politicizing the debate."

But that argument has a double edge.

When Mr. Cohen says that more can be done -- and spent -- his words support arguments made by Mr. Bush's supporters.

The same thing happened when the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Henry H. Shelton, rebutted Mr. Bush's assertion in his speech in Philadelphia accepting the Republican presidential nomination that 2 of the Army's 10 divisions were not ready to fight a major war.

General Shelton said that was not true, then pointed out that President Clinton's approval of a $112 billion budget increase fell far short of the $148 billion the chiefs had said they needed.

---

Cheney crafted military budget cuts

USA Today
08/23/00- Updated 06:56 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/e98/e2470.htm

WASHINGTON (AP) - The shrinking of America's military, now decried by George W. Bush as one of the Clinton administration's biggest sins, was pushed by his running mate Dick Cheney as defense secretary for Bush's father a decade ago.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall - and with a Congress hungry for a ''peace dividend'' - Cheney in 1990 proposed a gradual 25% reduction in the military. He called for withdrawing tens of thousands of troops from Europe, canceling weapons programs and removing 442,000 men and women from the military over five years.

When Bush criticized the Clinton-Gore administration this week for creating ''a military in decline,'' Vice President Al Gore pointed a finger at the cuts initiated by the Bush White House. ''I'm proud we finally reversed the defense cuts begun in the previous administration,'' Gore said, asserting that the military is ''the strongest and the best in the world.''

Dan Bartlett, a spokesman for Bush, said Gore is ''grasping at straws'' trying to explain inadequacies of the military.

''Dick Cheney oversaw the first steps of transforming our military in the post-Cold War era, which was necessary, but this administration has gone too far in proposing budgets that have left our military unprepared,'' said Bartlett.

Military experts agree that the Bush administration made big cutbacks - continuing a trend that began under President Reagan.

For Cheney, who said he voted for every defense program that came to Congress when he was in the House during the 1980s, spearheading cuts was a switch, but one that he said at the time had to be done.

''We're in a position where as secretary of defense I've got a 10-pound defense program and a six-pound defense budget. Somehow we've got to squeeze one down so it fits,'' he said in 1991.

Expert differ on what impact the cuts have had on today's military.

Defenders of Bush and Cheney say the cuts were sensible and necessary for the times and can't be blamed for what they say is the sorry state of today's military - stretched thin and demoralized because President Clinton kept the Pentagon's budget flat even as he involved U.S. forces in regional conflicts.

''The Bush administration was in a good position to make very useful, solid defense cuts,'' said Tony Cordesman at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Clinton ''has shown no leadership on defense,'' he said, though Gore and his running mate, Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, ''have a far better record on defense than Clinton.''

Clinton didn't increase defense spending until five years after he took office. The government now spends $290 billion on defense. The military budget in 1990 was $293 billion.

This week the Clinton administration said it planned to boost military spending to shore up troop readiness.

Former Clinton Defense Secretary William Perry, speaking on behalf of the Gore campaign, said that blaming Clinton for cutting the military leaves out a big piece of the story.

''In fact two-thirds of the reductions in the military have been made by'' the previous administration. ''I think people might be suffering from a case of amnesia.''

While they may disagree on which administration's cuts hurt the military most, both Bush and Gore want to spend more on defense. Gore has proposed a 10-year, $127 billion defense package that includes the 3.7% military pay increase enacted this year, investments to modernize equipment and more funding for veterans hospitals.

Bush has proposed pumping $1 billion a year more into military pay over the next five years and spending $310 million to fix schools on military bases.

---

U.S. military still dominant, effective force

USA Today
08/23/00- Updated 07:01 PM ET
By Dave Moniz, USA TODAY
http://usatoday.com/news/e98/e2459.htm

WASHINGTON - Over the past two days, presidential nominees George W. Bush and Al Gore have engaged in fierce combat over the state of the U.S. military. On Monday, Republican nominee Bush warned at a convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Milwaukee that the military is crumbling and that its strength has atrophied in the eight years since his father was president. Democratic nominee Gore responded to the same group Tuesday that the American military is still a powerful machine that can punish bad guys wherever and whenever it wants. Who's right?

Bush can certainly make the claim that America's armed forces are not as mighty as they were before the Cold War ended on President Bush's watch in 1989, defense analysts agree. However, that doesn't mean the military under Bill Clinton has sunk to its post-Vietnam War low of the 1970s, when critics labeled it a ''hollow'' force, some experts say.

As for Gore's contention that the United States still has the best fighting force on earth, few analysts would disagree. Still, they are divided on whether the military is as good as it could or should be.

''In broad terms, Bush's effort to portray the military as hollow is basically wrong,'' said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior research fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.

O'Hanlon, a centrist on military issues, acknowledged that the Pentagon's capability has fallen during the Clinton presidency from its high point during the Gulf War. Other analysts also note that the military suffers from acute morale problems, parts shortages and staffing woes.

Even so, the force is as good as the one fielded during the mid-1980s, when Ronald Reagan was rebuilding the military, O'Hanlon said.

Lawrence Korb, who served as assistant secretary of defense for readiness during the Reagan administration, agreed with O'Hanlon's assessment.

''Who is out there that is more ready than we are? What military in the world are we not ready to take on?'' Korb asked. ''I think it's dangerous to convey to the rest of the world who looks to us to provide leadership that we have more problems than we are letting on.''

In his speech Monday, Bush referred to a ''crisis'' in readiness. It's true that the military branches have suffered from serious recruiting shortfalls and a difficulty retaining midcareer enlisted personnel and officers over the past three years. The causes are many, experts say, from a booming peacetime economy in which civilian jobs go begging to a declining interest in military careers.

Those problems, however, have not prevented the United States from fielding a dominant and effective force. The Pentagon didn't lose a single pilot during last year's air war over Kosovo, and it's an article of faith among senior military officials that no enemy today is willing to confront the United States in a conventional war. Rather, the big worries within the halls of the Pentagon are: Who is today's enemy, and how should the armed forces be deployed around the world? The United States is still groping for a clear post-Cold War mission.

Many commanders say privately that the military would have great difficulty fighting two major wars at once, such as in the Persian Gulf and Korean Peninsula, as called for in national plans. The problems include the defection of midcareer pilots for civilian jobs, a shortage of high-tech personnel, and unhappiness caused by the demands of long-term tours of duty abroad.

Some Air Force personnel, for example, have gone five or six times to the Persian Gulf to enforce a no-fly zone against Iraq. Last year, some Navy retention rates were the worst in two decades.

Republicans in Congress charge that these problems stem in part from sharp budget cuts under Clinton, but it was President Bush who started the Pentagon on a downward spending path after a sharp buildup during the 1991 Gulf War.

Though the Pentagon has downsized active-duty troops by a third in the past decade, Washington still spends 50% more on defense than all NATO allies combined: nearly $300 billion vs. $200 billion.

Andrew Bacevich, a national security expert at Boston University, said military readiness has unquestionably ''suffered during eight years of Clinton-Gore.''

However, Bacevich said, Bush hasn't identified the full problem: how to restructure the military to deal with a new world.

''One wishes that he would say the problem is not simply a budgetary one,'' he said. ''The problem is a structural one. The Republicans can properly fault the Clinton administration for giving so little attention to the restructuring of the post-Cold War force.''

Some critics say that neither political party has figured out how to field a military in a world where the United States has no equal but must meet a range of global commitments, from peacekeeping to combating terrorism.

On Tuesday, Gore attempted to counter Bush's attacks by noting that he, not the Texas governor, is the first Vietnam veteran to run for president. ''I have never stopped fighting for an unshakable commitment to our veterans,'' he said. ''It's that year-after-year commitment to a strong American defense that makes me so concerned when others try to run down America's military for political advantage in an election year.''

His campaign also enlisted the help of former Defense Secretary William Perry, who served under Clinton. Perry described today's military as the strongest in the world and ''at a high level of readiness.''

Perry also challenged Bush's assertion that under Clinton, the U.S. military has been spread thin by too many overseas missions. The former secretary said that about 1% of all U.S. troops are deployed overseas long-term - about the same percentage as during the last year of Bush's father's presidency.

---

THE VICE PRESIDENT
Gore Tells Fellow Veterans He Is Dedicated to Military

New York Times
August 23, 2000
By KEVIN SACK
http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/082300wh-gore.html

MILWAUKEE, Aug. 22 -- Vice President Al Gore stood before fellow Veterans of Foreign Wars today and rebutted Republican charges that the readiness and morale of the armed forces had declined during the Clinton administration.

Mr. Gore, who served as an Army journalist in Vietnam for five months in 1971, told delegates to the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention here of his own enlistment, his work on the House Intelligence Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee, his vote for the Persian Gulf war and his support in the White House for increased defense spending.

"It's that year-after-year commitment to a strong American defense," Mr. Gore said, "that makes me so concerned when others try to run down America's military for political advantage in an election year. That's not only wrong in fact, it's the wrong message to send to our allies and adversaries across the world."

Mr. Gore, the Democratic presidential nominee, was referring to his Republican opponent, Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, who preceded him here on Monday. Mr. Bush, who served in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War, said in his address to the veterans that "the current administration had inherited a military ready for the dangers and challenges facing our nation" but that "the next president will inherit a military in decline."

He said the armed forces had suffered from poor pay, shortages of spare parts and deteriorating readiness in the days after his father was president and his running mate, Dick Cheney, was defense secretary.

Ari Fleischer, a spokesman for Mr. Bush, said today that Mr. Gore was refusing to take responsibility for the military's condition during the Clinton presidency.

"If the military's morale had gone down under my watch," he said, "I, too, wouldn't want my opponent to point it out."

But Mr. Gore, who wore his own V.F.W. hat, defended the administration's record, saying that all 10 Army divisions were combat ready and that "our military is the strongest and the best in the entire world."

As in his speech to the Democratic National Convention last week, and in a television commercial released by the campaign today, Mr. Gore promoted his decision to enlist in the Army in 1969. In his remarks, he did not mention, as he does in the advertisement, that he enlisted despite having doubts about the war.

Both Mr. Gore and his late father, Senator Albert Gore Sr., opposed the Vietnam War but the younger Mr. Gore enlisted, he has often said, because he knew that someone else from Tennessee would have to go in his place. Another factor he has mentioned was the potential damage to his father's 1970 re-election campaign if he had tried to avoid service.

"I don't pretend that my own military experience matches in any way what others here have been through," Mr. Gore said today. "I didn't do the most, or run the gravest danger. But I was proud to wear my country's uniform. And my own experiences gave me strong beliefs about America's obligation to keep our national defenses strong."

The vice president said he would push for a raise for military personnel and for improvements in military housing. He also pledged that "in a Gore administration, I will make sure that no members of our armed forces ever have to rely on food stamps." About 6,000 servicemen and women are eligible for food stamps.

"Our armed forces should be commemorated on stamps," he said. "They shouldn't have to use them to buy groceries."

Mr. Gore's press secretary, Chris Lehane, said the vice president had called for a 10-year, $127 billion increase in spending on military salaries, training and modernization and that those numbers may rise when Mr. Gore adjusts his budget proposals to reflect a growing surplus. Mr. Gore would maintain for 10 years the 3.7 percent annual increase in military pay that Congress passed and President Clinton signed this year, Mr. Lehane said.

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, Mr. Gore's running mate, was one of eight senators to vote against a 4.8 percent military pay increase in 1999. He has said he did so because it was part of a Republican Pentagon spending package that he considered too costly. Later that year, he supported a less expensive bill that included a pay increase of the same size.

Mr. Bush has said he would add $1 billion for an annual salary increase on top of the increases authorized in recent years. On Monday, he also proposed spending $310 million for construction and repair of public schools that serve the children of military personnel.

Mr. Gore said Mr. Bush's proposed $1.3 trillion cut in income tax rates would be so deep that it would make it impossible to invest in the military.

"I think it's wrong to spend our budget surpluses on short-term gain," he said, "when we need to make sure the resources are there to keep our military strong far into the future."

---

Gore defends military

Washington Times
August 23, 2000
By Andrew Cain THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/national/default-2000823223454.htm

MILWAUKEE - The state of America's armed forces took center stage in the presidential campaign yesterday as Vice President Al Gore denounced George W. Bush's assertion that the next president "will inherit a military in decline." "That's not only wrong in fact, it's the wrong message to send our allies and adversaries across the world," Mr. Gore told 15,000 delegates of the Veterans of Foreign Wars - the same group addressed the day before by the Texas governor.

Mr. Bush told the 1.9-million-member veterans group Monday that President Clinton and his vice president have presided over a two-term slide in Pentagon morale and resources. "America's soldiers must have confidence that if asked to serve and sacrifice, the cause will be worthy and our support for them total. . . . As president, I will rebuild the military power of the United States," he said.

Mr. Gore yesterday defended the Clinton-Gore administration's military record. "I love this country, and I will make sure our military continues to be the best-trained, best-equipped, best-led fighting force in the world," he said. As Mr. Gore delivered his speech, senior defense officials said the Clinton administration is preparing to seek increases in U.S. military spending totaling $16 billion or more over six years beginning in fiscal 2002. The officials said the preliminary numbers show the budget increase as high as $26 billion.

Echoing the words the day before from Mr. Bush, Mr. Gore said: "We have to make sure our military personnel have the 21st-century training they require to remain the finest in the world. I will insist that we follow this simple rule: We must never send our service men and women to do what they are not equipped to do. And we must always equip them to do what we ask them to do." And Mr. Gore promised, without specifics, to deploy new weapons systems. "Today, we are on the threshold of manufacturing and deploying the next generation of military weapons - weapons that are critical to meeting new needs on new fields of battle. The next president must ensure that the new generation of weapons moves from the drawing board into the arsenals of our democracy," he said. In April, Mr. Gore accused Mr. Bush of "pursuing a global 'Star Wars' missile defense system that could provoke a new arms race with Russia and cost the American taxpayer untold billions."

Mr. Bush supports deployment of a missile-defense shield to protect America from attack by rogue countries. Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett said Mr. Gore's "very reactionary and defensive speech" indicates that "Governor Bush was accurate in his assessment that the Clinton-Gore administration has left our military underprepared and overdeployed." "Al Gore says he's committed to helping veterans, but this administration has continually offered budgets that made huge cuts in veterans programs," he said. In another tack on the same subject, Mr. Gore made a move yesterday to showcase the different military backgrounds of the two candidates.

The vice president served in Vietnam for four months as an Army journalist, while Mr. Bush served as a jet pilot in the Texas Air National Guard. Mr. Gore's campaign began to air a biographical ad titled "1969" that emphasizes the vice president's military service. The ad, showing in 18 battleground states, features photos of Mr. Gore in his Army uniform. A narrator says: "1969, America in turmoil. Al Gore graduates college. His father, a U.S. senator, opposes the Vietnam War. Al Gore has his doubts, but enlists in the Army." The ad details Mr. Gore's stint as a reporter at the Nashville Tennessean, his 30-year marriage to his wife, Tipper, and highlights of his service in Congress and as vice president. The ad says that Mr. Gore "broke with his own party" to support the Persian Gulf war and he "fought to reform welfare with work requirements and time limits." Mr. Gore did not try to overhype his military service in his speech to the VFW. "I don't pretend that my own military experience matches in any way what others here have been through," Mr. Gore said. "When I enlisted, I became an Army reporter in Vietnam. I didn't do the most, or run the gravest danger. But I was proud to wear my country's uniform." He used the same line in his nomination acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles earlier this month.

Mr. Gore also noted that he had served on the Senate Armed Services Committee. He said he would fight for better military housing and another raise in military pay. The VFW gave Mr. Gore a standing ovation, as it had for Mr. Bush. The Gore campaign hopes the vice president's military service, though limited, will matter to the VFW's members, many of whom remain angry with Mr. Clinton for avoiding service in Vietnam. A bumper sticker on sale at the VFW convention says: "My friend took Bill Clinton's place in Vietnam. His name is on The Wall." "You're comparing a guy who went to one who dodged. It's extremely important," said a retired Air Force sergeant from Texas who declined to give his name. During his speech before the VFW group,

Mr. Bush laid out a plan heavy on numbers and specifics. He said he would:

• Order the "orderly and timely" withdrawal of troops from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, saying the administration has committed the nation to military confrontations that lack a direct national interest.

• Increase military pay raises by $1 billion - or about $750 per active-duty service member -over the $75.8 billion increase Mr. Clinton signed into law this month.

• Review overseas deployments and seek political solutions that allow an orderly and timely withdrawal from hot spots like Kosovo and Bosnia.

"Overall commitments around the world have tripled while our forces have been reduced by nearly 40 percent," Mr. Bush said. Since Mr. Clinton took office in 1992, "full readiness" among Air Force combat units has declined from 85 percent to 65 percent, he said.

-------- OTHER

-------- alternative energy

Fuel Cell Powers Cell Phone for Eight Hours

August 23, 2000 (ENS)
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/aug2000/2000L-08-23-03.html

TORONTO, Ontario, Canada, A Canadian company has tested an aluminum-air fuel cell that provides eight hours of talk time for a cellular telephone.

Aluminum-Power Inc. says the "unprecedented" power output was achieved in recent commercial tests, and the unit also provided 5.5 days in standby mode.

"This is revolutionary," says vice president Rafael Ferry. "It pushes the boundaries of portable power, giving users far greater freedom with extended operating times with their portable electronic devices."

The Aluminum-Power Inc. technology can be adapted to a wide variety of applications including electric vehicles, emergency power sources and portable electronic devices.

Aluminum-Power Inc. of Toronto, a member of the Eontech Group Inc., developed the fuel cell over the past five years. The company is in discussion with several battery and cell phone manufacturers to commercialize the aluminum-air fuel cell.

The device is a self contained power source composed of an aluminum anode set in an alkaline solution and an oxygen diffusion cathode. The aluminum fuel cell can be recharged to its original capacity by replacing its rechargeable cartridge.

Rechargable Aluminum-Power cartridge is shown beside a Canadian quarter. (Photo courtesy Aluminum-Power Inc.)

Full power is available instantaneously. The battery consists of a sealed quick change cartridge containing the aluminum and electrolyte. To refuel, users simply remove the spent cartridge and put in a new one, providing for continuous use.

The key to the extended operating power is the energy density of aluminum, which is 75 times more energy dense than conventional lithium ion cells. This density allows the aluminum-air battery to deliver far greater energy over much longer periods of time and at considerably reduced cost.

"The high energy to weight ratio makes the aluminum-air fuel cell an ideal power source," says Ferry. "A recent University of Toronto study found that not only does the Aluminum-Power battery represent a tremendous advance in battery technology, but overall the battery chemistry is very benign for the environment."

The university study, by professors D.W. Kirk and S.J. Thorpe of the departments of chemical engineering and applied chemistry, and metallurgy and material science, was released in July. The researchers found that aluminum-air fuel cells are the most efficient of the metal-air fuel cells, offering superior performance.

"Battery systems such as nickel metal hydride and lithium ion "represent a tremendous advance in battery technology, but their power pales in comparison with the energy available from an aluminum-air cell," the professors said.

The high energy output results from the characteristic energy density of aluminum and the fact that three electrons are released for every atom of aluminum reacted.

"Magnesium, zinc and iron only release two electrons per atom reacted and hence require more material to produce the same amount of energy. Combining these factors, aluminum appears to be the best choice for metal-air electrode," the Kirk and Thorpe said.

They noted that, "Public awareness of hazardous metals in battery systems has had an impact on battery sales" and "overall, new environmentally friendly batteries have a substantial market advantage especially if they have good power and energy density."

The researchers concluded that the reaction products in the novel metal-air batteries "should be considered harmless to the environment."

---

NEW YORK OPENS ALTERNATIVE FUEL STATIONS

August 23, 2000 (ENS)
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/aug2000/2000L-08-23-09.html

ALBANY, New York, Two new alternative fuel stations are opening in the Albany region, New York Governor George Pataki announced Tuesday. The stations mark the first step in an effort to almost double the number of clean fuel stations across New York State. The new compressed natural gas (CNG) stations will help support New York's growing fleet of alternative fueled vehicles (AFVs), including more than 100 state agency vehicles in the capital region. "New advances in clean fuel technology have made the widespread use of alternative fueled vehicles an attainable goal, and in New York State, we have made it a leading priority as well," Pataki said. "We are committed to greatly increasing the number of AFVs in the state fleet, which will reduce harmful emissions and provide significant environmental benefits."

The "fast fill" FuelMaker CNG stations are capable of pumping 100 gallons/day, with the potential for increasing capacity as needed. They are the first of 30 FuelMaker stations to be built across the state this year, with construction expected to be completed by October. In his 2000 State of the State Address, Pataki said, "the pursuit of clean air remains one of our greatest challenges," and he emphasized the role clean fueled vehicles would have in meeting this challenge. In 1995, New York operated just a few clean fueled vehicles, but now state agencies have more than 760 AFVs on the road, with another 260 model year 2000 AFVs on order. The Governor has set a goal that, "by the end of this decade, [all] non-emergency vehicles purchased by state agencies - roughly 1,500 each year - will be clean fueled vehicles."

-------- environment

E.P.A. Finds Little Risk to Gardeners From Asbestos

New York Times
August 23, 2000
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/082300epa-asbestos.html
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-08/23/067l-082300-idx.html

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 -- Small amounts of asbestos in some gardening products like potting soil pose little risk to consumers but may be hazardous to people who regularly work with its raw material, vermiculite, the Environmental Protection Agency said today.

An agency study of 38 vermiculite products from around the country found 5 that could expose people to asbestos and 17 others with trace amounts of asbestos. All five products with higher asbestos levels were straight vermiculite, which is often mixed with soil by consumers for lawn and garden uses.

"These levels were very low and do not pose significant health risks," said Susan Wayland, an administrator with the agency's office of prevention, pesticides and toxic substances.

But the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Mine Safety and Health Administration said they were investigating the level of asbestos exposure for people who regularly work with vermiculite.

Vermiculite, produced from an ore mined worldwide, can be found in products like insulation, brake pads, cement and fireproof safes. Gardeners have used vermiculite for decades because of its ability to hold water, fertilizer and pesticides.

Asbestos is a natural contaminant of the ore and poses a health risk when it becomes airborne and is inhaled. Asbestos exposure has been linked to cancer and other diseases.

The environmental agency recommended that consumers use premixed potting soils, which produce less dust. People mixing their own vermiculite with soil should work outdoors or in a well-ventilated area and keep the vermiculite damp to avoid dust.

The agency also said consumers could mix other materials with soil, like peat, sawdust, perlite or bark.

The Vermiculite Association, an international group, agreed with most of the E.P.A's conclusions and was planning its own scientific study, said a spokesman, Michael J. Allen.

Mr. Allen said that the group had similar recommendations to avoid dust, but that the environmental agency was premature in suggesting that consumers use alternatives to vermiculite.

---

Don't trust land trusts

Washington Times
August 23, 2000
Jeff Goodson
http://208.246.212.80/op-ed/ed-column-2000823165758.htm

There are few things more unseemly than abuse of the federal death tax by rich environmentalists to cheat people out of their land.

Until the 20th century, death taxes were only passed as a short-lived tool to finance major military engagements. According to Bruce Bartlett of the National Center for Policy Analysis, the first death tax was passed in 1797 to finance naval rearmament and ended four years later. The second, passed in 1862 to finance the Civil War, was repealed in 1870. The third, levied in 1898 to pay for the Spanish-American War, ended in 1902.

In 1916, a fourth death tax was passed to finance World War I. That tax survives today, vivid testimony to the immutable 20th century law that taxes are forever. Taking up to 55 percent of your money, the death tax has helped destroy the legacy of five generations of hard-working Americans. But it has finally turned into an albatross for fans of big government. Despite a full court press to defend it by the liberal media, 65 House and nine Senate Democrats recently voted for death tax repeal.

Among the unhappy campers created by resurgence of this issue are the 1,200 U.S. land trusts that sprang up after the discovery of just how virulent the death tax could be as a land-use control tool. When it became clear in the late 1970s that environmentalists wanted a lot more land than they could pay for in fee simple, two property-control strategies evolved that have since proven highly effective. The first was use of environmental regulations (especially wetland and endangered species regulations) to keep people from using their land. This had the happy ancillary effect of devaluing property that the environmentalists wanted to buy outright.

The second strategy was use of the tax code to extort the right of property use from reluctant farmers and ranchers. The death tax proved perfect for this purpose, and the rest is history. About 80 percent of all private property acquired by the land trusts to date, some 2.3 million acres, was obtained from private landowners in the past 10 years.

Check out the literature of almost any land trust in America, and you'll find that their primary sales pitch revolves around "saving the legacy" of landowners from a tax that would otherwise force their heirs to sell the family farm. The pitch is simple: "We can protect your legacy. Just sell us a land-use easement, and reduce property value to below the estate tax threshold. Not only can your heirs keep the family farm, but they can keep on farming it forever."

What the trusts don't advertise is that your heirs can't do anything else with the land forever, except farm it and pay taxes on it. So on your deathbed you're faced with the choice of either giving 55 percent of your life's legacy to IRS, or giving up your children's land use rights to the environmentalists.

The mouthpiece for the land trusts is an umbrella organization called the Land Trust Alliance (LTA). In testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee last year, LTA recognized the ability to reduce estate tax liability as "an important element in land trusts' solicitation of easement donations." It also testified that "the federal government has been a partner in (this) effort, through the tax code and in many other ways." Indeed. And it is this collusion between government and the land trusts that has robbed many thousands of Americans of a priceless heritage - the right of use of the family property.

Although horrified by the prospect of repeal, environmentalists have been uncharacteristically quiet during the death-tax debate. Maybe their focus groups tell them that to publicly oppose repeal of a tax so damaging to rural families would be unseemly for some of the richest tax-free organizations in America. The biggest three land trusts have collective assets of more than $2 billion dollars, and income at the largest - The Nature Conservancy - was over $490 million in 1998 alone.

Jeff Goodson is president of JW Goodson Associates Inc., a Texas property consulting company specializing in property threat assessment and response.

-------- imf / world bank

W.T.O. Allows Canada Record Sanctions Against Brazil

New York Times
August 23, 2000
By JENNIFER L. RICH
http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/082300wto-canada-brazil.html

SĂO PAULO, Brazil, Aug. 22 -- The World Trade Organization will allow the Canadian government to impose more than $1 billion in trade sanctions over the next five years on Brazilian goods to compensate for Brazil's illegal aircraft industry subsidies, Brazilian officials said today.

The size of the sanctions, to be officially announced Monday, are the largest trade retaliation award in the W.T.O.'s five-year history.

The Brazilian and Canadian governments have both said that they remain committed to reaching a negotiated settlement in the dispute. Canadian and Brazilian officials are scheduled to meet here Aug. 29 and 30. Three previous efforts to reach a deal failed.

Canada had asked for $3.3 billion in trade sanctions over the next seven years to retaliate against export subsidies given to the Brazilian regional jet manufacturer Embraer, the country's largest exporter.

Embraer's Canadian rival, Bombardier, has argued for years that Brazil's Proex export program, designed to compensate for high interest rates here, amounted to a $2.5 million subsidy per airplane.

In response to the complaint, and a counterclaim brought by Brazil against Canadian subsidies for Bombardier, the W.T.O. ruled last year that both countries had violated international trade rules and required each to abandon its subsidy program. In a progress review earlier this year, the W.T.O. found that Canada had complied with the earlier ruling, while Brazil had not.

Brazil has said that it will dismantle the Proex program for all new airplane orders, but will honor the subsidies on the $20 billion worth of aircraft already on order.

The size of the sanctions the W.T.O. will allow Canada to impose was first reported in the Brazilian newspaper Folha de Săo Paulo, which placed the precise value at $1.3 billion, or $260 million a year until 2005.

Brazil's foreign relations minister, Luiz Felipe Lampreia, said today that the figure was "approximately" correct.

The W.T.O., which makes the rules for global commerce and resolves disputes between member nations, has allowed retaliatory trade sanctions on only a few other occasions. The largest award until now was granted to Ecuador, which was allowed to impose $201.6 million in tariffs on European Union goods after the E.U. failed to overhaul its banana-import system.

---

Havel Urges Multinationals to Heed the `Voices of the People'

New York Times
August 23, 2000
By STEVEN ERLANGER
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/global/082300imf-czech.html

PRAGUE, Aug. 22 -- President Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic, the host of the annual meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund here next month, said today that international development organizations "should listen more to the voices of the people" for whom they fashion programs, showing more respect for local cultural traditions.

Issues of poverty and housing "must be solved taking into account the human dimension, and not just the interests of investors," Mr. Havel said in an interview with a small group of reporters.

The United Nations, too, he said, "should do everything to make people see it as their own organization, representing everyone, not as some sort of club of governments and diplomats."

Mr. Havel will travel to the United States to attend the millennial summit meeting of the United Nations early next month.

As an institution, he said, "it should have more power and a smaller bureaucracy." Then he laughed.

"Anyone with experience of power knows one of Parkinson's famous laws," he added, "and when two people on my staff say they need a third, soon there's a fourth and a fifth."

The fund and bank meetings here, from Sept. 19 to Sept. 28, have become a target for groups opposed to globalization and multinational capital. Mr. Havel said he welcomes the debate, but hopes it can be a philosophical and substantive one, without violence in the streets.

Globalization by itself is "morally neutral," Mr. Havel said.

"It can be good or bad, depending on the kind of content we give to it." He cited the spread of information about human rights as a good use of globalization. As a negative, he cited "the spread of silly sitcoms or even more stupid commercials," which give a false picture of human life.

"These commercials say a lot," he said. "A handsome man with a great tan and strong muscles is running on a beautiful beach with blue sky in the background. A beautiful girl is running toward him and they are happy because they just ate some vitamin or drank some beverage. The stupidity of this world, which is offered to us as human happiness, should be analyzed."

Casually dressed in tan jeans and an open shirt, Mr. Havel, 63, looked fit after a vacation in Portugal, where he bought a summer residence to spend time after he leaves office in 2003. An hour before the interview, sirens went off throughout Prague in memory of the 72 people who died when the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia 32 years ago on Monday.

Mr. Havel urged the news media to pay more attention to the substance of the debate than to security aspects , and he urged his countrymen to have a more worldly vision.

"It is a great privilege for this country to have the meeting here," he said.

People "often forget what it looked like here before the fall of Communism," he said. "How gray life was, how gray streets were, how the sign for a fruit shop was the same all over the country." But now, "every little shop has a different facade, and we are renewing a lot of local tradition." That, he said, was also a kind of answer to globalization and to "this unifying pressure of the dictatorship of consumption and commercials and those supermarkets that are destroying the city suburbs."

Today, Mr. Havel addressed a local controversy that has had international attention. Last month, Pavel Dostal, the Czech culture minister, wrote an article that appeared to ridicule the concerns of Orthodox Jews over a 13th-century Jewish cemetery discovered in downtown Prague during excavations to rebuild an insurance company.

The government worked out a plan with local Jewish leaders to encase the remnants of the cemetery in concrete, while allowing the company to build both below and above it. But the plan has been criticized.

"I do not know why the Prague Jews imagine dance or theater must be specifically excluded above the skeletal remains that their ancestors sold," Mr. Dostal's article said. "But even if so, it is strange that it did not bother the Prague Jewish community for 522 years that such things happened above the destroyed cemetery -- not until now. It's like the doctor showing up after the funeral, after the funeral more than half a millennium ago."

Today, Mr. Havel said: "Of course I cannot bear responsibility for all the clever or pseudo-clever comments of any of the individual ministers. The important thing for me is that this government has the will to seek a solution."

-------- police

Zimbabwe Police Destroy Squatters' Homes

New York Times
August 23, 2000
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/world/zimbabwe-squatters.html

HARARE, Zimbabwe, Aug. 22 -- Veterans of Zimbabwe's liberation war suffered rare setbacks today in their drive to redistribute white-owned farmland, as the police burned squatters' homes and black farm workers fended off an invasion attempt.

The police around Harare began a series of operations late Monday and today to burn down homes built by people occupying farmland near the city. Previously, they had been accused of standing by or supporting the illegal occupations of hundreds of white-owned farms by the veterans, whose land invasions have the open encouragement of President Robert Mugabe.

About 1,600 farms have been invaded by veterans since February, in an attempt to speed up a government program to resettle landless blacks on white-owned land.

Meanwhile, northwest of the city, black farm workers banded together Monday to turn back an attempt to occupy more farmland in the area. It was one of the first times black farm workers had done this.

---

Police begin tearing down squatters' shelters

USA Today
08/22/00- Updated 10:20 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/nwstue02.htm

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Under pressure to restore law and order, Zimbabwe police Tuesday tore down shelters built by militants squatting on some white-owned farms.

Since February, militants have staked claims to land on more than 1,600 white-owned farms in occupations defended by President Robert Mugabe as justifiable against unfair ownership by whites.

Police had ignored several court orders to evict the squatters, but Tuesday for the first time, they destroyed scores of the shelters and ordered more than 700 occupiers to evacuate farms on the western and southern outskirts of the capital, Harare.

It was unclear how long the police action would continue or whether it would be extended countrywide against the farm occupations criticized as destroying the economy.

But Home Affairs Minister John Nkomo, who ordered the police action Monday, told the official Zimbabwe news agency that police would no longer tolerate lawlessness on farms and urban plots.

''There should be no interference with normal farming activities. I expect all concerned to take note that anarchy and all other similar negative attitudes shall be dealt with swiftly and thoroughly,'' he said.

Two previous orders by senior ministers for occupiers to vacate private land - one made by Vice President Joseph Msika when Mugabe was at a summit in Cuba - have been quickly revoked by Mugabe.

But in recent weeks, Mugabe has come under increasing pressure to restore law and order in farming districts - backbone of Zimbabwe's economy.

The moves against the squatters began Monday when police drove about 100 squatters off a farm near Chitungwiza, 15 miles south of Harare.

Earlier this month, militants on that farm were accused of abducting and sexually molesting 17 farm workers' children.

Police on Monday also arrested 13 militants who threw up roadblocks and halted traffic on a main highway into Harare from northeastern Zimbabwe, police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said.

Leaders of the Commercial Farmers Union, representing some 4,000 white farmers, were locked in meetings at their Harare headquarters Tuesday and were unavailable for comment on the police moves.

The government announced this month it would confiscate 3,000 white owned properties without paying compensation and hand them over to landless blacks.

About 4,000 whites own a third of the nation's prime land - about 24 million acres - where about 2 million farm workers and their relatives live. Some 7.5 million people live on the other two-thirds.

---

USA Today
08/23/00
http://usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm

D.C. Police officers regularly assigned to desk jobs or special units took to the streets of the nation's capital. The 250 officers will be on patrol one week a month under a new plan to reduce crime. The city's homicide rate is running about 10% higher than 1999's. "I'm trying to make the best of all the resources I have," said Police Chief Charles Ramsey.

-------- spying

Review on Tap DOJ to Post Plans for Net Wiretap Review on Web Site

ABC News
08/23/00
By Jeremy Pelofsky
http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/DailyNews/carnivore000823.html

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23 - U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said today that details of a planned review of the FBI computer program designed to capture e-mail messages for criminal investigations will be released Thursday.

The Justice Department will post a statement on its Web site (see Web Links at side) at 5 p.m. ET on Thursday detailing the work and its expectations for the wiretap review, Reno said at a news conference.

The study was prompted by concerns the so-called Carnivore program could infringe upon privacy rights. It allows law enforcement to pick off e-mails of criminal suspects amid the flood of data passing through an Internet services provider.

The review will be conducted by academic experts at a U.S. university, which is expected to be named by Reno by Sept. 15.

Officials want the Carnivore system's software and hardware review completed by Dec. 1.

Universities to Apply for Consideration The information to be released on Thursday is largely for prospective review candidates.

"I think we realized that we wanted to make sure that everybody had an equal opportunity and that there was a process in place that people understood," Reno said.

Universities will have 10 business days from Thursday to submit applications after which the Carnivore review team will have two days to make its recommendation, she said.

The university is expected to be selected partly based on its technical expertise in computers as well as on its ability to conduct a comprehensive review within the set time frame.

Reno has said the university experts would have total access to the information they need for the review.

FBI officials have said the court-authorized wiretaps utilizing the Carnivore program only will focus on criminal suspects who are targets of an investigation. However, some fear the system may go too far in gathering information and create the possibility of abuse.

-------- terrorism

Australian PM defends use of troops in counter-terrorism

NewsEdge Corporation
August 23, 2000
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=h0822013.800&level3=2884&date=20000823

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) via NewsEdge Corporation - Prime Minister John Howard was forced on to the defensive Tuesday over plans to empower troops to help police deal with terrorist threats during the Olympics.

Legislation formalizing military powers to curb terrorism goes before the Senate next week and is expected to be passed in time for the Sept. 15-Oct. 1 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Australian authorities have said they are not aware of any specific threat to the Games but soldiers and police have for months been in intensive training to deal with any terrorism aimed at disrupting the Olympics.

The New South Wales state police service has overall control of Olympic security and is responsible for coordinating all defense and security agencies during the games.

Under the proposed legislation, troops could assist with the release of hostages, detain suspects, search premises, erect barricades and deal with bombs _ but only with the agreement of the prime minister, federal attorney-general and defense minister.

Senator Bob Brown, of the Green Party, is protesting that it's wording is too vague and could open the door to soldiers being deployed to quell civil unrest _ traditionally a police power held by Australia's states.

Howard insisted the legislation will only give defense forces the power to order troops onto the streets to assist police.

``The whole purpose of this is to make it absolutely certain that in an emergency you can have a comprehensive call out and it is not designed to overturn any conventions, it is designed in co-operation with the state police forces,'' Howard told Brisbane radio station 4BC.

``Can I say the idea of ever using the army in an ordinary civilian disturbance situation is anathema to me,'' he said.

---

French Minister Denounces Terrorism by "Violent Minority" in Corsica

NewEdge Corporation
August 23, 2000
http://www.individual.com/frames/story.shtml?story=v0822312.5xi&level3=2884&date=20000823

PARIS (Aug. 22) XINHUA via NewsEdge Corporation - French Interior Minister Jean- Pierre Chevenement denounced "the blackmail and terror perpetuated by a violent minority" on the island of Corsica.

Chevenement said Monday that the "violent minority" has tried to impose its political will through blackmail and terror on the majority of Corsicans.

The Corsicans want to remain with France and have asked the central government to encourage greater democracy and respect for law and order on the island, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Several militant organizations believe that armed resistance is the only means left to confront the (French) state. This language signals nothing good, Chevenement said.

Corsican militants staged several terrorist attacks on the island this month, including the assassination of the moderate nationalist leader Jean-Michel Rossi.

-------- bio-terrorism

Plan for Bioterrorism Defense

Washington Post
Wednesday, August 23, 2000; Page A06
WASHINGTON IN BRIEF
Compiled from reports by the Associated Press and Reuters
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-08/23/067l-082300-idx.html

Advances in technology make the United States more vulnerable to bioterrorism than to nuclear attack, a leading expert in defending against biological weapons said.

Tara O'Toole, deputy director of Johns Hopkins University's Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies, suggested devoting $30 billion over the next 10 years to prepare health care systems to detect, track, respond to and contain epidemics that could be triggered by biological weapons.

The Department of Health and Human Services says it is spending $278 million this fiscal year to prepare for bioterrorism.

"The likelihood of a biological weapon being used is a lot higher than a missile coming across the Pacific," O'Toole said. "And yet we are spending a lot more on missile defense than we are on biological systems."

Genetic research to develop new drugs could "create the tools to build a more powerful weapon and virulent bug," she said. And simple devices such as a nasal spray could spread a deadly disease such as anthrax, underscoring the difficulty of detecting biological weapons before their use.


-------- activists

Activists protest at VY offices

By MEGGAN CLARK
Brattleboro Reformer Staff,
August 23, 2000

BRATTLEBORO -- Thirty-five protesters, wearing death masks and carrying tulips and signs that read "No Nukes" and "Global Chenobyl," marched on Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp.'s offices on Monday and demanded an immediate shutdown of the reactor.

"We will shut the reactors down, no matter who owns them," said Citizens Awareness Network (CAN) Executive Director Deb Katz, to applause and cheers from the protesters. "It doesn't matter if it is a homegrown nuke or a multinational corporation."

Nine black-clad protesters had earlier entered the lobby of the building, closely followed by 10 members of the press and accompanied by four security guards, and demanded to speak with Vermont Yankee's president, Ross Barkhurst. Yankee officials and Brattleboro police officers elected to stay outside the crowded room and watched curiously through the outside glass doors.

After waiting silently for nearly an hour under a sign that read "Welcome to Vermont Yankee," the protesters were asked to exit by Vermont Yankee Communications Director Brian Cosgrove, who said he would be willing to speak with them outside.

"We want to speak to the president. We don't want to speak to someone who is in public relations," Katz said. "Brian, you're a really nice guy but you don't have any power in this situation."

Protesters reassembled on the curb in front of the building with coffins at their feet, as others kept watch from a lawn, also owned by Vermont Yankee. The vigil continued for another hour, accompanied only by the occasional thump of a drum. Katz said the company's "response to issues of death and suffering is to deal with it as a public relations problem."

Vermont Yankee spokesman Rob Williams said that he could not recall protesters entering the building in the past, but declined to comment on "the security aspect." One of the guards said he didn't believe Barkhurst had been told protesters were in the building, but was aware they were there.

As promised by a press release sent over the weekend to area news media, the protest was colorful, and at times amusing, at other times poignant. The protesters did not appear to have succeeded in giving tombstones to Vermont Yankee management, as promised.

Protesters gathered at the Common at 8 a.m. and marched to the corporate offices on Old Ferry Road, arriving about 10. There, they staged a skit in which the "Nuclear Regulatory Police" on stilts attempted to eradicate a black and yellow "Big Cheese."

"It's a little bit stinky but you know we can handle it," said one of the "officers," as the three attacked the hopping cheese with paddles, recoiling when a worm emerged and struck back. They decided to give it all up when "corporate employees," wearing cardboard skulls, offered coffee and then doughnuts.

"Doughnuts! Doughnuts! We'll get the big cheese later!" they chorused, allowing the cheese to hop away. Meanwhile, the environment appeared fairly friendly as Vermont Yankee officials, one toting a digital camera so that photos could be reproduced in the company newsletter, chatted with protesters.

"Stop in once in a while," protester Peter Diamondstone invited neighbor Larry Smith of Yankee's management team.

"As long as people are peaceful we don't have a problem with it," Cosgrove said, asked why Vermont Yankee allows CAN to set up props and protest on its property. "I think of it as a free speech issue and certainly there are different opinions about nuclear power. We support people's right to express their opinions, even if we don't agree with them."

Yankee officials watched from across the drive as protesters relocated closer to the building and gave a more somber presentation on the lives of people they say were killed by nuclear power plants, from those who mine uranium ore and transport it to those who live close to nuclear power plants.

Sandy Streeter of Bernardston, Mass., became tearful as she read the words of farmer Annie Fosdyke, who died after contracting a cancer-related disease.

Fosdyke, a farmer who lived in New Hampshire, across the river from Vermont Yankee, had been interviewed by researcher Chris Nord, a friend of Streeter's. Fosdyke told Nord that once-healthy animals had become sick since Vermont Yankee was built, and finally her husband died, her daughter became ill, and she herself miscarried.

"The livestock that are out most of the time get hoof rot, and the barn cats are all sick and many are dead," Streeter read, her voice shaking. "There are many Annies," she said. "I believe some of my family members have (been affected)." "We live within 35 minutes of Niagara Mohawk and the Glens Falls reactor as well," said protester Stacy Crandell of Syracuse, N.Y. "It's definitely a danger."

She had brought along her 7-year-old daughter, Jasmine, who placed flowers on the caskets representing deaths from nuclear radiation.

Willams said that immediately shutting down the plant, which produces 30 percent of the electricity used in Vermont, would be unrealistic and costly -- both financially and environmentally.

"The cost of operating the plant would continue," he said. "Even if the plant shut down you would still need to have an operating plant to maintain the fuel pool. As we have seen with other plants that have shut down, expenses there continue. As for the electricity grid, it would mean that ISO New England would bring on fossil fuel plants to make up for Vermont Yankee. They would be online in continuous mode."

"Look, it's going to shut down in any case," Katz said. "And these workers will be fired."

Vermont Yankee's license expires in 2012.

--------

OneList subscribers:

NucNews - Please circulate -- help educate! - http://prop1.org

1. NucNews 00/08/23 - Daybook; Announcements; Democrats & Republicans on NMD
From: Ellen Thomas <prop1@prop1.org>

2. Fw: Washington Post on GAO NIF Report
From: "Vina Colley" <vcolley@earthlink.net>

3. 30 Trillion Operations per Second
From: ivan buchbinder <pentaske@memes.com>

-------------

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 08:49:05 -0400
From: Ellen Thomas <prop1@prop1.org>

NucNews 00/08/23 - Daybook; Announcements; Democrats & Republicans on NMD

1) Washington Daybook
August 23, 2000
Washington Times, Agence France-Presse
http://www.washtimes.com/national/daybook-200082321758.htm

Environment research - all day - The National Academies Commission on Geosciences/Environment and Resources Board on Radioactive Waste Management holds a workshop, "Building a Long-Term Environmental Quality Research and Development Program in the Energy Department." Location: The National Academies, 2100 C St. NW. Contact: 202/334-3066.

Aerospace meeting - 2:45 p.m. - The National Academies Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems Air Force Science and Technology Board holds a meeting on "The Future of the U.S. Aerospace Infrastructure and Aerospace Engineering Disciplines to Meet the Needs of the Air Force and the Defense Department." Location: Cecil and Ida Green Building, 2001 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Contact: 202/334-2629.

Foreign-relations meeting -10 a.m. - Justice Department hosts a meeting with Albanian Prime Minister Ilir Meta. Attorney General Janet Reno participates. Location: Main Justice Building, Room 5111. Contact: 202/616-2777.

Film discussion - noon - Institute for Policy Studies presents a film, "Human Rights: Universal and Supreme," by the Center for Defense Information, followed by a discussion. Location: IPS, 733 15th St. NW, Suite 1020. Contact: 202/234-9382.

African economy discussion - 12:30 p.m. - Center for Economic Justice, the 50 Years is Enough Network, and the Center for Economic and Policy Research sponsor a discussion, "South Africa's New Role in the Global Economy." Location: CEPR, Conference Room, 1015 18th St. NW, Suite 200. Contact: 202/299-0200.

Criminal-justice meeting - 7 p.m. - Redeem the Dream sponsors a town meeting, "Redeem the Dream: End the Nightmare of the 'Criminal Injustice' System." Location: St. Stephen's Church, 1525 Newton St. NW. Contact: 202/234-2000.

Book reading - 7:30 a.m. - Barnes and Noble Bookstore hosts a book reading and signing for "Gassed in the Gulf." Author Patrick Eddington participates. Location: Barnes and Noble, 3040 M St. NW. Contact: 202/965-9880.

2) Announcements, Questions, and Websites Worth Noting

- As Clinton travels to Colombia: A CALL TO END THE U.S. WAR IN COLOMBIA - Demonstrations called for Aug. 30 On Aug. 30, U.S. President Bill Clinton will travel to Cartegena, Colombia. His visit is designed to be a show of support for the so-called Plan Colombia, which the U.S. is funding to the tune of $1.3 billion. In New York, there will be an Aug. 30 demonstration from 5-7pm in Times Square. Please contact the IAC at (212) 633-6646 or mailto:iacenter@iacenter.org to endorse these protests and to inform of local activities

- ALERT: INTERNATIONAL NIX-MOX ACTION SEPTEMBER 28, 2000 For the third year people in nations across the planet are taking ACTION to say NO to the use of plutonium as a nuclear fuel Nuclear Information & Resource Service 1424 16th St. NW Suite 404 Washington, DC 20036 202-328-0002 fax 202-462-2183 http://www.nirs.org

- CLINTON TO ANNOUNCE MISSILE DEFENSE PLAN SOON - A top State Department official said Monday that the United States plans to decide soon whether to go ahead with the planned national missile defense (NMD) program, according to Reuters. [From: Jerry Brito <jbrito@cato.org>.] http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000822/ts/usa_shield_dc_1.html ) President Clinton is due to make his decision "within the next week or so" on the controversial $60 billion project, strongly opposed by Russia and China and criticized by some NATO allies as well. In "National Missile Defense: Examining the Options," http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-337es.html ) Charles V. Peña and Barbara Conry discuss a realistic view of the challenges of deploying missile defense. In the new study, "Arms Control and Missile Defense: Not Mutually Exclusive," (http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-376es.html ) Peña suggests that a limited NMD system could be built without endangering relations with Russia. In "Missile Defense Test Obscures Tough Issues," ttp://www.cato.org/dailys/07-12-00.html ) Director of Defense Policy Studies Ivan Eland explains some of the technical aspects of proposed missile defense plans. In "Let's Make National Missile Defense Truly 'National,'" ( http://www.cato.org/pubs/fpbriefs/fpb-058es.html ) he urges policymakers to build a national missile defense system that protects only U.S. territory, not other parts of the world.

- Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques and the Bomb [Note: For a complete transcript, in English and Spanish, of the three-part series "Red Alert II: The Cover-up", please access the news archive of http://www.viequeslibre.org] The Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques (CRDV) demanded that pertinent authorities carry out an immediate and profound investigation about an explosive artifact dropped by the Navy in Vieques waters in 1966. According to information revealed in the news report, "Red Alert" aired in 1995 by the Channel 4 news reporter, Pedro Rosa Nales, and according to new evidence described this week in the report, "Red Alert 2: The Coverup" by the same reporter, the artifact was a nuclear bomb. Contacts: Robert Rabin,CRDV Vieques 787 741-0716 Cel. 375-0525 Lcdo. Flavio Cumpiano,CRDV Washington, DC 202 721-4688 PO Box 1424 Vieques, Puerto Rico 00765 Telefax (787) 741-0716 E mail: bieke@coqui.net

- The Global Peace Walk 2000 is approaching Indianapolis on its way eastward for Washington DC arrival and events Oct 6-12 en route to the UN for Oct 24. After the South Dakota Sundance, Reverend Yamato has received commitments from Lakota and other indigenous spiritual leaders accepting the offer for Global Peace Walk to help facilitate a meeting between indigenous leaders and President Clinton in Washington DC as a result of the walk's arrival there -- to discuss critical issues relating to global peace, environment, and indigenous issues. We need help in supporting the indigenous leaders to come to Washington, such as donation of frequent flyer miles, plane tickets, hospitality in DC, guides/assistants to escort the elders to DC, networking arrangements, etc. If you or anyone you know can help please contact "David Crockett Williams" <mailto:gear2000@lightspeed.net> or Crispin Clarke <mailto:GPZONE2000@aol.com>, who is doing the on-the-road coordinating for the walk. Voicemail/update line 415-267-1877. http://www.globalpeacenow.org.

- Democrats and Republicans on National Missile Defense http://www.clw.org/clw/nmdpositions.html - Council for A Livable World

- Peace Action's "Peace Voter 2000" http://www.peace-action.org/pv2000.html

- History of Radiation and Radiation Protection http://www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/hist.htm - Radiation Information Network

- "Consumers Reject Irradiated Meat in Florida: Campaign Succeeds in Educating Consumers about the Hazards of Food "Treated" with Radiation" http://www.citizen.org/cmep/rad-food/Floridarejectsradmeat.htm

- How We Got Fluoridated - http://www.rvi.net/~fluoride/how.html Scientific Facts on the Biological Effects of Fluorides - http://www.all-natural.com Fluoride's Strange Bedfellows: Industry, Dentistry, & the Gulf War - http://www.ia4u.net/~sherrell/gulf.htm

- American Uranium, Inc. Changes Its Name to "Visual Bible International, Inc." and Obtains New Trading Symbol Excite News - Updated 11:48 AM ET August 14, 2000 http://news.excite.com/news/bw/000814/tn-visual-bible

- Yugoslavia One Year Later - Did you know that throughout the war, in 78 days of bombing only 14 tanks were destroyed. BUT 328 schools, 33 hospitals, the heating plant for Belgrade, electrical grids in many parts of the country and over 100 churches/monastaries were damaged or destroyed by NATO bombs. [International Action Center <mailto:iacenter@iacenter.org> http://www.iacenter.org.]

- Mururoa Blues - story about ordinary people taking on the might of the French Government and its military. It begins in June of 1995 when French President Jacques Chirac decided to resume nuclear testing in the South Pacific. Shortly after the announcement, 14 yachts with their skippers and crew joined the New Zealand Peace Flotilla. With only 6 weeks' notice, and against strong odds, they managed to arrange finance, quit their jobs, prepare their vessels and sail some 3000 nautical miles in some of the world's roughest waters to protest against the French resumption of nuclear testing. The account reveals the inside story of the protest from the view of a single peace flotilla skipper. It covers the struggle, challenges and achievement of organising and preparing for the venture; sailing in the Roaring Forties during winter; and contesting the 12-mile Exclusion Zone at Moruroa. The campaign focused world-wide attention on the French programme, which ultimately resulted in the signing of the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty ending five decades of testing by the nuclear powers.

---

2 Queries On Mon, 7 Aug 2000 08:05:06 EDT JTLOWE@aol.com writes:

1. What, if anything, is in either Republican or Democrat platform concerning CTBT?

2. Does anyone "out there" know what is going on at the Savannah River Plant?

Thank you,
Colby Lowe, mailto:JTLOWE@aol.com NGO-DPI rep at the UN for Peace Action

--

Response to 1st query

From: Charles F Hilfenhaus chilfenhaus@juno.com
Aug 2000 21

In answer to your first question, I don't know about specific platform positions, but from local news sources associated with the Nevada Test Site I can give the candidates positions. Al Gore will continue the current policy; observe the letter of the CTBT while continuing to maintain that U.S. subcritical tests do not violate the treaty. George W. Bush supports the Republican Senate vote against the CTBT. He has not specifically stated that he would resume nuclear testing, however, many of the workers at the test site believe that he would. - Charlie Hilfenhaus, Alliance of Atomic Veterans; Director, Atomic Workers Division, chilfenhaus@juno.com

[Anyone know the answer to the second question: What's the status of Savannah River nuclear weapons facility? Write <mailto:prop1@prop1.org (NucNews Editor)> as well as mailto:JTLOWE@aol.com.]

--------------

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 09:41:14 -0700
From: "Vina Colley" <vcolley@earthlink.net>

DOE LASER FACILITY FACING PROBLEMS

Washington Post
August 23, 2000
by Walter Pincus

A 10-year-old project designed to help maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal indefinitely by building a laser so powerful it could simulate the conditions of a thermonuclear explosion in a laboratory has ballooned in cost to nearly $4 billion and still has serious "unresolved technical problems," according to the General Accounting Office.

The congressionally mandated GAO investigation concluded that not only will the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California cost at least $1 billion more than planned and take six years longer than expected to begin full operations, but the glass lenses needed to focus the laser beams "pose a major technical challenge and . . . there is currently no solution to this problem."

In addition, "technical and cost uncertainties also persist in the research and development needed to design and build a target for NIF's laser beams," the GAO said.

NIF will be a facility the size of a football stadium seven stories high, where 192 high-power laser beams would deliver huge amounts of energy upon a single fusion target to simulate the thermonuclear conditions created by an explosion.

At a time when underground nuclear tests have been halted, NIF would be a key part in the future annual certification of the two stages of thermonuclear weapons: The plutonium "primary" explodes and creates the temperatures and pressure to produce the fusion explosion in the weapon's "secondary," made up of deuterium and tritium.

NIF's current problems will result in its experiments not being available for analyzing proposed changes during the refurbishment already underway in two key strategic weapons, the W76 warhead of the Trident I sub-launched ballistic missile and the W80 for the sea-launched Tomahawk cruise missile. The NIF was originally scheduled to be completed in 2002.

While commending GAO's fact-finding, Energy Department officials believe the technical problems remaining with the longer-lived optics can be solved. "Only one technical challenge remains to be completed, with good progress to date," wrote Madelyn R. Creedon, deputy administrator for defense programs of the new National Nuclear Security Administration, which now runs the weapons program.

The NIF has in recent months become another headache for Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, who has been under fire for more than a year over alleged espionage and security failures at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

When Richardson went to Livermore in June 1999 to celebrate NIF being "within budget and on time," he was reflecting monthly progress reports from the lab that had been reviewed and approved by Energy personnel at Livermore. At the time, dozens of Livermore managers knew Richardson's remarks were wrong, but no one told him.

Two months later, Richardson was blindsided when he heard the first reports that there were overruns and delays.

The GAO found that the NIF manager and his top assistants had no previous experience managing large projects. Nonetheless, according to the GAO, "the laboratory's 'can-do' culture prompted the NIF managers to convince themselves, then [the Energy Department] and others, that they needed no outside help to successfully build NIF."

Adding to the problem was Energy's own failure to require Livermore to "update its estimates for the project's total cost and schedule in its monthly and quarterly reports."

When Congress in early 1999 demanded an outside review of NIF, the contractor chosen for the job failed to report "any significant cost, schedule, or technical issues for NIF," the GAO said. In fact, the contractor found NIF was "by far the best managed of any" federal project. The GAO found that Energy Department officials had "instructed the contractor to not examine NIF supporting research and development" and had the department's manager and NIF's own project manager edit the "contractor's draft report before it was submitted to Congress."

Angered about being misled, Richardson in September said the cost overruns would be handled within Energy's regular defense program budget: "We will reprioritize our national security program to reallocate dollars, people, and other resources--so the U.S. taxpayer does not foot additional bills because of these problems."

Richardson amended his fiscal 2001 budget now before Congress by adding $95 million from other stockpile stewardship programs, over half coming out of different Livermore activities. None was taken from the other nuclear labs.

Up to now, there has been no consensus within Energy and its two other weapons labs about NIF's future. One proposal, by the deputy director of nuclear programs at Los Alamos, was that NIF should be limited to 48 laser beams rather than 192, a level that he said "would support about 80 percent of the experiments the program needs to perform."

Not surprisingly, Livermore's new director for NIF, George Miller, told the GAO that having 192 beams "is critical" to certifying the nuclear stockpile. But, he added, according to the GAO, "Livermore might accept a 'pause' in completing NIF of about three years at the 120 beam level."

--------------

Message: 3
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 05:04:42 -0700
From: ivan buchbinder <pentaske@memes.com>

30 Trillion Operations per Second

Y'all, The Dragons spin doc's with the latest BS on da purpose of LANL. Later

" Scientists in the stockpile program are attempting to use high-speed computers and expensive nuclear blast simulators in the labs to study nuclear weapons physics and maintain the reliability, safety and security of the nation's aging nuclear arsenal without detonating more test bombs"

http://www.abqtrib.com/news/082300_compac.shtml

-----------------------------------------------

DOEWatch List ----A Magnum-Opus Project
Subscribe online: http://www.onelist.com
DOEWatch page: http://members.aol.com/doewatch

1. Platts Wednesday, August 23, 2000
From: "Paul Maser" <pmaser@govmail.state.nv.us>

2. Report: Research Needed on Cleanup
From: magnu96196@aol.com

3. Worker burned during test at Piketon plant
From: magnu96196@aol.com

4. Budget shortfall may cause loss of at least 15 OSTI positions
From: magnu96196@aol.com

5. Energy secretary may boost lab revitalization
From: magnu96196@aol.com

7. Nuclear dog sets off safety alert
From: magnu96196@aol.com

8. Looking at Hiroshima: tough, touching
From: magnu96196@aol.com

9. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ACTIVISTS HOLD NATIONAL LISTENING SESSIONS
From: magnu96196@aol.com

10. Our Views: A compromise is needed on sick worker bill
From: magnu96196@aol.com

11. Guest Column: Concerned by lack of DOE trust
From: magnu96196@aol.com

12. OFF THE SHELF TECHNOLOGY DETECTS NERVE GAS
From: magnu96196@aol.com

13. ORNL could have role in expanded isotope production
From: magnu96196@aol.com

14. INTERIOR DEPARTMENT ASKS EPA TO CLEAR AIR OVER PARKS From: magnu96196@aol.com

15. HALOGEN OCCULTATION EXPERIMENT (HALOE)
From: magnu96196@aol.com

16. FYI
From: magnu96196@aol.com

--------------

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 07:00:16 -0700
From: "Paul Maser" <pmaser@govmail.state.nv.us>

Platts
Wednesday, August 23, 2000

Washington (Nuclear News Flashes) August 22, 2000 More BNFL fuel to be loaded next year in VVER-440 Fuel developed by BNFL for VVER-440S is expected to be loaded next year at Finland's Loviisa, Plant Manager Arvo Vuorenmaa said. This is the second year that the plant has been testing six assemblies in Loviisa-2 and Vuorenmaa said performance has been good. It hasn't been decided yet whether the BNFL reload will go to the second unit or to Loviisa-1, but about a third of the fuel will be replaced during maintenance at one of the units. The other will be reloaded with Russian fuel.

Washington (Nuclear News Flashes) August 22, 2000 Uranium Resources wins reprieve on bankruptcy Uranium Resources Inc. (URI) received a five-month reprieve from possible bankruptcy proceedings yesterday when it raised $730,000 of equity through the issuance of 7.3 million shares of common stock at 10 cents per share to a group of private investors. The company said it would now continue to actively seek additional financing. A senior URI official said, "This closes the first piece of what we need to do to continue to go forward in seeking additional financing." URI also said that certain key employees will convert $186,756 of deferred compensation into shares of common stock at 20 cents/share. URI also said that it reached a compromise with its regulatory counsel, settling an outstanding indebtedness of about $560,000 for a payment of $100,000 in cash, among other arrangements. The Dallas-based company cited depressed uranium prices as the cause its financial situation.

-------------

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 11:48:00 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Report: Research Needed on Cleanup

By JEFFREY McMURRAY
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - A report suggesting the cleanup plan could be flawed has delayed an operation to clear nuclear waste from a South Carolina nuclear weapons site while the Department of Energy looks into whether it is pursuing the safest and cheapest option.

Because of the report, released Tuesday by the National Research Council, the Savannah River Site project is stalled at least until June. A committee of experts spent a year on the study after the department asked for an independent review before moving forward with the cleanup.

The site, in Aiken, S.C., across the Savannah River from Augusta, Ga., was established in 1950 to produce isotopes, mainly plutonium and tritium, for nuclear weapons.

The report did not discredit the department's selection of potential cleanup plan but said: ``The screening procedure was cumbersome, complex and lacked transparency to document the (plan's) technical soundness.''

Additional time and money necessary for more research would be a pittance compared with the cost of building a $1 billion disposal facility that wouldn't work, the report said.

DOE officials said they weren't surprised by the report's conclusions, in part because they had read an interim report last October that foreshadowed such a recommendation.

``If you have technical uncertainty, you don't want to build a plant to process something when you don't know exactly what you're doing,'' said Carolyn Huntoon, assistant secretary for environmental management.

Over the years, liquid and solid wastes have been stored in some 48 underground storage tanks at the Savannah River Site. Much of the solid waste is being removed and transformed into glass, eventually to be buried in an underground repository in Nevada.

Some of the most radioactive waste, however, including cesium and plutonium, still exist in the bottom of the tanks. Their high salt concentration makes it almost impossible to transform them into glass, and DOE officials have been struggling for years for a solution.

In 1995, researchers thought they had one. They learned how to separate the high-level radioactive waste in the storage tanks with the help of two chemicals.

The cesium, plutonium and similar compounds would be cemented in an onsite storage facility. Everything else would be made into glass for burial.

Despite successful tests, researchers were shocked when benzene gas was released as they tried to implement the plan. That sent them back to the drawing board.

``The concern was you could build up a lot of benzene, have a spark and blow the top right off the tank,'' said Kevin Crowley, one of the study directors for the National Research Council. ``You could release that waste right into the atmosphere.''

Four years after the experiment fell flat, Savannah River officials proposed using a similar process involving smaller tanks to limit how much benzene might leak. DOE asked the council for a second opinion on the process.

Tuesday's report said more research is needed to determine whether the process is safe. It also said DOE again should review three other disposal plans.

Milton Levenson, a retired chemical engineer who served as chairman of the review panel, said the latest delay poses no immediate danger because the tanks holding the waste should be safe for decades.

He denied feeling any pressure to hasten the cleanup.

``The thing I would hope would be a factor is that we would make most of our decisions based on risk reduction, not political perceptions,'' Levenson said. ``The tanks certainly need to be cleaned up as quickly as possible, but that has different connotations.''

On the Net: http://www.nationalacademies.org/

----------

Message: 3
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 12:01:01 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Worker burned during test at Piketon plant

August 23, 2000
http://www.dispatch.com/news/newsfea00/aug00/394441.html

A subcontractor at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon was burned severely by an explosion yesterday afternoon during a demonstration of a cleanup device, said Sandy Childers, a spokeswoman for the Bechtel Jacobs Co., the management and cleanup contractor for the plant.

Guillermo Barrientos, 41, of Findlay, Ohio, who works for a company under subcontract with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was flown to the intensive-care unit of Ohio State University Medical Center, where he was in critical condition last night. Another employee was treated at the plant.

The Oak Ridge lab is developing the cleanup device with Bechtel Jacobs, which is under a contract with the Department of Energy at Piketon, Paducah, Ky., and Oak Ridge, Tenn.

The explosion occurred about 1:10 p.m., when Barrientos withdrew a vertical device used to inject an oxidant into groundwater contaminated with trichloroethene, a chemical often used to remove grease from metal.

It is not known whether the burns were caused by the chemical or heat from the chemical reaction, Childers said.

The accident didn't affect others in Piketon, which is located in Pike County, about 65 miles south of Columbus.

------------

Message: 4
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 12:36:29 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Budget shortfall may cause loss of at least 15 OSTI positions

August 23, 2000
By Frank Munger, News-Sentinel Oak Ridge bureau
http://www.knoxnews.com /business/13691.shtml</A>

OAK RIDGE -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Scientific and Technical Information is being forced to reduce its staff significantly because of an expected budget shortfall in fiscal 2001, a top official confirmed Tuesday. Chuck Morgan, manager of OSTI, said at least 15 positions will be eliminated from the current federal staff of 84. The number of layoffs could reach 25 if a proposed buyout program for early retirees isn't approved, he said.

"This is because of a congressional mandate," Morgan said Tuesday, expressing great frustration. "Our congressional delegates haven't supported this organization in getting the funds for us to operate."

There have been other staff reductions in previous years, and Morgan said the new cuts may hamper the office's ability to carry out projects.

OSTI, which is based in Oak Ridge, is the primary repository for scientific documents produced by DOE, including the agency's prestigious national laboratories.

Morgan said he was upset because talented employees who have won awards for pioneering information systems -- including virtual libraries that give worldwide access to more than a million pages of research reports -- may be "out the door" and out of work.

OSTI requested about $9.3 million for fiscal 2001, which begins Oct. 1. At this point, however, it appears the DOE unit will receive no more than $8.6 million, the same as the past couple of years, and possibly less, Morgan said.

That budget recommendation doesn't allow for cost-of-living increases or cover the escalated costs for technology purchases and supporting contractors, he said.

Morgan said layoff notices probably will be issued before the end of the month.

"We have been working with the union to try to speed that up," he said. Morgan said reducing staff quickly will save more money, perhaps easing the number of jobs lost.

Meanwhile, union leader Dalton Cooper criticized OSTI for targeting nonmanagement employees for the reduction in force.

Cooper said the ratio of managers to employees is already out of whack, and he said the upcoming layoffs would make a bad situation worse.

"I think this makes it almost impossible to continue," said Cooper, shop chairman for Local 268, Office and Professional Employees International Union. "They'll have nobody to do the work."

Morgan said some "management-related" positions are on the cut list. Asked about the union concerns, the DOE manager said, "My union representatives ought to get their bodies up to The Hill and talk to our congressional representatives, as other unions do ... I have yet to see one of them do that."

Cooper said the union plans to contact congressional offices and Energy Secretary Bill Richardson about the OSTI layoffs.

Frank Munger may be reached at 423-482-9213 or twig1@knoxnews.infi.net.

Comments:
Lots of records are in limbo at OSTI, many things that need to be declassified are not getting done. Similar things happen at the RHTG in Atlanta.

DOE's methods to slow public information are to cut the budgets and stop the work.

-------------

Message: 5
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 13:02:30 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Energy secretary may boost lab revitalization

August 23, 2000
By Frank Munger News-Sentinel staff writer
http://www.knoxnews.com/editorsview/munger/fm08232000.shtml

The first version of UT-Battelle's master plan for revitalization of Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been completed, and U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson may visit Oak Ridge next month to get an up-close look. Jeff Smith, ORNL's deputy director for operations, said the design work was done by expert planners in the University of Tennessee's School of Architecture.

"We're trying to make sure the laboratory reflects a research campus atmosphere," he said.

UT-Battelle is engaged in discussions with the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge office, and Smith isn't ready to release the master plan to the public, although he said it includes some "really neat ideas."

Revitalization is supposed to make the laboratory more open, accessible and functional. Prettier, too.

UT-Battelle took a first step last week with the opening of a new visitors' center.

At least a half-dozen new lab buildings are being planned, with some of them likely to be financed privately. A new cafeteria is a must to replace the Cold War dining facility that has become the butt of staff jokes. There also will be better conference facilities.

"Believe it or not, right now it's very difficult to find a conference room that will hold 30 people for a couple of days," Smith said.

UT-Battelle hopes to attract third-party financing for "noncore" science facilities, including office space. ORNL's major research facilities would still be constructed with federal funds.

Smith said the master plan put together by UT architects does not involve the relocation of Bethel Valley Road, a possibility that had been discussed as a way of opening up more space at the lab's entrance.

"It looks like we can do what we want without moving the road," lab official said.

Meanwhile, Smith confirmed that lab officials are making tentative plans for a Sept. 11 visit by Secretary Richardson and are providing DOE with updated materials on revitalization.

Those plans, however, are subject to change, as are most secretarial visits.

ROAD STORIES: Maybe I should apologize to the Tennessee Department of Transportation because I -- along with many others -- figured the Knoxville-to-Oak Ridge commute would be maddening this summer.

Earlier this year, I suggested the transportation folks might have lost their senses when they launched multiple construction projects on roads leading into and out of Oak Ridge.

As it turns out, however, it hasn't been so bad.

Sure, there have been frustrating delays, particularly in the morning and evening rush periods, but Oak Ridge traffic has always been a bit nightmarish during plant shift changes. In fact, the lighter traffic load is the only good thing that ever came out of the post-Cold War downsizing of federal operations.

Maybe the worst is yet to come. We'll see. But, in the meantime, let's thank TDOT and contractors for making progress while keeping road rage to a minimum.

*SUPERSTARTS: I guess it shows how little I know about computing, particularly about advanced supercomputing, but I figured every scientist worth his or her salt would be jumping at the chance to put those super-duper machines to work on just about every research project coming off the drawing board.

That thought came to mind recently when Oak Ridge National Laboratory was showing off its new IBM supercomputer capable of performing more than a trillion calculations per second (a level known as one "teraflop" in the computer world).

So I asked Dr. Ernie Moniz, the Department of Energy's undersecretary who was touring the lab, if he expected long lines of researchers waiting to use terascale supercomputers.

"I would say just the opposite," Moniz said. "You're buying yourself a major challenge just to have the experience because these (computers) require very, very major software development, etc."

In some instances, Moniz said, research teams at national labs have declined opportunities to use the advanced machines because their projects weren't quite ready to take advantage of the superior computing power.

-----------

Message: 7
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 13:11:50 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Nuclear dog sets off safety alert

August 23 2000
BY FRASER NELSON
http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/08/23/timnwsnws01033.html

A DOG alerted safety inspectors to a potential nuclear hazard when it chased rabbits into an old pipeline. Chip, an 11-year-old terrier, was seen disappearing inside the concrete hole as she was being walked by her owner near to the Chapelcross nuclear power station in Dumfriesshire.

She was eventually coaxed out by power station staff who had come equipped with a Geiger counter. Her reading was unusually high, and she was taken to the plant's decontamination room to be hosed down.

Her owner, Keith Proudfoot, 43, said that he thought the shaft was sealed off. "As far as I know the old pipeline was only used for one month," he said. "We all thought it was perfectly safe, not lying open"

The incident on March 21 was reported to the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency which had no records of the old drainage system.

British Nuclear Fuels Limited, which owns Chapelcross, said that the dog's contamination was minimal and that the pipe had been sealed and was safe.

Chapelcross, which opened in 1959, is one of Britain's oldest nuclear power stations. It is due to be decommissioned in 2010. The disused pipe was built to take water from the River Annan, cool the reactor with it and then discharge it into the Solway Firth.

--------------

Message: 8
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 13:15:04 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Looking at Hiroshima: tough, touching

August 23, 2000
By Helena Cobban
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2000/08/23/text/p9s1.html

Junko Kayashige is a friendly former teacher who wears sensible clothes and has a ready smile. We were standing last month by a broad model of the busy industrial city where she spent her early years.

"There! That's where my uncle lived," she says. "By that river, there!"

The house was only a mile from the point where, on the morning of Aug. 6, 1945, the world's first atomic bomb exploded. Mrs. Kayashige was 6. That morning, she and her sister Fumie were visiting their uncle. There was an air-raid siren, then shortly afterward the "all clear" sounded. Kayashige and a cousin climbed up to a window to watch one last American plane fly home across the clear summer sky. That was when the bomb went off.

Hiroshima was - and has again become - a thriving, modern city. Its geography is eerily similar to that of Pearl Harbor, cupped between a towering half-ring of mountains and the sea. In Pearl Harbor, in 1941, the Japanese sparked war with the US by bombing the American fleet there. In Hiroshima, in 1945, the US forced Japan's surrender by detonating a single, dreadfully explosive atomic bomb over the city. (Another bomb was dropped over Nagasaki four days later, before the surrender was finalized.) Though the US didn't know the precise effects the two bombs would have, American leaders expected they'd be spectacularly destructive, with no way of discriminating between military and nonmilitary targets. So Hiroshima's bomb was aimed at the city center's distinctive, T- shaped Aioi Bridge.

The blast knocked Kayashige and her cousin to the ground. When she came round, she found her uncle's house still standing. But its furnishings - even floorboards - had been sucked away. Outside, she found houses in ruins, neighbors, trapped and franticly shouting for help. Soon, fire rushed in from all directions. Terrified, she ran from the flames. Finding herself alone, she clambered over collapsed roofs toward the nearby river.

Later, she was reunited with Fumie and her parents, but her sister Michiko wasn't found. Her sister Hiroko, at school that morning, died from her burns Aug. 17. In the days following the blast, 80,000 other city residents died; over the years that followed, 200,000 more succumbed to the bomb's longer-lasting effects.

I've thought about Hiroshima since - as a young adult - I read John Hersey's account of the bomb's effects. This was my first visit, and my first impression of the city was surprise. Hiroshima is bustling and full of color. I guess I'd imagined it trapped forever in the sorrowful sepia of those 1945 photos. But just yards from the trams that trundle again across Aioi Bridge, the present city's skyscrapers hum with business, commerce, and culture. Multistory shopping malls spill over each other, and every rush hour sends thousands of office workers hurrying for the baseball stadium, the concert hall, malls, restaurants, or homes in distant suburbs.

Kayashige pulled few punches in telling about her ordeal. But she isn't a sorrowful person. She showed me the scars on her arm, but went on to talk about the painting classes she has taken up since she retired from teaching. We spent a morning visiting the Peace Memorial Museum, set in the green, monument-studded Peace Park near the Aioi Bridge. In the afternoon, she took me to a gemlike Buddhist garden and a lively art museum. She talked about a project she and her husband are working on, to assemble a photo montage that shows what 200,000 contemporary living people look like.

In the Peace Park, gaggles of students visit the cenotaph and the ghostly hemisphere of the "Genbaku" dome. All wear Japan's ubiquitous, trim school uniforms, though many of the girls have added fashionable touches like scrunched-down leg warmers (in mid-July), or pretty hair barrettes.

At the soaring monument to middle-school radiation victim Sadako Sasaki, students help teachers unpack piles of folded-paper birds, strung on looping strings that they drape around the monument. (In 1954, as Sadako weakened with radiation sickness, she followed an old tradition that said if she could fold a thousand paper cranes, she'd get better. After finishing 644, she passed away. Ever since, Japanese kids have folded birds in her memory.)

In the sleek Peace Museum, exhibits express how most residents have chosen to work through multilayered pains suffered from the bombing. It's a place of distressingly explicit historical record, but one that encourages understanding and civic engagement, not revenge.

In recent years, city bodies that run the museum and the park have spent time examining their own country's responsibility for the gross rights abuses prior to 1945. One multilingual panel prominently displayed in the museum explains: "Japan, too, with colonization policies and wars of aggression inflicted incalculable and irreversible harm on the peoples of many countries." Another says: "Hiroshima was dealt a severe blow by the atomic bomb, but Japan, too, inflicted great damage."

In recent years, too, Peace Park administrators finally permitted an association of ethnic Koreans to move into the park itself a memorial to the thousands of their countrymen who - here mostly as migrant or enslaved factory workers - died in the bomb blast. Previously, administrators had kept that memorial, with its disturbing reminder of how war-time Japan treated the Koreans, well outside the main park perimeter.

By increasing public acknowledgement of the past actions of their government, and of their forebears' frequent acquiescence in those actions, Hiroshimans have actively changed from passive victims of the bomb into more morally robust survivors.

As such, the calls that their city government has continued to issue for the dismantling of all nuclear arsenals, and an end to war among nations, have grown more powerful.

In the museum, Kayashige turns from the model of the busy city where she was born to a second model showing the bomb's immediate effects - a four-square-mile expanse of flattened, burned-out ruins of the houses, shops, and factories packed into the first model.

"Just one bomb," she says softly. "And a very 'small' one by today's standards. Think about it."

*Helena Cobban, a Monitor foreign-affairs columnist and author of 'The Moral Architecture of World Peace,' (University Press of Virginia), spent much of the summer in Japan.

------------

Message: 9
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 14:05:57 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ACTIVISTS HOLD NATIONAL LISTENING SESSIONS

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/aug2000/2000L-08-22-09.html

CHARLESTON, South Carolina, August 22, 2000 (ENS) - A coalition of business, industry, health, academic and environmental professionals plans to hold the first in a series of public meetings next Tuesday to discuss environmental justice issues around the country. Environmental justice activists draw attention to the disproportionate number of hazardous wastes, contaminated manufacturing sites and polluting industries placed in poor, non-White communities. The National Environmental Policy Commission will hold its first Listening Session on Tuesday, August 29 in Jackson, Mississippi. The Commission was an outgrowth of recommendations from the Congressional Black Caucus under the leadership of Congressman James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat.

The purpose of the Commission is to identify environmental issues and policy alternatives. The Commission will deliberate and report on appropriate roles for human health, environmental protection, environmental justice and economic development considerations in a comprehensive environmental policy. The Medical University of South Carolina¹s Environmental Biosciences Program (EBP) and The National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO) will provide leadership in coordinating Commission activities. "We must work together to ensure participation from all stakeholders in order to develop a comprehensive environmental policy," explained David Rivers of EBP. The Commission will conduct a series of Listening Sessions throughout the country over the next year to obtain greater insight into national environmental policy. More information is available at: http://www.ebp.musc.edu

-------------

Message: 10
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 14:23:37 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Our Views: A compromise is needed on sick worker bill

August 23, 2000
http://www.oakridger.com/

The sick-worker bill which aims to compensate workers in Oak Ridge and elsewhere made ill by radiation exposure has hit a major snag as it winds ever so slowly through Congress.

Proponents of the measure are suggesting that there is a good chance it will be dropped entirely from a defense bill now being considered by House-Senate conference committee.

This would be terribly regrettable. The issue needs to be resolved. A Department of Energy investigation supports the claim that some workers were exposed to dangerous materials, including airborne uranium, fission products, fluorine, asbestos and PCBs. With that kind of government admission, there should be no reason that progress is interrupted toward a final settlement.

Still, proponents of compensation bear some responsibility as well. Congress is not going to approve some blanket new entitlement for which taxpayers should the uncertain but likely high cost.

A Senate version of the bill established exacting standards for medically determined which workers qualify for assistance. Congress is in no mood for treating laboratory workers as a class while ignoring the specific, case-by-case evidence. And Congress clearly has that kind of fiduciary responsibility to the American people.

There ought to be room for compromise in moving this measure forward this year, now, in Congress. What is needed is a little give and common sense by both sides.

========

Comments:
What is needed is truth in Govt and politics and not spin. This bill needs to include the chemical and HF emissions of gas diffusion plants and the resultant long term chronic debilitating health effects on the workers as well as the communities.

And the same needs to happen with the radiation that not only affected the workers of the test site and Pu factories, but the downwind communities and the entire globe to a degree.

The major problem is lack of truth in disclosures by the Govt--------to the point of hiding the F and Cl effects in the ozone hole effects------------and just how much industry affects the global health equation.

-----------------

Message: 11
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 14:26:50 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Guest Column: Concerned by lack of DOE trust

August 23, 2000
http://www.oakridger.com/

I believe the Department of Energy has finally cracked -- say hallelujah. They have finally realized that a large segment of the public has absolutely no trust in anything the agency says or does and that the distrust actually trickles down to a personal level.

I also believe that many DOE, contractor and subcontractor employees find this revelation very disconcerting and frightening, particularly since many of them were not actually involved in the decisions and actions of the past that are being revealed.

It is even more frightening and unsettling for those who were a part of these actions and decisions, which in fact did make some people extremely sick -- hence much of the name-calling and finger-pointing that currently is going on among current and retired workers.

However, I find it hard to believe that the "guilty" parties would have done this intentionally if they had any idea of the impact on their fellow workers.

Regardless, folks, it is now time to move past this painful stage that we have been going through for several years now and to begin the rebuilding process.

Now that we have succeeded in "breaking" DOE, we now must stop the pummeling (at least for the moment) to see if we can move forward. Everyone now acknowledges that things have occurred historically and need further investigation by objective parties.

However, the question that must first be addressed is if the water at K-25 is safe to drink now, which is the intent of the water sampling and testing effort that is now under way. If this effort does not succeed, I am afraid the reindustrialization program, which this community desperately needs from an economic standpoint, is dead in the water.

Because of the importance of this sampling program, I am personally observing and monitoring it to make sure that DOE does not (and cannot) cheat.

That is the beauty of the "replicate" sampling effort performed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the fact they are using the EPA lab in Montgomery, Ala., to perform the analyses.

In addition, from everything I've seen, the current players are just as concerned about getting accurate results as the sick workers are.

Think about it. Many of the people being attacked and discredited publicly are currently on-site, drinking the water, and walking by the steam from the storm drains. Many of the people involved in the radiological analyses being performed at Y-12 are former K-25 workers themselves.

Therefore, it is in their best interest from the standpoint of their own future health problems if they have true results from this testing effort. They may be a sick worker themselves one day and could need the proof to qualify for workman's compensation payments.

In addition, at least one of the individuals whose integrity is being questioned has a spouse who is on medical disability and has elevated nickel levels.

While I have been one of the most vocal activists calling for DOE to be held accountable for their actions, I have to say I am very impressed with the actions they have taken so far to deal with this issue.

Maybe I'm naïve to believe the system can work, but DOE has allowed volunteers from the Local Oversight Committee Citizens Advisory Panel (LOC-CAP) -- who are not on anyone's payroll and can be truly objective -- to have unprecedented access to data and have given us an unprecedented opportunity to influence their decision-making process.

However, if the public continues to beat on these people when they are, in fact, doing their best to comply with our wishes, I am afraid they will simply begin to hunker down again and we will lose this unique opportunity to actually work from within to change their culture, which desperately needs changing.

Personally, I'm not sure if I could withstand the beating that these people have undergone and continue to undergo and, frankly, we as a community have much to lose if we don't help them in this regard.

All I ask is that you give us a chance to make this joint effort work and to not lose this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for truly effective community-based oversight -- which is what we've been asking for all along!

Susan Kaplan is a consultant and resident of Solway

--------------

Message: 12
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 14:04:07 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

OFF THE SHELF TECHNOLOGY DETECTS NERVE GAS

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/aug2000/2000L-08-22-09.html

WASHINGTON, DC, August 22, 2000 (ENS) - Using a silicon chip and parts from an inexpensive compact disc (CD) player, chemists at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have developed a portable nerve gas sensor capable of detecting "G-type" nerve agents, such as sarin, soman and GF. The breakthrough should permit the development of large numbers of small, inexpensive sensors to detect the presence of nerve agents and track the movements of the toxic plumes. The innovative silicon sensor was constructed by a team including Michael Sailor, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UCSD, William Trogler, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and postdoctoral associates Sonia Letant and Honglae Sohn.

The pocket sized, battery powered nerve gas sensor invented by chemists at the University of California, San Diego (Photo courtesy UCSD) The sensor detects compounds with a phosphorus-fluorine chemical bond, such as sarin, at very low concentrations. The compounds react with a silicon interferometer - a wafer similar to a computer chip - coated with a catalyst that breaks the nerve gases down to produce hydrogen fluoride gas. The rainbow colored optical coating changes color when molecules of hydrogen fluoride hit its surface. "These silicon interferometers can detect very, very small changes in color," says Sailor. A small laser, similar to that found in CD players, measures the small changes in intensity of light reflecting from the optical coating on the surface of the silicon chip. "It turns out that if you take a laser that´s at the right frequency that matches the properties of that layer, you can measure very small amounts of chemicals as they enter the coating," says Sailor. The researchers scavenged their first sensors from five inexpensive CD players they bought at an electronics discounter. "Our program manager at the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency, which sponsored our research, raised an eyebrow when I told him that story," says Sailor. "But for 24 bucks, we got an interferometer that was sensitive enough to detect chemicals in the parts per billion range."

=========

Comments:
This is indeed an interesting and inexpensive new sensor.

In the Gulf War, sarin was on the loose everywhere in small concentrations. The most active damaging ingredient in sarin is the fluorine effect on cells. This sensors looks for the fluorine presence. In the body the nerve gas decomposes into fluorine compounds that persist in the body and damage the immune resistance. Part of the effect produces long term storage of metals in the body as well and a combination of retained metals and diminished immunity to virals resulting that cooks down the immune resistance more and seriously damages health.

Very similar illnesses appear around gas diffision uranium enrichment plants that also have emitted lots of HF into the regions air.

---------------

Message: 13
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 14:30:39 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

ORNL could have role in expanded isotope production

August 23, 2000
by Paul Parson Oak Ridger staff
http://www.oakridger.com/

Oak Ridge could, depending on how the Department of Energy proceeds, play a vital role in the planned production of medical isotopes and fuel for NASA missions.

A discussion of Oak Ridge's involvement in the project was part of a public hearing on DOE's draft programmatic environmental impact statement held Tuesday night at the American Museum of Science and Energy.

The environmental impact statement analyzes the possible environmental effects from expanding DOE's nuclear research facility infrastructure to accommodate the projected growth in demand for medical and industrial isotopes, producing plutonium-238 to power future space exploration missions and supporting civilian nuclear energy research and development missions.

"We have identified six alternatives S and given them all equal consideration," said Colette Brown, program manager for the environmental impact statement.

Those alternatives include "no action," restarting the Fast Flux Test Facility, using only existing operational facilities, constructing new accelerator(s), constructing a new research reactor and permanently deactivating the Fast Flux Test Facility.

"We do not have a preferred alternative," Brown said. "One will be identified in the final [environmental impact statement]."

Two Oak Ridge National Laboratory facilities are being considered in the project.

The High Flux Isotope Reactor is suggested for use in irradiation of neptunium-237 targets for the production of plutonium-238. This should not affect DOE's Office of Science's use of the reactor.

The Radiochemical Engineering Development Center could be used for the storage, fabrication and processing of irradiated neptunium-237 targets. The REDC could be chosen even if HFIR is not selected for irradiating targets.

Out of state sites being considered include Hanford, Wash. and the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.

The draft programmatic environmental impact statement is available for review at the Oak Ridge Public Library or online at www.ne.doe.gov/

Comments can be mailed to Brown at the office of Space and Defense Power Systems, 1901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874-1290; faxed to 1-877-562-4592; left on voice mail by calling 1-877-562-4593; or e-mailed to Nuclear.Infrastructure-PEIS@hq.doe.gov

All comments are due by Sept. 18.

The final environmental impact statement on this project is scheduled to be published at the end of November and the record of decision is expected to be released in December.

-----------

Message: 14
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 14:14:47 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

INTERIOR DEPARTMENT ASKS EPA TO CLEAR AIR OVER PARKS

http://ens.lycos.com/ens/aug2000/2000L-08-22-09.html

WASHINGTON, DC, August 22, 2000 (ENS) - Persistent and worsening air pollution problems in national parks and wilderness areas have prompted the Department of Interior (DOI) to ask the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop new regulations to protect those areas. In a July 19 letter to EPA, Stephen Saunders, acting assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, wrote, "Twenty-three years after Congress declared that a purpose of the Clean Air Act is to preserve and enhance air quality in national parks and wilderness areas, we have documented serious and growing damage from air pollution in those special places. Recent actions by EPA to deal with nationwide and regional air pollution problems will help, but we don't think they will be enough. New measures, designed specifically to protect the special values of parks and wilderness areas, are necessary to accomplish the goal Congress set."

Adverse effects from air pollution, including acid rain, nitrogen pollution, ozone damage and reduced visibility, have been documented in numerous national parks and wilderness areas. DOI has asked EPA to adopt a general regulation that would provide authority for protecting resources and values within national parks and wilderness areas from the adverse effects of air pollution. DOI also asked EPA to take immediate action to mitigate documented adverse impacts on park resources and reverse deteriorating air quality trends. "Although we are grateful for the progress that has been made so far, we must do more now if we hope to protect the resources of parks like Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah," said Saunders. "Pollution levels continue to increase and are harming our natural environment and could be putting at risk the health of some park visitors." EPA will accept comments on DOI´s requests until December 7, by email: A-and-R-Docket@epa.gov.

============

Comments:
The acid rain effects on the Smokies is very stong. It is a combination of TVA power plant SOx and NOx emissions combined with HF emissions from K-25 and Y-12 over the years--------and with the ozone hole fallout products of organo F and Cl products. The pine trees on top of the smokies are all dying.

At low altitudes the honey bees are dying and the white clover is a rare thing.

Related effects in the local humans from all the F and Cl products make for many chronic ills.

-----------------

Message: 15
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 16:21:04 EDT
From: magnu96196@aol.com

HALOGEN OCCULTATION EXPERIMENT (HALOE)

September 1995
http://oea.larc.nasa.gov/PAIS/Haloe.html

NASA'S Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) is designed to monitor the vertical distributions of ozone and key upper atmosphere trace gases that affect the global ozone distribution by measuring the attenuation (reduction in intensity) of the Sun's energy in selected spectral bands as it passes through the Earth's atmosphere.

One of the 10 highly-instrumented experiments on NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), HALOE is scheduled to be launched in September aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. The instrument has a planned lifetime of at least 18 months.

UARS is the first comprehensive space experiment ever mounted to study the chemistry, dynamics and energetics of the Earth's upper atmosphere. It will provide valuable scientific input to critical policy decisions aimed at protecting the thin, fragile ozone layer which blocks harmful ultraviolet radiation from reaching the Earth's surface.

The UARS spacecraft will be delivered into a 348-mile (560 km) circular Earth orbit. After deployment by the Shuttle remote manipulator system, UARS will be boosted by a propulsion system on the spacecraft to a 363-mile (600 km) circular orbit, inclined 57 degrees to the equator.

Goddard Space Flight Center manages and directs the UARS mission for the Office of Space Sciences and Applications, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. The spacecraft was designed, built, integrated and tested by GE Astrospace, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and East Windsor, New Jersey.

HALOE Science Objectives Scientific objectives of the HALOE mission are to:

Improve understanding of stratospheric ozone depletion by collecting and analyzing global vertical profiles of ozone and gases important in its destruction: hydrogen chloride, methane, water vapor, nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide.

Study the chlorofluoromethane impact on ozone by measuring hydrogen chloride and hydrogen fluoride in addition to the other key chemical species, and using data on Freon 11, Freon 12 and chlorine nitrate obtained from other UARS experiments.

The science investigations will include studies of trace gas sources and depositories, transport mechanisms, dynamics, and validation of atmospheric and photochemical dynamics models.

The experiment uses gas filter correlation radiometry to measure hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, methane and nitric oxide, and broadband filter radiometry to measure water vapor, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide data will be used to obtain atmospheric temperature versus pressure profiles. HALOE Instrument Description The HALOE instrument hardware is contained in two separate packages, the Platform Electronics Assembly (PEA) and the Sensor Assembly. The PEA links the instrument with the spacecraft. The Sensor Assembly makes the science measurements and consists of eight science detectors and radiometers, a Cassegrain telescope, a two-axis gimbal assembly, a Sun sensor, the spacecraft adapter and supporting electronics.

The operating principles of gas filter correlation radiometry and conventional broadband filter radiometry are described below:

Gas Filter Correlation Radiometry Principle - Solar energy enters the gas correlation section of the instrument optics and is divided for each channel (hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, nitric oxide and methane) into two paths. Each channel has its own broadband optical filter and detector. The first path contains a cell filled with the gas to be measured; the second path is a vacuum path without gas. By electronically comparing the outputs of the gas and vacuum path detectors, scientists can derive chemical measurements.

Broadband Filter Radiometry Principle - The water vapor, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and carbon dioxide channels are conventional broadband filter radiometers. In this case, energy from the Sun comes in through only one path for each channel. After passing through a broadband optical filter, the energy is focused on a detector. By tracking the Sun, a signal is recorded outside the atmosphere and during occultation after absorption by the atmosphere. The ratio of the attenuated signal to the signal outside the atmosphere can be used to measure the gas concentration .

The Cassegrain telescope reflects solar energy through a series of beamsplitters and spectral filters to the photovoltaic detectors for the gas filter correlation channels and to the broadband filter radiometer channels. The atmospheric target gases are detected at specific wavelengths between 2.5 microns and 11 microns.

The instrument size is approximately 36 in. (spacecraft adapter to frame radiometer) by 24 in. (elevation gimbal to telescope) by 32 in. (telescope to Gimbal Electronics Assembly)or (92 x 62 x 81 cm). The Platform Electronics Assembly is approximately 9 x 10 x 6.6 inches (23.5 x 24.3 x 22.1 cm). The total mass of the instrument (Sensor Assembly and PEA) is 222 pounds (101 kg).

The initial design phase for HALOE was conducted by TRW Defense and Space Systems Group in Redondo Beach, California. The final design, fabrication, assembly and testing was completed in-house at Langley Research Center.

Instrument Operation

The HALOE instrument operates autonomously once powered and initialized. Commands are sent to the spacecraft computer to operate the instrument for one day to perform the sunrise and sunset data observations. When the spacecraft sends a command to perform a sunrise or sunset sequence, the instrument automatically performs a solar acquisition a balance of all gas filter correlation radiometer channels, limb to limb scans of the solar disk, a calibration activity, the science data measurement during occultation and then slews back to the stow position .

The Sun pointer/tracker subsystem consists of two coarse and one fine Sun sensors, a two-axis gimbal assembly, a microprocessor and drive electronics for gimbal motor control. Its function is to acquire the Sun, scan the solar disk and track a specified location on the solar disk during balance, calibration, and science data measurement activities for orbital sunrise or sunset events. Acquisition and tracking control signals for the gimbals are derived from the Sun sensors.

During a typical event, measurements will begin at a tangent height of 93 miles (150 km), where there is no atmospheric interference, down to the Earth's surface or until the Sun is obscured by clouds. HALOE will view approximately 15 sunrises and sunsets each day collecting data on vertical trace gas concentrations. Each event will occur at a different latitude and longitude, and global coverage is repeated every 3 to 4 weeks.

Data Processing

Data from the HALOE instrument will be stored in one of two tape recorders aboard the UARS observatory. The data will be transmitted to the White Sands receiving system through the Tracking Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS). Routine processing of the data will occur at the Central Data Handling Facility (CDHF) at the Goddard Space Flight Center with software provided by the Langley science team. Interaction with the CDHF will be through a direct data link between the HALOE Remote Analysis Computer at Langley Research Center and the CDHF.

Processed data will contain species concentration profiles as a function of global location and time. The profiles will be mapped out on a global and seasonal basis as the data accumulates during the mission.

All UARS data will be archived at the Goddard Space Flight Center.

Scientific Value

Ozone in the Earth's atmosphere reaches concentrations of only about 12 parts ozone to one million air molecules, yet it has profound effects on Earth life. If the ozone level is changed, the solar ultraviolet level at the Earth's surface is altered. Serious biological and economical impacts can occur in areas such as human health, crop and plant growth, perturbations to micro organisms in the soil and oceans, weathering of materials, and possible climate and weather alterations. A 1 percent decline in ozone levels, for example, can lead to a 2 percent rise in human skin cancer. Also, if ozone is depleted, the stratospheric temperature rise will be altered leading to changes in atmospheric stability due to the weakened temperature inversion.

A growing body of evidence has led to a consensus in the scientific community that manmade activities are perturbing the ozone layer. The recent Antarctic ozone "hole" finding, for example, can only be explained by considering reactions involving aerosol particles and chlorine compounds formed after dissociation of the man-made chlorofluoromethanes (CFM's). These CFM's are used as refrigerants and in various industrial applications. The extent to which such effects occur outside the Antarctic region is unknown. Consequently, it is very important that the ozone layer be monitored globally and over a long time period.

The overall goal of HALOE is to provide global-scale data on temperature, ozone and other key trace gases needed to study and to better understand the chemistry, dynamics and radiative processes of the middle atmosphere (6-74 miles or 10-120 km) and to study the impact of CFM's on ozone using hydrogen fluoride observations, in combination with other HALOE data. The figure shows the major chlorine source species entering the middle atmosphere.

They interact with ozone, the nitrogen and hydrogen oxides, and with solar radiation to form the reservoir molecules hydrogen chloride and hydrogen fluoride. For every chlorine atom formed in the middle atmosphere by dissociation of the CFM molecules, approximately 1,000 ozone molecules are destroyed. HALOE studies will be aimed at evaluating the relative importance of man-made and natural chlorine sources in ozone destruction. Since the primary man-made chlorine sources (i.e., the CFM's) contain both chlorine and fluorine in the molecule, while natural sources (e.g. methyl chloride and carbon tetrachloride) contain only chlorine, hydrogen fluoride becomes an indicator of man-made chlorine input to the middle atmosphere. Hydrogen chloride is an indicator of the total chlorine input. The relative importance of these two sources can be inferred by studying changes in hydrogen chloride and hydrogen fluoride with time.

HALOE Implementation

The Langley Research Center is responsible for providing the scientific instrument for the HALOE investigation, the instrument flight operations, the science data products through HALOE data processing and data management systems, and managing the Science Team and its investigations.

HALOE Science Team

Dr. James M. Russell III, HALOE Principal Investigator, Langley Research Center
Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone, University of California/lrvine
Prof. S. Roland Drayson, University of Michigan
Prof. John E. Frederick, University of Chicago
Dr. Adrian F. Tuck, Aeronomy Lab/NOAA/ERL, Boulder, Colorado
Prof. Dr. Paul J. Crutzen, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Federal Republic of Germany
Dr. John E. Harries, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, United Kingdom
Dr. Jae H. Park, NASA Langley Research Center
Larry L. Gordley, Gats Inc., Hampton,Va.
W. Donald Hesketh, SpaceTec Ventures Inc., Hampton, Va.
HALOE Project Management
Dewey M. Smith, Project Manager
Thomas C. Jones, Deputy Project Manager
Dr. James M. Russell lil, Principal Investigator
John G. Wells, Flight Operations and Science Manager
Kenneth V. Haggard, Science Software and Data Processing Manager