------- Index of Articles

NUCLEAR
Greeneville court of inquiry to present report Friday
Scientists Unravel Clues to Behavior of Plutonium
Cogema says 2000 profits up 66%.
Beijing fears extinction
No chance of Czech nuclear plant meltdown
Fresh fears over depleted uranium
Civilians Contaminated by Depleted Uranium
New method to predict plutonium stability
All calm as German nuke train reaches French plant
Clarity on Pakistan
Powell emphasizes North's repression
A 'little chat´ with India
Taiwan premier says he'll punish Taipower
A call to arm
US companies eye new nuclear plants after over 25 years
Chao reverses position, agrees to run benefits program
Future of RECA still up in the air
Dirty Secrets - The Lowdown on Lowry
RAISE FOR CON ED CHIEF
Uranium test offered to residents
DOE offering 10 Hanford site tours
Synthetic Clay Could Assist Radioactive Waste Cleanup
New chemistry offers alternative plutonium storage process
NRC asked to OK return of German waste.

MILITARY
For World's People, Jobs, Not Guns
U.S. wary of pact to curb small-arms sales
Leaving Colombia
CLUB OWNER MAY SELL
Pennsylvania
Our marijuana policy is a joke
No More Finger-Pointing
Navy To Resume Exercises on Vieques
Metro Matters: Pataki, Politics and Bombing Vieques
Foes of China, Cuba press U.N. censure
Gulf War vets have more health problems than colleagues
Official wants atoll to lose all trace of man
Defense priority No. 1: military readiness

OTHER
Fuel cells promise clean power for cars, tomorrow
Environmental Groups Release Accident Scenario Reports
US chemical pollution up 5 pct in latest year
ARSENIC FROM YOUR TAP
Recyclers to Pay Millions in Lead Dumping
Moratorium Asked on Suits That Seek to Protect Species
CAMDEN: DREDGING PROJECT CRITICIZED
Britain woos tourists put off livestock disease
Crude oil blowout pollutes Brazilian coast
Norton says lawyers eating endangered species costs
Chairman wants review of decision on Homestead AFB
LAW ON ENGINEERED FISH
Judge approves national park Jet Skis ban
States
Taiwan and China's W.T.O. Application
Globalization? It's 5,000 years old
Complaint Agency Backs Plan to Shift Police Discipline
Safir Says Museum Told Police About Cars Leased for Officers
Panel Seeks Impeachment Proceedings Against Verniero
Appeals for Peace in Ohio After Two Days of Protests
Cincinnati Mayor Declares Emergency and Sets Curfew
State of emergency declared in Cincinnati
States
Violence worsens, spreads
CINCINNATI UNDER SIEGE
China Gets White House's Attention
Tempers Over China Cooling
Delicate Diplomatic Dance Ends Bush's First Crisis
Ending the Spy Plane Deadlock
China Policy, Without Regrets
Crew Arrives in Hawaii
Bush passes first test; China earns new scrutiny
Rethink spy missions
Crew disputes Chinese account, Bush rakes Beijing
Frank and Hoser
Taiwan awaits fallout following release
Chinese people riled by outcome
Beijing says U.S. admits responsibility in letter
Letter to Chinese
U.S. says it won't debate airspace rights
Rice woke Bush with news of China's acceptance
Homeward bound House Editorial
China releases crew of U.S. plane

ACTIVISTS
Guyana chief pleads for end to protests
People's perspective on WTO riots
Protesters are fighting to save capitalism
No one elected the demonstrators


-------- NUCLEAR

Greeneville court of inquiry to present report Friday

USA Today
04/12/2001
http://usatoday.com/news/nation/2001-04-12-greeneville.htm

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) - Three admirals who conducted an inquiry into the sinking of a Japanese fishing vessel by the USS Greeneville will recommend Friday what, if any, disciplinary action officers on the submarine should face, a Navy official said. Vice Adm. John Nathman and Rear Adms. Paul Sullivan and David Stone will present their nearly 2,000-page report to Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Thomas Fargo in a meeting at Pearl Harbor, the Navy official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. They will be joined by Adm. Isamu Ozawa of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, the official said. Ozawa was included in deliberations with the three American admirals but did not have a vote.

Fargo had initially planned to receive the report Saturday in San Diego, where he was to attend a celebration honoring a submarine squadron. Nathman, the panel's presiding officer, is stationed there.

But the official said Fargo canceled the trip to remain in Hawaii for the arrival of 24 U.S. spy plane crew members who spent 11 days in captivity on the Chinese island of Hainan.

The crew members are scheduled to leave Hawaii for Whidbey Island, Wash., at about 7:30 a.m. Saturday after two days of debriefings.

Nine people were killed when the Greeneville surfaced beneath the Ehime Maru nine miles off Diamond Head while conducting an emergency rapid-ascent drill for 16 civilian guests on Feb. 9.

After Fargo receives the report, he will take up to 30 days to decide how to act on the panel's recommendations. The submarine officers could face courts-martial, administrative discipline or other action. Fargo is not bound to take any specific action.

The court of inquiry investigated the actions of the submarine's skipper, Cmdr. Scott Waddle; his executive officer, Lt. Cmdr. Gerald Pfeifer; and the officer of the deck, Lt. j.g. Michael Coen.

Waddle has been reassigned to the Pearl Harbor submarine staff pending the outcome of the inquiry. Pfeifer and Coen remain assigned to the Greeneville, which returned to sea Wednesday for the first time since the collision and $2 million in repairs to its rubber exterior.

-------

Scientists Unravel Clues to Behavior of Plutonium
Research may help safety of storing nuclear weapons

Keay Davidson, Chronicle Science Writer
Thursday, April 12, 2001
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/04/12/MN196174.DTL

The sometimes-unpredictable behavior of plutonium -- the world's most feared element -- is now considerably more predictable, an achievement that could help ensure the safe maintenance or disposal of nuclear weapons, scientists said yesterday.

Discovered at the University of California at Berkeley early in World War II, plutonium is the key to the U.S. nuclear arsenal: It is the fissionable material that makes most nuclear bombs explode.

Physicists have long been fascinated by plutonium's strange behavior, including its tendency to expand rapidly when heated and its ability to transform into eight "states" -- akin to the solid, liquid and vapor states of water -- more than any other element.

Scientists have tried to develop computer models that accurately predict the rate of plutonium expansion when it is heated. But they have met with frustration and only intermittent success -- until now.

Now, thanks to "a new viewpoint on the physics of plutonium," three physics professors at Rutgers University have developed a computer model that more precisely predicts plutonium's expansion rate, they report in today's issue of Nature.

The achievement could have practical applications. For one thing, it could improve the ability to store and dispose of plutonium from nuclear weapons in the post-Cold War world, say the article's authors, Sergei Y. Savrasov and two colleagues.

Also, experts speculate, the new computer model could be applied to predict the behavior of other elements and create new materials. Such materials might have commercial or military applications, such as microchips that can store far more information.

"It opens a lot of new possibilities for simulating properties of materials, " Savrasov said. He co-authored the paper with Gabriel Kotliar and Elihu Abrahams.

The behavior of plutonium is of special interest nowadays, as world nuclear weapons arsenals rapidly shrink. No new nuclear weapons are being built to replace the old bombs as they age. No one is sure how the aging bombs' spherical plutonium cores will behave as decades pass. The Pentagon fears that if the plutonium cores change their shape in subtle ways, the aged bombs might "fizzle" if used in a future conflict.

Consequently, the Energy Department is funding billons of dollars of research to learn how to predict the long-term behavior of bomb components, including plutonium.

Another concern is how waste plutonium, buried in underground containers in Nevada and New Mexico, will behave over centuries and millennia. Plutonium's sensitivity to temperature changes is a natural concern in those desert locales, which have experienced intermittent volcanic activity over geological time.

The Rutgers team's model better predicts the behavior of plutonium by simulating the interactions of its atomic fabric -- namely, the jillions of plutonium atoms and their accompanying chorus lines of electrons. The "new viewpoint" is based, in part, on a refined understanding of how electrons move as plutonium shifts from one state to another.

A plutonium atom is extraordinarily complex, containing 94 electrons and 244 subatomic particles in two classes -- positively charged particles called protons and neutral particles known as neutrons, said R. C. Albers, who has been a theoretical physicist at Los Alamos for the past 24 years. He authored a commentary on the Savrasov team's work for the same issue of Nature.

Albers compares the plutonium-prediction task to astronomers who predict the behavior of the planetary system. In a "celestial mechanics" model based solely on the gravitational pull of the sun, planetary motions can be predicted with reasonable accuracy well into the future, he notes.

However, if a scientist seeks more precise predictions, he must account not only for the gravitational pull of the sun but of the gravity of each individual planet and its moons. That quickly makes the prediction "very complicated, because you've got nine planets -- and worse, they're all moving simultaneously," Albers said.

A similar problem, Albers continued, faces physicists who try to predict the behavior of plutonium, except they're wrestling not with the sun, planets and moons but with all of the electrons simultaneously moving in the electrical field of the nuclei.

E-mail Keay Davidson at kdavidson@sfchronicle.com.

-------- business

Cogema says 2000 profits up 66%.

From: "Paul Maser" <pmaser@govmail.state.nv.us>
Platts
12Apr2001
Paris (Nuclear News Flashes)

Cogema announced a 66% rise in net profit for 2000, with sales up 18% to euro 5.947-billion. The share of export sales for the Cogema group also rose, from 41.2% in 1999 to 45.3% last year. Operating profit was euro 266-million, or 4.5% of sales, compared with euro 101-million and 2% of sales in 1999. The company said the rise was due to both growth in the group's own business and integration of the 34% share of Framatome which Cogema acquired at the end of 1999, as well as its 26% share of mining company Eramet. Cogema's share of group profit last year stood at euro 256-million versus euro 154-million in 1999. Cogema aims to improve its operating profit this year, and noted its acquisition at the beginning of 2001 of Canberra, making Cogema the world's largest nuclear measurement instrumentation firm.

-------- china

Beijing fears extinction

The Washington Times www.washtimes.com
Published 4/12/01
Arnold Beichman
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20010412-336036.htm

Before he seized power in 1949, Mao Tse-tung pledged publicly that he would these are his words "submit to a democratic decision of the people of the whole country the question of whether the Soviet system of society is to be adopted by the whole of China or not."

Mao never did any such thing, of course. There was no "democratic decision." Mao lied, confirming what Robert Conquest once wrote that Leninism "had as one of its main characteristics falsification on an enormous scale." Marxism-Leninism triumphed in China with Mao´s Big Lie. The misbegotten People´s Republic of China (PRC), which under Mao´s direction killed perhaps 50 million people, exists with lying as its modus operandi.

What we heard from Beijing about the Hainan POW´s sweating it out in the Hainan Hilton is on a par with the Soviet lies which were told to explain away the 1983 destruction of the civilian Korean airliner during the two-year reign of Yuri Andropov, the ex-KGB chief.

China has never been more dangerous to peace in Asia than it is today because its leadership is in a state of panic. It doesn´t quite know what to do to maintain the dictatorship. Its leadership is seeking the impossible to fit 19th-century Marxism-Leninism into 21st-century globalization. Under "market socialism," people not the fictitious proletariat make their own decisions. The communist dictators fear the inevitable the fall of communism, as in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. They are, therefore, determined to prevent a Chinese "perestroika" from leading to an overthrow of the party dictatorship as Mikhail Gorbachev´s "perestroika" did in the Soviet Union.

China´s blustering behavior in blaming the United States for the death of a Chinese jet pilot is normal Marxist-Leninist lying. The crash into the U.S. plane was, I believe, a premeditated suicidal-homicidal act with no survivors. It was intended to put our country on a collision course with communist China and thus arouse in the Chinese people the kind of nationalist spirit which would restore the party´s legitimacy even among the reformers and what in Mao´s day were contemptuously called "capitalist roaders."

Remember that China´s Communist Party still venerates the greatest mass murderer in world history, Mao Tse-tung. His embalmed corpse is still on display in Tiananmen Square, scene of the 1989 massacre of Chinese students who wanted to see genuine democracy in China. It is also the scene more recently of the arrest and imprisonment of a group of harmless, elderly Chinese members of the Falun Gong.

Let us also remember what the 1999 Cox report on Chinese nuclear espionage reported to Congress, that the PRC has stolen design information on the United States´ most advanced thermonuclear weapons, and that China´s penetration of our national weapons laboratories spans at least the past several decades and almost certainly continues today.

The Chinese dictatorship might even welcome a return to the era of Mao. When Deng Xiaoping announced some two decades ago that Marxism didn´t have all the answers, he opened up Pandora´s box. When he said the color of the cat didn´t matter so long as it caught mice, capitalist cats emerged everywhere and China suddenly was in the middle of an economic renaissance as never before in Chinese history.

Marxism-Leninism may be passe but the Chinese Communist Party´s will to power is not. Joint ventures with American firms, admission to the World Trade Organization, technology transfers, capital flows and all those other good things endanger the communist regime. And who personifies all those good things? The United States and its human-rights crusade. Next crisis in less than 10 days when the United States authorizes arms sales to Taiwan.

When the Hainan POWs are finally freed, it will not be the end of communist intransigence and hostility. Jiang Zemin and his allies have had a choice a modernized, democratic China or a China ruled by a dictatorship founded on a defunct ideology. They have made their choice and the Hainan POWs were the latest victims. More to come.

Arnold Beichman, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, is a columnist for The Washington Times.

-------- czech republic

No chance of Czech nuclear plant meltdown

Planet Ark
April 12, 2001
REUTERS
Story by Eva Munk
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10490

PRAGUE - A Czech-led independent commission yesterday said its study shows the controversial Soviet-designed Temelin nuclear power plant is safe and that there is no possibility of a Chernobyl-style meltdown.

The study, which included observers from the EU, Austria and Germany, gave Temelin high marks in an environmental impact study ordered by the Czech government in January after demands from neighbouring Austria.

"Overall, the commission unambiguously agreed that the impact of the Temelin nuclear plant on the environment is low, not significant and acceptable, both under normal operation and in the case of accidents," the report said.

The study ruled out the possibility of a Chernobyl-style meltdown at the Czech plant, due to construction differences such as a graphite moderator in the Chernobyl plant and a water moderator at the Temelin plant.

"There are of course several other differences, but already from these it is apparent that what happened at Chernobyl could not be repeated in Temelin," the report said.

Last year's launch of testing operations at the plant was fiercely opposed by Austria, which considers it unsafe despite being fitted with modern U.S. control systems.

Since the launch Temelin, located less than 50 km (30 miles) from the Austrian border and around 200 km from the Czech capital Prague, has been shut several times during testing due to various problems which officials have called normal in the start up of a plant.

None of the problems have involved any leaks of radioactive materials and plant operator CEZ hopes to have the first of two blocs in full operation this summer.

While Austria took part in observing the methods used to carry out the study, it still has complaints about the plant.

The study, which will form the basis for further discussions between Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman and Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel in May, strictly adheres to European directives on the use of atomic power, said commission member Miroslav Martis.

In addition to evaluating environmental impact arising under normal operation, the study carried out computer models of what would happen in the event of accidents.

"Even though it was outside the scope of the study, we let the reactor melt down, we let the water container around it crack and we modelled what happens," Martis said.

In the case of an extreme accident, areas within three to five km of the plant would be levelled and areas between 13 and 14 km could be affected by radiation, he said.

"We stayed inside a 13-kilometre zone (for radiation contamination) and nothing got out," he said.

The report chided officials for secrecy surrounding the plant and its operations, saying more openness would help both sides.


-------- depleted uranium

Fresh fears over depleted uranium

Thursday, 12 April, 2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/scotland/newsid_1273000/1273053.stm

The programme examines effects on civilians An investigation into the effects of weapons containing depleted uranium has uncovered contamination in urine samples from people in Kosovo and Bosnia.

The study - to be broadcast on BBC Scotland's Eorpa programme on Thursday - concludes it is likely that depleted uranium is present in the food chain.

The finding has been described as "interesting" by Defence Minister Dr Lewis Moonie.

But he stressed that the levels of depleted uranium posed no risk to public health.

There is continuing controversy about the possible health impact on both military personnel and the local population.

This is the first time that civilians in the region have been tested for contamination.

The study, carried out by Professor Nick Priest of Middlesex University, looked at people in three different locations - one in Bosnia and two in Kosovo.

"So far all the results for every single one of the samples collected in Kosovo is showing some depleted uranium in the urine," he said.

"That is completely abnormal, because normally you would expect no DU to be in the urine samples."

No evidence

His conclusion was that it was likely that the metal was present in the food chain.

The study did not investigate possible health problems.

Previous studies have found no evidence of a link, although a recent United Nations report acknowledged that there remain "considerable scientific uncertainties."

The programme also reveals that a proposed voluntary testing programme for Kosovan civilians has been shelved following the intervention of the World Health Organisation.

Teenager Vlora Marleku told the programme: "I am worried, I don't know what to say. This is something that touches you very deeply."

However, Dr Moonie said the DU levels posed no risk to health, and represented only a "tiny fraction" of naturally-occurring background uranium.

"It is a very interesting result and one that needs to be followed up," he said.

In February, the UK government defended its decision to go ahead with new tests of depleted uranium weapons at the Dundrennan military range near Kirkcudbright in Scotland.

Dr Moonie said then that people in the south-west of Scotland had been subjected to scare stories about the dangers posed by the shells.

The government is offering testing for those in the armed forces who are worried they may have been exposed to DU.

However, he stressed that the aim was to offer reassurance to the troops and address their concerns.

Eorpa will be shown on BBC2 Scotland on Thursday 12 April at 1930BST.

----

Civilians Contaminated by Depleted Uranium

BBC 2 Scotland
Thursday 12 April 2001
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/alba/programan/eorpa/transcripteng.shtml

Transcript Anna MacLeod: Tonight, Eňrpa reveals the results of specially commissioned research on the effect the use of depleted uranium ammunition has had on civilians in Bosnia and Kosovo. For the first time ever, we've done tests on the levels of depleted Uranium present in the bodies of some of the people living in the Balkans - we ask what these results mean for the health of the majority.

2 years ago Nato bombed Milosevic's troops into submission. A war spurred on by outrage at ethnic cleansing. Among the Kosovars it was seen as a deliverance from the evil of Milosevic's brutal regime.

Today people are trying to start new lives but there's growing unease about the price of bombing. Specifically the use of DU weapons.

This woman stayed on during the bombing campaign. Serb tanks had surrounded some of the houses. She remembers the night Nato bombed the tanks.

Miljana Marleku: We didn't dare to come closer. We just saw smoke and fire and heard an explosion. We were a kilometre away from here but didn't dare to come and see what happened. We were very scared, but it was even more frightening for the children than it was for us.

Anna MacLeod: The bombs that destroyed the tanks were DU-tipped. Nato uses them because they're so much stronger. There's a pocket of Depleted Uranium inside the shell. When it hits its target the uranium burns and vaporises, punching through armour plating.

Earlier this year debate raged over the safety of DU. Six Italian soldiers who'd served in the Balkans died of leukaemia Some feared their illness was caused by DU.

As the political row raged at the beginning of the year some international workers in Kosov feared they might have DU in their bodies.

Somne agencies started offering testing to reassure them.

Anna MacLeod in Klina: A number of European Governments have tested soldiers who were involved in the Balkan conflict for depleted uranium. But until now no tests have been done on those closest to the front-line - the local population.

We took a nuclear expert to Kosovo and Bosnia to test people who may have been exposed to DU. Prof Nick Priest wants to establish if there is DU in the region or in people.

We visited three towns as part of the research. Professor Priest has very definite views on the kind of testing that has gone ahead so far to gauge levels of uranium in the body.

Prof Nick Priest: Useless. The type of test - from my understanding, unless people have done things which I'm not aware of - my understanding is that the tests that have been done so far on servicemen is just measuring total excretion of uranium and all that tells you really is how much uranium you swallowed the day before and you really need to use other types of tests in order to work out how much uranium is in the body.

Anna MacLeod: These people have agreed to take part in Professor Priest's research. They'll have to collect a urine sample over an 8-hour period.

The professor has developed a new test, which will identify if Depleted Uranium as well as natural Uranium is present.

This was once a lively suburb. Today it is deserted. Serb tanks detroyed the houses. They in turn were destroyed by DU shells. We tested for higher levels of radioactivity in the area.

Prof Nick Priest looking at tank: I suspect we're not going to find huge levels of radiation here because it will have been removed. But you're always going to get residual radioactivity left behind.

Anna MacLeod: Children play just yards away. Families are returning. Later this year they will eat the vegetables they'll grow in this garden. Where the soil is more radioactive than it is round the tanks. If DU has got into the food chain the chances are people like this will be affected.

Jahir Gashi: When we came back to our house from the mountains we found a big bomb had blown a crater in the garden. We had to clear it away ourselves, no-one helped us move it. We threw it into the river.

Anna MacLeod: After the devastation of war people are starting to re-build their lives. But under a cloud. Miljana is anxious to know whether or not she has DU in her system. With this special test we'll be able to give her an answer.

In Kosovo the Allied troops dropped around 9 tonnes of DU ammunition. In the Bosnian war they used about 3 tonnes. Questions about the safety of Nato shells have arisen there.

Anna MacLeod: Here in North-Eastern Bosnia there are now fears about the use of DU weapons. Many people fled to this area from Sarajevo after the war had destroyed their homes. Illness rates amongst the refugee population are increasing and the mortality rate is rising - people here blame DU.

The suburb many of these people used to live in was in the Serb-held part of Sarajevo. Close by their houses there was a munitions factory. Nato blew up the factory. Now fears are increasing that people from that area are dying after exposure to DU.

This man's father died of cancer last year. He says it was caused by DU in the air at the time of the bombing.

Nedeljko Zelenovic: 'My father died on the 30th May last year of lung cancer. He was ill for between 3 and 4 months. Before and during the war he worked in that factory in Hadzici. When the bombing happened he was inside the factory and one part of the wall which was hit collapsed on top of him'

Anna MacLeod: The people who came from Hadzici make up one seventh of the total population in the town. However one local doctor has noticed a disturbing trend in the number of patients among people from Hadzici over the past few years. The people who were close to the DU bombing in Sarajevo.

Dr. Slavica Jovanovic: I got information that the mortality rate amongst the refugees, especially those from Hadzici and other parts of Sarajevo was increasing every year. In the year 2000 the mortality rate was almost 4 times higher among refugees from parts of Sarajevo than it was among the local population.

Anna MacLeod: At the local health centre care for seriously ill patients is limited. They have to travel for treatment: an expensive, difficult journey. They don't even have access to proper pain relief.

DU is undoubtedly a political issue. It has been hijacked by the Serb nationalists as an easy way to hit out at the west. Blaming Nato for death and heartache. But Nedeljko says he's not running an anti-Nato campaign. He just wants to find out what is causing the high death rate among his community and he wants to discover if there's DU in his system.

Nedeljko Zelenovic: Some fellow journalists have asked me whether this is my private war against Nato. It is far from that. The basic goal of this is to help those people who are ill, to reduce the mortality rate among people from Hadzici. We have people who have been diagnosed with cancer. They have no money and there is nowhere suitable to treat them. Without medical help they are sentenced to death like many of those at the cemetery.

Anna MacLeod: And there is still a sharp division of opinion regarding the actual danger of DU. Nick Priest worked in the nuclear industry and he maintains DU is safe.

Prof Nick Priest: There's a lot of speculation about the effects of Depleted Uranium - traditionally one would think that the effects were unlikely to be very great unless people had large intakes. Certainly, everybody's got Uranium in them - it is a natural component of the body and levels similar to the natural levels quite clearly would not have an effect. The difficulty is that we do not know what happens with very much larger doses - though conventional theory suggest that it is not likely to be significantly toxic.

Anna MacLeod: But some warn of the danger of complacency. This man is an adviser to a government committee on the issue of Gulf war syndrome, which he believes to be caused by depleted uranium. He warns that any radioactivity in the body is dangerous.

Prof Malcolm Hooper: What we do know is that ionised radiation is not good for you - it is associated with damage to cells and to the genetic material of cells which can lead to diseases like cancer, like leukaemia. Thirdly we know that it can lead to other types of diseases like lung fibrosis. It can cause damage to skin, to kidneys, it can cause damage to bone and blood-forming organs - it can cause damage to the brain - we know this and to simply say that there is no increased risk is not a credible statement.

Anna MacLeod: Kosovo still lives with the legacy of the conflict. A quarter of the known minefields are still to be cleared. Who knows how many unmarked mines there are.

In Djakovice Nato targeted an army barracks. It was reduced to rubble.

Some people in the town are worried that sites like this aren't cordoned off. And that people can walk across bomb sites.

Prof Nick Priest: I'm getting about 5 counts every second and that's background radioactivity - definitely this surface has got perhaps 2 or 3 times background in terms of the number of counts - check this

Anna MacLeod: So it could be in the is radioactive - we can't say whether it was actually in the building material or it could have been as a result of DU ammunition

Prof. Nick Priest: Yes - this surface is radioactive - now the surface can either be radioactive because weapons containing DU were deployed here or it is possible that it is natural radioactivity which has been incorporated in the tile during its manufacture.

Anna MacLeod: There's a school close by with over 1000 pupils. Some of the children have already been injured by landmines. 90% of them live within metres of the bombed area. The head fears that being so close to the bomb-sites could pose a health threat

Muhamed Iljazi, Headmaster: No team, either Kosovar or international has come here to determine whether this area is contaminated by DU or not.

Anna MacLeod: This woman is a paediatrician in the hospital in Djakovica. She fears an increase in illness amongst kids in years to come. For the time being she is very concerned that kids can access bomb sites.

Dr. Jeta Pruthaj: There are places which were attacked more than other places. I wouldn't want any children or adults to go near places like the military barracks, Cabrat hill or places like that. It's dangerous because debris left over from the war is still radioactive.

Anna MacLeod: But the question that no-one has asked yet is whether the people here have DU in their bodies.

Back at the University of London the tests are being run at Royal Holloway College. Nick Priest has prepared the samples. First the urine is dried off. Leaving only the elements the body has excreted, they're usually introduced through food.

Then the reduced remains are dipped in a special solution. And Prof Matthew Thirwell runs the sample through a mass spectrometer. This machine will recognise the different uranium isotopes and the ratios in which they occur. With that information they can deduce whether or not depleted uranium is present.

We can instantly see the different uranium levels in each sample. We were with Nick and Matthew in the lab as the results started to come through. Nick explained what they had found.

Prof. Nick Priest: So far all the results for every single one of the samples collected in Kosovo have shown some depleted uranium in the urine - the amounts of urine vary and the fraction of depleted uranium varies as well but in every single result we are finding some level of depleted uranium

Anna MacLeod: How ordinary is that?

Prof Nick Priest: That's completely abnormal because normally you would expect no depleted uranium to be in the skeleton whatsoever or in the urine samples

Anna MacLeod: First we had tested someone who does not live in Kosovo - they registered no depleted uranium in their system.. But all the volunteers we tested in the Balkans showed up some level of DU in their system. They were old and young - one child born a year after the conflict. Male and female. Our expert was in no doubt as to where it could have come from.

Professor Priest is in no doubt as to where the depleted uranium came from.

Prof. Nick Priest: It seems self evident to me that the depleted uranium came from the use of DU weapons within the Balkan wars

Anna MacLeod: Our findings shocked one expert who has studied the effect of depleted uranium on the body.

Prof Malcolm Hooper: I would not have anticipated such a finding. I would have been very much more cautious in my own estimates and guess work - but this seems to be the case -We've let the genie out the bottle. This depleted uranium is out, it is in the community and it seems to affect everyone.

Anna MacLeod: Although Nato continue to have confidence in depleted uranium shells they recognise that our report marks an important development.

Mark Laity NATO: The report's interesting, we recognise that this is a serious respectable piece of work and that Professor Priest has done his job responsibly - and so the report first of all is interesting - so I think we'd like to take more of a look at it - I know that the MOD in the UK does but also we have our own ad hoc committee on depleted uranium and I think that I'd like to see this work go to that ad hoc committee for distribution amongst the nations. This is respectable work and we recognise that this has been responsibly done.

Anna MacLeod: Back in Kosovo people were waiting for the results. We took the news back to them and spoke to some of the people who had agreed to be tested. Without exception the ones we spoke to were concerned.

This girl has a higher level of DU than her neighbours. She doesn't understand why. But she fears that depleted uranium will damage her healthh. Her worst fear is that she'll develop cancer.

Vlora Marleku: I am worried, I don't know what to say, this is something that touches you very deeply. This worries me a lot. Cancer is a difficult disease which destroys your health and everything else.

Anna MacLeod: Just down the road one of her neighbours is worried about what the results might reveal. Miljana is afraid that the presence of depleted uranium is bad news for the ommunity A hidden danger around them. But there is no information for these people about DU and its health implications. Not even to reassure them.

Miljana Marleku: We've been told that we have depleted uranium. I don't want that to be true for my children because it could kill them And I don't want to see my child in that situation.

Anna MacLeod: The truth is that no-one knows what the long-term effects of DU are. But the reality is that people are afraid of the worst. We took the results to the WHO in Kosovo. They are responsible for driving health care in the region, but action on depleted uranium is well down their list of priorities.

Erik Schouten WHO: It is important to look at the relative risks - how big is the risk of depleted uranium for example compared to the risk of lead - our idea is that it is comparable to the risk of being hit by lightening and the risk of being involved in a car accident - the lead problem is big - it is a big environmental problem - we see growth retardation, we see these types of problems in the population of Metrovica. Compared to this, compared to the lead problem the problem of depleted uranium is very, very, very small.

Anna MacLeod: At the beginning of the year it was announced that the WHO and UNMIK would collaborate in setting up a civilian testing scheme. But WHO experts said it wasn't necessary and it was shelved. Local doctors say there's a desperate need for such a scheme, though. Especially in the light of our findings that DU is in some people.

Dr. Haxhi Ibishi: Kosovo is a protectorate. International organisations manage and observe the whole of Kosovo, including the issue of health. WHO and UNMIK are obliged along with the international bodies and NATO to draw up a detailed project and to address the issue.

Anna MacLeod: Depleted Uranium could have long-term health implications. If indeed the higher levels of cancer in Bosnia are related to the use of DU the knowledge that it is present in people here is disturbing. There was three times as much DU used in Kosovo as there was in Bosnia.

Depleted uranium shells were used to target places like this. Several groups have tested the environment surrounding this area and they have found varying degrees of contamination. Despite the fact that the international clean-up has started, some fear that enough has not been done to date. The question is - is it too late now that depleted uranium is present in the population?

At the beginning of the year Italian and Portuguese troops in Kosovo started a clean-up campaign round the tanks we saw and other locations. They turned up for the clean-up wearing protective clothing. Locals had been living there with no protection for 18 months.

There are accusations that places like this aren't closed off properly. A dangerous location which could be contaminated, but who reads the warning sign?

Pekka Haavisto: 'I don't think it is as strictly controlled as it should be. We were there in November 2000 and we noticed then that within Kfor the attitudes towards these risks varied greatly. Mainly in the Italian sector the risks were taken seriously, but in other sectors this work hadn't even started.'

Anna MacLeod: Many people were concerned that DU could be found in the food chain. According to Prof. Priest's conclusions it looks as if it is. Anyone eating contaminated food could be exposed to it. That discovery shocks the director of this independent research centre in France. She says it's a very bad sign.

Corinne Castanier - Commission for Independent Research on Radioactivity: If the food chain is contaminated then that means that the environment is contaminated and that is very worrying. It is a problem. It is even more worrying that the UN report didn't identify it. There are serious questions to ask.

Anna MacLeod: The UN's report does recommend closing off some sites. But if DU is as safe as Nato claim then why should that be necessary? Nato's spokesman admits that the conflicting views make matters uncertain.

Mark Laity Nato: There's a slight contradiction between some of the statements which were made in that UNEP's report indicates, and the Who's report and the EU - all independent - all indicate that there is not a problem - but then they say, just to be on the safe side - so what they are doing is saying there is not a problem, however, let's be super safe - well that you can argue over but I think that the fact that they say let's cordon the sites off doesn't change the fact that the rest of the report points very firmly to the fact that there isn't a problem - that they've not found a problem.

Anna MacLeod: Pekka Haavisto is angry that they didn't get more support from Nato when they were trying to locate the different places where DU was used.

Pekka Haavisto: It took us a little over a year to find out where DU was used. That was a bad thing in the sense that it would have been better if we could have started measuring the degrees of contamination right after the bombings as we did in Serbia after the chemical plant accidents after they happened in June 1999 when the bombings were over. I think waiting for a year was quite unnecessary and in a way also endangered people's health and safety in these areas.

Anna MacLeod:People here will have to live with uncertainty and unanswered questions until more detailed tests are carried out. The Kosovar Albanians welcomed Nato and some now see the issue of DU as something they have to live with. If it is contamination, they say they'd prefer to die like that than be killed by Serbian soldiers.

Dr. Haxhi Ibishi: We need to raise awareness among medical organisational structures to get this problem resolved, It's not in the interests of our people to remain silent on the issue. If there is a problem it has to be explained to the people of Kosovo that this is the price of war they need to pay

Anna MacLeod: But even in war is it a price anyone should be asked to pay?

----

New method to predict plutonium stability

Planet Ark
UK: April 12, 2001
REUTERS
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10505

LONDON - In a finding that could lead to safer handling and storage of nuclear weapons, scientists in the United States said yesterday they have devised a new method to predict the physical properties of plutonium.

Scientists at Rutgers University in New Jersey used analytical and computer calculations to predict changes in the structure of the solid states of plutonium from a dense, unstable phase to a safer state.

"The potential decomposition into the unstable phase over time is a matter of concern in old, stored nuclear warheads, where this could ultimately result in changes in the mass that could lead to a chain reaction," said Gabriel Kotliar, a professor at the university.

With stockpiles of plutonium-based weapons stored around the world, effectively predicting stability changes is of international importance.

In a report in the science journal Nature, Kotliar and his colleagues Sergej Savrasov and Elihu Abrahams describe their new technique, the first in 30 years, which is a potential landmark achievement in solid-state physics.

"While the search for answers about plutonium phases generally has been through experimental methods, we employed analytical and computer calculations to predict changes in the structure of the solid states of plutonium," Kotliar explained.

The scientists used a U.S. Department of Energy supercomputer and a grid of 80 computer processors to predict the volume and stability changes between the different phases of the element.

"We are dealing with an extremely delicate balance between the two phases, and which one wins and when this happens is information that is necessary to assure the safe storage of this important material," Kotliar added.

Plutonium, an artificial element that was made for the first time in 1940, is one of the most mysterious, toxic and dangerous substances known. It is dangerous to handle, difficult to store and impossible to dispose of.

The silvery-white radioactive element occurs only rarely in nature and is produced synthetically from uranium. Plutonium has a half-life of 24,000 years, which means it loses only half its radioactivity over that period.

Traces of plutonium in depleted uranium (DU) weapons used by NATO-led forces in the Balkans have aroused fears that the armour-piercing weapons could pose a health risk but defence experts have played down any potential dangers.

-------- france

All calm as German nuke train reaches French plant

PLanet Ark
FRANCE: April 12, 2001
Story by Marc Parrad
REUTERS
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10490
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10492

ROUEN, France - A trainload of nuclear waste that unleashed several protests on its way from southern Germany to a reprocessing plant in northwestern France reached its destination yesterday with no demonstrators in sight.

The train arrived over three hours late at Valognes, the railhead where five massive containers holding the waste will be switched to trucks to be brought to the plant at La Hague near Cherbourg, the state railway SNCF said.

In contrast to the clashes between police and protesters as it crossed Germany on Tuesday, the train met few protests as it rumbled across northern France on its way to the reprocessing plant in Normandy that was guarded by about 250 employees.

The most dramatic protest took place in the Normandy town of Caen, where the train was delayed for half an hour while police cut free four demonstrators chained to the rails.

"La Hague - the garbage can overflows," read a banner held up by their supporters protesting against the resumption of the French-German waste shipments suspended in 1998 over fears of radiation leakage.

France sent reprocessed nuclear waste back to Germany last month, sparking big protests by anti-nuclear groups and clashes with police along that train's route to Gorleben in northern Germany.

"After the return of the treated waste 15 days ago and all the nice speeches about national responsibility (for nuclear waste), more waste has come back again," said Frederic Marillier from the French branch of the environmental group Greenpeace.

"As a result, La Hague is even fuller than before."

The environmentalist movement here fears that France could become a "nuclear garbage dump" for waste from other countries if it keeps accepting spent fuel for reprocessing in La Hague.

The French and German governments agreed last January to resume the transports, including deliveries of fresh waste being held until now at the German nuclear plants that produced it.

About 250 employees gathered outside the gates to the La Hague plant to ensure that anti-nuclear protesters could not block the entry of the nuclear waste containers, a spokesman for the Cogema nuclear processing agency said.

But no protesters were near the plant or near the railway station, officials said, adding that Cogema might take several days to unload the five containers from the train at Valognes and move them by truck to nearby La Hague.

Environment Minister Dominique Voynet told France Inter radio that Germany, which agreed in January to take back reprocessed waste after a three-year gap, was sending its waste to France to solve a political problem at home.

"The reprocessing of waste is not the priority for the German nuclear industry, we have to be aware of that," she said.

OFFICIALS JOIN PROTESTERS

At several points along the French railway, local officials joined the handfuls of protesters and complained they had not been informed about the hazardous waste being shipped through their communities.

Alain Rist, vice-president of the regional council in the greater Paris region, was with protesters who held up the train for 45 minutes at Conflans-Sainte Honorine, not far from the affluent northwestern suburb of Saint Germain en Laye.

"There was no information from public authorities to the municipalities in question," he told journalists. "This is a transport of very dangerous material. It's scandalous."

Voynet, who plans to leave the cabinet this summer to work full-time as head of her Greens Party, said: "The absence of transparency remains the rule despite efforts that have been made in the past few years."

-------- india / pakistan

Clarity on Pakistan

New York Times
April 12, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/opinion/L12PAKI.html

To the Editor:

Re "Russia Seeks Sanctions Against Pakistan for Aid to Taliban" (news article, April 9):

Pakistan's denials that it gives material support to Taliban forces in Afghanistan rings as untrue as its continued assertion that it doesn't provide similar support for the terrorist groups operating in the Indian state of Kashmir. Pakistan's flaunting of its nuclear capacity changes the nature of the debate as to whether the country can or should be viewed as a supporter of terrorism.

The recognition that a nuclear state is also a terrorist one would signal a major defeat for the sizable antiproliferation camp in the international community. But recognizing Pakistan's antagonism with sanctions would finally begin to address its true role in fomenting instability and its ability to project even greater harm.

CAMERON HUDSON Washington, April 9, 2001

-------- korea

Powell emphasizes North's repression

The Washington Times www.washtimes.com
4/12/01
http://www.washtimes.com/world/worldscene-2001412212946.htm

PARIS - Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington is "nowhere near even considering" diplomatic relations with the "totalitarian regime" in North Korea.

"North Korea is still a country that represents a very serious threat to our ally South Korea," Mr. Powell said following a meeting called to discuss the Balkans with his counterparts from Britain, France, Russia, Germany and Italy.

"It's a totalitarian regime. We have serious differences with respect to some of the activities of that regime," in particular its missile program, he said.

-------- missile defense

A 'little chat´ with India

The Washington Times www.washtimes.com
4/12/01
Embassy Row
James Morrison THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20010412-96788582.htm

President Bush suprised Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh by dropping in on a meeting in one part of the White House and inviting him over to the Oval Office.

"Why don´t we go back to the Oval Office for a little chat," he told Mr. Singh.

About 40 minutes later, the foreign minister emerged smiling from the unscheduled meeting, saying he was "more than satisfied."

"I am honored that President Bush, himself, was gracious enough to find time to meet me and spend time with me," Mr. Singh told reporters after last week´s meeting.

He gave the Indian press details of his meeting with Mr. Bush, explaining that they discussed issues ranging from national missile defense to the Kyoto climate treaty. Mr. Bush also praised the many accomplishments of Indian-Americans.

Mr. Singh responded, "By the grace of God, my countrymen are gifted with fine minds, but your great land of opportunity has also nourished them.

Mr. Singh also recalled that Mr. Bush´s father had boosted U.S.-Indian relations during his term in the presidency and asked the younger Bush to carry on.

"I certainly will," Mr. Bush replied.

Mr. Bush also accepted an invitation to visit India for talks with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, but no date was announced.

Mr. Singh held talks with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. Mr. Singh also serves as defense minister.

He said Mr. Powell raised the issue of U.S. sanctions imposed on India after it conducted nuclear weapons tests in 1998. They prevent the sale of computer technology, rocket motors, supercomputers and military equipment.

"I did tell him that I do not find the sanctions themselves in the national interest of either India or the United States of America," Mr. Singh said.

Mr. Powell told reporters, "I´ve just had a very, very fine meeting with ."

He said the meetings with Mr. Bush, Miss Rice and Mr. Rumsfeld were "indicative of the importance with which we view our relationship with India."

"I assured the minister that we would be engaging between our two governments and our two departments at every level in order to make sure that we keep moving this relationship in a very positive and powerful direction."

-------- taiwan

Taiwan premier says he'll punish Taipower

From: "Paul Maser" <pmaser@govmail.state.nv.us>
12Apr2001
Platts
Bonn (Nuclear News Flashes)

Taiwan's premier said Taiwan Power Co. would be "disciplined" over Maanshan-1's March 18 station blackout. Premier Chang Chun-Hsiung spoke after release of a report by a panel of seven experts appointed by the antinuclear government to study the event. The report was issued at a Taipei press conference organized by the government Apr 12. The panel, led by the chairman of Taiwan's National Science Foundation, said corrosion in insulators, exacerbated by deposits of salt crystals, led to a short circuit, an electrical fire, and the blackout. The report's authors advised Taipower to improve maintenance practices and find solutions to the power supply problem. A staffer at the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU) said Chang provided no specifics on the discipline. The press conference and Chang ignored human errors which regulator Atomic Energy Council found were a factor in the blackout, which occurred after Maanshan operators had wrestled for 24 hours with erratic incoming electric power.

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

A call to arm

The Washington Times www.washtimes.com
Published 4/12/01
Mackubin Thomas Owens
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20010412-823524.htm

"Force structure planning" can be described as the attempt to create a military force structure of the right size and the right composition to achieve the nation´s security goals, in light of a strategic vision that takes account of resource constraints and the security environment, both now and in the future. Since the end of the Cold War, there have been three major strategy and force structure reviews: the Bush administration´s "Base Force," the Clinton administration´s "Bottom-up Review" (BUR) and the congressionally mandated "Quadrennial Defense Review" (QDR). The second iteration of the QDR is now underway. In addition, President Bush has directed that another review of U.S. strategy and force structure be conducted outside of the QDR framework.

In recent months, the watchword for U.S. military force planning has become transformation. Proponents of the idea that there is an emerging military revolution or "revolution in military affairs" (RMA) argue that the United States must seize the opportunity to restructure its armed forces in a way that will allow the nation to maintain a significant margin of superiority over potential competitors for the foreseeable future. They contend that recent defense planning has been characterized by a business as usual approach that, while it may provide an improved version of today´s force, does nothing to ensure that the U.S. military can meet future threats. Before we can begin a process of transformation, we must have some idea of what the future security environment will look like and what our forces will be asked to do.

What are the requirements of a future strategy? What operational concepts and capabilities will we need to implement a future strategy, in light of the various operational challenges that our forces must overcome? What sorts of missions will the U.S. military be called upon to execute, both now and in the future? Should the U.S. military emphasize major conventional war or response to asymmetric threats? Should the military be sized primarily to fight wars or to carry out constabulary operations or "imperial policing?" What impact will the diffusion of militarily useful technology have on the ability of the U.S. military to carry out whatever missions it is called upon to perform?

Planners face a great deal of uncertainty as they contemplate future U.S. strategy and force structure. Nonetheless, a consensus seems to be emerging regarding the outline of a future security environment that encompasses both change and continuity. Changes include the proliferation of militarily useful technology throughout the globe, e.g., information technologies, sensors, satellites, ballistic and cruise missiles and weapons of mass destruction.

This raises the possibility that even relatively unsophisticated states can increase the cost to the United States of military action. Continuities include the unchanging reality of geographic location. For the United States this means that to influence those parts of the world that may emerge as future threats to U.S. interests, it must be able to overcome the "tyranny of distance" in order to project power, especially onto Eurasia. Technology proliferation and the tyranny of distance combine to create the major challenge that U.S. forces must overcome in the future: The expansion of the deadly zone within which U.S. forces will become increasingly vulnerable.

According to proponents of the RMA, the business-as-usual approach of buying "legacy" systems, e.g., tanks, manned aircraft and aircraft carriers, puts U.S. forces at risk in the future. Such systems are characterized by senility while still effective, the cost of maintaining this effectiveness is growing exponentially. The critics argue that the military should be willing to give up legacy systems in order to pursue the revolutionary innovations necessary to confront a future adversary. But force planning is an inter-temporal art. That is, while planners must make decisions today about future forces, they must still maintain the capability to carry out today´s missions.

The current approach, codified in the 1997 QDR, requires a U.S. force structure that can accomplish three goals simultaneously: shape today´s security environment by deploying forces forward in support of U.S. diplomacy; deter conflict and war by maintaining a robust force structure capable of fighting and winning two major theater wars in overlapping time frames and prepare for an uncertain future. This attempt to minimize the risk of focusing exclusively on the near-term, the mid-term or the distant future is called hedging.

When all is said and done, the geographic position of the United States and its global interests require that we maintain a variety of forces, strategies and weapons capable of carrying out joint, expeditionary operations, in conjunction with allies if possible, but alone if necessary. Thus from World War II until today (with the exception of the Eisenhower "New Look" in the 1950s), U.S. planners have opted for a balanced force capable of meeting threats across the spectrum of conflict, both today and in the future.

U.S. forces must indeed meet future challenges. But they must also meet the challenges of today and in the near term. To ensure that they can do both, there is much to be said for effecting the necessary transformation in the context of a balanced force structure.

Mackubin Thomas Owens is an adjunct fellow of the Lexington Institute.

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

US companies eye new nuclear plants after over 25 years

Planet Ark
April 12, 2001
Story by Chris Reese
REUTERS
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10489

NEW YORK - Several big U.S. companies, faced with dwindling power supplies in much of the country, are gearing up to make preliminary applications to build new nuclear power plants, the first in over 25 years, a spokesman for a nuclear policy organization said yesterday.

"We do expect you may begin to see some applications to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for early site permits perhaps as early as next year," Steve Kerekes, spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), told Reuters.

Under the early site permitting process, electric companies can ask the NRC to consider early environmental and siting issues for plants, which the NRC will then bank until investors decide whether to go ahead with the plant.

The early site approval is part of a federal energy policy adopted in 1992 which could cut down the lead time between proposing and constructing a nuclear power plant, Kerekes said.

"We are hoping that we will be able to get that process to happen in under five years," Kerekes said.

Plants constructed in the U.S. after 1979 took an average of almost 12 years to build and license, which is twice as long as nuclear plants in France, Japan and Sweden, according to information from the NEI.

The last nuclear power plant built in the U.S. was the government-owned Tennessee Valley Authority's 1,170-megawatt Watts Bar facility in Spring City, Tenn., which began operations in 1996. The construction permit for Watts Bar was issued in 1973.

The NRC has not received an application for a new nuclear plant since 1973, especially after the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear accident put a long-term chill on the industry.

But with power blackouts in California and historically high natural gas prices, a spokesman said companies are again considering the nuclear option and the federal agency is gearing up for new applications.

Nuclear power currently provides around 20 percent of the country's power needs.

"We are taking some steps to prepare for the possibility of new applications," the NRC spokesman said Wednesday. Those NRC steps include the formation of a "future licensing organization" within the NRC, he said.

Application procedures have also been streamlined, the spokesman said. "Before you had to apply for a construction permit and then an operating permit, those two procedures have now been consolidated."

Meanwhile, Vice President Dick Cheney said last month the energy policy panel he is heading for President George W. Bush would devote a chapter of its report with final recommendations to "the nuclear questions and whether or not we want to go forward."

ENVIRONMENTALISTS WEIGH-IN

The NEI's Kerekes would not specify which U.S. companies might make the early site applications, or where the sites are being considered.

Although no specific proposals for new plants have been made, environmentalists are weighing-in with early criticism.

"The environmental community will block any attempts to build new nukes," Kyle Rabin, a spokesman for Albany, N.Y.-based Environmental Advocates said in a statement.

"Nuclear power must be phased out in New York State and elsewhere in the nation," Rabin said.

In the statement, Environmental Advocates says construction of five new nuclear power plants is planned for undisclosed sites in the U.S., and that formal applications for those plants are expected at the NRC in the next few weeks.

Among the companies mentioned by Environmental Advocates as participating in an NEI task force investigating new nuclear development are Dominion Resources Inc, Entergy Corp, Exelon Corp, Constellation Energy Group Inc and Southern Co.

Kerekes denies applications will be made by any members of the task force within the next several weeks.

He confirmed that at least four of the companies mentioned by Environmental Advocates are active members of the NEI task force, but declined to give any further details.

The NRC spokesman also confirmed that in recent months the agency has had discussions with Exelon, which is considering a new nuclear site in the U.S. but is monitoring the results of a pilot project of new technology in South Africa.

-------

Chao reverses position, agrees to run benefits program

BY KATHERINE RIZZO Associated Press Writer
ohio.com
Thursday, April 12, 2001
http://www.ohio.com/bj/news/ohio/docs/011368.htm

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Labor Secretary Elaine Chao changed her mind and has agreed to take charge of distributing compensation to nuclear workers disabled or killed by Cold War-era exposure, a spokesman for Sen. George Voinovich said Thursday.

Chao, however, is seeking an extension on a July 31 deadline for getting the program started, said Scott Milburn, the senator's press secretary.

She also wants some changes in how rejected claims would be appealed, he said.

Labor Department officials spent much of Thursday on the phone with senators and Senate aides trying to build support for the proposed changes.

Congress gave the Labor Department $60.4 million to initiate the new entitlement program, reasoning it was well-prepared because Labor already runs three worker compensation programs.

Chao had insisted her department lacked the resources needed to set up the program and said the Justice Department was better equipped.

Lawmakers who worked hardest to get program opposed moving oversight.

Ten House members introduced a bill to force the Labor Department to run the program for workers who became ill from being exposed to uranium dust, beryllium particles or lung-clogging silica.

Nuclear workers in Paducah, Ky. also turned their union hall into an impromptu phone bank. They repeatedly contacted the offices of Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., urging him to persuade Chao to run the program. McConnell is married to Chao.

The new program offers lifetime medical care and $150,000 to ailing workers who were employed in the nuclear weapons complex, at factories that worked for the Energy Department, or at nuclear test sites in Alaska and Nevada.

By law, the government should be prepared to accept benefit applications on July 31.

The new program is limited to those with radiation-related cancer, silicosis or chronic beryllium disease. Eligibility rules for some workers have been set by law, and the Labor Department must work out qualification guidelines for the rest.

About 600,000 people worked in the weapons complex during the Cold War.

The Energy Department preliminarily identified 317 sites in 37 states where exposed workers might qualify for benefits.

A toll-free number set up by that department to field requests has logged more than 19,000 calls. ------

The toll-free information line is 1-877-447-9756. ------

On the Net:

Text of compensation law and preliminary list of sites prepared by Department of Energy: http://tis.eh.doe.gov/advocacy/index.html

---

Future of RECA still up in the air

From: magnu96196@aol.com
April 12, 2001
By Chris Rasmussen/Staff writer
http://www.daily-times.com/s-asp-bin/ref/Index.ASP?puid=4290&spuid=4290&Indx=790213&Article=ON&id=51316165&ro=1

FARMINGTON - Victims of radiation exposure are moving closer to guaranteed federal compensation as Congress decides the future of the financially troubled Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.

RECA, which provides uranium miners and victims of nuclear testing in the 1950s with compensation for medical complications resulting from their exposure to radiation, was the focus of a budget resolution sponsored by Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. The resolution, which passed the Senate April 6, would give the annually underfunded program entitlement status while providing it with $710 million for the next 10 years.

Since its inception in 1990, RECA has been funded on an annual basis, which has led to chronic shortfalls. In 2000, President Clinton and Congress underfunded the program by $19 million, and victims suffered as a result.

Two hundred and twenty-one people, out of 3,530 who were supposed to receive compensation were instead left holding government IOUs this year. In New Mexico, 24 people out of 425 hold IOUs.

Some legislators feel many of the problems with RECA stem from the Justice Department.

In the long term,the program would be better off if Congress were to take it away from the Department of Justice, said U.S. Rep. Tom Udall D-N.M.

"Compensation needs to be a mandatory issue and not deal with an appropriations committee every year," he said. "Plus, the Department of Justice has been hyper-technical with eligibility issues and has put up roadblocks to families' needs. The Department of Labor would be more sympathetic to the victims' needs because they run compensation programs already."

Moving the program, however, shouldn't even be on legislators minds while victims holding IOUs are dying, said Lori Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Western States RECA Reform Coalition.

"Now is not the time," she said. "The bigger issue is the IOUs. We want the IOUs paid."

Goodman said she supports the Senate budget resolution, but noted that it is only a blueprint to make up funding shortfalls in the RECA and not binding.

Domenici has not always agreed with the way the Justice Department has administered RECA, but he does not currently support moving the program to Labor or any other department, said Domenici spokesman Chris Gallegos.

"He has concerns with the way the Department of Justice has run RECA, but he has not gone so far as to say the department should be divested of the program," he said. "His primary concern is making sure the government fulfills its obligation."

Senator Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., feels RECA must be solvent before Congress makes any major change, said Bingaman spokeswoman Jude McCartin.

"Clearly the Justice Department has not done a good job administering RECA," she said. "We are soliciting opinion on whether to move the program."

Bingaman, who, like Domenici, has worked on reforming RECA, feels that Labor would be a logical choice for RECA, McCartin said.

"They have the infrastructure to administer the program," she said.

The last year has seen Congress make major changes to the RECA.

In July, the scope of the program was increased when Clinton signed into law the 2000 RECA amendments. The amendments, co-sponsored by Senators Orin Hatch, R-Utah, and Bingaman, expanded the list of compensable diseases to new cancers, including leukemia, thyroid and brain cancer, as well as certain non-cancerous diseases, like pulmonary fibrosis. Above-ground and open-pit miners, millers and transport workers were made eligible.

Chris Rasmussen can be reached at: chrisr@daily-times.com

-------- colorado

The Lowdown on Lowry
The city thought it had settled any questions about the Lowry Landfill.
The truth is a toxic shocker.

westword.com
Originally published by Westword
April 12, 2001
New Times, Inc.
By Eileen Welsome
{http://www.westword.com/issues/2001-04-12/feature.html/page1.html}

One hot morning last summer, a small valve was turned on at the Lowry Superfund Site, and groundwater from the old landfill began flowing through a newly constructed sewer line. The water had no color, no odor, and had already undergone several procedures at the landfill site to remove certain chemicals. It looked cool and refreshing -- almost good enough to drink.

Day and night, at the rate of about ten to twenty gallons per minute, the groundwater surged through the subterranean network of sewers that crisscross the city. Some of the water was diverted to Aurora, where it would be sprayed on parks and golf courses, but the rest eventually flowed into the vast river of sewage that pours daily into the Metro Wastewater Reclamation District plant in north Denver. At Metro, the largest sewage-treatment facility between the Mississippi River and the West Coast, the water was filtered and cleansed, then eventually discharged into the South Platte River. Some of the heavier Lowry elements were left behind in the plant's malodorous sludge, or "biosolids," as those in the business prefer to call it, and the sludge was then hauled away in trucks to be spread on farms in eastern Colorado.

If all goes according to plan, this discharge will continue for the next fifty years, possibly much longer. And when the valve is shut off for good, millions of gallons of hazardous waste -- containing dioxins, PCBs, pesticides, heavy metals and radionuclides -- will have been transferred from the landfill site to Colorado's rivers and creeks and farmland.

City, state and federal officials insist the process is a safe and cost-effective way to treat Lowry's hazardous waste, but one longtime Environmental Protection Agency official says the deal simply lets polluters off the hook. "You're basically transferring the liability of the hazardous materials from the responsible parties at the landfill to the City and County of Denver and the region of Colorado where the material's going to be dumped," says Hugh Kaufman, who helped craft the laws governing Superfund sites in the late '70s and, until recently, was the chief investigator for the EPA Office of Ombudsman.

A confidential legal analysis prepared in 1996 for the City of Denver illuminates another aspect of the arrangement that's beneficial to polluters: As long as the contaminated groundwater remains on-site, it is categorized as hazardous waste and subject to the plethora of federal laws governing the disposal and storage of such wastes. But once the liquids are pumped through the sewers, the "site waters" need only meet the standards of the sewage-treatment facility accepting the wastes.

The EPA is currently reviewing whether the remedy at Lowry Landfill is adequately protective of "human health and the environment." Much has changed since the agency issued its formal cleanup program for the site seven years ago: Housing developments have sprung up within a mile of the landfill, and explosive growth is expected in the area in the coming years.

From roughly 1964 to 1980, nearly every major industry operating in or near Denver used Lowry Landfill as its personal dumping ground. Waste oils, sludges, pesticides, cleaning solvents, construction debris, paint, hospital waste, pharmaceutical chemicals, even dead zoo elephants were dumped into unlined pits and covered with household garbage. The pits belched and steamed, often catching fire, and the poisonous liquids eventually seeped down into the groundwater. Beneath the landfill are four aquifers that supply water to suburban and rural residents.

The landfill was placed on the EPA's National Priorities List of Superfund sites in 1984. In subsequent years, public officials and the companies responsible for the pollution tried to determine exactly what had been dumped at the landfill, who was responsible, and what was the best method for cleaning up the toxic waste. Since all of the potential polluters, from small mom-and-pop outfits to well-heeled companies such as the Adolph Coors Company, were equally liable for cleaning up the mess, there was a lot of finger-pointing. Eventually the dispute wound up in federal court.

The City and County of Denver and Waste Management of Colorado Inc., the contractor that operated the landfill, took the lead, filing lawsuits against scores of companies in an effort to obtain the $94 million that the EPA said would be needed to clean up the site. The last party to settle was the Metro Wastewater Reclamation District, which had spread millions of gallons of sewage sludge at the landfill during the '60s and '70s; Metro was the big fish that the city and Waste Management wanted to reel in. Finally, in the spring of 1996, Metro agreed to pay $1.9 million, some of which would be used to construct a new sewer line and, most important, to pump the Lowry groundwater through that sewer system.

With Metro's capitulation, the city and its private partner were on their way to devising a permanent solution for the foul-smelling liquid that roiled beneath the landfill. But fierce opposition soon emerged from an unexpected quarter: One of Metro's newly appointed boardmembers, a self-contained and articulate woman named Adrienne Anderson, was worried that the Lowry discharge could endanger Metro's workers and the public at large. At a request from the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union, Anderson spent weeks at the EPA Superfund Records Center in downtown Denver, poring over microfilmed records related to the Lowry site. Late one afternoon, when her eyes were burning with fatigue, the parking meter was running outside, and her children were waiting to be picked up from a daycare center, she found what she refers to as the "smoking gun" memo -- a letter that had been prepared by the polluters themselves, a group known as the Lowry Coalition, and hand-delivered to the EPA a few weeks before Christmas 1991. Attached to the letter was page after page of monitoring data that described contaminants found in scores of wells drilled around the site.

The polluters summarized the most salient points in their letter to the EPA. Numerous wells at the landfill had alarmingly high levels of americium and plutonium, they told the EPA, and those radioactive contaminants could have come from only one place: the now-defunct Rocky Flats nuclear-weapons plant located northwest of Denver. Plutonium is a highly carcinogenic substance, and americium, a contaminant usually found in the presence of plutonium, can also cause cancer.

With this new piece of evidence and hundreds of additional documents, Anderson met with the union and then set out to alert the public to the danger. "I was sad, sick, nauseous, horrified and alarmed," remembers Anderson, who subsequently filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the Metro Wastewater Reclamation District that will be ruled upon this spring.

Anderson's pronouncements were met with heated denials from virtually every city, state and federal official involved with the landfill. Members of the local media soon followed suit, dismissing her as a radical environmentalist or worse. "Her allegations are bullshit," says the EPA's Marc Herman, who served as project manager at Lowry for nearly a decade. "No, no, no; they're horseshit, because horseshit stinks more than bullshit. I think that says it all."

Yet an employee who once worked for Waste Transport, a company that transported liquid wastes to Lowry from numerous plants in the Denver area, now admits that drivers stopped at Rocky Flats two to three times a month and suctioned thousands of gallons of water from sumps located near the buildings. "We hauled out of Rocky Flats, we hauled out of Shattuck, we hauled out of Arapahoe Chemicals in Boulder," says Lloyd Hesser, who lives in Needles, California, and is suffering from numerous ailments that he believes were caused by the chemicals he hauled to Lowry. "I feel sorry that I hauled that shit. How many people have I poisoned?"

According to a database maintained by the City of Denver, at the time public officials were loudly insisting that there was no plutonium at Lowry, they were making no effort to retest wells there that had consistently showed high readings of plutonium or americium. Instead, the results of the radioactivity component of the study -- which had been gathered over a four-year period at a cost of millions of dollars -- were simply "re-analyzed" and then jettisoned for technical reasons.

The database, which dates back to 1975 and contains more than 155,000 test results, can be sorted to analyze sampling activity at Lowry in seconds, showing what wells were sampled, when they were sampled, and what was found in them.

The database was part of in a formal public-records request Westword filed with the City of Denver last December, yet officials didn't include it in the boxes of documents and electronic data that were made available; Westword obtained a copy from another source. Among the trends revealed by that database:

• With the exception of one well, none of the approximately 65 wells sampled between 1988 and 1991 that showed high results for plutonium or americium have ever been resampled. The wells have either been plugged, abandoned or simply not tested for those radionuclides.

• Some wells sampled early during the testing period show extraordinarily high levels of numerous radionuclides, ranging up to 4 million picocuries for americium-241, 6 million pico-curies for neptunium-239, 2 million picocuries for iodine-133, and 8 million picocuries for arsenic-76. While these figures are listed in the "results" column, officials nevertheless say they represent laboratory "detection limits" and not the actual levels of contamination. But according to several scientists who reviewed the data, those detection limits are set so high that they reveal nothing about what is present at the site.

• The current low readings for plutonium and americium -- touted everywhere from City Hall to the EPA as proof there is no contamination at Lowry -- are being taken from approximately 35 newly drilled wells located just outside the areas of historic contamination, or from wells that never showed much contamination to begin with.

• None of the roughly 25 wells that are deeper than 100 feet are being sampled for plutonium or americium. By contrast, those that are being sampled are mostly shallow wells located in the alluvium or uppermost bedrock. The deep wells -- not the shallow wells -- could alert officials as to whether the plutonium and americium are descending toward the underlying aquifers.

• Wells located at the outermost western edge of the landfill and north of a barrier wall are not being sampled for plutonium or americium. These wells could provide officials with important information regarding whether any radioactive contaminants are creeping toward populated areas.

Waste Management's Lori Tagawa and Dennis Bollmann, one of the city's environmental scientists based at Lowry, defend the current sampling program, arguing that new wells drilled in the last two or three years provide ample data about any potential lateral and downward migration of contaminants. "We have early-warning monitoring wells for just about everything," Tagawa says.

Both Tagawa and Bollmann also say there's no evidence that any contaminants have descended into the lower aquifers. "We haven't seen any kind of contamination in the deeper wells," notes Bollmann. Yet documents on file at the Superfund Records Center and the database itself show positive results for both radioactive and nonradioactive chemicals in wells drilled deeper than 300 feet.

Westword has also obtained numerous confidential documents describing settlement agreements that the city and Waste Management entered into in the early- to mid-'90s with the companies that dumped wastes at Lowry, as well as the two multimillion-dollar trusts that were established with the settlement funds. Those documents indicate that all of the parties involved in the lawsuits have a huge financial stake in making sure the landfill's cleanup costs do not exceed the $94 million set forth by the EPA in its 1994 Record of Decision, a legally binding document that guides cleanup activities at the site. In fact, the "profits" that the city and Waste Management hope to someday reap from overseeing the cleanup and the expenses polluters may have to pay for that cleanup are directly linked to how much money they can save on the remediation. These records also show:

• Some polluters were apparently so concerned about potential radioactive contamination that they purchased "radioactive premiums" from the city and/or Waste Management. The radioactive premiums were one of a number of premium options offered to the various polluters during settlement negotiations; the premiums protect them from such things as cost overruns, private-party litigation, potential toxic tort claims, and natural-resource damage claims that could conceivably be brought by Colorado's attorney general, or even fines levied by the EPA itself. The City of Denver, the two trusts established with the settlement funds and/or Waste Management get to pocket the premiums as profit, court documents state. But if lawsuits are eventually filed or cleanup costs increase substantially as a result of some unforeseen event -- such as radioactive contamination -- then the city and Waste Management could be out millions of dollars.

• Some of the companies that settled with the city and Waste Management have "reopener" clauses in their agreements, which means that if cleanup costs exceed a certain amount, those companies could be forced to come up with more money.

• In recent years, the city and Waste Management have been debating whether they can legally withdraw "management fees" from the trust funds established to pay for the cleanup. Denver officials won't say how much is collectively held in the two trusts, but records indicate that by the end of 1994, approximately $110 million had been collected in cleanup costs, premiums and other fees. The management charges, which could amount to millions, would be based on several factors, including the difference between the money actually spent by the city and Waste Management on cleanup versus the $94 million that the EPA estimated in 1994 it would cost to remediate the site.

Other than a handful of city officials and a few private individuals, most people in Denver have no knowledge of the settlement agreements or the trusts, which are administered outside the purview of the city and apparently not subject to Denver City Charter regulations governing public funds. Even the EPA says it doesn't know how the settlements were structured or how much money is currently in the cleanup fund.

The agreements were sealed by then-federal judge Sherman Finesilver at the request of Waste Management and with the tacit agreement of the City of Denver and other settling parties. Finesilver, who is now retired, was the judge who issued a gag order for the Rocky Flats grand jurors, barring them from ever talking about their two-and-a-half-year investigation into alleged environmental crimes committed at Rocky Flats by its contractors and federal officials.

In the beginning, the land where the future Lowry Landfill would be located was little more than a vast, unbroken expanse of prairie and sagebrush, ravaged by blizzards and wind, far from downtown Denver and its growing suburbs. The area was part of a much larger parcel of property that was purchased by the City of Denver with general-obligation bond funds before World War II, then donated to the U.S. military in 1940 for a bombing range. As the heavy bombers chugged above the scorched earth, dropping their payloads on hapless targets, the area became known as Lowry Air Force Base and Bombing Range.

The bombing runs were discontinued in 1958 when the Air Force decided to excavate and build four separate missile-launch complexes, each containing three missile silos, for the Titan Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Program. Constructed from steel and reinforced concrete, the launch complexes were extremely elaborate affairs and built to withstand many pressures, including a nearby atomic blast. Located far below the ground were control centers, generating equipment, living rooms, kitchens, sleeping quarters and, of course, the long narrow silos that housed the nuclear weapons themselves. A web of underground tunnels allowed military personnel easy access to all parts of the site. Soon, twelve armed nuclear missiles -- three in each of the four launch complexes -- sat ready and waiting for the doomsday signal. But the warheads had barely been settled into their underground homes when the Strategic Air Command decided to phase them out. In an effort to wring a few pennies from the boondoggle, the General Services Administration sold three of the launch complexes for $450,000 to a construction firm in Salt Lake City, which salvaged what it could and left the rest behind.

In 1964, the federal government conveyed back to the City of Denver five sections of land in a quitclaim deed. City officials decided to locate a new dump on Section 6, a square tract of land that was readily accessible to highway traffic and bordered on the west by Gun Club Road, on the north by Hampden Avenue and on the south by Quincy Avenue.

The government's quitclaim deed specifically stipulated that a portion of the property being conveyed back to the city be used as a landfill. The stipulation suggests that the federal government may have already been using some of this property as a landfill; several aerial photographs of Section 6 support that hypothesis. A photograph taken in June 1963 -- a year or two before the city took over the facility -- shows numerous dirt roads crisscrossing the area and an oval-shaped lagoon in what would become the southeastern corner of the landfill. Another aerial photograph taken two years later, in December 1965, shows roads leading east from this lagoon to two long, liquid-filled trenches and several smaller ones on the landfill proper.

To the unpracticed eye, Section 6 seemed like a perfectly reasonable place to put a landfill. The land was relatively flat, sloping gently down to a bowl-like depression where an intermittent stream called Unnamed Creek emerged during heavy rains and flowed in a northerly direction. Beneath the site lay four aquifers -- the Dawson, the Denver, the Arapahoe and the Laramie-Fox Hills -- that provided water for rural communities and Denver suburbs alike. The U.S. Geological Survey, which did a seminal study of the area in the late '70s, concluded that surface water and shallow groundwater generally moved north, while water located in the deeper aquifers flowed west. But later investigations also found that water bubbled up to the surface and flowed down through fractures, two phenomena that would greatly complicate future efforts to determine the migratory path of contaminants. "Sand lenses" -- shallow beds of loosely packed soils beneath the surface - are also present at the site and could affect water flow.

But no one was thinking about aquifers when the dump opened for business in the mid-1960s. Instead, the city was widely applauded by regulators and private companies alike for providing such a vital public service. "The willingness of the city and county of Denver to dispose of questionable wastes (formerly without charge) keeps much of this material out of less suitable landfills and provides a useful service to industries and institutions. The 'concentration' of these materials at this site has prevented potential pollution of other drainage areas and aquifers," wrote one state official in a 1976 Colorado Department of Health report.

Soon, trucks from Denver, Golden, Longmont and Boulder began rumbling down Highway 30 toward the new landfill. Sloshing inside their shiny tankers were hazardous chemicals that scientists decades later would learn were capable of producing birth defects, genetic anomalies, immune system disorders -- even cancer if exposures were large enough. The EPA estimates that between 1964 and 1980, about 140 million gallons of hazardous waste were dumped at the site. But that number could significantly underestimate the problem. Landfill records maintained by the City of Denver show that in the first two weeks of 1975 alone, some 611,925 gallons of liquid waste were dumped at Lowry -- a figure that could push the total closer to 220 million gallons.

EPA officials spent countless hours studying landfill receipts, trucking records and other documents in an effort to figure out how much the various private and public entities had dumped at the landfill. Using their considerable federal clout, they demanded from private companies and public agencies alike waste disposal records and information about industrial processes. From this, they developed "waste-in lists," or compilations of what a particular firm had dumped at Lowry. The EPA officials then sent these rough estimates to the "potentially responsible parties," who, in turn, fired back with their own invariably low estimates. The potential responsible parties, or PRPs, kept a close watch on the EPA and each other: When one company's liability went down, another's usually went up. The EPA eventually concluded that Coors was the single largest user, trucking to the site an estimated 32 million gallons of sludges, solvents, acids, pesticides, inks and waste oil. Syntex Chemicals came in second, with 28.6 million gallons of waste, and S.W. Shattuck Chemical Company was third in line, with 17.6 million gallons.

But there were many others who took advantage of the city's dumping ground. "The landfill served industries up and down the Front Range," remembers Orville Stoddard, a former official with the state health department. "Somebody had to take care of the liquid problem." Small businesses, large industries, school districts, hospitals, universities and numerous federal agencies -- including the U.S. Mint and the EPA itself -- also dumped their wastes at Lowry.

"For sixteen years, industry was provided a Denver taxpayer-subsidized disposal facility that in all probability limited industry's Superfund liability to one site instead of many," wrote Theresa Donahue, an aide to Mayor Wellington Webb, in a fiery letter dated Christmas Eve 1991 -- the very day the city filed the first of two mammoth lawsuits against various polluters. (Today Donahue is the director of the city's Department of Environmental Health.)

But the City of Denver, owner-operator of the landfill from 1964 to 1980, could hardly be characterized as a shining knight. Disposal practices were shockingly crude by today's standards. Backhoes simply dug pits down to the bedrock, and then tanker trucks backed up to the unlined pits and, in the words of one former trucker, "let it rip." Sometimes pits were dug directly into the mounds of trash, and household garbage and construction debris were then thrown into the holes, under the theory that the solids would "soak up" the liquids. By 1979, an aerial map showed that the landfill contained millions of tires, dead-animal pits, low-level radioactive waste disposal pits, and a special area reserved for Continental Oil's "sludge experiment."

Lloyd Hesser remembers screaming through downtown Denver during rush hour traffic with his tanker truck loaded to the gills. He made three, four, five trips a day to the landfill, hauling wastes from companies throughout the metro area. Even now, decades later, a tone halfway between awe and horror creeps into his voice when he thinks back to the vast pit where he would dump his loads. "We could get about eight or ten trucks backed up to it at one time," Hesser says. "We'd back in there and pull the cord. You ought to have seen that pit. The ducks would land and it would kill them instantly."

It took exactly eight minutes to empty a tanker, and then Hesser would be back on the road. He used to haul three or four loads a day out of Arapahoe Chemicals, a Boulder company that is now known as Syntex Chemicals; one of his buddies hauled six to eight loads a day from the Shattuck facility in south Denver, and other truckers worked from dawn to dusk and on weekends hauling liquid waste from the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. "We'd start loading at 4:30 or 5 in the morning," Hesser remembers. "We got paid by the gallon, a penny a gallon." The truckers were given no safety manuals and no protective clothing -- except, perhaps, an occasional pair of rubber gloves.

Hesser's big industrial customers maintained that the liquids being removed from back lots, underground tanks and evaporation ponds simply contained wastewater. "We were too dumb to know better," Hesser says. "All we knew is that we were making good money, and most of us were home every night raising families."

Hesser was one of a fleet of drivers who worked for Milt Adams, a self-made Commerce City businessman who'd started off recycling used oil and eventually became the owner of Waste Transport Company, the largest transporter of liquid waste to Lowry. "If your wastes are flammable, toxic, odorous, or organic in nature, then the bombing range is the safest place for their disposal," Adams once wrote in a letter circulated to customers. Adams had begun his Denver career collecting used oils from gas stations and garages and then selling them to a Utah firm that re-refined the oil and sold it back to railroads. "We were heroes because we took it to be re-refined and used by the railroads," he said in a 1993 deposition, "whereas, before that, why, some of it was thrown over the fence..." As a favor to his corporate customers, Adams said he'd occasionally "blend" some of his used oil with the company's liquid wastes so that they could "get rid of it, and it wouldn't have to go to Lowry."

Over time, it became evident that Denver did not have the ability to cope with the diversity and amount of liquids being hauled to the landfill. Records documenting what went into the pits, and where, were extremely sketchy. Often a city employee would just scrawl "brine water" or "waste water" on receipts. The workers, one former manager said disdainfully, "wouldn't know water from Pepsi-Cola anyway."

During one routine inspection in June 1972, an official with the Tri-County Health Department, which oversees Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties, noted that six new toxic waste pits, each approximately 300 feet long and fifty feet wide, had been dug down to the bedrock. "At present there is no log as to what type of chemicals, or how much toxic waste, is being dumped," he wrote.

Chemical fires broke out frequently. Rats swarmed over the garbage mounds. Hazardous gases collected within the landfill mass and often exploded, tossing barrels fifty to sixty feet in the air. Operators complained of acids and unknown chemicals being dumped into "oil holes" and the indiscriminate "dumping of carcinogenic agents and radiation-contaminated substances." Workers were advised to don respirators, and in 1974, the Colorado Department of Wildlife reported one confirmed animal death that could definitely be tied to Lowry.

For the unfortunate residents who happened to live downwind of the site, the odor was simply unbearable. The sludge and chemicals in the open pits created a stench "so strong it makes outdoor activity impossible and the opening of windows limited to only certain times of the day. Even if the odor were not overwhelming, the flies are so abundant they soon chase us indoors," one resident, a Mrs. Crab, told the EPA in 1979.

The neighbors were also worried about the quality of their well water, according to numerous documents in the EPA's Superfund Records Center. "The water well contamination is a terrific concern to all of us," wrote Maryann Rains in a letter to former Colorado senator William Armstrong. "We've met with Shell Co., Colo. State Health, etc., and they reassure that precautions are being taken and any number of tests being made etc., but nobody really knows what the long-term effects are going to be."

In 1968, just four years after the landfill opened, Don Turk, an official with the Tri-County Health Department, warned that the disposal of "liquid industrial hazards may create a water table pollution problem." A few years later, Don Berve, also with Tri-County, noted that high levels of cyanide had been detected in water flowing off-site. Even more ominous, one of the liquid pits seemed to mysteriously recede overnight. In a letter, state health department official Orville Stoddard theorized that the subsidence might be caused by "a possible 'lens' in the shale layer at the bottom of the pit," then added, "This leaching material could adversely affect groundwater quality."

Camp, Dresser and McKee, a consulting firm working for the City of Denver, described a similar phenomenon in a 1979 report: "One of the pits appears to be full; however, wastes continue to be dumped into it without apparent increase in the level of the liquid. Wastes are emptied into other pits where liquid seeps completely from view within a short period." The firm warned that disposal practices could result in severe groundwater contamination. But the warnings apparently fell on deaf ears, and the tankers kept dumping their loads at the bombing range.

In the spring of 1977, a number of men gathered in front of Nickerson's Restaurant in Bennett. The group included an investigator and physicist from the state health department; an official from Rockwell International, the contractor running the Rocky Flats nuclear-weapons plant for the federal government; a former Colorado state patrolman and a reporter from the Boulder Daily Camera. The day's outing had been triggered by a provocative letter that the former patrolman, Bill Wilson, had written to the health department a few days earlier.

While patrolling Highway 30 back in 1961, Wilson wrote, he'd once stopped a Boulder County milk transport truck. When he asked the trucker what he was hauling, the man told him that his load was "polluted radioactive waters" from the Rocky Flats plant. "He said they dumped the polluted waters in any old valley or hole on the range by government agreement," Wilson said. Although he subsequently reported the event to the Public Utilities Commission, which regulates the trucking industry, Wilson wrote that he'd continued to see strange milk trucks traversing the bombing range.

Health department officials didn't know what to make of Wilson's letter. But they were concerned enough about his allegations to read them over the telephone to a Rocky Flats official, who had them transcribed verbatim. And later that day, Albert Hazle, then head of the health department's radiation and hazardous waste division, was kind enough to deliver a copy to the home of Earl Bean, then assistant manager for the Energy Research and Development Administration, which oversaw Rocky Flats. Bean called Hazle later that night and told him they'd concluded that Wilson's communication was nothing more than a "crank" letter.

Still, Rocky Flats officials weren't taking any chances. They decided to send Burt Kelchner, a Rockwell employee, on the tour that Wilson was going to lead after lunch. So after they'd finished eating, all five men piled into Wilson's car and headed out to the bombing range. They stopped at one of the missile silos and took radiation readings, then drove to a stream bed where Wilson thought dumping had occurred and took samples. Wilson tried to find another creek bed where other milk trucks had spewed their contents, but the passage of time had rearranged the landscape, and he had a hard time finding any familiar landmarks. Finally, they stopped near the spot where Wilson thought he'd first encountered a milk truck, but by then health department officials were so skeptical that they didn't even bother to get out of the car. They simply stuck a Geiger counter out the window to get readings.

Rocky Flats officials subsequently interviewed numerous plant employees who were familiar with procedures for handling both radioactive and uncontaminated waste. "All of the personnel interviewed are certain that no liquid wastes have been shipped offsite to the Lowry Bombing Range or to any other location in the Denver area," Bean determined.

But eighteen boxes of records that were eventually found in a shed belonging to one of Milt Adams's companies suggested otherwise. Waste Transport and other recycling companies had in fact made a number of trips to the bombing range on behalf of Rocky Flats between 1970 and 1980, dumping waste oils, solvents and paint thinner at the landfill. But whether these items were contaminated with plutonium is another question: Rocky Flats did make an effort to separate "hot" wastes from "cold" ones, but even cold wastes occasionally contained small amounts of plutonium and other radioactive chemicals.

And for the earlier dumping period, from roughly 1953, when the nuclear-weapons plant opened, to 1970, few documents have surfaced showing what, if anything, Rocky Flats sent to Lowry.

Plutonium from Rocky Flats could also have been transported to Lowry inadvertently by the Waste Transport trucks that stopped at the plant two to three times a month in the early '70s to suction out water that had collected in concrete basins, or sumps, located near the buildings. According to Hesser, the former Waste Transport driver, these sumps contained anywhere from two thousand to three thousand gallons of water. "Whenever it rained, we had to go out and haul that stuff away," he says. "We'd take the manhole cover off, suck it out and go on." Today officials believe that some of the most heavily contaminated areas of Rocky Flats lay beneath those production buildings.

Neighbors who lived near the bombing range remember seeing tankers that resembled milk trucks hauling waste up and down the highway. "We all saw them. It was hard not to see them going down the road," says Jerry Rains, the son of Maryann Rains, the woman who'd complained about the landfill odors.

Mary Ulmer, who lives near the bombing range and is a member of FES UP, or Family Farmers for Environmentally Safe Use of Property, says the stainless-steel tankers "were pretty common" around the bombing range. "Some of them were actually marked as milk trucks, but the ones I saw didn't have marks at all," she adds. Ulmer's suspicions were further aroused after she noticed that some of the tankers didn't even have license plates. Once, when she stopped to take a picture of a tanker, the driver got out and threatened to take her camera away. "They looked just like milk trucks," she says. "The same apparatus. They loaded from the top and dumped from the back."

In 1961, the same year Bill Wilson stopped the "milk truck" at the bombing range, Coors Porcelain was using steel tankers to transport liquid wastes to the evaporation ponds at Rocky Flats. Even though Rocky Flats was already overloaded with its own waste problems and rapidly becoming what one official facetiously described as the world's barrel capital, the plant continued to "accommodate" Coors through 1970. This accommodation included the acceptance of 750 barrels of enriched uranium scrap and 180,000 gallons of radioactive water containing isotopes of yttrium, zirconium, enriched uranium and beryllium -- some of the same isotopes that were eventually detected in the Lowry Landfill.

Coors Porcelain was under contract to fabricate nearly 800,000 fuel elements composed of beryllium and enriched uranium for "Project Pluto," a civilian-military effort to build a nuclear-powered jet. When the project was terminated, the company was unable to account for 3,016 of the 5,276 grams of uranium it had processed.

Coors Porcelain had other research contracts during the Cold War years, including one with Los Alamos National Laboratory to develop special ceramic sponges that could be used to absorb and hold radioactive wastes. The "sponges" were dunked in aluminum-nitrate wastes spiked with fission products, such as strontium-90, fired in ovens and then re-immersed in water to see what radioactive elements leaked out. Confidential court documents show that Coors Ceramics, the company's successor, paid $113,801 in cleanup costs and another $445,598 in premiums and other costs, including $36,000 for the radioactive premium, to settle its liability at Lowry. Terry Terens, a spokeswoman for Coors Tech, which succeeded Coors Ceramic, says the company never hauled any radioactive waste to Lowry and speculates that the payment might have been made as a precautionary measure.

On a questionnaire filed with the EPA in 1990, Coors Porcelain said it shipped waste oils, lead dross, an industrial by-product, and miscellaneous chemicals off-site during the period from 1965 to 1980 but didn't know where they went.

Terens says she was told that approximately 1,500 to 2,000 55-gallon drums of waste from Coors Porcelain were taken to the bombing range and placed in a "secured-drum burial area" that was not part of the Superfund site -- although she doesn't know where, exactly, that area is. Terens says it's her understanding that the "whole area for the landfill was the bombing range, but some of it was Superfund site and some was not, and our waste went into an area that was not part of the Superfund site."

Although the bombing range encompasses 65,000 acres, the landfill is less than a square mile in size. According to Terens, the Coors drums were later dug up and moved to another location. "We followed whatever regulations existed and put them where we were told to put them."

At the very least, the response to Bill Wilson's letter showed that times were changing by the late '70s; open stretches of seemingly empty prairie were no longer acceptable dump sites.

Milt Adams, who had become so wealthy that he bought a new Mercedes every year, got out in the nick of time. In 1980 he sold his business to Chemical Waste Management, which is part of Waste Management, Inc., a huge multinational conglomerate. "It was an offer I couldn't turn down," he said in his 1993 deposition. Adams got $350,000 worth of stock; Waste Management got his tankers, vacuum trucks and business records.

Just four years later, in 1984, Lowry was declared one of the most hazardous Superfund sites in the country.

The same year that Milt Adams sold his company, Chemical Waste Management contracted with the City of Denver to operate the landfill. Chemical Waste Management immediately assigned the contract to Waste Management of Colorado. Sanitary landfill operations continued until 1990 at the Superfund site, then were moved to the section directly north of the closed site. Today Waste Management shares an office at the landfill with city employees and continues to be deeply involved in the cleanup activities.

The upshot of the two transactions? The City of Denver obtained a new partner in the landfill business, but it was a partner that various parties would soon allege was equally culpable for the toxic mess at Lowry. Ironically, Denver itself had only disposed of about five gallons of garden chemicals at the site through 1980, and the city didn't really start taking household garbage from Denver residents to the landfill until that year.

Next week: Lowry Coalition members make massive settlements to the city, which are put in secret trusts. But will the funds cover potential plutonium cleanup?

Click over to our Lowry Superfund Site website. It contains all the documents used in this investigation, database excerpts, maps, and links to discuss the story with other Westword readers

http://www.westword.com/issues/2001-04-12/feature.html/page1.html

-------- new york

RAISE FOR CON ED CHIEF

New York Times
April 12, 2001
Metro Business Briefing
Randal C. Archibold
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/nyregion/12BBRF.html

Consolidated Edison tripled the compensation of its chairman, Eugene R. McGrath, to $9 million last year, according to papers the company filed this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Much of the increase for Mr. McGrath, who is also the chief executive, came in the form of restricted stock valued at $6.2 million, a benefit he had not received in previous years, according to the company's April 9 filing. In addition, his salary was increased 9.1 percent to $1.03 million and his bonus 67 percent to $981,000. A statement included in the filing credited Mr. McGrath with several achievements, including "good financial and operating results," "motivating the company's work force" and "continued progress in achieving the goal of environmental excellence." Con Edison's stock price gained nearly 12 percent last year over the previous year, but the company also confronted some problems, including the shutdown of the Indian Point 2 nuclear reactor for 11 months because of a small radioactive leak.

-------- north carolina

Uranium test offered to residents

Charlotte Observer
Thursday, April 12, 2001
Associated Press
http://www.charlotte.com/observer/local/york/docs/digest0412.htm

GREENVILLE -- State health officials soon will offer urine tests to some homeowners in the Fountain Inn and Simpsonville areas who are at risk of radioactive exposure from uranium in their water.

Residents in 36 homes with elevated levels of uranium can voluntarily take the urine test, Eric Melaro, environmental health manager at the Department of Health and Environmental Control, said Wednesday.

Concerns began in early February when as much as 50 times the allowable amount of the radioactive element were found in three Simpsonville-area drinking-water wells. Out of a total of 80 wells within a 2-mile radius that were tested, 13 had unsafe uranium levels.

Uranium is considered potentially harmful when it exceeds the federal standard of 30 micrograms per liter. Prolonged exposure can cause kidney problems or cancer.

-------- washington

DOE offering 10 Hanford site tours

Hanford News
Thu, Apr 12, 2001
By the Herald staff
http://www.hanfordnews.com/2001/0412-2.html

The Department of Energy is holding 10 Saturday public road tours of the Hanford site this summer.

Tour participants will see the shutdown nuclear reactors and the old townsites of Hanford and White Bluffs and ride through the Hanford central plateau where chemical separations facilities and underground waste storage tanks are located.

Tours are scheduled April 21, May 5 and 19, June 2 and 23, July 14 and 28, Aug. 11 and 25 and Sept. 25. Tours are from 8 a.m. to noon and begin in the parking lot north of the Federal Building, 825 Jadwin Ave., Richland. The July 28 and Aug. 25 tours will not include a visit to the B Reactor.

Participants must be at least 18 for the tours that include the B Reactor and at least 16 in the tours that don't, must be a U.S. citizen and must bring legal photo identification.

The tours are free, but preregistration is required.

To register, call Jacquie Lewis at 376-0213

-------- us nuc waste

Synthetic Clay Could Assist Radioactive Waste Cleanup

Science Daily
4/12/2001
National Science Foundation (http://www.nsf.gov)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/04/010412081313.htm

Researchers from Pennsylvania State University supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) have performed an important step in the drive to remove environmentally harmful materials from waste streams and drinking water.

A team led by Sridhar Komarneni, professor of clay mineralogy demonstrated that a synthetic clay known as a swelling mica has the ability to separate ions of radium, a radioactive metal, from water. The scientists report their results in the April 12 issue of Nature.

The finding could have implications for radioactive and hazardous waste disposal, particularly in the cleanup of mill tailings left over from the processing of uranium for the nation's nuclear industry. The tailings contain radium and heavy metals that can leach into groundwater and contaminate drinking water supplies.

"This result represents significant progress in developing new ion-separation materials," said Thomas Chapman, manager of NSF's program for separations and purification processes, which funded the research. "With more development, the swelling micas should prove useful in both waste remediation and metals recovery."

The swelling mica tested by Komarneni's team, known as Na-4, is one of a group of clays not found in the natural environment. Created specifically for water treatment purposes, swelling micas expand as they absorb metal ions and then, reaching their capacity, collapse and seal the contaminants inside. The swelling micas are being explored for potential use in separating ions of heavy metals such as lead, zinc and copper as well as other radioactive materials, including strontium, from waste streams. Because they trap the ions, the micas can permanently immobilize the pollutants. They could prove useful for the recovery and recycling of valuable metals as well.

Komarneni has used x-ray diffraction and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to evaluate the chemical properties of this new class of materials. One of his goals is to determine whether they have a larger capacity for metal uptake than currently available materials. In this recent experiment, he succeeded in synthesizing Na-4 into a fine powder more useful for practical applications than the large crystals previously synthesized.

The research was performed at Penn State's Materials Research Laboratory and Department of Agronomy.

Editor's Note: The original news release can be found at http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/press/01/pr0126.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/04/010412081313.htm

-------

New chemistry offers alternative plutonium storage process

Pollution Online
4/12/2001
http://www.pollutiononline.com/content/news/article.asp?DocID={B6EBA52A-2E85-11D5-A770-00D0B7694F32}&Bucket=&Featured=&VNETCOOKIE=NO

Storage of the nation's excess actinide metals, including plutonium and uranium, present a myriad of problems from pollution concerns to proliferation risk. Solid-state chemists at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory have discovered a new reaction process that may prove to be a solution to some of the most serious storage problems.

Kent Abney, of the Chemistry Division's Isotope and Nuclear Chemistry group, along with Anthony Lupinetti, a post-doc with a dual C-Division and Nuclear Materials Technology Division appointment, and Ed Garcia also from NMT Division, have been looking at methods of reacting actinide elements with stable elements. The team presented its findings today at the 221st American Chemical Society national meeting in San Diego. The goal is the creation of uranium, thorium and plutonium compounds that are environmentally friendly and harder to use in weapons.

Plutonium is chemically reactive with water vapor in the air. Plutonium metal powder can catch fire if it's not constantly bathed in an inert gas, such as argon. Plutonium metal can also be easily dissolved in water-a potential for environmental and safety problems in the absence of robust containment.

Plutonium metal can be converted to an oxide, a more stable form but one that still possesses some of the same problems as the pure stuff-it's reactive with water and has a potential proliferation concern.

Plutonium not earmarked for weapons work from seven separate sites across the DOE complex tops 38 metric tons, a sizeable surplus. Most of the material is housed at the Pantex plant outside Amarillo, Texas, and is planned to be used in existing nuclear reactors to generate electricity.

To address plutonium's storage challenges, Abney and Lupinetti are looking at new ways to combine actinides with the element boron.

It has long been known that plutonium and boron, a solid semi-metal or metalloid-meaning it is an intermediary element, sharing some of the properties of metals as well as non-metals-could be combined to create a very stable and insoluble compound, plutonium boride. However, until now this could only be done at extremely high temperatures, over 3,000 degrees centigrade, and the process was a grind-literally.

In order to get the two elements to mix, something they don't do easily, they would have to be melted at very high temperature, cooled, then ground into a powder, then mixed and melted again. Sometimes this process would have to be done over and over to achieve proper mixing. Abney and Lupinetti have developed a reactive process that takes place at more easily attainable temperatures, between 400 and 800 degrees centigrade and doesn't involve the grind.

"We're using reactive compounds to overcome the problems of working these very complex reactions that involve double-decomposition, or the double-breakdown of compounds into simpler compounds or elements," said Lupinetti. "By combining actinide metal halides, like uranium tetra- and tri-chlorides with molecular boron precursors like magnesium diboride or calcium hexaboride, we've been able to do reactions at much lower temperatures, in the 500-800 degrees centigrade range."

The end result of a uranium tetra-chloride reaction with magnesium-diboride yields uranium boride mixed with a magnesium chloride. The latter is easily washed away, leaving behind the uranium-boride, a compound that is stable and insoluble. In addition, actinides mixed with boron, which readily absorbs neutrons, are not easily converted to their pure form, making them harder to use in weapons.

The amounts of material used in the proof of principle research was small, in the 100 milligram range, with the reactions taking place in a small sealed quartz tube. The tube, under vacuum to remove all gasses and water vapor was heated in a small electric furnace over a period of one to five days with a three-day cool down. The resultant compounds were later analyzed through a comparison technique called X-ray-powder diffraction.

"We're interested in synthesizing actinide materials that have well-known properties-and have an important impact on our storage problems-using new methods and new materials," said Abney. "With the goal of finding processes that are easier to do and with end results that provide the country with a better way to store our surplus nuclear materials."

"It's a very young field," said Lupinetti. "We're still discovering what the rules are in combining these things-using the entire periodic chart and wide variations of temperature with unusual materials like high-temperature solvents, there are so many variables, we're all really learning this together, so it's very exciting science."

The bulk of the work is done at the Laboratory's Technical Area 48 Radiochemistry Site, in an actinide lab called the "Alpha Wing." The lab contains both negative pressure and positive pressure glove boxes along with hooded workstations and analytical areas that are perfect for doing small-scale actinide work. Larger scale research is being conducted at the Laboratory's plutonium facility, TA-55.

"The Alpha Wing provides the Laboratory with a unique capability in that it's available to not only staff members but undergraduate, graduate and post-doc students without security clearances," said Abney. "It's a great opportunity for our young up-and-coming chemists and engineers to get experience working with plutonium, uranium and other actinides. We feel like we're training the next generation of scientists."

And the future looks bright. Abney and Lupinetti are exploring ways to use readily available compounds to get the actinide-boron reactive temperatures even lower using unique materials as solvents, like lithium chloride and potassium chloride, which melt at temperatures around 350 degrees centigrade when mixed in equal amounts.

They believe they have solutions to other experimental problems as well and feel as though scale-up of these processes should not pose an insurmountable roadblock to full implementation, once the reactive systems are proven and refined.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

For more Los Alamos news releases, visit World Wide Web site http://www.lanl.gov/external/news/releases.

Source: Los Alamos National Laboratory

-------

NRC asked to OK return of German waste.

From: Paul Maser pmaser@govmail.state.nv.us
Platts
12Apr2001
Nuclear News Flashes

Washington - NRC has received applications for licenses to return radioactive waste material to Germany. Both applications were submitted by Framatome ANP. One application, as described in an Apr 11 Federal Register notice, involves noncombustibles--glass, metal, and slag--slightly contaminated with 20 kilograms of low-enriched uranium (LEU). The net total weight was estimated at 600 kg. The other application was for incinerator ash and noncombustibles consisting of metal also contaminated with 20 kg of LEU. A request to intervene must be filed with NRC within 30 days. Copies of the application can be accessed via the NRC public electronic reading room (http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/ADAMS/index.htm).


-------- MILITARY

-------- arms sales

For World's People, Jobs, Not Guns

New York Times
April 12, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/opinion/L12ARMS.html

To the Editor:

Re "Curbing Small Arms" (editorial, April 10): Ending the free flow of small arms that have fed the conflicts engulfing so many developing countries over the last decade is only one part of the weapons problem.

Getting rid of the rifles and submachine guns already in place and eliminating the demand for more of the guns that kill 300,000 people a year and prevent millions of displaced families from returning to their homes is the other.

Our experience in places ranging from Albania to Mali tells us that people are willing to give up their guns when they feel safe and see viable options for making a living. The United Nations Conference on Small Arms this July must address not only the trade in illicit small arms but also programs that provide security, jobs and opportunity.

DJIBRIL DIALLO New York, April 11, 2001 The writer is director of communications, Office of the Administrator, United Nations Development Program.

---

U.S. wary of pact to curb small-arms sales

The Washington Times www.washtimes.com
4/12/01
Betsy Pisik THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/world/default-200141221412.htm

NEW YORK - U.S. negotiators are seeking changes in a proposed U.N. agreement that could severely curtail U.S. arms sales abroad and cut deeply into Americans' Second Amendment rights to own firearms.

The proposal, to be finalized at a U.N. conference in New York in July, would ban the export of many small arms and light weapons to rebels and resistance groups, which could, according to U.S. officials, be defined to include Taiwan. "You can have good and bad nonstate actors," one U.S. official said yesterday at the end of a two-week negotiating session.

"Would you want to keep weapons from the French Resistance in World War II? You wouldn't be able sell weapons to them . . . or any resistance group [opposing] genocide."

Scores of nations are negotiating the language of an international agreement that seeks to curb the flood of small arms and light weapons into conflict zones around the world.

A working definition of proscribed weapons adopted in 1997 includes: rifles and carbines; assault rifles, revolvers and self-loading pistols; light machine-guns; and portable missile launchers.

Most nations appear to accept the existing definition of "illicit small arms and light weapons."

However, the U.S. delegation has submitted a more focused definition designed to have a minimal impact on weapons commonly owned by American civilians.

Hunting enthusiasts, sport shooters and gun manufacturers fear the agreement, as it now stands, could prohibit civilian ownership of popular hunting rifles under brand names such as Remington and Winchester.

"The problem here is that almost all hunting rifles are of military design. The current definition covers just about every hunting rifle in the world," said Tom Mason, the U.N. lobbyist for the World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities. The forum is a coalition of 30 groups, including the National Rifle Association and several American and European firearms manufacturers.

"Under this proposal, civilian possession would be banned," said Mr. Mason.

Mr. Mason said the U.S. delegation is seeking language in the agreement that "is an attempt to distinguish between the commonly owned Remington 700 or Winchester 70 and an AK-47."

U.S. officials, who are familiar with the U.N. proceedings but declined to be quoted by name, said the threat to hunters and sport shooters is not as great as Mr. Mason portrays.

"There are many different views of what the definition should be," said one U.S. official. "We have tried to make the definition apply to the guns that are killing people in conflicts."

They also say that legitimate domestic possession is outside the conference's mandate to look into illicit weapons.

The New York accord, to be completed July 9-20, is not legally binding.

If a nation does not accept the final agreement, it can block consensus, or simply register objections to specific passages.

The agreement is meant to stem the illegal trafficking in small arms, which are easily transported, concealed and used.

Handguns, rifles and grenades are the primary weapons used in internal conflicts from Asia to Africa.

The European Union, Japan and the Nordic states are generally the most enthusiastic about strong measures on global gun control.

Predictably, there was also finger-pointing between developing and industrialized countries over the need to curb supply or demand.

The U.S. delegation is also hoping to beef up language regarding the illicit brokering of weapons. "Third-party transfers are a major source of the diversion of legal arms into the illegal market," said Donald McConnell, the head of the U.S. delegation.

He said that exporting countries must oversee the ultimate destination of their weapons and demand the authority to approve any transfers to other parties.

-------- colombia

Leaving Colombia

New York Times
April 12, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/opinion/L12COLO.html

To the Editor:

Your April 10 front-page account of Colombians fleeing to the United States and elsewhere as a result of increased instability did not mention a primary cause of that instability: United States drug prohibition.

Failed prohibitionist policies at home aimed at reducing cocaine consumption and increased financial assistance to the Colombian military to fight coca production exacerbate the conditions of the decades-old civil war in Colombia. Peace and prosperity will continue to elude the Colombian people until the United States abandons its misguided and unwinnable war on drugs.

DAVID WEINBERG New York, April 10, 2001

-------- drug war

CLUB OWNER MAY SELL

New York Times
April 12, 2001
Metro Business Briefing
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/nyregion/12BBRF.html

Peter Gatien, who owns the Limelight and the Tunnel and once owned the Palladium, has been considering selling the two Manhattan clubs, according to his lawyer, Benjamin P. Brafman. The announcement, first reported in The New York Post, came on Tuesday, a day after a 16-year-old boy died in a brawl that the police said started inside the Tunnel, which has been plagued with drug arrests and violence. In 1998, Mr. Gatien was acquitted of federal charges that he used his clubs as drug bazaars. "Mr. Gatien is very tired of being blamed for incidents that neither he nor his clubs have anything to do with," Mr. Brafman said. He said his client had been considering getting out of the club business for months. After the stabbing death on Monday, Deputy Mayor Rudy Washington complained that the courts had refused the city's repeated requests to shut down Mr. Gatien's clubs. Shaila K. Dewan (NYT)

---

Pennsylvania

USA Today
04/12/01
States
http://www.usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm

Pittsburgh - Department of Corrections officials are investigating drug use at the State Correctional Institution. Prison officials say inmate Matthew Schreckengost died Saturday after ingesting some type of opiate.

---

Our marijuana policy is a joke

Montreal Gazette
Thursday 12 April 2001
BRIAN KAPPLER The Gazette
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/pages/010412/5078037.html

Great news for all you baby-boomers who are hitting your 50s and getting a bit achy in the, err, joints: tie-dye an old T-shirt, dig out your Joan Baez LPs, dust off the bong, and we'll have a teach-in against arthritis! Somebody bring a case of Oreos.

Ottawa announced this week that victims of severe arthritis, along with people with certain life-threatening ailments, will be free to smoke up, legally, if other medications don't provide suitable relief of pain or nausea. Of course, there'll be rigorous safeguards: would-be users will need to get a couple of medical professionals to sign a piece of paper. There's a forbidding requirement.

There's something all too Canadian about this: it's OK to get stoned, as long as you're not doing it to have fun.

Well, nobody should object to pain relief for the dying. But this new system does seem open to easy and widespread abuse. And even if it were enforced perfectly, it's yet another asymmetrical right: what's illegal for one person to do to himself in the privacy of his own home will be state-sanctioned in the privacy of the home next door.

This absurdity was required because of an Ontario Court of Appeal ruling last summer: Canadians have the constitutional right to smoke marijuana, it seems, if it provides relief of symptoms of certain ailments. Ottawa had to get these new regulations into force, or the court would have struck down the whole law against grass.

And after all, nobody would want to live in a country where you can find marijuana in any school yard, where violent criminal gangs bring the stuff in wholesale, where you can smell it at any rock concert, where sometimes even mothers allegedly. ...

You get the point. Our current marijuana law and policy are just a joke.

The obvious comparison is with prohibition of alcohol in the U.S. in the 1920s; what people said then was that laws which can't be enforced tend to bring all law into disrepute.

In 1973, when Pierre Trudeau's Le Dain Royal Commission called for "de-criminalization" of simple possession, the uproar was enormous; society wasn't ready. But by November of 1997, 51 per cent of respondents told Angus Reid pollsters that simple use should not be a crime. That was up from 39 per cent in 1987. And 83 per cent thought medical use should be legal.

Full legalization of simple possession would solve some problems, but create others. Why allow one more substance that makes people stupid? Isn't alcohol bad enough?

But, in fact, marijuana is today almost as well established in Canadian society as booze or cigarettes. Nobody proposes banning those, though either may well be more damaging than marijuana, to both health and our social fabric.

Governments love liquor and smokes, actually, because there's so much revenue in them.

Nor is it crystal clear that "sin taxes" reduce usage; they may actually reduce consumption of fruit and vegetables and milk, as users make bad choices about how to spend available cash.

In an ideal society, these products would all be legal and sin taxes - all taxes, in fact - would be much lower. People would be free to "sin" their own "sins" and would pay the consequences - smokers would have to pay for their own lung surgery.

The society we have isn't like that. And even if it were, there would remain the problem of young users. Almost certainly high prices and legal controls on access do limit, at least a little, the use of alcohol, tobacco and marijuana by young people. And Ottawa has taken a good step in making sure that more sin-tax revenue goes to enforcing existing laws - many depanneurs will sell cigarettes to a child of 8, marijuana can be almost as easy to get, and teenagers don't seem to have any trouble getting a drink.

The current half-hearted enforcement of controls on all these substances neatly reflects the divisions in society, between the stop-the-rot mindset and the libertarian view.

If legalization of marijuana is going to come in Canada, as eventually it will, look for it to come through the courts, not through Parliament. (Gerald Le Dain, after all, was a judge.) As with abortion, there are some items just too hot for legislators to handle.

- Brian Kappler's E-mail address is bkappler@thegazette.southam.ca

Do you have an opinion about this story? Share it with other readers in our Dscussion Forum http://forums.canada.com/~montreal

------

No More Finger-Pointing

Christian Science Monitor
THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 2001
EDITORIAL
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/04/12/fp10s2-csm.shtml

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee did the right thing when it voted unanimously last week to suspend for three years the "drug certification" process.

That's the policy, enacted back in 1986 during the height of "just say no" drug-war fervor, by which Washington rates countries according to their cooperation with US antinarcotics efforts. It has become a persistent irritant in hemispheric relations. The three-year trial suspension should lead to a permanent end to the policy.

Mexico, in particular, chafed under the yearly prospect of being castigated for noncooperation. Now Mexico may be the reason why the certification program may be phased out.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Jesse Helms (R) of North Carolina, is usually not too concerned about complaints from other countries. He is, however, attentive to Mexico's new, free-market, pro-US president, Vicente Fox. And Mr. Fox, no less than his predecessors, thinks drug certification has been a diplomatic disaster. He, like many Latin American critics, has argued that the US often appeared to be pointing the finger of blame for narcotics everywhere but at itself, with its huge and continuing demand for illicit drugs.

The committee's bill would still authorize the president to designate the worst offenders among drug-producing and -transporting countries, and apply sanctions. The emphasis, however, would be on international antinarcotics agreements, not unilateral US judgments. Certainly, Congress should back this step toward better teamwork in fighting drugs.

-------- puerto rico

Navy To Resume Exercises on Vieques

The Associated Press
Thursday, April 12, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010412/aponline222815_000.htm

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The U.S. Navy has notified the Puerto Rican government that it plans to resume training exercises on Vieques soon, drawing criticism from the U.S. territory's governor and others who want the Navy to stop using the island for bombing practice.

Puerto Rico Gov. Sila Calderon called the Navy's announcement "offensive and unacceptable," saying that it was poorly timed in the week before Easter and that the decision to resume the exercises "ignores in a crass and insensitive way the questions of health that are under consideration."

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld ordered the Navy to call off planned training last month, saying he was trying to find a permanent solution to the dispute over the exercises on Vieques, a small island off Puerto Rico's eastern coast with 9,400 residents,

But that was a temporary decision, and Puerto Rico's secretary of state received a letter from the Navy on Thursday saying it would hold exercises on Vieques as early as April 27. The Navy, which is required to notify Puerto Rico 15 days before exercises begin, said the training will last about six days.

The Navy owns two-thirds of Vieques and has been conducting training exercises there for six decades. Its bombing range covers 900 acres on the island's eastern tip - less than 3 percent of its territory.

Public opposition to the bombing grew in Puerto Rico after an errant bomb killed a civilian guard on the bombing range in April 1999. Protesters invaded the range, preventing exercises for a year until U.S. Marshals forcibly removed them last May.

Since then, the Navy has been using only inert ammunition and has scaled back the frequency of training, but it says live-fire exercises on the island provide vital training for U.S. troops. The Navy's letter said only non-explosive ordnance will be used in the upcoming exercise on the island's eastern tip.

Calderon, who was sworn in as Puerto Rico's governor in January, has urged the Navy to put an end to the training on Vieques, citing health concerns. The Navy has insisted there is no scientific evidence linking the bombing to any health problems.

Vieques residents are to decide in a referendum on Nov. 6 whether they want the Navy to leave the island in 2003 or to remain and pay $50 million to be used for economic development, housing and infrastructure.

----

Metro Matters: Pataki, Politics and Bombing Vieques

New York Times
April 12, 2001
By JOYCE PURNICK
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/nyregion/12MATT.html

Let's get this straight, just to clarify.

George E. Pataki of Peekskill, N.Y., whose state did not vote for George W. Bush, who couldn't get his own candidate elected to the United States Senate last year, who is no military expert - isn't even a veteran, having been rejected by the Army for bad eyesight - is going to persuade the Bush administration to put an end to 60 years of bombing exercises on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques?

Or maybe the governor is convinced that Vieques (pronounced v'YEH-kes) is of critical strategic importance to New York? Must be one or the other - or both - given the governor's trip to Puerto Rico this week on your dime, accompanied by an entourage of about 20, including 3 state commissioners, 9 legislators, a press secretary, aides and a security detail.

Never mind that Vieques's fate will invariably be decided through a balancing of military needs and political imperatives. This is one complex and sensitive issue.

On one side is the Navy, which maintains that there is no other location on the East Coast for its training exercises. On the other are people in Puerto Rico bitterly opposed to the bombing on Vieques, where protests have turned violent. The exercises have been suspended since December, and the new governor of Puerto Rico, Sila M. Calderón, wants them permanently ended. She has threatened to abrogate an agreement with Washington calling for a binding referendum next November by the people of Vieques.

It was into this cauldron of politics and emotion that Mr. Pataki flew this week, to the delight of his host, Ms. Calderón, and the dismay of the Navy's supporters. Miriam Ramirez, a Republican senator in Puerto Rico who was thwarted in her attempt to see Mr. Pataki, accused him of playing politics. "He already had a position before he came down, so why did he have to come?" she asked over the phone yesterday. "He apparently thinks getting votes in the Bronx is more important than the safety of our young men and women."

Michael McKeon, the governor's press secretary, said Ms. Ramirez was pursuing her own politics.

There's no question Mr. Pataki has made friends among the 1.3 million New Yorkers of Puerto Rican descent, in the time-worn tradition of candidates from New York who visit Israel or Ireland or the Dominican Republic in election season.

Whatever Vieques's future, "Nobody will be able to say he didn't try," as a credulous television reporter smilingly said of the governor, who joins a growing list of incumbents who are maximizing their advantage by openly using government resources for politics - particularly in the year before their re-election campaigns.

The tactic does not come cheap. Mr. McKeon said he didn't know the cost of the Vieques trip for the governor's party (legislators said they paid their own way), but round-trip air fare to San Juan ranges from $299 for coach seats to $1,550 for first class, and a night at the El San Juan Hotel costs $395 to $795.

Hence the two-day visit for 10 (that assumes 3 in the security detail; neither Mr. McKeon nor the state police would provide details) cost the public $11,000 to $31,000, plus food, local transportation and incidentals. Better than a corporation footing the bill; Pataki trips to Hungary, partially financed by Philip Morris through a trade group, raised eyebrows just a few years ago because Philip Morris has extensive dealings in Albany.

But why not have the Vieques trip paid for out of campaign funds?

"This is wholly consistent with his job as governor," Mr. McKeon said. "When you are governor of New York State, you have a pulpit that allows you to speak out on any number of issues."

THAT it does. Mr. Pataki appears in ubiquitous television commercials about everything from the vacation delights of New York to the state health care program. He even made one commercial with Comptroller H. Carl McCall, who may run against him next year.

Andrew M. Cuomo, Mr. McCall's rival in next year's Democratic primary, traveled all over the world as Bill Clinton's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, memorializing his trips with widely distributed reports, printed at public expense and filled with photos of Mr. Cuomo. The Bush administration so disapproved that it stopped the distribution of many copies of his final report ("HUD International").

The officeholders say that politics is one thing, government and doing the people's business another. Critics say they are using their offices for political purposes.

Sometimes the line is fine. Other times, it is as wide as Queens Boulevard.

-------- u.n.

Foes of China, Cuba press U.N. censure

The Washington Times www.washtimes.com
4/12/01
John Zarocostas
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
http://www.washtimes.com/world/default-2001412214319.htm

GENEVA - A senior member of Congress has warned the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva that a refusal to censure China and Cuba for human rights abuses would mark a huge setback for oppressed, freedom-loving dissidents.

Rep. Christopher H. Smith, New Jersey Republican and vice chairman of the House International Relations Committee, told reporters Monday that a failure to condemn China by the 53-nation commission would be a "a very serious blow to the dissidents and to those who struggle daily under these oppressive regimes."

Mr. Smith, along with Republican Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, both of Florida, met here with the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, along with diplomats and foreign leaders.

The effort, coming amid the U.S.-China standoff over a downed reconnaissance plane, marked a bid to secure votes for draft resolutions critical of the rights records of China and Cuba.

The effort to censure China is certain to continue, independent of yesterday's agreement by Beijing to release the 24-member U.S. military crew after 11 days in captivity on China's Hainan Island.

"China is a big and very strong country, but treats its own citizens with profound disrespect and our hope is to stand with the oppressed and not the oppressor," Mr. Smith said Monday.

On March 30, Chinese Ambassador Qiao Zonghuai told the U.N. rights body that the United States "out of its own selfish interests and domestic political considerations, insists on tabling an anti-China draft resolution."

Mr. Qiao called the human rights charges "groundless allegations" and said they provoke "confrontation."

The Chinese envoy also leveled the charge: "The U.S. concern for human rights is a sham. What it really practices is power politics. . . . The U.S. advocacy of humanity is a fake, what it really pursues is hegemonism."

Turning to Cuba, Mrs. Ros-Lethinen said there has been an increase of arrests and harassment of dissidents by the Castro regime and noted the latest U.S. State Department report concludes Cuba "continues to violate systematically the fundamental civil and political rights of its citizens."

The push by the members of Congress was also aimed at countering the strong campaign waged by Beijing and Havana to defeat any initiative critical of their human rights record.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin's current two-week tour through six Latin American countries, of which five - Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Uruguay, and Venezuela - are members of the U.N. Commission, is part of Beijing's traditional annual global diplomatic offensive to ensure the committee passes a no-action motion, diplomats say.

The commission is slated to vote on the China issue next week. Last year, the no-action motion passed by 22 votes to 18 with 12 abstentions and also passed in 1999 by 22 to 17 with 14 abstentions.

However, the U.N. body last year adopted a resolution against Cuba, co-sponsored by the Czech Republic and Poland by 21 votes in favor, 18 against, and 18 abstentions.

Senior diplomats close to China, speaking on the condition of nonattribution, say Beijing feels confident it has the numbers this year to block a vote.

-------- u.s.

Gulf War vets have more health problems than colleagues

Planet Ark
UK: April 12, 2001
Story by Patricia Reaney
REUTERS
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10502

LONDON - Veterans of the Gulf War have more health problems and illnesses than other men and women in the armed services, British doctors said today.

One of the largest studies done into "Gulf War Syndrome" also showed that the number of injections the veterans received during the 1991 conflict and the amount of time they spent handling pesticides were correlated with specific symptoms of the mysterious illness.

"There seems to be a definite shift towards ill health in those who went to the Gulf, with about 14 percent more than you would expect in the ill category," Dr Nicola Cherry, a specialist in occupational and environmental health, told Reuters.

The study of more than 14,000 men and women showed that the 9,000 veterans of the Gulf War had many more health problems than their colleagues seven years after the war.

"There is strong evidence that people who went to the Gulf have had a change in their health in the wrong direction. They are less well than if they hadn't been (to the Gulf)," Cherry, of the University of Manchester, added.

The study reported in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, a monthly medical journal, found that the number of inoculations or immunisations the veterans had received was proportional to their health problems.

Veterans who had handled pesticides also suffered more nerve damage.

MYSTERIOUS ILLNESS WITH VARIED SYMPTOMS

Gulf War Syndrome covers a variety of symptoms ranging from tiredness, convulsions and respiratory and digestive problems to nerve damage, pain, numbness and psychological difficulties.

The causes of the mysterious syndrome have been hotly debated and linked variously to the inoculations the veterans received, pesticides they handled, smoke from oil burning fires, stress and organophosphates - chemicals that have been shown to affect the human nervous system.

But the study found no direct link between the symptoms and the suspected causes nor the mechanism by which they might be linked.

The veterans who took part in the study answered questions about 95 symptoms. Nerve damage and widespread pain were twice as common among the Gulf veterans as among their colleagues.

Inoculations were associated with more skin and muscle complaints. Although the researchers said the Gulf veterans showed a significant decline in health, the number of deaths or hospital admissions in the group was not higher than the other servicemen and women.

"In one of the biggest and most complete studies that has been done there is evidence that the people who went to the Gulf have more health concerns that those who didn't," said Cherry.

She and her colleagues called for more research in the impact of pesticides and inoculations on the health of veterans.

Nearly one million servicemen and women were deployed to the Gulf between August 1990 and February 1991 to oppose the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Within months of returning veterans started reporting health problems.

------

Official wants atoll to lose all trace of man
Preservation director wants all structures removed from Johnston Atoll

Thursday, April 12, 2001
By Gregg K. Kakesako Honolulu Star-Bulletin
http://starbulletin.com/2001/04/12/news/story10.html

JOHNSTON ATOLL Near the center of the Pacific lies Johnston Atoll -- one of the oldest and most remote and at one time, one of the most pristine places in the world.

It's a distinction that at least one federal official would like to see Johnston Atoll reclaim after nearly seven decades of military control.

Formed more than 70 million years ago, Johnston Atoll is an expansive shallow platform about 50 miles square with four small islands -- Johnston, Sand, North and East -- in a lagoon.

An oasis for reef and bird life, Johnston Atoll is home to 32 species of coral, 300 species of fish, the threatened and endangered green sea turtle and Hawaiian monk seal, and 20 species of migratory birds -- all living under the protective umbrella of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and strangely co-existing with the most lethal weapons of the 20th century.

If Rob Shallenberger, deputy project leader of the Hawaii and Pacific Island National Wildlife Refugee Complex, has his way there will be virtually no man-made structures on any part of Johnston Island once the military leaves in three years.

The end of military control will mean the atoll will probably revert back to the U.S. Interior Department and ultimately to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Shallenberger said, which has been custodian of the remote piece of the Pacific since 1926.

"We hope to operate only a small field station here similar to the one we have on Tern Island," Shallenberger said.

And the Interior Department doesn't plan to open it up for recreational use like was done on Midway Island.

"Midway already satisfies that purpose," Shallenberger said. "We don't think Johnston would have the same appeal as Midway."

Shallenberger said it is still unknown what will be done with the runway which dominates Johnston's landscape.

"We don't have the resources to maintain it," he said.

But he acknowledges that it may have to be kept as a Mid-Pacific emergency landing field.

His main concern is that the various contaminants, ranging from Agent Orange to jet fuel, PCB and plutonium that have leaked into soil over the years, be disposed of and the environment restored. All of those areas have been fenced off awaiting future remedial action.

"Those pose risk to both the sea birds and the marine life," Shallenberger said. "I would like to see all those buildings destroyed and the atoll returned to what it was before."

But Gary McCloskey, Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS) site manager, said no decision has been made as to how many of several hundred buildings will remain.

The Army will clean up the buildings that they control and then turn them over to the Air Force, which is the landlord of the tiny atoll, McCloskey said.

At one time Johnston Atoll, located 825 miles southwest of Hawaii, held 6.6 percent of U.S. chemical weapons.

That ended on Nov. 29 when JACADS completed the destruction of more than 400,000 rockets, projectiles, bombs, mortars, containers and mines, McCloskey said.

Last to be destroyed were landmines, manufactured in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and stored on the 625-acre Johnston Island.

Yesterday marked another milestone for the Army when the U.S. Army Chemical Activity Pacific ended its mission of ensuring the safety of chemical weapons stored here.

Lt. Col. John Esce, the Chemical Activity's executive officer, said his unit performed its mission without a single serious incident since chemical weapons were first moved to Johnston from Okinawa in 1971 under Operation Red Hat. More weapons were moved from West Germany in 1990 and from the Solomon Islands in 1991.

By September all of the unit's 230 soldiers will have left Johnston since there are no longer chemical weapons to protect and the only task that remains is the cleanup. The Johnston Atoll chemical weapons storage site was the only one where U.S. soldiers were responsible for the protection, storage and transport of chemical munitions. All other sites on the mainland are run by private contractors and civilians hired by the Defense Department.

McCloskey said that $412 million has been set aside for the Army to clean up the JACADS site, but the 54 concrete bunkers will remain.

Since 1926 Johnston has been a national bird refuge and host to various military missions -- the latest being the chemical weapons disposal plant.

It was actually shelled by the Japanese after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. During World War II, Johnston became a crucial mid-Pacific refueling and supply point for U.S. aircraft and submarines. Airlift operations were run out of Johnston during the Korean War.

In the late 1950s and 1960s, Johnston was the launch site for the military's atmospheric nuclear tests. One of the tests in 1962 turned into a mini-disaster when a Thor missile exploded, polluting a small portion of the island with plutonium oxide.

The JACADS incinerators were built in 1985 for the sole purpose of destroying chemical weapons. Since then more than 2,000 tons of chemical agents in the form of nerve agent (GB, also known as sarin and VX) and blister agent (HD) have been destroyed.

Lt. Paul Kern, deputy to the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, said that as of last year, 22 percent of 30,000 tons of chemical agents the U.S. has stockpiled at Johnston and seven other mainland sites have been destroyed.

Only Johnston Island, which is two miles long and a quarter-mile wide, is inhabited. Originally, it was only 46 acres, but the Navy dredged and filled the island to fit its use beginning in 1936 and by 1964, Johnston had grown to 625 acres.
--------

Defense priority No. 1: military readiness
Pentagon faces hard spending choices.
Will it be pricey weapons or GI boots?

THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 2001
Christian Science Monitor
By Brad Knickerbocker (bradknick@aol.com)
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/04/12/fp2s1-csm.shtml

WASHINGTON - The budget President Bush sent to Congress this week has very little detail on defense spending. The true military expense list will come a few months from now after the administration has figured out how many wars it wants to be prepared to fight and how to fight them.

But the one sure thing is that Bush & Co. believe strongly - as do many outside experts - that military readiness needs improvement.

Gear is wearing out. Pilots aren't getting enough flying time. It's getting harder to recruit new soldiers due to low pay, inadequate housing, and other "quality of life" issues. Overseas units are so involved with "peacekeeping" that some are failing to meet actual war-fighting standards because they miss training exercises back in the states.

"Readiness is in jeopardy - both now and in the future - because of aging, overused equipment, rapidly increasing costs and shortages of spare parts, and operational funding," warns Senator John Warner (R) of Virginia, Armed Services Committee chairman.

Meanwhile, the post-cold-war military cutbacks enacted over the past decade (by Republicans as well as Democrats) are putting an added strain on the armed services. Army divisions are down to 10 from 18. Air Force fighter wings have been cut from 36 to 20. And the Navy's fleet, which once stood at nearly 600 ships, is down to little more than half that. In all, there are 700,000 fewer active-duty soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines in uniform.

At the same time, US military planning continues to be based on the ability to fight two "major theater wars." And all of this is happening at a time when new threats and contingencies need to be planned for in a single superpower world where military readiness could be more important than ever.

"Cold war readiness standards no longer suffice as measures of our capability to meet today's operational requirements," says Army Chief of Staff Erik Shinseki. "Our soldiers believe that the Army is too small for the missions it's asked to perform and under-resourced for the operational tempo it executes."

Pressure from all sides

Bush is under pressure from left and right. Hawks are pushing for a bigger defense budget. Doves say closing more superfluous military bases and killing extravagant and redundant big-ticket weapons could free up money for spare parts and training. Other experts say overseas commitments could be adjusted to assure a more-prepared and better-equipped fighting force.

What's a commander in chief to do - especially one who, during the recent presidential campaign, promised the troops that "help is on the way?"

For starters, Bush's $311 billion Defense Department budget for fiscal year 2002 includes a $1.4 billion increase for pay and benefits. While the details of the administration's overall military review are yet to be revealed, candidate Bush's advisers (some of whom are now in his cabinet) talked about reducing US military commitments abroad. The Clinton administration also worried about stretching US forces too thin.

"Large numbers of commitments not only stress unit training and morale, but also recruiting and retention," former Defense Secretary William Cohen warned in his last annual report to the president and Congress.

Military families know that firsthand. "In today's family force, the decision to leave the military or stay, to accept a potentially career-enhancing assignment at the cost of family separation or to move but once again is a family decision," says Joyce Wessel Raezer, an Army wife and deputy director of the National Military Family Association in Alexandria, Va. "And often, that family decision boils down to one question: Is it worth it?"

Not everyone agrees

But not all observers agree that US military forces are over-worked or spread too thinly around the world.

The Project on Defense Alternatives, a research group in Cambridge, Mass., notes that since the Gulf War, an average of just 40,000 troops have been deployed overseas at any given time - less than 12 percent of the total, even when quadrupled to account for troop rotation. (This does not include those based abroad with their families.)

"Readiness, more than any other aspect of military capability, depends on how a military is organized and carries out its business," states a recent report by the organization. "For this reason a failure to adapt the organization and functioning of our armed forces to new circumstances might express itself as readiness problems. And, indeed, in a variety of ways defense managers have failed to adapt our armed forces to the new era."

One answer, suggests defense specialist Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution in Washington, is to scale back such longstanding US military deployments as marines on Okinawa, aircraft carrier battle groups in the Mediterranean, Air Force aircraft over Iraq, and the military presence in Bosnia. Such reductions, he says, could be carried out without harming US security interests.

Overall, says Dr. O'Hanlon, "the quality of people, equipment, and training has given the United States a military in very fine shape." Still, he observes in his recent book on defense policy, "there are cracks in the US armed forces that, if allowed to worsen, could change the basic readiness picture within a few years."


-------- OTHER

-------- alternative energy

Fuel cells promise clean power for cars, tomorrow

Planet Ark
UK: April 12, 2001
Story by Neil Winton, European Auto Correspondent
REUTERS
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10488

LONDON - While politicians try to save the world from car pollution, the fuel cell promises to do the job for them.

But not just yet.

The internal combustion engine, which has reigned supreme for more than 100 years, still has room for improvement. Diesels now deliver economy, sophistication and power that could only be dreamed of 10 years ago.

And while the big car manufacturers invest huge sums to perfect the fuel cell, hybrid power - a conventional internal combustion engine boosted by an electric motor - looks likely to be the interim technology which will boost fuel economy and keep environmentalists and politicians off the industry's back.

Promising pollution-free power that doesn't consume scarce resources, the hydrogen powered fuel cell car should, in theory, have the range and performance of an internal combustion engine, and the only by-product, water vapour, shouldn't trouble environmentalists.

The first fuel cell-powered buses should be appearing in Europe next year, and the first car in 2004.

Both vehicles will be from German automotive powerhouse DaimlerChrysler as a result of its collaboration with Ballard Power Systems of Canada.

MASS PRODUCTION NOT IMMINENT

According to automobile industry analyst Neal McAtee of Morgan Keegan in Memphis, Tennessee, although the first fuel cell-powered cars may be on the road within three years, mass production is not imminent.

"It will probably be eight to 10 years before manufacturers offer cars that you can go and buy in the store," said McAtee.

He said the huge cost of a hydrogen dispensing infrastructure is a bar to progress. Until that is solved, gasoline or methanol will have to be used to produce hydrogen on board the fuel cell cars.

Fuel cells work by combining hydrogen and oxygen via a catalyst which converts chemical energy into electrical power to feed an electric motor.

Until hydrogen is available on tap, it has to be produced in the car using fossil fuels like petrol, methanol or diesel, which will still emit carbon dioxide, but only at about half the rate of conventional engines. The process eliminates dangerous pollutants like oxides of nitrogen, sulphur and diesel particulates.

DaimlerChrysler expects the first fuel cell-powered car in 2004 and chief executive Juergen Schrempp has said about 10 percent of all cars could be fuel cell powered by 2020.

FUEL CELL CAR IN 2004

"Our first car should be ready in 2004 and it will be a compact to be offered in some markets," said Johannes Ebner from DaimlerChrysler's fuel cell project.

DaimlerChrysler has not revealed exactly which of its cars will take the fuel cell, although industry experts expect this will be the little A class.

DaimlerChrysler buses will lead off with fuel cell versions subsidised by the European Union in 2002.

Fuel cell technology still has many technical and operational problems to overcome.

"There are major technical problems and we are working hard to fulfil targets but I think we can manage this," Ebner said.

"Don't forget that the internal combustion engine has had 100 years of development and there's still room for further improvement. We will start with a version that is acceptable and then work hard to improve it."

DaimlerChrysler has yet to decide whether methanol or gasoline will be used to make hydrogen.

Jim Hossack, consultant with AutoPacific in Santa Ana, California, believes that fuel cell cars won't be available to mass market buyers until close to 2020.

"There's no certainty; there is the age old problem of scheduling inventions. This can be treacherous," said Hossack.

He said hybrids are viable in many markets but not in the United States, where fuel taxes are lower and gasoline cheaper than in Europe.

Japan's Toyota Prius and Honda Motor's Insight are hybrids already on sale in the United States and Europe.

OIL SHOCK NEEDED TO INTEREST UNITED STATES

The low price of petrol in the United States means there is little enthusiasm for fuel-efficient vehicles using diesel, gasoline direct-injection engines, or batteries.

"If the price of fuel doubles or availability becomes an issue, that would change the whole environment. But at today's prices hybrids do work but they are not commercially competitive," Hossack said.

Despite a lack of enthusiasm for fuel-efficient cars in the United States, the world's manufacturers are scrambling to build frugal cars, albeit in different ways.

According to Automotive News Europe, Volkswagen and BMW of Germany are developing turbocharged diesels, while Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroen of France, Fiat of Italy, General Motors Europe and Ford Europe are developing hybrids which should start appearing in 2003.

All car makers are looking to fuel cells for long-term solutions.

But don't write off the internal combustion engine yet.

A report from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said cars in 2020 will use one third less fuel than now.

Morgan Keegan's McAtee said the automobile industry's move to 42 volt electrical systems from 12 volts in the next couple of years promises big cuts in fuel use and emissions.

AutoPacific's Hossack agrees.

"The internal combustion engine can't reign supreme for ever, but it will be supreme for the next 10 years. Probably not for the next 100 though."

-------- environment

Environmental Groups Release Unpublished Accident Scenario Reports
bhopal in the bayou, are chemical accidents a trade secret?

greenpeaceusa.org
http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/features/bhopal_bayou.htm

In a press conference held onboard the ship currently on the "Cancer Starts Here" tour in Louisiana, Greenpeace and the Working Group on Community Right to Know (CRTK) released previously unpublished catastrophic chemical accident scenarios prepared by 50 chemical companies in Louisiana. After the chemical company lobbied Congress in 1999 to restrict public release of these accident scenarios, the information has not been readily available until today. The company data shows that more than a million people are at risk from only one worst-case scenario chemical accident.

http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/toxics/ship.htm

Chemical accidents are under reported and no federal agency keeps a complete record. Between 1987 and 1994, more than 3,000 chemicals accidents were reported in the U.S. of more than 10,000 pounds of hazardous material.

More people that live and work as far as 25 miles from dozens of chemical plants such as Dow, Georgia Gulf, Vulcan and Dupont are at risk of accidents. The groups released data on 50 danger zones that blanket a corridor 25 miles wide from Baton Rouge to New Orleans and the Lake Charles area in southwest Louisiana.

The same company reports include worst case scenarios and alternative scenarios, including toxic chemical releases, fires and explosions. The Dow plant in Plaquemine reported a worst case accident involving the release of hydrogen chloride that could put 370,000 people at risk. Dow's alternative scenario projects a smaller danger zone of 6.9 miles that puts 31,000 people at risk from a chlorine leak.

Thirty-two of the 50 facilities investigated have reported accidents in the last eight years. These accidents have included worker injuries, evacuations, "shelter in place" emergency procedure and millions of dollars in property damage.

Greenpeace and the Working Group on CRTK collected this alarming data from the US EPA reading room in Washington, D.C. The data released today is for companies reporting worst case scenarios that could put 100,000 or more people at risk.

The 1984 Union Carbide chemical leak in Bhopal, India killed more than 2,000 people and injured more than 100,000. This accident, the largest in history, prompted accident prevention provisions in the 1990 Clean Air Act. Chemical companies, however, claimed terrorists could use these provisions to attack the U.S. and Congress limited the public's access to this information. Although no chemical company has ever been the target of terrorists, the public is not allowed to photocopy these reports and can only view ten reports each month.

---

US chemical pollution up 5 pct in latest year - EPA

Planet Ark
USA: April 12, 2001
Story by Tom Doggett
REUTERS
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=10503

WASHINGTON - The amount of chemicals and other wastes released into the air, water and land by U.S. industrial facilities rose by 5 percent in the latest year for which data is available, the Environmental Protection Agency said yesterday, in a report that prompted consumer groups to call for more environmental protections.

EPA said the amount of toxic releases in 1999, based on the newest data available in its annual toxic inventory report, jumped 5 percent from the year before to 7.8 billion pounds.

Federal law requires industrial facilities to publicly report each year the amount of 644 toxic chemicals and chemical compounds they release.

The metal mining industry accounted for half the toxic releases and had the biggest increase, up 11.7 percent or 416 million pounds.

Electric utilities were the second largest polluting sector in 1999, with just under 1.2 billion pounds in chemical releases, up 24.9 million pounds or 2.2 percent.

The coal mining industry showed a 9.7 percent drop in toxic emissions, down 1.3 million pounds to 11.8 million pounds.

Nevada and Utah were the two states with the largest volume of chemical releases from all industries, about 1.2 billion pounds each, followed by Arizona with 963.3 million pounds, Alaska with 433 million pounds and Texas at 313.9 million pounds.

A coalition of consumer groups said the data showed the need for better environmental protections, while the Bush administration has moved to roll back several regulations, including new standards for the amount of arsenic allowed in drinking water.

The new data said more than 600 million pounds of arsenic and arsenic compounds were released into the nation's land and water in 1999. Arsenic causes several types of cancer and is poisonous.

EPA said the annual report reflects releases and other waste management activities of chemicals, not exposure of the public to those chemicals.

"The release estimates alone are not sufficient to determine exposure or to calculate potential adverse effects on human health and the environment," the agency said.

The EPA's toxic inventory data can be found on the agency's website at http://www.epa.gov/tri.

------

ARSENIC FROM YOUR TAP

From: magnu96196@aol.com
RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH NEWS #722
by Rachel Massey
April 12, 2001

Environmental Research Foundation P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403 Fax (410) 263-8944; E-mail: erf@rachel.org

President Bush has canceled a health regulation that would have reduced allowable levels of arsenic in U.S. drinking water from 50 parts per billion (ppb) to 10 ppb. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), arsenic in drinking water causes cancer of the skin, lungs, bladder and prostate in humans.[1] Arsenic in drinking water is also linked to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, anemia, and disorders of the immune, nervous and reproductive systems, EPA says.[1] Furthermore, recent evidence suggests that arsenic even at very low levels equivalent to 10 ppb in water interferes with hormones, making it a potent endocrine disrupter. Hormones are chemical messengers that the body produces to regulate critical life processes.[2]

The current U.S. arsenic standard of 50 ppb was adopted in 1942. After a decade of study and public review of scientific evidence, EPA proposed the stricter standard while Bill Clinton was president. Mr. Bush reversed EPA's decision shortly after taking office.

Arsenic appears in two forms, organic and inorganic; in general, the inorganic form is more dangerous. Inorganic arsenic occurs naturally in some locales. In addition, at least six million pounds of arsenic are released into the environment of the U.S. each year by mining, coal burning, copper and lead smelting, wood-preserving treatments, municipal incinerators and the use of certain pesticides.[3,pg. 249] The International Agency for Research on Cancer, a division of the World Health Organization (WHO), and the U.S. EPA both agree that arsenic is known to cause cancer in humans.[4] According to EPA, at least 11 million people in the U.S. currently drink water contaminated with arsenic at levels above 10 ppb.[5]

The 10 ppb arsenic standard would have put the U.S. squarely in the mainstream. In 1993, the World Health Organization (WHO) set 10 ppb as the recommended limit for arsenic in drinking water. The 15-nation European Union adopted 10 ppb as a mandatory standard for arsenic in drinking water in 1998.[6] WHO says even this level is not safe; for example, WHO estimates that lifetime exposure to water containing 10 ppb of arsenic will lead to six cases of skin cancer per 10,000 people.[7]

A 1999 study by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recommended that the allowable levels of arsenic in U.S. drinking water should be lowered "as promptly as possible." Taking into consideration all forms of cancer, NAS said the current standard of 50 ppb "could easily result in a combined cancer risk on the order of 1 in 100."[8,pg.301] A one-in-100 risk is 10,000 times as great as the one-in-a-million risk that EPA usually deems "acceptable."

EPA estimated that cutting allowable arsenic from 50 to 10 ppb would prevent 1000 bladder cancers and 2000 to 5000 lung cancers during a human lifetime. EPA did not estimate the reductions in skin or prostate cancers, diabetes, nervous system damage, immune system damage, or cardiovascular disease.[1]

Now a new study suggests that arsenic is a potent hormone disrupter.[9] Working with rat tumor cells, researchers have found that low-level arsenic exposure interferes with the activity of hormones known as glucocorticoids. Glucocorti-coids are involved in most of the human body's basic systems. They help to regulate the immune system, the central nervous system, and changes in blood, bones and kidneys, as well as the body's use of sugars, starches, fats, and proteins. Glucocorticoids affect weight, growth, and development.[10]

Arsenic's hormone-disrupting activity may explain how arsenic promotes cancer. Studies of laboratory animals show that glucocorticoids suppress some tumors. Arsenic may promote cancers by interfering with this tumor-suppressing mechanism.

For President Bush, arsenic poisoning provides an opportunity for humor. At a dinner speech in March the President said, "As you know, we're studying safe levels for arsenic in drinking water. (laughter) To base our decision on sound science, the scientists told us we needed to test the water glasses of about 3,000 people. (laughter) Thank you for participating. (laughter)"[11]

It is not entirely clear why Mr. Bush takes arsenic poisoning so lightly, but it may have something to do with his ties to the coal industry. Burning coal is a major source of arsenic contamination. Many landfills contain arsenic-laden ash produced by coal-burning power plants. Arsenic is likely to leak out of these landfills, contaminating groundwater.[3,pg.250]

Coal companies were major contributors to Mr. Bush's election campaign.Mr.Bush recently announced he was abandoning his campaign promise to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants,[13] and he has turned his back on the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty to combat global warming. Representative Henry Waxman (D., Calif.) says Mr. Bush's arsenic policy is "another example of a special interest payback to industries that gave millions of dollars in campaign contributions."[5]

The wood products industry, which uses arsenic to pressure-treat lumber, also stands to benefit from unsafe arsenic standards. A representative of the American Wood Preservers Institute said members of his organization were "relieved and delighted" by Mr. Bush's decision.[5]

EPA spent ten years studying the dangers of arsenic in a public process before proposing the 10 ppb standard. The Bush administration now says the science behind the 10 ppb standard is "unclear." Furthermore, the Bush EPA questions whether the Clinton administration "fully understood" the costs of reducing arsenic contamination, even though the Clinton EPA published detailed cost estimates for public review and comment.[14]

In developing the 10 ppb standard, EPA estimated that the total cost of reducing arsenic contamination to 10 ppb nationwide would be around $181 million a year. If this cost were paid entirely by households that use affected water supplies,it would average about 12 dollars per person per year.EPA says the total annual benefits from avoiding unnecessary bladder and lung cancers would range from $140 million to $198 million. In other words, the monetary benefits from reducing these two illnesses alone would match the costs of removing arsenic from drinking water. EPA did not estimate monetary benefits from avoiding other illnesses associated with arsenic exposure, such as skin, prostate, and lung cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and damage to the immune and nervous systems.[15]

NEW YORK TIMES writer Gina Kolata has gone to bat for Mr. Bush on arsenic. By carefully selecting information, Kolata has managed to make the proposed 10 ppb arsenic regulation seem scientifically muddled and ultimately not worth the cost.[16] To begin with, she points out correctly that arsenic is natural: "God put it there," she quotes one scientist as saying, but she does not mention the millions of pounds of arsenic that corporations dump into air and water each year.

Kolata quotes an industry consultant who says he would bet a dollar that the "minuscule" number of lives to be saved by reducing arsenic levels is not statistically different from zero. Given that we know arsenic causes many different human diseases and given that we even know the mechanism by which this seems to occur (hormone disruption), it seems scientifically untenable and ethically bankrupt to assume "zero" effect when exposing tens of millions of people to arsenic in their drinking water.

Kolata cites EPA's estimate of how many bladder and lung cancers could be prevented by adopting the 10 ppb standard, but she does not mention the many other diseases that could be prevented by a safer standard. Kolata points out, correctly, that NAS did not recommend a specific level to which contamination should be reduced. However, she forgets to mention that the NAS urged the U.S. to reduce its arsenic "as promptly as possible," and that the NAS indicates that no level of arsenic exposure is known to be safe.[8,pg.300]

Kolata mentions correctly that the World Health Organization has set 10 ppb as its standard for arsenic in drinking water, but she says, "Most European countries have set their maximum arsenic levels at 20 parts per billion in water..." thus making it seem as if the WHO and the EPA are outside the mainstream. This is incorrect. The 15-nation European Union in 1998 adopted 10 ppb arsenic as a standard for drinking water; EU member nations are specifically prohibited from adopting a standard less stringent than 10 ppb.[6] Thirteen other European nations have applied for membership in the EU; when they achieve it, they too will be bound by the EU's 10 ppb arsenic standard.

===

Rachel Massey is a consultant to Environmental Research Foundation.

[1] EPA Office of Water, "Technical Fact Sheet: Proposed Rule for Arsenic in Drinking Water and Clarifications to Compliance and New Source Contaminants Monitoring [EPA 815-F-00-011] ," (May 2000). Available at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/ars/prop_techfs.html.

[2] See http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/New/newstuff.htm#arsenicanedc.

[3] Syracuse Research Corporation, TOXICOLOGICAL PROFILE FOR ARSENIC (Atlanta, Ga.: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, September 2000).

[4] See International Agency for Research on Cancer, "List of IARC Evaluations," Group 1 (list updated April 5, 2000). Go to http://193.51.164.11/monoeval/grlist.html and click on "Group 1." Also see Environmental Health Information Service, "Ninth Report on Carcinogens," Group A (revised January, 2001). Go to http://ehis.niehs.nih.gov/roc/toc9.html and click on "Known Human Carcinogens."

[5] Douglas Jehl, "E.P.A. to Abandon New Arsenic Limits for Water Supply," NEW YORK TIMES (March 21, 2001), pg. A1.

[6] Council of the European Union, "Council Directive 98/83/EC of November 1998 on the quality of water intended for human consumption," OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES May 12, 1998, pgs. L330/32-L330/52. Available for purchase at http://eudor.eur-op.eu.int.

[7] World Health Organization, "Water, Sanitation and Health: Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality," information extracted from World Health Organization, GUIDELINES FOR DRINKING-WATER QUALITY , 2nd edition, Vol. 1 (Geneva: World Health Organization, 1993), pgs. 41-42. Available at http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/GDWQ/Chemicals/arsenicsum.htm.

[8] National Research Council, ARSENIC IN DRINKING WATER [ISBN 0309063337] (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1999). Available at http://books.nap.edu/books/0309063337/html/index.html

[9] Ronald C. Kaltreider and others, "Arsenic Alters the Function of the Glucocorticoid Receptor as a Transcription Factor," ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES Vol. 109, No. 3 (March 2001), pgs. 245-251.

[10] See http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/NewScience/newsources/glucocorticoids.htm.

[11] Frank Bruni, "Word for Word/Bushspeak; The President's Sense of Humor Has Also Been Misunderestimated," NEW YORK TIMES (April 1, 2001), Week in Review, pg. 7.

[12] John Harte and others, TOXICS A TO Z: A GUIDE TO EVERYDAY POLLUTION HAZARDS [ISBN 0520072243] (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991), pgs. 217-221.

[13] Douglas Jehl and Andrew C. Revkin, "Bush, in Reversal, Won't Seek Cut in Emissions of Carbon Dioxide," NEW YORK TIMES (March 14, 2001), pg. A1.

[14] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "EPA to Propose Withdrawal of Arsenic in Drinking Water Standard; Seeks Independent Reviews," Press Release (March 20, 2001). Available at http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/b1ab9f485b098972852562e7004dc686/- 77e59dbb919fdf4785256a150063d6a0?OpenDocument

[15] EPA Office of Water, "Technical Fact Sheet: Final Rule for Arsenic in Drinking Water [EPA 815-F-00-016] ,"(January 2001). Available at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/ars/ars_rule_techfactsheet.html.

[16] Gina Kolata, "Putting a Price Tag on the Priceless," NEW YORK TIMES (April 8, 2001), Week in Review, pg. 4.

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Recyclers to Pay Millions in Lead Dumping

New York Times
April 12, 2001
By WINNIE HU
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/nyregion/12LEAD.html

wo recycling companies have agreed to pay $3.75 million in fines and penalties to settle accusations of improperly disposing of lead waste at a factory in Rockland County for a decade, State Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer's office said yesterday.

Workers for the companies, Telesector Resources Group and Philip Metals Inc., illegally discarded small amounts of lead dust into a trash bin while recycling lead-coated copper wires at the factory in Orangeburg, Mr. Spitzer said. Telesector operated the plant from 1988 to 1997 and Philip Metals ran it in 1997 and 1998.

In addition, Philip Metals workers poured lead-tainted water onto the ground behind the factory, and allowed sludge and waste water to trickle down a drain that emptied into the county sanitary-sewer system, he said.

No injuries have been reported as a result of the lead contamination, state and local officials said. But Telesector Resources Group spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to clean up the factory site, where another company now manufactures plastic bags, the officials said.

About $3 million of the settlement money will be used to buy land near the Hudson River to create a state park.

"The resolution of this case represents the best of both worlds," Mr. Spitzer said at a news conference yesterday morning in Manhattan. "We have taken what was an environmental problem, cleaned it up, and will now use the settlement monies from this case to create an environmental jewel near the Hudson."

Though no land has been selected yet for the park, several Rockland County officials and residents said they hoped it would be close by. Thom Kleiner, the town supervisor for Orangetown, which abuts the Hudson and includes Orangeburg, said he would urge state officials to consider land there that is for sale around the Rockland Psychiatric Center. "The idea of using environmental cleanup money for parkland is terrific," he said. "And we have an obvious site for it."

Mr. Spitzer's office began investigating the recycling companies after receiving a complaint in 1998. Under the agreement with the attorney general's office, Philip Metals pleaded guilty to unauthorized disposal of lead-contaminated hazardous waste, a misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $25,000 for each violation. The company will pay a $250,000 fine and $750,000 for the parkland.

Lynda Kuhn, a Philip Metals spokeswoman, said that the company, which is based in Cleveland, closed the Orangetown factory after learning of the violations. "It goes against company practice," she said, "and events there happened under past management."

Telesector Resources Group, a New York-based subsidiary of Verizon, was not formally charged but will pay $2.75 million, including a $100,000 fine. "We aren't admitting any wrongdoing," said Sharon Cohen-Hagar, a spokeswoman for Verizon. "We wanted to settle the matter without litigation."

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Moratorium Asked on Suits That Seek to Protect Species

New York Times
April 12, 2001
By DOUGLAS JEHL
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/politics/12SPEC.html

WASHINGTON, April 11 - The Bush administration has asked Congress to set aside, at least for a year, a provision of the Endangered Species Act that has been the main tool used by citizens' groups to win protection for plants and animals.

The request, spelled out in a section of the budget document that President Bush sent to Capitol Hill on Monday, would make it much more difficult for citizens to use the courts to force the Fish and Wildlife Service to act on petitions to list a species as endangered.

Officials at the Interior Department defended the request today as necessary to let an overburdened agency regain control of a mission that they said has increasingly been driven by the courts, with dozens of cases involving more than 400 species now on the dockets.

If Congress approves the plan, the Fish and Wildlife Service would devote its available money next year to listing the endangered-species cases it deemed to be top priorities, while being specifically barred from spending any money to carry out new court orders or settlements involving other plants or animals.

"We want a chance to establish our own priorities, instead of just waiting for another court order to roll across the transom," said Stephanie Hanna, an Interior department spokeswoman. Ms. Hanna said the department would decide next year whether to extend the request beyond the 2002 fiscal year.

The leaders of environmental groups, along with some Congressional Democrats, denounced the plan as one that would take power away from citizens and put it in the hands of an agency that they said had been reluctant to make the hard decisions involved in designating endangered species.

"If you didn't have the citizens' suits, you'd basically have the power brokers determining if you were going to save the salmon or the spotted owl, and that just doesn't make sense," Representative George Miller, Democrat of California, said today.

Democrats opposing the move invoked the threat of a filibuster to kill it. Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, said that "any and all" tactics would be considered to defeat the proposal.

The administration proposal reflects a longstanding battle over how far the government should go in determining what species are deserving of protection, with business and other property owners critical of the reach of the 1973 law.

Under the administration plan, citizens could still petition the wildlife service with endangered-species requests, and to file suit in attempts to force action. But for next year, at least, the service would not be bound by deadlines requiring a prompt response, a change that would end the leverage citizens use to seek help from the courts.

The service would honor any court orders or settlements on endangered species in effect at the time the law was passed, a commitment that interior department officials said would consume the majority of this year's $8.7 million budget for the listings.

But the prohibition on spending related to new court orders or settlement would be absolute, department officials said, leaving the balance of the funds to support the agency's own listings efforts.

Of more than 1,200 species that the wildlife service has listed as threatened, the vast majority - including the northern spotted owl and the Atlantic salmon - owe that status to legal pressure brought on the agency by outside groups.

At the same time, though, a proliferation of lawsuits in recent years has left decisions on 250 candidate species or their critical habitats still awaiting agency review.

Despite that backlog, a memorandum circulated within the agency in November said resources had become so strapped that its own listings efforts were being suspended to provide officials the time and money to address the legal challenges.

Interior department officials today cited that Clinton administration warning in describing what they hoped to avoid during the new administration; their views were echoed by Congressional Republicans.

"Under the existing scenario, anybody can sue, and the limited resources of the department were spent defending the case," said Representative George P. Radanovich, a California Republican who heads a caucus of conservative Western lawmakers. "At the same time, a lot of people have been using the endangered species act not for the protection of endangered species, but for the advancement of a no-growth agenda."

In addition to 75 active lawsuits involving endangered species, the service is preparing to defend 86 more cases in which it has received notices of intent to sue. Projects the agency planned for this year included final designations of critical habitat for 180 endangered species, with preliminary decisions on 240 more, but those were in danger of being swamped by the legal challenges.

Lawyers with experience in endangered-species cases said that if Congress grants the protection the administration seeks, it could not easily be overridden, even by a judge.

In a recent ruling in the case of Environmental Defense Center v. Babbitt, they noted, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco ruled in the government's favor to uphold a spending moratorium against other obligations related to endangered species.

For that reason, leaders of environmental groups that have successfully used the law were particularly vocal today in denouncing the administration proposal.

At Defenders of Wildlife, officials said the determination by the wildlife service came only after the group filed three challenges in court.

"One of the reasons that the Endangered Species Act works is that Congress gave citizens a right to petition and to sue," said Rodger Schlickeisen, the group's president. "Congress set those statutory deadlines on purpose because they knew that agencies would have a hard time acting on their own in an atmosphere of political controversy."

The administration's effort to seek changes in the endangered-species process comes as some Congressional Democrats have joined Republicans in saying that the act itself may need an overhaul.

In the House, Representative James V. Hansen, the Utah Republican who is chairman of the House Resources Committee, set up a bipartisan Endangered Species Act Working Group today to draft proposed changes to the law, which has been been due for reauthorization since 1991.

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CAMDEN: DREDGING PROJECT CRITICIZED

New York Times
April 12, 2001
Metro Briefs
Andrew Jacobs
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/nyregion/12MBRF.html

Federal officials have agreed to review a vast dredging project in the Delaware River that has been criticized for its potential impact on the environment. At the request of New Jersey's two senators and United States Representative Rob Andrews, the General Accounting Office will review the Army Corps of Engineers' $311 million project that would deepen the river's shipping channel to 45 feet from 40 feet. Environmentalists have said that the corps failed to assess the project's impact on wildlife and on the oyster and crab industries. Port officials say the dredging is needed to keep local shipping competitive. (NYT)

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Britain woos tourists put off livestock disease

USA Today
04/12/2001
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2001-04-12-footandmouth.htm

LONDON (AP) - British officials are trying to reassure tourists deterred by pictures of burning animal carcasses and tales of rural meltdown, saying foreign media and even governments have sent misleading messages about the foot-and-mouth epidemic. Brian Wilson, a junior Foreign Office minister, said potential visitors have been put off by "misinformation and misconceptions" about the 7-week-old epidemic of the livestock disease. "The problem isn't the reality. The problem is perception," said Wilson, who met Wednesday with ambassadors from the United States and other major tourist nations to discuss ways of easing the worries of prospective visitors.

Foot-and-mouth disease "is a big problem for British agriculture, and a tragedy for many farmers and individual businesses," he said. "But it's a huge leap to say it's something that impacts upon visitors to this country."

A highly contagious livestock ailment, foot-and-mouth disease poses no threat to humans and rarely kills animals. But it can have disastrous consequences for a country's exports - and it is hurting tourism in Britain.

The British Hospitality Association estimated the epidemic could cost British tourist businesses more than $7 billion by summer, including $4.3 billion from foreign tourists and $2.9 billion from British travelers.

It said hotels had seen an average decline in turnover of 10%, with forward bookings down 30%, the industry group said.

Rural tourism has been hit hard. More than a million animals have been condemned in a bid to contain the disease, and many footpaths, bridle paths and rural attractions have been closed.

The latest casualty is Scotland's Royal Highland Show, canceled Wednesday for the first time since World War II. The four-day agricultural fair drew 150,000 visitors last year.

But the government announced plans Wednesday to ease movement restrictions on livestock in unaffected areas and several tourist attraction have reopened in time for Easter, including large royal parks on the outskirts of London and many nature reserves.

The government's chief scientific adviser said the epidemic appeared to have leveled off. Professor David King cited a steady decrease in the average number of new cases per day - from 43 per day in the week ending April 1 to 32 per day last week.

But parts of the countryside remain off limits, and some rural areas, their fields now eerily free of sheep, may never be quite the same. In the Forest of Dean in western England, all 5,000 of the area's historic free-roaming sheep have been slaughtered.

Diplomats from nine countries that account for 69% of Britain's overseas tourism market - including the United States, France, Germany and Canada - came up with suggestions including special offers and a campaign of celebrity endorsements.

Meanwhile, the European Union's executive body expanded a ban on meat and dairy products from the Netherlands on Wednesday after Dutch authorities reported a new case there.

Dutch Agriculture Ministry officials confirmed the country's 21st case of foot-and-mouth at a farm in Friesland, more than 85 miles from where the other 20 cases have been found.

The Netherlands has suffered the worst outbreak of the disease on the European continent since the epidemic first struck Britain in February. France and Ireland also have reported cases.

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Crude oil blowout pollutes Brazilian coast

USA Today
04/12/2001
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2001-04-12-braziloil.htm

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) - A blowout at an offshore oil rig on Thursday forced the evacuation of workers and dumped crude oil into the sea, near the site where another platform caught fire and sank last month, oil giant Petrobras and union leaders said.

No one was injured in the accident at the P-7 rig, located in the Bicudo oil field 75 miles off Brazil's southeastern coast, Petrobras said. A blowout is an uncontrolled gush of gas and oil. The amount of oil that spilled has not yet been determined.

Petrobras said that oil leaked from a pipe Thursday morning during tests of a well in about 700 feet of water. Most of the 143 workers aboard were evacuated to nearby platforms, but 37 members of emergency and firefighting teams remained on the rig.

Fernando Carvalho, a director of the Oil Workers' Federation, said the evacuation was a precaution and there was little danger to workers.

"There is virtually no risk of an explosion," he said.

Teams from Petrobras were flying over the area to assess the extent of the spill, the company said. Technicians from the government's Environmental Protection Agency, Ibama, also were heading to the site.

The P-7 rig produced 13,000 barrels a day and had been in operation since the 1980s in the offshore Campos Basin, which accounts for most of the 1.5 million barrels of oil Brazil produces daily.

The latest accident comes three weeks after fire and explosions killed 11 workers aboard the world's biggest floating oil rig, which sank in nearly one mile of water in Campos Basin.

At least some of the 312,000 gallons of diesel fuel aboard leaked into the ocean, but winds and tides carried it away from the coast out to open sea. The rig also had 78,000 gallons of crude oil, most of it in hoses between the wells and the rig, but it was unclear whether that also had leaked.

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Norton says lawyers eating endangered species costs

USA Today
04/12/2001
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/2001-04-12-species.htm

WASHINGTON (AP) - Interior Secretary Gale Norton on Thursday defended her request that Congress expand her powers so she can curb lawsuits aimed at getting new endangered species listed. Mounting legal expenses, she said, are undermining her agency's ability to protect rare plants and animals, and their habitats.

"The Fish and Wildlife Service budget for listing species is being devoured by court costs," Norton said in a speech to the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Center for Private Conservation.

"For too long we've been spending precious resources on paying lawyers' bills and fighting in courtrooms instead of protecting species and fighting to bring them back from the brink of extinction."

A provision in the budget President Bush sent Congress on Monday would give Norton more authority to decide which animals and plants deserve federal protection as endangered and threatened species.

The Sierra Club said that would give Norton too much power to determine the fate of threatened species.

"Americans don't want just one politician giving a thumbs-up or thumbs-down on whether an animal vanishes from the planet," Carl Pope, the Sierra Club's director, said Thursday.

Officials in both the Bush and Clinton administrations have complained that the proliferation of suits by environmentalists and other opponents of highway, dam and airport projects has stymied the government's ability to enforce the 1973 Endangered Species Act.

Environmentalists contend that it is precisely their pressure that has put most of the 1,200 species now on the government's list of those threatened.

As of a week ago, the Fish and Wildlife Service was dealing with 76 suits that focused on more than 400 species. Agency officials also have been served with notices of 95 more lawsuits affecting 600 species.

Under the Bush plan for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, citizens and environmental groups still could bring lawsuits seeking to set the Interior Department's agenda in listing endangered and threatened species lists.

But the department's budget for responding to those suits would be capped at $8.46 million department officials would have more discretion in determining which species and "critical habitat" areas should be addressed first.

Norton said the Clinton administration budgeted only $6 million annually for legal costs associated with the endangered species program but still allowed 180 species and critical habitats to be added for federal protection.

"We proposed that this amount first be used to comply with existing court orders," she said.

"We have said the leftover amounts should be spent on those species with the most critical biological needs. We would work with states and locals and the regulatory community and environmental groups to establish that priority listing."

Bush's proposed budget would provide the entire endangered species program nearly $112 million next year, a decrease of $9.1 million from the current level.

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Chairman wants review of decision on Homestead AFB

The Washington Times www.washtimes.com
Published 4/12/01
Jerry Seper THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/national/default-2001412224646.htm

The chairman of the House Transportation Committee has asked the Bush administration to investigate a controversial order by President Clinton blocking construction of a much-needed commercial airport at Florida's Homestead Air Force Base.

Rep. Don Young, Alaska Republican, wants Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta to tell him why the base - closed in 1992 after being devastated by Hurricane Andrew - should not be reopened as a commercial airport to relieve "chronic and worsening congestion" at the nation's airports.

Miami-Dade County, where the base is located, sought under the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 to convert Homestead with its 12,000-foot-long runway to a commercial airport, saying it was necessary to meet rising air-transportation needs and boost the area's hurricane-devastated economy.

The Clinton administration blocked the project with a Jan. 15 order forbidding "in perpetuity" the use of the Homestead site for a new airport, saying it posed a threat to nearby Everglades and Biscayne national parks.

But a 1994 environmental impact statement said a new airport was an acceptable use for Homestead and the Air Force issued an order conveying the property to Miami-Dade. Before the site could be transferred, the Clinton administration ordered a new review. The second study, completed in 2000, ruled that Homestead was the only feasible site and the potential environmental impact was not disqualifying.

Three members of Congress have challenged the Clinton administration decision, describing the order as a "potentially unlawful 11th-hour action" and asking President Bush to overturn it.

Florida Republican Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, along with Rep. James V. Hansen, Utah Republican and chairman of the House Resources Committee, said the decision could have "serious consequences for the South Florida community."

They told Mr. Bush the Clinton administration ignored the facts, including the environmental studies. They said the airport was "essential in meeting growing air transportation infrastructure needs of South Florida and would provide a vital economic engine to rebuild the economy of south Miami-Dade County."

Last week, Mr. Mineta told the House Transportation Committee that congestion in U.S. transportation was a challenge facing every American, and that "nowhere is the congestion challenge more evident than in air-traffic control." In promising to look at the Homestead matter, he said the country needed more runways and more airport capacity.

Critics have questioned whether the Clinton administration sought the order to protect the environment or approved it as retribution for the Florida recount battle, which gave the election to Mr. Bush over Vice President Al Gore.

Miami-Dade County officials, along with attorneys for the airport's proposed developers, Homestead Air Base Developers Inc., have filed separate lawsuits in federal court in Washington asking that the order be overturned.

In 1992, Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida, killing 38 persons, leaving 250,000 homeless and destroying $20 billion worth of property, including Homestead Air Force Base. Rather than restore the base, the Air Force closed it. Some 8,000 jobs were lost.

The Clinton administration's decision to block construction of the new airport came after a Dec. 12 White House meeting attended by high-ranking administration officials, including Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, who had long opposed the planned airport. Between that date and the Jan. 15 order, Mr. Gore conceded the election after an unfavorable Supreme Court ruling.

Clinton spokeswoman Julia Payne did not return calls for comment.

The order, signed four days after Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat, was named to the Environment and Public Works Committee, opted for mixed-use development, hotels, restaurants, retail shops, golf courses and an aquarium. The Air Force kept 915 acres of runways and taxiways and offered the county the remaining 717 acres for development other than an airport.

-------- genetics

LAW ON ENGINEERED FISH

New York Times
April 12, 2001
National Briefing
Andrew Pollack
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/national/12BRFS.html

MARYLAND: Gov. Parris N. Glendening has signed into law a bill that prohibits release of genetically modified fish into any state waterway connected to another body of water. It is believed to be the first law in any state to bar the introduction of a genetically engineered plant or animal. Delegate Dan K. Morhaim, the principal sponsor, said that he did not know of the development of any genetically modified fish in Maryland but that such work was going on in the Northeast and the Pacific Northwest. "This is a pre-emptive measure," he said, maintaining that the ban should help protect Chesapeake Bay. (NYT)

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Judge approves national park Jet Skis ban

USA Today
04/12/2001
http://usatoday.com/news/nation/2001-04-12-jetski.htm

WASHINGTON (AP) - Jet Skis and other personal watercraft will be banned in all national parks and recreation areas after two more summers under a settlement approved by a federal judge Thursday. The gasoline-powered personal watercraft are already banned from 66 of the 87 parks, recreational areas and seashores where motorized boats are allowed throughout the nation. Thursday's order by U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler affects the remaining 21.

Kessler dismissed a challenge from watercraft manufacturers and vendors to the agreement negotiated last December by the Interior Department and the Bluewater Network, a San Francisco-based environmental group. The Bush administration endorsed the accord.

The Park Service agreed that unless it can prove the machines don't harm the environment on a site-by-site basis, each will be added to a list of Jet Ski-free zones by Sept. 15, 2002.

"This Jet Ski settlement is great news for the national parks," said Sean Smith, spokesman for the San Francisco-based Bluewater Network environmental group that had sued the National Park Service. "It will better protect the visiting public as well as park resources and wildlife from these noisy, smelly and dangerous machines."

Last year, the Park Service banned Jet Skis from two-thirds of the national parks. That prompted Bluewater Network to file a federal lawsuit to widen the ban to the remaining 21 parks and recreation areas. The Personal Watercraft Industry Association and the American Watercraft Association tried unsuccessfully to intervene.

Manufacturers and owners have argued that personal watercraft pollute less and are more maneuverable than motorboats, and that the nation's 1.2 million watercraft owners have a right to use public waterways.

Monita Fontaine, the industry association's director, said Thursday she was disappointed but still expected to get Jet Skis, which cost an average of $7,000, approved for use in the parks based on new technology that cuts emissions and noise.

"We're not happy with the process, we believe we've been singled out," she said. "You can take any other boat you want in the park - you can take a cigarette boat."

Over the past three years, she said, the two-stroke outboard motors used in Jet Skis have reduced their hydrocarbon emissions by 75% and their noise by 70%.

"If there is evidence that there is a substantial impact on the environment from Jet Ski use, they have the right to ban them," she said. "However, we believe that we will be able to pass any environmental assessment."

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USA Today
04/12/01
States
http://www.usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm

Ohio

Toledo - Gov. Taft said he opposes drilling for natural gas under Lake Erie because the state has other sources to explore. Oil and gas industry executives have lobbied lawmakers to consider exploratory drilling beneath the lake. Environmentalists say a drilling accident could foul drinking water supplies.

Tennessee

Unicoi - The U.S. Forest Service has burned 2,100 acres of the Cherokee National Forest where the Southern pine beetle ravaged trees. Forest Service spokesman Terry McDonald said the agency plans to burn about 20,000 acres this spring to dispose of dead white pine and hemlock trees that could pose a forest fire danger.

Utah

Moab - The Bureau of Land Management issued permits to 1,700 four-wheel-drive vehicles, allowing them access to routes and campsites for this weekend's Jeep Safari. The Sierra Club and Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance oppose the annual event and plan their own events emphasizing the damage to the desert caused by off-road vehicles.

Vermont

Bennington - The select board is hoping a group of prominent citizens can help settle an emotional debate about whether to put fluoride in the town water supply. Local dentists say fluoride could reduce a high rate of tooth decay. Opponents say people should not be exposed to the chemical if they don't want to be.

-------- imf / world bank

Taiwan and China's W.T.O. Application Will Test Relationship

New York Times
April 12, 2001
By JOSEPH KAHN
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/world/12ASSE.html

WASHINGTON, April 11 - Now that the Bush administration has resolved its first diplomatic test with China, an important question remains about what the episode says about the administration's still- evolving China policy and the relationship between the countries.

Within the next few weeks, the relationship faces two tests as the Bush administration must decide which weapons systems to sell to Taiwan and how to reignite China's stalled drive to join the World Trade Organization.

The release of the spy plane's crew almost certainly means that the incident will not create a permanent rift in Sino-American relations, and might even serve a positive end by reminding both sides that they stand to lose a great deal unless they begin a major push to find common ground, several American diplomats and China experts said today.

"There is no way to get away from this without some residue, mainly the public attitudes toward us in China and our public's attitude toward China," said Samuel R. Berger, who served as national security adviser under President Clinton. "But the people who believe in relations between these two countries prevailed over those who see it only in nationalistic terms, and I think that's a positive sign."

James R. Lilley, a former United States ambassador to China, said that every recent American president, whether by accident or miscalculation, "gets himself in a terrible mess with China to start things off."

The silver lining, he said, is that a sharp slide in relations usually prompts a frantic scramble to consult each other more, to open lines of communications and to consider each other's strategic interests. President Reagan, President Bush and President Clinton each began terms with a China crisis, and each left saying he had built a much closer relationship than the one he had at the start of their terms.

"I think you're going to see this administration reaching out to China on North Korea, on the W.T.O., and on a range of strategic and economic issues," Mr. Lilley said. "China badly needs to be included in these efforts, and we badly need to have a strategic dialogue with China."

The broader question for Sino- American relations is whether incidents like the spy plane episode and the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, as well as disagreements over Taiwan and human rights, are manageable rifts that distract from an otherwise solid relationship. If not, the almost seemingly endless succession of crises is likely to have a cumulative impact, like a roller coaster on which the uphill climb keeps getting longer and the downhill plunge steeper.

"I think we should view this mainly as a diplomatic management problem," said Stapleton Roy, a longtime State Department Asia expert and former China ambassador. It is a "period in which all kinds of episodes need to be handled, and the question is whether they will be handled skillfully."

Other experts said the latest episode is unlikely to be forgotten quickly. The involvement of American military personnel brings the strains in relations home to average American more vividly than any crisis since Tiananmen Square, which received weeks of saturation coverage by network television and made China's political instability a household concern. The tone of the relationship, at least for a time, should reflect American concerns about China's direction, these people said.

"I think our response going forward has to be quite cool," said Winston Lord, a former China ambassador and State Department official who oversaw East Asia policy during the earlier Clinton administration. "We need to make it clear to the Chinese that there's a residue of annoyance over their performance."

Mr. Lord said the two sides should try to restore a full dialogue on international strategic issues, including nuclear issues in South Asia and stability in the Persian Gulf, but that the Bush team should not give China the impression that the two sides are back to business as usual.

In some ways, President Bush had already put China on notice that it could not expect the same sort of attentive diplomacy it received at the end of Mr. Clinton's term. Mr. Bush came to office saying he had abandoned the Clinton administration's aspiration to make China a "strategic partner." Instead, he called the nation a "strategic competitor," a term that translates harshly in Chinese.

The change in tone was similar to vows by President Reagan and President Clinton to change the terms of the relationship with China. Mr. Reagan told the Chinese that he intended to stand firmly behind America's old friends in Taiwan, China's rival, which prompted diplomatic warring that ended only after Mr. Reagan signed the Shanghai Communiqué in 1982, a document in which the United States promised to phase out arms sales to the island.

Mr. Clinton came to office promising to challenge China on human rights and to link China's treatment of its own people to the extension of its trading privileges. That approach quickly backfired when the Chinese jailed several dissidents and effectively challenged the United States to withdraw its trading rights. Mr. Clinton ended up abandoning the link.

Wordplay did not cause the accident over the South China Sea. But some experts said it showed how even subtle changes in approach could strain ties.

Jiang Zemin, the Chinese president, had to corral growing anti- American sentiment in his own leadership ranks, a task made harder by the perception that the United States had downgraded China ties and taken a tougher line on a range of diplomatic issues. "The Bush administration in its early comments may have been talking to the American right, but that hardened some positions in China," Mr. Berger said.

Many other experts gave high marks to Mr. Bush and his top aides for their handling of the incident. "Judicious, careful, firm," was Mr. Lilley's review. Mr. Roy said he thought Mr. Bush managed this episode better than Mr. Clinton handled the Belgrade embassy bombing.

But the next few weeks will bring fresh tests. The most sensitive is how to handle Taiwan's annual request to buy arms. Taiwan has long hoped to purchase the Aegis missile defense system, while China has said it will consider that sale an egregious affront to its sovereignty. A decision is expected later this month.

Most China watchers had been expecting Mr. Bush to sell Taiwan several items on its weapons wish list, but not the Aegis. But one former Clinton administration official who has studied the question said the administration may now decide to sell the Aegis system as a way of demonstrating that there was no quid pro quo for the release of the American military personnel.

"I think this incident could and perhaps should up the ante on Taiwan," the official said.

Mr. Lilley said that the arms sales question threatened to send the two nations into a fresh round of crisis management. But he said the Bush administration should find a way to delay the decision until tempers cool and the new administration has a chance to study options in depth.

The Bush team had been working to restore momentum in another area of common interest: China's bid to join the World Trade Organization. Negotiations in Geneva stalled over a variety of issues, including agricultural subsidies, and some experts feel China has delayed its final accession to the trade group because it is not ready to carry out the concessions it has made to gain entry.

------

Globalization? It's 5,000 years old

Montreal Gazette
Thursday 12 April 2001
JAY BRYAN The Gazette
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/pages/010412/5077636.html

With the rhetoric being sharpened up and the demonstrations choreographed in preparation for next week's hemispheric summit in Quebec City, Karl Moore is able to observe the unfolding crisis with a little more equanimity than most.

Moore, like most thinking people, shares some of the concerns expressed by those who are skeptical about the benefits freer trade might confer on the poor or the environment, and he would be happier if these concerns were addressed in any new trade deal.

But Moore, a McGill business professor and co-author of a new book that traces the history of trade, multinational corporations and international trade law back for nearly 5,000 years, is a little better-equipped than the rest of us to put these concerns into context.

His Foundations of Corporate Empire, written together with California historian David Lewis, looks at the globalization debate in the light of experience that stretches all the way back to trade ties centred on the Bronze Age city of Sumer around 3000 B.C., and eventually stretching from India to the Mediterranean.

While it is unfair to characterize such a book in just a few paragraphs, it is reasonable to say that Moore and Lewis have managed to draw a number of persuasive conclusions from globalization's long, rich history.

One is that trade definitely does make a difference to a nation's culture and this difference is not entirely positive. Another is that it usually does bring new prosperity and ways of thinking.

One early critic of the way in which commercial values tended to undermine the higher virtues in society was the Greek poet Homer. Writing around 700 B.C., when the ancient Greeks were getting rich through overseas trade, giving us what Moore and Lewis call the world's first true entrepreneurial business culture, the great poet notes that the rising tide of commercialism had brought with it a plague of petty hustlers and swindlers.

And yet, it was this commercial wealth that gave birth to the democratic, superbly cultured life of Athens in its golden age.

Some current critics of the trend toward freer trade are offended by restrictions on sovereignty like national treatment - the obligation of nations to give foreign-owned concerns the same rights as domestic ones.

But such protections against local discrimination have been needed for millennia - and have proven, whatever the symbolic disadvantage, to be profitable for both parties to the freer commercial exchanges that resulted.

Thus the ancient Assyrian city of Ashur, lacking the means to wage wars of conquest, instead earned a good living by its wits, setting up history's first network of multinational enterprises, scattering branch offices and workshops over a thousand-kilometre swath of the Middle East. To safeguard such investments, these enterprises were given extraterritorial status, governed by Assyrian law no matter where they were actually situated.

Today's debates over the protection of intellectual property in trade agreements also have a long pedigree.

Microsoft of 600 B.C.

The textile merchants of Phoenicia in 600 B.C. were the Microsoft of their day, enjoying a fabulously profitable position in one of the world's most lucrative industries by virtue of having monopolized a crucial set of technical processes. In those days, the secret was how to use shellfish to dye textiles a much-coveted deep purple shade. The penalty for leaking this trade secret was death.

Of course, a long pedigree doesn't legitimize practices that fail to benefit society as a whole. Moore and Lewis not only acknowledges this, but demonstrate that the real lesson of history is that laissez-faire entrepreneurship is only one of many different ways in which a state can prosper.

Some cultures seem to do better with a centralized economy and substantial state control of trade, some with very little state intervention. Today's most spectacular economic success is the U.S., with its unfriendly attitude toward government activism. But it's worth remembering than just over a decade ago, the U.S. looked like a has-been and the flavour of the day was Japan's government-guided economy.

In an interview yesterday, Moore noted that no economic system has ever taken root in all of the world's cultures, and it is very unlikely that today's American model will, either.

Instead, he expects to see today's trend toward lighter government regulation and more fiscal conservatism reach a natural balance that will be different in every country, no matter how free the world trading system becomes.

As for the destruction of smaller nations' cultures, it hasn't happened after successive waves of globalization going back as far as history records. It seems unlikely to happen now.

-------- police

Complaint Agency Backs Plan to Shift Police Discipline

New York Times
April 12, 2001
By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/nyregion/12CCRB.html

The Civilian Complaint Review Board, the independent city agency that investigates low-level police misconduct, voted yesterday to adopt a controversial Giuliani administration plan to expand its powers to include prosecuting the cases that it investigates.

But the plan, opposed by the City Council leadership, the New York Civil Liberties Union, several review board members and the five police unions, still faces significant legal and procedural hurdles before the C.C.R.B. can take on new powers. The obstacles include an alternative Council proposal that would expand the board's powers by changing city law and a threatened lawsuit by the police unions to block the administration's plan.

The civil liberties group and the City Council, along with four members of the board who yesterday either abstained or voted against the administration plan, have said that they support expanding the agency's powers. But they contend that the administration is moving too quickly and that the law would have to be amended to allow the review board to prosecute cases and remain independent.

Police officers found by the review board to have committed misconduct - including excessive force, abuse of authority, discourtesy or use of offensive language - are currently prosecuted by police lawyers in administrative hearings at the Police Department.

Under the administration's plan, which Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik proposed in February, the review board would begin prosecuting its own cases on June 26. It would get its authority to prosecute the cases at the discretion of the police commissioner. Opponents of the plan contend that because the commissioner could terminate the arrangement at any time, such a plan would undermine the review board's authority and independence.

Eight of the board members, all appointed by the administration, voted to back the mayor's plan, three abstained and a fourth, Earl S. Ward, voted against the plan. The three abstaining members of the 13-member board, which currently has one vacancy, said they supported giving the C.C.R.B. expanded powers, but believed that the administration's plan would undermine credibility and independence.

William F. Kuntz II, the board's longest serving member, abstained yesterday. He has been the most vocal opponent of the administration's plan and listed his many reasons at the meeting. Among them were limited access by review board prosecutors to police personnel files, and the inability the C.C.R.B. would have under the new plan to prosecute officers who lie to judges, the review board or its prosecutors.

Donna Lieberman, the Civil Liberties Union's interim executive director, said that her group also strongly supports the idea of giving the review board the power to prosecute its cases, but called the administration's plan "a sham."

She said, "The rush to take over the prosecutions without adequate attention to the details - like whether the C.C.R.B. has the authority, like whether there are adequate resources and without adequate time to plan and put things in place - runs the risk of turning a good idea and a sound principle into its opposite."

Some board members who backed the administration's plan, including the agency's chairman, Frank H. Wohl, called it imperfect, but said it represents an opportunity to improve the police disciplinary system.

"Although I agree it won't be perfect, it will be a step toward reform, and that's why I support it," he said.

Yesterday, City Council Speaker Peter F. Vallone and the Bronx borough president, Fernando Ferrer, proposed City Council legislation to change the law and expand the review board's powers.

Both men, who are seeking to succeed Mr. Giuliani as mayor next year, said they expected that the new law would pass and supersede the mayor's plan.

The mayor yesterday dismissed the notion that expanding the C.C.R.B.'s powers would require a change in the law. He said that he would fight such efforts in court.

"You don't need legislation to do this," Mr. Giuliani said. "Look, everything I've done in seven and a half years somebody has sued me for. I would have felt like I had done the wrong thing if somebody hadn't sued me for this."

---

Safir Says Museum Told Police About Cars Leased for Officers

New York Times
April 12, 2001
By KEVIN FLYNN
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/nyregion/12MUSE.html

Howard Safir, the former police commissioner, said yesterday that the board of the Police Museum, on which his wife sits, notified police officials months ago that it had leased expensive automobiles for use by two police officers who are assigned to the museum staff.

But police officials said Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik had no knowledge of the arrangement and had begun an internal investigation of the officers, who help manage the privately run museum. Police regulations forbid officers from accepting gratuities or gifts. The inquiry was first reported yesterday in The Daily News and Newsday.

Mr. Safir, who championed the cause of the museum as commissioner, said there was nothing improper because the vehicles, both Ford Explorers, were essentially being used to help the officers perform a police function: educating the public. Sgt. Thomas Gambino, the museum's executive director, and Lt. James Augello, his aide, were given the vehicles to assist them in moving artifacts, Mr. Safir said.

"I can't say Commissioner Kerik was aware of it," he said. "But I can tell you that the Police Department was provided with the documents."

Police officials said they also were not told that the two officers had moved their administrative offices out of the museum at 25 Broadway and into prime office space on Water Street that was lent to them by J.P. Morgan Chase & Company. Mr. Safir said the old offices had been turned into a gift shop.

Mr. Safir was the primary force behind the creation last year of the new Police Museum, which replaced a smaller gallery in the Police Academy. As commissioner, he assigned more than 20 officers to work at the museum and his wife is the president of its board. But from its inception, the relationship between the privately run museum and the public agency it extols has been complicated.

The investigation underscores the ambiguities of that relationship in that the officers who work at the museum serve both the facility to which they have been assigned and the Police Department that employs them. The investigation also threatens to become a power struggle as Mr. Kerik reviews allegations of misconduct against officers whose conduct was authorized by what has been Mr. Safir's pet project.

Aides to Mr. Kerik said that he was so angered by the incident that he was considering transferring Sergeant Gambino from his post at the museum. Mr. Kerik's staff said the commissioner had not spoken to Mr. Safir about the issue. Mr. Safir said that, while he viewed the allegations as nonsense, he voiced support for Mr. Kerik's decision to investigate. "He did exactly what I would do," he said, when facing a report of suspected misconduct.

Police officials said that the investigation began about two weeks ago. "The Police Department received allegations of misconduct from several sources," said Assistant Chief Thomas Fahey, a department spokesman.

Mr. Safir said the museum board sent paperwork outlining the vehicle leases and the office change to the office of the commissioner and his first deputy. Mr. Safir also said he was not sure whether the board had authorized the officers to take the leased vehicles home each night.

But he said, "If I was police commissioner, I would not have had any problem with the leases."

---

Panel Seeks Impeachment Proceedings Against Verniero

New York Times
April 12, 2001
By IVER PETERSON
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/nyregion/12TROO.html

TRENTON, April 11 - The State Senate Judiciary Committee has asked the General Assembly to begin impeachment proceedings against Justice Peter G. Verniero of the State Supreme Court, saying he gave false and misleading testimony about racial profiling during his confirmation hearing.

William L. Gormley, chairman of the committee, made the request in a confidential, 11-page letter to the Assembly speaker, Jack Collins; the letter, dated Tuesday, quickly fell into the hands of reporters. In it, Mr. Gormley ticked off seven instances in which he said Justice Verniero, the former state attorney general, had made false statements to the committee and four cases in which he had given misleading answers.

Mr. Collins, who is the only one who can decide whether the Assembly will consider the matter, was engaged in the marathon negotiations over state legislative reapportionment today and said he would not disclose his response until next week at the earliest.

"I looked at it long enough to see that it was signed and I put it down," Mr. Collins said this evening. "So everybody in the state has read it except me."

Mr. Gormley's request ratchets up the pressure on Justice Verniero, who has rejected calls for his resignation.

A week ago the full 11-member committee, both Republicans and Democrats, sent a letter to Acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco asking him to request Justice Verniero's resignation. The next day Mr. DiFrancesco, a Republican like Justice Verniero and Mr. Gormley, did so. He added that he would ask the Senate, where he also presides as president, to censure Justice Verniero if he failed to resign. He also raised the prospect of impeachment.

By appealing directly to Mr. Collins for impeachment proceedings, Mr. Gormley has upped the pressure.

Impeachment must originate with the Assembly, which after a trial can vote articles of impeachment. The articles would then be sent to the Senate, where a two-thirds vote would be required to remove Justice Verniero.

One reason for the rapid jumps from talk of resignation to censure to impeachment is the May 15 expiration of the statute of limitations for impeachable offenses committed by Mr. Verniero as attorney general.

Mr. Collins was careful not to reveal his thinking on impeachment. But he did spell out some of the considerations that would go into his decision by asking a question Mr. Gormley's letter did not directly address. "If we're going to impeach a sitting member of the Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey based on what he did as attorney general," Mr. Collins said, "then we have to decide if what he did then disqualifies him from what he's doing now, sitting as a justice."

The committee's conclusions, as described in Mr. Gormley's letter, rest principally on discrepancies between Mr. Verniero's testimony at his confirmation hearing on May 6, 1999, and the testimony he and his aides and state police officials gave to the committee.

Much of the committee's accusations are familiar, and include the charge that Mr. Verniero lied when he testified at this confirmation hearing that he had only started compiling data on racial profiling in 1998, contrary to recent testimony by others who said the data was available years earlier.

Among other points, the committee also accused Mr. Verniero of withholding information about the existence of racial profiling from minority motorists who were seeking to have contraband seized in traffic stops quashed as evidence on grounds that they had been victims of racial profiling.

---

Appeals for Peace in Ohio After Two Days of Protests

New York Times
April 12, 2001
By FRANCIS X. CLINES
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/national/12PROT.html

CINCINNATI, April 11 - This city's clergy and political leaders pleaded for peace on the streets today after two days of sporadic protests and vandalism that followed the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white policeman.

"This situation has been festering for over five years," City Councilwoman Alicia Reece said. She surveyed the 66 arrests and damage to dozens of city stores as evidence of deepening tensions between the police and black residents who have long complained of racial profiling by officers.

"It is a time bomb that has exploded," Ms. Reece said, standing outside City Hall, which was unusually quiet at midday, cordoned off by mounted police officers with riot gear. Twenty-five people were reported to have received hospital treatment, some struck by the nonlethal ammunition the police used.

Today's calm was broken at nightfall as small bands broke windows at businesses, threw stones and bottles at automobiles and looted stores. A police officer was shot, but a bulletproof vest deflected the shot, The Associated Press reported.

Mayor Charlie Luken said the city might request help of the National Guard if the trouble continued, The A.P. said.

Last month, a coalition of black civil rights groups and the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio filed suit in federal court in Cleveland accusing Cincinnati of a "30-year pattern of racial profiling." The suit says that blacks are routinely singled out by the police for minor offenses far more than whites are and that police officers "tend to use excessive and deadly force against African-Americans more readily than against whites."

The suit said that from 1995 to 2000, the Cincinnati police killed 13 suspects, all of them black. Timothy Thomas, the 19-year-old killed on Saturday, was the fourth black killed by the police since November.

At the height of the trouble Monday night and Tuesday, ranks of police officers fired rubber bullets, beanbags and tear gas to turn back scores of protesters and vandals who set fires and threw bricks at cars and store windows. The outbreak came after black leaders demanded an explanation for the use of deadly force against Mr. Thomas.

Police officers said the pursuing officer fired when Mr. Thomas was cornered in an alley and the officer thought he was reaching for a gun. But no weapon was found, and Mayor Luken told reporters on Tuesday that ranking officers were privately expressing doubts.

"I have been told they are troubled by the story they are getting," Mayor Luken said. "The initial findings don't back him up."

Prominent blacks called for a federal investigation of the shooting for possible violations of civil rights. The lack of detailed information kept frustration high in this city of 331,000, which is 43 percent black.

Some city officials said the need for calm would be served by the release from grand jury subpoena of a police videotape that might show part of the encounter between the officer and the teenager and the release of an initial interview with the officer, Steven Roach.

"I demand to know why," Mr. Thomas's mother, Angela Leisure, exclaimed at a hearing before city officials Monday. Police officers said Mr. Thomas was pursued because he had 14 outstanding warrants, all of them in misdemeanors and most of them for traffic offenses.

"They keep asking me why did my son run," Ms. Leisure said. "If you are an African male, you will run."

This view was supported emphatically today in interviews in the predominantly black neighborhood known as Over-the-Rhine, where the protests originated and where merchants in the historic Finlay Market suffered the brunt of the vandalism and looting.

"The problem is basically racial profiling," said Geneo Sweeten, a 47- year-old black construction worker. "These cops have been escalating the pressure ever since two of their own were shot, allegedly by a black, and they began pouring all their resources into cracking down on us, without asking who's guilty or innocent. It's at the point now where we talk of D.W.B. arrests - the crime of driving while black."

Broken glass crunched underfoot on Elder Street in Over-the-Rhine this morning as cleanup crews arrived before a mayoral visit.

"Brother, let reason and judgment prevail!" boomed the voice of the Rev. Isaiah Gaines, a retired judge and black leader who walked the streets near the New Prospect Baptist Church, greeting black residents and white and black merchants.

Mayor Luken emphasized the need to bolster trust between residents and the police force. "We've got a long way to go," he admitted in a scene reminiscent of the 1960's, a white mayor in shirt-sleeves trying to calm black residents before a phalanx of television cameras.

The city's airwaves crackled with a virtual duel of talk radio programs. "Most of my friends will run from police," said a caller to "The Buzz" on WBDZ, a station favored by black residents. "They just don't respect us."

Defenders of the police called WLW, denouncing "that wimp of a mayor" and complaining that blacks kill most of the city police slain in the line of duty.

"Call out the National Guard," demanded one caller. Gov. Bob Taft, a Republican, declined to take that step, urging the city in a statement to "cool and calm the rhetoric."

---

Cincinnati Mayor Declares Emergency and Sets Curfew

New York Times
April 12, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Shooting-Protest.html

CINCINNATI (AP) -- With police in riot gear out in the streets, the mayor declared a state of emergency and imposed a citywide curfew Thursday amid the worst outbreak of racial violence in Cincinnati since the aftermath of the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968.

Mayor Charles Luken acted on the fourth day of rioting over the shooting of an unarmed black man by a white police officer.

``Despite the best efforts of the good citizens of our city, the violence on our streets is uncontrolled and it runs rampant,'' Luken said. ``The time has come to deal with this seriously. The message is that the violence must stop.''

Only people going to and from work in this city of 331,000 will be allowed on the streets between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., the mayor said.

Gov. Bob Taft ordered the state Highway Patrol to assist Cincinnati police, and the mayor said he may ask Taft to send in the National Guard.

As of Thursday, 86 people had been arrested in the looting, arson, vandalism, assaults and other violence in mostly black sections of Cincinnati. More than 60 people have been injured, including at least 25 taken to hospitals, police said.

The violence is Cincinnati's most sustained racial unrest since the rioting prompted by King's assassination.

Tensions exploded after Saturday's fatal shooting of Timothy Thomas, 19. Since 1995, 15 black men have died at the hands of Cincinnati police, four of them since November.

Black activists said they had been warning city officials for two years that problems were coming because police were harassing blacks.

Kweisi Mfume, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, urged calm during a speech before 300 people at a Baptist church.

``Everybody is angry. I'm angry, but anger has its place,'' he said. ``We want the world to see we are respectful in our anger.''

However, some of the young people in the audience urged more protests, mocking calls for peace and prayer.

President Bush called Attorney General John Ashcroft to discuss ways the government can restore calm.

``The president understands the very strong emotions involved and he joins Cincinnati and Ohio leaders in their appeal to the people of Cincinnati for calm and a nonviolent resolution to the current situation,'' White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

Luken, a Democrat, acknowledged a ``real problem with race relations'' but said he had to separate that from the need to quell violence.

The curfew halted nighttime taxi service and forced cancellation of some Easter weekend events, including a Good Friday tradition in which Roman Catholics climb the hillside steps of Immaculata Church after midnight and pause on each step to pray.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which alleged in a lawsuit filed last month that Cincinnati police have illegally targeted blacks for 30 years, expressed concern about the indefinite curfew.

``We don't like the fact that we have to declare a curfew,'' Luken said. ``For 99.9 percent of the citizens of our city, a curfew is completely unnecessary. We ask our citizens to bear with us.''

The curfew came too late for Brian Edmondson, manager of a clothing store. He swept out broken glass and took stock of what merchandise remained after the place was looted Thursday. The store's front was boarded up because the windows and door were smashed.

``I'm still pretty upset about it,'' Edmondson said.

On Wednesday, rioters broke windows, looted stores and assaulted at least one white motorist, who was dragged from her car. Others in the neighborhood came to the woman's aid. A police officer was shot, but his gunbelt buckle caught the bullet and he suffered only cuts and a bruise, the mayor said. No arrest was made in the shooting.

The unrest began in Over-the-Rhine, the poor, mostly black section where Thomas lived, and spread to several other largely black neighborhoods.

Thomas was killed as he fled Stephen Roach, an officer trying to arrest him for failing to appear for misdemeanor charges and traffic violations. Roach, 27, has been placed on leave. Roach has not commented, but his union said he feared for his life during the encounter.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Michael Allen said he will probably present the case to a grand jury next week. The U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. attorney's office in Cincinnati on Wednesday joined the FBI in a civil rights investigation.

---

State of emergency declared in Cincinnati

USA Today
04/12/2001 - Updated 10:50 PM ET
http://usatoday.com/news/nphoto.htm

CINCINNATI (AP) - With police in riot gear out in the streets, the mayor declared a state of emergency and imposed a citywide curfew Thursday amid the worst outbreak of racial violence in Cincinnati since the aftermath of the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968. Mayor Charles Luken acted on the fourth day of rioting over the shooting of an unarmed black man by a white police officer.

"Despite the best efforts of the good citizens of our city, the violence on our streets is uncontrolled and it runs rampant," Luken said. "The time has come to deal with this seriously. The message is that the violence must stop."

Only people going to and from work in this city of 331,000 will be allowed on the streets between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., the mayor said. Seven curfew violators were arrested, but two hours into the curfew, the streets were quiet.

Gov. Bob Taft ordered the state Highway Patrol to assist Cincinnati police, and the mayor said he may ask Taft to send in the National Guard.

As of Thursday, 86 people had been arrested in the looting, arson, vandalism, assaults and other violence in mostly black sections of Cincinnati. More than 60 people have been injured, including at least 25 taken to hospitals, police said.

The violence is Cincinnati's most sustained racial unrest since the rioting prompted by King's assassination.

Tensions exploded after Saturday's fatal shooting of Timothy Thomas, 19.

Since 1995, 15 black men have died at the hands of Cincinnati police, four of them since November. However, in most of those incidents, the men first shot at or threatened police officers.

Black activists said they had been warning city officials for two years that problems were coming because police were harassing blacks.

Kweisi Mfume, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, urged calm during a speech before 300 people at a Baptist church.

"Everybody is angry. I'm angry, but anger has its place," he said. "We want the world to see we are respectful in our anger."

However, some of the young people in the audience urged more protests, mocking calls for peace and prayer.

President Bush called Attorney General John Ashcroft to discuss ways the government can restore calm.

"The president understands the very strong emotions involved and he joins Cincinnati and Ohio leaders in their appeal to the people of Cincinnati for calm and a nonviolent resolution to the current situation," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

Luken, a Democrat, acknowledged a "real problem with race relations" but said he had to separate that from the need to quell violence.

The curfew halted nighttime taxi service and forced cancellation of some Easter weekend events, including a Good Friday tradition in which Roman Catholics climb the hillside steps of Immaculata Church after midnight and pause on each step to pray.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which alleged in a lawsuit filed last month that Cincinnati police have illegally targeted blacks for 30 years, expressed concern about the indefinite curfew.

"We don't like the fact that we have to declare a curfew," Luken said. "For 99.9% of the citizens of our city, a curfew is completely unnecessary. We ask our citizens to bear with us."

The curfew came too late for Brian Edmondson, manager of a clothing store. He swept out broken glass and took stock of what merchandise remained after the place was looted Thursday. The store's front was boarded up because the windows and door were smashed.

"I'm still pretty upset about it," Edmondson said.

On Wednesday, rioters broke windows, looted stores and assaulted at least one white motorist, who was dragged from her car. Others in the neighborhood came to the woman's aid. A police officer was shot, but his gunbelt buckle caught the bullet and he suffered only cuts and a bruise, the mayor said. No arrest was made in the shooting.

The unrest began in Over-the-Rhine, the poor, mostly black section where Thomas lived, and spread to several other largely black neighborhoods.

Thomas was killed as he fled Stephen Roach, an officer trying to arrest him for failing to appear for misdemeanor charges and traffic violations. Roach, 27, has been placed on leave. Roach has not commented, but his union said he feared for his life during the encounter.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Michael Allen said he will probably present the case to a grand jury next week. The U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. attorney's office in Cincinnati on Wednesday joined the FBI in a civil rights investigation.

---

USA Today
04/12/01
States
http://www.usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm

D.C.

Defense lawyers have been checking e-mails transmitted through the D.C. police department's mobile computer system. Chief Charles Ramsey said lawyers are looking for evidence that could damage the credibility of officers who might testify against their clients. An internal affairs probe uncovered racist, sexist and homophobic content in some of the 1 million messages exchanged since 1998.

Louisiana

Kinder - Law officers are preparing for more than 1,000 Hells Angels in southwestern Louisiana. The motorcycle club will gather at the Grand Casino Coushatta July 25-29, sheriff's investigator Grant Willis said. They like to pick rural areas where the local departments are understaffed, Willis said.

West Virginia

Martinsburg - Berkeley County deputies are cruising housing developments and school parking lots, handing out tickets and warning letters to residents who haven't transferred their licenses and registrations to West Virginia. Registration has been an issue in the county because of its proximity to Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania, said Sheriff Randy Smith.

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Violence worsens, spreads
Officer shot at, saved by belt buckle;
Mayor says National Guard may be needed

Cincinnati Enquirer
Thursday, April 12, 2001
By Howard Wilkinson and Jane Prendergast The Cincinnati Enquirer
http://enquirer.com/editions/2001/04/12/loc_violence_worsens.html

Violence that was confined to a small area Tuesday spread Wednesday night into several black neighborhoods of Cincinnati as rioters set fires, looted stores and, in one case, shot a Cincinnati police officer.

The police officer was not seriously hurt; the buckle of his gunbelt caught the bullet that was shot at him near Green and Vine streets about 11 p.m., Police Chief Tom Streicher said.

The shooting set off a frantic manhunt through alleys and streets of Over-the-Rhine, as police looked for a gunman described as a black man in his 50s wearing a sleeveless shirt. (MAP: Where officer was shot)

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Mayor Charlie Luken said just before midnight that a decision to call in the Ohio National Guard will likely be made within 48 hours.

"I want to be clear, it's not necessarily tanks on our streets," he said. "It is posting of guardsmen on the street to control the streets."

Mr. Luken said police officers cannot continue to work 12-hour shifts. "Events tonight are showing that we must consider it. Citizens are at risk."

Top city officials will meet today to decide whether the National Guard is needed to be called in to help stop the violence in Cincinnati.

"We have to evaluate what goes on overnight. The biggest concern we have is if other spots break out. It's something you have to start to consider," Chief Streicher said. However, he added, "We're not anywhere near being in a desperate situation."

Immediately after the shooting, the tension level soared in Over-the-Rhine. Police officers had weapons drawn and barked loudly to passers-by and reporters to not get too close.

"You're going to get killed," they screamed.

Violence broke out Wednesday night in Evanston, Avondale, Walnut Hills and the West End. Tuesday, unrest had been largely confined to Over-the-Rhine (MAP: Over-the-Rhine).

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Disturbances continued overnight, with police reporting more fires, break-ins and looting in downtown and Over-the-Rhine. Shortly before 5 a.m., police scanner traffic talked about a group of African-American men at Liberty Street and Central Parkway throwing rocks at passing cars. A few minutes later, Race Street retailer Deveroes was again broken into and clothes carried out, according to the scanner traffic.

Police were continuing to make arrests.

The unrest was prompted by the death of 19-year-old Timothy Thomas, who was shot early Saturday by Cincinnati Police Officer Steve Roach.

Earlier Wednesday, Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen announced a county grand jury will launch an investigation as early as Monday into shooting of Mr. Thomas, an unarmed black man in Over-the-Rhine.

The investigation will determine if Mr. Roach, a four-year veteran of the police division, committed a crime when he shot and killed the 19-year-old Mr. Thomas.

Police Lt. Ray Ruberg said late Wednesday night that the situation had "turned very dangerous. It's going to affect each officer differently, but we have been trained to deal with these situations."

Chief Streicher insisted his police division does not need outside help. He would call in the Ohio National Guard if he thought the violence was going to continue long term, the chief said.

He also said his officers were not dealing with one large group of protesters.

"We're chasing (smaller groups) more than anything," Chief Streicher said.

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Mr. Streicher said the violence that unfolded Wednesday night was sharply different than what was seen Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the violence developed slower, but then it spread to more spots around the city. There was more gunfire, but fewer suspects and fewer incidents of crime, he said.

Shortly after midnight, Mr. Streicher would not identify the officer who was shot. He was uncertain if his wife had been told of the shooting.

The officer, serving on the SWAT squad and in the police division for 10-15 years, was standing on Green Street as protesters picked up bottles to hurl at officers, the chief said. Police began firing bean bags into the crowd when the suspect stepped out of a nearby alley and shot the officer.

Chief Streicher credited the buckle on the officer's gun belt for preventing serious injury. The mangled bullet was lodged in the clothing over his stomach, just below his bullet-resistant vest.

The shooting of the officer, "Raises the stakes just a little bit for everybody," Chief Streicher said.

Motorist attacked

In Avondale, a mob of black youths that had been pelting passing cars with bricks stopped a car on Reading Road and dragged a white woman into the street, beating her until other neighborhood residents rescued her.

Kim Brown, an Avondale resident who was a witness to the attack, said members of the mob pulled the woman out of the car and "started busting her up." Then, Ms. Brown said, other neighborhood residents stepped in to pull the woman to safety.

Hundreds of Avondale residents took to the streets Wednesday evening after a group of protesters from Bond Hill marched down Reading Road into the neighborhood. (MAP: Avondale)

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At 10 p.m., a bonfire was blazing in the middle of Reading Road south of Blair Avenue, as police in riot gear watched.

Keith Reynolds, who works for Pizza Kitchen on Reading Road in Avondale was surprised the protests had spread to the neighborhood.

"I didn't know this was going to happen. But it's going to keep happening until they get their answers."

Shortly after 10 p.m., fire crews responded to a report of a police substation at Montgomery Road and Woodburn Avenue in Evanston being set on fire.

Earlier, a fire station at Liberty and Linn streets in the West End was under assault by a group of youths hurling bottles and rocks.

In Walnut Hills, police cordoned off a four-block area around the intersection of Gilbert and McMillan avenues after gangs rampaged through the area, breaking windows and lighting trash fires.

Things had been quiet throughout the day in Walnut Hills. But when night came, chaos erupted. "Just like that," said Capt. David Ratliff of District 4, snapping his finger. "People started going up and down the street smashing things. They really did a number here."

The angry crowds that trashed businesses and set fires in Evanston pushed up Montgomery Road and spilled over into Norwood, where police tried to block off streets leading into that city.

An employee at the Norwood Cafe on Montgomery Road said police came in at 10:30 p.m. and asked the restaurant to close early. "They just totally closed us down, for safety reasons," said the employee, who would not give her name.

Mayor Luken said the violence has resulted in white people being targeted for their skin color.

"This is ridiculous; too many people appear to be having fun. It's not fun, it's not funny. It's got to stop," he said.

Mr. Luken said the city spends hundreds of thousands of hours trying to improve neighborhoods, and "it is irresponsible to let those areas get ripped apart."

Some of the rioters may be coming from out of town, he said, and he does not believe the violence is any longer related to the original protests.

"It is time to separate these issues," said the mayor, who is to meet with City Manager John Shirey today. "There is no excuse for what is happening. This is one of the saddest days of my life."

Cecil Thomas, executive director of the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission, drove for several hours around the city and saw police "exercising a tremendous amount of restraint in making arrests."

Mr. Shirey said the shooting of a police officer and spread of the violence was especially troubling.

"That tells us that maybe there are people getting bolder and more violent," he said.

But he still hadn't decided whether calling in the Ohio National Guard is the best solution.

"It's not a matter of hesitating," he said. "We've been able to handle the situation with our own resources. (But) it's getting to the point where we need some relief."

Resident heard shots

The situation in Over-the-Rhine was especially tense for officers and residents. Lee Washington, 44, of Over-the-Rhine, said he heard shots when the police officer fell. He said he went outside his apartment in the 1800 block of Vine Street to see what was going on.

"I was just walking by and you could hear the bullets whizzing by my head," Mr. Washington said.

He said the police held him momentarily with a shotgun at his head when they thought he might be the shooter, but let him go as soon as they realized he was a bystander.

"I've never seen anything like this," he said.

Earlier in the day, civic and religious leaders pleaded for calm, while those who were victimized by Tuesday's 12-hour rampage through downtown and Over-the-Rhine struggled to recover.

The pleas came after a night unlike anything the city has seen since rioting leveled much of Avondale after the killing of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.

By the time the unrest ended late Tuesday, police had arrested 66 people, including five juveniles, and the Cincinnati Fire Division had made 53 runs. Eleven fires, most of them minor, were set in Over-the-Rhine during the disturbance.

Mr. Thomas' mother, Angela Leisure, repeated her call for calm Wednesday in a visit to WDBZ-AM, an African-American talk radio station.

"Stop," she told listeners, "because there's nothing good going to come from this.

"A lot of innocent people are getting hurt, and it's not going to bring my son back," said the Golf Manor woman.

Her son was shot to death early Saturday at 12th and Republic streets in Over-the-Rhine. Officer Roach had chased Mr. Thomas, who was wanted on warrants for misdemeanors and traffic violations.

In the streets of Over-the-Rhine on Wednesday, young and old struggled to deal with what happened Tuesday and whether it helped or hurt their cause.

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Douglas Springs, a member of the Cincinnati Black United Front, told Over-the-Rhine residents gathered inside New Prospect Baptist Church, 1829 Elm St., that everyone has their part in the protests.

"In the '60s and '70s, I was among the young people at that time who got in the streets and protested and caused trouble," Mr. Springs said. "But now that I'm older I know that it's my job to negotiate (with city leaders). The young people can protest in the streets now. They just have to let us older people do our part and negotiate.

"By doing this it might be a way to prevent - 30 years down the line - the young brothers in the streets now from having to negotiate like I'm doing now," he said.

For Zandra Gover, 19, it was too late for talk.

While she said she doesn't agree with the vandalism or the rock and bottle-throwing by some protesters, she said it is a means to an end.

"The proper way doesn't work for us," she said. "At least now (because of the violence) people are listening to us."

Marge Hammelrath, director of the Over-the-Rhine Foundation, estimated that hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage was done in Over-the-Rhine on Tuesday.

She was reluctant to pinpoint the amount any further, saying that it could inspire people to stay away from the Main Street area.

"This is the time when we're going to make the city or break it," she said.

Chief Streicher pleaded for an end to the violence.

"I'll be honest with you, I'm really worried inside," the chief said. "I'm worried about somebody else getting hurt."

After a night of arson, smashed store windows and bloody confrontations between police and protesters, Councilwoman Alicia Reece stood in front of City Hall on Wednesday calling for peace.

She said the city needed two things - calm from angry residents and action from city leaders.

"Calm down," she said during a press conference. "I am asking that people not be violent."

The Rev. Damon Lynch III, whose Black United Front organization has been at the forefront of black criticism of the police division, planned to open the pulpit of his New Prospect Baptist Church in Over-the-Rhine Wednesday afternoon to anyone in the community who wanted to deliver a message of peace and a plea for order.

During the day, the streets of Over-the-Rhine were full of people who, while clearly angry over the death of a black man at the hands of police, were protesting peacefully.

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Reporters Ken Alltucker, Dan Horn, Kristina Goetz, Cindi Andrews, Marie McCain, James Hannah, Robert Anglen, Allen Howard and William A. Weathers contributed to this report.

Map of affected area
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CINCINNATI UNDER SIEGE

Morrock News,
Thurs., Apr. 12, 2001
STATESIDE NEWS

After four days of rioting in the downtown streets, Cincinnati Mayor Charles Luken on Thursday declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew on the city, saying that he may also call in the National Guard. The violence came in reaction to the shooting death by police of an unarmed black man. Luken said Cincinnati has "a very legitimate and real problem with race relations and how this city is going to heal itself."

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China Gets White House's Attention, and Some Respect

New York Times
April 12, 2001
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/world/12RESP.html

BEIJING, April 11 - As the American crew members head home, the Chinese must be satisfied with the spoils of their latest run-in with the United States. The Chinese government acquired secrets from the downed spy plane, of course, but also something far more coveted: attention from the new Bush administration, and a bit of respect.

Ever since George W. Bush took office in January, with the promise to downgrade China's standing in America's Asia policy, Chinese ranging from ministry officials to street vendors had felt diminished and insulted.

Chinese consider their country an emerging power, and were pleased that the Clinton administration treated it as such. But the Bush administration had paid so little heed to China that it has no high-level China experts in its ranks - a handicap last week, when the 24 Americans abruptly found themselves detained on Chinese soil. The administration lacked familiarity with Chinese politics and senior staff members experienced in negotiating with Beijing.

Now, with the spy plane incident resolved and President Bush himself calling for a "fruitful and productive relationship," many Chinese believe that the new American president is coming around.

"I think people are becoming happier with President Bush," said Xiao Gongqin, a professor of history and a social commentator at Shanghai Normal University. "He is shifting from his initial stance about China as he has learned more about our country and had more experience with it - just as President Clinton did."

Mr. Clinton was also elected on a promise to get tough with China, but by his second term was touting a "strategic partnership," cultivating closer diplomatic and economic ties.

Dali Yang, a political scientist at the University of Chicago said, "Before, from President Bush, it was just `they're competitors,' and they deliberately excluded China people from the administration. Now channels are open and they are learning that this relationship requires a lot of attention and adaptation."

The Chinese have good reason to feel offended, many scholars say.

Most of the highest-ranking Bush foreign policy appointments are cold war veterans, more familiar with the former Soviet Union. The senior Asia advisers are specialists in Japan, Indonesia or Taiwan.

The appointee with the most China experience is Adm. Joseph W. Prueher, the American ambassador, who came to Beijing as a neophyte two years ago. While he has won high marks for his work since then, he is a holdover from the Clinton administration with just a few weeks left on the job.

"The current U.S. regime hasn't taken China seriously - they haven't even regarded it as a player," said Anthony J. Saich, a China specialist at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

That dismissive attitude was confirmed for many Chinese by Mr. Bush's brusque initial remarks after the collision between the American spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet, in which a Chinese pilot was lost. He demanded a prompt return of the American plane and crew and later insisted there would be no apology.

"The Americans are so willful to demand that we release the crew and return the plane," said Wu Shenyi, a driver for a Beijing company, last week. "They think we are soft persimmons. But we are not!

"I hope this time President Jiang will stiffen his spine," he said, referring to China's president, Jiang Zemin.

But Chinese analysts said the public anger was both predictable and avoidable. And that Mr. Bush's initially harsh public statements undercut President Jiang, who has promoted closer ties with the United States, and narrowed the Chinese leader's room to negotiate.

"They don't really understand China, so they don't know how to deal with it" said Xiong Zhiyong, dean of China's Foreign Affairs College. Private discussions, he said, would probably have been more effective than public accusations. "Hopefully they have learned from this - hopefully both sides have."

But this incident has provided the Bush administration with a crash course in Chinese sensibilities.

Lesson One involved China's heightened sense of national pride and grievance, nurtured by its modern history of foreign domination.

"China has a long history of occupation by foreign powers and so nationalism is a very big force here," Professor Xiao said. "So when a foreign plane is skirting around our borders, we're sensitive - some might say too sensitive - about that."

Nationalism has only intensified with the waning of Communist ideology. "The Americans should know that the life of the Chinese pilot is as precious as their crew members, and he'll be forever remembered as our national hero," Zhang Wei, an office worker at Capital Normal University, said this past weekend. "I'm not calling for blood debts to be paid in blood, but the U.S. government must act in ways that cool this indignation."

Another lesson is that diplomatic solutions must allow China to maintain face, both before the outside world and its own people. American planes were spying along China's border, a Chinese pilot was dead. And many Chinese were offended that Mr. Bush had not even picked up his hotline, set up by Presidents Jiang and Clinton in 1998, to try to work things out.

They noted that after NATO warplanes bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 1999, Mr. Clinton called Mr. Jiang on the hotline - although the latter refused to take the call.

When negotiations seemed at a standstill, many Chinese said it was obvious how to break the impasse.

"President Bush needs to send a special envoy - someone important - to China to deal with the crisis," a liberal foreign policy writer said. "This is not about an airplane, it's about face, and China needs a signal that it is taken seriously."

In the last few days, with the round-the-clock negotiations and expressions of regret, Mr. Bush was giving the Chinese a bit more of what they wanted. China mattered.

"The Americans might have felt there's not reason to apologize since they feel there's been no error," said Wang Su, a university student, while acknowledging that culpability might be difficult to sort out. "But we feel this incident occurred and we suffered a loss. So why not give the government some face with an apology?"

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Tempers Over China Cooling, but a Cloud Remains on Capitol Hill

New York Times
April 12, 2001
By ALISON MITCHELL
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/world/12REPU.html

WASHINGTON, April 11 - Members of Congress from both parties said today that the end of the standoff over an American spy plane would most likely keep Congress from taking punitive steps against China on trade.

Yet key figures in the House and the Senate said the 11 days it had taken to win the return of the crew had strengthened China's critics on Capitol Hill and given them new ammunition on an array of delicate issues, including a quickly approaching administration decision on whether to sell Taiwan an array of advanced weapons.

Representative Henry J. Hyde, the Illinois Republican who heads the House International Relations Committtee, said the first serious foreign policy test of the Bush administration had brought a "general cooling of ardor for treating China as a strategic partner."

While predicting that normal trade relations with China would ultimately be maintained, he said there would be "a little more skeptical approach to the relationship, a closer look at the transfer of technology to China, less enthusiam for the Olympic Games being in Beijing."

Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the minority leader, struck a similar tone. "It appears that this immediate challenge in our relations with China has been overcome, but the impact of this incident on our long-term relationship remains to be seen," he said.

"We have many important issues facing us," Mr. Daschle noted, citing human rights and the spread of weapons, as well as membership for Taiwan and China in the World Trade Organization. "Progress on this agenda depends on rebuilding the trust that was damaged over the last 11 days," Mr. Daschle said.

Republican leaders used to be sharply critical of President Clinton's approach to making China a "strategic partner."

While Republican leaders sought to rally around President Bush in his foreign policy challenge, those arguing for a tougher line against China have been among the loudest voices on Capitol Hill.

More than 80 lawmakers, on both the right and the left, wrote to the president to support Taiwan's request for an array of advanced weapons including the Aegis ship-borne radar system.

China fiercely opposes the sale of the Aegis to Taiwan. In addition, some lawmakers introduced legislation to revoke normal trade relations, which give China unfettered access to the American market.

Several pro-trade Republicans said today that the end to the standoff would allow trade relations to be kept on track, though the battle is likely to be more bitter than had been expected. At the same time, they said they thought that conservatives would step up their pressure on Mr. Bush to sell Taiwain a robust arms package.

Because China has not completed negotiations to enter the World Trade Organization, Congress is expected to have to vote once again this year on normal trade status.

"If this had gone on for another couple of weeks, it would have had lasting impact, or an impact it would have taken some time to turn around," said Senator Don Nickles of Oklahoma, the assistant majority leader. "A lot of us think trade is an avenue for helping bring China into the modern world."

Representative Doug Bereuter, a Nebraska Republican, was instrumental in developing the compromise that led to the House vote in favor of China's permanent normal trade status last year. "I do think it strengthens the opposition in the Congress to China generally," he said of the incident.

But he added that the release of the crew now, before Congress returns from its April recess, means that "if everything continues as agreed, the damage won't be too substantial."

Still, some usual proponents of trade were witholding judgment. "I don't think there's any doubt there's been some dissipation of support for China as a trade partner," said Representative Porter J. Goss, a Florida Republican, who is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

He said the outcome of further negotations between the United States and China next week, which will include discussions of returning the American plane, were crucial.

Representative Joseph R. Pitts, a Pennsylvania Republican, called it "good news" that the plane's 24- member crew was coming home, but said that "we've only accomplished half our goal."

"The crisis will not be over until our plane is returned," he said.

Representative Richard A. Gephardt, the Democratic leader of the House, who opposed normal trade relations with China last year, said, "The manner in which the Chinese government has handled this incident reinforces my concerns about China's lack of adherence to the law."

He said that "our ongoing dialogue with China must include diplomatic pressure to bring about its compliance with international standards on human rights, trade and security."

Mr. Bush faces a decision almost immediately this month on what arms the United States will sell to Taiwan this year. A military delegation from Taipei is expected in Washington in just two weeks. A confidential review by American naval officers has found that Taiwan needs a significant infusion of weapons, including the Aegis system.

But Mr. Bush has an array of weapons of various levels of sophistication that he could choose to sell Tawiwan, and some believe that he will delay a decision on the Aegis to another year.

Lawmakers said Congress would most likely go along with Mr. Bush on the matter, putting the crucial decision inside the administration. And conservatives are trying to step up the pressure now for a robust package.

"Congress has traditionally been very pro-Taiwan," said one House Republican leadership aide. "This latest embroglio will make Congress be more pro-Taiwan."

Mr. Hyde said cautiously: "I think there would be a general momentum to transfering more weapons on the Taiwanese list. On the other hand, the mega-question is the four destroyers with Aegis missile systems, and I don't know what the nuances of that are."

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Delicate Diplomatic Dance Ends Bush's First Crisis

New York Times
April 12, 2001
By DAVID E. SANGER and STEVEN LEE MYERS
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/world/12PLAN.html

WASHINGTON, April 11 - The United States and China resolved their standoff today after President Bush approved compromise language saying the United States was "very sorry" for the loss of a Chinese pilot, and for an American spy plane's emergency landing on Chinese soil. But in a letter to Beijing, Washington accepted no responsibility for the midair collision on April 1 that now seems certain to color Mr. Bush's next encounters with China.

According to aides involved in the intense negotiations, Mr. Bush drew "red lines" around two issues: He said he would not bargain on American arms sales to Taiwan, nor agree to alter Washington's increasingly frequent aerial surveillance of China's military. Today they said he had stuck to that.

But it was far from clear that Mr. Bush's strategy of non-apology and limited negotiations would work until 5:40 this morning, when the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, called Mr. Bush to say China had asked for a "final copy" of the American letter and would release the crew later in the day.

"This has been a difficult situation for both our countries," Mr. Bush said in announcing an end to the standoff. "I know that the American people join me in expressing sorrow for the loss of life of a Chinese pilot."

From early this morning, when Mr. Bush's announcement was made in a half-empty White House press room, until tonight, when he watched on television in the Air Force One conference room as the crew in Hainan boarded a plane to return to the United States, the president seemed more relieved than anything.

Back in the White House, a senior official who was deeply involved in the negotiations was watching the same image. "The strategy was to make very clear what America needed, and then to give the Chinese time to get there," he said.

But China's leaders only made the final decision, he argued, when Mr. Bush and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell began warning - albeit vaguely - that Washington's broader economic and diplomatic relationship with China was at risk. "We had to let them decide whether they wanted to threaten the relationship," the official said. "They decided they didn't want to do that, and I think they came to the right decision."

The turning point appeared to come over the weekend. On Saturday, after reviewing an early draft of a letter of regret, the Chinese asked for something stronger than "sorry" to describe American feelings about the death of the Chinese fighter pilot whose plane collided with the EC-3.

In a conference call at 1 a.m. Sunday, aides suggested trying "very sorry." Mr. Bush was informed of that formulation at Camp David, and agreed.

But it wasn't clear for some time whether that would be acceptable to the Chinese, and it was not until 1 a.m. this morning, Washington time, that Ms. Rice was informed that Adm. Joseph W. Prueher, the American ambassador to Beijing, would be called in for a final discussion with Chinese diplomats.

Although the White House was not discussing it much, Mr. Bush had to give ground as well in the negotiations. The letter of regret was negotiated and delivered in English only. That allowed Chinese newscasters to offer their own translations of "very sorry," which sounded closer to the apology that China had demanded.

And then there was the airplane itself. On Monday and Tuesday last week, Mr. Bush demanded the release of not only the crew, but also the plane and its equipment - intact. The president never discussed the plane in public today, and it remains on the runway in Hainan.

One administration official said tonight that he was not sure whether it was worth recovering now, apparently meaning that the multimillion- dollar plane had been picked over by the Chinese, who have gleaned whatever intelligence they can from the hardware. (Crew members reported last week that they had deleted codes, programs and data, and destroyed some equipment, as the crippled plane was landing, according to Pentagon officials.)

Tonight the Pentagon's spokesman, Rear Adm. Craig R. Quigley, took a stronger line on the aircraft. "That is U.S. property," he said, "and we want it back."

At a meeting to be held on Wednesday in Beijing - a location that China insisted on - the two governments will begin talking about the causes of the collision, ways to avoid its repetition and what the American letter calls "a plan for prompt return of the EP-3 aircraft."

Within days Mr. Bush will have to confront another crucial issue: When to resume reconnaissance flights.

A senior military official said the American commander in the Pacific, Adm. Dennis C. Blair, had submitted a request to the Pentagon to conduct a flight later this week. That request is now before Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and awaits approval from President Bush's national security advisers, the official said.

"His argument is, No. 1, we have a right to do it, and No. 2, that we need to do it to prevent surprises, to better understand China's military growth," the official said.

But China will also be on the alert for such flights, which have been a source of increasingly dangerous aerial confrontations for the past six months. Pentagon officials said there had been no discussion of providing the next reconnaissance plane with fighter escorts, for fear that would be considered provocative.

Sometime in the next few weeks Mr. Bush will also have to decide whether to provide advanced arms to Taiwan - including destroyers equipped with sophisticated Aegis defense systems. That was a difficult decision two weeks ago; it is even more complex now.

Before the collision, Mr. Bush's aides had signaled to Congress that they would sell advanced Kidd-class destroyers to Taiwan, but defer a decision on the Aegis system. That would leave China some diplomatic room, the officials said, and not prompt an even faster buildup of its missile forces aimed at Taiwan.

Now, if Mr. Bush goes ahead with that decision to sell only the Kidd- class destroyers, he opens himself to accusations from conservatives that he has backed off after a bruising encounter with Beijing. "I hope he just does what he thinks is right, and doesn't just follow the compass to the right," said Senator Joseph R. Biden, the Delaware Democrat.

Should Mr. Bush decide to sell the weapons to Taiwan, he now has an additional problem: His relationship with President Jiang Zemin of China, a world leader he has never spoken with over the telephone, much less met, could be threatened.

"In the Chinese view, Jiang went way out there to get the crew back," said one State Department official who has argued against selling Taiwan the Aegis. "If we go ahead with the full sale now, he will feel we undercut him, to put it mildly."

There is every likelihood that the rhetorical exchanges with Beijing may heat up now that the detained Americans - the administration never called them hostages - are off Chinese soil.

"We'll tell them the plane, under international law and custom, is sovereign property and that they have grossly violated international law by keeping it," one military officer said. As soon as reconnaissance flights resume, a senior American diplomat predicted, "we'll be hearing a lot from the Chinese about our renewed violations of their sovereignty."

But for now Mr. Bush and his aides are concentrating on the short-term task of reuniting the crew members with their families and reassuring senior members of the House and Senate, and the American people, that there were no secret deals.

Tonight, appearing on "Nightline" on ABC, Ms. Rice said: "I can absolutely assure the American people that the release of this crew was obtained only based on what was in this letter" and that no other issues were "placed on the table or bartered away."

Mr. Bush was in the Oval Office by 7 a.m. today, and made the announcement in the press room that the standoff had ended just before leaving the White House at 8:30. He then took Air Force One to North Carolina, toured a technology center at a middle school and then touted his budget priorities. After his speech, Mr. Bush met in the school library with Robert and Sandra Blocher, whose son Steven is one of the 24 crew members.

"They raised a boy who loves his country, and we owe a debt of gratitude to not only the servicemen and women, but to their parents as well," he said of the Blochers.

As negotiations to end the standoff proceeded, the White House rejected offers of help from the Rev. Jesse Jackson, though there were plenty of conversations with former President George Bush and his national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft, officials say.

Another central player was General Powell, whose State Department took command of the negotiations, and who was the first to publicly use the phrases "sorry" and "sorrow," which turned out to be the diplomatic key. Reviewing the last- minute flurry of diplomacy that led to the agreement today, General Powell, who was in Paris on his way to the Balkans, said the United States had nothing to apologize for.

"With respect to `regret,' `sorry,' `very sorry' - they were related to very specific things," he said. "To the loss of the young Chinese pilot's life. The death of anyone diminishes us all in some way, and so we were expressing the fact we were `sorry,' `very sorry,' `regret' the loss of his life."

The second thing that these words related to, he said, concerned the question of the American plane entering Chinese airspace.

"We entered their airspace without permission," he said. "But the young pilot was faced with a crisis, his plane was badly damaged. He had to get on the ground. The niceties and formalities were unavailable to him at that moment."

General Powell said the pilot did "a marvelous job" of getting the plane on the ground. "He landed without permission," he continued, "and we're very sorry - but we're glad he did."

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Ending the Spy Plane Deadlock

New York Times
April 12, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/opinion/12THU1.html

With some accommodation by both sides, the spy plane stalemate between Washington and Beijing has been resolved and the 24 detained Americans are on their way home. That is a great relief to their families and the entire country. Beijing's approach was needlessly confrontational at times. But in the end, both governments acted sensibly to conclude the affair before it seriously damaged their overall relationship.

To its credit, the Bush administration achieved a diplomatic solution without yielding to Beijing's unreasonable insistence that it accept blame for the American plane's collision with a Chinese jet fighter. It also refused to promise an end to American reconnaissance flights over international waters near China. Facing its first major foreign policy challenge, the administration performed well. It managed the episode in a restrained and measured way, keeping its own rhetoric muted and urging Congressional Republicans to do the same, even when Chinese military leaders used harsh and belligerent language.

Secretary of State Colin Powell and the American ambassador in Beijing, Adm. Joseph Prueher, played an especially constructive role in composing the American response. Mr. Bush's own public statements, though he seemed a bit ill at ease delivering them, made clear his resolve to see the Americans returned while also properly expressing compassion for the loss of the Chinese pilot.

This balanced approach culminated late Tuesday in a carefully worded letter from Ambassador Prueher to China's foreign minister. The letter, which broke the impasse, reiterated Washington's regrets about the pilot. Significantly, it added that the United States was "very sorry" that the crippled American plane had entered Chinese airspace for an emergency landing without verbal clearance from Chinese authorities.

The American pilots realistically had no time to request clearance as they struggled to land a badly damaged aircraft, and they did issue a "Mayday" distress call as they descended toward Chinese territory. But the use of conciliatory language on this point does no harm to American interests. The Bush administration rightly resisted Chinese demands for concessions on more central issues. These included Beijing's untenable condition that Washington apologize and accept responsibility for an accident whose circumstances have yet to be fully investigated, and that Mr. Bush agree to ban future reconnaissance flights.

As part of the diplomatic agreement, American and Chinese officials will meet next week to discuss the precise causes of the collision, precautions for avoiding future incidents and arrangements for the return of the American plane. While those difficult discussions are going on, the United States should refrain from conducting reconnaissance flights near China. Although Washington has every right to conduct such flights in international airspace and a legitimate need to monitor Chinese military movements in the area, resuming operations while the two sides are trying to agree on relevant ground rules would be provocative.

China's confrontational rhetoric and delay in returning the crew members did not win Beijing any friends in Washington as the White House and Congress were preparing to consider several important issues, including arms sales to Taiwan and extending China's trade privileges as it negotiates entry into the World Trade Organization. But the events of the past two weeks should not push Washington into selling Taiwan the advanced Aegis radar system, which would upset the current political and military equilibrium across the Taiwan Strait. The same mix of steadiness and restraint that brought the spy plane affair to a reasonable conclusion will be needed on other issues facing Washington and Beijing in the months ahead.

---

China Policy, Without Regrets

New York Times
April 12, 2001
By BATES GILL
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/opinion/12GILL.html

WASHINGTON - Thanks to patient diplomacy, Secretary of State Colin Powell, his team and their counterparts in China have resolved the standoff on Hainan Island. As President Bush said yesterday, it has been a difficult situation for both nations. But while the crisis is over, this is not a time to think we can return to business as usual. On the contrary, there are lessons to be learned in how to deal with a China that will be increasingly capable and, if we are not careful, increasingly willing to frustrate American interests in East Asia.

Beijing held a lot of cards in this incident, but in the end America held the card that mattered most, namely China's long-term need for a stable working relationship with the United States. The White House correctly chose to rely on the State Department to comprehend Chinese sensitivities and pride and to craft statements that, for the Chinese, appeared to "apologize." However, while this situation has been smoothly handled, it should be clear that more senior-level attention to China, and especially to the Chinese military, is needed.

Thus far, the Bush administration's high-level appointees have been lacking in China expertise. Indeed, the administration was very lucky to have the current ambassador - a Clinton holdover slated to leave next month - in China during this imbroglio. Joseph Prueher, an admiral who had held the Pacific command and was an accomplished naval aviator, was able to counter Chinese spin and accusations forcefully. The kind of expertise Mr. Prueher brought to bear will only become more valuable. Contrary to calls on Capitol Hill and in parts of the Pentagon to cut back or suspend military-to-military exchanges, this incident should compel the administration to reshape these ties to help it understand the workings of the People's Liberation Army.

The Hainan case has already revealed more clearly the divisions, and the consequent need for deliberateness, that characterize the Chinese leadership in times of difficulty. We should also note that Beijing's leaders seem prepared to risk a great deal for short-term "victories" on matters of honor. While they can claim to have saved face in this episode, they also put at risk a more cooperative relationship with the United States across a range of issues: technology, trade, missile defense, Taiwan arms sales, and the likelihood that as Beijing's military power grows, there will be increasingly intense interaction between Chinese forces and those of the United States and its allies and friends in the region. At the least, appreciating how deeply the Chinese feel on questions of pride has obvious implications for how we deal with the principal issue that divides the United States and China, namely Taiwan.

Taking away such lessons, the Bush administration will be better positioned to tackle these and other problems that loom over the horizon.

The administration need not wait long to apply what it has learned. The upcoming meeting of the two sides to discuss the Hainan incident should be viewed as an opportunity to set "rules of the road" to govern interactions between our naval forces. Also in the near term, decisions later this month on American arms sales to Taiwan should not be skewed by recent events: while a package of arms transfers is already contemplated, the deal ought not, for now, to include the transfer of destroyers with the Aegis air-defense system.

Looking further ahead, the two sides should revive dormant defense consultation talks and begin a more serious and realistic strategic dialogue. Such discussions will need to address the roles of our respective armed forces in the region, China's provocative defense buildup (which includes nuclear missiles), and how the two sides can maintain a stable relationship in the event that missile- defense systems are built.

In the end, the biggest lesson of all should be to recognize the complexity of our relationship with China. In suggesting this relationship could be understood simply as a "strategic partnership," the Clinton administration set itself up for heavy criticism: witness the allegations of Chinese nuclear spying. The Bush administration should not make the same mistake by boiling the China relationship down to "strategic competition." The Hainan incident shows the need to appreciate nuance and think in the long term. China's plans and ambitions extend well into the future, and so should ours.

Bates Gill is a fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of "Contrasting Visions: U.S., China and World Order."

------

Crew Arrives in Hawaii

New York Times
April 12, 2001
By JOHN KIFNER with CRAIG S. SMITH
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/world/12CND-CREW.html

HONOLULU, April 12 - The 24 crew members of an American spy plane arrived here from Guam on a United States military transport plane today to a small but vigorous welcome. The 21 men and three women had been detained by the Chinese for 11 days after an in-flight collision with a Chinese fighter plane.

As they stepped down from the aircraft they were met by cheers and applause from servicemen and women and their families at the Hickam Air Force base, which is part of the sprawling Pearl Harbor complex.

The pilot and mission commander of the EP-3 surveillance plane, Lt. Shane Osborn, told the crowd: "The first thing I'd like to say on behalf of the crew is we're definitely glad to be back."

He said he wanted to assure the crew members' families that his fellow crew members "miss them very much - they're all healthy and would like to get home."

He said the crew planned to be home by Easter, and added, "On behalf of Combat Reconnaissance Crew No. 1, I'd like to thank you, and God bless America."

President Bush, speaking with reporters at the White House, offered a warm welcome home to the 24 Americans, calling them "a reminder of the debt all Americans owe" to men and women in uniform. Then he had tough words about the entire episode, asserting that the United States plane had been in international air space "and did nothing to cause the accident."

Mr. Bush said that when American and Chinese officials meet next week to discuss the incident, Americans will ask "tough questions" of China regarding its conduct during the 11 days and how such incidents can be prevented. He said China's behavior during the 11 days was not conducive to better relations between Beijing and Washington.

Mr. Bush said he would do his best to foster better ties between the nations, but that in doing so "I will stand square for American interests and American values."

During the welcoming ceremony here, the crew members were read a letter from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

"Throughout your days in detention you conducted yourself with honor and professionalism," the letter said. "You put your lives at risk in the service of the citizens of a grateful nation so they can live their lives in peace and freedom. We welcome you back to the United States."

The crew members are expected to spend two days here for debriefing and medical checkups, returning on Saturday to Whidbey Island, about 50 miles north of Seattle, where the crew is stationed.

Residents at Whidbey were preparing to celebrate their arrival.

After a celebration, the crew members will be on 30-day leave.

The crew arrived in Honolulu after a seven-hour flight from Guam, where they flew after being released on Wednesday from Hainan Island in southern China.

Their detention began after they made an emergency landing on the island on April 1.

Their departure, however, left some ordinary Chinese feeling that they had to settle for an inadequate end to another episode of American abuse.

Outside the military hostel where the crew were sequestered for most of their stay, Mao Yunzao, 32, a laborer who spoke with the staccato accent of Mao Zedong's native Hunan Province, said: "America came and struck us on our doorstep, but we can't strike back. If Mao were still around there would have been a war."

The decision to release the crew came after China's foreign minister, Tang Jiaxuan, received a letter from the American ambassador, Joseph Prueher, in Beijing. It contained careful phrasing - in English only - meant to allow both sides to claim victory in resolving the diplomatic impasse that handed President Bush his first foreign policy test and stirred debate in the United States over relations with China and Taiwan.

The letter capped more than a week of near-round-the-clock negotiations, during which each side blamed the other. China demanded an apology and an admission of responsibility from the United States, but in the end had to settle for something less; nor was there any indication that the United States would either slow down its electronic spying over China or back away from the sale of weaponry to Taiwan.

Word spread Wednesday that the crew would be released after Chinese journalists who are midranking Communist Party members and above were called to attend secret meetings at which they were ordered to stick to official New China News Agency accounts when reporting.

The message, according to people who attended one meeting, was that America should be blamed for the incident and that the struggle would continue because the surveillance aircraft would remain on Chinese soil. The $100 million EP-3E Aries II, heavily damaged in the collision with the Chinese F-8 that was tailing it, is sitting on the airstrip where the American pilot brought it to rest after a harrowing 15-minute ride that aviators describe as just short of miraculous.

About 10:30 p.m., Brig. Gen. Neal Sealock, the American defense attaché in China, met with Chinese officials to arrange the crew's departure. Though the general and another official were not allowed to tell the crew of their imminent departure, they passed their cell phones to Chinese counterparts and asked that they be given to crew members for calls to loved ones.

The Chinese announced late Wednesday afternoon that the crew would be released, and broadcast the word nationally about 7 p.m. The Continental plane left Guam for China with a team of doctors, psychologists and military officials on board. The Chinese insisted that no military aircraft be used, United States government officials said.

The plane took off for Guam, where a military C-17 cargo aircraft was waiting to take the crew to Hawaii.

The Pentagon hopes to learn more about the collision itself, the crew's success in destroying sensitive intelligence equipment and codes aboard, and the degree to which the Chinese questioned them.

"It's like a crime scene," one government official said in Washington. "You want access to them as quickly as possible while their memory is still fresh."

President Bush himself ordered that the crew members be reunited with their families by Easter, forcing the United States Pacific Command in Hawaii to curtail their stay or prepare to fly their families to Hawaii.

In the hours after China announced that the crew would be released, an angry crowd of 60 or 70 gathered in a light rain across from the crew's hostel. Loud debates rose and fell as people waited to see the Americans, whom many blame for the loss of the Chinese pilot and see as representatives of American aggression.

"We're not satisfied," said a shirtless man named Wang Min. People pressing around him agreed. He asked why the Americans should be allowed to go free if they were spying on China, as the media here have charged.

One man at a sign shop opposite the hostel gate wrote in large characters with red ink on a plywood board, "We Oppose Hegemony, Give Us Back Wang Wei," a reference to the Chinese pilot missing in the crash.

The man set it up in front of the hostel gate, where a small crowd gathered before plainclothesmen carried it into the hostel compound.

Another sign bearing the same message, this time in black ink, was soon lifted above the crowd before a plainclothesman pulled it down, and yet another sign soon replaced that.

When asked if the sign makers were not afraid of trouble with the police, one replied, "China is now a free country - we have human rights."

But again a plainclothesman took the sign away, and soon an official arrived to order all shops along the street to close and pull down their metal gates.

"The government should wait until we find Wang Wei before they let the Americans go," cried another man. When yet another called for America to pay damages, he shouted back: "Compensation is no use! We lost a man! Can money repay the loss of a life?"

Zhao Ling, who owns a neighboring bar and who wrote one of the signs, drew applause from a small crowd when he declared, "China is too tolerant of America."

Shortly after 5:00 a.m., the steel-bar gate to the small concrete compound opened to allow in two large minibuses and some other vehicles. About 40 minutes later, the buses, with blackened windows, pulled out onto Airport Road in a high-speed convoy headed for Meilan Airport in Haikou, 20 miles away.

A group of journalists keeping vigil across the road scrambled for taxis to follow the bus to the airport, where the jet was waiting to start the journey home.

The crew members were kept incommunicado for the first three days after their plane landed at a military base on Hainan island. They were then moved to Haikou, where they were allowed to meet for 40 minutes with General Sealock and Ted Gong, a senior consular official stationed in Guangzhou.

The two officials met with some or all of the crew four more times over the following two weeks. General Sealock's final meeting with the crew came at one end of the Haikou airport, where the Continental jet had landed shortly after dawn. Then the group boarded the plane, the door closed and the jet took off, disappearing into a low ceiling of gray clouds.

"We were there and off they went, very quick," said the exhausted general when he returned to his hotel.

---

Bush passes first test; China earns new scrutiny

USA Today
04/12/2001
http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/2001-04-12-nceditf.htm

Crises have a way of revealing the best and worst in people, or in nations, and the rapidly de-escalating confrontation over the surveillance plane is no exception.

For the United States, it is above all a confidence builder in the ability of an inexperienced president to manage an international crisis. The plane's 24 crewmembers will be reunified with their families shortly because President Bush steered a firm, patient course, despite fervor to escalate the crisis from one wing of his party.

The portrait of China's leadership, though, is far less flattering. President Jiang Zemin and the ruling cadres may have scored domestic nationalist points by making the USA twist in the wind for two weeks. But by alienating U.S. friends, that very manipulation may cost China in terms of long-range U.S. relations.

Untested in foreign policy, the Bush team acquitted itself well: It bowed neither to those on the left who would have had the U.S. apologize to China, pay for the plane's collision with a Chinese fighter and stop surveillance, nor to those on the right who called for the toughest possible condemnation of China and sanctions to match. News that the Bush team made a secret promise or payoff for the crew would be a spoiler. There's no evidence of such buckling, though.

As for the Chinese, holding the U.S. crew for 11 days played to Jiang's need to look strong in the face of the USA. It also played to the People's Liberation Army and the Communist Party's jingoistic instincts: The state-run media had a field day blaming the USA for victimizing China, and the PLA admitted it used the crisis to boost itself.

Yet such domestic gains may be fleeting compared to losses in China's relationship with the USA - a tie on which China depends both economically and politically.

China's problem doesn't lie with hard-line Republicans or protectionist Democrats on Capitol Hill. They already were antagonists.

Rather, China's attitude may alienate some of its traditional allies: those who've called China a partner, not competitor. The early prognosis isn't good: Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., criticized China for being "adolescent." And Clinton Energy Secretary Bill Richardson compared China to Stalinist North Korea.

This may in the end prove just a passing blip. Long-term opinions aren't formed by short-term crises that are peacefully resolved. But the plane confrontation follows incidents of Chinese nuclear spying and attempts to buy political influence. If China in the coming months continues its arrogant stance, say by continuing to round up U.S.-based Chinese scholars on allegations of spying, then wariness of China could grow.

At a minimum, China has pushed to the fore the Bush team's analysis that the country is a "strategic competitor," not a pal. Vice President Cheney repeated that view Wednesday. Over time, it may affect defense strategy, economic ties and U.S. backing of China internationally - shepherding its entry into the World Trade Organization, for example.

More hints of the effects will come soon. Congress in June will hold a highly politicized vote on whether China can keep normal trade status, under which it sells the USA over $70 billion more in products than it buys from the USA. And later in April, the administration is to decide what weapons to sell Taiwan. Most immediately, it is to negotiate the return of the plane, from which the Chinese may steal U.S. technology. China has an opportunity in those talks to mend fences, if it chooses.

In the end, China did the right thing by releasing the crew. It will soon also know whether it overplayed its hand.

---

Rethink spy missions

USA Today
04/12/2001 - Updated 03:08 AM ET
By James Bamford
http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/2001-04-12-ncoppf.htm

With the crew of the EP-3E spy plane now safely back in U.S. hands, attention should turn to the question of whether these close-in electronic spy flights are more dangerous than they are worth.

During the Cold War, these missions, aboard ships and planes, were the most hazardous spy operations run by the United States. Hundreds of Americans were killed; others held hostage. At times, they came close to drawing us into military conflict.

When Israel attacked the spy ship USS Liberty in 1967, fighters were launched in its defense. When North Korea captured the Pueblo, killing one crewman and imprisoning the rest, President Johnson nearly declared war. When North Korea shot down a Navy spy plane, killing all 31 crewmen, fighters were put on nuclear alert. Every attack occurred in international waters or airspace.

The most serious event took place in 1964: The USS Maddox, on a routine eavesdropping mission off North Vietnam, and its escort, the Turner Joy, were supposedly attacked by the North Vietnamese Navy. This action led Congress to pass the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which launched the United States on its disastrous war in Vietnam in which more than 50,000 Americans died. Years later, it was learned that although the North made a brief attempt two days earlier to assault the Maddox as a result of U.S.-led attacks on shore, this second incident - the one that inspired the resolution - never happened. It resulted from a mistaken warning message sent by the National Security Agency, which caused a nervous crew to see "ghost images" on its tracking equipment.

Today, the United States is no longer locked in a life-and-death nuclear Cold War. And many of the signals emitted by ships, subs, planes, radar installations and other places can now be easily picked up by giant, sophisticated listening posts in Japan and South Korea. Others can be collected safely by satellite. Though a few may possibly be missed, they do not justify daily, expensive, in-your-face intelligence-collection. Given the many bellicose calls for action during the past week, one shudders to think what might have happened if the EP-3E had instead crashed in the sea as a result of the encounter. With no American alive to tell that it was an accident and not a deliberate shoot-down, we might be at war with China now.

James Bamford is the author of Body of Secrets, about the National Security Agency, due out later this month (Doubleday).

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Crew disputes Chinese account, Bush rakes Beijing

USA Today
04/12/2001 - Updated 09:51 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/washphoto.htm

WASHINGTON (AP) - Navy crew members returning Thursday from 11 days of detention disputed China's account of the collision that brought down their surveillance plane, saying a Chinese pilot was at fault. President Bush said "tough questions" would be put to China at an inquiry next week. His tone stern, Bush said at the White House, "The kind of incident we have just been through does not advance a constructive relationship between our countries."

With clearly different emotions, Bush also spoke by telephone to Lt. Shane Osborn, the mission commander. The rest of the crew listened to the conversation on a speakerphone.

"Y'all there?" Bush asked.

"We're all here, sir. Thank you for getting us here," Osborn replied.

"Welcome home. We appreciate you. You did your duty. You represent the best of America," the president said. "As an old F-102 pilot, let me tell you, Shane, you did a heckuva job bringing that aircraft down. You made your country proud."

Through most of the protracted negotiations that freed the crew but not their aircraft, Bush had approached Beijing with diplomatic care, insisting the surveillance was legal but also approving expressions of sorrow the Chinese pilot was lost and the American plane did not seek approval for its emergency landing after the April 1 collision.

But after crew members told debriefers they were on a "fixed course" and had not swerved into the Chinese jet fighter, as Beijing contended, Bush stood in the Rose Garden and let loose. He castigated not only the detention of the 21 men and three women, but also China's record on human rights, religious freedom and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

"The United States and China will no doubt again face difficult issues and fundamental disagreements. We disagree on important, basic issues," he said.

Referring to a scheduled joint meeting next Wednesday on the collision, the disposition of the Navy plane and related issues, Bush said: "I will ask our United States representative to ask the tough questions about China's recent practice of challenging United States aircraft operating legally in international airspace."

Reconnaissance flights, he said, "are a part of a comprehensive national security strategy that helps maintain peace and stability in our world."

In diplomatic exchanges over the incident, Bush said, "the United States and China have confronted strong emotions, deeply held and often conflicting convictions and profoundly different points of view."

With the crew back on American soil in Hawaii, Bush said, "China's decision to prevent the return of our crew for 11 days is inconsistent with the kind of relations we have both said we want to have."

A senior Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said crew members told debriefers they were flying level on autopilot and were on a fixed course and altitude when the Chinese plane struck the U.S. aircraft, coming from underneath. The Navy plane fell 8,000 feet after the collision. That account is consistent with previous administration statements.

"From all the evidence we have seen, the United States aircraft was operating in international airspace, in full accordance with all laws, procedures and regulations and did nothing to cause the accident," Bush said. The crew, "did their duty with honor and great professionalism."

Only a few hours earlier, the White House spokesman Ari Fleischer had said the U.S. relationship with China was on a productive course.

But China's deputy U.N. ambassador, Shen Guofang, said in New York, "We have to make further investigations on the plane and also to have consultation on their further activities along our coastal areas."

He said investigations of U.S. flights "will take some time," and he described the April 18 meeting as one of experts, suggesting it would not be conclusive.

"We have to convince the Americans that if they have further activities like this along our coastal areas, it is not in the interests of both countries and it is very dangerous for them, because maybe in the future, I'm not sure whether this kind of collision will happen again if they still will carry out spy activities like this," Shen said.

The crew landed in Hawaii to cheers and to face two long days of debriefing before weekend reunions with families and friends.

"We're definitely glad to be back," said Osborn.

Bush was having lunch at the White House with Vice President Dick Cheney when the crew arrived in Hawaii. The president looked up at TV reports of the arrival and told Cheney, "Good news. Welcome home."

In negotiating the crew's release, Bush set "red lines," a senior U.S. official said, insisting that the United States would not apologize for the accident. Instead, he approved a letter from the U.S. ambassador to China, saying America was "very sorry" for the loss of the Chinese pilot and for landing the U.S. plane in China without permission.

While Britain and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan played open roles in persuading China to release the crew, Bush also spoke to leaders of several other countries to put pressure on China, a U.S. official said.

Bush telephoned British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, French President Jacques Chirac and Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Cardoso met with Chinese President Jiang Zemin this week during his Latin American tour.

Bush called to update them on the standoff to urge them to quietly let the Chinese government know that its actions weren't productive to good U.S. relations, another senior administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official didn't know if the various leaders appealed to Beijing.

The president's aides consulted with a range of experts during the crisis, including Bush's father, former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III. Former President Carter offered his assistance, too, the official said.

Bush asked aides if he should call Jiang, but the consensus was no. Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, told Bush he could "only play that card once," the official said.

---

Frank and Hoser

The Washington Times www.washtimes.com
4/12/01
Inside the Beltway
John McCaslin
http://www.washtimes.com/national/inbeltway.htm

He's been soldier and spy, rising from the Army and CIA to head the Washington offices of Rockwell International Corp., McDonnell-Douglas and Boeing. Somewhere he found the time to be Sen. John Glenn's "defense guy" on Capitol Hill, too.

In the midst of it all, Robert Andrews was making a name for himself as an author. He'd published four international espionage thrillers and was working on his fifth - until he and his wife and cat moved from the tranquil Virginia suburbs to urban Georgetown, causing a "continental shift in perspective."

The myriad sights and sounds of city life, some unpleasant, quickly encompassed Mr. Andrews' thoughts. The only way to lose them was on paper.

"It's the first in a series and parallels very closely actual crime in the District," says the author of "A Murder of Honor" (Putnam, $23.95), which walks the beat of two D.C. homicide cops, an Irishman and a black, Frank Kearney and Jose Phelps (nicknamed "Hoser").

"They've been together for 25 years, so long that they finish each other's sentences," says Mr. Andrews. "And I'm happy to say that readers are already reacting, 'We like those guys.'"

John McCaslin, a nationally syndicated columnist, can be reached at 202/636-3284 or by e-mail: mccasl@twtmail.com.

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Taiwan awaits fallout following release

The Washington Times www.washtimes.com
Published 4/12/01
Marc Lerner THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/world/default-2001412223027.htm

TAIPEI, Taiwan - Yeh Chi-tsung, 30, a bank clerk, stood in the rain along Nanking Road yesterday and pondered the price he believes Taiwan will pay for the release of the 24 U.S. military fliers held in China.

"The U.S. probably won't sell us advanced weapons," Mr. Yeh said, shaking his head. "But this is China's fault. The U.S. should never apologize."

In the nearly two weeks since a Chinese jet fighter collided with a U.S. Navy EP-3E reconnaissance plane over international waters, a palpable anxiety has settled over this tiny, democratic island-state, considered a breakaway province by mainland communists.

"This is like standing close to a fight between two elephants," said Yung Wei, a political science professor at National Chiao-Tung University. "Taiwan has to be careful not to get stepped on."

As a result, reaction here in the capital has been muted, without public comment from President Chen Shui-bian. After yesterday's announcement that the U.S. crew would be released, the Taiwan Foreign Ministry issued a one-sentence statement: "We were pleased to hear that the 24 U.S. crew will be freed."

There has been little drum-beating in the local press. Equally cautious reactions have come from other U.S. allies in the region: Japan, the Philippines, Singapore and South Korea. The quiet pragmatism is a reflection of the need to balance relationships with the United States, the world's only superpower, and China, an emerging economic and regional power.

The standoff over the U.S. plane, which was forced to make an emergency landing on Hainan Island after the April 1 collision, could not have come at a more delicate time for Taiwan. Each spring, Washington reviews Taipei's military-hardware needs. This year's wish list includes naval destroyers equipped with advanced Aegis anti-missile radar systems, a sale Beijing vehemently opposes.

Proponents of the sale of the Aegis and high-tech Patriot anti-missile weapons argue that China's aggressive stance in the current crisis and its more belligerent posture in recent years in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait justifies the new weapons. But the package Taiwan wants wouldn't be ready for six years or more.

"It's more a political symbol than an immediate military tool," said Andrew Yang, a political analyst at the Chinese Council for Advanced Policy Studies in Taipei. "The message it conveys, that the U.S. is strengthening its tie to Taiwan, ignoring China's wishes, is very immediate."

Chang Chang-lin, 50, a building contractor strolling past a downtown Starbucks coffee shop, hopes that is exactly the message President Bush sends.

"The plane incident probably means more arms sales to Taiwan," Mr. Chang said. "I like that Bush took a tough attitude. America has been too weak with China in the past."

Mr. Bush sees China as a competitor, with whom the United States shares some common interests. His predecessor tried to engage China as a "strategic partner." Difficult issues divide Beijing and Washington, including a proposed U.S. missile-defense system and continuing U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

The events of the past two weeks have plunged U.S.-China relations to their lowest point since since the 1999 U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

Later this month, Mr. Bush will be expected to decide on weapons systems for Taiwan, with fresh memories of the current crisis on his mind and on the minds of congressmen just returning from recess.

"Taiwan becomes a card played by Washington or Beijing," said Thomas B. Lee, dean of the college of international studies at Tamkang University in Taipei. "On the surface, things seem cool here. But beneath that, there is a lot of anxiety."

Many of the same people who appreciate U.S. support for Taiwan also wonder if the reconnaissance flights so close to China are provocative.

"Why fly so close to China?" asked Mike Wang, 48, a trader. "Nobody gets that close to America. The U.S. wouldn't tolerate it."

---

Chinese people riled by outcome

The Washington Times www.washtimes.com
4/12/01
David Rennie LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH
http://www.washtimes.com/world/default-2001412215132.htm

HAIKOU, China - On the hot, rainy streets of Haikou, near the military guesthouse where the 24-member crew of the American surveillance plane were to spend their last night in China, the people smelled a rat.

Mr. Li, a shopkeeper, stabbed a finger at a Chinese government communique giving Beijing's view of the American letter.

The document declared that President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell, felt "sincere regret" over the death of a Chinese fighter pilot and were "very sorry to the Chinese people and the family of the pilot, Wang Wei." They were also "very sorry the American plane entered Chinese airspace and landed without verbal clearance."

Ticking off items as a crowd of onlookers nodded agreement, Mr. Li said: "Sincere regret, that's not an apology. And this 'very sorry' - they have not used the word 'apology,' which would show they were taking responsibility. This is all double meanings. None of these terms is straightforward."

The crowd in the small shop was unanimous: The Americans being held at the Southern Fleet Air Force No. 1 Military Guesthouse should not be allowed to go.

"This problem has not been properly resolved," said Mr. Li. "Once the crew are released, we have no leverage over the Americans. In our hearts, we are very upset. The Chinese pilot hasn't even been found yet."

Passers-by gathered to shout their opinions, paying no heed to uniformed and plainclothes police nearby.

"This 'very sorry', it's like they bumped someone on the street," one man said.

Another said: "Only a formal apology will do. They should put the American pilot on trial. If he has broken the law, let him go to jail."

One man complained that this was not the first time Chinese leaders had promised an American apology and then settled for less.

"It was just like this in 1999, after they bombed our embassy in Yugoslavia," he said.

The day began with similar anger as morning paper headlines claimed that Mr. Powell had already "said sorry."

It did not take long to realize that propaganda chiefs were playing with language as they chose how to translate the word "sorry" into Chinese, a language with a dozen different forms of apology.

Closer inspection revealed that the story was a rehashing of a statement three days ago, with key phrases translated more positively. It seemed that China was trying to manufacture something resembling an apology to prepare the public for an imminent deal.

"The ladder is being built for China to climb down," said one Western diplomat.

Mr. Powell's original comments were made on Sunday, when he said he was sorry that the pilot of the F-8 fighter had died in a midair collision with the surveillance plane over the South China Sea.

China's strictly controlled media had already reported the comments, but initially translated them using the word "yihan," which can interpreted as dismissive.

But in yesterday's editions of Hainan Daily, Beijing Morning Post and Beijing Youth Daily, there was a new translation - in to the term "bao qian."

In Mandarin "bao qian" means sorry, but does not necessarily admit fault. China had originally demanded that America must agree to the stronger term "dao qian," which admits guilt.

When the American letter was published last night, diplomats had chosen a third translation, rendering "very sorry" as "shen biao qian yi," a strong apology but not necessarily an admission of fault.

A second-year student at Hainan University said: "They are using the differences between the English and Chinese languages, and they shouldn't."

He said students were "really angry," and would "rise up" if the crew were allowed to go before America had apologized properly.

But public opinion counts for only so much in China. Hainan University authorities and campus security agents had already suppressed the few hints of protest. Communist student-union leaders quickly tore down handwritten posters which appeared last week.

---

Beijing says U.S. admits responsibility in letter

The Washington Times www.washtimes.com
Published 4/12/01
Rowan Scarborough THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/national/default-2001412225727.htm

The United States' letter of "sorrow" to the Chinese government was distorted at once yesterday by Beijing's state-run media.

The People's Daily, the voice of China's Communist Party, said the letter contained a U.S. admission that its Navy EP-3E aircraft had rammed an F-8 fighter, causing the Chinese plane and pilot to crash into the South China Sea.

The letter contains no such admission.

At the government level, an official Chinese translation of the letter approved by President Bush takes the English word "sorry" and translates it into a Chinese word meaning apology and implying responsibility, according to a Pentagon analysis.

"Apology" and "responsibility" were words demanded by Beijing, but which the White House repeatedly refused to say during 11 days of negotiations to win the release of 24 EP-3E crew members.

The English-language letter, submitted in Beijing by U.S. Ambassador Joseph Prueher, states carefully that the U.S. government is "very sorry" for the loss of the pilot's life. It says the United States is "very sorry" the crippled surveillance plane did not get permission when it entered Chinese airspace and made an emergency landing on Hainan island.

The letter leaves the question of blame an open issue. Pentagon officials privately say the F-8 pilot had a history of reckless intercepts and caused the accident by flying too closely to the lumbering, turboprop EP-3E 50 miles south of the island in international airspace. The EP-3E is of a design 40 years old.

But China's People's Daily told readers the U.S. letter admitted wrongdoing.

"In the letter, the U.S. government said 'very sorry' for the incident of a U.S. military reconnaissance plane ramming into and destroying a Chinese military aircraft," the People's Daily reported in its English-language edition.

The newspaper paraphrased remarks it attributed to Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan. "Tang also emphasized that ever since the U.S. military reconnaissance plane rammed into and destroyed a Chinese military plane, the Chinese side has all along handled this incident with calmness and restraint and in accordance with international law and the provisions of relevant laws of China."

The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not release a verbatim translation of the letter, but paraphrased it for a public statement.

At the U.S. State Department, a senior official said: "How [Chinese officials] translate it and how they spin it is up to them. What difference does it make?"

U.S. officials said the letter was a time-honored way of settling diplomatic disputes: Agree on selected words as a way for both sides to save face, and leave the parties free to publicly interpret their meaning.

There was no U.S. demand that Washington approve China's translation, meaning Beijing was free to liberally interpret the White House's words.

"The U.S. side must not object to this Chinese translation or the deal falls apart," said a Pentagon official who asked not to be named.

The official's analysis states that the Chinese interpreted the phrase "very sorry" as "qianyi."

"The Chinese term for the English 'sorry' is 'qianyi,' something that can be translated as apology or regret, but implies a deficiency in the U.S. side. . . . It is not as neutral a term as 'regret' - 'yihan' - that Bush used the first time," the official said. "There is some creativity in the Chinese translation."

But it could have been worse for the United States. China's official statements did not say the letter contained the word "daoqian," a formal apology that accepts blame. This was an early demand of the Chinese to win the Americans' release.

The U.S. Embassy in Beijing last night released to the Associated Press the embassy's Chinese translation of the administration's letter.

This version does not use the stronger word "qianyi" found in official Chinese statements, the AP reported.

Instead, the embassy says, Mr. Bush was "feichang baoqian," or extremely sorry, for the plane's landing without Chinese clearance. The president expressed "feichang wanxi," or extreme sympathy, for the family of the dead pilot, Wang Wei.

"I think Beijing increasingly will try to portray the letter as an apology," said Rick Fisher, a China analyst at the Jamestown Foundation. "I'm heartened by American spokesmen insisting it is not an apology. These different interpretations are going to persist."

Mr. Fisher said China backed away from its demand for an outright apology in part because Chinese President Jiang Zemin is scheduled to meet this week with Cuban leader Fidel Castro, a staunch U.S. foe.

"If I were in the Foreign Ministry in Beijing, I would want American television screens dominated by returning U.S. service members, not Jiang Zemin [and Mr. Castro] toasting each other in Havana," he said.

Mr. Fisher called the Bush letter "a very tortured effort to express sympathy short of an apology necessary to achieve a relatively quick solution."

• Bill Gertz and Tom Carter contributed to this report.

---

Letter to Chinese

The Washington Times www.washtimes.com
Published 4/12/01
http://www.washtimes.com/national/nobyline-2001412232140.htm

Following is the text of a letter from U.S. Ambassador Joseph Prueher to Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Tang Jiaxuan.

Dear Mr. Minister,

On behalf of the United States Government, I now outline steps to resolve this issue.

Both President Bush and Secretary of State Powell have expressed their sincere regret over your missing pilot and aircraft. Please convey to the Chinese people and to the family of the pilot Wang Wei that we are very sorry for their loss.

Although the full picture of what transpired is still unclear, according to our information, our severely crippled aircraft made an emergency landing after following international emergency procedures. We are very sorry the entering of China's airspace and the landing did not have verbal clearance, but very pleased the crew landed safely. We appreciate China's efforts to see to the well-being of our crew.

In view of the tragic incident and based on my discussions with your representative, we have agreed to the following actions:

Both sides agree to hold a meeting to discuss the incident. My government understands and expects that our aircrew will be permitted to depart China as soon as possible.

The meeting would start April 18, 2001.

The meeting agenda would include discussion of the cause of the incident, possible recommendations whereby such collisions could be avoided in the future, development of a plan for prompt return of the EP-3 aircraft, and other related issues. We acknowledge your government's intention to raise U.S. reconnaissance missions near China in the meeting.

Sincerely,
Joseph W. Prueher

---

U.S. says it won't debate airspace rights

The Washington Times www.washtimes.com
4/12/01
Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/national/default-2001412225416.htm

The United States will not negotiate with China about future U.S. surveillance flights but will discuss how to prevent further incidents like the collision between the EP-3E reconnaissance plane and Chinese F-8 jet fighter on April 1, a senior administration official said last night.

"We don't view them as negotiations on that point," the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Asked if the frequency or duration of future EP-3 flights would be affected by the incident, the official said: "We don't envision doing any of that."

"We're going to talk about the causes of the accident, we're going to talk about measures to try and avoid them in the future," the official said.

The official said "lots of discussions" can take place on such matters as how close U.S. and Chinese aircraft should fly and what procedures to follow to avoid a collision.

Such talks, however, "don't go to the underlying issue of whether reconnaissance flights are OK," the official said.

The two sides have not reached an agreement on the forum for the talks scheduled to be held Wednesday. They may take place through a military maritime commission set up in 1998 between the U.S. and Chinese militaries.

The talks also could be held through the State Department and the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

China's release yesterday of the 24 detained U.S. crew members is part of a deal requiring talks between the Chinese military and the Pentagon for the return of the EP-3E surveillance plane and discussion of future U.S. spy flights in the region.

Bush administration officials said yesterday the United States expects China will follow through with a "prompt" return of the aircraft, as outlined in a letter approved by President Bush resolving the dispute.

"Issues relating to the release of the EP-3 aircraft are still being discussed," said Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

The senior official said the state of the U.S. aircraft left behind on Hainan Island is not known.

"We want it back. There are questions . . . how valuable is it from an intelligence standpoint and another question is how flyable is it," the official said. State Department spokesman Phillip Reeker said "the diplomacy continues, the discussions will continue."

"The letter outlines an agenda which will include discussion of the causes of the incident, possible recommendations whereby such collisions could be avoided in the future, and development of a plan for the prompt return of our aircraft, and other related issues," Mr. Reeker said. "That's the stated agenda of that meeting, but we need to let the diplomacy continue as we evolve with the details of that."

The military flights by EP-3E Aries II electronic intelligence aircraft as well as Navy ocean surveillance ships are being carried out under the direction of the U.S. Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Center-Pacific, known as JICPAC, located in Hawaii.

The intelligence-gathering program has increased in the past several years because of China's military buildup, especially its deployment of missiles opposite Taiwan, defense officials said.

China over the past several years deployed more than 250 short-range missiles within range of Taiwan, a buildup the Pentagon views as destabilizing to the region's peace and security.

The U.S. government letter from Ambassador to China Joseph Prueher that led to the release of the 24 crew members said Wednesday's meeting will include discussions raised by Beijing on "U.S. reconnaissance missions near China."

A Pentagon official said the United States has no intention of agreeing to limits on the flights, which are legal under international law.

"We may explain to the Chinese why these flights are legal - but that's the limit of the discussion," said the official.

In the background of the talks will be Chinese demands that the United States stop all U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. Mr. Bush has until April 23 to decide what weapons his administration will sell to the island, which this year is requesting four Aegis-equipped guided missile destroyers.

Mr. Reeker told reporters U.S. arms sales to Taiwan are "completely separate" from the upcoming talks. "That is not an aspect of the April 18th meeting," Mr. Reeker said.

Administration officials yesterday would not release details of the diplomatic efforts over the past 11 days that led to the return of the crew.

It is not known whether any secret side agreements or "understandings" between the United States and China were included in the diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute.

Mr. Reeker said that at the meeting next week U.S. negotiators "will be developing a plan for the prompt return of the aircraft."

"We have discussed the return of our aircraft since the beginning of this incident," Mr. Reeker said. "That's still important to us. Right now, today, the priority is the return of our people."

China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued at the time of the air crew's release yesterday evening that "responsibility for this incident entirely lies with the U.S. side."

---

Rice woke Bush with news of China's acceptance

The Washington Times www.washtimes.com
4/12/01
Bill Sammon THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/national/default-2001412233529.htm

When President Bush went to bed Tuesday night, there was no sign of a breakthrough in the China hostage standoff. But when he woke up yesterday, prospects for release of the 24 Americans had improved dramatically.

After 10 days of stalemate with the Chinese, resolution of the conflict came down to the 10 hours between Mr. Bush's consultation with the National Security Council at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday and his emergence in the White House press briefing room at 8:25 a.m. yesterday to announce the hostages would be freed.

Mr. Bush received mixed signals when he called the NSC for a progress report before retiring for the evening.

Adm. Joseph Prueher, U.S. ambassador to China, was trying to secure a meeting with Chinese communist officials in order to deliver the latest draft of a letter saying the United States was "very sorry" that a Chinese pilot had been killed in the collision with the American surveillance plane.

"He was told that our government had been talking with the Chinese government about logistics, which the president took as an encouraging sign," said White House press secretary Ari Fleischer. "But he was also advised that no meeting had been scheduled at that time between Ambassador Prueher and Chinese officials.

"And that was the state of play when the president went to bed last night," he added.

While Mr. Bush slumbered, events began to accelerate in Beijing, which is 12 hours ahead of Washington. At 12:45 a.m., Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage called National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice with encouraging news.

Mr. Armitage informed Miss Rice that "the Chinese wanted to receive the full text of the letter and that Ambassador Prueher would be called in for a meeting," said Mr. Fleischer. "That was a sure sign that this matter was on its way to being resolved."

Shortly after 5 a.m., Mr. Prueher delivered his letter to the Chinese, who had earlier rejected multiple drafts of the document as insufficiently contrite. For the first time since the standoff began, the Chinese assured Adm. Prueher the hostages would be released.

At 5:40 a.m., Miss Rice telephoned the president in the White House residence with an update and told him a resolution was at hand.

"The president said 'good,' leaned over and told Laura that it looks like the matter is going to be resolved," said Mr. Fleischer.

At 6:30 a.m., Chinese state television announced the Americans would be freed. Miss Rice again phoned the president to tell him the standoff had been resolved.

"That's great," Mr. Bush said, according to his spokesman.

At 6:50 a.m., the president entered the Oval Office. Twenty minutes later, Mr. Fleischer issued a written statement announcing the standoff was over. He also released the text of Adm. Prueher's letter.

At 8:25 a.m., the president stepped into the White House press briefing room, followed by Vice President Richard B. Cheney. Mr. Bush went to the podium and made a one-minute announcement.

"I'm pleased to be able to tell the American people that plans are under way to bring home our 24 American servicemen and women from Hainan island," he said. "This morning, the Chinese government assured our American ambassador that the crew would leave promptly. We're working on arrangements to pick them up and bring them home."

A senior administration official said throughout the incident that "we were trying to not to cast blame, but to be clear about what we needed."

By April 4, the White House realized that the Chinese were "looking for some expression of concern for the missing pilot," said the senior official.

China's government not only wanted an apology, a "red line" Mr. Bush would not cross, but also an explanation as well, said the senior official.

The administration first surfaced the word "regret" through background briefings and by Secretary of State Colin Powell, and then by the president at a speech to newspaper editors.

"So we tested some words to see if they contributed and then the president would make them public. "We know 'regret' works and is helpful."

By Saturday evening, Chinese government officials had replied that Beijing's leaders needed "a little more" because "regret" was not enough.

"They were asking for an apology and we said that's not on the table," said the senior official. "We say 'very sorry' and that seems to solve the problem in terms of the language."

After his morning statement, Mr. Bush ignored questions from the assembled reporters and departed the briefing room. Later in the morning, he flew to North Carolina for a previously scheduled speech on education.

Learning that one of the crew members grew up in the Charlotte area, Mr. Bush mentioned the family during his speech at 11:55 a.m. His staff hastily arranged for the president to meet directly with the parents of Petty Officer 3rd Class Steven Blocher afterward.

By the time Mr. Bush posed for photos with the Blochers at 12:40 p.m., a chartered Continental Airlines jet was on its way to pick up their son and the other hostages.

Mr. Bush was having dinner with aides in the conference room aboard Air Force One, coming back from North Carolina, when he heard last night's report that the crew had left China.

"Our team didn't turn the first incident into a crisis," he told Miss Rice.

• Bill Gertz contributed to this article, which is based in part on wire service reports

---

Homeward bound House Editorial

The Washington Times www.washtimes.com
Published 4/12/01
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20010412-85295140.htm

After 11 days of haggling over syntax and word choice, the American service men and women detained on Hainan Island are finally coming home. That is certainly a cause for rejoicing, but it is not the end of the story by any means. In this country, we will start weighing the potential long-term costs of the episode. In China, given the prevailing anti-American mood, the regime may turn out to be hostage to its own folly.

The White House avoided but came uncomfortably close to assuming responsibility for the collision between a U.S. surveillance plane and a Chinese jet fighter in international airspace on April 1. In a letter to Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan yesterday, U.S. Ambassador Joseph Prueher said, "Please convey to the Chinese people and to the family of pilot Wang Wei that we are very sorry for their loss. We are very sorry the entering of China´s airspace and the landing did not have verbal clearance." While U.S. negotiators avoided the dreaded term "apology," for Beijing, "very sorry" were the operative words.

"The firm struggle by the Chinese government and people against U.S. hegemony has forced the U.S. government to change from its initial rude and unreasonable attitude to saying 'very sorry´ to the Chinese people," said the Communist Party´s People´s Daily. Chinese lingering resentment of 19th-century colonialism could in part explain the bravado behind this statement, but it is surely also an indication of Beijing´s own hegemonic ambitions. China´s insistence that the April 1 collision occurred in its own airspace demonstrates that China is reasserting its claim to much of the South China Sea, a stance which has led to naval clashes with Vietnam and the Philippines. That China wants the United States out of East Asia is no secret.

However, it would appear that the nationalistic fervor whipped up by the Communists is now undermining their credibility. Initial claims that the United States was to blame for the accident put China in an uneasy diplomatic position. The regime did indeed want its people to rally around its demands for a U.S. apology. But with an eye towards commercial interests, it also had to keep the fanaticism in check. Numerous requests were filed for demonstrations, but Beijing didn´t allow any.

Now, many Chinese people believe that Beijing has failed to take a firm enough stance with Washington. "China is a coward. President Jiang Zemin must step down," one middle aged Haikou resident told Agence France-Presse. "China always lets other countries pick on it, it does not stand up for itself. The U.S. has not explained itself yet, how can they release the crew, I wouldn´t be surprised if students organized protests." This type of sentiment could become difficult for the Chinese regime to control.

The aftermath of the EP-3E episode will reveal whether the White House acquiesced in any undisclosed concessions to the Chinese, a reduction or suspension of surveillance flights for instance, or withholding arms from Taiwan. Either would be unacceptable. Furthermore, let us not forget that the Chinese are holding a resident of this country on flimsy cooked-up charges. Mr. Bush should continue to press for the release of Gao Zhan, a Chinese born sociologist at American University in Washington, who was detained on Feb. 11 for spying. Clearly, the recent tension between America and China is only one symptom of a very tense relationship.

---

China releases crew of U.S. plane

The Washington Times www.washtimes.com
Published 4/12/01
Joseph Curl THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/national/default-2001412232536.htm

China released the 24 hostages of a U.S. surveillance plane held for 12 days after receiving a Bush administration letter saying the United States was "very sorry" for the plane's landing on Hainan island without verbal clearance.

A chartered Continental Airlines Boeing 737 took off with the crew members aboard at about 7:30 p.m. yesterday Washington time, from the civilian airport at Haikou, the capital of Hainan. At around midnight EDT, they landed on U.S. territory on the Pacific island of Guam.

There, the 21 men and three women got their first chance to talk with family members by telephone. A military C-17 would later carry them farther across the Pacific to Hawaii, where they are expected to arrive at 12:30 p.m. EDT today.

President Bush stopped far short of the apology demanded by China for a midair collision U.S. officials say was caused by a Chinese fighter pilot whose jet clipped the Navy EP-3E reconnaissance plane in international airspace.

"We are very sorry the entering of China's airspace and the landing did not have verbal clearance, but very pleased the crew landed safely," the United States said in a letter from Adm. Joseph Prueher, the U.S. ambassador in Beijing, to Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Tang Jiaxuan.

The letter, however, asserts that the United States followed international law.

"Although the full picture of what transpired is still unclear, according to our information, our severely crippled aircraft made an emergency landing after following international emergency procedures," said the letter.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said that Mr. Bush, upon learning the detainees were in flight, turned to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and said: "You did a fine job. Congratulations. Our team didn't turn the first incident into a crisis."

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Mr. Bush was "very pleased for the families, he's very pleased for the crew. He's pleased that this accident did not turn into a crisis."

After the plane was safely outside China's airspace, Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said in Washington that a 13-member team of doctors and intelligence officers had begun debriefing crew members and checking on their health.

"What we're looking for is before the details of the collision start to fade," the Defense Department spokesman told reporters at a briefing at the Pentagon. "With time, we want to see if we can capture their memories . . . and get their understanding, in their own perceptions, in their own words, of the details surrounding the accident," Adm. Quigley said at a Pentagon briefing.

Mr. Tang said China had agreed to release the crew on "humanitarian grounds."

While the United States did not apologize for the collision - which left the Chinese pilot missing and presumed dead - China's state-run media had a different take.

The Beijing Morning Post today carried the banner headline: "The United States finally apologizes!"

A Xinhua news agency commentary said the Chinese people had united in "opposing American hegemony and protecting national sovereignty and dignity. This shows China upholds peace and does not fear intimidation by big powers."

Mr. Bush used cautious language early yesterday when he announced the release of the 21 men and 3 women and avoided using the word "apology" altogether.

"These have been difficult days for all of the families," Mr. Bush said late yesterday at an education event at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.

"And these days are a reminder of the sacrifices all of our men and women in uniform and their families make every single day for freedom. And so we're proud and thankful for the service folks. We're proud and thankful for their parents. And we can't wait for them to get home."

In Paris for meetings with European foreign ministers on the turmoil in the Balkans, Secretary of State Colin Powell defended the administration's refusal to give Beijing the full apology it demanded.

"There was nothing to apologize for. We did not do anything wrong, and therefore it was not possible to apologize," he said.

And, Mr. Powell said, "We entered the airspace without permission because we were unable to get permission. Niceties and formalities were not available to us."

Miss Rice told ABC's "Nightline" that the "letter had really been in final form, from our point of view, for a couple of days and the bulk of the package had really been there since last Thursday."

"It was really only a question of when," she said.

Shortly before leaving for North Carolina to sell his budget proposal, Mr. Bush said, "I know the American people join me in expressing sorrow for the loss of life of a Chinese pilot."

The U.S. letter to China similarly said: "Please convey to the Chinese people and to the family of pilot Wang Wei that we are very sorry for their loss."

The letter sets up an April 18 meeting in which Chinese and U.S. officials will arrange for the release of the EP-3E reconnaissance plane and discuss U.S. surveillance flights in international airspace near China.

The crew members are to be flown later to their home base at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station near Seattle, where news of the impending release brought immense relief to anxious families.

"We're very pleased," said Shirley Crandall, stepmother of U.S. Navy Seaman Jeremy Crandall, from her home in Loves Park, Ill. "My heart is just pounding."

In Paris, Mr. Powell insisted that the incident has not damaged long-term U.S.-China relations.

"We've stopped this process that was unfolding before it became more serious," he said. "I don't see anything that isn't recoverable."

Yet questions still remained about when the U.S. surveillance plane would be returned to the United States.

"Obviously, the return of the crew has been our No. 1 priority from the beginning of this incident," said Philip Reeker, a State Department spokesman. "We have also stated repeatedly that we expect the return of our aircraft. But as the letter states fairly clearly, that will be on the agenda at the meeting."

China's president warned that the incident was not over.

"The incident has not been fully settled. We hope that the U.S. side will adopt a serious attitude toward China's standpoint on the incident and handle it properly," said President Jiang Zemin, in Uruguay on a 12-day Latin American tour, according to Xinhua.

"We still have some problems with the airplane and we have to keep the airplane and to make further investigation," said Shen Guofang, China's deputy ambassador to the United Nations. "The airplane violates our territory and the land without permission, so that is the problem, and also we have to make further investigation on the airplane."

Significantly, perhaps, Mr. Shen reiterated the accusation his government had leveled from the outset - that the lumbering surveillance plane violated Chinese territory.

The Bush administration has rejected the accusation all along, and at Mr. Powell's insistence the letter accepted by China refers only to the plane's entering Chinese airspace.

"At this stage I don't think that we [have] decided yet . . . when to hand over the plane, but we have to make further investigation anyway," said the Chinese diplomat.

In North Carolina, Mr. Bush met with the parents of one detainee, Petty Officer 3rd Class Steven Blocher.

"These good folks are patriots, as is their son," he told the couple. "I'm so appreciative of how this family and the other families were steadfast in their patriotism and loyalty."

Bob Blocher, the father of the officer, said: "To meet the president under such happy circumstances was more than we could ask the Lord for."

Mr. Bush, seeming relieved that the crisis had been resolved, told a cheering middle-school crowd, "This reminds us how much American military families sacrifice for our freedom. It also reminds me it's such an honor to be commander in chief of such wonderful people."

While the president focused on the return of the crew members, many in his administration made it clear that the incident would not deter U.S. surveillance flights near the Chinese coast.

In Washington, Vice President Richard B. Cheney said on WAMU-FM, "With the respect to the right of the United States to continue to operate our aircraft in international airspace, that really is a given. That is not a subject that we would want to concede on."

On Capitol Hill, Rep. Porter J. Goss, Florida Republican and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, rejected claims of some conservative activists that detention of the crew and Mr. Bush's statements of regret had humiliated the United States.

"This is not a humiliation for the United States," said the former CIA officer. "If we get our troops back . . . this means the sole superpower in the world, that has to deal with all the problems around the globe, has worked a very good solution to a friction point that's bothering a large sovereign nation."

Samuel R. Berger, who was President Clinton's national security adviser, praised the Bush administration for achieving "an honorable result" - one that he said also permitted the Chinese "to save some face."

• This article is based in part on wire service reports

-------- activists

Guyana chief pleads for end to protests

The Washington Times www.washtimes.com
Published 4/12/01
World Scene
http://www.washtimes.com/world/worldscene-2001412212946.htm

GEORGETOWN, Guyana -Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo appealed for an end to two days of violent protests against his recently elected government and vowed he would not bow to opposition "intimidation."

Supporters of the opposition People's National Congress Reform demonstrated in the streets of Georgetown Monday and Tuesday, clashing with police and setting buildings ablaze. One woman died after being shot during the disturbances.

In a television interview late Tuesday, Mr. Jagdeo, 37, invited opposition leader and ex-president Desmond Hoyte, 72, to talks aimed at defusing the tension, which has heightened racial divisions in the impoverished former-British South American colony.

---------

People's perspective on WTO riots
Democracy documentary looks at only one side of 1999 protests in Seattle

Montreal Gazette
Thursday 12 April 2001
PEGGY CURRAN The Gazette
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/pages/010412/5077517.html

What if they called a revolution and nobody came? There's been so much pre-show hype leading up to next week's Summit of the Americas in Quebec City - and the People's Summit that precedes it - that it's difficult to imagine it can live up to its billing as the counter-culture event of the season.

Particularly since authorities are threatening to turn back potential protesters at the border, with $35 million invested in security, including a 3-metre high steel fence - all designed to pre-empt "another Seattle." That city suffered more than $3 million in property damage when a small number of protesters turned violent during anti-globalization marches during the World Trade Organization meeting in 1999.

This Is What Democracy Looks Like, which has its world premiere Monday, attempts to explore what happened in Seattle in November 1999 from the vantage point of ground zero. Rick Rowley and Jill Friedberg directed the hour-long documentary for the Independent Media Center and Big Noise Film, cobbled together from more than 300 hours of video shot by more than 100 "media activists" who joined the protests and manned the barricades.

Like a music video - or the chaotic event it attempts to capture - the soundtrack is jarring, the style staccato, often unfocused, flipping madly back and forth between street scenes and interviews with key participants.

"We knew that we couldn't count on the corporate media to accurately represent the events of the week or the issues at stake," Friedberg says. "We set out to tell a story of the empowerment and resistance," Rowley adds.

The result is a film which comes across as more heavy-handed polemic than balanced retrospective or even pointed but thoughtful argument. There's not even a pretense here that there might have been more than one side to what happened in Seattle. Viewers will hear a lot about national repression, corporate power and the evil cops who used tear gas to thwart civil disobedience, but next to nothing about thugs who resorted to vandalism.

Nevertheless, the film does offer insights into how the police crackdown radicalized unionized workers and free-speech advocates who until then cared little about anti-globalization, poverty rights or the North-South divide. "If we wanted to raise hell out here, it could have happened," says a steelworker from Kansas, galvanized by what he saw as overkill by security forces.

A Teamsters official said he made a crucial discovery after police arrested 630 people on charges ranging from failing to disperse to assaulting a police officer. "It's OK to protest if you're small in numbers and weak, but not if you're strong."

- This Is What Democracy Looks Like airs Monday night at 10 on The Passionate Eye on Newsworld.

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Children Who Cheated the Nazis is a powerful, oral history of the Kindertransport, the rescue of more than 10,000 Jewish children from Germany and other parts of continental Europe in the months leading up to the outbreak of World War II.

Narrated by Richard Attenborough, whose parents took in two Jewish girls for the duration of the war, the film is most effective when told through the voices and experiences of the children whose lives were saved, thanks to the Central British Fund, which began lobbying on the children's behalf after Hitler's rise to power in 1933 and stepped up efforts in the weeks after Kristallnacht, in 1938.

Now in their 60s and respected citizens of their adopted countries, the Kindertransport children remember their slow journey into the unknown on a crowded train, always fearing a last-minute hitch or an overzealous guard. Produced by Jim Goulding and Sue Read, the British film should not be confused with Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport, which won this year's Oscar for best documentary feature. It is, however, a compelling, heart-wrenching snapshot of parents in Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia who moved heaven and Earth to get their children out of Hitler's clutches, and of the kindness - and occasional cruelty - of the strangers who offered asylum and a home, often for a lifetime.

Children of the Storm, which airs Tuesday on Vision, is a variation on the same theme, though less effective and emotionally draining. Produced by Jack Kuper, himself a postwar refugee, the two-hour film focuses on the arrival in Canada of the first Jewish orphans in 1947, 14 years after the government of Mackenzie King first promised to admit 500 Jewish children fleeing persecution by the Nazis.

Canada's admission of 1,123 orphaned minors comes across not as an open-hearted welcome so much as an attempt to salvage its reputation. After years spent rejecting Jewish refugees - Charlotte Whitton, future mayor of Ottawa, warned that they would "debase Canadian society" - the federal government was suddenly desperate to make amends, only to discover that few small children had survived grueling life in the camps. But unfortunately, the film spends too much time with the historians, and not enough allowing the survivors to share their stories.

- Children Who Cheated the Nazis airs Monday night at 9 on WCFE-57. Children of the Storm airs Tuesday night at 9 on Vision.

- Peggy Curran can be reached by phone at (514)987-2529 or by E-mail - pcurran@thegazette.southam.ca

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Protesters are fighting to save capitalism

Montreal Gazette
Thursday 12 April 2001
http://www.montrealgazette.com/editorial/pages/010412/5077676.html

Letter to the Editor

In his appropriate defence of globalization's detractors (Column, April 6), Lyle Stewart used the term "corporate communism" to describe our present turmoil. This might appear ironic, but it bears a truth I wish to expand upon.

Throughout their arguments, advocates of freer trade and corporate globalization continually profess to act in the interests of capitalism.

Moreover, they claim that protesters against the movement are communists. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

In reality, the trend toward economic globalization serves to inflate the size and influence of corporations. This, in turn, lessens competition in the economy, which actually runs counter to capitalist ideology.

If the essence of capitalism is entrepreneurial spirit operating in a ruggedly competitive marketplace, then oversized corporations inevitably destroy this by developing the pervasive ability to control prices, rather than yield to Adam Smith's invisible hand of supply and demand.

If anything, those protesting against globalization, whether they believe it or not, are fighting to preserve capitalism in the face of powerful entities wishing to dominate the market. The last entities to ambitiously attempt to subvert natural economic forces so they themselves could dominate the economy were the Marxist nations of the world.

Shawn Forrest
Roxboro

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No one elected the demonstrators

Montreal Gazette
Thursday 12 April 2001
http://www.montrealgazette.com/editorial/pages/010412/5077677.html

Letter to the Editor

The television, radio and print media are taking up an unreasonable amount of time to describe the anticipated thousands of protesters and mobs expected to demonstrate at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City.

Even if there are 25,000 or more demonstrators, how can they assume that the issues concerning over 800 million people will not be negotiated in favour of citizens by their democratically elected representatives?

The demonstrators, noticeably unelected, represent only a small fraction of their fellow citizens and as usual want to make a lot of noise to gain attention to their causes. It is likely that they are seeking more to bolster their egos.

It is unfortunate that the media are providing a world stage for this relative handful of persons. The same media could be reporting on some of the benefits of the potential items of agreement at the summit.

N. Wray
Pointe Claire


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