------- Index of Articles

NUCLEAR
Belgian Journalist With Cancer Campaigns For Medicine for the Third World
Govt. plugging gaps in nuclear arsenal
Japan FM says Bush missile plan influenced by oil money: reports
Japanese Aide Is Said to Question U.S. Missile Plan
In Strategy Overhaul, Bush Seeks a Missile Shield
The Missile Shield, and a Grim Specter
Russia Ready to Be Constructive on Missile Defense
Mistake Blamed for Panama Radiation
RUSSIA: NUCLEAR WEAPONS PACT FULFILLED
White House Seeks Millions for N.M. Labs
Ex-Regulator to Gamble on Trial
Bush budget excludes payments to radiation victims
Military Analysis: Grand Plan, Few Details
Nuclear Waste Dump in Nevada Is Dead for Now, Daschle Says

MILITARY
Congo Ratifies U.N. Convention
China's Army Practices Taking Island
China Prepares Big Military Exercise Near Island Facing Taiwan
The Contradictions of Bush's China Policy
A Plane is Shot Down and the US Proxy War on Drugs Unravels
French Villagers to Be Evacuated
Iraq to Stop Crude Oil Exports Monday
N. Korea Denounces S. Korea Military
'Vieques Four' Remain Steadfast
Experimental NASA Plane Destroyed in Flight
NASA Blows Up Out - of - Control Rocket
Military's Ouster of Gays Rose 17 Percent Last Year

OTHER
EPA Urged to Release Dioxin-Cancer Study
U.N. Chief Calls on U.S. Companies to Donate to AIDS Fund
Vietnam Detains Dissident Monks, Group Says
Waco Inquiry Failed to Test Correct F.B.I. Gun, Official Says
CIA Adventures in Venture Capital
Judge Denies Motion to Limit Lee Lawsuit
Bulgaria's spies come in from the cold -- and run for parliament
FBI: Group Steps Up Arson Attacks

ACTIVISTS
Cincinnati Activists Protest
China's Inner Circle Reveals Big Unrest


-------- NUCLEAR


-------- depleted uranium

Belgian Journalist With Cancer Campaigns For Medicine for the Third World

From: thunderelf@yahoo.co.uk (Davey Garland) Date: June 1, 2001

The below message was sent this week by Michel Collon, Belgian journalist and human rights activist. Those who know of Mmichel, are aware of his tireless work on publicising the lies surrounding the use of DU in Balkans and elsewhere. Michel himself was a journalist covering the Balkans conflict, and has recently been diagnosed with cancer. His continuing courage in fighting those who have caused such distruction needs to be admired, and I hope everyone will show solidarity with his cause and publicise his campaign....

Dear friends

Unfortunately, I learned that the tests carried out on the kidney that was removed, as well as on the other kidney and on the thyroid gland revealed the presence of Cesium 134 and 137 as well as that of a third element.

All three were products of the decomposition of Uranium 235, which, as is known, is derived directly from the waste products of nuclear power plants.

Tests to verify these results will be carried out in the coming days. The laboratory of the Institute of Nuclear Medicine, directed by Professor Frohling, has therefore found these radioactive substances in my body. This only reinforces my anger against the heads of NATO, who have transformed entire territories into radioactive garbage dumps.

I had the good fortune to have had the radioactive substances discovered very early and to have been cared for by people both competent and committed to their work.

But I think also of the local population, of the hundreds of thousands of people who will have no access to this sophisticated and costly health care. In the years to come, NATO will therefore cause (and has already caused) in these regions enormous suffering and anguish.

I would like my experience to be used to spread the truth widely and reinforce the determination of all those who want to make sure the heads of NATO pay for what they did.

NATO--these are the monsters who lied about their war, claiming that it was clean, not only did they lie about their so-called humanitarian goals that were in reality economic and strategic goals, but also, they treated all the peoples of the region truly like garbage.

I have decided to begin an emergency judicial suit. NATO must pay for the costly medical examinations and tests. NATO ignored the principle of precaution for all Belgians who were sent in these countries--Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo, Yugoslavia--they also should be able to benefit from the examinations and explorations.

Medicine for the Third World is committed to coordinating the necessary steps.

Medicine for the Third World: 02/5040147 Colette Moulaert Email: colette.moulaert@brutele.be

-------- india / pakistan

Govt. plugging gaps in nuclear arsenal

By Atul Aneja - The Hindu, June 2, 2001
http://www.indiaserver.com/thehindu/2001/06/02/stories/0202000g.htm

NEW DELHI, JUNE 1. India's declaration that it will induct Agni- II missile within a year is part of an effort to plug the gaps in its nuclear arsenal.

The nuclear-tipped Agni-II, with a range of over 2000 km, will become the bedrock of India's nuclear deterrent till a missile with a longer range is made available. The security establishment, however, is well aware that much more needs to be done to develop the small, but survivable, nuclear arsenal, highly-placed Government sources say.

The list of items which could add credibility to a ``minimum deterrent'' includes a nuclear submarine and related weaponry as well as strategic bombers. Some fighter aircraft, which are already with the Indian Air Force, can deliver nuclear weapons. In fact, the IAF has been reportedly practising manoeuvres to deliver nuclear weapons since 1986.

Along with Agni-II, security planners are focussing their attention on developing the Advanced Technology Vessel or the nuclear submarine. In developing it, scientists have been grappling with the problem of acquiring suitable engines. The key lies in miniaturising a powerful nuclear engine which integrates well with the submarine's large titanium hull. The Government, however, appears to be addressing this problem innovatively and this may yield results in the near future.

The possession of a nuclear submarine is central to the survivability of nuclear forces. Atomic weapons positioned on the nuclear submarine are hard to detect and therefore difficult to destroy, especially in a first attack. It can also serve as a platform for launching a retaliatory ``second strike.'' Detection of a nuclear submarine will be even harder in South Asian waters because of the temperature differential in the equatorial zone.

The project to building ballistic missiles, which can fire a ``second strike'' salvo from a nuclear submarine, is understood to be progressing. the Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile programme is approaching a key benchmark in its developmental cycle, according to sources.

The SLBM launcher is likely to be tested shortly. It has been submerged to a depth of around 10 metres after being fixed to pontoon in a facility under the supervision of the Eastern Naval Command. The naval headquarters, however, declined to comment on the project.

With the indigenous effort focussed on SLBM, India may fulfil its requirement of cruise missiles through imports. Though they essentially fly bombs, cruise missiles can be guided to long distance targets with pin-point accuracy.

The Navy is already in the process of acquiring two variants of Klub missiles from Russia which are being mounted on some Kilo- class submarines. Three Khrivak class frigates are also currently under construction. Klub missiles can achieve a range of around 300 km. Since one variant of this missile can mount a warhead of around 450 kg, it remains to be seen whether it can be exploited in a nuclear role.

As for strategic bombers, the Government negotiations with the Russians for the transfer of four TU-22M3 planes have reached an advanced stage.

-------- missile defense

Japan FM says Bush missile plan influenced by oil money: reports

Saturday June 2, 20001 2:35 PM
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010602/1/r4st.html

TOKYO, June 2 (AFP) -

Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka has criticised US President George W. Bush's missile defence plan as being influenced by oil executives in his native Texas, reports said Saturday.

All Japan's major newspapers reported that Tanaka raised the concerns over Washington's National Missile Defence (NMD) project in separate meetings last month with Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini.

"President Bush is surrounded by conservative people such as advisors to his father when he was the president," she reportedly said during talks with Downer in Tokyo on May 28.

"I suspect there is influence from his support groups such as oil industry people in his homeground Texas," she was quoted as saying.

The newspapers said Tanaka made similar comments in a meeting with Italy's Dini on May 25 at a gathering in Beijing of foreign ministers at the Asia-Europe Meeting.

Tanaka denied the reported remarks Friday following initial reports that she had criticised Washington's NMD project.

The leaked comments are being considered the latest in a series of gaffes by Tanaka. However, Japan's first woman foreign minister remains popular and has helped boost public support for the government of reform-minded Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

There was speculation by observers the leaked quotes were an attempt to discredit her by foreign ministry bureaucrats who resent her policies.

Koizumi on Friday called on Tanaka to fix her deepening row with her ministry's bureaucrats after she froze all 19 appointments of Japanese diplomats decided by the previous minister.

The newspapers also quoted Tanaka as telling Downer she feared the US missile plan could anger China, which has expressed its vehement opposition.

The Australian minister reportedly told her that China was modernising its intercontinental ballistic missile system.

She responded: "We may not have had such a situation if (defeated candidate Al) Gore had won the US presidential election."

Downer then apparently admonished her, saying a Gore win would not have swayed the matter.

Critics have said Tanaka appears to tilt towards China rather than the United States despite Japan's traditional support for Washington.

She is the daughter of former premier Kakuei Tanaka who established Japan's diplomatic ties with China after World War II.

----

Japanese Aide Is Said to Question U.S. Missile Plan

By Doug Struck Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, June 2, 2001; Page A13
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A7689-2001Jun1?language=printer

TOKYO, June 1 -- Japan's new foreign minister was quoted in major daily newspapers here today as telling a fellow diplomat that Japan and Europe should join in opposition to President Bush's plan for an ambitious missile defense system.

Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka was reported to have told an Italian diplomat May 25 that the U.S. missile defense plans appear to be aimed at China, and to have questioned the need for such a system.

In response to the report, Tanaka alternately declined to comment and then told reporters obscurely, "There is no such thing." Her reported remarks would be a significant departure from the position of Japan, which is now conducting joint research with the United States on missile defense. The antimissile program is opposed in China, Russia and much of Europe, but the Bush administration has been counting on support from its chief Asian allies, Japan and South Korea.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he was unaware of Tanaka's reported remarks, and promised to discuss the issue with her.

"If what is reported is true, the way she did it is unexpected and unimaginable," said legislator Seiji Maehara, a member of the opposition Democratic Party. "Given the importance of the program in the Bush administration, it's a very sensitive matter and has to be handled with extreme carefulness."

The reports of Tanaka's remarks first appeared in the Sankei Shimbun, a conservative newspaper, and later in all the major dailies. The Mainichi Shimbun said she had made similar remarks earlier to Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.

All the papers quoted "informed sources" or "Foreign Ministry sources" in their reports. Since taking office, Tanaka has been engaged in a bitter battle with her own Foreign Ministry bureaucrats.

Coincidentally, the Japanese cabinet today approved a foreign policy document that reiterated Japan's official position of "understanding" the U.S. argument for an antimissile system. The new government, formed April 26, has yet to make clear its stance.

But at the same time, Japan is conducting research with the United States on a comparatively limited antimissile system, which Japan contends would be used only for the defense of Japan. And in private, Japanese officials have expressed general support for continued development of larger systems.

But Bush's plan of involving allies in the U.S. missile defense system creates complications for Japan. Tokyo had hoped for some separation from the U.S. efforts, to avoid antagonizing its huge neighbor, China, and to sidestep a controversy over Japan's constitutional prohibition against joint military action with any other country.

Tanaka was quoted as having told Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini at a luncheon in Beijing that the United States "says there's a missile threat. But is missile defense necessary? Japan and Europe must tell the U.S., don't do too much."

"Perhaps the U.S. is pushing this idea of missile defense plan to confront the Chinese economic and military threat. However, one has to counter with wisdom, not with military power," she reportedly said. The United States has said that the plan is aimed at "rogue states" -- principally North Korea -- and not China.

----

In Strategy Overhaul, Bush Seeks a Missile Shield

By DAVID E. SANGER and STEVEN LEE MYERS, New York Times May 2, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/02/world/02PREX.html

WASHINGTON, May 1 - President Bush called today for sweeping changes in security strategy, including a new relationship with Russia, that would build an expansive missile defense system and cut "to the lowest possible number" the nuclear arsenals that both sides assembled in the cold war.

In a speech at the National Defense University addressing what he hopes to make a central accomplishment of his presidency, Mr. Bush stopped just short of saying the United States would withdraw from the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty.

He made clear that he intended to build a network of installations that would unquestionably violate a treaty that arms-control advocates argue has been the cornerstone of nuclear deterrence since Richard M. Nixon and Leonid I. Brezhnev signed it. That pact bans the very systems that Mr. Bush alluded to today.

At the Pentagon, officials have proposed moving ahead quickly with developing and deploying a limited system that would include interceptors launched from Alaska and from naval cruisers that could be moved into global hot spots, as well as lasers mounted on Boeing 747 jumbo jets.

Although President Bill Clinton refused to approve deploying even a limited missile system last year because the Pentagon could not overcome significant technological hurdles, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said today that the Bush administration was prepared to go ahead even if the technologies had not yet proven completely effective.

With accelerated financing and a speedy testing program, military officials said, the first system could be in place by 2004, just as Mr. Bush nears the end of his current term.

Mr. Bush's strategy is virtually certain to find intense resistance in Congress, among some European and Asian allies and, especially, from China. The president used his speech to reach out directly to Russia, and the Kremlin responded favorably to the pledge to open a new strategic dialogue.

"We are not and must not be strategic adversaries," Mr. Bush said. He urged Russia to "work together to replace this treaty with a new framework that reflects a clear and clean break from the past."

Aides said Mr. Bush used the word "framework" with care. Rather than amending the treaty, they said, he envisions an understanding with Russia that would not require Senate approval. "This new cooperative relationship should look to the future, not to the past," he said in his 16- minute speech under a blazing sun at Fort McNair. "It should be reassuring, rather than threatening. It should be premised on openness, mutual confidence and real opportunities for cooperation, including the area of missile defense."

Starting next week, Mr. Bush will send senior deputies to visit European and Asian allies, as well as to China, India and Russia. Aides said he hoped to meet President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia soon, probably in Europe this summer.

Mr. Bush's speech was striking for what it said and what it left unsaid. This was not Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, or "Star Wars" plan. It did not promise an impenetrable shield. Mr. Bush talked about technologies that "could provide limited, but effective, defenses."

Mr. Bush suggested making huge cuts in America's nuclear arsenal that would have been unthinkable in the 80's, and perhaps unilaterally.

The arsenal now includes more than 7,000 strategic nuclear weapons, although it is supposed to drop to 3,000 to 3,500 under Start II, the 1993 strategic arms reduction treaty. Although some Bush advisers have suggested unilateral reductions to about 2,000 weapons, the president avoided mentioning any numbers.

"Nuclear weapons will still have a vital role to play in our security and that of our allies," he said. "We can and will change the size, composition, the character of our nuclear forces in a way that reflects the reality that the cold war is over."

Mr. Bush also did not discuss the possible cost of his "layered" system, which would build on existing technologies like Aegis ship-borne radar and missile-firing systems and also use untested technologies like airborne or space-based lasers.

There is little doubt that the system that Mr. Bush envisions would cost far more than the $60 billion that the Congressional Budget Office estimated for Mr. Clinton's proposed limited ground-based system.

Although Mr. Bush discussed at length a new relationship with Moscow, he made just passing reference to China, saying he would "reach out" to the Chinese and send an envoy there to describe his plans. But he omitted talk of remaking America's relations with China the way he spoke of remaking them with Russia. That is bound to reinforce Beijing's fears that Mr. Bush intends that his system could help contain China's power and, perhaps, help protect Taiwan.

A day after speaking with major allies, Mr. Bush spoke this morning with Mr. Putin for 12 minutes, the White House said, but did not call any of China's leaders.

At the core of Mr. Bush's speech was a major change in American nuclear doctrine, a move that critics say will introduce instability into the nuclear balance. Mr. Bush repeatedly called the cold war theory of mutually assured destruction a relic.

He said it was borne of an era when the Soviet Union was "a highly armed threat to freedom and democracy" and was ill suited to a world in which Russia is not a hostile power. Nor does it protect the United States and its allies from rogue states - Mr. Bush did not explicitly mention Iran, Iraq, North Korea - and terrorists with access to nuclear material. He called for a blend of traditional nuclear deterrence and nuclear defenses, aimed not at major nuclear powers but at minor ones.

The system would be highly limited. It would do nothing, for example, to protect against a small nuclear or biological device brought into the United States or Europe in a suitcase or on an airplane. And it would clearly not be 100 percent effective against missiles, meaning that the threat of massive retaliation would still be a central principle of American nuclear doctrine.

Mr. Rumsfeld dismissed such criticism, arguing that early versions could be effective even if imperfect. His remarks echoed those by Pentagon officials who have advocated building "a defense in depth," relying on overlapping systems with varying abilities to counter missile threats. "They need not be 100 percent perfect, in my opinion, and they are certainly unlikely to be in their early stages of evolution," he said.

Mr. Bush's speech offered the most detailed explanation yet of what shape his proposed system might take. He said Mr. Rumsfeld had identified "near-term options that could allow us to deploy an initial capability against limited threats." The president focused on systems that attack missiles in their so-called boost phase, the relatively slow period when a missile is launched and its blazing plume can be easily detected and tracked.

Army officials have told Mr. Rumsfeld's aides that they could accelerate development of the ground- based system, with a sophisticated radar station and at least five interceptor missiles in Alaska, and have it ready by 2004, officials said.

The Navy has indicated that it could build a limited system of 50 SM-3 interceptor missiles - their range is classified - aboard two cruisers equipped with the Aegis system, according to a briefing paper that has circulated in the Pentagon. Such a system could be ready by 2004 or 2005 at an estimated minimum cost of $1.2 billion.

Navy officials have also proposed building a sophisticated radar system, vital to any defensive system, on a cargo ship, letting it move around the globe to counter any missile threat that arises, an industry expert said.

A senior administration official said the most promising approach in the near future appeared to be the Airborne Laser Program, being developed by Boeing, Lockheed Martin and TRW and promoted as the first laser-armed combat aircraft. The contractors plan to test the system, a multimegawatt oxygen-iodine laser mounted on a retrofitted 747, in 2003.

There are no estimates on the overall cost of the system Mr. Bush discussed today, and he was so vague about its architecture that no estimate would be reliable. Although the president spoke of "promising options," there are many questions about technological feasibility.

The ground-based interceptor rocket at the heart of the Pentagon program has had test failures. Another test, copying a failed one in July, is scheduled soon. The other programs are untested.

"We fear the president may be buying a lemon here," said the Senate minority leader, Tom Daschle of South Dakota. "There has not been a shred of evidence that this works."

----

The Missile Shield, and a Grim Specter

The New York Times June 2, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/02/opinion/L02MISS.html

To the Editor:

Allies of the United States are rightly concerned that the Bush administration's missile defense plan could be a "cure" worse than the "disease," especially if it reignites a nuclear arms race ("A Wary Atlantic Alliance," editorial, May 31).

But even if missile defense did not undermine "the cohesion of the Atlantic alliance," it would not add to American security. The nuclear nightmare we created for ourselves more than half a century ago does not, unfortunately, have a technological solution.

There are many ways to deliver a nuclear weapon other than a missile. While missile defenses appeal to the public's justifiable desire for protection from nuclear war, such protection is illusory.

Until the nations of the world negotiate and carry out a treaty eliminating nuclear weapons, humanity will live in the shadow of the mushroom cloud.

MICHAEL CHRIST Executive Director International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War Cambridge, Mass., May 31, 2001

•

To the Editor:

Re "A Wary Atlantic Alliance" (editorial, May 31):

You write that "during the cold war, Washington could simply impose its will on NATO when it came to missiles and nuclear weapons policies." But the process that led to the deployment of American intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe, and to the I.N.F. treaty, which eliminated all United States and Soviet intermediate-range nuclear missiles, presents a different picture.

Both the deployment process and the treaty negotiations were marked by frequent, extensive, in-depth consultations with our allies. While the United States was at the table, the positions we put forward were the product of those consultations. It was a team effort extending over Democratic and Republican administrations.

MAYNARD W. GLITMAN Fletcher, Vt., June 1, 2001 The writer was chief United States I.N.F. treaty negotiator, 1985-88.

----

Russia Ready to Be Constructive on Missile Defense

New York Times, June 2, 2001 , By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-arms-ru.html?searchpv=reuters

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on Saturday Russia was firm in its backing of the 30-year-old ABM treaty, but was ready to be constructive in talks with the United States on missile defense.

The two countries have been arguing over U.S. plans for a missile defense shield, which Moscow strongly opposes. Ivanov and Secretary of State Colin Powell discussed the issue again last week in Budapest.

``This combination of firmness on the one hand in defending our position and, on the other hand, our readiness to carry on a constructive dialogue is the policy we will continue to follow,'' Ivanov told state-owned RTR television.

Russia has fiercely opposed U.S. plans to amend the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty so it can build a missile defense shield, banned in the 1972 pact.

Russia says such a shield would alter the global strategic balance and spark a new arms race. Washington says it needs a missile defense to stop possible attacks from states it views as threats such as Iraq, North Korea and Libya.

Ivanov said the nature of the threat needed to be determined before any decision could be made on how to meet it.

``Why take unilateral measures which could worry other countries and, to a greater extent, harm the interests of their national security?'' he said, referring to the U.S. plans.

Although President Vladimir Putin has conceded that new dangers to global stability could arise, Moscow disputes U.S. claims that ``rogue states'' such as Iraq and Libya could develop long-range nuclear missiles in the next 10-15 years.

It says diplomacy could neutralize any threat before then.

Russia has proposed its own cheaper version of an anti-missile system, using tactical missiles and relying heavily on negotiations to head off any possible threat.

The issue is likely to dominate a June 16 debut summit between Putin and President Bush in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana.

Ivanov stressed that Russia was approaching the issue with great care as it had a great long-term impact.

``If we make a mistake in our disarmament policy today then the serious consequences of this will be seen in 10 or 15 years and then it will be very difficult to undo those processes, to try and restore what we might destroy today,'' he said.

-------- panama

Mistake Blamed for Panama Radiation

JUNE 02, 00:40 EST
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=CSA&STORYID=APIS7CC6SJ80

PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) - Panamanian health officials seeking improved results gave 28 cancer patients overdoses of radiation, the nation's Health Ministry said in a report. Five of the patients died.

The report released Friday blamed human error for the overdoses, which were detected in February. Officials initially believed they were caused by a computer error.

Health Minister Fernando Garcia said health officials changed their procedures in administering the radiation treatments in order to get ``better results'' and ended up giving the patients between 20 percent and 100 percent more radiation than they should have.

The report was based on an investigation by local authorities and experts from the International Organization of Atomic Energy. Garcia said the six health officials involved could be fired, but that authorities were still investigating.

-------- russia

RUSSIA: NUCLEAR WEAPONS PACT FULFILLED

June 2, 2001 World Briefing, Michael Wines (NYT)
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/02/world/02BRIE.html?searchpv=nytToday

More than 13 years after they began, Russia and the United States have destroyed the last of 2,692 nuclear missiles marked for elimination under the 1987 Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the Foreign Ministry said. Besides silos and other equipment, Russia destroyed 1,846 missiles, and the United States 846, all with ranges between 300 and 3,000 miles.

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

White House Seeks Millions for N.M. Labs

By John Fleck Journal Staff Writer, Saturday, June 2, 2001
http://www.abqjournal.com/news/350684news06-02-01.htm

The Bush administration on Friday asked Congress for $140 million extra this year for the U.S. nuclear weapons program, much of which would be spent at Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories.

The administration also requested $180 million for environmental cleanup for the Department of Energy and $153 million for the Airborne Laser, an Air Force anti-missile program with headquarters at Kirtland Air Force Base.

The money was included in a $6.5 billion supplemental budget request the White House sent to Congress on Friday. Most of the money, the administration said, is needed to make up shortfalls in this year's defense budget.

The spending package is likely to win quick congressional approval, said Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M.

The Bush request did not specify how the nuclear weapons money was to be spent beyond saying its purpose was "to ensure the safety and operational readiness of the nuclear weapons stockpile."

The administration decided to ask for more money for nuclear weapons after John Gordon, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, met personally with President Bush, according to Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. Wilson said $40 million of the new money is aimed at Los Alamos for work manufacturing plutonium components for U.S. nuclear weapons.

The program has been criticized for being behind schedule and underfunded in recent years.

Los Alamos has the job of making new plutonium cores, called "pits", for U.S. nuclear weapons. No new U.S. bombs are being made, but the lab is preparing to make replacement pits for weapons being taken apart and tested to see how their pits are aging.

According to budget documents submitted to Congress earlier this year, there is only one extra pit available for dismantlement and testing of the W88 warhead.

Los Alamos not only must be able to build pits for U.S. nuclear weapons, but it also must be able to go through a rigorous formal certification process to demonstrate that the pits meet rigid specifications demanded of stockpile weapons.

Los Alamos director John Browne recently called those two areas - manufacturing and certification - two of the lab's most important programs. On Thursday, he announced the formation of a blue-ribbon panel to review the effort to make sure it stays on track.

"It is imperative that we meet the goals and milestones of these programs on time, within budget and with the highest quality products and processes," Browne said in a statement issued Thursday.

The budget request also should provide additional money for the Energy Department's Stockpile Life Extension Program, an effort led by the laboratories to refurbish U.S. nuclear weapons so they will last longer.

In the past, U.S. nuclear weapons were usually replaced after 10 to 15 years by new designs. But with a 1992 halt to nuclear testing and no new weapons being designed, the laboratories are being asked to find ways to ensure the safety and reliability of existing U.S. weapons indefinitely.

Major work is under way at the laboratories to define the work necessary to refurbish two U.S. weapons, and the Department of Energy has developed a long-range plan to eventually refurbish all nine types of warheads and bombs in the U.S. nuclear stockpile.

According to Domenici, some of the new money requested for the Department of Energy's environmental programs could be spent at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, a nuclear waste dump near Carlsbad.

The administration request also beefs up work on the Air Force's Airborne Laser program, intended to build an airplane-based laser to shoot down enemy missiles.

While the program is based at Kirtland, most of the money is spent by contractors outside of New Mexico.

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


-------- utah

Ex-Regulator to Gamble on Trial

Saturday, June 2, 2001, Larry Anderson BY JUDY FAHYS THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
http://www.sltrib.com/06022001/utah/102293.htm

Utah's former radiation regulator will go to trial for extortion and other charges, after he balked at a plea agreement that would have forced him to give up his home and other assets.

Larry F. Anderson was scheduled to be sentenced Friday to a year at a federal prison camp. Instead he asked the court to withdraw his guilty pleas to tax evasion and mail fraud and opted for a trial on six charges that could put him in jail for a decade.

U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell said she was "shocked" Anderson refused to surrender the assets that were part of a plea agreement he had accepted in February. She cleared three weeks in her schedule for a trial, beginning Aug. 27.

"He's not going to compromise his feelings to end the case," said Anderson's attorney, Jerry Mooney.

He said Anderson, who has had triple bypass surgery and is in the care of "a veritable army of doctors," worried his wife would be left destitute when he dies if he had complied with the original deal.

"He did not want to leave her at the mercy of the government," Mooney said.

The charges stem from Anderson taking $600,000 in cash, gold and real estate from Khosrow Semnani, the founder of the radioactive-waste landfill company, Envirocare of Utah.

As director of the state's Radiation Control Division from 1980 to 1993, Anderson was responsible for setting up and watch-dogging Envirocare. Between 1987 and 1995, Semnani gave Anderson a Park City condominium, gold coins and cash deposited into a Swiss bank account.

Then in 1996, about a year after Semnani quit making the payments, Anderson sued Semnani.

Anderson called it reneging on a business contract, a consulting arrangement that has allowed Semnani to use Anderson's know-how to build a business that generates $100 million annually.

The landfill owner called it extortion.

U.S. attorneys called it criminal. A grand jury indicted Anderson in 1999 on six counts, including extortion, tax evasion and mail fraud for using his public position to profit personally.

Semnani pleaded guilty in 1998 to a misdemeanor tax charge for failing to tell the IRS about his payments to Anderson. He served no jail time but paid a $100,000 fine and agreed to cooperate with IRS and FBI investigations of Anderson.

"Mr. Semnani will be prepared to testify at the trial," said his attorney, Rod Snow.

Campbell on Friday said she was shocked by Anderson's refusal to sign documents to forfeit assets that include a Mesquite, Nev., condominium, a golf club membership, a golf cart and other holdings.

The agreement also would have required him to pay back taxes to the IRS and spend a year in a federal prison camp at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas.

Absent the plea agreement, Anderson once again faces up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

Paul Warner, U.S. attorney for Utah, said asking to withdraw the plea agreement was "very rare."

"His exposure is significant," said Warner. "We're talking years [of possible jail time] vs. a year."

fahys@sltrib.com

--

Also - Ex-top waste boss to be tried - Anderson didn't comply with plea deal, judge says
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,275009065,00.html

-------- us nuc politics

Bush budget excludes payments to radiation victims

Saturday, June 2, 2001, The Associated Press
http://www.bergen.com/morenews/atom02200106024.htm

Uranium Miners, Downwinders Still Getting IOUs
http://www.sltrib.com/06022001/nation_w/102329.htm

WASHINGTON -- Victims of the nation's Cold War-era nuclear weapons programs who hold government-issued IOUs would have to wait until October to receive compensation under a budget proposal issued by President Bush on Friday.

Members of Congress from New Mexico and Utah had lobbied the administration to include $84 million in additional funding to cover shortfalls in the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.

Jude McCartin, spokeswoman for Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said the senator was disappointed the funding was excluded from the proposal.

"It means the Department of Justice is going to continue to issue IOUs and that is absolutely unacceptable," she said.

The act, passed in 1990, was designed to compensate uranium miners and those exposed to radiation during nuclear tests who are known as "downwinders."

But the program, administered by the Justice Department, ran out of money last summer, meaning many people eligible for payments have been receiving IOUs from the government. Several have died from their cancers while awaiting payments.

"We believe it's a very important program and what the administration has proposed is significantly increasing the program," said White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan.

Bush has proposed fully funding the compensation program beginning in the next fiscal year at a cost of $97 million next year and $710 million over the next decade. He would also make the funding mandatory, meaning it wouldn't be subject to annual congressional budget battles.

But none of that money would become available until October.

"We have to look until October and even then we've got to keep our fingers crossed," said J. Preston Truman, director of the group Downwinders. "On one hand everyone is so sorry for all the victims of the Cold War [programs] and on the other hand they don't want to pay for it."

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., had requested the $84 million emergency funding, but a spokeswoman for the senator said it wasn't expected in Bush's proposal.

"It's something we intend to handle here now that its in Congress' hands," said Sarah Echols. "We're going to get it on the front burner as soon as possible."

----

Military Analysis: Grand Plan, Few Details

By MICHAEL R. GORDON, May 2, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/02/world/02MILI.html

WASHINGTON, May 1 - President Bush sketched out his vision of a brave new world today in which the United States is protected by a multifaceted antimissile shield, nuclear arsenals are slashed and Washington and Moscow work together.

What he did not explain in his speech today was how to get there. The goal of Mr. Bush's long- awaited address was to make a persuasive case for his missile-defense plan and to set the stage for high-level consultations with the United States' allies, which will get under way next week.

Mr. Bush called for a sweeping strategic realignment. And he presented an ambitious, if preliminary, blueprint for a network of sea-based, air-based and land-based defenses, some elements of which may be rushed into the field. To pave the way for his antimissile program, Mr. Bush all but declared the Antiballistic Missile Treaty of 1972 to be dead, vowing to replace it with a new "framework."

But the central question that Mr. Bush never tackled head-on is what this framework would be and how the United States and Russia might collaborate to achieve it.

The United States' allies already know that the Bush administration has little regard for the ABM treaty. What they want to know is what sort of arms-control arrangements on defensive systems, if any, might be put in place if the 1972 accord is abandoned.

The allies also know that the Bush administration favors deeper cuts in the nuclear arms arsenal. What they want to know is whether the United States intends to negotiate new treaties with Moscow, accords that would have strict verification.

Or does the Bush administration instead favor a more informal arrangement in which each side would make reductions that would not be legally binding?

That approach appeals to many conservatives who believe that the United States should have maximum flexibility to improve or alter its nuclear arsenal.

But Mr. Bush not only failed to answer these questions in today's address. He also did not even acknowledge them.

"We need a new framework that allows us to build missile defenses to counter the different threats of today's world," he declared.

To be sure, there is a case to be made for the antimissile system. With the end of the cold war, the United States and Russia are no longer antagonists. And with the spread of missile technology, new missile threats may emerge from states like Iran, Iraq and North Korea, though the urgency of this danger is often exaggerated.

But the debate over antimissile systems is not an all-or-nothing proposition as Mr. Bush implied today.

Increasingly, for Democrats as well as for Republicans, the issue is not whether to cleave slavishly to the ABM treaty. It is whether the accord should be amended to make way for a limited program or abandoned altogether.

The Clinton administration opted for the first course. It sought to alter but not eliminate the ABM treaty, so that the United States could put in place a battle-management radar system and 100 interceptors in Alaska.

What made Mr. Bush's statements today so important - and contentious - is that he made clear he is opting for the second approach. Mr. Bush did not propose negotiations to update the ABM treaty; he advocated a "clear and clean break with the past."

The development of a missile defense would not put an end to all the nuclear risks the United States faces. The Bush administration's proposed system would not signal an end to the era of "mutual assured destruction," the situation in which Russia and the United States are vulnerable to each other's attack.

By the Bush administration's own account, its antimissile system would not be able to stop a Russian attack, so the United States would remain vulnerable to almost unthinkable destruction from a Russian nuclear attack. It was the end of the cold war, not the advent of missile defenses, that signaled an end to the Strangelovian calculations of the old Soviet-American standoff.

Nor will an antimissile program isolate the United States against threats from "suitcase bombs" and other terrorist ploys.

But antimissile systems can still play a useful role in countering lesser missile threats that the United States might face during a future conflict.

The question is whether the United States can develop such systems and put them in place without stimulating old fears in Russia or China and creating new dangers.

Even with the end of the cold war, the United States has a stake in maintaining a good working relationship with Russia to safeguard its nuclear arsenal, fight the spread of weapons of mass destruction and avoid an arms race.

Mr. Bush stressed during his speech that Russia was no longer an enemy and he talked repeatedly of his desire to cooperate with Moscow. But the broad scope of Mr. Bush's proposed system and the quick pace at which Mr. Bush wants to put some of its elements in place means it will be very difficult to ease Russia's concerns.

Mr. Bush spoke of developing "boost-phase" antimissile systems that would blow up missiles right after they were launched. And he also talked approvingly of systems that would knock out enemy missiles in mid-flight or destroy their warheads after they re-entered the atmosphere. Mr. Bush described the deployment of such systems as "near term options."

Mr. Bush offered Russia the promise of deep cuts in the American arsenal, some of which would be made unilaterally. That is a potentially important lure. But his plans for reductions are still vague. He also offered the Russians the distant possibility that the two sides might one day jointly operate a missile defense system.

To former Clinton aides, the subtext seemed to be that Washington would give consultations with Moscow no more than a college try before moving unilaterally to develop defenses.

The European allies of the United States, however, attach great importance to avoiding new tensions with Russia. The Bush administration insists that its consultations with its allies in Europe as well as in Asia are not a pro forma exercise but rather a genuine attempt to develop a new strategic arrangement for a post- cold-war world. And the challenge for Mr. Bush will be to persuade the allies, as well as Moscow, that his "framework" to replace the ABM treaty is not just a place-holder, or a prescription for a laissez-faire nuclear policy - but a plan that can guarantee continued stability.

-------- us nuc waste

Nuclear Waste Dump in Nevada Is Dead for Now, Daschle Says

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, New York Times, June 2, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/02/national/02YUCC.html?searchpv=nytToday

LAS VEGAS, June 1 - A plan to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, long opposed by Nevada, has become a casuality of the change in control of the Senate.

Senator Tom Daschle, the South Dakota Democrat who will become the majority leader, said on Thursday of the plan, "As long as we're in the majority, it's dead."

Since 1987, Yucca Mountain has been the only site studied to become the graveyard for 77,000 tons of the nation's spent nuclear fuel and high- level radioactive research waste. The Energy Department is more than a decade behind schedule in accepting such waste from utilities.

The department is scheduled to forward its recommendation next year to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, who will make a recommendation to President Bush. The earliest the site could open is 2010.

The dump site, 90 miles from Las Vegas, is opposed by members of both parties in Nevada's Congressional delegation; Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican; state and city leaders and the gambling industry. The State Senate on Wednesday approved $4 million for a legal and public relations fight against the dump.

Mr. Daschle, in town for a fund- raiser for Senator Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, will become the Senate's majority leader next week and Mr. Reid the majority whip, the No. 2 man in the Senate. Mr. Daschle said the change in leadership "will allow us to put Nevada's agenda on the national agenda."

The $1,000-a-person fund-raiser at the Bali Hai Golf Club was expected to bring in $500,000 for Mr. Reid's 2004 re-election campaign.

-------- MILITARY


-------- africa

Congo Ratifies U.N. Convention

By ARNAUD ZAJTMAN Associated Press Writer, JUNE 02, 15:50 EST
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=AFRICA&STORYID=APIS7CCK6Q80

KINSHASA, Congo (AP) - Congo on Saturday ratified an amendment to an international convention that calls for an end to the use of child soldiers in war.

Minister for Human Rights Ntumba Luaba presented the signed U.N Convention of the Rights of the Child amendment to Olara Otunnu, a special envoy for the United Nations.

Otunnu said ``tens of thousands of child soldiers'' were serving in the government army or in rebel groups fighting against President Joseph Kabila.

Many work as guards for senior officers, while others cook, carry supplies and work as spies. Some have taken up arms and fought.

``This shows that the Congolese do not want any child to take part to the war,'' Otunnu said at a press conference in the capital, Kinshasa. ``We now need action.''

Speaking at the end of a weeklong visit that took him to both government and rebel-held territories, Otunnu said both sides had agreed to demobilize their child soldiers.

Neither, however, gave a timeline for demobilization.

The U.N. Children's Fund has called on governments around the world to ratify amendments to the convention to halt the use of child soldiers and protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation.

The United Nations says 79 countries have signed the optional protocol, which calls on governments to take ``all feasible measures'' to prevent troops under the age of 18 from taking part in combat. Congo became the sixth country to ratify it.

Congo was plunged into civil war nearly three years ago when rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda took up arms against the government, which has support from Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

The United States and Somalia are the only two countries in the world which have not yet signed the U.N convention, UNICEF information officer Martin Kakra said.

-------- china

China's Army Practices Taking Island

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN Associated Press Writer, JUNE 01, 13:48 EST
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=ASIA&STORYID=APIS7CBTAS00

BEIJING (AP) - Large-scale Chinese war games that include a practice invasion of an island near Taiwan are a warning not to underestimate Beijing's determination to use force to rein in Taiwan, state media said Friday.

Taiwan's government said the drills code named ``Liberation One,'' which start this month on Dongshan island off the southeastern Chinese coast, opposite Taiwan, were routine and no cause for alarm.

But they will be China's first large-scale war games since the election of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian last May and will be among the largest ever by its 2.5 million member People's Liberation Army, the state-run Beijing Morning Post said.

Nearly 10,000 troops have been massed for the exercises, including missile units, amphibious tanks, submarines, warships, marine units and Russian-made Su-27 aircraft - among the most modern weapons in China's growing arsenal, the newspaper said.

China dislikes Chen for his past support for Taiwanese independence and his refusal to endorse its view that China and Taiwan are one country. Taiwan and China divided in 1949, and Beijing threatens to use force to regain control over what it considers a breakaway province.

The maneuvers ``demonstrate the Chinese government's determination to protect sovereignty and territorial integrity,'' the newspaper said.

A report on a Web site operated by the government's Xinhua News Agency said they were ``a military warning'' to Chen's administration.

It was not immediately clear if the exercises mark a shift in Beijing's attitude toward Chen, but they are a traditional method by which China registers its anger with Taiwan's leaders.

Beijing has refused to speak to Chen, hoping he will be compelled into accepting its conditions for talks. But so far it has not sought to raise military tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

China's Foreign Ministry described the drills as routine. ``Every country has military exercises, this is normal,'' a spokeswoman said.

In Taiwan, a Ministry of Defense spokesman said such drills are regularly held by China in early summer due to favorable weather. Taiwan should not get alarmed because such exercises are standard among modern militaries and are large by nature, he said.

``We have not seen signs that the drills are a threat to Taiwan,'' said the spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The exercises include a mock attack on an aircraft carrier - a drill apparently designed with U.S. forces in mind. When Beijing held threatening war games and lobbed missiles into waters near Taiwan in 1996, Washington responded by sending a pair of aircraft carriers to the area.

U.S.-China ties have recently soured over U.S. offers to sell Taiwan large numbers of modern weapons and President Bush's assertions that U.S. forces could be used to defend the island from Chinese attack. An April 1 mid-air collision between a U.S. Navy spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet also strained relations.

Taiwan's notoriously nervous stock market players appeared to shrug off reports about the maneuvers. Taiwan shares closed 0.69 percent lower Friday but analysts said investors were rattled more by concerns about the economy and disappointing corporate earnings than Chinese saber rattling.

----

China Prepares Big Military Exercise Near Island Facing Taiwan

By ERIK ECKHOLM, New York Times June 2, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/02/world/02TAIW.html?searchpv=nytToday

BEIJING, June 1 - The Chinese military is mounting one of its largest war drills in years this month around an island facing Taiwan, according to news accounts in China and Hong Kong.

Defense officials in Taiwan and Washington called the war games routine and part of a series that occurs in the area every year in late spring.

"We have not seen signs that the drills are a threat to Taiwan," a spokesman for the Taiwan Defense Ministry told reporters.

A spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry also played down the drills this week, saying: "Every country has military exercises. This is normal."

But a Beijing newspaper said the large-scale exercises were intended to send a warning to President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan, who, the Chinese contend, harbors dreams of independence, and to the United States, which has pledged to aid Taiwan's defense.

Beijing, which considers Taiwan to be an errant province that must rejoin the motherland, has recently been alarmed by Washington's promise of major weapons sales to Taiwan and by the public reception in the United States of Taiwan's president when he was supposedly just passing through the country.

"The main military targets of these exercises will be attacking and occupying an outlying Taiwanese island and attacking an aircraft carrier," The Beijing Morning Post reported today. The United States, but not Taiwan, has aircraft carriers.

The games will involve the combined naval, air and army forces of the People's Liberation Army, including 10,000 troops, according to news accounts. Russian-made SU-27 fighter jets, amphibious tanks, submarines and guided missile batteries will participate in the exercises centered on Dongshan Island, off the coast of Fujian in the Taiwan Strait.

But there is no sign that China is considering lobbing test missiles off Taiwan's shores, as it did in 1996, when Beijing was angered by what it regarded as the pro-independence stance of a presidential candidate, Lee Teng-hui. That caused tensions to flare, and the United States sent carriers near Taiwan in a show of support.

Western military experts said that China lacked the ability to invade Taiwan or sustain an attack on the island and that its large but semimodern military was vastly outclassed by American forces. But Beijing is gradually improving its military abilities through purchases of Russian destroyers, jets and missiles and by improving coordination and control of its air, land and sea forces.

----

The Contradictions of Bush's China Policy

By JOHN W. LEWIS, New York Times June 2, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/02/opinion/02LEWI.html?searchpv=nytToday

STANFORD, Calif. - In reorienting American foreign and defense policy, the Bush administration is in danger of replacing a workable China policy with an unstable and unworkable one. Partly as an unintended consequence, but mostly by design, the administration's actions have appeared to cast Beijing as America's enemy. The expanded arms sales to Taiwan, rhetoric that enlarges the commitment to defend the island, the thinly disguised decision to make Chinese missiles a target of revised missile defense plans, the proposed shift in defense strategy from Europe to the Pacific and the call for new long-range weapons to counter China's military power have come in stunning procession. President Bush's support for trade with China cannot by itself neutralize the antagonism that Beijing leaders clearly sense.

Mr. Bush's strategic policy is based on a serious internal contradiction. One premise maintains that China is a rising power whose interests and objectives conflict with our own and whose ambitions require immediate and long-term containment. Yet the policy also presumes that China is unable to meet a forceful American challenge. The first premise exaggerates the political weight of the hard- liners; the second miscalculates the range of Beijing's options and the importance of national pride. Both premises ignore the positive and impressive changes in China over the past two decades.

Beijing, it should be said, has made it easy for the administration to be tougher in its China policy. The growing and dreary list of Americans and others currently detained by China, its deployment of greater numbers of missiles opposite Taiwan, and the vitriolic rhetoric of some of its officials and media against American "global designs" have conveniently made Mr. Bush's policy shift seem more tenable.

The administration's policy plays into the hands of Beijing's hard-liners just as China's political succession begins. The hard-liners denounce "any further appeasement" of Washington. They oppose military-to-military exchanges as a plot to expose China's secrets and to intimidate by comparison. Their resistance to reduced military budgets and influence is legendary, and their demands for a slowdown in economic restructuring have intensified. Most of all, they have assailed a basic plank in China's reform platform: improved and stable relations with America. The Bush administration, by abandoning a difficult but workable approach that has balanced discord and agreement, now risks stumbling into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The consequences of increased hostility between China and the United States are not hard to imagine. Beijing is likely to work to enhance its authority with governments that are concerned about American high-handedness. It will act more aggressively to thwart American influence in the United Nations and to blunt our efforts to prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons. Current arenas of Sino- American cooperation - counterterrorism and work to fight drug trafficking and crime - could wither. And hopes for promoting regional stability and peace on the Korean Peninsula would fade.

None of this need happen. The vast majority of Americans and Chinese do not regard each other as enemies, and most Americans embrace a future in which the two nations respect each other and, where it counts, cooperate. The Bush administration's caution in moving too quickly toward a "strategic partnership" is sensible. There will always be some degree of competition between our two countries, given the differences in our political systems and living standards. Moreover, we will continue to disagree over resolution of the Taiwan issue. Yet wise leaders can manage those disagreements. Power and wisdom are not adversaries.

China is already engaged in an accelerating process of change, and only a renewed cold war could threaten that progress. The revolution in communications and the globalization of ideas have reshaped many nations, and the impact on China has been profound. The hard-liners there know that the Chinese people, not they, will chart the nation's course, though they can distort it. The realists in China also know this. They would work with an American government that pursued a China policy based on an informed understanding of the historic transformations now under way - and on whose tide we ride together.

John W. Lewis is professor emeritus at the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation.

-------- drug war

A Plane is Shot Down and the US Proxy War on Drugs Unravels

by Julian Borger in Washington and Martin Hodgson in Bogota, Published on Saturday, June 2, 2001 in the Guardian of London
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0602-02.htm

When a small plane carrying US missionaries was shot down a few weeks ago in Peru, killing a young woman and her seven-month-old baby girl, it first seemed to be a tragic case of trigger-happy policing by the Peruvian air force.

But as more details emerge from the Andean jungle, it is clear this apparently isolated incident has a far greater significance. The deaths have helped yank the covers from the secret side of America's billion-dollar drug war in Latin America.

The missionaries' plane was shot down by a Peruvian military pilot, but it was first spotted and targeted by a US Cessna Citation surveillance plane patrolling the air routes between Peru and Colombia on the look out for cocaine traffickers.

The surveillance plane was piloted not by US military pilots but by private contractors who, according to US congressional officials, were hired by an Alabama-based company called Aviation Development Corporation (ADC). In the words of one outraged official: "There were just businessmen in that plane. They were accountable to no one but their bottom line."

A state department inquiry is still taking place into the deaths of Veronica and Charity Bowers, the victims of the April 20 shootdown. Administration sources quoted in the US press suggested that the American Cessna crew cautioned their Peruvian air force counterparts against shooting the plane down, but no one is denying it was the Cessna that wrongly identified the missionaries' plane as suspect.

Moreover, the involvement of a US firm operating for profit over the Peruvian and Colombian jungles has drawn attention to an important but little-noticed trend - the privatisation of the drug war.

Congress is now trying to investigate the role of the commercial contractors and two bills have been proposed to try to curb their influence. Their chances of success in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives are unclear, but their sponsors are determined to force the administration to at least explain its actions.

"We are hiring a private army," Janice Schakowsky, a Democratic congresswoman who authored one of the bills, told the Guardian. "We are engaging in a secret war, and the American people need to be told why."

A private corporation based in Virginia called DynCorp carries out much of the aerial spraying of coca plantations in Colombia. When a police helicopter was shot down in February by the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, DynCorp sent in its own armed security men, in a search-and-rescue helicopter, who exchanged fire with the rebels and brought the policemen to safety. DynCorp pilots also ferry Colombian troops in and out of battle, and train Colombian helicopter and fixed-wing pilots.

Another US company, AirScan, based in Florida, works alongside ADC carrying out aerial surveillance in Colombia, using state-of-the-art imaging to pinpoint coca fields and guerrillas trying to bomb the Cano Limon oil pipeline.

Meanwhile, Military Professional Resources Inc, another Virginia-based consultancy group set up by former generals, has carried out officer training for the Colombian police and army.

The rise of the private contractor is arguably an inevitable outcome of US anti-drug policy under Bill Clinton and now President Bush. Last year, Congress approved $1.3bn expenditure on Plan Colombia, an ambitious programme of military aid to Bogota to try to stem the flow of drugs at the supply end.

But, concerned that Colombia could become a Vietnam-like quagmire, Congress imposed a cap on official US military involvement of 500 trainers and advisers. Into the gaping and lucrative gap stepped US commercial enterprise.

Richard White, a former ambassador to El Salvador, sees the trend towards privatisation as a symptom of Washington's failure to come to terms with its own military-based anti-drug strategy.

Mr White, now head of the Centre for International Policy, said: "I believe it's dishonourable for the US to resort to mercenaries to carry out its policy. If we are committed to intervening in Colombia in pursuit of US interests, then we should mobilise whatever military resources we need to accomplish this."

This is not the first time the US has resorted to mercenaries. The exploits of the pilots who flew in south-east Asia for the CIA front company, Air America, are legendary. As today in Colombia and Peru, Air America provided Washington with distance and deniability. But it was a CIA-run operation. Today's mercenaries in the drug war are provided by private companies selling a service and are used as a matter of course by both the state and defence.

In the Vietnam days, secrecy was justified by national security. In the current drug war, it is a matter of corporate confidentiality. Janet Wineriter, a spokeswoman at DynCorp's headquarters in Reston, near Washington's Dulles airport, said she could not discuss DynCorp's operations in Colombia because of its contractual obligations to its client, the state department.

Scott Harris, the spokesman for the state department's bureau for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs, said he could not comment because of the contractor's right to privacy.

Similarly, ADC diverts inquiries to its Alabama lawyer, Mike Waters, who refused comment on grounds of "normal client confidentiality".

Lynis Cox, a civilian public affairs officer at Maxwell air force base, from where ADC has operated since 1998, said: "I know they have a hangar out there on the base, but no one here seems to know much about them."

In Bogota, government officials are also tight-lipped about the increasingly unpopular privatisation of the conflict. A helicopter pilot in the Colombian anti-narcotics police said: "From Bush down, they want to cover up what they're doing. Not even the president wants to talk about private companies flying fumigation missions here in Colombia."

Members of US Congress are having similar problems getting information. Ms Schakowsky said the house sub-committee on government reform was being stonewalled by the state department and other federal agencies over the role of private contractors. "The CIA did not even show up," she said. "Why is this classified if taxpayers' money is being spent?"

A copy of DynCorp's five-year, $200m contract obtained by the Guardian is vague, with little about its rules of engagement. Under the heading "Search and Rescue", for example, it stipulates only: "This operation deals with downed aircraft or hostile action by narcotics producers or traffickers."

Major Andy Messing, who served as a US adviser in El Salvador and worked as a military consultant in Colombia, warned: "If there had been a US air force pilot in that plane in Peru, you can bet the Peruvians would have listened to him. The private guys have no authority. They are all potential hostages."

Three years ago a paper written at the Army War College by a Colonel Bruce Grant warned: "Foreign policy is [being] made by default [by] private military consultants motivated by bottom-line profits." Now, Major Messing argues, the warning is coming true: "DynCorp's guys are old geezers who've retired, and they're down there making $109,000 tax-free.

"Every time you have contractors this is what happens. They just prolong the whole mess."

The firms fighting America's drug war

DynCorp

Based Reston, Virginia

Description A huge corporation that supplies electronics and a range of contract services to the US government, which provides most of DynCorp's $1.4bn in business. It is also under scrutiny for its role in training US members of the UN police force in Bosnia

Role in drug war It has a five-year, $200m contract to provide crop-dusting pilots for eradication of coca plantations and helicopter pilots to ferry Colombian troops and DynCorp's own "security" personnel

Aviation Development Corporation

Based Maxwell air force base, Alabama

Description A secretive company set up in 1998 to test aerial electronic sensors

Role in drug war It flies Cessna spotter planes for the CIA in Peru and possibly Colombia to help target aircraft used by drug smugglers

AirScan

Based Rockledge, Florida

Description Provides state-of-the-art air surveillance, also used in Angola

Role in the drug war Patrols the Colombian jungle in Cessna Skymaster electronic surveillance planes, seeking out coca plantations and guerrilla threats to the Cano Limon oil pipeline

Military Professional Resources Inc

Based Alexandria, Virginia

Description A consultancy set up by former US generals. Its biggest previous mission was the training of the Croatian army before its successful 1995 offensive against the Serbs

Role in drug war It has just completed a $6m year-long contract providing a 14-man training team for Colombian army and police officers. The effectiveness of the training was questioned by Bogota

-------- france

French Villagers to Be Evacuated

JUNE 02, 15:18 EST
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/main.html?FRONTID=EUROPE&STORYID=APIS7CCMSK00

SEDAN, France (AP) - Nearly 600 people will be evacuated from a village in northeastern France while the army clears 164 tons of unexploded German artillery shells left over from World War I.

The people from Chatelet-sur-Retourne will be evacuated before Monday evening, officials said. They stressed that the shells did not contain toxic chemicals.

In April, thousands of people were evacuated from their homes near the northern town of Vimy amid fears that a stockpile of toxic World War I munitions might explode.

A high-security convoy transferred about 55 tons of the most dangerous munitions, including shells of mustard gas, to a military base in Chalons-en-Champagne where there are facilities to handle the waste.

The shells at Chatelet-sur-Retourne, discovered by construction workers building a housing project on the edge of the village, will be moved to the same base.

The villagers will have to stay with friends or at hotels and guesthouses around Chatelet-sur-Retourne for nine days.

-------- iraq

Iraq to Stop Crude Oil Exports Mon.

JUNE 02, 08:53 EST
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=MIDEAST&STORYID=APIS7CCE3DO0

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraq announced Saturday that it will halt oil exports under a U.N.-sponsored program starting Monday to retaliate for U.N. decision to extend oil-for-food restrictions.

It was not immediately clear whether the decision would affect separate exports to Turkey and Jordan. On Saturday, Iraq stopped pumping oil through a pipeline running to Turkey's Mediterranean coast, but Turkey's Anatolia news agency said officials cited ``insufficient production and a drop in stocks'' as reason for the halt.

The announcement of the end of oil-for-food exports was made by the official Iraqi News Agency, quoting an Oil Ministry spokesman. The decision will take effect 8 a.m. local time, the agency added.

Iraq's move follows the U.N. Security Council's decision Friday to extend by one month the oil-for-food program under which Iraq exports oil and uses revenues to buy specific humanitarian goods under the international body's supervision.

``Iraq will stop oil exports under the oil-for-food program in light of the noncompliance of the Security Council with the spirit and minutes of the memorandum (oil-for-food program),'' the spokesman said.

It was unclear how the loss of Iraqi oil on the market would affect world oil prices. Iraq produces about 3.2 million barrels of oil per day, of which about 2 million barrels per day was exported under the U.N. oil-for-food program. The rest was consumed by Iraq, Turkey and Jordan.

Oil analysts had speculated that other OPEC nations would either adjust official output levels or simply leak more oil onto the market to counteract any rise in prices. Iraq has the world's second-largest oil reserves.

The Security Council's 30-day extension was made to give Washington and London more time to sell their so-called ``smart sanctions'' proposal to other U.N. Security Council members.

China and France said they need more time to study draft lists of military-related items that could be banned from Iraq under the British-proposed plan.

Iraq rejected the oil-for-food program extension and said it would not sign any new oil contracts over the next 30 days.

``The smart sanctions will not be a success. America's failure will be greater during the Security Council voting next month on the smart sanctions draft resolution,'' the daily Al-Iraq said Saturday.

The extension ``will be a disaster on those who planned for it,'' the paper added in a front-page editorial.

The existing oil-for-food program allows Iraq to sell unlimited amounts of oil but strictly regulates how oil revenues can be spent. The program's current six-month phase expires Monday.

The smart sanctions proposal - backed by Washington and rejected by Baghdad - aims to allow the free flow of civilian goods into Iraq except for items that appear on a U.N. list of military-related items.

It also permits commercial and cargo flights in and out of Iraq, but requires they be inspected at their departure points. It is designed to tighten border controls around Iraq and to curb oil smuggling and illegal Iraqi surcharges.

Iraq has warned neighbors Jordan, Syria and Turkey that it would halt oil supplies to them if they accepted the smart sanctions proposal.

In addition to its own Persian Gulf export terminals, Iraq exports through a pipeline running from its northern Kirkuk oil fields to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.

-------- korea

N. Korea Denounces S. Korea Military

JUNE 02, 09:45 EST
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=ASIA&STORYID=APIS7CCERUG0

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea accused South Korea on Saturday of trying to destroy rapprochement on the divided Korean Peninsula by beefing up its military and staging an aerial exercise.

It ``is a very dangerous development to be seen only on the eve of a war,'' said the North's official foreign news outlet, KCNA, which was monitored in Seoul. ``This is a provocation to the North.''

The communist North was complaining about the South Korean air force's six-day pilot-training exercise, which ended on Saturday.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said the drill was a routine annual defensive exercise.

Relations between North and South Korea improved significantly after their leaders met for the first time in June 2000 and agreed to promote reconciliation and unification. But the process came to a virtual standstill after President Bush took office and started reviewing Washington's policy on North Korea.

-------- puerto rico

'Vieques Four' Remain Steadfast

New York Times June 2, 2001, By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/politics/index.html

NEW YORK (AP) -- Roberto Ramirez is at once resolute and stunned, proud of his stance yet amazed at where he sits. The New York City politician is in prison, sentenced along with nearly a dozen others last month for trespassing during protests of U.S. Navy bombing exercises on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques.

``This wasn't supposed to happen,'' Ramirez, a lawyer, told The Associated Press in an interview Friday at the prison where he and two other elected officials are serving 40-day sentences on the charges.

``When you think about the community that I come from, not going to jail was an incredible achievement,'' he said.

``I spent all my life staying away from jail. In my family, I was the first one to graduate from high school, the first one to get a college degree, the first one to go to law school. I'm the successful one. I went to the state legislature, I became head of the Democratic Party.''

Now, he is among the four demonstrators in federal prison in Brooklyn who are staging a hunger strike that was in its fifth day on Saturday.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, City Councilman Adolfo Carrion, state Assemblyman Jose Rivera and Ramirez, the Bronx County Democratic Party chairman, were arrested in Puerto Rico for taking part in protests May 1. Sharpton, who has other civil disobedience arrests, was sentenced to 90 days in jail for trespassing.

Virtually all the publicity about the so-called Vieques Four has focused on Sharpton, a civil rights activist, but Ramirez, Rivera, and Carrion have also been on a hunger strike to call attention to the Vieques exercises. They were among hundreds arrested on trespassing charges in the protests last month.

The three, who have rated little mention in most news accounts, have Puerto Rican roots and have held elective office. Ramirez said they are grateful for the publicity Sharpton has drawn to the issue; yet they draw on a stronger cultural connection.

``I think we have a different perspective. I've been hearing about Vieques all my life. It's been going on for 60 years and I'm 51. Jose Rivera has been fighting against what's happening in Vieques for at least 20 years,'' said Ramirez.

Their roots help give them the ``willingness to put our political careers on the line for the greater good,'' he said.

Linda Baldwin, Carrion's wife and his lawyer, said that ``There's a political history between the U.S. and Puerto Rico, and being Puerto Rican makes you very aware of that.''

But it has not been easy for the three to explain to their children why they are in prison and to stay immersed in their political careers from behind bars.

``It has been hard to explain why their father is in jail. The concept is not an easy one,'' Ramirez said.

Baldwin said, ``It's been very difficult on the kids. It's hard to explain to them, but they understand that it's for a good cause. It is very upsetting.''

``All we did is to stand in a dirt road eight miles away from where they were bombing for about 20 minutes,'' Ramirez said, adding of his jail sentence: ``This just seems disproportionate.''

Each of the three has sought to continue working to some extent through visits and telephone calls.

``I have Fernando Ferrer's mayoralty campaign, I have Adolfo Carrion's borough president race, I do law work. ... The most difficult is the need to make this (Vieques protest) happen and also keep up my own responsibilities,'' Ramirez said.

Rivera is officially ``excused'' from the Assembly instead of being recorded as ``absent'' for as long as he is jailed. The Assembly and state Senate have approved resolutions calling on the Bush administration to stop the practice bombing, saying it is damaging the environment and the health of Vieques' inhabitants.

The four have not made a final decision on how long they will continue their hunger strike, but Ramirez said he intended to persist as long as the action seemed meaningful -- at least until the end of his sentence.

``I always wanted to be a member of a group, a quartet,'' said Ramirez, referring to his membership in the Vieques Four, a term coined by the New York media.

``I just never imagined in my wildest dreams that it would be like this.''

-------- space

Experimental NASA Plane Destroyed in Flight

New York Times, June 2, 2001 By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/science/science-space-plane-d.html

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (Reuters) - The first prototype of a revolutionary aircraft intended to shatter speed records was destroyed during its maiden flight on Saturday after a booster rocket carrying it aloft veered out of control and tumbled from the sky.

U.S. space scientists were forced to destroy the unmanned X43-A prototype in mid-air just minutes before the plane was expected to fire the oxygen-fueled ``scramjet'' engine designed to drive it at seven times the speed of sound.

NASA cameras aboard two F-18 chase planes showed the Pegasus rocket careening off course and falling out of control from the sky before controllers triggered on-board explosives to destroy it over the Pacific Ocean at about 4:45 p.m. EDT.

Pieces of the booster rocket and the X43-A prototype fell into the sea.

The X43-A was making the first of three scheduled test flights in a $185-million-program that NASA has billed as representing the future of aviation, ultimately making space travel routine and paving the way for cross-country commercial flights in 30 minutes.

Dejected project scientists said they had no immediate information on what caused the malfunction, though they said it appeared to be the booster rocket, and not the X43-A itself or its hypersonic engine, that was at fault.

``There's a reason we have three of these (prototypes),'' NASA spokesman Fred Johnson said. ``It's an experimental flight test. If we knew the outcome we wouldn't be learning anything.''

The X43-A and its Pegasus booster were carried to 24,000 feet by a B-52 bomber that left Edwards Air Force Base in the California desert at about 3:30 p.m. EDT and the mission appeared to be going smoothly as the small black plane and its booster detached.

The booster rocket was intended to carry the X43-A to Mach 7 speeds at about 100,000 feet before the prototype detached from the booster and operated for a few seconds at that speed, setting a speed record. The booster veered out of control before that could happen.

Scientists said the hypersonic engine -- which took engineers some 40 years to achieve -- would revolutionize space travel by obtaining its oxygen fuel from the air.

This would avoid the need for it to carry its own oxygen supply, a weight savings that would allow it to fly greater distances or carry heavier payloads.

---

NASA Blows Up Out - of - Control Rocket

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 8:19 p.m. ET, June 2, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Fastest-Plane.html

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- NASA aborted an attempt to set a new speed record for an aircraft Saturday when a rocket that was to help launch the unmanned X-43A jet went off course and had to be destroyed.

The plan was for the Pegasus rocket to drop from a B-52 bomber, ignite, and ferry the jet to 95,000 feet. There the jet would start its engine and travel under its own power for less than 10 seconds.

But just after the Pegasus' engine fired and it began its ascent, the rocket began to fly out of control. It was ordered destroyed 51 seconds after being released from the belly of the B-52 and detonated several hundred miles off the California coast, NASA said.

``They had to terminate it. It has a predetermined trajectory and it was going off that,'' National Aeronautics and Space Administration spokeswoman Leslie Williams said.

The booster and jet were presumed destroyed in the explosion, which occurred at about 24,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

``It blew apart. There are some residual flames. It's going straight down,'' said NASA pilot Gordon Fullerton as he watched the explosion from a F-18 chase aircraft.

Within hours, NASA began assembling a team to investigate.

``The vehicle was very highly instrumented so we are hopeful and confident that we will have a lot of data to analyze and to reconstruct what happened,'' said Kevin Petersen, director of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center.

Once launched, the X-43A was designed to fire its specialized engine -- called a scramjet -- and fly under its own power for 10 seconds, covering about 17 miles. It was designed to coast to the water.

The X-43A is designed to rely on an air-breathing engine while flying independently. The plane would carry a small amount of hydrogen for fuel, but scoop oxygen out of the atmosphere to combust it. Conventional rockets must carry both fuel and an oxidant to burn it.

NASA had hoped the plane would reach speeds approaching Mach 7 during its fleeting flight, besting the Mach 6.7 record set by the rocket-powered X-15 in 1967. It would have been the first time an air-breathing plane flew at hypersonic speeds, or faster than Mach 5.

The loss was a blow to NASA's $185 million program to develop scramjet technology that could herald a future generation of cheap, reusable spacecraft.

The jet was to have been the first of three X-43A flights over the next 18 months. NASA has a second experimental craft, but it was not immediately clear when it could fly.

``We are obviously disappointed in this, but we're going to find out what happened, fix it and fly again successfully,'' said Vince Rausch, the X-43A program manager.

Although none of the planes will be recovered, data collected during the flights will be used to build future planes perhaps 200 feet in length. The first piloted prototypes may fly by 2025.

Backers of the technology say air-breathing hypersonic propulsion could help space travel by reducing the need to carry an oxidant aboard, freeing up room for extra cargo.

The plane used in Saturday's flight was built by MicroCraft Inc. of Tullahoma, Tenn. The second plane is at Edwards Air Force Base, 60 miles north of Los Angeles, and a third is being built.

--

On the Net: http://oea.larc.nasa.gov/PAIS/Hyper-X.html

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

Military's Ouster of Gays Rose 17 Percent Last Year

By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS, New York Times June 2, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/02/national/02GAYS.html

WASHINGTON, June 1 - The number of gays discharged from the military rose by 17 percent in 2000 and was the highest total since the Clinton administration's "don't ask, don't tell" policy began in 1994.

The increase over 1999 came despite the approval last year of a Pentagon strategy to eliminate harassment against gay service members and foster a climate of "mutual respect" - provided that the service members did not declare their sexual orientation or engage in homosexual activity.

The number of discharges from the Army more than doubled, to 573 last year, while those at the Air Force were halved, to 177, according to Pentagon figures released today. In all, the Defense Department discharged 1,212 men and women for homosexuality, up from 1,034 the previous year.

Advocates for those discharged said the increase reflected the Pentagon's failure - after years of public debate and scrutiny - to acknowledge or crack down on widespread mistreatment of gays in the military.

"The Pentagon has yet to adequately curb harassment in the ranks," said Dixon Osburn, the executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which provides legal aid to discharged gays.

Pentagon officials disputed that, saying a 13-point plan to curb harassment of gays improved grievance procedures and the overall climate.

Maj. Tim Blair, a Pentagon spokesman, noted that the number of gays discharged was less than 1 percent of all discharges. The increase does not reflect a growing problem across the board, Major Blair said.

Scott McClellan, a White House spokesman, said President Bush had no plans to change the current policy.

"The president supports the `don't ask, don't tell' policy and believes it is up to the Pentagon and our military leaders to determine the best way to implement that policy," Mr. McClellan said.

Mr. Osburn expressed concern over specific installations that had a disproportionate number of discharges. For instance, Fort Campbell, Ky., accounted for more than a third of the Army's discharges. And nearly a fourth of the Navy's discharges came from a training unit in South Carolina, he said.

A gay soldier, Pfc. Barry Winchell, 21, was bludgeoned to death in his barracks at Fort Campbell in 1999. Two soldiers were convicted of the murder, but an Army investigation exonerated all officers and concluded there was no general climate of homophobia at the base, which is the home of the 101st Airborne Division.

The murder, and complaints of increased harassment, prompted a sweeping Pentagon review, which resulted in recommendations that were approved last summer by William S. Cohen, then the secretary of defense. Critics say the plan, which is two pages long, is vague and short on recommendations for action.

The Pentagon figures show that the vast majority of discharges occurred because service members merely stated their homosexuality. Only 106 cases last year involved homosexual acts.

-------- OTHER


-------- health

EPA Urged to Release Dioxin-Cancer Study

By Eric Pianin Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, June 2, 2001; Page A07
http://washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A10336-2001Jun1?language=printer

An expert scientific panel formally urged the Environmental Protection Agency yesterday to release a study that has been in the works for more than a decade and concludes that consumption of animal fat and dairy products containing traces of dioxin can cause cancer in humans.

The study's conclusion that chlorinated dioxin is an air pollutant that should be more tightly regulated could have serious long-term economic consequences for a wide variety of industries, including producers of milk, beef, poultry, and chemical and paper products. The EPA's issuance of a final report could result in federal and state regulations costly to those industries.

EPA scientists and officials have said they are confident of the findings, which they began circulating last June, and are urging EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman to issue it in final form this summer. But the study is politically charged and has drawn opposition from industry groups and Capitol Hill Republicans.

A spokesman for Whitman said yesterday that a final decision will be put off until other agencies, including the Agriculture Department, the Food and Drug Administration and the Justice Department, have an opportunity to review the study.

"The receipt of the . . . report marks an important milestone in the development of the agency's comprehensive science reassessment of the health risks from dioxin," the spokesman said. "EPA looks forward to reviewing the . . . report and will fully consider its . . . recommendations."

Dioxin is the airborne byproduct of burning plastics and medical waste containing chlorine. These compounds infiltrate the food chain through grass and feed and then settle into the fat of livestock and poultry. The most toxic form of the chemical is known by the acronym TCDD and was more commonly recognized as the contaminant found in Agent Orange, a defoliant used during the Vietnam War.

The prevalence of this toxic chemical in the environment has declined by nearly 80 percent since the 1970s because of changing practices in the chemical industry and in waste disposal operations, but the latest EPA study concludes that people who consume even small amounts of dioxin in fatty foods and dairy products face a cancer risk as high as 1 in 1,000. They may also develop other problems, such as attention disorder, learning disabilities, susceptibility to infections and liver disorders.

In their letter transmitting the study, science advisory board leaders William Glaze and Morton Lippmann praised the EPA staff for its thorough review of the voluminous literature and their generally open presentation in their documents. The panel was assembled by the EPA.

But they noted that there "are significant limitations imposed by current knowledge gaps concerning the biological mechanisms that can account for adverse health effects, the metabolic fates of the various compounds whose toxic equivalency affects the risk assessment, and the known extent of both the cancer and noncancer risks."

The letter added that because "neither knowledge breakthroughs nor fully developed techniques for producing more unbiased risk assessment procedures can be expected to be available in the near future," they recommend that the EPA "proceed expeditiously" to complete and release the report.

Industry groups including the Chlorine Chemical Council, the Chemical Manufacturers Association, the American Meat Institute and the National Cattlemen's and Beef Association contend the EPA's study is seriously flawed and exaggerates the health risk dioxin poses.

Kip Howlett, head of the Chlorine Chemistry Council, said that the board's letter of transmittal "highlights the lack of a scientific consensus with regard to how to characterize dioxin risk and also highlights that this is largely a health policy document, as opposed to a science document."

But Lois Gibbs, executive director of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, an advocacy group, hailed yesterday's action as a breakthrough in the efforts to highlight the dangers of dioxin.

"It's very significant at two levels," she said, "because it moves the [report] out of the science debate and into the administrator's hands . . . and the report will give states . . . that have been way out in front of the EPA on dioxin the ammunition they need to issue regulations."

Said Rick Hind of Greenpeace: "I think it's a real big step for public health."

----

U.N. Chief Calls on U.S. Companies to Donate to AIDS Fund

By JANE PERLEZ, New York Times June 2, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/02/world/02NATI.html

WASHINGTON, June 1 - The United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, appealed to American corporations today to dig into their pockets and give to a planned multibillion-dollar global fund to fight AIDS in Africa and other developing regions.

Mr. Annan, who until now has focused on governments as major donors to the fund, has received pledges so far from only three nations, including the United States. Today, he tried to convince corporations that it was in their economic self-interest to contribute to the fund and to set up their own programs in the workplace to protect employees.

But with comparatively little American trade and investment in Africa, and relatively few big companies active on the continent, Mr. Annan faced an uphill battle. So he offered other arguments, including combating the growing sentiment against globalization.

"As AIDS creates more poverty and deepens inequalities, it fuels the growing public backlash against globalization," he told executives of major corporations at the United States Chamber of Commerce today. "This sentiment will only get stronger and more widespread if we do not show ourselves determined to mount a really serious response."

Businesses, which he described as profiting most from globalization, "will come under more and more public pressure to provide leadership."

Mr. Annan, who is from Ghana, and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell whose ancestry is African and Caribbean, have joined forces in an unusually high-profile and strikingly personal campaign to beam a spotlight on the tragedy of AIDS in Africa.

In seizing the issue, they have encouraged the seven leading industrial countries and Russia, which will hold their G-8 summit meeting in Genoa, Italy, next month, to put AIDS in Africa high on their agenda.

The two men met in Secretary Powell's office at the State Department immediately after Mr. Annan's speech. Secretary Powell returned this week from a tour of Africa, where he looked at AIDS programs, held hands with children afflicted with the disease and encouraged people to "send in their nickels and dimes and dollars" for the trust fund.

Mr. Annan did not ask for precise amounts from the corporate executives present today, and no pledges were forthcoming. In answer to a question afterward, he said he expected "big bucks" from corporations.

But the White House has had little success in a less public approach to corporate leaders to give to the fund, officials familiar with the effort said today. When President Bush announced that the United States would give $200 million as an initial contribution to the global AIDS fund, the White House also wanted to be able to say that corporations were giving as well.

Because the structure of the fund had not yet been determined, corporations said they were reluctant to come forward with donations, the officials said. The companies were particularly unwilling to give to a fund run by the United Nations, the officials said.

But now that it has been decided that the fund will not be managed by the United Nations bureaucracy in New York, officials expect that both corporations and individual nations will be more forthcoming. Mr. Annan explained today that decisions on how the money would be spent would be left to experts in recipient countries. The World Bank, which is part of the United Nations system, will hold the money but not attach conditions to it.

Mr. Annan has said that his goal for the fund is $7 billion to $10 billion, well above the money currently available to fight AIDS, which is now about $1 billion.

Britain announced on Thursday that it would give $106.5 million, and France announced a donation of $125 million.

Mr. Annan also pointed to two corporate programs to help employees as models for what can be accomplished.

Anglo American, the world's largest mining company, has begun distributing anti-retroviral drugs and giving palliative care to its 50,000 workers in Botswana, he said. That is a big step forward for Africa, where only about 10,000 people of the 26 million who are H.I.V. positive receive the drugs, AIDS experts said.

Mr. Annan also praised Volkswagen for its H.I.V. prevention program in Brazil. The company also provides treatment, including anti- retroviral drugs, he said. By 1999, the company had seen a 90 percent reduction in hospitalization among H.I.V.-positive workers, he said.

Also, after several years of internal debate on whether to have the brand associated with AIDS, the Coca-Cola Company is planning this month to announce a project of AIDS prevention and education for its workers in Africa. Coca-Cola, which was in the forefront of carrying polio vaccine in its refrigerated trucks in India, is the largest private employer in Africa, with more than 100,000 workers.

-------- human rights

Vietnam Detains Dissident Monks, Group Says

By REUTERS Filed at 9:38 a.m. ET, June 2, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-religio.html

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam's communist authorities have placed a prominent Buddhist dissident under house arrest for two years and arrested three other monks after they vowed a showdown on rights, a Buddhist support group said on Saturday.

Penelope Faulkner, spokeswoman for the Paris-based International Buddhist Information Bureau, told Reuters Thich Quang Do had telephoned her to say the detention order confining him to his pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City was effective from May 31.

Faulkner said three other monks from Ho Chi Minh City who had intended to accompany Do on a mission on June 7 to bring their detained 83-year-old patriarch Thich Huyen Quang to Ho Chi Minh City for medical treatment had been arrested.

Do, 73, is the deputy head of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, which Quang heads.

Faulkner said the three other monks, Thich Khong Tanh, Thich Quang Hue and Thich Tan An, from different pagodas in Ho Chi Minh City, were being held in jail in the southern city.

Police had been sent to many other pagodas in central and southern Vietnam to prevent monks joining Do on his mission, she said.

The report of the crackdown came two days before an historic trade agreement between the United States and Vietnam was expected to go to the U.S. Congress for ratification.

Vietnam's religious rights record has been cited as a factor that could complicate the ratification process.

The UBCV says Quang has been under house arrest for 19 years in central Quang Ngai province, despite being officially released in November 1997. It says he is in poor health and needs urgent medical care.

PAGODA SURROUNDED

Faulkner quoted Do as saying that 30 police officers and communist officials came to his pagoda to inform him of the detention on Friday.

``He says there are now 100 security police outside the pagoda and 10 more inside,'' she said. ``It's a formal order. He has been official sentenced to two years' house arrest.''

Government officials could not be reached for comment.

Faulkner said she understood Do had been placed under ''administrative detention,'' barring him from moving outside a set area without permission.

His detention followed the May 17 arrest of Nguyen Van Ly, a dissident Roman Catholic priest accused of spreading propaganda against the government.

Ly had called on the U.S. Congress not to ratify the trade pact until human rights conditions in Vietnam improved.

Faulkner said Do's vow to bring Quang back to Ho Chi Minh City for medical treatment had not been politically motivated.

``It has nothing to do with the trade agreement,'' she said. ''He is concerned about the health of the Patriarch and is very worried he would not survive, that's why he has called for his release. This has nothing to do with international politics.''

Hanoi insists its citizens have full religious freedom but has frequently been criticized by human rights groups for harassing clergy.

James Kelly, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Asian and Pacific affairs, was in Vietnam last month and raised the religious freedom issue with Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien. He specifically referred to Ly.

He said afterwards that Ly's arrest would not help ratification of the trade pact between the former Vietnam War enemies.

A Democratic Senate aide in Washington told Reuters this week U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick had indicated that the agreement, which was signed last July, would go to Congress for ratification next Monday.

-------- police

Waco Inquiry Failed to Test Correct F.B.I. Gun, Official Says

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, New York Times June 2, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/02/national/02WACO.html

WASHINGTON, June 1 - A simulation that helped lead an independent inquiry to conclude that F.B.I. agents did not fire their guns in their siege of the Branch Davidian compound eight years ago never tested the type of assault rifle that the agents had there, an official who helped run the test says.

The test, conducted last year, used a standard M-16 military rifle with a 20-inch barrel, that official, Robert Stewart, a Postal Service inspector, said in interviews Thursday and today. But the Federal Bureau of Investigation does not use standard M- 16's, an official of the bureau confirmed, and its agents outside the compound, near Waco, Tex., carried a version with just a 14-inch barrel.

The difference could have been important to any such test, firearms experts say, because the longer gun, the one Mr. Stewart says was tested, has less muzzle flash and as a result would be less likely to cause the kind of glittering of light that was caught on an F.B.I. infrared videotape shot from an aircraft at the very end of the 51-day siege.

[An F.B.I. spokesman, John Collingwood, said on Friday night that a check of the bureau's records concerning the simulation showed that the shorter-barreled rifle was among the weapons tested and that there was therefore nothing in the selection of firearms that would have invalidated the test.]

But lawyers for the Branch Davidians who survived, and for the families of those who did not, are now questioning whether the test really proved that the agents never shot at Davidians fleeing the fire that was consuming their compound, where 80 people died.

"I think it completely undermines the test results," one of the lawyers, Michael Caddell, said of the alleged discrepancy.

Mr. Caddell said he would use that discrepancy as evidence if his clients' lawsuit against the government, which has maintained all along that the Davidians who perished died at the hands of their own sect, was revived on appeal. A federal judge in Waco issued a verdict against the plaintiffs last year.

To resolve public doubts about the F.B.I.'s actions at Waco, Attorney General Janet Reno appointed former Senator John C. Danforth as special counsel in 1999 to lead an independent review. It was this review that included the gunfire test.

Mr. Danforth said today that although he had received "something less than total cooperation" from the F.B.I. in his quest for documents, Mr. Stewart's account of a firearms discrepancy would not change his conclusion that agents had not fired on the Davidians.

"I don't know what weapons were tested myself," Mr. Danforth said. "But all of this was part of the agreement" on how the test should be conducted, an accord between the government and lawyers for the Davidians. "And all of it was pronounced fair at the end of the test."

Mr. Caddell, however, said that he had repeatedly insisted that the test include the smaller rifle, but that Mr. Danforth's office had prevented him, both before the simulation and afterward, from inspecting the weapons used in it.

An F.B.I. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the bureau had provided one of the shorter rifles to Mr. Danforth's office and that the ground rules for the test had called for the use of it.

The simulation had been sought by lawyers for the Davidians because, they said, the flashes of light that appeared on the overhead infrared video that was recorded by the bureau in the final moments of the siege might have been muzzle flashes from F.B.I. guns.

But experts from a British contractor, Vector Data Systems, which conducted the simulation, concluded that the flashes were simply glints from the sun, not gunfire.

Both Mr. Danforth and Walter S. Smith Jr., the judge who found against Mr. Caddell's clients last year, relied in part on that information to conclude that the agents had not fired at the Davidian compound.

Vector Data Systems declined to comment on the latest development.

Of the difference in barrels, firearms experts say guns with longer ones produce smaller muzzle flashes than those with shorter ones because the hot gases released by firing have longer to dissipate and cool.

Ex-Prosecutor May Be Jailed

DALLAS, June 1 - A former federal prosecutor who pleaded guilty to withholding information about the siege could get six months in prison when he is sentenced next Thursday, despite an earlier pledge by the government to recommend probation.

The government has withdrawn the pledge on the ground that the former prosecutor, Bill Johnston, violated his plea agreement by making statements to a legal journal after pleading guilty in February. In the Feb. 19 issue of Texas Lawyer, Mr. Johnston was quoted as saying of the initial counts against him: "They charged me with obstruction of justice and five counts of false statements. I did not plead guilty to that and was not guilty of that."

-------- spying

CIA Adventures in Venture Capital
Hill Reviewing Agency's Multimillion-Dollar In-Q-Tel Offshoot for Value

By Vernon Loeb Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, June 3, 2001; Page A05
http://washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A12582-2001Jun2?language=printer

Three years after the CIA began pouring millions of dollars into an unclassified venture capital fund called In-Q-Tel, Congress has convened a panel of technical experts to determine whether the initiative is worth the money in the face of emerging Internet technologies.

Their conclusions, due at the end of this month, could have broad implications for the U.S. intelligence community, a collection of agencies that spend about $30 billion a year but still find themselves struggling to keep pace with rapid advances in computers and telecommunications.

"All the early signs are very positive about In-Q-Tel," CIA spokesman Bill Harlow said yesterday. "There's a lot of interest within the agency about the technologies in which they're investing."

In-Q-Tel's 1998 creation marked a radical departure for the top secret CIA precisely because it was not secret. The fund, fueled by $28 million a year in federal subsidies, rented office space in Rosslyn and Palo Alto, Calif., the heart of Silicon Valley, and went looking for commercial technologies.

"If anything, my biggest problem is keeping people away," Gilman Louie, In-Q-Tel's president and chief executive officer, said in a recent interview at the fund's modular, high-tech headquarters 29 floors above the Potomac.

To date, the nonprofit In-Q-Tel has invested in 16 companies, from Mohomine Inc., which makes software for converting "unstructured" data on computer hard drives into digital databases, to SafeWeb, whose Triangle Boy software will expand upon anonymous Web surfing technology offered by the firm.

In typical unbureaucratic fashion, In-Q-Tel decided to invest $1 million in Triangle Boy's development after one of its representatives struck up a conversation with a SafeWeb executive at a Silicon Valley bar.

In-Q-Tel's proponents inside and outside the intelligence community believe the fund's real power lies in its ability to link the bureaucratic, buttoned-up CIA with the entrepreneurial, free-flowing private sector.

Louie himself is a former computer game impresario and toy company executive who revels in his role as intelligence community iconoclast. Other In-Q-Tel executives have joined the funds from companies such as Amazon.com, Panasonic, Disney and Spectrum HoloByte.

"Our mission is to go out and find the stuff that has commercial application that also has analogies to what the agency is doing," said Louie, a San Francisco native who splits his time between coasts.

With an investment fund well below $100 million, In-Q-Tel would rank as only a small player in the venture capital market. But Louie said no other venture capital player can offer high-tech startups what it can: the ability to test their technologies inside the CIA, one of the largest data repositories in the world.

Louie called the fund a "venture catalyst" and said its role has evolved from identifying promising commercial technologies to helping the CIA apply them to the agency's data management problems.

Another distinct In-Q-Tel advantage, Louie said, is that its portfolio is not riddled with losers from the past year's high-tech market shakeout. "I can still do deals," Louie said. "I can be swifter than the venture funds."

One of In-Q-Tel's latest investments is in software developed by Systems Research & Development of Las Vegas to catch card counters at casinos by analyzing data about relationships and previous transactions. The software originally was designed to catch employees who internally misuse computer networks.

In-Q-Tel has also invested in NetOwl, an advanced search engine developed by SRA International Inc. of Fairfax that mines data using natural speech patterns instead of key words.

An article from the Defense Intelligence Journal posted recently on the CIA's Web site states that the agency created In-Q-Tel because its technological ability to innovate -- the ability that produced the U-2 and SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft in the 1950s and 1960s -- had largely disappeared by the 1990s.

"The agency's leadership recognized that the CIA did not, and could not, compete for [information technology] innovation and talent with the same speed and agility that those in the commercial marketplace, whose businesses are driven by 'Internet time' and profit, could."

----

Judge Denies Motion to Limit Lee Lawsuit
Physicist Says U.S. Officials Leaked False Information About Him to the Media

By Vernon Loeb Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, June 3, 2001; Page A05
http://washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A13555-2001Jun2?language=printer

U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson last week dismissed a government motion to limit the scope of a lawsuit filed by former Los Alamos physicist Wen Ho Lee alleging that federal officials leaked false and confidential information about him to the media.

Ruling from the bench Friday, Jackson urged attorneys on both sides to hire a special master with a top security clearance to consider Lee's request for documents to support his claim that the FBI, the Justice Department and the Energy Department violated his rights under the federal privacy act.

Lee, 61, a naturalized U.S. citizen, filed the civil lawsuit in D.C. federal court shortly after he was charged in December 1999 with 59 counts of mishandling classified information and violating the Atomic Energy Act. He pleaded guilty in New Mexico to a single felony count in September 2000 for downloading nuclear weapons data after government allegations of spying collapsed.

In arguments before Jackson, a Justice Department attorney said Lee had cited statements made about him by government officials in the media but failed to cite any government documents that contained inaccuracies. Lee's attorneys argued that those public statements regarding Lee's purported failure of polygraph tests were inaccurate and in violation of his privacy rights.

Jackson agreed that Lee had the right to pursue government documents and take depositions in an attempt to substantiate that claim. Brian A. Sun, one of Lee's attorneys, said yesterday that his client plans to take depositions from outgoing FBI Director Louis J. Freeh, former energy secretary Bill Richardson and former Energy Department counterintelligence chief Edward Curran. Sun said it is not clear whether Lee needs to seek classified documents in discovery. "But we're going to pursue it vigorously," Sun said.

----

Bulgaria's spies come in from the cold -- and run for parliament

Saturday June 2, 1:33 AM
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010601/1/qz2j.html

SOFIA, June 1 (AFP) - At least 78 of the candidates standing in Bulgaria's forthcoming legislative elections were former agents or informers for the country's Communist-era secret police, a commission examining archive files revealed on Friday.

The candidates all worked either as spies, in military or civil counter-espionage or for the country's secret police during the reign of communism.

The names of some 92 others standing in the June 17 poll also crop up in the files of the secret services, although there is no evidence proving their involvement as collaborators, the report says.

According to Serafim Stoikov, charged with examining the state archives, over 100,000 of around 250,000 files containing information on former agents and informers were destroyed in 1990, shortly after the fall of the country's communist regime.

Bulgaria's Prime Minister Ivan Kostov on Friday called for all parties fielding candidates in the elections to exclude anyone who collaborated with the country's communist secret services.

"It's not a moral question, but rather one of national security," he said.

It would be "impossible to guarantee the protection of secret information" if former spies were elected to parliament, he said, a condition that was "extremely important if Bulgaria is to be invited to join NATO."

The presence of spies in the country's government would be nothing new.

Last month, the archives commission announced that at least 57 former communist-era agents and informers had sat as deputies in the four parliaments since the fall of the country's communist regime in November 1989.

But Bulgarian President Petar Stoianov said he thought that having former spies on the ballot paper "will not influence elections in a big way."

However, the 78 outed former spooks are likely to represent just the tip of the iceberg of the real number of former agents standing for government.

The archives commission has so far only looked into the files of candidates from the 18 largest of the 54 parties represented.

Under a law adopted on February 28, over 11 years after the fall of communism, the names of all those proved to have collaborated with the country's former secret services will be published in the next five years.

Only those who have worked for the post-communist secret services or whose sensitive identity would risk compromising established contacts will be excluded from the list.

-------- terrorism

FBI: Group Steps Up Arson Attacks

By TERRENCE PETTY Associated Press Writer, JUNE 02, 04:52 EST
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=NATIONAL&STORYID=APIS7CCAIC00

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A shadowy group blamed for costly arson attacks across the country is stepping up efforts to punish companies and institutions it says are threatening the environment, federal authorities say.

This week, the Earth Liberation Front posted a manual on its Web site that tells would-be arsonists how to build simple incendiary devices. And on Friday, the group claimed responsibility for fires last month at the University of Washington and a tree farm in Oregon.

``I don't think there's any doubt the ELF is upping the ante,'' said Beth Anne Steele, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Portland.

The ELF's declaration came the same day three logging trucks were torched in an Oregon forest. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Steele refrained from blaming the ELF and said usually their claims of responsibility for an arson attack are delayed.

The FBI considers the ELF to be one of the nation's most dangerous terrorist groups. No one has been hurt in the ELF's four-year spree of violence and the group has said its aim is to protect the environment, not harm anyone. But the FBI worries it's only a matter of time before a firefighter or someone else is harmed.

``The Earth Liberation Front says it doesn't commit violent acts that hurt people,'' Steele said. ``But arson fires are unpredictable.''

The ELF and a sister organization - the Animal Liberation Front - have claimed responsibility for more than two dozen acts of vandalism since 1997 - arson at three luxury homes in Mount Sinai, N.Y., sabotaged logging equipment in Indiana and a 1998 fire that caused $12 million damage at the Vail, Colo., ski resort.

On Friday, the ELF claimed responsibility for two May 21 arson fires - one at the Jefferson Poplar Farms in Clatskanie, Ore., and the other at the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle.

Both operations are developing hybrid poplar trees. The fire at the university caused as much as $3 million in structural damage; the Oregon fire caused at least $500,000 in damage.

Before dawn Friday, someone tried to torch six logging trucks at a company in Eagle Creek, 40 miles southeast of Portland. One truck was destroyed and two others were damaged. Plastic milk jugs were found beneath the trucks, apparently filled with a flammable liquid.

The trucks were going to be used for harvesting trees at a nearby site in the Mount Hood National Forest. For the past two years, environmental activists have been trying to block logging at the site.

The FBI suspects the reason for delays in the past is the ELF wants to make sure no one was hurt before asserting responsibility, Steele said.

``These are not stupid people,'' she said.

Little is known about the ELF. The group's spokesman, Craig Rosebraugh, owns a vegan bakery in Portland.

Rosebraugh says he sympathizes with the ELF, but insists his only involvement is forwarding to the news media the group's claims of responsibility for attacks.

The group's Web site indicates the ELF has no leadership, centralized organization or official membership. Instead, it operates in ``small groups that consist of one to several people'' and each cell is anonymous, not just to the public, but also to one another.

Earlier this week, a manual on how to make incendiary devices appeared on the Web site. The guide counsels: ``Always strive for guaranteed destruction.''

--

On the Net:

ALF and ELF: http://www.envirolink.org and http://www.enviroweb.org/ALFIS/index2.shtml

Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise: http://www.cdfe.org

FBI: http://www.fbi.gov


-------- activists

Cincinnati Activists Protest

By LIZ SIDOTI Associated Press Writer, JUNE 02, 13:39 EST
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=NATIONAL&STORYID=APIS7CCI9EO0

CINCINNATI (AP) - Several hundred people gathered on a rainy Saturday to peacefully protest economic conditions and police treatment of blacks in this city where violence broke out in April after an unarmed black man was shot by a white police officer.

``It's important that we at least say in a peaceful way that we're tired. Cincinnati can't be the city it wants to be if it keeps a foot on the necks of blacks,'' said Henderson Kirkland, 62, an organizer of the March for Justice.

The protesters planned to travel through the neighborhood where 19-year-old Timothy Thomas was shot on April 7. His death sparked three nights of rioting in Over-the-Rhine, a predominantly black, poor area of the city.

About 100 volunteers in yellow shirts wandered through the crowd gathered at Fountain Square before the march, passing out fliers and posters and urging a nonviolent protest.

Whites and blacks huddled under umbrellas as they observed a drum and dance troupe and heard local clergy talk about the need for justice and change in the city.

Shirley Cure, 54, attended with her two granddaughters. DoVae Thomas, 6, and Dominique Thomas, 5, no relation to Timothy Thomas, carried signs as big as they were and clapped their hands along with the crowd.

``I hope this will maybe be something that's instilled in them - that you don't go out and fight, you work for progress peacefully,'' Cure said.

Among the marchers were six black men who demonstrated during the civil rights era. ``This is the old guard,'' Reggie Boyd, 51, said with a laugh.

Boyd recalled how they had marched through Cincinnati in the 1960s and 1970s, urging economic change, including increased employment opportunities and revitalization of the city's black neighborhoods.

``The city didn't do anything then, so we don't expect they'll listen to us now. The same problems exist here now. Nothing's changed,'' Boyd said.

Thomas' death touched off the city's worst racial violence since the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in Memphis, Tenn., in 1968, and prompted a citywide dusk to dawn curfew to restore order. Dozens of people were injured and more than 800 were arrested.

Police said Thomas was wanted on traffic violations and charges of fleeing police. Officer Stephen Roach, 27, told his union that he shot Thomas because he felt threatened.

Roach faces trial later this year on misdemeanor charges of negligent homicide and obstructing official business.

Thomas' mother, Angela Leisure, said she hoped the march would help Cincinnati recover from the unrest.

``I have strong faith in this march because it promotes peace,'' Leisure said. ``With everybody working together, that can happen, especially if you do it all through prayer.''

--

On the Net: March for Justice: http://www.cincymarch.org

----

China's Inner Circle Reveals Big Unrest

By ERIK ECKHOLM, New York Times, June 3, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/03/world/03CHIN.html?pagewanted=all

BEIJING, June 2 - A startlingly frank new report from the Communist Party's inner sanctum describes a spreading pattern of "collective protests and group incidents" arising from economic, ethnic and religious conflicts in China and says relations between party officials and the masses are "tense, with conflicts on the rise."

The unusual report, produced by a top party research group and published this week by a Central Committee press, describes mounting public anger over inequality, corruption and official aloofness and it paints a picture of seething unrest almost as bleak as any drawn by dissidents abroad. It describes a growing pattern of large protests, sometimes involving tens of thousands of people, and an incident in which a defiant farmer cut off a tax collector's ear.

The report warns that the coming years of rapid change - driven in part by China's plans to accelerate the opening of its markets to foreign trade and investment - are likely to mean even greater social conflict. It makes urgent but vague recommendations for "system reforms" that can reduce public grievances.

"Our country's entry into the World Trade Organization may bring growing dangers and pressures, and it can be predicted that in the ensuing period the number of group incidents may jump, severely harming social stability and even disturbing the smooth implementation of reform and opening up," states the report, "China Investigation Report 2000-2001: Studies of Contradictions Among the People Under New Conditions."

The study was conducted by a research group of the Central Committee's organization department, which runs crucial party affairs including promotions, training and discipline. The department is headed by Zeng Qinghong, a powerful and secretive adviser to the party chief, Jiang Zemin, who is widely believed to be seeking higher office, and it appears to represent an attempt by Mr. Zeng or other senior officials to set a reform-oriented agenda for party deliberations and the leadership changes expected in the next few years.

To make the study, researchers visited several provinces and worked with other party scholars to review trends in 11 provinces. The 308-page report cites growing social and economic inequality and official corruption as over-arching sources of discontent. The income gap is approaching the "alarm level," it says, with disparities widening between city and countryside, between the fast-growing east coast and the stagnant interior, and within urban populations. The report describes corruption as "the main fuse exacerbating conflicts between officials and the masses."

Protests of all kinds have become more common as China changes from a state-run economy - a risky course the leadership feels is necessary to China's long-term growth - and as the public becomes more assertive about rights.

Workers laid off from failing state enterprises have protested misuse of company assets by managers and failure to pay pensions and living stipends. Farmers angered by unbearable taxes and callous officials have had numerous deadly encounters with the police.

The report, published by the party's Central Compilation and Translation Press, was available for purchase on Friday at the press's office, where buyers were trickling in based on word-of-mouth. But it has not yet been widely publicized or sold in the country's bookstores.

The study was intended, its introduction says, to analyze the causes of growing popular unrest and to propose countermeasures, and its findings reflected special research in selected provinces.

Its somber analysis contrasts starkly with the upbeat messages generally offered in official speeches and newspapers, and it is unclear why central party officials broke with the tradition of suppressing sensitive information.

The book is at once a call for vigilance against threats to the social order and a plea for speedy reforms within the party and government, such as strengthening the legal system, reducing the number of local officials and expanding "socialist democracy." It warns that economic development must benefit the majority of people and that victims of change must be fairly compensated, an implicit admission that this has often not happened.

At the same time, it attacks the notion that Marxism is obsolescent, calls for more "ideological work" to inculcate an innovative spirit and aims to buttress the party's continued monopoly on power through "system innovation."

Beyond stimulating discussion, the report could represent an effort by Mr. Zeng or others to lay out their credentials as the Communist Party enters an uncertain transition and chooses new leaders. Mr. Jiang, who is also president, and other top leaders are expected to relinquish most of their party and government posts over the next two years.

The report provides no estimate of the number of disturbances, but its strong language suggests that the scale of demonstrations and riots has been greater than revealed by the official press or in reports abroad.

While security agencies have not been able to prevent such incidents, they have so far prevented disaffected workers and farmers in different regions from linking up and forming networks that could pose an organized challenge to Communist rule.

The government's response to unrest has been two-pronged: containment and reform. In well-publicized speeches last year, President Jiang and others described the need to "nip in the bud" any threats to social stability, which in practice has meant stricter policing of dissenters and tighter curbs on publishing.

This year, a national "strike-hard campaign" against crime has included a jump in arrests and prison sentences for those accused of stirring ethnic divisions in regions such as Xinjiang, the heavily Uighur Muslim province in the west. Independent labor organizers have also been jailed.

This week, the commander of the People's Armed Police, the paramilitary anti-riot force, told his troops that they must step up preparations to control "sudden incidents" and improve coordination with local police forces.

"We must explore reform of weapons and equipment allocation, ensuring sequential deployment and rapid response," said the commander, Wu Shuangzhan, in a speech reported in The People's Armed Police News. Though the country is generally stable, he said, "we must be crystal clear about the stern developments we face in our work."

At same time, party leaders are pushing internal change. They have made public spectacles of selected corrupt officials and are now requiring all officials to study new ideological formulations, attributed to Mr. Jiang, which are said to call for creative change while safeguarding party rule. The government has started with much fanfare a program to increase investment in neglected western and rural parts of the country and has vowed, without saying how, to increase farm incomes.

The new report gives general prescriptions, such as adopting economic and tax policies to reduce the income gap, improving social security for workers and building "socialist democracy" in which people have more control over their affairs.

"In recent years some areas have, because of poor handling and multiple other reasons, experienced rising numbers of group incidents and their scale has been expanding, frequently involving over a thousand or even ten thousand people," it says.

And protests are becoming more confrontational, the report says. "Protesters frequently seal off bridges and block roads, storm party and government offices, coercing party committees and government and there are even criminal acts such as attacking, trashing, looting and arson."

Among the specific incidents the report cites was one in Xinning County, Hunan Province, where a resisting farmer cut off the ear of a township party official trying to collect fees. In Longshan County, also in Hunan, two officials died in a clash with protesters.

The groups participating in protests, the report says, "are expanding from farmers and retired workers to include workers still on the job, individual business owners, decommissioned soldiers and even officials, teachers and students."

The report adds that "hostile forces" at home and abroad, seeking to create social turmoil, sometimes fan the divisions over ethnicity, religion and human rights.

The book's prediction of increased conflict as China enters the World Trade Organization suggests the complex challenge to those hoping for more democracy. Political liberals inside China, and many business leaders and scholars abroad, say that growing trade, foreign investment and private ownership and the spreading use of the Internet here will push China toward free speech, rule of law and more accountable government. Just this week, as President Bush endorsed renewal of normal trade status for China, he said, "Open trade is a force for freedom in China, a force for stability in Asia and a force for prosperity in the United States."

Officials fear that the predicted jump in unemployment and availability of jobs independent of the state will lead more people to fight the system. And, for the next few years at least, that could mean more, not fewer, arrests.


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