------- Index of Articles

NUCLEAR
U.S. Warns of Arms Threat, Citing North Korea and Iraq
Russia has plans for Burmese reactor
India Tests Missile, Stirring a Region Already on Edge
Experts: No MAD in S. Asia Nuke War
Israelis, Indians fight same 'problem'
Anti-missile rocket hits target over Pacific
Navy ship-launched missile hits mark
New Type of Missile Passes a Crucial Test
Missile Test by India Raises Nuclear Ante
Russia, U.S. Keen on Arms Treaty Ahead of Talks
U.S., Russia Discuss Arms Control
DOE request delays uranium conversion
Bush: No Limit for Security Budget
Bush Says US Will Defeat Terrorism
U.S. walks South Asia tightrope

MILITARY
Today in History - Jan. 27 - Military
US silence and power of weaponry conceal scale of civilian toll
No Qaeda at U.S. Target This Week, Afghan Says
60 Dead in Burundi Fighting
Beijing decries sanctions placed on its companies
Sri Lanka
Milosevic war crimes case faces collapse
INSIDER TRADING USEC
Bogota tense after bike bomb kills five
Iraqi Foreign Minister in Iran
Iraq exiles accused of wasting $2m aid
Suicide Bombing Rocks Tel Aviv
Which are the terrorists?
President Assails Palestinian Chief on Arms Shipment
Pakistan says will not be provoked into tit-for-tat missile test
Flattering Musharraf
Israel's Evangelical Approach
Power Cut at Russian Space Facility
Russia's space forces without power
Cuba closes Russian spy base
U.N. reveals refugee scam
UN and big business form 'learning network for action'
Navy Officer Accused in Sex Tapes

POLICE / PRISONERS
Bush Proposes Tracking System for Noncitizens
Australia Rejects Immigrant Policy
White House: firms will fix cybersecurity
Bush will seek $11 billion to secure U.S. borders
Powell urges POW status
Criticized, U.S. Brings Visitors to Prison Camp
Women Guard Detainees at Guantanamo

ENERGY AND OTHER
GAO Vows to Sue For Cheney Files
'Milking the Greens'
A Turkish Doctor's Specialty: The Torture Victim

ACTIVISTS
Aggrieved Argentines takes to street


-------- NUCLEAR

Today in History - Jan. 27 - Nuclear

The Associated Press
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A43450-2002Jan26?language=printer

... In 1951, an era of atomic testing in the Nevada desert began as an Air Force plane dropped a one-kiloton bomb on Frenchman Flats.

In 1967, more than 60 nations signed a treaty banning the orbiting of nuclear weapons....

----

U.S. Warns of Arms Threat, Citing North Korea and Iraq

New York Times
January 26, 2002
By ELIZABETH OLSON
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/26/international/26SWIS.html

GENEVA, Jan. 25 - A top American arms negotiator singled out Iraq and North Korea this week as threats when he urged a United Nations group to strengthen accords against weapons of mass destruction.

With the events of Sept. 11 fresh in mind, John R. Bolton, the under secretary of state for arms control, urged the forum to overcome its long-standing divisions and step up efforts to ban production of nuclear materials that could be used for bomb making.

"The fact that governments which sponsor terrorist groups are also pursuing chemical, biological, nuclear and missile programs is alarming and cannot be ignored," he told the 66 participating nations at the year's opening session of the forum, the only multilateral arms negotiating body.

"Those who think they can pursue nuclear weapons without detection - the United States and its allies will prove you wrong," he declared.

The nuclear weapons inspection system under the International Atomic Energy Agency must be enforced, he said, to help detect clandestine efforts to build weapons. He also insisted that countries be accountable for treaty violations, including those of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

"Countries such as North Korea and Iraq must cease their violations of the N.P.T. and allow the I.A.E.A. to do its work," Mr. Bolton said.

In response, the delegates of Iraq and North Korea denied that they had violated the arms accords.

North Korea's delegate, Ri Thae Gun, said his country was allowing international inspection of its nuclear facilities.

But a senior American official said there were suspicions that North Korea, which is not currently engaged in any discussions with the Bush administration on its weapons programs, was secretly augmenting its abilities.

The citing of Iraq signaled the Bush administration's rising impatience with the absence of United Nations weapons inspectors in that country.

"We are coming to a critical point with Iraq," a senior American official said. If weapons inspectors are not allowed to return, "there are going to be consequences," he warned. He declined to spell out what they might be.

Weapons inspections were supposed to be part of the arrangement negotiated for Iraq after its defeat in the 1991 gulf war by an American-led coalition, but the inspectors were withdrawn in 1998 in the face of Iraqi recalcitrance.

Iraq's delegate to the talks, Samir al-Nima, said that the accusations by Washington were false and that it demonstrated its double standard by not naming Israel, which is widely suspected of having nuclear weapons, though it neither confirms nor denies it.

Though the terror attacks of Sept. 11 gave new urgency to the discussions here, differences among the nations taking have stalled progress for several years.

The United States, for instance, opposes talks to bar weapons in outer space, but supports negotiations on nuclear materials that can be used to make weapons.

Moreover, this week the Russian delegate, Leonid Skotnikov, criticized the Bush administration for pulling out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and sinking an effort to set up a verification scheme for biological weapons.

Mr. Bolton did not respond directly to the remarks, but insisted later that the United States remained committed to its arms control agreements.

One pact that Washington wants enforced more strongly is the Chemical Weapons Convention where, Mr. Bolton said, the administration is prepared to use unscheduled on-site inspections to crack down on violators. "The U.S. is alarmed by the continuing spread of dangerous technology to countries pursuing illegal programs," he said.

He said the spread of missile technology was also alarming the Bush administration, which had compiled a list of suspect activities by companies from "at least a dozen nations."

-------- asia

Russia has plans for Burmese reactor

Briefly,
January 26, 2002
Combined dispatches and staff reports
Washington Times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20020126-577268.htm

MOSCOW - Russia has drafted a plan to build a nuclear power reactor in military-ruled Burma despite strong U.S. objections, Russian news agencies report.

"The draft has been coordinated with other [government] agencies and the government might approve it in the first quarter of this year," Interfax and RIA-Novosti quoted an unnamed government official as saying.

The United States warned Burma, whose generals call the country Myanmar, on Tuesday against ignoring its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, after Rangoon signaled it intended to build a nuclear reactor with Russian help.

-------- india / pakistan

India Tests Missile, Stirring a Region Already on Edge

New York Times
January 26, 2002
By CELIA W. DUGGER
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/26/international/asia/26INDI.html

NEW DELHI, Jan. 25 - At a moment when India and Pakistan are poised for war, India sent a defiant signal to the world today by successfully testing a ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear warhead.

The missile, which has a range of more than 400 miles, would give India a swifter, surer means of striking major cities within its nuclear- armed neighbor, Pakistan.

Pakistan condemned the test as provocative and destabilizing, while the United States, Britain, Germany and France said they regretted the move since it could worsen tensions that are already dangerously high.

Lt. Gen. V. R. Raghavan, who retired as India's director general of military operations in 1994, said that "coming at a moment like this, it is indicative of India's resolve to keep the threat to Pakistan going." Another retired Indian military leader, Gen. V. P. Malik, who was army chief until 2000, agreed, saying that "the message frankly is part of the strategy, call it coercive diplomacy or whatever."

India, which has promised never to use nuclear weapons first, has been almost completely reliant on planes to drop nuclear bombs, analysts say. Missiles, however, strike much faster and are harder to shoot down.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said, "I would just as soon they had not performed that test at this time of high tension, but I don't think it will inflame the situation particularly." .

Pakistan is widely believed to have obtained missile technology from China and North Korea that would allow it to reach Bombay, New Delhi and other major Indian cities that together are home to tens of millions of people.

Officials here said the test today, which sent a missile blazing across clear blue skies off the eastern coast of India at 8:45 a.m., is part of a national program to develop a credible nuclear deterrent and had nothing to do with the confrontation between India and Pakistan. In recent weeks, more than 800,000 troops have massed along their border, with more than 500,000 from India and more than 300,000 from Pakistan.

The timing of the test meant that it would be seen inevitably as a highly provocative gesture.

The current confrontation between India and Pakistan began after a heavily armed suicide squad assaulted the Indian Parliament here last month. India blamed militant groups based in Pakistan, which it said were backed by Pakistan's military intelligence agency. Pakistan has since banned the groups.

India informed Pakistan, as well as the United States, China, Russia, Japan, Britain and other European countries about the missile test well in advance, showing that India had no intent to act provocatively, said Nirupama Rao, spokeswoman for India's foreign ministry.

"The timing was determined solely by technical factors," she said. "We do not view missile tests as political messages." That contention was flatly contradicted by the retired military officers who saw the timing as intended to send a clear message to Pakistan.

India has seized this post-Sept. 11 moment, when global tolerance for terrorism is at an all-time low, to try to force Pakistan to stop supporting Islamic militants who have battled Indian rule of Kashmir, a territory also claimed by Pakistan.

India has demanded that Pakistan hand over 20 wanted terrorists and criminals and stop the infiltration of militants from Pakistani territory into the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.

But while India has been taking a belligerent posture in public, it recently moved aside the commander of one of its three offensive strike corps after he moved his forces threateningly close to the border with Pakistan, Pakistani and Indian officials say.

Publicly, Indian officials have maintained that the commander, Lt. Gen. Kapil Vij, stepped aside for personal reasons or as a way of taking responsibility for a disastrous recent incident in which a large numbers of trucks bearing ammunition to the front lines exploded.

But Pakistani and Indian officials say privately that the United States shared intelligence with both sides showing the location of India's second strike corps and the information led to the removal of General Vij.

Robert Blackwill, the American ambassador here, has strongly denied recent reports in Indian newspapers that the United States pressured India to remove the general. An Indian defense official confirmed today that the Americans showed India satellite photographs of the corps' location, but added, "I think it was detected earlier by India."

Analysts said that they found it reassuring that India reined in a seemingly overeager army commander, but added that the entire episode was a worrying reminder that human miscalculations could spark a war.

India is so far showing no signs of scaling back its military buildup, and officials say Pakistan has so far not met India's demands. Today, India's hawkish home minister, L. K. Advani, said that it would take the government "at least a couple of months" to decide whether there had been any reduction in what India considers cross-border terrorism.

"They're still eyeball to eyeball," a senior Western diplomat said today. "The potential for using their armed forces is still real. There's been no lowering of the very high levels of alert. The situation remains pretty fragile."

Indian officials - including the chiefs of the army and navy - have recently showed considerable anxiety about the possibility that Pakistan, which has a smaller conventional military force, might launch a nuclear attack at India first. They have also stressed that India would respond with a devastating retaliatory nuclear strike.

India and Pakistan, who have fought three wars, became public nuclear powers in May 1998 when they conducted tit-for-tat underground tests of nuclear weapons.

As of now, the only nuclear-capable missile that is officially part of India's arsenal is the short-range Prithvi missile, which can travel 90 miles, Indian officials said.

But if there was a first strike by Pakistan, the Prithvis, generally considered relatively inaccurate, would be extremely cumbersome to assemble so close to the border with Pakistan at a moment when Pakistan would undoubtedly be expecting and trying to prevent such a strike, military analysts say.

Ashley J. Tellis, a former researcher at the RAND Corporation who is now advising the American ambassador here, wrote last year in an 885-page study commissioned by the United States Air Force that India was highly unlikely to see the Prithvi as an effective way of delivering nuclear weapons - and was left to rely on jets. In his book, Mr. Tellis estimated that India had enough fissionable material to make about 50 nuclear devices.

The Agni intermediate-range missile tested today, if produced, would give India another way to reach Pakistan with nuclear weapons besides by airplane.

The missile's longer range would also enable India to base it deeper inside Indian territory, where it could more safely be coupled to a nuclear warhead in the event of a retaliatory strike.

K. Santhanam, a physicist who was project coordinator for India's 1998 nuclear tests and who now heads the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, said the Prithvi missile with the 90-mile range did not make sense as a nuclear delivery system - while the new Agni missile, movable by road on a tractor trailer, does.

In 1999, India tested a version of the Agni missile that had a range of about 1,200 miles and did so again last year. Mr. Santhanam said the political leadership gave the go- ahead to develop a missile with a 400- mile range only 15 months ago to fill a perceived gap. "The technologies are mature," he said.

India's defense minister, George Fernandes, who went this morning to a range on Wheeler's Island off the coast of the eastern state of Orissa to witness the test flight, described it as "flawless."

--------

Experts: No MAD in S. Asia Nuke War

January 26, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-India-Pakistan-Nuclear.html

NEW YORK (AP) -- India and Pakistan may have enough nuclear weapons to kill millions of people, but their stockpiles most likely are not big enough to guarantee ``mutually assured destruction,'' according to nuclear experts.

Despite repeated assurances from both sides that they won't use nuclear weapons in a first strike, the tension between them has caused much speculation about the dangers of their burgeoning nuclear programs. India's test on Friday of a short-range, nuclear-capable Agni-I missile only adds to those fears.

On Saturday, Pakistan promised it would not react rashly to the test, but added that its own nuclear deterrent was ready to meet any attack.

``We are exercising restraint,'' said Maj. Gen. Rashid Quereshi, chief spokesman for President Pervez Musharraf. ``But our deterrence is in place and our response is ready. ... We don't want the enemy to know how ready we are.''

Making accurate estimates of the potential death toll in a nuclear war between Indian and Pakistan is difficult because details of each nation's nuclear program are sketchy.

Both sides ``are holding that information very close to the vest,'' said Steven Dolley, research director at the Nuclear Control Institute.

Most experts estimate that India has only a few dozen weapons stockpiled and enough material available to make possibly 50 to 100 more. The Department of Defense, in a report last year, said only that ``India probably has a small stockpile ... and could assemble and deploy a few nuclear weapons within a few days to a week.'' Estimates of Pakistan's stockpile are also vague, though most analysts assume it is smaller than India's.

Because of the lack of available information, scientists using mathematical models have made only educated guesses about potential death tolls.

One of the first was M.V. Ramana, a Princeton University physicist from India. After the two countries conducted nuclear tests in 1998, Ramana calculated that a 15-kiloton bomb dropped on Bombay would kill between 150,000 and 850,000 people in the short term. The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had roughly similar yields, and killed about 140,000 and 70,000 people respectively.

Ramana said there are too many variables -- weather, the exact yield and positioning of the bomb, altitude of the explosion -- to estimate deaths more precisely.

``There is a whole range of uncertainties. It's useless to pretend I can give an exact number,'' he said. The study was meant to show ``that the effects of even a small bomb, a crude one like that, is horrific.''

A model of a full-scale exchange was produced this month by the Natural Resources Defense Council, a respected Washington, D.C., environmental group. In its model, as many as 30 million people would die, according to NRDC physicist Matthew McKinzie. It's a staggering death toll, but only about 2 percent of the nations' combined population of more than one billion Indians and 140 million Pakistanis.

The NRDC model estimated that each side has a few dozen warheads and assumed each could get past the other's air defenses to drop 12 weapons on the largest cities.

The model is based on extrapolations from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, population estimates of the target cities and weather conditions in January. The weapons are assumed to have yields equal to 25 kilotons of TNT. The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were 15 to 25 kilotons, according to various estimates.

The yield of the bombs in the model are ``a bit higher than what was thought to be the yield of the (1998) Pakistani test,'' McKinzie said, ``but certainly well within the range of the kind they are known to have.''

Despite the massive destruction, McKinzie concludes that the scenario would not result in ``mutually assured destruction'' (MAD) -- the doctrine credited with preventing a superpower conflict during the Cold War.

But in the India-Pakistan scenario, the study concluded, ``the respective military forces would be intact to continue to escalate the conflict.''

Zia Mian, a Pakistani physicist with Princeton University's Program in Science and Global Security, points out that the model ``doesn't look at the larger collapse that would follow.''

With both countries' infrastructures and emergency services crippled, and masses of people sick, Mian said, ``the spillover effects would be incalculable.''

Mian said the notion of mutually assured destruction should not be applied to India and Pakistan.

The three previous wars between Pakistan and India each resulted in less than 10,000 deaths on average, he said. ``They've never fought a war like World War I or World War II or Vietnam. They've never used strategic bombing, for example, against each other's cities. For them, the notion of what would be a terrible attack is much different than the United States' or the Soviet Union's.''

The effect of radiation on cancer rates was not included in Ramana's or the NRDC's models.

Mian said it's unlikely radiation would spread out of the region because the bombs would be relatively small.

``Much of the fallout (would) be relatively localized,'' Mian said. ``It's not going to travel several hundreds of miles.''

-------- israel

Israelis, Indians fight same 'problem'

By Ben Lynfield
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
January 26, 2002
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20020126-5652706.htm

JERUSALEM - Estranged until 10 years ago, India and Israel are steadily moving into an intimate strategic partnership.

When Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan visited India in 1979, his hosts demanded that he come secretly, out of deference to India's close ties to the Arab world. Now, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is planning to visit soon as a follow-up to the feting early this month of Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

"We find ourselves in the same camp that fights terrorism, and we have to develop our relationship according to that," said Zvi Gabay, the ministry's deputy director-general for Asian affairs. "Both countries have suffered greatly from terrorism, and we have to get rid of this problem."

Israel and India have forged strong ties in areas ranging from agriculture to space technology. But it is in the military realm that relations are really taking off: Israel is now India's No. 2 weapons supplier, after Russia.

In one respect, the friendship may be developing too fast for Washington.

Israel plans to sell Phalcon advanced surveillance aircraft to India for an estimated $1 billion. The American fear is that, if transferred now, the Phalcon could affect the delicate balance of power in the tense standoff between India and Pakistan. Among other things, the planes would give India improved ability to coordinate air strikes.

"We actually support the transfer," but the United States is consulting with Israel "about the transfer, including the system's capability and timing," the Associated Press quoted State Department spokesman Philip Reeker as saying.

John Bolton, U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control, held talks in Israel this week in which concerns about the timing of the sale were expected to come up, while Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes was expected to push the Americans for the planes.

Former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Arens, a member of the Knesset from Mr. Sharon's Likud party, said "there may be a question of timing with the U.S., but there is no question of principle" about the sale, which he said is extremely important for Israeli military industries.

Two years ago, Israel was forced by the United States to cancel a deal to sell Phalcons to China, out of concern it would have altered the balance of power between China and Taiwan. Israel faces costly Chinese demands for compensation.

Mr. Gabay stressed that Israel would like the conflict between India and Pakistan to be solved diplomatically, and that "Israel is not participating with India in any war."

But according to Jane's Defence Weekly, Israel was an ammunition supplier during India's border conflict with Pakistan in 1999, and last March, the weekly said that members of Israeli security forces were regularly visiting the Kashmir border. The Defense Ministry did not respond to queries on the matter.

"Russia delivers the hardware - tanks, aircraft and ships - and Israel provides the weapons systems - the radar, the electronic control systems, and other high-tech add-ons," Jane's quoted an Indian military official as saying.

"India finds it immensely beneficial to learn from Israel's experience in dealing with terrorism, since Israel, too, has long suffered from crossborder terrorism," an Indian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said during Mr. Peres' visit.

The rhetoric was very different during the 1960s, when India, as leader of the nonaligned movement, had close ties with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who viewed Israel as the arm of Western imperialism in the Middle East.

-------- missile defense

Anti-missile rocket hits target over Pacific

Around the Nation
January 26, 2002
Combined dispatches and staff reports
Washington Times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20020126-28647525.htm

An interceptor rocket launched from a U.S. Navy ship smashed into a dummy missile high over the Pacific last night in the latest test in the Pentagon's plans to shield America from long-range missiles.

The planned test last night was the first to send an interceptor fired from a ship at sea into space to collide with a dummy missile. Other tests have used interceptor rockets launched from land.

The test was designed so that the anti-missile "kinetic warhead" was virtually guaranteed to smash into the dummy missile. Officials said the trial was conducted to evaluate the interceptor's guidance systems and was not meant to be a realistic test of whether a ship-based interceptor could knock out an enemy missile.

The missile exercise was the latest in a series of tests the Pentagon is conducting to develop several ways to shoot down long-range missiles fired at the United States. President Bush announced last year he was pulling the nation out of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, which bans such anti-missile systems.

----

Navy ship-launched missile hits mark

January 26, 2002
Reported by Hil Anderson, Los Angeles
Washington Times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/25012002-101446-1669r.htm

HONOLULU, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- A test of the guidance system of a developmental ship-launched anti-missile system was successful Friday night as a rocket fired from a Navy cruiser off Hawaii destroyed an incoming target missile.

The Pentagon said the Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) fired from the USS Lake Erie shot down a ground-based Aries missile fired from the island of Kauai in the latest test of what military planners hope will become an anti-missile system that will someday defend U.S. troops that have landed on a foreign beachhead.

Air Force Maj. Mike Halbig, a Pentagon spokesman, said the Lake Erie "acquired and tracked it, developed a (computer) solution and launched the Standard Missile 3."

The destruction of the Aries was not the primary objective of the test. Engineers were more interested in how the guidance system of the SM-3 -- armed with the Aegis Lightweight Exo-Atmospheric Projectile (LEAP) Kinetic Warhead (KW) -- maneuvered itself into an intercept position.

"Data gathered from the test will help program officials learn more about the KW guidance design, simulation models and ground test program, enabling them to make any necessary corrections to the KW design prior to the first scheduled intercept test later this spring," the Pentagon said in a statement earlier Friday.

Critics see theater missile defense systems as upsetting the mutual nuclear deterrence developed during the Cold War. Russia, for example, has bitterly complained that U.S. efforts to develop a defense system against nuclear missiles violated the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

The Bush administration responded by saying the United States needed to defend itself against missiles launched by so-called rogue nations, and announced last year it was withdrawing from the ABM pact.

Theatre missile defenses are similar to the higher-profile anti-ICBM system, but are designed primarily to defend U.S. military forces operating in the field. A sea-launched anti-missile system, if successfully deployed, would give U.S. fleets and ground forces a measure of protection wherever they happen to be.

----

New Type of Missile Passes a Crucial Test

By THE NEW YORK TIMES
January 26, 2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/26/national/26MISS.html

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 - The Navy successfully intercepted and destroyed a dummy rocket over the Pacific today using a sea-based missile that is still under development, Pentagon officials said.

Crews aboard the U.S.S. Lake Erie launched the missile, an Aegis kinetic warhead, at 9 p.m. Eastern time, the officials said; 18 minutes later, it collided with a target rocket that had been fired from a Hawaii test range.

The test was the first flight of the missile outside Earth's atmosphere. Its target was placed directly in its path but did not aid the radar of the missile, the officials said.

Maj. Mike Halbig, a Pentagon spokesman, said the missile surpassed the Navy's criteria by hitting the target. The Navy had billed the test as a "fly by" to evaluate the missile's navigation controls, but not necessarily to destroy the dummy warhead.

"It demonstrated the primary objective," Major Halbig said, but he cautioned that the sea-based missile defense system was still in the early stages.

The launching today was the fourth of nine planned tests.

----

Missile Test by India Raises Nuclear Ante
Pakistan Assails Firing 'at a Time of Tensions'

By Rama Lakshmi
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, January 26, 2002; Page A17

NEW DELHI, Jan. 25 -- India today successfully test-fired the newest version of a surface-to-surface missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, drawing condemnation from neighboring Pakistan in the midst of a tense military standoff between the two countries.

The Agni II missile, said to have a range of up to 420 miles, was launched over the Bay of Bengal this morning from a seaside site in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, Indian officials said. Defense Minister George Fernandes witnessed the test and declared the mission "flawless."

Indian officials said that the test was part of long-term military plans and that the timing was unrelated to current hostility between the two South Asian nuclear rivals.

"Agni is an ongoing project," Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said in a broadcast message to the nation. "We are taking many more steps for the nation's security and protection. This is one of them."

But Pakistani officials immediately called the test provocative. "The test comes at a time of tensions when the Indian forces are massed on our borders," the Pakistan Foreign Ministry said in a written statement, adding, "We hope the international community will take note of this Indian behavior which is prejudicial to the pursuit of stability in our region, especially during the current situation."

Since a Dec. 13 attack on the Indian Parliament that officials here blamed on Pakistani-based Islamic groups, India and Pakistan have massed hundreds of thousands of troops and large amounts of weaponry along their 1,800-mile border. U.S., British and U.N. officials have traveled to both countries in recent weeks to urge them to pull back from the brink of an armed conflict.

The United States, Britain and Germany criticized the timing of today's missile test.

In Washington, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said: "I would just as soon they had not performed that test at this time of high tension, but I don't think it will inflame the situation particularly.

"It's still a tense situation there. I remain pleased that both sides are looking for a diplomatic solution, and we will continue to work with the Indian government and the Pakistani government to find a way forward that does not lead to a conflict on the subcontinent," he added.

Indian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao attempted to rebut criticism of the timing of the tests.

"It is not directed against any country," Rao said. "It is part of the technological evolution of our missile system, and the timing was determined solely by technological factors."

"We do not view missile tests as sending a political message," Rao said, adding that India had informed Pakistan and other nations in the past few days about its intention to carry out the test.

The Agni II is a two-stage, solid-fuel intermediate-range missile. Early, longer-range versions can travel up to 1,500 miles, putting India's missiles within reach of major targets in Pakistan and China.

When the first test of the Agni II was conducted in April 1999, Pakistan responded within a week by testing its intermediate-range Ghauri II and Shaheen missiles. The most recent test firing of an Agni II took place a year ago.

In 1996, India suspended the Agni program under pressure from the United States, only to revive it in response to Pakistan's test of the Hatf-3 missile in 1997. Both India and Pakistan conducted nuclear tests in May 1998.

India currently has only one type of nuclear-capable missile in service, the short-range Prithvi, which can travel 90 to 150 miles and carry a payload of 1,200 to 2,400 pounds, the weight of a modest-size nuclear warhead. India has deployed Prithvi missiles along its border with Pakistan.

Since the attack on Parliament, India has not only moved troops and weapons to the border, but also recalled its envoy to Islamabad and suspended air and rail links with Pakistan. It has demanded that Pakistan crack down on militant groups engaged in attacks in the divided region of Kashmir and has asked Pakistan to hand over 20 accused terrorists and other criminals that it claims have taken refuge there.

Indian Home Minister L.K. Advani said at a news conference today that India would continue border deployments until it sees that infiltration of militants from Pakistan into Indian's portion of Kashmir has been reduced.

-------- treaties

Russia, U.S. Keen on Arms Treaty Ahead of Talks

January 26, 2002
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-arms-russia-usa.html

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and the United States aim to lay down cuts in their nuclear arsenals in a formal pact, Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday ahead of a fresh round of arms talks.

It said Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov had agreed in a telephone conversation on Friday with Secretary of State Colin Powell that next week's consultations in Washington would focus on forging out such a treaty.

``Both sides have reconfirmed their intention to produce a legally binding agreement on radical and verifiable cuts and a new strategic relations framework to be approved during President Bush's official visit to Russia in the first half of 2002,'' the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Moscow and Washington have agreed to slash their nuclear arsenals from current levels of 6,000 warheads each to between 1,500 and 2,200.

The United States had given a cold shoulder to calls by Russia to fix the cuts in a formal pact but last week, top Moscow arms negotiator Yuri Baluyevsky said Washington was turning in favor of a fully-fledged treaty.

Ties between Moscow and Washington have improved significantly in recent months against the background of a common cause in fighting international terrorism.

Moscow has criticized Washington's planned withdrawal from the landmark 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and a decision to mothball rather than destroy nuclear warheads falling under mutual cuts. But both sides said relations remained on track.

Russia, opposing U.S. plans to build a missile umbrella, has said it wants the prospective arms-cuts deal to link new strategic missile levels with specific limits on the anti-missile defense system.

Moscow is also pushing for the agreement to include nuclear arsenals of third countries, a stance it says Washington is not happy with.

The first round of talks, held last week in Washington, ended inconclusively.

----

U.S., Russia Discuss Arms Control

January 26, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Russia-US-Nuclear.html or http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A43303-2002Jan26?language=printer

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov spoke by telephone to Secretary of State Colin Powell to discuss efforts to work out a new arms control agreement, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

Their conversation ``confirmed the mutual disposition to work out a legally binding agreement on radical and verifiable reductions of strategic offensive arms,'' the ministry said.

At a summit in Texas in November, President Bush pledged to slash U.S. nuclear arsenals to 1,700 to 2,200, while Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia could go as low as 1,500 warheads.

Russia has pushed for a formal written treaty on the cuts, something U.S. officials have indicated they are willing but not eager to do.

A State Department official said Powell spoke with Ivanov on Friday but could not confirm the subject of the conversation.

The Foreign Ministry repeated that Russia hopes a new agreement can be worked out in time for Bush's planned visit in May or June. It said Ivanov and Powell also discussed bilateral relations.

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

-------- kentucky

DOE request delays uranium conversion

January 26, 2002
Paducah Sun
http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/news2002/nn11570.htm

The three finalists to convert uranium waste in Paducah and Piketon, Ohio, to safer material were asked to extend their bids through Feb. 28.

By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650

The three finalists to convert uranium waste at Paducah and Piketon, Ohio, into safer material have been asked to extend their bids another month, creating another delay for the stalled program mandated by 1998 federal law.

Although the reasoning was unclear, industry sources said Department of Energy officials asked the bidders Thursday for an extension through February.

"That is correct," said Elizabeth Stuckle, spokeswoman for USEC Inc., one of the finalists. "We have been asked by DOE to extend our bid to be valid through Feb. 28."

USEC, operator of the Paducah uranium enrichment plant, submitted a bid as American Conversion Services, formed by USEC and the environmental firm CH2M Hill.

Other finalists are Jacobs COGEMA, formed by Jacobs Engineering Group and COGEMA; and Uranium Disposition Services, formed by Framatome ANP (Advanced Nuclear Power) Richland, Duratek Federal Services and Burns and Roe Enterprises.

The Energy Department has been silent since abruptly canceling the planned Jan. 15 announcement of a winner after months of bid reviews. No explanation was offered. Repeated attempts on Friday and in recent days to reach Joe Davis, a DOE spokesman in Washington, D.C., were unsuccessful.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Louisville, authored the 1998 legislation to build facilities to convert about 14 billion pounds of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) waste at Paducah and its sister plant in Piketon. Delayed repeatedly, the project was designed to clean up the material while creating roughly 150 jobs in each community to offset enrichment plant layoffs.

When the announcement stalled, McConnell spoke with DOE and Office of Management and Budget officials regarding concerns with the project. McConnell declined comment when he was in Paducah Tuesday to announce he is running for a fourth term.

U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Hopkinsville, who helped steer the legislation through the House, blamed OMB for "dragging its feet on the cost" of the project and some DOE officials for continuing to oppose it. He made the statements Jan. 18 when he visited Paducah to announce he will seek re-election.

Whitfield and others speculate the OMB, Congress' financial arm, has continuing concerns about the expense and scope of the work, expected to cost at least $1 billion and create several hundred construction jobs. Legislation setting aside $373 million for the work requires it to start by Jan. 31, 2004.

Officials of Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers (PACE) International, whose members have first rights to the conversion work, have said they understand the delay is largely because of a disagreement over how many plants should be built. They say OMB apparently favored no plants and DOE favored two, after which the OMB responded it would back a one-plant plan.

That reportedly favored Paducah, because about two-thirds of the roughly 60,000 UF6 cylinders are here, and inflamed the Ohio delegation. The Piketon enrichment plant closed last summer.

Leon Owens, president of the PACE local representing nearly half the Paducah plant's 1,500 workers, said Friday he had not been notified of the bid extension. "We haven't been given any other indication, and the union is still committed to a two-plant strategy," he said.

-------- us politics

Bush: No Limit for Security Budget

By Lawrence L. Knutson
Associated Press Writer
Saturday, January 26, 2002; 11:32 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A44123-2002Jan26?language=printer

WASHINGTON -- Calling for the largest increase in defense spending in 20 years and asking Congress to nearly double the money for homeland security, President Bush promised Saturday to "spend what it takes to win the war against terrorism."

In a preview of the State of the Union address he will deliver to a joint meeting of Congress Tuesday evening, Bush also promised to work to improve the climate in which jobs are created, and to "fight the recession and build economic security."

The president's weekly radio address highlighted announcements made earlier in the week.

Democrats, meanwhile, noted that the once mighty river of budget surpluses has been reversed and that budget deficits now are projected for the rest of Bush's term in office.

Bush said that for the budget year that begins Oct. 1 he will ask Congress for an extra $48 billion for U.S. military forces, the largest increase in defense spending in 20 years. Another $38 billion will go toward homeland security, Bush said.

"Every budget reflects fundamental choices, and my administration has made choices to fit the times," he said. "We'll protect our people in every way necessary, and we will carry on the campaign against global terror until we achieve our goal: The peace that comes from victory."

Bush said the effort to root out terrorists with a capability to strike around the world will be neither short nor inexpensive. The armed forces will need the best high-tech equipment available to succeed, he said.

"My budget calls for ... investing in more precision weapons, missile defenses, unmanned vehicles and high-tech equipment for our soldiers on the ground. I will also seek another pay increase for the men and women who wear our country's uniform," he said. "We will spend what it takes to win the war against terrorism."

He also promised to complete the effort to enhance airport security, strengthen the border patrol, hire another 300 FBI agents and pump cash into efforts to better equip state and local firefighters, police and emergency response teams.

In the Democrats' radio address broadcast an hour later, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., applauded Bush's efforts to curb terrorism, but suggested the nation needs a quick economic boost.

"In the war on terrorism, President Bush and his national security team continue to do a superb job," Daschle said.

"But there are also reasons to be concerned. Last week, we learned that the massive surplus we predicted a year ago has shrunk by four trillion dollars. We are expected to be running deficits for the remainder of President Bush's term," he said.

The president pledged to steady the troubled economy by building a climate that encourages job creation. He urged the Democratic-controlled Senate to approve an economic stimulus package.

The president returned to Washington from Camp David Saturday afternoon. Bush and his wife, Laura, attended the annual Alfalfa Club dinner, a closed-door event Saturday night featuring hundreds of Washington's top power brokers from both political parties.

He made no public remarks either before or after the private event.

----

Bush Says US Will Defeat Terrorism

By Sonya Ross
Associated Press Writer
Saturday, January 26, 2002; 11:40 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A42227-2002Jan26?language=printer

WASHINGTON -- President Bush pledged on Saturday to "spend what it takes" to conquer global terrorism and help Americans feel safe from attack at home.

Bush used his weekly radio address to recap the military and homeland defense proposals he announced this week as a curtain raiser for the State of the Union address he will deliver to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.

He said he will devote billions of dollars in his fiscal 2003 budget plan to his top priorities, building up the U.S. military and addressing domestic security needs.

The military alone will see an extra $48 billion, the largest increase in defense spending in 20 years, and $38 billion will go toward homeland security, the president said.

"Every budget reflects fundamental choices, and my administration has made choices to fit the times," he said. "We'll protect our people in every way necessary, and we will carry on the campaign against global terror until we achieve our goal: The peace that comes from victory."

In the Democrats' radio address broadcast an hour later, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., supported Bush in his war on terrorism, but suggested the nation needed a quick economic boost.

"In the war on terrorism, President Bush and his national security team continue to do a superb job," Daschle said.

"But there are also reasons to be concerned. Last week, we learned that the massive surplus we predicted a year ago has shrunk by four trillion dollars. We are expected to be running deficits for the remainder of President Bush's term," he said.

Bush said the effort to root out terrorists will be neither brief nor cheap, and the U.S. military will need the best high-tech equipment available to succeed at it.

"My budget calls for ... investing in more precision weapons, missile defenses, unmanned vehicles and high-tech equipment for our soldiers on the ground. I will also seek another pay increase for the men and women who wear our country's uniform," he said. "We will spend what it takes to win the war against terrorism."

The president pledged to steady the nation's wobbly economy by trying to create a climate for job creation that can ease the effects of the current recession.

"Government doesn't create jobs, but it can encourage an environment in which jobs are created," Bush said. He urged the Democratic-controlled Senate to approve an economic stimulus package to help that process along.

But the Senate dealt Bush a setback Friday, declining to extend a new three-year tax break to companies strained by recession.

Democrats said the provision would have cost $66 billion over the next 10 years, making the country's fiscal outlook worse and discouraging job creation.

----

U.S. walks South Asia tightrope

By Rodger Baker
STRATFOR.COM
January 26, 2002
Washington Times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20020126-88633672.htm

U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's recent South Asian visit, which included stops in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Nepal, is part of a three-pronged U.S. agenda for South Asia. Washington wants to avoid a war between India and Pakistan, keep Pakistan cooperating in the war on terrorism and gain India as a long-term strategic partner.

Mr. Powell must walk a narrow line to satisfy both India's and Pakistan's immediate demands without endangering the broader U.S. strategy.

Eight days ago, Mr. Powell declared his visits to Pakistan and India "encouraging," saying the two countries were back on the path toward dialogue. His trip, which also included stops in Afghanistan and Nepal, was portrayed as a mission to bring India and Pakistan back from the brink of war over the disputed Kashmir region.

The focus on Kashmir belied a deeper U.S. agenda for South Asia, however. Although Washington wants India and Pakistan to avoid another war, it has little intention of trying to solve the Kashmir issue. Rather, Mr. Powell was seeking to ensure continued Pakistan support for the U.S. anti-terrorism war while simultaneously locking India in as a long-term strategic partner for the United States - two ends with often-conflicting means.

It is an extremely delicate balance for Washington to satisfy both Indian and Pakistani demands without endangering the broader U.S. strategy.

Washington has long linked its policies toward the two South Asian nations, operating under the principle that actions toward one automatically carry implications for the other. With the collapse of the Soviet Union - a traditional supporter of India - South Asian nuclear tests and the 1999 Kargil conflict, Washington attempted to "delink" its relations with India and Pakistan. That's diplomatic shorthand for distancing itself from its former allies in Islamabad and seeking out New Delhi as a future partner to contain a burgeoning China.

But as events following September 11 have clearly demonstrated, "delinkage" has proven politically impossible.

The United States has separate plans for its current and future ties with India and Pakistan. These plans will radically shift the balance of relations in South Asia and beyond.

Washington wants to maintain Pakistan as an ally in the short run, but primarily as a tool in its self-declared campaign against terrorism - read Islamic terrorism. This requires a broad shift in internal Pakistani policies.

President Pervez Musharraf was already working toward such a shift, but his slow, measured actions accelerated after September 11 as Islamabad attempted to reposition itself in the rapidly changing politics of the region.

Washington is encouraging - even pressuring - Gen. Musharraf to speed up a campaign to secularize Pakistan that is already potentially destabilizing. Meanwhile, it is looking to India as a future strategic partner.

India, a strategically located and emerging power, is an ideal complement to Washington's expanding presence in Central Asia. Also, by tightening military relations with India, Washington can simultaneously reduce Russia's reach to the south and add another ally to contain any future threat from China.

Every step Washington takes toward India, however, detracts from its policy in Pakistan. And each move to support Islamabad is seen by New Delhi as a slight to India.

Thus Mr. Powell's visit, couched in terms of stemming the tensions over Kashmir, was a delicate walk along a narrow edge. The secretary of state was tasked with reducing the threat of imminent war in South Asia.

Mr. Powell's statements during his visit were filled with nuance and slight variations, in attempts to appease both sides without alienating either.

For example, before flying to Pakistan, Mr. Powell said any solution should take into consideration the "wishes of the Kashmiri people" - a nod to Pakistan's endorsement of a referendum in the region. Upon arriving in India, he said the issue should be resolved by direct dialogue between India and Pakistan. The subtle difference plays to India's adamant opposition to third-party negotiations.

Mr. Powell supported Gen. Musharraf's recent speech calling for a crackdown on Islamic militants, commending the Pakistani president for taking steps in the right direction. He also extended President Bush's invitation for Gen. Musharraf to visit Washington.

•Rodger Baker is a senior analyst at Stratfor in Austin, Texas, a provider of global intelligence to private companies and subscribers. Its Web site is Stratfor.com.


-------- MILITARY

Today in History - Jan. 27 - Military

The Associated Press
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A43450-2002Jan26?language=printer

... In 1944, the Soviet Union announced the end of the deadly German siege of Leningrad, which had lasted for more than two years.

In 1945, Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland....

In 1973, the Vietnam peace accords were signed in Paris....

-------- afghanistan

US silence and power of weaponry conceal scale of civilian toll

Saturday, January 26, 2002
Sidney Morning Herald
http://www.smh.com.au/news/0201/26/world/world3.html

Many factors combine to make an accurate count of the innocent victims of US bombing in Afghanistan almost impossible, writes Craig Nelson in Niazi.

On one side of the ravine are the battered walls of three mud-brick houses where a feast to celebrate a marriage contract ended only hours before bombs from United States warplanes rained down. Strewn among chunks of cement and charred wood are signs of a party: half-eaten food and a burned dress embroidered with gold, silver and blue thread.

On the other side of the ravine, about 100 metres away, are the remnants of three other, nearly identical, buildings. Spilling from these ruins, however, are the village's open secret: hundreds of dented and shredded grey metal boxes filled with mortar shells, rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank rockets dumped by the Taliban militia as they fled the Afghan capital in mid-November.

The razed hamlet of Niazi in the foothills of the Safed mountain range in eastern Afghanistan reflects the failure of the US bombing campaign that ousted the Taliban from power.

While the US's high-tech bombs destroyed a legitimate military target, researchers say that they also killed 52 civilians innocent of any ties to the Taliban or the al-Qaeda terrorist network they had harboured.

US military officials have refused to disclose details of civilian casualties in Afghanistan, but a recent four-day journey through two of the nation's 31 provinces indicates that they have not been rare during Operation Enduring Freedom.

In seven sites alone, witnesses said 164 civilians had been killed by US bombing, suggesting that the total nationwide may well run into the thousands.

The now-waning US bombing campaign has not been indiscriminate. Indeed, since it began on October 7 it has been remarkably accurate, with bombs largely hitting their intended targets, thanks to precision-guided bombs and Pentagon guidelines.

The problem, villagers and local authorities say, is that targeting has sometimes been based on inaccurate or misleading intelligence provided to US forces by local allies, resulting in unnecessary civilian deaths.

In the case of the December 30 strike on Niazi, US pilots or their ground spotters with laser devices were apparently told all six houses contained weapons or hard-core Taliban supporters, for each had been directly hit.

Haji Kali, a 50-year-old elder from the nearby village of Aram Khel, said disagreements over land and water distribution led rivals of the three families in Niazi to finger all its homes and residents for US retaliation. Now, he said, he wanted a satellite telephone from US forces so he could settle a few political scores too.

Haji Kali, who said his brother had been killed in US bombing in the eastern city of Gardez, said: "Some day it will be my turn, and I'll contact the United States and tell them about a village I don't get along with."

While at least part of Niazi was a valid military objective, some targets of US bombs appear to have been questionable from the start. Dr Noor Bashir of the Al-Fatah hospital in the eastern city of Khost said US bombing of the Light of Koran mosque there last month, during the final days of the holy month of Ramadan, killed 65 people.

Requests to the US military garrison in Khost for comments on this attack were turned away, so it is unclear why Pentagon military planners appeared to have decided that the prospect of killing suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda supporters praying inside the mosque was worth the anger such an attack would arouse among local Muslims.

Ayum, 22, a guard at the ruins of the mosque, said: "Although it was considered an 'Arab mosque', we're still angry because the Americans destroyed the House of God."

In the absence of public disclosure by the Pentagon of its findings on civilian casualties, the difficulties of confirming local allegations are considerable.

The enormous power of modern weaponry has, in general, complicated the task of determining death tolls from war. Bombs that once killed with fire and shock waves now vaporise and shred. Mud walls have no resistance to them, even if they are dropped on nearby military targets, and they leave few identifiable remains.

In Afghanistan, poverty, religious practices and the lack of stable public administration make the task even harder.

"I've worked in more than a dozen war zones around the world, and have found it more difficult to obtain accurate information about civilian casualties in Afghanistan than anywhere else," said Peter Bouckaert, a researcher at Human Rights Watch in New York who recently conducted interviews with victims' relatives near the Afghan capital.

No census has been conducted since 1979.

Also, the Muslim custom of burying the dead immediately often means that counting bodies to match villagers' testimony is impossible.

Furthermore, Mr Bouckaert said, girl casualties were rarely counted among the dead from bombing. In one case, he said, a villager listed all of the cattle killed, with detailed descriptions before - after some prodding - remembering that his neighbour's daughters had also been killed.

Witnesses to air strikes often provide little more information. Many do not know the identity of people living in other compounds, and women know little about what happens outside the walls of their own house.

How many individuals lived in Niazi, for example, could not be independently confirmed since no municipal records, such as birth certificates, marriage licences or army discharge papers, exist in Afghanistan.

Indeed, Afghans often do not know their exact age, and the poor often cannot afford to have gravestones engraved with the the name, birthdate and date of death of the deceased.

Although some reports estimated the death toll from the US bombing in Niazi at more than 100, the International Rescue Committee put the figure at 52. "We consider this a very accurate number," said Jandel, a Red Cross researcher.

"We have interviewed relatives to determine the exact number. There were so many body parts that we couldn't rely on corpses alone."

While the precise number of civilian casualties may never be known, the full impact of war cannot be measured unless its human cost is tallied, Mr Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch said.

"The bombing campaign was a traumatic event for many Afghans, and relatives of victims are desperate to get some answers about what happened, in order to allow them to make sense of their loss.

"It's also important that the US military learn from its mistakes and take greater precautions to prevent civilian casualties in the future."

--------

No Qaeda at U.S. Target This Week, Afghan Says

New York Times
January 26, 2002
By CRAIG S. SMITH
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/26/international/_26CND-AFGH.html

TAREENKOT, Afghanistan, Jan. 26 -- The governor of this area said today that there were no Taliban or Al Qaeda members in the district where the Pentagon reported killing 15 fighters and capturing 27 others earlier this week.

The governor, Jan Muhammad Khan, was appointed by the head of Afghanistan's interim government, Hamid Karzai, and himself had been jailed by the Taliban.

"There was a rumor coming from Kandahar that there were al Qaeda'' at the site, he said, "but there were none.'' Kandahar is 60 miles to the south of the fighting.

On Thursday the Pentagon reported the most intense fighting in recent weeks in Afghanistan, saying that American troops had stated a predawn raid on Hazar Qadam, a district of Oruzgan town. Mr. Khan, the governor of Oruzgan province, said today that about 60 people died in the raid, a figure far exceeding the Pentagon estimate. He said the dead included some of his own forces who were guarding seized weaponry.

Mr. Khan said he has overseen the collection of arms and vehicles once belonging to the Taliban in that district, and collected some 500 weapons and 27 sport utility vehicles a month ago.

An American staying at the governor's compound, who gave his name simply as Jeff, refused to talk to a reporter other than to say that he assumed "there will be a government response.''

Soldiers under the governor interviewed later said that they had found no Taliban left in the region and that the road to Hazar Qadam anmd Hazar Qadam itself are under their control.

-------- africa

60 Dead in Burundi Fighting

WORLD In Brief
Saturday, January 26, 2002; Page A19
Associated Press
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A40880-2002Jan25?language=printer

BUJUMBURA, Burundi -- More than a week of fighting between the rebels and the army in two towns outside Burundi's capital has left at least 60 people dead, witnesses said.

The fighting began Jan. 15 near Kanyosha, about five miles from Bujumbura, when army helicopters started strafing fields outside the town, said a resident who witnessed the attack.

Covered by the helicopters, soldiers moved in to engage rebels positioned in the hills, witnesses said. All the witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared for their safety. At least 24 people were killed in the crossfire, they said.

On the same day, the army launched attacks against rebel positions outside Sare, about seven miles northwest of Bujumbura, residents said. At least 36 people have been killed in the fighting near Sare, residents said.

Col. Augustin Nzabampema, an army spokesman, confirmed the fighting in the two areas but said the ongoing clashes made it impossible to know exactly how many people had been killed.

-------- arms sales

Beijing decries sanctions placed on its companies

January 26, 2002
Washington Times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20020126-10838248.htm

BEIJING (Agence France-Presse) - China yesterday condemned as "unreasonable" U.S. sanctions imposed on three Chinese firms accused of supplying Iran with materials used to make chemical and biological weapons.

"The U.S. decision to impose sanctions on Chinese companies using so-called domestic laws and country-specific policy is unreasonable and should be cancelled," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It said that China, as a member of an international convention on the restriction of chemical weapons, exercised strict controls over the export of materials that could be used to manufacture such weapons.

"China is opposed to any country developing chemical weapons, and furthermore does not help any country develop chemical weapons," the statement said.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Thursday restrictions had been placed on Liyang Chemical Equipment, the China Machinery and Electric Equipment Import and Export Co., and an individual broker and agent named as Q.C. Chen.

"The penalties were imposed for the transfer to Iran of equipment and technology that's used for the manufacture of chemical and biological weapons; equipment that's controlled under what's called the Australia Group," he said.

The Australia Group is a 34-nation informal agreement designed to ensure the export of certain chemicals does not contribute to the spread of chemical weapons. The United States is a participant in the group. China and Iran are not.

The sanctions were imposed on Jan. 16 under the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000 - U.S. legislation that prohibits the sale of chemical and biological weapons components and missile technology to Iran, designed to stop Tehran from acquiring weapons of mass destruction.

The sanctions, which will be in effect for two years, prohibit U.S. government contracts with the three businesses and bars them from purchasing defense items from the United States.

The U.S. announcement, less than a month before President Bush is due in Beijing for a summit with President Jiang Zemin, puts the spotlight on China's proliferation record.

A level of cooperation has emerged in mutual relations recently after the two sides agreed to work together to combat terrorism in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

However, weapons proliferation ranks with human rights and Taiwan as issues having the potential to derail ties.

U.S. Ambassador to China Clark Randt said this week that China's actions in limiting the spread of weapons was a "make or break" issue for future ties.

Washington was not satisfied with China's weapons-export controls, he said, and nonproliferation would be one of the issues raised by Mr. Bush during his visit.

"We do not want Chinese materials or technology involved in the production and delivery of weapons of mass destruction to wind up in the wrong hands," Mr. Randt said during a speech in Hong Kong.

"Our experience to date is that China does not have an effective export-control regime for sensitive materials and items. I should be crystal clear on this point. Nonproliferation is a make or break issue for us."

This is the second time in less than six months that Washington has imposed sanctions against Chinese companies believed to be involved in proliferation.

On Sept. 1, Washington imposed sanctions on a Chinese state-owned firm it accused of funneling missile technology to Pakistan. China denied the charges and Pakistan said it received no missile components.

-------- asia

Sri Lanka

Briefly,
January 26, 2002
Combined dispatches and staff reports
Washington Times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20020126-577268.htm

Sri Lanka's army chief, Lionel Balagalle, apologized to the country's Buddhist hierarchy Thursday over a clash a day earlier between his men and police outside the country's holiest Buddhist shrine, the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy. Troops smashed police vehicles after a traffic cop got into an argument with an army driver. Police fired in the air as dozens of army men broke police barricades protecting the temple and beat up policemen.

Tamil rebels welcome new government hints

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Tamil Tiger rebels at the center of an ethnic war in Sri Lanka said Thursday it was encouraged by a government statement that it was considering lifting a ban on the rebels.

It would help pave the way toward peace talks, said the rebels.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said this week he was considering revoking the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a key rebel demand.

"The deproscription of the LTTE will be a recognition of the legitimacy of the Tamil people's struggle," Anton Balasingham, the Tiger's chief negotiator, was quoted as saying by the pro-LTTE Internet site http://www.tamilnet.com.

Earlier, Tamilnet reported that Norwegian mediators held talks with Tamil Tiger rebels in London this week on a possible cease-fire in Sri Lanka's 18-year civil war.

-------- balkans

Milosevic war crimes case faces collapse

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic in Belgrade
26 January 2002
Independent (UK)
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/europe/story.jsp?story=116523

The trial of Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes in Kosovo is on the verge of collapse because former aides have refused to testify against him.

The case hinges on evidence collected by Western intelligence officers rather than the UN's own investigators, and some of the 90 witnesses who provided testimony against the former Yugoslav president have died.

Three weeks before it is due to open, Europe's most important war crimes trial since Nuremberg is reported to be in such disarray that prosecutors travelled to Belgrade earlier this week to try to shore up the case. But despite visiting several of Mr Milosevic's allies in their jail cells and homes, the team led by the British barrister Geoffrey Nice came away empty-handed, according to sources in Belgrade.

Mr Nice flew to Belgrade on the same flight as Mr Milosevic's wife, Mira, who had been visiting her husband in his cell in Scheveningen in the Netherlands.

Mr Milosevic is accused of the murder of 900 Kosovo Albanians and the forced eviction of 800,000 civilians from their homes in 1999.

The UN tribunal was adamant yesterday that it was "ready" to try Mr Milosevic for crimes against humanity in Kosovo. But Florence Hartmann, a spokeswoman for the UN chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, said the court may decide next week to postpone the case, which is due to begin on 12 February.

Prosecutors want judges to join the Kosovo trial with indictments against Mr Milosevic for war crimes in Bosnia and Croatia, for which there is said to be abundant evidence. Judgesare due to discuss unifying the indictments at a hearing on Wednesday. If they do, they would have to postpone the trial to allow more time for preparation of the Bosnian and Croatian cases against Mr Milosevic.

Ms Hartmann denied that the Kosovo case was collapsing: "We are ready. We don't have any problem with the Kosovo case," she said.

But the case has a fundamental weakness in that the testimonies it relies on are exclusively from Western officials based in Kosovo before Nato air raids began in March 1999, and from ethnic Albanian victims. The credibility of some of these testimonies is in doubt because they were gathered by intelligence officers, and not by the tribunal's own investigators.

Members of Mr Milosevic's inner circle could provide the missing pieces of the puzzle, but it is unlikely that any regime insiders, who share Mr Milosevic's Serb nationalist views, would travel to The Hague to testify against the so-called "Butcher of the Balkans".

His supporters still describe the armed ethnic Albanian rebellion in Kosovo as "terrorism", and view the trial against Mr Milosevic as a Western conspiracy against freedom-loving Serbs. They fear being branded "traitors of the Serb nation" if they testify.

Serb authorities are still balking at Mr Nice's request for two top Milosevic aides be handed over. Nikola Sainovic and Vlajko Stoiljkovic were respectively the official in charge of the security forces in Kosovo and the Interior Minister. The pair, along with their boss, were indicted for war crimes in Kosovo in 1999.

The UN team interrogated Rade Markovic, chief of the secret service under Mr Milosevic, in his Belgrade prison cell three times. Mr Markovic is on trial for his alleged role in an assassination attempt against the former opposition leader Vuk Draskovic.

Mr Markovic's lawyer, Dusan Masic, said his client was willing to go to The Hague, but analysts doubt that his testimony would benefit the prosecution.

-------- business

INSIDER TRADING
General Dynamics Corp.

Monday, January 21, 2002; Page E09
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A12273-2002Jan20?language=printer

... David D. Baier, vice president, exercised an option for 6,040 shares of common at $33.09 each on Dec. 3 and sold 818 shares at $80.41 each on Dec. 17. To cover the expenses of the transaction, Baier turned in 2,422 shares and now directly and indirectly holds 21,854.

David H. Fogg, vice president, exercised an option for 10,000 shares of common at $33.09 each on Dec. 20 and sold 3,045 shares at $78.90 each on Dec. 21. To cover the expenses of the transaction, Fogg turned in 3,292 shares and now directly and indirectly holds 35,021.

John K. Welch, officer, exercised an option for 20,000 shares of common at $33.09 each on Dec. 8 and sold 9,110 shares at $78.64 each on Dec. 19. To cover the expenses of the transaction, Welch turned in 2,686 shares and now directly and indirectly holds 62,462.

Michael W. Toner, vice president, exercised an option for 7,260 shares of common at $33.09 each on Dec. 27 and sold 4,027 shares between $78.65 and $78.76 each on Dec. 28. To cover the expenses of the transaction, Toner turned in 236 shares and now directly and indirectly holds 33,413....

-------- colombia

Bogota tense after bike bomb kills five

Sunday January 27, 4:20 AM
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/020126/1/2d0na.html

The Colombian capital was tense, with downtown streets deserted and police on high alert, after a bomb hidden on a bicycle blew up the day before, killing five and injuring 21.

Another booby-trapped bicycle and a bomb hidden in a supermarket cart were discovered and defused by police before they exploded, police said.

The explosion occurred Friday in a restaurant popular with police officers in the southern part of the capital, police General Jorge Linares Mendez said.

Perpetrators hid a time-release explosive in a satchel on a bicycle abandoned outside the restaurant.

No one had claimed responsibility for the blast Saturday but security forces attributed them to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Intelligence sources also blamed the FARC for destroying electricity towers near Bogota over the last week, and blowing up a valve on a dam that holds water for the capital last Sunday.

"These are not revolutionary acts, they are against civilians. They are terrorist acts. And, I repeat, acts which the international community and Colombians reject," President Andres Pastrana fumed Saturday.

"The FARC must clarify if this is how they want to be known to the world," said Pastrana, demanding to know if the rebel group, which just days ago committed to negotiating cease-fire, was mocking him.

On January 20, after days of intense diplomacy, with the army set to invade a rebel safe haven in the south, Pastrana and the FARC brought their three-year-old peace process back from the brink of collapse, signing a deal committing to continued talks and a cease-fire by April 7.

But military and police sources also blamed the FARC for attacks late Friday in three Colombian towns that left one dead and two wounded.

Many of Bogota's eight million residents turned off their lights for three minutes late Friday, joining an unprecedented protest against violence, called by Bogota Mayor Antanas Mockus.

In southern Colombia, in the heart of the Switzerland-sized rebel safe haven, UN envoy James LeMoyne and diplomats from ten countries supporting the peace process met Friday with Manuel Marulanda, the founder and leader of the 16,500-strong FARC, an official source said.

Colombian government officials are to meet with representatives of Colombia's second-largest rebel group, the 4,500-strong National Liberation Army, in Havana Tuesday for a "peace summit" that will also include members of civil society. The meeting is to last through January 31.

Colombia's four-sided civil war -- involving the two leftist groups, the army, and right-wing paramilitaries -- has claimed some 200,000 lives since 1964.

-------- iraq

Iraqi Foreign Minister in Iran

Jan. 26 2002
UPI
http://www.washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/26012002-062643-9667r.htm

TEHRAN, Iran -- In a bid to normalize ties between the two former war foes, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri arrived in Iran Friday for a four-day visit, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

During his stay in Iran, Sabri will meet with Iranian leaders, including President Mohammad Khatami and Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi.

"I have come from Baghdad at the invitation of my counterpart Kamal Kharrazi and I hope my discussions with Iranian authorities on the last outstanding issues from the war would achieve peace," Sabri told reporters as he arrived in the Iranian capital Tehran.

Iran and Iraq fought a devastating eight-year war which claimed nearly one million lives on both sides. Though the conflict ended by a UN-brokered ceasefire in1988, the two neighbors have yet to normalize relations.

Among the major stumbling blocks are the question of prisoners of war and support for each country's opposition groups.

Baghdad says Iran is still holding 29,000 Iraqi prisoners, a claim repeatedly denied by Iran. Tehran, for its part, asks for the return of its 3,200 soldiers whom it says are still in Iraq.

The two sides, however, seem to have been working recently towards an end to this dispute. Just over the week, Iran freed 682 Iraqi POWs, and the two countries agreed to exchange shortly the remains of some 1,220 Iraqis and 574 Iranians who died in captivity.

Another obstacle is the hosting by Iraq of the Iranian armed opposition group, the People's Mujahedeen, and the presence of some 500,000 Iraqis in Iran living as immigrants and refugees, among them political groups acting against the regime in Baghdad.

As yet another sign of thaw in relations between the two countries prior to Sabri's trip to Tehran, Iran announced Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with its former enemy to start flights to Baghdad and to use Iraqi airspace for direct flights to Syria. Since the outbreak of war in 1980, flights between Tehran and Damascus have taken the long route over Turkey.

The carrier Iran Air said Thursday it intended to organize as many as four flights a week by April at the earliest, connecting Baghdad with Tehran and two other Iranian cities of Shiraz in the south and Mashhad in the northeast. The flights would undoubtedly ease the transfer of a huge number of eagerly waiting Iranian pilgrims who have, in recent years, had to either take the long way to Syria or, if to choose a shorter mileage but more tedious, cross the Iraqi border with Iran to reach the Shiite holy sites in Iraq.

The move is likely to anger the United States, which, in discord with some other Security Council members, has maintained that any flights to or from Iraq, including civilian flights, would lie within the UN sanctions imposed on the country after the 1991 Persian Gulf war.

----

Iraq exiles accused of wasting $2m aid

BY RICHARD BEESTON,
DIPLOMATIC EDITOR
SATURDAY JANUARY 26 2002
The Times (UK)
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2002040000-2002042068,00.html

AMERICAN support for the main Iraqi opposition group challenging Saddam Hussein has been thrown into doubt after a report by the US State Department alleged that the London-based organisation had misspent millions of dollars of aid.

As the Bush Administration turns its sights on the Saddam regime for the next phase of its war against terrorism, it has suspended some funds for the group, the Iraqi National Congress (INC).

The group of exiles is an umbrella organisation representing various anti-Saddam factions. It became the major recipient of American funding after the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act, which authorised tens of millions of dollars to be spent encouraging the overthrow of Saddam.

Critics have dismissed the group as "Gucci guerrillas" and charged that its members spend more time at its Knightsbridge headquarters than opposing Saddam's forces on the ground. Adding to the jet-set impression are the serious allegations contained in a 33-page report prepared for the State Department's inspector-general last year and obtained by The Times.

In an audit of spending in the spring of 2001, the report charges that the INC misspent $2.2 million (£1.6 million). It recommends that some of the money should be returned to the American Government, some accounted for with further documentation, and that future funding be suspended until the matter is resolved.

The State Department's rigorous audit challenged salaries, travel costs and other expenses by the group, which has offices in America, Iran, Syria and Turkey. It even uncovered some embarrassing examples of dubious spending, such as a £40 bar bill at a hotel and £1,500 membership fee for a gym in Washington.

In a detailed response the INC said that it had not misspent the funds but accepted that it should tighten its accounting. It also said that detailed documentation about clandestine operations in and around Iraq could endanger its members in the field.

Richard Armitage, US Deputy Secretary of State, told The Times this week that he hoped to unfreeze US funding to the group as soon as it improved its accounting procedures.

Sharif Ali, a spokesman for the INC in London, believes that the release of the report may also have been politically motivated, because the State Department is wary of launching a serious military attempt to overthrow Saddam.

The INC sees itself very much like the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan. It believes that with American air support and military funding its forces, which include Kurds and Shia Muslims, could bring down the Baathist regime, like the Taleban.

"Nobody seriously believes that if the US decides to take action in Iraq, Saddam will be able to remain in power," Mr Ali said.

A senior American official suggested this week that plans may already be under way to step up military action if Iraq does not allow the return of UN weapons inspectors, expelled three years ago. "We are coming to a critical point with Iraq," said the official, who accused Iraq of aggressively pursuing weapons of mass destruction. "They need to let the weapons inspectors back in. If they don't there will be consequences."

-------- israel / palestine

Suicide Bombing Rocks Tel Aviv
Palestinian Attack Injures at Least 25; Israel Responds With Airstrikes

By Lee Hockstader
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, January 26, 2002; Page A17
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A40425-2002Jan25?language=printer

TEL AVIV, Jan. 25 -- A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself to pieces on a pedestrian mall teeming with immigrants and foreign laborers today, wounding at least 25 people. The Israeli government retaliated swiftly, sending F-16 warplanes to attack targets linked to Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The bombing, at 11:15 a.m. in the Tel Aviv neighborhood of Neve Shaanan, or "Tranquil Oasis," occurred shortly after an Israeli missile attack in the Gaza Strip killed a senior commander of the Islamic Resistance Movement, known as Hamas. Two other Hamas members were killed by Israeli troops in a separate exchange of gunfire.

Both sides issued warnings and threats of further assaults, raising fears that a recent rise in violence here is likely to intensify even more in the days ahead. Israeli police warned of further terrorist attacks, and security officials cited specific intelligence about suicide bombers and other attackers on their way to Israel.

"We don't need intelligence to know there have been a lot of attempts and there will be more attempts," said Shlomo Aharonishky, the Israeli police chief.

The bomber was a member of the militant Islamic Jihad, according to a television station run by the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon. The Reuters news agency reported from Beirut that the station, Al Manar, identified the bomber as Safwat Abdurrahman Khalil, a member of Jihad's Jerusalem Brigades.

Arafat's Palestinian Authority issued a statement condemning "any action that harms Israeli civilians." The Israeli government rejected the statement, holding the Palestinian Authority and Arafat responsible for all Palestinian violence against Israel.

"We are dealing with animals and we have to treat them like animals," said Gideon Ezra, Israel's deputy minister of public security.

Israel's retaliatory missile strikes hit buildings used by Palestinian Authority security forces in Tulkarm, on the West Bank, and in Gaza City, according to witnesses interviewed by Reuters. Palestinian officials said at least two people were wounded in Gaza. The Israeli army said it had no comment.

This morning's attack targeted one of the busiest spots in Tel Aviv at the one of the busiest times of the week. The Neve Shaanan pedestrian mall, near an abandoned bus station, is thronged on Friday mornings with workers from Romania, Thailand and the Philippines as well as blue-collar immigrants -- Russian-speakers from the former Soviet Union, Ethiopians and others.

The wounded ranged from a 4-year-old boy to a 65-year-old Ethiopian immigrant who was on his way home from a wedding. Three of the victims were in critical condition, one of them a man in his forties with shrapnel lodged in his brain.

This morning, the start of most Israelis' weekend, thousands shopped for cheap goods and food in the neighborhood, wandering among street vendors, money-changers, shops selling telephone cards, knots of men drinking beer in the sunshine at outdoor tables and figures from Tel Aviv's demimonde. Suddenly, the pleasant bustle was shattered.

"I heard an explosion like I never heard before in my life," said Meir Setone, a witness to the attack. "I saw people flying. . . . The terrorist had asked my friend, 'Is this Neve Shaanan Street?' My friend said yes and a few minutes later [the terrorist] exploded alongside a motor scooter."

Police said the bomber wore a belt packed with explosives, and journalists at the scene found scattered bits of cylindrical metal shrapnel, somewhat larger than pencil erasers and slightly jagged, littering the ground. Blood and bits of flesh were spattered on the front walls of the Pub Maestro, a beer garden in front of which the bomber detonated his device amid tables and chairs filled with drinkers. Windows were shattered, and the pavement was gouged by the shrapnel.

Meir Chen, 32, a convenience store owner, had just walked out his front door on his way to a small warehouse when the explosion shook the street. A piece of shrapnel flew into his head, just above the left temple but not deep.

"The doctor said it's a good thing it hit the way it did," Chen said from his hospital bed, his head wrapped in gauze. "If it had been somewhere else it would have gone through my brain and killed me."

He marveled at his good luck. "I help others and try to be a good person," he said. "This is my redemption from God."

Chen said that immediately after the explosion, he saw some people, enraged, beating the bomber's remains with sticks. Other witnesses said nothing of the bomber remained intact except his legs.

----

Which are the terrorists?

Editorial Roundup
January 26, 2002
Washington Times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20020126-25519794.htm

Excerpts of editorials from newspapers around the world:

ROME: Il Manifesto

Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon has thrown a net around Palestine - arbitrarily judging and executing those he considers enemies and holding Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat under arrest - while U.S. President George W. Bush agrees with it all.

Why do we label only Hamas as terrorists? Israel and Hamas have behaved in exactly the same way, but with an enormous disparity in force. On one side you have the occupying state which portrays itself as the victim of those it oppresses, on the other, the radicalization of those who have nothing more to lose and just one more weapon left - their own lives.

Arafat has appealed in vain to the United Nations. Europe has not uttered a word.

Instead, the United States has given itself a license to intervene militarily where it wishes. Israel spurs the Americans on, yesterday against Iraq, today fingering Iran.

Who would bet against fundamentalism - fanned by more than 10 years of Israeli and U.S. policies - gaining power in all Arab states from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf if the people there could vote?

Is this what the survivors of the Holocaust wanted? ...

Ha'aretz -

Dialogue of violence

TEL AVIV - The deadlock in the peace process and the absence of an Israeli, American or Palestinian initiative will continue to nourish the violent dialogue of [Palestinian] terrorist attacks and [Israeli] assassinations. The declaration, attributed yesterday to Hamas, about a general war against Israel is the latest testimony to the nature of the escalation which can be expected. In such a situation, in which political wisdom is absent, one can only demand and hope that Israel will impose maximum restraint on its forces. They should prevent terrorist attacks, but not punish. This war is against terrorism, not against the Palestinian Authority.

--------

President Assails Palestinian Chief on Arms Shipment

New York Times
January 26, 2002
By TODD S. PURDUM
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/26/international/middleeast/26DIPL.html

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 - In his harshest comments yet on Yasir Arafat, President Bush suggested today that the Palestinian leader was "enhancing terror" with a boatload of smuggled arms intended for use against Israel, as the president and top advisers met to consider ways to isolate and punish Mr. Arafat.

"I am disappointed in Yasir Arafat," Mr. Bush told reporters during a visit to Portland, Me., after the meeting. "He must make a full effort to rout out terror in the Middle East. Ordering up weapons that were intercepted on a boat headed for that part of the world is not part of fighting terror, that's enhancing terror, and obviously we're very disappointed in him."

That amounted to the administration's most direct and explicit criticism of Mr. Arafat yet. It also appeared to be the first time the president, or any other American official, had accused the Palestinian leader of personal involvement in the 50-ton shipload of heavy weapons that the Israelis seized and accused the Palestinians of smuggling from Iran three weeks ago.

Before today, administration officials had simply said that senior officials of Mr. Arafat's Palestinian Authority knew about the shipment, and that he had the power and duty to stop such activities.

A senior White House official later insisted that Mr. Bush had still not intended to accuse Mr. Arafat personally, noting that "the evidence indicates this was done at the highest levels of the Palestinian Authority, and whether Arafat knew or not, he still has to crack down on terrorism, and his Palestinian Authority still ordered up the arms."

Officials familiar with the meeting at the White House today said the administration was still reviewing a range of options for dealing with Mr. Arafat, from closing the Palestine Liberation Organization office in Washington to cutting off negotiations with the Palestinian leader.

Speaking to reporters at the State Department, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said only that Arafat "knows what he needs to do," to move toward a cease-fire and resumption of negotiations.

In an indication that the administration was not ready to cut off all communication, Mr. Powell noted that he had had a long telephone conversation with Mr. Arafat on Wednesday, and he added, "I expect I'll be speaking to him again in the future to see what he is able to do or what progress we can make."

Officials said it was unlikely that the administration would sever all ties with the Palestine Liberation Organization or Mr. Arafat, if only because doing so would leave no clear alternatives. But they said it was likely, for example, that the administration's special envoy to the region, retired Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, would not be going back to the region soon, as Mr. Arafat has urged.

One senior official said, "The fact that we're even considering such things shows you how low his stock has sunk, but the agenda he has to do is still clear."

In all, the administration's comments represented a new low in its relations with Mr. Arafat, which have always been marked by skepticism and worsened with his repeated denial of Palestinian involvement in the arms shipment.

"They're still sticking with this notion of pressing him, but I don't think they really believe it any more," said Martin Indyk, who was ambassador to Israel in the Clinton administration and is now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "The way he responded to their questions about the arms shipments was really the last straw."

Mr. Indyk said the sophistication and destructive power of the armor- piercing weapons, rockets and explosives seized on the ship, and the evidence that they were shipped from Iran, had raised the administration's concerns about violence by Palestinians to a new level.

"The intifada, from the point of view of the Bush administration, is a local conflict," Mr. Indyk said. "Arabs and Jews are dying, but it doesn't affect America's strategic interests. But if it explodes in a way that implicates others in the region and becomes a wider conflict, then it will impact our vital interests in regional stability, especially at a very sensitive time when we're going after Al Qaeda and thinking about Iraq."

Officials have said the weapons were loaded with the help of Hezbollah, a guerrilla group that is fighting a low-level war with Israel from Lebanon. The White House press secretary, Ari Fleischer, said today that the administration was "outraged by the role played by Iran and the Hezbollah in that operation."

Mr. Bush sent letters last week to the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt that outlined the evidence of Palestinian involvement in the weapons smuggling plot and asked them to put pressure on Mr. Arafat to make arrests.

The arms shipment was embarrassing to the Saudis, who had pressured Washington last year to step up efforts toward a diplomatic solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and to the Egyptians, because the smugglers were operating in Egyptian territory in the Red Sea on a route that would have taken them through the Suez Canal.

The standoff over the ship and the subsequent violence in the region have left Mr. Arafat increasingly isolated, under virtual house arrest in his compound on the West Bank. On Thursday, the White House, irked at a letter from Mr. Arafat that again denied responsibility for the shipment, said it understood the Israelis' reasons for quarantining Mr. Arafat with a tank blockade.

"It's almost as if the administration has accepted the Israeli way of seeing Arafat," said one Israeli diplomat. "So the question now is, how does that affect policy?"

The Palestinians' chief representative in the United States, Hassan Abdel Rahman, said he doubted "very much" that the administration would sever ties with the P.L.O.

"Those reports are not the policy of the United States government yet, and I hope they will not become the policy," he said. "That would play into the hands of Sharon, who has no commitment whatsoever to the peace process, and would, in effect, be removing the peace option from the table, creating a vacuum that would be filled automatically by the other option, which is violence and tension."

-------- pakistan

Pakistan says will not be provoked into tit-for-tat missile test

Saturday January 26, 2:13 PM
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/020126/1/2cxz3.html

Pakistan will not be provoked into responding to India's test of its nuclear-capable Agni missile, Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar said.

The test Friday from the Chandipur test range off the eastern coastal state of Orissa drew a strong response from Pakistan which described it as a threat to regional security, especially at a time of heightened tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi.

Sattar told CNN late Friday the test of the short-range missile "is bound to be considered unwise, if not reckless, at a time that is very tense".

Pakistan would not respond with its own missile test, he said.

"Our government has decided that we will not be provoked into responding to India's test, because... by doing that, we will fall into the Indian way of dealing with the situation.

"That is, adding provocation, adding to the threat on the borders, adding tension to tension," Sattar added.

Pakistan had postponed testing its own nuclear-capable missile and would wait for "a degree of normalcy" to return to the relationship with India before considering whether a test was necessary.

The nuclear rivals stand poised for war, with some 800,000 troops massed in battle formations along the border, following a December 13 attack on India's parliament.

New Delhi accuses Pakistan-based Islamic militants of carrying out the attack.

India has refused to order its troops to stand down until so-called "cross-border terrorism" ceases, despite a crackdown on Islamic extremism in Pakistan and repeated appeals for restraint from Washington and the United Nations.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who ordered the crackdown on extremist groups earlier this month, Saturday sent a conciliatory message to mark India's Republic Day.

"I would like to reiterate our readiness to engage in a serious and sustained dialogue with India to commence together a journey of peace and progress," he told Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Musharraf told senior armed forces officers Friday at their headquarters in Rawalpindi there was no reason for India to escalate tensions, and said it was up to India to take the next step towards reducing tensions.

Pakistan's armed forces were capable of facing any aggression and of causing "unacceptable damage to the enemy", he was quoted as saying by the official Associated Press of Pakistan.

The News daily newspaper said in an editorial Saturday the Indian missile test was designed to "send a warning to Pakistan and an ominous message to the world to recognise its burgeoning military muscle".

"Although India claims that the test was schedule much earlier and Pakistan was duly informed of it, that does not in any way justify continuing with it when the regional atmosphere is far from conducive for such a demonstrative exercise," the newspaper said.

It added it would not be wise for Pakistan to hold its own test given the prevailing tensions.

"Let the international community decide who is to blame for keeping the pot boiling on a nuclear battlefield where opposing forces are waiting for an accident to happen."

India said Friday the test was taken in a "non-provocative manner" and the other nuclear powers including Pakistan had been advised in advance.

----

Flattering Musharraf

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
January 26, 2002
Washington Times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20020126-67199073.htm#3

Commentary columnist Martin Gross' portrayal of Pakistan's self-declared president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, as a brave hero and the newest American ally in the war on terrorism belies both fact and precedent in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ("Pakistan's leader sees light in West," Jan 24).

The present marriage of convenience between Pakistan and the United States will only graduate to alliance status when Pakistan proves that it no longer harbors, supports or condones terrorist activity operating from its soil.

Even then, until a larger convergence of issues and ideas exists between our countries, there is little reason to expect that Gen. Musharraf will become the darling of the West. A true alliance is only as strong as the shared convictions of its members.

Pakistan's history of strongman rule and its more recent cooperation with China in developing an offensive nuclear capability show that on key issues, our countries remain far apart. If Gen. Musharraf is as committed to reform as Mr. Gross claims, then he will move expeditiously to lift the current ban on political parties in time to ensure a free and fair campaign season leading up to the scheduled October elections.

MERVYN DYMALLY
Washington

Mervyn Dymally, a former U.S. representative, served on the South Asia subcommittee from 1982 to 1994.

--

Martin Gross is only partly correct in equating Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf to Mikhail Gorbachev. Pakistan today faces the same economic collapse and social dislocation that precipitated the demise of the Soviet Union. But to contend that Gen. Musharraf's appreciation of "Western concepts ... made his choice for our side inevitable" implies that the general had a choice at all. He did not. Lacking the force or authority to either govern by fiat, as previous Pakistani military rulers have, or to institute meaningful political and religious reforms, Gen. Musharraf had little option but to allow the United States to intervene in South Asia to stave off an impending Pakistani implosion.

Now, with India massing nearly 1 million troops on the de facto border and Western leaders, along with China, pressing the general to reign in the terrorist elements tearing the country apart and pushing it to war, Gen. Musharraf finally saw the writing on the wall. Should this garner him "hero" status? Probably not.

AMBASSADOR TIMOTHY TOWELL
Washington

Timothy Towell served as the U.S. ambassador to Paraguay from 1990 to 1994; before that, he served as President Reagan's deputy chief of protocol.

-------- propaganda wars

Israel's Evangelical Approach
U.S. Christian Zionists Nurtured as Political, Tourism Force

By Mark O'Keefe
Religion News Service
Saturday, January 26, 2002; Page B11
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A40764-2002Jan25?language=printer

In an effort to solidify its relationship with American evangelicals, the government of Israel has launched initiatives that include expense-paid trips to the Holy Land and strategy sessions with the Christian Coalition and other conservative groups.

The objectives: to revive Israel's sagging tourism industry and strengthen grass-roots support in the United States. The target audience is the estimated 98 million U.S. evangelicals, but especially a subset of that group, Christian Zionists.

That group believes that Jews are God's chosen people and have a divine deed to their contested land, in accordance with a covenant described in the first book of the Bible.

But Christian Zionism is about more than private belief. Its "anything for Israel" theology has the potential to affect U.S. foreign policy in the same way that the Christian right has influenced domestic issues through political pressure.

"If I felt the administration or anyone in Congress was moving away from support of Israel, believe me, I'd encourage people to pick up the phone and tell their legislators, 'Don't you dare!' " said Janet Parshall, who hosts a weekday syndicated show on evangelical radio stations across the country.

One intriguing question, posed frequently in Israeli government and U.S. evangelical circles, is whether President Bush, who has been outspoken in his evangelical beliefs, privately holds Christian Zionist views.

"It's one of the common explanations [of] . . . why and how Bush is sympathetic to Israel and its cause," said Moshe Fox, minister for public affairs at the Israeli Embassy in Washington. "I haven't had a chance to talk to the president about this, but that view is out there, and it is quite common."

White House spokesman Ken Lisaius would not comment on whether Bush's religious beliefs might affect his actions toward Israel. "The president makes policy decisions based on policy factors," Lisaius said.

It is clear, however, that Israel considers U.S. evangelicals a vital constituency.

"Are we increasing our efforts this year? Yes," said Rami Levi, Israel's New York City-based tourism commissioner for North America.

"But we've been increasing our efforts for many years. What we know is evangelicals are very supportive of Israel. They see all of Israel -- not just our tourism, but our economy, our national interest -- as a love. It's their spiritual belief that that is the way it has to be. We can always rely on them."

The number of visitors to Israel plunged 55 percent in 2001, compared with the previous, record-breaking year, according to the Jerusalem Post. The drop is blamed on fear of terrorism and other violence.

In a marketing plan dated last month, TouchPoint Solutions, a Colorado Springs consulting agency hired by Israel's Ministry of Tourism, describes how to reverse that trend by appealing to U.S. evangelicals. Highlights include:

- Persuading the top 30 evangelical Zionists, through face-to-face meetings, to visit and promote Israel. Those named in a separate TouchPoint document, "Who are the Christian Zionists?" include religious broadcaster Jerry Falwell, Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson, Texas pastor John Hagee, best-selling author Tim LaHaye and Parshall.

- Sending a letter to the 100,000 largest evangelical churches and a postcard to 350,000 others, directing them to Israel's tourism Web site, GoIsrael.com.

- Conducting "Israel Solidarity Days" in 100 cities, beginning with Colorado Springs, from Feb. 24 to March 1. Publicly, prayer ceremonies will focus on Israel and its biblical importance. Privately, local evangelical leaders -- whether pastors, business people or athletes -- will be urged to make "solidarity trips" to Israel. Some will have their expenses paid by Israel.

"The idea is to sell the sellers," TouchPoint President Butch Maltby said, adding that the multimillion-dollar marketing plan has been agreed upon in principle, with certain aspects dependent on funding by the Knesset, the Israeli parliament.

Maltby described tourism as more than an economic matter. "It's also a political tool. Every person that comes to Israel becomes an ambassador to Israel. Every tourist becomes a public relations person."

The blurring of the lines between piety, politics and public relations was evident at a Jan. 8 meeting at the Israeli Embassy in Washington. Two representatives from the Christian Coalition were among 18 evangelical leaders attending.

Each participant received "Why Christians Should Support Israel," by Richard Booker, a Texas-based Christian minister. The booklet quotes Genesis 17:7-8 in its argument that God made an eternal covenant in which he gave "the land in which you are a stranger," modern-day Israel, to Abraham and his descendants.

Jews and Muslims both see Abraham as their patriarch. But Christian Zionists contend that Muslims don't share in the promise of land because they are the descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham and his maidservant, Hagar. Ishmael was not part of the "everlasting covenant" with God and inherited no land.

Jews are seen as the descendants of Isaac, the son of Abraham and his wife, Sarah. Isaac did inherit property. So only Jews are regarded as holding a rightful claim to the land that has been a source of international conflict since Israel became a state in 1948, Christian Zionists say.

The embassy called the gathering the first "American-Christian grass-roots networks briefing and strategy discussion." Plans call for similar discussions monthly.

During the meeting, Shari Dollinger, the embassy's officer for interreligious affairs, led a discussion of how Christian college students could lead pro-Israel events on campus. She said she also sees Israel reaching out more than ever in the United States.

"There's a new realization that we can activate the Christian grass roots," she said.

-------- space

Power Cut at Russian Space Facility

By John Iams
Associated Press Writer
Saturday, January 26, 2002; 1:31 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A42485-2002Jan26?language=printer

MOSCOW -- Power was cut to a key Russian space tracking station in the Far East on Saturday because its bill had not been paid, according to news reports.

The Russian Space Forces facility monitors satellites and is part of the Russian system controlling the International Space Station. The Kamchatka Peninsula unit switched to an emergency power system to stay online, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

After the power was cut off by the local energy company, Kamchatenergo, "the command took urgent measures to use reserve power units and diesel generators to maintain the center in a working condition," the Space Forces press service said.

"Shutting off the facility impacted its operation and could have led to the loss of spacecraft costing hundreds of millions of rubles," it said, according to the Interfax news agency. It said Kamchatenergo's actions violated government bans on power cuts at facilities of national security.

But an official of the national electricity company Unified Energy Systems, Andrei Trapeznikov, told Russia's NTV on Saturday night that none of the base's key systems was ever at risk. He denied power was cut to the station's control room or to any technology equipment that could have put satellites at risk, saying only military dormitories and other supply buildings were affected.

The Space Forces press service did not answer repeated phone calls.

According to Interfax, the service said the Kamchatka monitoring station was a key element of control over Russia's national satellite grouping and played an integral part in a system controlling the international space station Alpha.

Power shutdowns have become increasingly common in Russia as Unified Energy Systems tries to collect unpaid bills from government agencies, including the military.

In central Siberia, the Chitaenergo power company cut off supplies Friday to various military facilities, including eight army garrisons, two Air Force bases and an air defense unit, ITAR-Tass reported Saturday. It said officials at the bases were negotiating with Chitaenergo to get electricity restored.

Last Thursday, several military facilities in and around Russia's Pacific port of Vladivostok were temporarily cut off from power supplies because of debts to the local power company.

Army, navy and air force units suffered blackouts for six hours, and power was not restored until the Defense Ministry in Moscow promised to pay its $6.7 million bill.

In recent years, institutions subjected to blackouts have included hospitals, an air traffic control center and, in 1995, an Arctic submarine base where sailors forced engineers to turn the power back on at gunpoint. Two years ago, power was cut off at a strategic missile base about 60 miles northeast of Moscow. The base retaliated by sending troops to seize a switching station and turn the lights back on.

----

Russia's space forces without power

1/26/2002
UPI
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=26012002-113903-1870r

MOSCOW, Jan. 26 -- A local arm of Russia's energy monopoly on the remote Kamchatka peninsula cut power supplies Saturday to a unit of the Russian Space Forces, citing unpaid electricity bills.

The power supply was halted at 9 a.m. local time and resumed 12 hours later, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

The action outraged Space Forces officials at the Kamchatka-based control and measurement facility that is supporting the work of the Alpha International Space Station.

"The facility is within the ISS operation circuit and the power cutoff has affected its performance," said a spokesman for the Space Forces, Lt. Col Vyacheslav Davydenko.

"Moreover, it could have led to the loss of the space apparatus which is worth hundreds of millions of rubles," he added.

According to Davydenko, the situation was normalized with the help of backup power sources, the diesel generators.

The spokesman denied the measure contradicted presidential decrees and governmental resolutions from 1995 and 1998 ordering uninterrupted power supplies to the facility.

However, officials at Kamchatskenergo, a local branch of Russia's Unified Energy Systems, insisted they had notified the Defense Ministry about overdue payments and warned the military cutoffs would be introduced in case of further delays.

Andrei Trapeznikov, a member of the UES management board, told NTV television network Saturday that the Space Forces' commanders had requested cutoffs be avoided during 12-hour cycles between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. the following day when the "control and measurement facility is operating."

"We have acted in full compliance with these requests, cutting off supply after 9 a.m. in the morning and resuming at 9 p.m. in the evening," Trapeznikov added.

According to figures released Saturday by UES, the military owed Kamchatskenergo 123 million rubles ($4 million) as of Jan. 1, 2002.

The figures across the country revealed an even graver picture as the Defense Ministry's overall debt hit over 1.5 billion rubles ($49 million) nationwide, RIA Novosti reported.

-------- spy agencies

Cuba closes Russian spy base

Sunday January 27, 7:04 AM
Reuters
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/reuters/asia-86224.html

BAUTA, Cuba - A Russian spy base in communist-run Cuba has finally been closed and its electronic equipment is waiting to be transported back to Moscow, the head of Cuba's armed forces Raul Castro said on Saturday.

"The Lourdes base exists no more. It has been dismantled and the complete withdrawal is the Russians' responsibility," Raul Castro, the No. 2 in Cuba's political hierarchy after his brother President Fidel Castro, told reporters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin pleased Washington and infuriated Havana last October by announcing that Moscow was pulling out of the spy station less than 100 miles (160 km) from U.S. soil.

The decision to evacuate Lourdes, which Moscow used as a listening post for monitoring U.S. communications throughout the Cold War, spelt the end of four decades of Russian military presence in Cuba.

The full dismantling of the base, just outside Havana, apparently ran into operational snags in early January and was delayed beyond previously-announced dates, diplomatic and military sources said.

Raul Castro confirmed, however, that the base was no longer operational. "The antennae are down. Nothing works any more. There are a few Russians still there until they finish collecting the equipment and decide by what air or naval means they take back what remains there," he said.

"When all the Russians have gone, you can be invited to visit the remains of the base, the buildings that are there," he added in comments to reporters after a government rally in the town of Bauta, outside Havana. "Maybe by then we will know what we are going to do with it in the future."

Raul Castro said the Christmas and New Year festivities were the reason the full dismantling of the base had taken longer than expected.

When Moscow announced its withdrawal from Lourdes, Bush called the intelligence centre a Cold War relic whose demise would help cooperation between the United States and Russia.

But Cuba's ruling Communist Party said the financial saving for Russia, cited as its main motive, was negligible and the closure would pose a security risk.

"From the Lourdes center, Russia was receiving 75 percent of the strategic information it needed to prevent an aggression and it has been the principal tool for controlling the fulfillment of the (nuclear) disarmament agreements with the United States," a government statement said soon after the announcement.

-------- un

U.N. reveals refugee scam

By Betsy Pisik
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
January 26, 2002
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20020126-26599576.htm

NEW YORK - The United Nations disclosed yesterday that U.N. workers in Nairobi, Kenya, had been shaking down refugees desperate for asylum or resettlement in other countries.

The scheme was so lucrative the extortionists threatened to kill the U.S. ambassador to Kenya to stall an investigation.

Local staffers and others working with the U.N. refugee agency in Nairobi for years have been demanding payments of up to $6,000 for services that should have been free, according to a 22-page U.N. report released yesterday in Geneva.

The shakedown started with security guards at the gates of the U.N. office and continued with demands from low-level officials, interpreters and others who asked for money in exchange for processing interviews and paperwork, according to the U.N. Office for Internal Oversight Services (OIOS).

Last March, in an effort to derail a U.N.-led investigation, the extortionists planned to send death threats with the forged signature of Osama bin Laden to U.S. Ambassador Johnnie Carson.

The U.N. employees operated as a organized ring that, in addition to collecting money, also stole the identities of legitimate but indigent refugees.

The ring then sold their files to wealthy asylum-seekers who emigrated to North America, Britain or Australia. For the refugees, OIOS said, "The wait for assistance would be never-ending."

The scam, which apparently generated millions of dollars for staffers operating in full view of other U.N. workers, began at some point in the 1990s and apparently was tolerated by other office workers and officials of the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) for some time.

"The criminal enterprise described in the report did not appear overnight, but in its evolution, successive management of the Nairobi branch office should have seen that corruption had been seeping into the core operations of their office," the OIOS report said.

Last March, in an effort to derail a U.N.-led investigation, the extortionists devised a plan to threaten the U.S. ambassador and place the blame on bin Laden - then notorious in the region for his link to the bombing of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

A source within the Nairobi refugee office told OIOS that he had been asked to procure the letters in English and Arabic and that the conspirators felt it was necessary to invoke bin Laden to "heighten the profile" of the threat.

The extortionists also discussed plans to kidnap the daughter of a senior UNHCR official. Neither plan was carried out.

Nine persons have been indicted and will be tried in Kenyan courts on charges of conspiracy, among other charges. Additional arrests are possible, according to the UNHCR.

As many as 70 persons are thought to have been involved.

Kenya has roughly 250,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, mostly from nearby Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan.

Many of them live in UNHCR camps, where "brokers" steered those with money to members of the syndicate.

The scheme was discovered in April 2000. Among those charged are three UNHCR employees and two members of the African Refugees Training and Employment Service.

Services provided by UNHCR are always free, a fact that is advertised around refugee camps.

Ruud Lubbers, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, released a statement yesterday saying he is "shamed and outraged" by the findings.

"It shows that in a era of mass migration, global organized crime, human trafficking and smuggling, we are not immune to criminal infiltration," he said.

The OIOS said the corruption in Nairobi could exist in any part of the world where the number of desperate refugees far outstrips the willingness of nations to take them in.

But investigators also found the Kenya office to be uniquely suited to corruption and extortion.

"From the guards who were seen beating a female refugee at the UNHCR gate, to the those in the protection office who operated the criminal enterprise, to the managers at UNHCR headquarters who let the office drift without a representative for more than a year, the UNHCR apparatus failed in its obligations to the very clients it is designed to serve," the report said.

The situation today is greatly improved, the report said, with new guards, more engaged management and improved oversight.

Two investigators from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service worked on the investigation, as did their counterparts from other nations that take in asylum-seekers.

----

UN and big business form 'learning network for action'

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
January 26, 2002
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20020126-67199073.htm#3

The headline of the Jan. 10 story, "Self-policing U.N. group attracts big-name businesses," is indeed true. The newly formed Global Compact Advisory Council has attracted the leaders of major companies from the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, and current or retired corporate heads from Brazil, Ghana, Zambia and India. But also joining the advisory council are the heads of human rights and environmental groups and the president of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Global Compact is much more than a membership organization. Its companies pledge to support human rights, labor rights and environmental protection - and more than 300 have done so worldwide. But much more importantly, it is a learning network for action. No company is recognized as a participant until it has demonstrated through action that it is capable of making a difference in promoting the principles.

Participating companies report progress made in advancing one or more of the principles on the Global Compact Web site, and these reports are made available for public comment.

Whether in projects to ensure gender equality of opportunity in the workplace, assist workers afflicted with HIV/AIDS or curb pollution, their actions are speaking much louder than words.

MICHAEL W. DOYLE
Assistant secretary-general
United Nations
New York

-------- us

[Just the sort of folk one wants watching our nukes, eh? et]

Navy Officer Accused in Sex Tapes

The Associated Press
Saturday, January 26, 2002; 7:07 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A43463-2002Jan26?language=printer

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. -- A Navy petty officer is accused of making pornographic home videos with a 16-year-old girl and another sailor, police said.

Jessie Oldfield, 20, is charged with first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, according to court papers. He is a student at the Charleston Naval Weapons Station's nuclear power training unit....


-------- POLICE / PRISONERS

Bush Proposes Tracking System for Noncitizens
Maine Speech Focuses On Domestic Security

By Mike Allen and Bill Miller
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, January 26, 2002; Page A11
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A37758-2002Jan25?language=printer

SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine, Jan. 25 -- President Bush announced plans today to develop a federal tracking system to monitor the arrival and departure of noncitizens from airports, ports, and Mexican and Canadian border crossings.

A White House statement said the system "will dramatically improve our ability to deny access to those individuals who should not enter the United States, while speeding the entry of routine, legitimate traffic."

The "entry-exit tracking system," to be developed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, was included in a list of White House funding proposals for border enforcement and inspection agencies, which Bush saluted for playing a crucial but underappreciated role in deterring terrorism.

"None of us ever dreamt that we'd have a two-front war to fight -- one overseas and one at home," Bush said after touring a Coast Guard cutter here. "But we do. That's reality. And as a result, we must respond and continue to respond, and stay on alert, and help defend America. The biggest chore I have -- my biggest job -- is to make sure our homeland is secure."

A White House official said a technology for the tracking system has not been chosen, but that biometric equipment -- which can identify people through biological markers, such as their faces, palms or irises -- will be considered. The system will not come in the immediate future, because the proposed funding is for the budget year that begins Oct. 1.

Several of the Sept. 11 hijackers were in the country illegally at the time of the attacks. At Portland International Jetport, where Air Force One landed this morning, two of them, including ringleader Mohamed Atta, began their flight in an apparent attempt to avoid big-city security.

Bush said that as part of an effort to beef up border security, the budget he will send to Congress on Feb. 4 will include funds for 800 additional customs agents and a doubling of the number of INS agents, as well as the Coast Guard's largest annual funding increase in history.

The administration said total spending on border security would rise by $2.1 billion, to $10.7 billion. The initiatives are the biggest part of Bush's proposed $37.7 billion budget for homeland security efforts. But they fall short of one of the early goals of his homeland security director, Tom Ridge, who had hoped to promote efficiency by consolidating the various agencies responsible for protecting U.S. borders. After running into turf battles, Ridge tabled the idea for further study. Meanwhile, the various agencies each will benefit under Bush's plan.

The speech was one in a series of preludes to Bush's State of the Union address on Tuesday, when he will announce homeland security as one of the three centerpieces of his agenda for his second year in office. Bush appeared in this snowy port town with Ridge, the former Pennsylvania governor, whom Bush called "my very close friend."

Ridge said the challenge for ports after Sept. 11 "is to keep terrorists and their deadly cargo out, while at the same time letting our invited guests, and the commerce that we need, in."

Bush spoke after a visit to the decks of the Coast Guard cutter Tahoma, which spent 40 days off the coast of New York City after the terrorist attacks. He said members of the Coast Guard "don't get nearly as much appreciation from the American people as they should."

Mark S. Krikorian, executive director of the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, which argues for reduced immigration, said the elements of Bush's plan were not bad but were not enough.

Ridge, who made border security one of his priorities after his office was created in November, has said he wants to tighten safeguards but at the same time keep commerce flowing smoothly, a difficult balance given the 1.4 million people and 360,000 vehicles crossing U.S. borders daily.

Coast Guard officials said that some of the new money would be used for maritime SWAT teams that could quickly be moved into place to provide protection at places such as Boston Harbor, through which shipments of liquefied natural gas sometimes move. The money also will permit the Coast Guard to continue its use of sea marshals, who provide armed escorts to vessels containing petroleum, hazardous waste and other dangerous cargo.

The Border Patrol, an arm of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, stepped up its presence on the northern border, a 3,500-mile stretch that INS Commissioner James W. Ziglar, in a recent appearance before Congress, described as "porous." The Customs Service also has been seeking help; its employees had been inspecting only 2 percent of the 50,000 cargo containers arriving in U.S. ports each day, and Customs Commissioner Robert C. Bonner recently expressed concern that one might contain crude nuclear weapons.

Miller reported from Washington.

----

Australia Rejects Immigrant Policy

By Mike Corder
Associated Press Writer
Saturday, January 26, 2002; 1:30 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A42478-2002Jan26?language=printer

WOOMERA, Australia -- Behind the razor wire at Woomera's detention center, illegal immigrants are referred to by number, not name.

In the baking heat of the Australian Outback, they huddle under the few shady areas of the camp or under blankets strung between huts, lawyers who regularly visit the refugees said Saturday.

"It's dehumanizing," said Tirana Hassan, one of a group of lawyers representing about half the 800 illegal immigrants currently being held at Woomera, a former missile testing range. "They say, 'This is a big cage and we're treated like animals.'"

Nearly 200 inmates are on a hunger strike, in its 11th day Saturday, to protest conditions at the camp and the time taken to process their asylum applications. Dozens have sewn their lips together to symbolize their view that authorities do not listen to their appeals. Some have attempted suicide.

The refugees are demanding the government process their applications faster and want to move away from the isolation of Woomera, Hassan said.

All five Australian illegal immigration detention centers - which together now hold about 3,000 refugees from the Middle East and South and Central Asia - have similar conditions, but none is as remote as Woomera, built on a desolate plain 1,120 miles west of Sydney.

"They have virtually no books," said Paul Boylan, another lawyer. "They have television but many of them do not speak English."

The Australian government bars reporters from entering the centers except on rare stage-managed tours, but statements by the lawyers about the conditions are supported by accounts from refugees who have spent time in them.

The Woomera detention center is made up of one- and two-story buildings laid out in a rectangle and surrounded by a high chain link fence topped with razor wire. On Saturday a refugee was hospitalized with lacerations after falling or jumping into a roll of the wire during a protest.

"There are dads in there with wives and kids thinking 'what have I done? This was going to be our escape and we have come to a place just as bad as the place we have run from,'" Boylan said. "People regularly come to us and say '"I'm going mad.'"

The government makes no apologies for conditions or for the fact that all illegal immigrants are forced to stay at the centers while their asylum applications are being processed, which can take up to three years.

Prime Minister John Howard said last week that the system is designed to act as a deterrent to prevent other illegal immigrants coming to Australia.

Lawyers say the policy unfairly punishes the men, women and children in the camps to send a message to others abroad who are considering trying to get to Australia.

----

White House: firms will fix cybersecurity

By Dee Ann Divis
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
January 25, 2002
http://www.washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/25012002-104551-8304r.htm

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- The White House is seeking to improve the security of computer systems but is looking to the private sector to make the necessary changes without new laws from Washington, according to a White House official charged with helping to protect the nation's digital networks.

Paul Kurtz, senior director for national security on the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board -- which is part of the National Security Council -- told attendees at a Washington technology conference that the administration wanted to avoid creating new regulations.

"We want to stimulate market forces to find solutions to IT security issues," said Kurtz. "The private sector owns 80 to 90 percent of the critical infrastructure ... so if we don't have buy-in from the private sector we won't get anywhere. We won't have success."

Kurtz later told reporters that the administration also looks to market forces to address software vulnerabilities as opposed to having Congress pass a law establishing liability. The White House does favor, however, a change in the Freedom of Information Act so that companies would be more comfortable sharing information on their problems.

"We support relief from the Freedom of Information (Act)," Kurtz said. "The private sector, corporate America, small companies are saying, 'We want to share information with you (about cybersecurity problems) but we don't want it to come out another hole'."

The administration is developing a national strategy to enhance cybersecurity, which should be ready, early this summer. The strategy will be organized in part around different classes of users, Kurtz said, such as home users, large firms and small businesses. It would also look at issues by sector -- such as the finance and transportation sectors -- plus larger issues that impact the nation as a whole.

The plan would address the fact that attacks on U.S. computers can come from anywhere in the world. Efforts will be made to work with other nations Kurtz said, reiterating the White House's support for the Council of Europe Treaty. The U.S. signed the new cybercrime treaty on November 23 though full ratification remains to be done.

"The government is looking to the private sector to come up with standards to work with, said Marc Brailov, Public Relations Director for MicroStrategy, the conference sponsor. "The government doesn't have the technical expertise to (mandate standards). (Kurtz) understands that."

Brailov told United Press International that he thought, even once security standards were established, meeting them would be voluntary. "They are trying to avoid legislation," he said.

Kurtz asserted that firms would comply because it was in their best interest to do so. Brailov supported that view. "This is an issue that transcends competition. We all have an interest in this. Our industry is in sort of a unique position. We are a major player in coming up with solutions. We are also a major target."

----

Bush will seek $11 billion to secure U.S. borders

By Joseph Curl
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
January 26, 2002
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020126-511907.htm

PORTLAND, Maine - Previewing the third major plank in next week's State of the Union address, President Bush yesterday said he will ask Congress to spend nearly $11 billion next year to secure America's borders against terrorist attacks by land, air or sea.

The package includes billions to enhance patrols along 95,000 miles of coastline, hire hundreds more agents to secure 6,000 miles of land border, improve interagency communication and track the more than 300 million noncitizen visitors who come to America each year.

"We're analyzing every aspect of the border and making sure that the effort is seamless, the communication is real, that the enforcement is strong," the president told several hundred supporters and Coast Guard members packed into a portside college gymnasium.

Under the $10.7 billion border-security proposal, the federal government would spend $5.3 billion for increased border enforcement, $2.9 billion for an expanded Coast Guard role and $2.3 billion for improvements to the U.S. Customs Service. The overall budget for border security in fiscal year 2003, which begins Oct. 1, would increase by about 25 percent over this year's budget.

Included in the proposal is an extra $1.2 billion to double the number of border patrol agents for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, who would focus "particularly on the northern border" with Canada - a 4,000-mile stretch sometimes referred to as the longest undefended border in the world.

Mr. Bush said the INS, which would receive a 29 percent funding increase, must focus on the entry and exit of visitors to ensure the safety of Americans.

"The INS estimates that 40 percent of the people who are here illegally have overstayed their visas," Mr. Bush said. "[They] came because of the generosity of America, were given a period of time in which they could stay, and then they didn't leave.

"One of the things we want to make sure of is we find the 40 percent to make sure they're not part of some al Qaeda network that wants to hit the United States," the president said to cheers from the crowd, which included about 80 Coast Guardsmen.

One of the 19 hijackers that crashed jets into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon entered the United States on a student visa - one of 500,000 issued each year. He was to study English in Oakland, Calif., but never showed up for class.

Fifteen of the 19 September 11 hijackers came to America with tourist visas. Three had business visas.

Under the president's proposal, the INS would install "integrated information systems" to speed the flow of enforcement data between border security agencies and implement a new "entry-exit system" to track the arrival and departure of non-U.S. citizens. The system would "dramatically improve our ability to deny access to those individuals who should not enter the United States, while speeding the entry of routine, legitimate traffic," the White House said.

The Coast Guard, which saw its task of securing ports grow from about 2 percent of its mission before the September 11 attacks to 60 percent currently, would receive an additional $282 million under the plan - an 11 percent increase. The additional money would be used to boost intelligence, surveillence and reconnaissance of all vessels "well beyond our traditional maritime borders," the White House said.

The money, which Mr. Bush said amounts to "the largest increase in spending for the Coast Guard in our nation's history," would also be spent to provide "point defenses" for high-risk vessels and coastal facilities, including nuclear power plants and oil refineries.

The border-security proposal also would provide an additional $619 million for the U.S. Customs Service - a 36 percent increase - to be used to hire about 800 new inspectors and agents for borders and seaports. A portion of the money also would be used to buy technologically advanced equipment to reduce time-consuming searches.

While the Bush administration intends to tighten border security, Mr. Bush said commerce cannot be interrupted.

"It is so important to work with our friends to the north, Canada, and our friend to the south, Mexico, on border initatives that, one, doesn't tie up commerce but, on the other hand, prevents illegal drugs from flowing across our borders," he said.

Canada and the United States, which do $1.3 billion in trade daily, have been working hard to improve border security since the September 11 attacks. While 9,000 agents and 1,300 immigration inspectors guard the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican border, just 334 agents and 498 INS inspectors work the twice-as-long Canadian border.

But that was before September 11. Since then, security has been dramatically tightened, causing lengthy backups at border crossings and devastating some border towns that relied on business from foreigners.

The border-security proposal - dubbed "Smart Borders for the 21st Century" - is the third major plank of the president's fiscal 2003 budget he will discuss in Tuesday's State of the Union address. On Wednesday, Mr. Bush said he would propose a $48 billion increase in military spending, and he revealed Thursday a $37.7 billion "homeland security" package.

In addition to the $11 billion for better border enforcement, the entire package includes $6 billion for bioterrorism prevention, $5 billion for aviation security, $3.5 billion to train and equip local police, fire and emergency personnel and $1 billion for improvements to intelligence systems.

----

Powell urges POW status

By Rowan Scarborough
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
January 26, 2002
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020126-76636371.htm

Secretary of State Colin Powell has asked President Bush to reverse the president's position on al Qaeda and Taliban detainees and declare them prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention.

A four-page internal White House memorandum obtained yesterday by The Washington Times shows that Mr. Powell made the request and that the president's National Security Council plans to meet on the matter Monday morning.

"The secretary of state has requested that you reconsider that decision," White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales wrote yesterday in a memo to Mr. Bush. "Specifically, he has asked that you conclude that GPW [Geneva Convention II on the Treatment of Prisoners of War] does apply to both al Qaeda and the Taliban. I understand, however, that he would agree that al Qaeda and Taliban fighters could be determined not to be prisoners of war (POWs) but only on a case-by-case basis following individual hearings before a military board."

The memo provides a rare glimpse of a major dispute inside the Bush White House on what has become one of the most contentious issues in the war in Afghanistan. Mr. Powell wants the president to reverse his position. But Mr. Gonzales and most, if not all, members of the president's national security team are urging him not to retreat, according to the memo.

Mr. Bush decided Jan. 18 that hundreds of Taliban and members of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda army are detainees, not prisoners of war, and thus not subject to rights in the Geneva Convention. Human rights groups and some European politicians have protested the decision and have been especially critical of the living conditions for 158 detainees at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Administration sources last night expressed anger at Mr. Powell, whom they accused of bowing to pressure from the political left. They said that if Mr. Bush heeds his secretary of state's advice, the U.S. will have to provide detained terrorists with all sorts of amenities, including exercise rooms and canteens.

The four-page Gonzales memo to Mr. Bush comes with a signed cover sheet from Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser. The cover page asks Vice President Richard Cheney; Mr. Powell; Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld; Attorney General John Ashcroft; CIA Director George Tenet; and Gen. Richard Myers, Joint Chiefs Chairman, to read Mr. Gonzales' memo and have responses to her by today at 11 a.m.

"After receiving your comments, we will prepare a final memorandum for presentation to the president Saturday afternoon," Miss Rice writes.

In his memo to the president, Mr. Gonzales lays out his and the Justice Department's reasons for recommending that Taliban and al Qaeda are not Geneva Convention prisoners of war. The White House counsel then lists what appear to be the State Department's arguments for reversal.

Mr. Gonzales then writes, "On balance, I believe that the arguments for reconsideration and reversal are unpersuasive."

The memo shows that Mr. Powell is not only running up against opposition at the White house, but also at the Justice Department.

Mr. Gonzales writes that the department's Office of Legal Counsel "has opined that, as a matter of international law and domestic law, GPW does not apply to the conflict with Al Qaeda. OLC has further opined that you have the authority to determine that GPW does not apply to the Taliban. As I discussed with you, the grounds for such a determination may include ... a determination that the Taliban and its forces were, in fact, not a government, but a militant, terrorist-like group."

The White House counsel adds, "OLC's interpretation of this legal issue is definitive. ... Nevertheless, you should be aware that the legal adviser to the secretary of state has expressed a different view."

In addition to Mr. Gonzales and Justice, Mr. Powell is likely to run into opposition from Mr. Rumsfeld. The defense secretary has vigorously defended the treatment of captives in Guantanamo and the decision not to place them under protection of the Geneva Convention. Mr. Rumsfeld often points out that the detainees are willing to commit suicide in order to kill Americans.

"It should be noted that your policy of providing humane treatment to enemy detainees gives us the credibility to insist on like treatment for our soldiers," Mr. Gonzales wrote. "Moreover, even if GPW is not applicable we can still bring war crimes charges against anyone who mistreats U.S. personnel. Finally, I note that our adversaries in several recent conflicts have not been deterred by GPW in their mistreatment of captured U.S. personnel, and terrorists will not follow GPW rules in any event."

Mr. Gonzales also argues that invoking the Geneva Convention would make it easier for adversaries to try to charge American servicemen with war crimes.

Noting that the president has called the war on terrorism "a new kind of war," Mr. Gonzales wrote, "In my judgment, this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions requiring that captured enemy be afforded such things as commissary privileges, script (i.e., advances of monthly pay), athletic uniforms, and scientific instruments."

Placing the detainees under the Geneva Convention would give them legal protections and new creature comforts. The United States would be restricted from conducting open-ended interrogations, for example, some of which have given the FBI new insights into how the al Qaeda terror network operates.

Yesterday at Guantanamo, Republican Sen. James M. Inhofe of Oklahoma said many of the detainees held there are likely to be returned to their homelands after investigators complete interrogations that began Wednesday.

Officials would not say how long the interrogations of the al Qaeda and Taliban fighters might last. It also was not clear whether the United States would demand that detainees be returned on the condition they be put on trial at home.

"I believe after the interrogation process there's going to be a distinction made as to whether, No. 1, these people should be sent to their country and, No. 2, be subjected to a military tribunal [at home] and, No. 3, whether there should be U.S. military justice or, in some rare occasions, the same as in what John Walker [Lindh] is receiving," Mr. Inhofe told the Associated Press.

Lindh, a U.S. citizen, will be tried in federal court on charges of helping the Taliban and al Qaeda target American civilians.

Mr. Inhofe was part of a delegation of eight representatives and three senators who visited the detention center yesterday. U.S. lawmakers have said they consider the detained fighters a danger to society who would kill again if set free.

Meanwhile in Afghanistan, U.S. Special Forces troops uncovered a large cache of Taliban weapons at a compound about 40 miles north of Kandahar after a battle with holdout Taliban fighters, the Pentagon said yesterday.

Military interrogators are questioning 27 Taliban fighters captured in Thursday's raid in Hazar Kadamon. Defense officials said at least 15 Taliban were killed in the operation and that one U.S. Special Forces soldier was wounded on the ankle.

The weapons were stored at several locations in the compound, which was located in a remote part of Afghanistan, he said. The compound had three sets of buildings, one of which had a fence around it.

Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem, deputy director of operations for the Joint Staff, said the total number of detainees from Afghanistan is now 460 - 302 in Afghanistan and 158 in Cuba.

•Bill Gertz contributed to this report.

----

CAPTIVES
Criticized, U.S. Brings Visitors to Prison Camp

New York Times
January 26, 2002
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/26/international/americas/26DETA.html

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 - The airstrip at the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, is a busy place these days. No new prisoners are coming in from Afghanistan, at least for now, but many other visitors are arriving, in what looks increasingly like a salvage operation for America's reputation.

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld is to visit the prison camp at the base on Sunday to inspect conditions and review the treatment of Taliban and Qaeda prisoners. His visit comes as the camp is re-evaluating several of its procedures, including how long the prisoners have to wear blacked-out goggles, which the military has insisted are necessary to maintain tight security.

At the same time, the Pentagon, which controls access to the base, is flying in reporters from British, French, German and Australian news organizations to observe the camp. At least two representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross are also on the base, more or less permanently, along with officials interrogating the prisoners. In addition, a delegation of members of Congress visited the base today.

The visit of a crew of international reporters comes as the United States faces intense criticism from its allies about the treatment and classification of the prisoners. Yet officials said foreign news organizations were merely taking a regularly scheduled turn in the rotation of hundreds of media representatives who have been seeking access to the camp.

In a speech tonight at a fund-raising dinner in Cincinnati, Vice President Dick Cheney dismissed criticism of the handling of the prisoners. "Nobody should feel defensive or unhappy about the quality of treatment they've received," he said. "It's probably better than they deserve."

Privately, however, some officials expressed the hope that access to the camp would help quell what military officials regard as overheated accounts of life at Camp X-Ray - accounts that they see as complicating behind-the-scenes negotiations over how justice should be meted out to the foreign detainees. The uproar over conditions could ultimately affect how well President Bush's antiterror coalition holds together.

The camp now holds 158 prisoners from perhaps two dozen different countries, with at least three from Britain and one from Australia. The United States has refused to call them prisoners of war, even though it says it is treating them with the privileges that such status accords.

To classify them officially as such could compromise the ability of the United States to try them in military tribunals, officials say. For instance, under the Geneva Conventions, prisoners of war are supposed to be released when a war is over. But in this case, since war was never officially declared against Afghanistan or global terrorism, it is not clear when it might be said to be over.

Moreover, prisoner-of-war privileges are granted when prisoners are presumed to have been acting on behalf of their country. But Al Qaeda is not a country.

"At the moment, the status of these people is under discussion," Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain said on a recent radio program. "And I really don't have anything more to say than that because there are really tricky and difficult questions of what the status of these prisoners is."

With rising fear that the prisoners in Guantánamo could face the death penalty, which most of the allies oppose, Jack Straw, the British foreign secretary, has called for the British suspects to be sent home for trial.

The British are not the only ones wondering what is next. It has been more than two months since Mr. Bush issued his order allowing military tribunals, but the Pentagon has yet to issue the rules for their conduct. And officials began interrogating the prisoners only on Wednesday.

Although most of the international criticism about the detainees seems to be shifting from camp conditions to the continued uncertainty of the prisoners' legal status, the Pentagon was sparing no effort in opening the camp to media view this weekend. Among the news organizations being allowed into Guantánamo are The Daily Mail of London and the Sydney Morning Herald of Australia.

Much of the foreign press seems to think that the horrors of Sept. 11 have addled America with a "revenge lust that has swept away normal moral concerns," as The Daily Mail put it. All of Mr. Rumsfeld's protestations to the contrary, the newspaper said, add up to nothing more than "bunkum."

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Women Guard Detainees at Guantanamo

January 26, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Guantanamo-Guarding-the-Enemy.html

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) -- The Taliban fighters who wouldn't allow women to study in Afghanistan and punished them if a veil slipped or ankle showed now are getting orders from women guards and care from female doctors at this U.S. detention camp.

``In their culture they get to tell their females what to do,'' said Pfc. Courtney Sletter, 21, from Waconia, Minn. ``Well, they are now in a new culture, and I get to tell them what to do.''

There are 130 women among the 1,300 U.S. military personnel at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, and they perform much the same duties as the men. Unarmed female guards watch over the orange-clad inmates in Camp X-ray; medical workers administer care to the sick or injured; and women escort prisoners to bathrooms and showers. The women are replaced by male guards when the inmates undress.

For the prisoners, it's a world apart from Afghanistan where, until their recent ouster, the Taliban prohibited women from attending school and from working, punished them for wearing anything other than the all-encompassing burqa, and relegated them to a life without choices under a strict brand of Islam.

``Generally when you're talking to the detainees their eyes will tend to be in a downward position, possibly because they see you as a woman,'' said Sonia Kurichh, 29, a podiatrist from Washington, D.C.

Kurichh has performed surgery on at least two inmates and will be among medical personnel manning a new tented field hospital.

``Some of them utter prayers, possibly because they think I'm contaminated, but generally they've been appreciative of the care,'' she said.

Female military personnel are given a briefing on the culture clash and potential problems. So far, they say, there haven't been any. They have noticed, however, that even the prisoners who speak English address them only to ask for water or to be escorted to the latrines.

The 158 inmates are all suspected terrorists who fought for al-Qaida or the ousted Afghan Taliban regime that sheltered the network. They are locked in temporary cells of chain-link fence walls set on a cement slab, open to the elements.

``I was warned about certain aspects of their culture, like if they see ankles they will cut them off because it's a sin,'' said Emily Monson, 19, of American Falls, Idaho.

``I'm not concerned they're going to do anything to me,'' she said as she donned black leather combat boots and talked about her duties as an entry guard.

Like many women in the military here, she says she was raised in a U.S. household where men and women shared responsibilities.

``I believe that everything should be 50/50,'' she said. ``If a woman does dishes, a man should too. I'm sure they (the detainees) don't feel that way.''


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-------- environment

GAO Vows to Sue For Cheney Files
Hill Probes Enron Influence on Task Force

By Dana Milbank and Dan Morgan
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, January 26, 2002; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A40005-2002Jan25?language=printer

The head of a congressional inquiry into the Bush administration's energy proposals said yesterday he would sue the White House next week if the administration does not comply with his demands, in what would be the first legal action of its kind between the legislative and executive branches of government.

U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker, head of the General Accounting Office, Congress's investigative arm, said the White House "may be reconsidering" its nine-month opposition to releasing records of the task force headed by Vice President Cheney that drafted the administration's energy policy. Lawmakers are seeking to learn what influence companies such as Enron Corp., which had six meetings with the task force, had on the proposals.

If the White House does not reverse course next week, "it looks as if we'll be heading to court," Walker said. "Unless we get the information or we're in the middle of intense negotiations, I'm not going to sit on this much longer."

The ultimatum from the GAO escalated a battle with the White House at a time when the administration faces questions from various directions about its ties to Enron, the now disgraced energy concern led by executives close to President Bush. Democratic lawmakers have asked whether Enron had disproportionate influence in the administration because of campaign donations, a suggestion the White House adamantly rejects.

Former Enron executives disclosed yesterday that a top Bush campaign adviser, Edward Gillespie, served as the company's key conduit to the White House and House leaders. Gillespie's firm received $525,000 over nine months last year from Enron for lobbying that included the energy task force and economic stimulus legislation with tax provisions that would have helped Enron.

Also yesterday, Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, said it would file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission to determine whether Karl Rove, Bush's top campaign adviser, arranged for an Enron consulting contract for strategist Ralph Reed instead of paying him from campaign funds. The White House and Reed yesterday denied a charge, made by an anonymous source in a New York Times article, that Reed's contract was arranged to keep his allegiance to Bush during the early days of the Texas governor's presidential bid.

New information was released yesterday showing that the White House amended a draft energy proposal by the State Department to include a provision favorable to Enron. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), the White House's main antagonist over the energy task force records, released papers indicating the White House added to the final report a call to boost energy production in India. In between the draft and the final report, Enron officials had met with the task force, Waxman's staff said.

The development could be significant because the change was made at about the same time the White House was expanding an effort to aid Enron in India. The company was in a dispute with the Indian government over its Dabhol project, a gas-fueled power plan. As efforts to resolve the dispute foundered, Enron sought $2.3 billion from India for its interest in the plant. Cheney spoke twice with Indian officials and Bush was slated to discuss the matter under a campaign coordinated by the National Security Council.

The White House's energy policy, issued on May 17, recommends "the president direct the Secretaries of State and Energy to work with India's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to help India maximize its domestic oil and gas production." But there was no mention of such a recommendation in a March 30 draft of that section of the report, written by the State Department and released yesterday by Waxman. Cheney met with Kenneth L. Lay, then Enron's chairman, on April 17.

Various organizations have sought to obtain records of the energy task force's meetings, without success. Earlier this week, several Senate committee chairmen wrote to Walker encouraging him to proceed with his efforts.

"I'm confident now the appropriate people in the White House have an understanding of what our position is and how seriously we're taking it," Walker said. If there is no change, he said the GAO would file the first suit against an administration since the office was created in 1921.

Claire Buchan, a White House spokeswoman, said yesterday that "nothing has changed" in the administration's position.

New information about former Bush communication aide Gillespie's ties to the Cheney task force indicated another level of ties between Enron and the administration. Former Enron officials said their key link to the White House and Republicans on Capitol Hill was Gillespie, a former aide to House Majority Leader Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.). Gillespie had worked in the lobbying firm of former Republican National Committee chairman Haley Barbour before setting up his own lobbying partnership in January 2000 with Jack Quinn, former White House counsel to President Bill Clinton.

Gillespie "was our hired gun," recalled one former Enron employee. "Whenever we had to get in to see a Republican, the first call was to Gillespie."

After the Bush victory, Gillespie served briefly as acting director of public affairs at the Commerce Department. He then turned to representing Enron before the administration and Congress on energy policy and repeal of the corporate alternative minimum tax.

Gillespie was in touch with staffers on the energy task force in 2001. He also met with officials at the Energy Department, and helped set up meetings on energy policy for Enron representatives with key lawmakers.

The office of House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman W.J. "Billy" Tauzin (R-La.) said Enron executive Jeffrey K. Skilling buttonholed Tauzin at a fundraiser for Tauzin's political action committee on April 4 at the offices of Quinn & Gillespie. Skilling, whom Tauzin had not met before, asked for 10 minutes in private. Skilling made a pitch for legislation that would mandate state membership in regional electricity transmission organizations. Tauzin listened but said nothing, Tauzin spokesman Ken Johnson said, and soon after announced his opposition to mandatory membership.

As the economy faltered last fall and Congress and the administration began working on stimulus legislation, Enron called on Gillespie to promote a tax relief package that would include scrapping the corporate alternative minimum tax (AMT). Sources said that Gillespie contacted House leadership officials as well as the White House staff. Enron was one of dozens of companies lobbying for repeal of the AMT, which was part of Bush's proposal.

The House added a provision that would have allowed companies such as Enron to immediately claim outstanding tax credits, which in Enron's case totaled $254 million. Sources said Enron did not advocate an immediate payment. But Enron's Lay called White House budget director Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. to inquire about the status of the stimulus plan when it became clear the company was in financial peril.

Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.), asked about the report of Rove's effort to help Reed, said that there should be "full disclosure, a full and open debate about whatever connection, whatever relationship there may have been" between Enron and the administration.

Rove, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment on the Enron consulting contract for Reed. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Bush's top political adviser was merely providing a character reference. "Karl Rove gave Ralph Reed a good recommendation, as we all would, as we all do," Fleischer said.

Reed said the people who hired him "never had any conversations with Karl Rove regarding that decision" and said there was no effort by the campaign to get Enron to pay him because his firm was "being paid by the Bush campaign almost from the inception all the way to Election Day."

Reed, who obtained the Enron contract in 1997, was eventually paid by the Bush campaign and the Republican National Committee, the RNC said, with the first payments beginning in October 1999.

Staff writer Susan Schmidt contributed to this report.

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[To reply - mailto:OPED@washpost.com]

'Milking the Greens'

Saturday, January 26, 2002; Page A22
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac3/ContentServer?articleid=A40810-2002Jan25&pagename=article

In "Milking the Greens" [op-ed, Jan. 17], Robert Novak wrote that to burn coal under the Kyoto protocol, it would be necessary to purchase credits for the emission of carbon dioxide.

That is not true. Emissions trading under the protocol, to which the United States is not a party, would be optional. During the Clinton administration, U.S. negotiators fought to see that an emissions trading regime would be included in the protocol, and did so with the ardent support of American industries that stood to be affected by it.

Under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, coal-burning utilities have been voluntarily trading sulfur-dioxide emissions credits for a decade. The system has worked well for them and has contributed substantially to acid rain abatement in North America.

JOHN BRINKLEY
Silver Spring

The writer worked for the undersecretary of state for global affairs in the Clinton administration.

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

THE SATURDAY PROFILE
A Turkish Doctor's Specialty: The Torture Victim

New York Times
January 26, 2002
By SOMINI SENGUPTA
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/26/international/asia/26FPRO.html

ISTANBUL -- As a physician at the Human Rights Foundation here, Dr. Onder Ozkalipci tends to the handiwork of sadists. He talks of the most popular methods of torturers as another doctor might talk of the perils of cholesterol.

There's "falanga," the beating of the soles of the feet, and "submarino," wet or dry, which involves submerging the detainee in water (wet) or wrapping a plastic bag over the head (dry). Rape, electrical shock and mock execution are also used.

Among the latest techniques is the sandwiching of a detainee between blocks of ice, a procedure that leaves no physical marks but usually causes a lung infection within days.

Dr. Ozcalipci's job, like those of roughly a dozen full-time physicians at the foundation's five clinics across Turkey, is to rehabilitate the men, women and occasionally children who say they have been tortured by police officers and prison guards. He offers vitamins, refers psychiatric help, prescribes physical therapy to treat an injured back.

Of his work, the doctor, 43, observes, "Maybe we're masochists."

Dr. Ozkalipci is a large, lumbering man with hangdog eyes and a shock of silver hair. He speaks softly, almost in mumbles, and when he laughs, which is often considering his trade, the laughter comes in quiet, wide- grinned chuckles.

His patients may be leftists, Kurds, transvestites, criminals and, most recently, Islamists. He has treated street children - pint-size thieves as young as 5 caught snatching car stereos - who are punished by beatings and electrical shocks.

The children hit him the hardest. He has a daughter, age 7, whom he describes as his chief motivation. "You think they could be your child," he says of his youngest patients. "It's hard to imagine what they will do when they grow up."

Born and schooled in Izmir, and raised in a middle-class family, he came to his calling after witnessing what happened to his friends during the 1980 military coup in Turkey. He was in college, a self-described Socialist, and watched as his peers were hauled into jail, beaten, abused.

But if the socialism of his youth brought him here, what he has seen has drained his idealism. Although his job is to help people recover from horror, he now describes himself simply as a pessimist.

He neither entirely agrees nor disagrees with the political beliefs of most of his patients. Frankly, says Dr. Ozkalipci, who practiced general medicine privately in a small town for four years before joining the foundation in 1991, what matters to him is how his patients were tortured. Not why. "It's none of my business," he says.

Sometimes, he says, he makes people better only to see them beaten again. Despite all the expertise he and his colleagues have mustered over a decade of doing this work, the payoff is slim. Few torturers, even when they can be identified, are punished.

"There's a lot of pain and few results," Dr. Ozkalipci said. "Our country is one of the countries that has systematic torture. This is our - I can't find the word - our moral pain."

Turkish government officials dispute his claim. Last month the interior minister, Rustu Kazim Yucelen, told reporters that there had been 67 deaths in police custody over the last six years. But he said they were "isolated incidents" that resulted in the prosecutions of 112 security officials.

For years Turkey's human rights record has earned the opprobrium of local and international rights groups, and reports of torture have become central to the debate on the country's request for European Union membership. In a scathing report last month, Human Rights Watch described torture as "rampant" and accused Turkey of "little but superficial and halfway measures" to improve the human rights of its citizens.

FEW people are as intimate with the banal, redundant nitty-gritty of torture as Dr. Ozkalipci. People of all political stripes walk into his examination room, a spare chamber with gauzy curtains, a violet weight scale, a kilim rug the color of ocher.

The work itself carries political risks. The foundation, whose budget is supported by the United Nations and other international groups, has been charged by the state security courts on several occasions. The foundation's clinic in Diyarbakir, the center of Turkey's Kurdish region, which remains under emergency rule, had its patient files confiscated by the authorities in early September.

Among the patients is a pale, twiggy woman of 23, named Yeliz Sayginar.

By her own count, Ms. Sayginar, who writes for a socialist publication, has been in police custody roughly 30 times since she was 17 for her writing and political activity.

Among the most memorable was an 11- day stay in the city's antiterrorism cell. She sat blindfolded in a chair for two days, she said, subjected to a discordant serenade: military music from one speaker, pop tunes from another. Over the next nine days, as she refused to cooperate with her interrogators, she was hosed down with cold water, pummeled, kicked, stifled by a plastic bag over her head and hung by her wrists from a wooden bar.

In one such session, the cuffs slipped up her narrow arms and dug into her skin, leaving scars on her left forearm still. On another occasion, after her arrest at a demonstration protesting prison conditions, officers herded her into the back of a police van, groped her breasts and forced her to stick her head between one officer's legs. The memory of it is shocking in its precision. "I talked about this in great detail with people I love and who love me," Ms. Sayginar said. "It's also not something one forgets very easily."

FORGETTING doesn't come easily for most of Dr. Ozkalipci's patients, or for him. One patient, he recalled, suffered from what seemed like severe paranoia. The young man talked constantly about his fear of death. Then he died in police custody.

The rewards of the doctor's job are rare. Physical signs of torture - a perforated eardrum, say - are like answered prayers, offering a reason to go to court. Lately, in the trials of torture suspects, the courts have begun consulting the foundation's reports to supplement a government doctor's examinations.

Does he worry about becoming insensitive to the pain he sees? His answer suggests more a worry for his nation than for himself.

"This is a real trauma for us," Dr. Ozcalipci says. "It destroys the moral values of the nation, not just the survivor. When you start to accept torture as something normal, it destroys your sense of humanity. If you keep your silence, after a while it will destroy you."

He imagines that some Turks are afraid to speak out. He imagines, too, that many believe that torture cannot happen to them and so are not moved to care. Summing up the dismissive attitude of many people, he recalls a Turkish saying: If a snake doesn't touch me, it can live forever.


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Aggrieved Argentines takes to street

By Bill Cormier
ASSOCIATED PRESS
January 26, 2002
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20020126-9964404.htm

BUENOS AIRES - Argentine riot police firing tear gas clashed with dozens of demonstrators in the capital late yesterday, marring what was a peaceful but noisy nationwide protest against economic-austerity measures.

The violence flared after thousands of peaceful demonstrators had already left the downtown Plaza de Mayo, fronting the government palace. Police fired tear gas as shirtless youths ran about the square under a driving rain.

The protesters blocked highways and crowded into plazas in a nationwide outburst of discontent, demonstrating against a banking freeze and the country's persistent economic crisis.

President Eduardo Duhalde's government said it would strengthen security to prevent the kind of street violence and rioting that toppled the country's last elected government in December and left 26 persons dead.

The raucous pan-beating protest flared up in various neighborhoods in Buenos Aires and cities throughout Argentina.

The actions yesterday were the first major protests against Mr. Duhalde's 3-week-old caretaker government, marking a major challenge for the unpopular steps he has taken to try to improve the economy.

In advance of the protest, workers moved quickly to throw up sheet metal to cover the fronts of dozens of foreign-owned banks in downtown Buenos Aires, worried about renewed attacks against banks and ATM machines.

Interior Minister Rodolfo Gabrielli said police were on alert and warned protesters to be peaceful. "We are going to be inflexible with violent lawbreakers," he said.

Since taking office Jan. 2, Mr. Duhalde has devalued the peso by more than 30 percent and further tightened a widely despised banking freeze that has locked most Argentines' savings into bank accounts.

For weeks, Argentines have waited in block-long lines outside banks trying to take out savings. There have been scattered protests, including violent outbursts in which demonstrators have shattered bank windows and firebombed a politician's home.

In yesterday's protest, neighborhood leaders from several districts around Buenos Aires led marchers to the main downtown square, the Plaza de Mayo, the focal point of the widespread unrest that led to the Dec. 20 resignation of President Fernando de la Rua.

During the day, demonstrators blocked a key bridge on a highway leading to the southern suburbs of Buenos Aires. In another part of the capital, a crowd of some 100 people from a poor neighborhood went to a supermarket and shouted for food, but the store shuttered its gates.

At two other supermarkets in the Buenos Aires area, requests for food were peacefully delivered by neighborhood groups.

Scuffling and brawling broke out when unemployed Argentines demanding jobs marched in Guaymallen in the western province of Mendoza. gentine Research.


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