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NUCLEAR
'Dirty bomb' gear ready
Quake Near Planned Nuke Waste Site
Earthquake Strikes Near Yucca Mountain
Radioactive Market Booms in C. Asia
Pak withdraws warships from high-alert positions
UK ships due in Japan to take back nuclear fuel
Interceptor Rocket Test Ends
Navy Reports Success in Missile Defense Test
Moscow Plays Down Threat of U.S. Missile Defense
U.S. Withdraws From Missile Treaty
With a Shrug, a Monument to Cold War Fades Away
Russia Withdraws From Nuke Treaty
Russia Withdraws From Start II Nuclear Treaty
Sale of Hiroshima Bomb Parts Cleared
Quake Near Planned Nuke Waste Site
Judge Won't Block Plutonium Shipments
South Carolina Loses Bid to Bar Plutonium
S.C. Troopers to Watch for Plutonium
Lawmakers Vow to Move Swiftly on Homeland Security Department
Rumsfeld Suggests Kashmir Talks
Pre-Emption Is The Word
MILITARY
'US had role in Taleban prisoner deaths'
Nations Vow to Aid Afghanistan
Afghan Loya Jirga Enters Critical Stage for Karzai
Congo Republic on Edge After Dozens Die in Clashes
Chinese police brawl with embassy staffers
U.N. War Crimes Court to Indict 100 More People
Cyprus deadlock
Fort Detrick anthrax theory investigated by FBI
War on Terror - Iraq strike likely by winter
U.S. Attacks Iraqi Radar Site
Bush Continues Anti - Iraq Lobby
Palestinian Urges End to Militias
Expert Accuses Israel of War Crimes
Arab League Leader Warns West Again
Suicide bomber outside U.S. Consulate kills 10
11 Killed as Bomb Goes Off Near U.S. Consulate in Pakistan
Spies in Iranian skies
Senate panel votes to kill Crusader artillery system
Inside the Ring
Lawmakers See Army's Crusader System
POLICE / PRISONERS
Intelligence security cell fusion
D.C. agency keeps cash of deceased
ACLU, NAACP oppose police cameras
US condemns Karachi bomb attack
ENERGY AND OTHER
New Renewable Energy Council Invites Leadership to Convene
Device Turns Contaminants into Harmless Byproducts
G7 and the developing world
ACTIVISTS
Iceland Sends Police Abroad in Effort To Stop Falun Gong
Peruvians Protest Sale of Companies
Iceland Protesters Give China's Jiang Cold Shoulder
-------- NUCLEAR
[Gee, I feel so much safer. et in dc]
'Dirty bomb' gear ready
By Guy Taylor
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
June 14, 2002
http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20020614-27361358.htm
Local emergency agencies for months have been spending millions to acquire personal protective equipment for first responders to major terrorist attacks, including the detonation of a "dirty bomb."
"No one is as ready to respond to a dirty bomb as they would like to be, but we think we're in good shape, and we're getting better every day," said Margret Nedelkoff Kellems, deputy D.C. mayor for public safety.
Monday's arrest of a reputed American al Qaeda operative who was suspected of plotting to explode a dirty bomb - an explosive device that would spread radioactive material - might have served as a wake-up call to federal and local officials to educate the public about such an attack.
Local and federal emergency response authorities say if a terrorist exploded a dirty bomb in the city, they would coordinate a response that would likely include a mass evacuation of the District.
However, "for obvious national-security reasons, we cannot talk about our response capabilities," John Czwartacki, spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said when asked how FEMA would deal specifically with a dirty-bomb emergency.
Mr. Czwartacki said FEMA has been working with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments to connect with the local authorities in Virginia, Maryland and the District and prepare for a collaborated response to "all emergencies."
In the event of a dirty-bomb attack, scientists contend, it would take about one hour before the presence of a low-level radioactive element exposed the first wave of responding police and fire crews to more than the maximum safe dosage of radiation.
"When it comes to radiation, time and distance are the factors that play into your safety the most," said Alan Etter, spokesman for the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department.
Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta stress that the amount of radiation exposure considered dangerous depends on how much and what type of radioactive material is used in the bomb.
A dirty bomb is a relatively simple creation, in which some sort of radioactive material is mixed with such conventional explosives as might be used in a car bomb. "They really are weapons of mass disruption and not weapons of mass destruction," Mr. Etter said.
When detonated, the radioactive material is sprayed into the immediate area, so how far it spreads depends on the weather and the size of the explosion.
While a dirty bomb could kill people after prolonged exposure to radiation, those first responding to an explosion should "treat the life-threatening injuries from the actual bomb blast before worrying about the radiation," said Robert C. Whitcomb Jr., a health physicist with the CDC's radiation-studies branch. "The long-term effects would be many years down the road, when you might see latent health effects. Cancer is the main long-term health effect."
In February, the District received $156 million in federal funds specifically to prepare for a major terrorist threat, Mrs. Kellems said. The focus is on buying a new level of gear, like radiation-resistant hazardous-materials suits for police and emergency medical services workers. In the past, only firefighters had such gear.
Mrs. Kellems said that since September 11, local and federal officials realize "there is a very real potential for types of attack like dirty bombs that were not considered realistic possibilities 10 months ago." She said the $156 million has been spent among several city agencies, including the police, fire, health and transportation departments.
Much of the money has been spent on developing a terror-response plan, which the District has in place now, Mrs. Kellems said.
A general version of the response plan can be viewed by the public on the city's Web site (www.washingtondc.gov), Mrs. Kellems said.
"But the very sensitive information, like maps of where the critical infrastructure and where the city's testing equipment and what type of equipment it is, is confidential for security reasons," she added.
According to recent reports, the fire department is using the money to install radiation monitors at all of the city's 34 fire stations.
Mr. Etter said D.C. firefighters are equipped with high-tech monitors that detect the presence of radioactive material, though he declined to answer whether the monitors already are being deployed on every call.
-------- accidents and safety
Quake Near Planned Nuke Waste Site
By Ken Ritter
Associated Press Writer
Friday, June 14, 2002; 11:29 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A51090-2002Jun14?language=printer
LAS VEGAS -- A mild earthquake rumbled beneath the desert early Friday near Yucca Mountain, the federal government's proposed site for a nuclear waste repository.
No damage or injuries were immediately reported.
The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 4.4 and hit about 5:40 a.m., 75 miles northwest of Las Vegas and about 3 miles beneath the surface, said scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo.
Allen Benson, a federal Department of Energy spokesman for the Yucca Mountain project in Las Vegas, told The Associated Press that about 100 scientists and employees at the site on Friday were not reporting any damage.
Yucca Mountain, about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the site that President Bush picked in February to store the nation's spent commercial, industrial and military nuclear waste beginning in 2010.
Benson said that while operations have been scaled back since February, employees and scientists are continuing to monitor scientific studies and a five-mile tunnel bored about 1,000 feet beneath the volcanic ridge.
Nevada opposes the Yucca Mountain project, and Congress is debating whether to override Gov. Kenny Guinn's April veto of the presidential selection.
President Bush in February approved building a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, saying 20 years of study had found the ridge of volcanic rock to be a safe place to store nuclear material.
Opponents of the project have cited the possibility of earthquakes as one reason to reject Yucca Mountain as the site.
The waste, expected to remain radioactive for more than 10,000 years, would be buried 1,000 feet below ground. The Energy Department has said the earliest the Yucca facility could open is 2010.
On the Net:
USGS: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/
Yucca Mountain Project: http://www.ymp.gov
--------
Earthquake Strikes Near Yucca Mountain
June 14, 2002
ENS
http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2002/2002-06-14-03.asp
LAS VEGAS, Nevada, An earthquake measuring 4.4 on the Richter Scale was recorded early this morning deep beneath the desert near the site chosen by the Bush administration for the nation's permanent high-level nuclear waste repository.
Department of Energy (DOE) officials reported no damage or injuries at the Yucca Mountain repository site, about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Yucca Mountain (Photo courtesy DOE)
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake's epicenter was located approximately 12 miles to the east of Yucca Mountain in what DOE officials say is "a known and studied geologic zone."
There was no damage to any Yucca Mountain Project facilities, structures or the underground Exploratory Studies Facilities, the DOE said. A public tour of Yucca Mountain will take place Saturday as scheduled.
A battle is going on in Congress and in the courts over whether Yucca Mountain is safe enough to store the nation's nuclear waste including spent nuclear fuel and Defense Department nuclear waste.
Most Nevada residents and Nevada elected officials of both political parties at all levels of government are opposed to the site on safety grounds.
Nevada Congresswoman Shelley Berkley, a Democrat, calls the earthquake "a wake-up call for the U.S. Senate," which will vote on whether to override Nevada's veto of the site later this summer.
"If anyone ever wondered about the wisdom of locating an underground radioactive dump site on an active fault line, this shows why," Berkley said today. "The Yucca Mountain project is inherently dangerous. The site was chosen based on political expediency, and not scientific merit."
"Not only does the proposed repository sit on a live fault line, but the area is known for volcanic activity and groundwater movement," Berkley said. "An earthquake disrupting a repository could not only cause a radioactive breach in its own right, but could open geologic fissures in the mountain, guiding rain and groundwater directly to the waste dump, and dramatically speeding the contamination of Western water tables.
The Bush administration and the nuclear industry say the radioactive waste will be safer transported to Yucca Mountain and stored there than if it remains at 103 nuclear plants and several Defense Department locations.
Engineers test ability of Yucca Mountain to contain radioactive waste from a tunnel bored through the mountain. (Photo courtesy DOE)
Energy Department officials hastened to assure the public that after 24 years of studies they are confident that Yucca Mountain could hold the readioactive waste safely, even in an earthquake.
"Yucca Mountain repository designs could withstand a local earthquake with 1,000 times more energy than the one reported this morning and a regional earthquake with 30,000 times more energy than the one reported this morning," the DOE said in a statement.
Citizen Alert, a Nevada anti-Yucca Mountain advocacy group, is not reassured. The group says earthquakes are just one more reason why Yucca Mountain is not safe enough to contain the nation's nuclear waste. "The area has a history of earthquakes, including one in 1932 that registered 7.1 on the Richter scale, the same magnitude as the San Francisco earthquake in 1989," the group points out.
In 1992, a magnitude 5.6 earthquake occurred in the same vicinity, releasing energy about 30 times greater than this morning's earthquake. DOE officials said the 1992 earthquake "did not even dislodge boulders located on the slopes of Yucca Mountain."
-------- asia
Radioactive Market Booms in C. Asia
June 14, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Dirty-Bomb-Central-Asia.html
A passenger toted a 20-pound stash of radioactive thorium powder onto a bus in his luggage. Another smuggler, unwisely, stuck a highly radioactive capsule in his trousers pocket as he boarded a flight. Chechen rebels were the apparent customers for stolen radium in a third case.
The new nations of Central Asia have become a traffickers' marketplace for radioactive materials. It was the place Jose Padilla headed to, Pakistani investigators say, when the al-Qaida suspect sought the stuff of a ``dirty bomb.''
Confronting the threat is a big job, but the U.S. government has begun sending detection equipment to border posts in the vast region and training customs officers in intercepting nuclear contraband.
Pakistani officials said Padilla, now in U.S. custody, traveled to a Central Asian country in April hoping to buy radioactive materials. The American convert to Islam had conferred with senior members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network about detonating a radiation weapon, or ``dirty bomb,'' in the United States, U.S. authorities say.
Such a device would not be a nuclear bomb, with its devastating fission explosion, but instead would set off conventional explosives to scatter harmful radioactive material, contaminating and panicking people and forcing abandonment of parts of cities.
The Pakistani officials would not say whether Padilla was successful in obtaining radioactive substances, nor would they identify the country he was said to have visited. In Washington, U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States had no such information and questioned whether the reported mission took place.
Since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, the newly independent Central Asian states -- Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan -- have dealt with a legacy of abandoned nuclear materials and of facilities left poorly staffed after Russian specialists went home.
The only nuclear weapons in the region, in Kazakhstan, were withdrawn to Russia in the early 1990s. In 1994, a half-ton of highly enriched uranium -- raw material of nuclear bombs -- was spirited out of Kazakhstan in a U.S. operation.
But material for possible ``dirty bombs'' remains scattered and often poorly controlled in the region -- the cesium, strontium, cobalt and other radioactive substances used in medicine and industry, the low-grade uranium and radioactive waste of nuclear power plants.
``Protecting against radioactive sources is much harder than securing nuclear materials,'' said Dmitry Kovchegin, a nuclear proliferation specialist at Moscow's Center for Policy Studies in Russia. ``It's not so hard to create a dirty bomb, and it's not so hard to find the material. It's used everywhere.''
Some cases from the marketplace where Padilla allegedly shopped, based on local media reports:
--In March, a radiation check of a bus crossing into Russia from Kazakhstan found a Russian passenger had packed at least 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of thorium-232 powder into his luggage. Its radiation was ``hundreds of times'' normal background levels, authorities said. Its origin and destination were not reported.
--In Kyrgyzstan, airport guards grew suspicious of a man who looked ill as he boarded a flight to the United Arab Emirates. The Uzbek was found to have pocketed a smuggled capsule of what he was told was plutonium. Local media said it emitted fatal doses of radiation at close range. No subsequent reports emerged about the 1999 case.
--In July 2000, two brothers from Kazakhstan were arrested after allegedly smuggling radium-226 into Russia to sell to Chechens. Chechen separatists in the mid-1990s had threatened to detonate ``dirty bombs'' in Moscow, but never did.
--In Tajikistan, six residents were convicted in April 2000 in the theft from a uranium processing plant of 1.5 kilograms (3 pounds) of uranium mixed with highly radioactive cesium-137. It was not reported how enriched -- suitable for nuclear weapons -- the uranium was. All of those substances theoretically could be used for a radiation dispersal bomb.
Reports indicate that Pakistan and Afghanistan, until eight months ago a hub for international terrorism, were the destination in some nuclear trafficking cases in recent years. Those monitoring the situation have no way to judge how many other such operations succeeded in smuggling radioactive substances.
The U.S. Customs Service last year conducted a three-week course in Texas for 80 border officers from the five Central Asian republics, focusing on radioactive contraband. The Americans also have dispatched detection equipment to the Russian-Kazkh border and Uzbekistan.
Last month, Washington and Moscow announced formation of a joint task force to study securing radioactive sources in Russia. This ``shows how serious this issue is and that we're ready to solve it,'' said the Russian atomic energy minister, Alexander Rumyantsev. No similar comprehensive approach has been organized yet for Central Asia.
-------- india / pakistan
Pak withdraws warships from high-alert positions
AFP
FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2002
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=12974189
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has pulled back its warships from high-alert positions in the Arabian Sea following the Indian navy withdrawal, a military spokesman told AFP on Friday.
"Pakistan Navy has moved its assets to forward position because of the Indian posture and now they are returning to their peace-time locations," he said.
The move comes after India announced on Friday it had returned around 20 ships to base from near Pakistani waters following an easing of tensions between the nuclear-armed powers.
Comments on this article
Indiatimes Id: rumie Posted: Friday, June 14, 2002 11:22:37 PM Comment: To "kudvavinayak," same one who gave India Warships and much more. TRUTH HURTS, ...
Indiatimes Id: jai009 Posted: Friday, June 14, 2002 10:12:34 PM Comment: as a cuntry pakis have already failed. its better the world i mean indians strip...
Indiatimes Id: kudvavinayak Posted: Friday, June 14, 2002 8:41:09 PM Comment: Now who on earth gave them warships?
Indiatimes Id: j_payback Posted: Friday, June 14, 2002 8:31:07 PM Comment: Personally i think that the pak's were waiting for this move by india coz it ...
-------- japan
UK ships due in Japan to take back nuclear fuel
REUTERS JAPAN:
June 14, 2002
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/16420/story.htm
TOKYO - Kansai Electric Power Co Inc said yesterday that two British ships would arrive at its power plant on the Japan Sea coast on Friday to take back unused nuclear fuel at the centre of a long-running controversy.
The ships - the Pacific Pintail and the Pacific Teal - sent by state-run British Nuclear Fuels Plc (BNFL) will arrive at the Takahama power plant in Fukui Prefecture to collect the MOX fuel.
The fuel, a blend of uranium and plutonium oxides, will be placed in canisters for its return to Britain.
Kansai Electric, Japan's second largest power utility, was due to begin using the MOX fuel at one of the reactors in Takahama in 1999 when it discovered that BNFL had deliberately falsified data on the fuel.
British government officials later apologised, while BNFL agreed to take back the shipment - which it is now doing - and pay 40 million pounds ($58 million) in compensation.
The incident has delayed indefinitely Japan's use of MOX fuel at commercial nuclear reactors.
A Kansai Electric official declined to provide details about the return of the MOX fuel.
BNFL said in February that the fuel would be shipped back to Britain at an unspecified date under armed escort.
Environmental group Greenpeace has said the collection of the weapons-usable, toxic fuel at time when Japan is staging the World Cup soccer tournament posed a major security threat.
It said security in Japan was stretched due to the need to mobilise police for matches.
Nuclear power provides roughly a third of Japan's electricity.
-------- missile defense
Interceptor Rocket Test Ends
By Matt Kelley
Associated Press Writer
Friday, June 14, 2002; 9:15 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50333-2002Jun14?language=printer
WASHINGTON -- A Navy ship fired an experimental rocket that shot down a dummy missile more than 100 miles above the Pacific Ocean in a successful test for a sea-based missile defense system.
The exercise Thursday night showed a rocket guided by a warship's radar system can knock down a medium- or long-range missile under controlled conditions. Pentagon officials said the test wasn't meant to be realistic but would help gather data to guide further development of ship-based anti-missile systems.
Ship-based systems are among several defense methods being tested under the Bush administration's drive to create a U.S. shield against long-range missiles. President Bush's decision to pull out of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, which banned development of such missile defenses, went into effect Thursday.
Pentagon officials said the Navy test would have complied with the ABM treaty because it did not measure whether the ship-based system really could shoot down an intercontinental ballistic missile.
That's one of the ship-based system's major shortcomings, said Philip Coyle, a former Defense Department testing chief. Coyle said the interceptor wasn't fast enough to hit an intercontinental missile and the ship's Aegis radar system wasn't powerful enough to distinguish between a missile and a decoy traveling through space.
"Either way, whether it hits or misses, it's not demonstrating or trying to demonstrate a capability to shoot down intercontinental ballistic missiles at long ranges," said Coyle, who headed the Pentagon's testing office under President Clinton.
In the test, an Aries dummy missile was fired from a test facility in Kauai, Hawaii, and an interceptor rocket was fired from the USS Lake Erie in the Pacific. The Lake Erie's radar system tracked the dummy warhead and guided the interceptor to collide with it more than 100 miles above the sea.
The interceptor also hit the dummy missile in a similar test in January, although the collision was not the main goal of that test.
The interceptor system is larg les - not to defend U.S. territory from long-range missiles.
One goal of Thursday's exercise was to gather information on whether the interceptor, called an SM-3, could be used to defend Navy ships as well as bring down intercontinental missiles, said Chris Taylor, a spokesman for the military's Missile Defense Agency.
In marking the demise of the ABM treaty Thursday, Bush said the United States needs a missile defense to protect against the threat of "rogue states" that might fire long-range missiles at America.
Critics say the Bush program is too costly, will take too long to develop and relies too heavily on unproven technology to be effective.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has voted to cut $814 million from Bush's request of $7.8 billion for missile defense development in 2003. Bush has threatened to veto any Pentagon budget that includes those cuts.
--------
Navy Reports Success in Missile Defense Test
June 14, 2002
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/14/national/14MISS.html
WASHINGTON, June 13 - A Navy ship in the Pacific shot down a dummy warhead tonight using an interceptor rocket guided by on-board radar, in the first test of the sea-based component of a missile defense system, officials said.
The rocket, which was launched from the cruiser Lake Erie, hit its target, an Aries missile that had been fired from the Pacific Missile Range on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
The rocket took about two minutes to track and intercept the missile, officials said.
The missile test was the first in which the Navy sought to hit a simulated warhead using sea-based Aegis radar, said Chris Taylor, a spokesman for the Missile Defense Agency.
Officials acknowledged that the test had been conducted under idealized conditions, but they nonetheless voiced satisfaction with the result, which gauged the ability of the ship's radar to track the dummy warhead in flight and engineer a collision more than 100 miles above the sea.
-------- russia
Moscow Plays Down Threat of U.S. Missile Defense
June 14, 2002
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-arms-russia-usa.html
MOSCOW - Russia said on Friday it was not considering retaliation against U.S. plans for an anti-missile shield, as Moscow marked in muted fashion the demise of a landmark arms control accord with Washington.
``The (U.S.) missile defense system as yet has only a virtual, not a real, existence. Therefore, there are no grounds for talking about retaliatory measures,'' Interfax news agency quoted Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov as saying.
The 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which forbade the sort of national missile defense planned by President Bush, expired on Thursday, six months after Bush gave notice Washington planned to quit the accord.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said it was a mistake to abandon a treaty that had guaranteed strategic stability for 30 years, a view repeated by Ivanov on Friday.
Nevertheless, Putin and Bush last month signed a new arms treaty under which each side will slash their deployed nuclear warheads by two-thirds by 2012.
The so-called Treaty of Moscow surpasses cuts provided for in the now redundant START-2 arms treaty of 1993, which would have forced Russia to scrap missiles with multiple warheads.
This treaty requires ratification by both the U.S. Congress and the Russian parliament, but deputies in the State Duma (Russian lower house) signaled on Friday that it was likely to have a smooth passage.
They voted unanimously in support of a resolution which said the Treaty of Moscow did not impose any restrictions on the development of Russia's strategic nuclear force and would allow it to carry out modernization plans for its strategic defenses.
The Foreign Ministry said in a statement Russia no longer felt bound by START-2, following the U.S. decision to abandon the ABM treaty.
The U.S. Congress ratified START-2 in 1996, but not a 1997 protocol extending its implementation period. Russian lawmakers approved both documents in May 2000 but only on condition that the United States retained the ABM treaty.
DOMESTIC CRITICISM
Russian defense chiefs say Russia will now extend the service life of some strategic missiles equipped with multiple warheads, which had been due to be taken out of service.
They say Russia's new generation of Topol-M missile can defeat any missile defense system envisaged by the United States, a claim the United States says shows its limited shield will prove no threat to Russia's deterrent.
But the news appeared designed more to deflect domestic criticism of the latest treaty, which reflects the new security cooperation between Russia and the United States after September 11 and effectively abandons Cold War-style nuclear parity.
Despite the reservations of Russia's conservative security establishment, Putin has recast Moscow as a staunch supporter of the war on terrorism launched by Bush in the wake of the hijacked plane suicide attacks on the United States.
That support has won Russia greater security cooperation with its erstwhile foe NATO, and U.S. officials even say Russia could work with the United States in developing missile defense.
However, it remains unclear whether they foresee a role for Russia in developing the anti-missile shield, or would encourage Moscow to work with European NATO states to build anti-missile defenses for the European continent.
``The prospects for missile defense development remain extremely cloudy,'' Ivanov said.
-------- treaties
U.S. Withdraws From Missile Treaty
Bush Presses Congress for $7.8 Billion for Defense System
By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 14, 2002; Page A28
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A46801-2002Jun13?language=printer
The Bush administration formally withdrew yesterday from the 30-year-old Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia, but skirmishing continued between the administration and congressional Democrats over Bush's missile defense proposal.
The withdrawal from the treaty was set on Dec. 13, when President Bush gave Russia six months' notice that the United States would withdraw to pursue a missile defense system.
The administration warned it would veto the 2003 defense spending bill unless Congress restores $814 million cut from the missile defense program by the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld wrote to the committee warning that he would recommend that Bush veto the $393 billion spending bill if the full Senate, which takes up the measure soon, does not restore the funding. Bush seeks $7.8 billion next year for missile defenses. The Democratic-controlled committee objected to plans by the administration to increase the secrecy of the testing program.
On Wednesday, 30 Democrats sued Bush, Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell seeking to block the treaty withdrawal. They argued the president cannot pull out of a treaty without Congress's approval.
Ari Fleischer, the president's press secretary, said the lawsuit was "highly likely heading toward dismissal," based on precedents.
Fleischer said it was typical that less information about the project would be made public as it develops. "These programs are going to receive classifications to prevent the information from going to people who would want to use that information against us," he said.
The Defense Department plans to break ground Saturday in Alaska on six underground silos for missile interceptors. Such construction was prohibited under the treaty.
Bush, in a statement formally announcing the withdrawal yesterday, said he would move "as soon as possible" to deploy a missile defense system. "With the treaty now behind us, our task is to develop and deploy effective defenses against limited missile attacks," Bush said. "As the events of September 11 made clear, we no longer live in the Cold War world for which the ABM Treaty was designed."
Meanwhile, an interceptor rocket fired from a Navy ship in the Pacific slammed into a dummy warhead in space yesterday in a successful missile defense test.
The exercise showed a rocket guided by a warship's radar system can hit a medium- or long-range missile under controlled conditions. Pentagon officials said the test would help gather data to guide development of ship-based anti-missile systems.
------
With a Shrug, a Monument to Cold War Fades Away
New York Times
June 14, 2002
By DAVID E. SANGER with MICHAEL WINES
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/14/international/14TREA.html
WASHINGTON, June 13 - When the Antiballistic Missile Treaty was signed in 1972, Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev sat side-by-side in Moscow, in an elaborate ceremony meant to show that even cold war enemies could come to an agreement.
When it died today at age 30 years and 18 days, the White House issued a four-paragraph statement and the Kremlin shrugged, the absence of ceremony meant to show that the American-Russian partnership could survive a disagreement.
For President Bush, it was the fulfillment of a campaign promise, and it was a victory for conservatives who have long argued that the restrictions against missile defenses were making it impossible to test and ultimately build a system designed to counter a different threat: limited-scale missile attacks by rogue states or terrorist groups. Proponents of the treaty - including the Russians, the Europeans and advocates of traditional arms control - often called it a cornerstone of the strategic relationship between the world's two largest nuclear powers, and warned that its breach would set off an arms race.
Now both sides in that debate face new challenges. As one senior administration official said, noting that the issue was now technological rather than political, "missile defense rises and falls on whether it works. It's not an ideological fight any more."
Meanwhile, Mr. Bush and his aides have repeatedly noted that the abandonment of the treaty was immediately followed by a negotiation to reduce both sides' nuclear arsenals by roughly two-thirds, to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads, within 10 years. "There was no arms race, no breach of relations," Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, told reporters last month. "There was a new treaty, codifying major arms reductions."
That agreement, called the Treaty of Moscow and signed by Mr. Bush and President Vladimir V. Putin at the Kremlin last month, expires in 2012, when both sides will be free to build up their forces again, unless the accord is extended or amended.
Mr. Bush acted last December after lawyers at the State Department concluded he was within his rights to withdraw from the treaty, under its termination clause, without Senate approval. A small group of Democrats filed suit earlier this week challenging Mr. Bush's right to terminate a treaty that the Senate had to ratify in 1972, but the White House said it expected the courts to dismiss the case.
Mr. Bush never talked about the formal withdrawal from the treaty in public today, issuing a statement saying simply that its demise was well-deserved, and that both countries should look forward to a new era of missile defense.
"Last month, President Vladimir Putin and I agreed that Russia and the United States would look for ways to cooperate on missile defenses, including expanding military exercises, sharing early warning data, and exploring potential joint research and development of missile defense technologies," Mr. Bush said, dangling anew the possibility that Russia could end up supplying some technology for the new system.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, is wasting no time.
It is expected to break ground this week on the construction of six underground silos for missile interceptors in Alaska, which would have been prohibited under the terms of the treaty.
On Thursday, the Lake Erie, an Aegis guided missile cruiser, will try to shoot down a missile launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii.
Pentagon officials say they are on the way to setting up a rudimentary system called a test bed in the fall of 2004. That system is intended as a protection against a North Korean missile launching, though if it works it could also counter a launching from China or other parts of Asia.
Russian politicians and military experts greeted the treaty's demise with a mixture of shrugs and bravado, saying they could - and would - make the nation impervious to nuclear attack no matter what defense or offense Washington might contemplate.
The Russian Parliament's leading expert on military issues, Aleksei Arbatov of the West-leaning Yabloko faction, said Russia should respond by speeding development of a new nuclear missile, the Topol-M, which can be used in silos and on moveable launchers.
Setting up the Topol-M, he said, would force the United States to consider accepting restrictions on its planned missile defense, which he called "an extremely negative event of historical scale."
----
Russia Withdraws From Nuke Treaty
By Eric Engleman
Associated Press Writer
Friday, June 14, 2002; 8:21 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50077-2002Jun14?language=printer
MOSCOW -- Russia formally withdrew from the START II nuclear arms treaty with the United States on Friday, calling the accord meaningless given current U.S. defense policies.
START II, which was signed in 1993, would have reduced nuclear warheads to between 3,000 to 3,500 on each side, but the treaty was never implemented and has been considered dead.
The U.S. Congress ratified the treaty in 1996 and the Russian parliament did so in 2000, but Russian lawmakers linked START II to preservation of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
The U.S. Congress never accepted the Russian linkage, and the United States subsequently withdraw from the ABM treaty to pursue a national missile defense system - prohibited under ABM rules.
The ABM treaty expired on Thursday.
Russia has strongly criticized the United States for pulling out of the treaty, which it called a cornerstone of global security. But Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Bush signed a new nuclear arms reduction pact in May and pledged to exchange information about missile defense programs.
The new arms reduction agreement reduces strategic nuclear warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200 for each country, down from 6,000 or more for the United States and about 5,500 for Russia. It also gives the two sides some flexibility in deciding which weapons to destroy.
The START II treaty specifically banned Russia from deploying additional land-based missiles with multiple warheads - an arsenal that formed the core of its nuclear forces. With START II in effect, Russia would have had to deploy many new single-warhead Topol-M missiles or build nuclear submarines equipped with ballistic missiles to match U.S. arsenals. The government could not afford either option.
Under the new treaty signed in May, Russia is allowed to keep its Soviet-built multiwarhead SS-18 and SS-19 missiles for a while, avoiding a costly race to build a replacement. But these older weapons are already slated to be scrapped this decade.
Russia also may try to maintain nuclear parity with the United States by fitting its new Topol-M missiles with three warheads each.
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Russia Withdraws From Start II Nuclear Treaty
June 14, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Russia-Arms-Control.html
MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia formally withdrew from the START II nuclear arms treaty with the United States on Friday, saying that it passed away because of the expiration of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
In a separate move, the lower house of Russian parliament urged the government to negotiate new agreements with the United States to make sure that last month's arms deal brings real nuclear cuts.
START II, which was signed in 1993, would have reduced nuclear warheads to 3,000 to 3,500 each, but the treaty was never implemented and has been considered dead for some time.
``The Russian Federation notes the absence of any preconditions for START II to come into force and no longer considers itself committed to the international legal obligations'' of the treaty, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The U.S. Congress ratified the treaty in 1996 and the Russian parliament followed suit in 2000, but Russian lawmakers linked START II to preservation of the 1972 ABM Treaty.
The U.S. Congress never accepted the Russian conditions, and the United States announced it would withdraw from the ABM treaty in order to pursue a national missile defense system, which was prohibited under ABM rules.
The ABM treaty expired Thursday.
Russia has strongly criticized the United States for pulling out of the treaty, which it called a cornerstone of global security. But last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Bush signed a new nuclear arms reduction and pledged to explore possibilities for cooperation in missile defense.
In a resolution approved Friday, the lower house of Russia's parliament, the State Duma, called the U.S. withdrawal from the ABM Treaty a ``grave political mistake,'' but added that the new nuclear deal ``limits the damage to the strategic stability and Russia's security.''
The new arms reduction agreement reduces strategic nuclear warheads to 1,700 and 2,200 for each country, down from 6,000 or more for the United States and about 5,500 for Russia.
Unlike the START II treaty that specifically banned Russia from deploying land-based missiles with multiple warheads, the new arms deal leaves it to each nation to decide which weapons it will scrap. That will allow Russia to keep its Soviet-built multiwarhead SS-18 and SS-19 missiles at the core of its nuclear arsenal.
The Duma said Friday the multiwarhead missiles would allow Moscow to ``react in a timely manner to U.S. moves to deploy the missile defense system.''
Washington has said the conceived missile shield was necessary to fend off threats from rogue nations and terrorists and wouldn't be aimed against Russia, but many Russian lawmakers have remained suspicious.
While welcoming the new U.S.-Russian arms deal, the Duma voiced concern about U.S. plans to stockpile some of the decommissioned weapons and allow Washington to ``quickly and covertly increase the numbers of operationally deployed nuclear forces.''
That could ``feed the parties' growing distrust about the fulfillment of mutual obligations and weaken their adherence to the agreed cuts in strategic nuclear forces,'' the statement said.
The Duma said reaching additional agreements to ``ensure transparency and predictability'' of the nuclear cuts would be of ``key importance'' for lawmakers when they consider ratification of the U.S.-Russian nuclear deal.
-------- u.s. nuc weapons
Sale of Hiroshima Bomb Parts Cleared
June 14, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Hiroshima-Bomb-Auction.html
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A federal judge declined Friday to block the sale of remnants from the atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston freed Butterfields Auctioneers to release the two arming mechanisms from the atomic bomb dropped from the Enola Gay on Aug. 6, 1945, killing about 140,000 Japanese.
The parts were taken from the plane by Morris Jeppson, an Enola Gay crew member who put them up for auction Tuesday. They were sold to a San Diego man for $167,500.
The Justice Department had claimed prior to the auction that the internal configuration of the thumb-sized plugs -- one of which was used to activate the real bomb and the other a spare -- is classified.
The mechanisms work similar to the pin on a grenade and resemble large cigarette lighters in a car.
Illston noted that the government asked her to block the sale hours before the auction despite not taking any action to try to obtain the devices in 1994, when they were offered for display at the government-run Smithsonian Institution.
``I don't think you've made any showing, literally coming in here at the last moment. There is not a national security issue involved,'' Illston said from the bench.
On Tuesday, Justice Department attorney Jocelyn Burton told Illston the devices were classified. But on Friday she said the government was not sure and wanted a bomb specialist to examine them. Illston rejected that request.
Clay Perkins, a physicist turned developer who bought the two devices, said they have great personal and historic value. He said Friday he was going to display the artifacts at his San Diego home.
Perkins said the bomb inspired him to become a physicist in his youth and said it's impossible that somebody could develop an atomic bomb by examining the devices.
``If anybody thinks that's a state secret, they don't understand science and electricity very well,'' he said outside the courtroom.
-------- u.s. nuc facilities
-------- nevada
Quake Near Planned Nuke Waste Site
June 14, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/14/opinion/L14POTA.html
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A mild earthquake rumbled beneath the desert early Friday near Yucca Mountain, the federal government's proposed site for a nuclear waste repository.
No damage or injuries were immediately reported.
The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 4.4 and hit about 5:40 a.m., 75 miles northwest of Las Vegas and about 3 miles beneath the surface, said scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo.
Allen Benson, a federal Department of Energy spokesman for the Yucca Mountain project in Las Vegas, told The Associated Press that about 100 scientists and employees at the site on Friday were not reporting any damage.
Yucca Mountain, about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the site that President Bush picked in February to store the nation's spent commercial, industrial and military nuclear waste beginning in 2010.
Benson said that while operations have been scaled back since February, employees and scientists are continuing to monitor scientific studies and a five-mile tunnel bored about 1,000 feet beneath the volcanic ridge.
Nevada opposes the Yucca Mountain project, and Congress is debating whether to override Gov. Kenny Guinn's April veto of the presidential selection.
President Bush in February approved building a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, saying 20 years of study had found the ridge of volcanic rock to be a safe place to store nuclear material.
Opponents of the project have cited the possibility of earthquakes as one reason to reject Yucca Mountain as the site.
The waste, expected to remain radioactive for more than 10,000 years, would be buried 1,000 feet below ground. The Energy Department has said the earliest the Yucca facility could open is 2010.
On the Net:
USGS: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/
Yucca Mountain Project: http://www.ymp.gov
-------- south carolina
Judge Won't Block Plutonium Shipments
WASHINGTON IN BRIEF
Friday, June 14, 2002
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A48386-2002Jun13?language=printer
A federal judge yesterday denied a request by South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges to block shipments of weapons-grade plutonium, which could begin arriving in the state as early as this weekend.
Hodges (D) has threatened to use state troopers to block roads into the Savannah River Site nuclear weapons complex and said he would lie down in the road if necessary to stop the plutonium-carrying trucks. Hodges's lawyer, William Want, said the governor would appeal immediately.
The Department of Energy has said it intends to begin shipping the plutonium as early as Saturday from its Rocky Flats weapons installation in Colorado to the Savannah River Site, where the material would be converted into nuclear reactor fuel over the next two decades.
Hodges sued to stop the shipments, fearing the government would fail to find the money to convert the plutonium and leave it in South Carolina. He warned that the plutonium would "paint a bull's-eye on South Carolina" and make it a terrorist target.
The state argued yesterday that the Energy Department failed to complete environmental impact statements, a process that can take years, and backed out of signing a binding agreement that the plutonium would be stored in the state only temporarily.
"We don't know the most basic thing about what they're planning to do," Want told U.S. District Judge Cameron M. Currie.
Currie ruled that the state had not provided enough proof of violations to stop the plutonium from being shipped.
An Energy Department spokesman did not immediately return a call for comment.
--------
South Carolina Loses Bid to Bar Plutonium
New York Times
June 14, 2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/14/national/14CARO.html
AIKEN, S.C. (AP) -- Gov. Jim Hodges may sign an executive order authorizing state troopers to shut down roads leading to a South Carolina nuclear site while he appeals a court ruling that allows plutonium to be shipped into the state.
Just hours after Hodges lost in U.S. District Court on Thursday, a spokesman said he is considering the tactic to stop shipments of weapons-grade plutonium from the Rocky Flats nuclear weapon plant in Colorado, scheduled to begin as soon as this weekend.
Hodges first step is to appeal to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia.
"If we're unsuccessful in Richmond, then we'll be on to Washington," the governor said.
Earlier in the standoff, Hodges said he would even lie down in the road if necessary to stop the plutonium-carrying trucks heading to the Savannah River Site.
U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie stopped short of saying the governor's threats were unconstitutional, but did issue an order Thursday saying Hodges would have to notify the court if he planned to physically block the shipments.
The U.S. Department of Energy praised the ruling. Secretary Spencer Abraham said it protects national security as well as the people of South Carolina.
The Energy Department has said it intends to begin shipping the plutonium to the site as soon as Saturday. The material would be converted into nuclear reactor fuel over the next two decades.
Hodges sued to stop the shipments in May, fearing the government would fail to find the money to convert the plutonium, leaving the nuclear material in South Carolina indefinitely. He warned that transporting the plutonium 1,500 miles from Colorado is too risky, and storing it at the site would make the state a terrorist target.
Federal officials said the nuclear material would be under constant guard, and its path and time of arrival would be kept secret. They say security at the Savannah River Site is sound.
In court Thursday, the Energy Department argued that Hodges' attempts to block the shipments were unconstitutional and were preventing the federal government from cleaning up and closing Rocky Flats.
Department lawyer Robert Daly said there was no harm in shipping the material to the site then deciding later how to dispose of it.
"It doesn't matter if there's a clear exit strategy for 10 years," Daly said.
Lawyers for Hodges argued the Energy Department failed to complete environmental impact statements, a process that can take years, and backed out of signing a binding agreement that the plutonium would be stored in the state only temporarily.
"We don't know the most basic thing about what they're planning to do," Hodges' attorney William Want said.
However, Currie ruled that the state had not provided enough proof of any violations to stop the plutonium from being shipped.
Hodges, a Democrat up for re-election, has long accused President Bush of trying to get the plutonium out of Colorado to get Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., re-elected and possibly help the GOP regain control of the Senate.
"This issue should have never reached a courtroom. The governor of South Carolina should have worked out an agreement with DOE long ago instead of wasting taxpayers' money on delaying tactics," Allard said.
U.S. Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said it was time for the governor to work on legislation with the South Carolina congressional delegation.
"The judge's decisive ruling to dismiss the governor's action is sound," Graham said. "It is time for the governor to work with the delegation in a constructive manner."
--------
S.C. Troopers to Watch for Plutonium
June 14, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Plutonium-Standoff.html
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Gov. Jim Hodges ordered state troopers and other authorities to South Carolina's borders Friday to stop federal shipments of plutonium that could begin arriving from Colorado as early as this weekend.
``I order that the transportation of plutonium on South Carolina roads and highways is prohibited,'' Hodges said. ``I order that any persons transporting plutonium shall not enter the state of South Carolina.''
Hodges, who has vehemently opposed the shipments, read a statement declaring a state of emergency but refused to answer any questions about specific plans for roadblocks or other barricades at South Carolina's Savannah River Site, a nuclear weapons complex near Aiken.
On Thursday, a federal judge refused to block the shipments of weapons-grade plutonium. Hodges appealed the ruling and asked for a delay until the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could hear the case.
The Energy Department plans to move the material from the Rocky Flats weapons installation in Colorado, which is being cleaned up and closed, to the Savannah River Site, where the material would be converted into nuclear reactor fuel over the next two decades.
But Hodges has said he fears the government will end up leaving the plutonium permanently in South Carolina, making the state a tempting target for terrorists.
``The Department of Energy has broken promises, offered no assurances and left few options. Once plutonium arrives, it will never leave,'' Hodges said. ``They want South Carolina to quietly become the nation's plutonium dumping ground.''
The shipments legally could begin as early as this weekend, but U.S. Attorney Strom Thurmond Jr. said Energy Department officials told him they would not start until after June 22.
A message left for an Energy Department spokesman was not immediately returned Friday afternoon.
Vice President Dick Cheney, in South Carolina on Friday for a fund-raiser, said the fuel-conversion program is important to ensure that plutonium ``never falls into the wrong hands.''
``This administration is totally committed to helping pass legislation to guarantee that South Carolina does not become a permanent storage site for plutonium,'' Cheney said.
Hodges, a Democrat who is up for re-election in the fall, has threatened for weeks to use troopers to block roads into the Savannah River Site and has vowed to lie in the road if necessary to stop the trucks.
Sid Gaulden, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said traffic would still flow along the state's roads. He acknowledged the department does not have enough resources to close every entry point to the state.
About 6 1/2 tons of plutonium are to be shipped from Colorado.
Federal officials have said the nuclear material would be under constant guard, and its path and time of arrival would be kept secret. They also say security at the Savannah River site is sound.
-------- us politics
Lawmakers Vow to Move Swiftly on Homeland Security Department
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 14, 2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48135-2002Jun13.html
Congressional leaders outlined an ambitious legislative schedule yesterday to enact President Bush's government reorganization plan, vowing to create a Homeland Security Department by Sept. 11.
House and Senate leaders established separate procedures for handling the administration's proposal, whose details may arrive on Capitol Hill as early as next week. The Senate will simply amend a bill recently approved by the Governmental Affairs Committee, but the House will assign several established committees -- plus a new leadership panel -- to conduct hearings on the plan, key members said.
The creation of a massive federal agency presents a major challenge to lawmakers, who have feuded over far less ambitious legislative proposals this year. Republican and Democratic leaders will have to bridge ideological differences while resolving jurisdictional battles within their own caucuses.
In a joint press release yesterday, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) expressed confidence they could complete their work by the anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed more than 3,000 people.
"The speaker and I stand ready to work with the White House and the Senate in a bipartisan way to get this bill done by September 11th," Gephardt said.
Under the House plan, the Government Reform Committee and several other panels will have a few weeks to consider Bush's proposal. Each of these committees will then forward recommendations to a new select committee, where Republicans will have a one-seat advantage.
This committee, headed by House Majority Leader Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.), will shape the final bill that will reach the House floor for a vote.
Armey vowed to move swiftly to create the department. "We're now engaged in a battle against those who hate freedom," he said. "We can't afford to delay, nor can we afford partisan and parochial battles."
On the Senate side, Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) -- who pointedly told reporters yesterday, "Democrats were for a homeland defense Cabinet-level agency before it was cool" -- said every committee will have a chance to address the president's proposal and amend a bill already written by Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.).
Daschle said Bush's plan was "at least two-thirds similar" to Lieberman's bill. Both proposals would create a Department of Homeland Security encompassing agencies such as the Customs Service, Coast Guard, Border Control and Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Daschle predicted the Senate would finish work on the matter by late July, which would allow the two chambers to work out their differences after the August recess.
----
[Has Rumsfeld ever suggested Iraq talks? et - mailto:prop1@prop1.org]
Rumsfeld Suggests Kashmir Talks
By Robert Burns
AP Military Writer
Friday, June 14, 2002; 6:10 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A49601-2002Jun14?language=printer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld suggested Thursday that India and Pakistan hold direct talks over Kashmir and agree to halt all artillery and mortar fire across the disputed border, except in self-defense.
"You'd begin a process of easing some of the lingering hostilities," Rumsfeld said, ending a mission intended to get the countries to back away from the brink of war.
Following two days of separate meetings with Indian and Pakistan leaders, Rumsfeld said it was too soon to know whether the nuclear-armed neighbors would pursue the U.S. proposal to stop military action across the Line of Control.
Rumsfeld said that "one of the easy things that can be done" would be to have "some sort of an understanding" that shelling would be permitted only in self-defense or to stop the infiltration of militants, blamed by India for terrorist attacks.
Asked whether either country had moved its nuclear weapons during the crisis, Rumsfeld indicated the danger had subsided.
"The elevation of that subject is past us," Rumsfeld told reporters as he headed home. "Both of those leaders are managing their affairs as people responsible for weapons of that power ought to manage them."
There was no immediate comment from Pakistan or India on Rumsfeld's proposal.
India has said it aggressively will counter any firing from the Pakistani side. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has pledged to end movement across the frontier by militants who stage bombings and armed assaults on civilians and security forces in Indian territory.
Rumsfeld said he tried to impress upon Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee the importance of sustaining recent momentum in easing tensions over Kashmir. Already, there are 1 million troops from both nations deployed along the 1,800-mile frontier of Kashmir.
"They're both sensitive to the risks," he said.
Most areas on the Line of Control were quiet Thursday, although Indian and Pakistani troops engaged in sporadic to heavy shelling in three sectors, the Indian Defense Ministry said.
About 15 warships carrying more than 5,000 Indians returned to Bombay on India's western coast in a gesture that India described as a "significant step" toward reducing tension. The ships once were close to Pakistani waters.
While praising India and Pakistan for such steps, Rumsfeld said troops facing each other across the border are "beginning to feel the stress of high alert."
India accuses Pakistan of training and financing Islamic militants who have been fighting since 1989 for independence of the Indian portion of Kashmir or merge it with mostly Muslim Pakistan. Pakistan says it provides the militants with only moral and diplomatic support.
The two countries have fought three wars, two over Kashmir's control, since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.
At a news conference in the Pakistani capital, Rumsfeld urged a direct dialogue on ways to reduce military forces along the Line of Control that divides Kashmir.
"Countries need to talk to each other," he said in a joint appearance with Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar.
Rumsfeld appeared to backtrack somewhat from a statement Wednesday that there were indications al-Qaida terrorists are operating near the Line of Control.
"I do not have evidence and the United States does not have evidence of al-Qaida in Kashmir," he told reporters Thursday. There are scraps of intelligence from "people saying they believe al-Qaida are in Kashmir or in various locations," he said. "It tends to be speculative. It is not actionable. It is not verifiable."
If it were verifiable, Rumsfeld added, "There isn't any doubt in my mind but that the Pakistan government would go find them and deal with them."
The Bush administration has credited Musharraf with aiding the American cause in Afghanistan by pressuring the hundreds of al-Qaida fighters who fled into remote tribal areas in Pakistan.
The foreign minister said Pakistan appreciates the role the United States has played in trying to defuse the crisis over Kashmir. But he suggested Washington could do more.
"There is no change whatever in the capability of Indian forces massed on our border," he said. "Therefore, there is no reduction in the threat."
Rumsfeld was more upbeat, saying that "progress is indeed being made."
----
Pre-Emption Is The Word
Friday, June 14, 2002,
by Charley Reese (mailto:briarl@earthlink.net),
King Features Syndicate, Inc.
http://reese.king-online.com/Reese_20020614/index.php
Well, now the military genius and geopolitical strategist par excellence we elected to be our president has decided that the time-tested strategies of containment and deterrence are obsolete and inoperative.
From now on, guys and gals, the word is pre-emption. The president told the graduating class at West Point that henceforth the United States will strike first. Any future "Pearl Harbors" will be our doing. Looks like we can look forward to several "days that will live in infamy," only this time we will be the bad guys. If there are enough of these surprise attacks, Congress will have to choose a Monday for a holiday that we can call Infamy Day.
So, rest of the world, you're on notice: Anytime any of you even think about doing something that the president decides (based on faultless intelligence, of course) poses a future threat to the United States, never look up with your mouth open. You might get a bomb down your throat.
The Bush family seems awfully fond of bombing people. It must run in the family. I'm glad Florida doesn't have an Air Force, or else Gov. Jeb Bush might have attacked the Bahamas - though I should add that Jeb seems to be the sensible brother.
But let's review now: One, we are in a global war, although the war looks like a one-person marriage at the moment; two, the rest of the world is on notice that they are either with us or against us (neutrality has no place in the Bush Doctrine); three, the rest of the world is also on notice that we might use nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear country; and four, now the rest of the world is on notice that we will strike without warning, even against nations that think they are at peace with us.
I'm worried about the Little Caesar in the White House. I've noticed that he seems to march, rather than stroll or walk. He delivers his speeches as if they were to a hostile audience. The other day, he got greatly annoyed because an American reporter spoke to the president of France in French in France. That drew a sarcastic, albeit nonsensical, wisecrack from Bush. And now, by God, we've learned that he took the Lord's name in vain after discovering he was making a speech into a dead telephone line.
He needs a vacation. He's so uptight, I'm almost nostalgic for that video of Bill Clinton with no shirt on, a big cigar in his mouth, a crazed grin on face, beating on bongo drums and dancing around a hotel room in Africa. Yeah, I know Clinton used American missiles as a distraction, but at least he almost never hit anybody with them. We've already killed more civilians in Afghanistan than we lost on Sept. 11. The Bush bombers don't mess around.
Nevertheless, the president's belligerent policy could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you keep telling another country that you're going to destroy it, no matter what, it might decide to give you a reason.
Bush disdains discussions and prefers to speak in ultimata. He rejected a goodwill gesture on the part of Iraq (handing over a terrorist we claim to want very badly) apparently just so Iraq wouldn't get credit for a goodwill gesture. That's crazy. It's also bad policy. While I personally don't give a hoot what he does or what happens, I don't want to see him mess up the future my grandchildren have to live in. Damn these warmongering politicians anyway.
-------- MILITARY
-------- afghanistan
'US had role in Taleban prisoner deaths'
ANDREW McLEOD foreign editor -
The Scotsman
Fri 14 Jun 2002
http://www.news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=648372002
US SOLDIERS took part in the torture of Taleban prisoners and may have had a role in the "disappearance" of around 3,000 men in Mazar-i-Sharif in north-west Afghanistan, according to a new documentary.
Massacre at Mazar, by Scots film producer Jamie Doran, was shown on Wednesday in the Reichstag, the German parliament building in Berlin and the European parliament in Strasbourg.
Much of Mr Doran's footage in the 20-minute preview of a future full-length documentary film was taken secretly.
In one sequence, a witness claims he saw a US soldier break an Afghan prisoner's neck and pour acid on others.
"The Americans did whatever they wanted. We had no power to stop them." Some prisoners were beaten up, taken outside only to "disappear", the witness said.
Two other witnesses claim they were forced to drive into the desert with hundreds of Taleban prisoners who were in containers. The orders came from the local US commander, they alleged. Prisoners who had not suffocated to death were then shot dead while 30 to 40 US soldiers stood by watching.
In another sequence, a witness admits to having executed prisoners, while another Afghan, said to have been a senior officer under the Northern Alliance's General Rashid Dostum, was said to have gone into hiding following threats to his life.
The screening of the film at the European Parliament in prompted calls for an international commission to investigate the charges.
Mr Doran told The Scotsman last night: "I took the footage to the European parliament because of a phone call I received from Afghanistan. I have a great fear that the graves may be tampered with. I had to take it to the highest level in Europe." He said that after the screening, MEPs had told him they would approach the Red Cross to ensure the graves were protected.
Mr Doran said his documentary followed closely the findings of a new report by the Boston-based Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), which had concluded that there was evidence of the disposal of human remains at two mass grave sites near Mazar-i-Sharif.
"Physicians for Human Rights tell me that the interviews we conducted for the documentary were the missing link they needed," Mr Doran said.
In the documentary, the witnesses says they believe the bodies at the site found near the village of Shebarghan included the Taleban prisoners who were transported to the site in the truck containers.
On its website, PHR calls on Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's new leader, and the international community to protect the grave sites. It says it recognises that the government of Afghanistan was not in a position to secure the sites but that the US, Britain and other countries had the capacity - and the responsibility - to ensure that they were protected.
"The examination of bodies and dignified burial of remains will contribute to the truth and accountability process, which is essential for future peace and stability in Afghanistan," PHR said.
Andy McEntee, former chairman of Amnesty International, who saw the film footage in Berlin and read the transcript, told DPA news agency that he believed there there was prima facie evidence of serious war crimes having been committed by US soldiers in Afghanistan. Mr McEntee said he believed the war crimes had been committed not only under international law but also under US law.
Amnesty International and other human rights organisations called last year for a public inquiry into the events at Mazar-i-Sharif after the surrender of Taleban forces there in late November. Hundreds of Taleban fighters were killed in what Northern Alliance forces said was a revolt.
Pictures of aid workers making their way through the corpses of Taleban prisoners caused international outrage at the time.
The foreign Taleban fighters, mostly Pakistanis, Chechens and Arabs, were being held at the Qaila Jangi fortress outside Mazar-i-Sharif after negotiating a surrender with Gen Dostum, who had said they would be allowed to cross the border into Pakistan. Afghans with the Taleban forces had already been allowed to return to their home villages.
According to US, British and Northern Alliance officials, a skirmish within the prison flared into a battle. Some media reports, however, have questioned this version of events.
Amnesty says responsibility for an inquiry lies with the United States and Britain as US and British special forces helped alliance troops put down the revolt.
Andre Brie, a member of the European Parliament for the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), said he would back any call for an international commission looking into the allegations. He said he had supported Mr Doran financially in what he described as the producer's "dangerous film activity".
Excerpts of Mr Doran's documentary are to be screened on television in Britain next week.
More War on terror:
http://www.news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1
Websites:
Afghan Network http://www.afghan-network.net/
Iraqi Presidency http://www.uruklink.net/iraq/
North Korea News Agency http://www.kcna.co.jp/
Presidency of the Islamic Republic of Iran http://www.president.ir/
UK Ministry of Defence http://www.mod.uk/
US Department of Defense http://www.defenselink.mil/
----
Nations Vow to Aid Afghanistan
The Associated Press
Friday, June 14, 2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A49177-2002Jun14?language=printer
WHISTLER, British Columbia -- Hamid Karzai's new government in Afghanistan can expect support from the world's leading industrial nations as it tries to rebuild after years of conflict.
Foreign ministers from the Group of Eight countries agreed Thursday to provide economic and political support for Karzai, while also exploring ways to keep terrorists from getting deadly weapons.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said the ministers talked about Iraq as part of a general discussion of nonproliferation and that country's "continuing desire to develop and acquire" dangerous weapons. But they did not discuss any possible U.S. action to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, he said.
Powell is seeking support for a proposal under which the United States would spend $1 billion annually over the next 10 years to develop programs to better control the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The plan calls for each of the other G-8 nations to match the U.S. spending.
The proposal will probably be addressed at the G-8 leaders' summit this month in Kananaskis, Alberta.
Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham told reporters the foreign ministers discussed disposal of weapons material held in the former Soviet Union, and "there was the acceptance by the Russians of the way in which it is probably going to happen." He did not explain possible disposal scenarios, but added: "I think we moved that (issue) along to a point that can be very productive at Kananaskis."
The ministers also:
-Committed to holding a Middle East peace conference, but did not agree on a date, venue or agenda.
-Expressed a desire to continue working with India and Pakistan, which have taken steps toward scaling back their tense standoff over Kashmir.
-Noted renewed talks on Cyprus, and urged Cypriot leaders to "bridge the remaining obstacles towards a lasting settlement."
-Encouraged peace efforts on the Korean Peninsula, and called anew on North Korea to "respond constructively" to international concerns about its weapons program and the humanitarian needs of its people.
The ministers promised to make a special effort to help Afghanistan's fragile central government build a security presence so it can stave off threats that could topple it. Warlords reportedly remain in control of large areas outside Kabul, the Afghan capital.
"The G-8 will sustain its support - political, financial and military - to build a secure and prosperous future for the people of Afghanistan," said Graham. "This is a highly critical time in that nation's troubled history."
While the ministers met, they received word that the Afghan grand council had named Karzai, the U.S.-backed interim leader, as head of state. They congratulated Karzai and commended the way he led the interim governing authority.
Graham said his country and other G-8 nations have sent funds directly to Kabul, and that some of the money was being used to reform the army and build a police force.
"We believe strongly that by strengthening the central government, eventually it will be able, particularly when it's democratic, ... to move out of Kabul and re-establish its authority in those areas," Graham said.
Powell pointed out that the United States has put $300 million into Afghan recovery, and said he told his counterparts from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia that the best way to ensure stability is to keep the money flowing.
--------
Afghan Loya Jirga Enters Critical Stage for Karzai
June 14, 2002
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-afghan.html
KABUL - After getting a big mandate as Afghanistan's first elected president, Hamid Karzai said on Friday his top priorities are the war on terrorism, healing old ethnic wounds and rebuilding a nation after 23 year of conflict.
The 44-year-old, Western-educated Karzai, in his first news conference as president, also said he would lead the conservative Islamic society toward democracy.
More than 85 percent of the 1,500 voting delegates at Afghanistan's Loya Jirga grand assembly chose Karzai in a secret ballot on Thursday night.
The assembly, a colorful gathering of Afghans from all walks of life throughout the war-ravaged land, was discussing on Friday the make-up of a new government that will be key to Karzai's success in forging unity and stability.
``This fight will go on (against terrorism) in the same strong manner as we were doing in the past six months and against all those people who are up there to hurt mankind,'' Karzai said, referring to his co-operation with the U.S.-led coalition.
Some 13,000 coalition forces are in Afghanistan, scouring the mountainous southeastern regions for forces loyal to Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and his al Qaeda cohort Osama bin Laden -- the accused mastermind of the September 11 attacks.
A Russian newspaper published on Wednesday an interview with Mullah Omar in which the Taliban leader said bin Laden was alive in Afghanistan and planning new attacks on Americans.
``This will remain on top of our priorities,'' said Karzai, wearing a traditional loose tunic and a striped turban. ``We must fight terrorism till they are absolutely...finished.''
BALANCED CABINET
The Loya Jirga got down to work again after the euphoria over Karzai's election.
About 200 delegates wanted to speak to the assembly on subjects ranging from education, the new cabinet and social justice to rebuilding the army and national police.
The speeches are set to last for the rest of Friday's session and any voting on a new cabinet is not expected till Saturday at the earliest.
A key task of assembly is forming a government that pleases the Pashtun supporters of former King Mohammad Zahir Shah as well as the Uzbeks and Tajiks of the Northern Alliance who swept the Taliban from power with the help of U.S. air strikes and were the core of the interim government.
``I tell you that the government will be representative,'' Karzai told the news conference.
``It has to be. It has to represent the Afghan interests as a whole... we will have a country that should have institutions, institutions that are trusted by the people.''
He said he wanted an independent judiciary and expressed hope his government would move toward a one-man, one-vote system after his 18-month tenure is over and general elections are held.
The son of an assassinated legislator, Karzai's ascendancy to the highest position in the land caps six months in which he rose from an obscure businessman to an internationally recognized ally of the United States in its war on terrorism.
``Karzai has pulled the thorn from our soul,'' said 35-year-old Amanollah, a low-ranking official at the defense ministry. ``He has saved our country and our people.''
A Pashtun from the south, Karzai had the backing of the former king, the minority-dominated Northern Alliance, the United States and the United Nations.
PEOPLE ECSTATIC
On the streets of Kabul, people were ecstatic over his victory.
``It was a miracle,'' said Faqir Mohamma, a seller of songbirds in Kabul's main poultry market.
``We have been saved from Taliban oppression and corruption. He is a courageous man. The Taliban seized my birds and jailed me for three days.''
Karzai, installed under a U.N.-sponsored accord as interim leader in December, said his election as president at the Loya Jirga on Thursday was ``a real show of democracy.''
Islamic scholars and religious leaders called on the Loya Jirga grand assembly to include the name ``Islam'' in the new government's title.
``Islam is the name of our political system. God has chosen this name for us,'' Abdul Rasool Sayyaf, a Sunni Muslim scholar, told the assembly to a mixture of cheers and jeers.
``I ask the assembly to call the new government 'the transitional Islamic administration of Afghanistan', he said.
The Loya Jirga will choose a 111-member parliament that will sit soon after the new government is chosen.
-------- africa
Congo Republic on Edge After Dozens Die in Clashes
June 14, 2002
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-congo.html
BRAZZAVILLE - The capital of the Congo Republic was edgy and afraid after dozens were killed in fighting between ``Ninja'' rebels and loyalist forces that revived memories of bloody civil war in the 1990s.
There was no independent confirmation of the army's report that it had killed 60 of the Ninja militia fighters who launched an attack early on Friday on the Maya Maya airport on the western outskirts of Brazzaville.
An army spokesman said four government troops and four civilians were also killed in the fighting, the worst in the riverside city since 1998.
``We are in full control now,'' army spokesman Colonel Jean-Robert Obargui told Reuters.
``We will see what the night will bring.''
The Ninjas, whose heartland is the southern region around Brazzaville, have launched a series of attacks outside the city since President Denis Sassou Nguessou, from the north of the central African state, won elections in March from which his main rivals were excluded.
Sassou returned from the world food summit in Rome on Friday, landing at the airport with an air of confidence and greeting waiting officials before being driven to his villa in the north of the city.
Some took Sassou's return as a sign that the incident was over and they could breathe more easily.
FEARS OF LOOTING
But others feared there could be more trouble and that the insecurity might encourage security forces and impoverished citizens to loot homes near the airport which had been abandoned by thousands of frightened people.
``I am going back to make sure nobody loots my things now the fighting has stopped, but I will leave my children here,'' said Jean-Claude Ngoma, heading toward the Moukondo district from the city center, six km (four miles) away.
Brazzaville was battered during the brief but bloody civil war in 1997 that brought Sassou, a former military ruler, back to power. Militia fighting never really died down completely despite a 1999 peace deal.
Serious fighting last broke out in the capital in 1998, when Sassou's troops moved into Ninja strongholds and the surrounding countryside. The operation drove up to a third of the oil-rich country's nearly three million people from their homes.
Since the presidential election, tens of thousands of people have been displaced by clashes in the bush outside Brazzaville between the Ninjas and Sassou's forces, who are backed by helicopter gunships.
The Ninjas take their name from a band of ancient Japanese warriors made famous in Hollywood movies. They are led by a renegade priest but their original loyalty was to exiled former Prime Minister Bernard Kolelas.
Kolelas and former President Pascal Lissouba were driven from power by Sassou in the 1997 fighting. They have both been sentenced to death in absentia and did not return to contest the presidential election.
-------- asia
Chinese police brawl with embassy staffers
By Joe McDonald
ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 14, 2002
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20020614-27956948.htm
BEIJING - Chinese police dragged a North Korean asylum seeker away from a South Korean visa office yesterday after punching and kicking diplomats who tried to stop them.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, said it issued a note to foreign diplomatic offices demanding that they hand over to Chinese police people who have sought refuge in their missions. Canadian and other missions confirmed they received the note on Wednesday.
At the South Korean facility, one diplomat was punched in the mouth during the scuffle outside the gate of the compound where the man and his son had sought refuge, according to witnesses. The son remained inside the office, bringing to 18 the number of North Koreans holed up in South Korean diplomatic missions in Beijing, a South Korean official said.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry issued a statement protesting the man's removal as a violation of international law.
"We strongly protest and demand early return of the man," the ministry said in the statement. "We hope this incident will be resolved smoothly on the basis of friendly relations between South Korea and China."
By treaty, diplomatic offices are considered foreign territory that Chinese authorities aren't supposed to enter without permission.
Dozens of North Koreans fleeing famine and repression have sought refuge at U.S., Japanese and other foreign diplomatic offices in China. Two North Koreans have been in the Canadian Embassy since Saturday.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said unauthorized entries into diplomatic compounds "not only harm the security of those embassies and interfere with their normal function, but also pose a challenge to the Chinese law and interfere in security and stability in China."
Mr. Liu denied the letter to diplomatic missions indicated any change in policy. He repeated China's assurance that cases would be handled "in accordance to international law, the domestic laws of China and humanitarian principles."
The latest asylum bid began when the father and son entered the visa office a few blocks from Seoul's embassy yesterday morning, the South Korean official said.
Chinese guards entered and took the man outside, where he was held temporarily, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. South Korean news agency Yonhap identified the man only by his surname, Won, and said he was in his mid-50s.
According to Reuters news agency, his son is 13 years old.
About a half-dozen South Korean diplomats tried to block police by forming a line outside a guard post where the man was held, said a Yonhap reporter who witnessed the incident.
But about a dozen Beijing municipal police who arrived by van forced their way into the guardhouse, kicking, punching and knocking down diplomats, said the reporter, Lee Sang Min.
A videotape shot by a journalist for South Korean broadcaster MBC shows police grabbing the man by his arms and legs, dragging him to the van, putting him in and driving away.
-------- balkans
U.N. War Crimes Court to Indict 100 More People
June 14, 2002
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-yugoslavia-warcrimes.html
BELGRADE - The deputy prosecutor of the United Nations war crimes tribunal said on Friday it planned to indict about 100 more people for atrocities committed during the Balkan wars of the last decade.
The tribunal has publicly indicted 119 people so far, but 23 remain at large including wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military chief Ratko Mladic, two of the world's most wanted men.
Graham Blewitt, deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, said it was expected to issue 35 more indictments involving 100 individuals by 2004.
``The majority of these 100 accused primarily relate to crimes committed in Bosnia,'' Blewitt told a conference organized by the Organization for the Security and Cooperation of Europe (OSCE) on domestic war crimes trials in Serbia and Montenegro.
``The crimes that relate to Croatia and Serbia are few in number and the people that will be indicted in these cases are of the highest level,'' he said.
Blewitt said the Dutch-based tribunal, which was set up in 1993, would try leaders accused of war crimes while local courts would have to deal with other suspects.
``The tribunal will quite effectively deal with these individuals leaving of course a lot of other perpetrators to be dealt with by the domestic courts,'' Blewitt said.
BELGRADE UNDER PRESSURE
The reformers who ousted Slobodan Milosevic as Yugoslav president in October 2000 are under Western pressure to cooperate with the U.N. court, but the issue remains sensitive with many Serbs accusing it of bias against them.
In April, the authorities urged 23 indictees to give themselves up to The Hague tribunal. Six of them, including two senior allies of Milosevic, have since surrendered to the court, where the trial of the ousted leader got under way in February.
Serb police last month arrested one suspect, Bosnian Serb Ranko Cesic, in the first such operation in Yugoslavia since November. He is expected to be transferred to The Hague soon.
Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic said local courts were ready to prosecute war criminals.
``We have to encourage citizens of this country to accept the need for full cooperation with The Hague war crimes court,'' he said. ``Those who have committed war crimes cannot be treated like heroes of their people.''
On Tuesday, Serbia began its first ever war crimes trial with a soldier in court accused of killing two Kosovo Albanians.
Blewitt said some Bosnian cases prosecuted by the tribunal could later be handed over to local courts in that country.
But he said The Hague would handle the high-level figures from Serbia and Croatia named on future indictments.
``These are people I believe the local courts cannot prosecute, they are too powerful, too influential to be prosecuted by domestic courts, the risk of political interference is too high,'' he said.
----
Cyprus deadlock
June 14, 2002
Embassy Row
by James Morrison - jmorrison@washingtontimes.com -
Washington Times
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20020614-3558560.htm
Talks to reunify Cyprus remain deadlocked after four rounds of negotiations, and Greek Cypriots doubt the United States will pressure Turkey into pushing Turkish Cypriots into a settlement.
A delegation of Greek-Cypriot political leaders yesterday agreed that the United States needs Turkey's help in the war against terrorism too much to risk upsetting it by issuing demands over Cyprus.
"The United States will not put pressure on Turkey to reach a settlement," said Markos Kyprianou, a member of the foreign-affairs committee of the Cypriot House of Representatives.
Committee Chairman Nicos Anastasiades said one purpose of their visit was to "motivate" the Bush administration.
"We need more active support for the negotiations," he said in a breakfast meeting with reporters. "We appreciate the support they have given us, but we think they could do more."
The Greek-Cypriot leaders, who represent the internationally recognized government of Cyprus, believe Turkey holds the key to a negotiated settlement because it is the only country with diplomatic relations with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. It also maintains at least 35,000 troops in northern Cyprus. Mr. Anastasiades said Turkey recently deployed another 5,500.
They said the United States could prod Turkey into realizing the advantages of reunification. Turkey wants to join the European Union, but the union would never admit Turkey as long as the island is divided, they said.
Meanwhile, the Greek-Cypriot side of Cyprus is proceeding smoothly toward EU membership and believes the European Union will admit it even if Turkish Cypriots refuse to join them.
"But the admission of a unified Cyprus would be in the best interests of all," Mr. Anastasiades said.
He complained of "Turkish threats to 'react without any limitations'" if only the Greek-Cypriot side is admitted.
"They would endanger the stability of the region and their relations with Greece and damage their EU aspirations," he said. Turkish-Cypriot view
For Osman Ertug, the negotiations over the reunification of Cyprus comes down to one issue - trust. And Turkish Cypriots don't trust their Greek counterparts.
Responding to the comments of one of the visiting Greek-Cypriot politicians, who said both sides made mistakes, Mr. Ertug sniffed a bit of moral equivalency.
"When it comes to who pays for the mistakes, that is where we differ. They started it, themselves," Mr. Ertug, the Turkish-Cypriot representative in Washington, told Embassy Row yesterday.
For Greek Cypriots, the problems of Cyprus begin with Turkey's 1974 invasion. They complain of the Turkish occupation of more than one-third of the island.
"We call it a liberation," Mr. Ertug said.
For Turkish Cypriots, the problems began with communal violence between the ethnic-Greek majority and the ethnic-Turkish minority in the 1960s that led to the installation of U.N. peacekeeping forces.
"We faced threats in my village. We were forced into Turkish enclaves," Mr. Ertug said. "They say they have changed. But it would take a leap of faith to believe that, and it would be leaping toward suicide."
Under the treaty that created Cyprus, Turkey has an obligation to protect the Turkish-Cypriot population. It invaded in response to a coup engineered by Greek army officers, seeking to annex the island with Greece.
"The reality of today is that we have two separate states, one recognized, one not," he said.
Mr. Ertug said the world is maintaining a fiction by only recognizing the Greek-Cypriot administration as the government of Cyprus.
"They claim to represent the whole of Cyprus, but they do not represent us. They're getting away with the hijacking of the term, 'the government of Cyprus,'" he said.
In the negotiations, Turkish Cypriots are demanding that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus be treated as an equal to the Greek-Cypriot side. They want a loose confederation, or "partnership," that would give a central government power only over foreign affairs, EU affairs, national defense and the economy.
The Greek Cypriots endorse U.N. resolutions that call for a federal government with the guarantee of Turkish-Cypriot rights under a bi-zonal, bi-communal arrangement.
-------- biological weapons
Fort Detrick anthrax theory investigated by FBI
ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 14, 2002
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020614-94650379.htm
The FBI is investigating the possibility that someone grew the anthrax used in last fall's attacks in secret at an Army laboratory in Frederick, Md., and further refined it at home, a government source and a scientist questioned by investigators said yesterday.
The theory that anthrax was smuggled out of the biological warfare defense lab at Fort Detrick is one of several under active consideration by the FBI, but none has been assigned more prominence than the others, a law enforcement official said.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, indicated no arrests were imminent and that authorities remain largely frustrated by the lack of progress in their investigation.
Two FBI agents explored the smuggling theory during a three-hour interview Wednesday with Luann Battersby, a microbiologist who worked at the Fort Detrick lab for eight years, Miss Battersby said.
Miss Battersby, who voluntarily left the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in 1998, said the agents asked her "if I wanted to grow something I wasn't supposed to, would there be somebody asking me about it, and could I have taken it out of the lab?"
"I told them no one checked, and it was far easier to get something out of Fort Detrick than into it," she said.
While speculating how a terrorist might have obtained anthrax as virulent and finely milled as that used in the mailings that killed five persons, "we came to the conclusion the source is really important," Miss Battersby said.
"It really is difficult to develop an organism from one you haven't cultured," she added.
Fort Detrick officials have said lab security was enhanced after the anthrax attacks. Charles Dasey, a post spokesman, said the theory that the anthrax came from Fort Detrick was "just more speculation."
-------- iraq
War on Terror - Iraq strike likely by winter
June 14, 2002
by Richard Beeston
UK Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2482-326411,00.html
THE Bush Administration is likely to take military action against Iraq by next winter and hopes that British forces will fight alongside US troops.
Richard Perle, a senior Pentagon adviser, said that he expected the operation against Saddam Hussein to begin before February. Of America's allies, Britain was the only one he counted on to take part along with members of the Iraqi opposition. His comments appeared to dispel doubts expressed recently in Washington that the Administration had "wobbled" over its plans to remove the Baghdad regime. The offensive has also been criticised by moderate Arab states, who want peace efforts in the Middle East to be given priority.
Mr Perle was adamant that removing Saddam from power remained a priority for Mr Bush in his first term. "The sooner we take action, the smaller the risk Saddam poses to the world," he said.
----
U.S. Attacks Iraqi Radar Site
By Pauline Jelinek
Associated Press Writer
Friday, June 14, 2002; 8:29 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50110-2002Jun14?language=printer
WASHINGTON -- U.S. aircraft bombed an Iraqi military facility Friday in the fourth such strike in a month, American defense officials reported.
The strike was in answer to an Iraqi attack the previous day on aircraft patrolling the southern "no-fly" zone that U.S. and British coalition forces have been maintaining since shortly after the 1991 Gulf War.
"Coalition strikes in the no-fly zone are ... a self-defense measure in response to hostile Iraqi acts against coalition forces and their aircraft," said a statement from U.S. Central Command, which oversees the patrols.
Friday's strike was on a radar facility at Al-Amarah, about 165 miles southeast of the capital, Baghdad, said Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Lapan.
"The facilities struck today had been targeted because they were used to direct yesterday's attack against the coalition aircraft monitoring the no-fly zone in southern Iraq," it said.
Top British and American defense officials have said it is a worrying sign that in the last month Iraq's air defenses are more aggressively trying to shoot down the U.S. and British pilots on patrol.
Pilots have reported attacks by Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missiles. As they did Friday, the allied planes have responded by bombing various elements of Iraq's air defense system.
Lapan said Iraq has shot at coalition aircraft about a half dozen times since the beginning of May. And coalition forces have struck back four times since mid-May, he said.
----
Bush Continues Anti - Iraq Lobby
June 14, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Bush-Iraq.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush is determined to topple Saddam Hussein, perhaps with military force, despite qualms of some U.S. military leaders, lawmakers and allies. He may feel compelled to act without warning.
In recent weeks, the administration has intensified its rhetoric against Saddam and unveiled a new military policy that allows for pre-emptive action against enemies armed with weapons of mass destruction.
``When we see evil -- I know it may hurt some people's feelings, it may not be what they call diplomatically correct -- but I'm calling evil for what it is,'' Bush said this week. ``Evil is evil, and we will fight it with all our might.''
The president may choose diplomatic pressure or covert action to undermine Saddam. If he decides to go to war, there will be more choices -- such as whether to follow his father's blueprint or launch an unconventional surprise attack.
Behind closed doors at the White House, the president reacted with dismay to reports that U.S. military leaders were lobbying against an Iraqi invasion anytime soon.
``I don't know what they're talking about,'' two senior U.S. officials quoted the president as saying. They interpreted the remark to mean Bush hasn't heard or isn't moved by such concerns.
Most analysts assume Bush would slowly generate support inside and outside the country with a series of warnings to Saddam and a deliberate marshaling of U.S. troops. The world saw the Persian Gulf War coming for six months before Bush's father ordered the attack.
But there may be little or no warning this time.
Given notice, Saddam might strike the United States first or help a terrorist group do so. He could become cornered and desperate -- and he is presumably armed with a greater arsenal of deadly weapons than in the Gulf War.
``We're now beginning to understand that we can't wait for these folks to deliver the weapons of mass destruction and see what they do with them before we act,'' said Philip D. Zelikow, a University of Virginia history professor who worked for the National Security Council under Bush's father.
``And we're beginning to understand that we might not want to give people like Saddam Hussein advance warning that we're going to strike,'' he said.
Saddam, meanwhile, seems to be showing more aggressiveness. On Friday, U.S. aircraft bombed an Iraqi military facility in response to an attack the previous day on aircraft patrolling the southern ``no-fly'' zone.
It was the fourth such U.S. strike in a month.
Some military leaders favor delaying any Iraqi invasion until next year and perhaps not moving at all. They warn that at least 200,000 troops would be needed, and want covert intelligence operations to be the focus for now.
If Bush decides to strike without warning, there are alternatives to a conventional military buildup.
One strategy, proposed by retired Army Gen. Wayne A. Downing four years ago, calls for attacking Iraq with a combination of airstrikes and special operations assaults in coordination with Iraqi fighters opposed to Saddam.
From Kuwait, from carrier battle groups in the nearby waters or from Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq the forces could launch surprise attacks against the nation's weapons facilities -- or even target Saddam himself.
A sneak attack would create a huge uproar in the international community and expose Bush to criticism at home, particularly if U.S. troops get bogged down.
Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he recently told Bush: ``There's a reason why your father stopped and didn't go to Baghdad.''
``What do you do when you take Saddam out?'' Biden said. ``I don't know a single informed person who is suggesting you can take down Saddam and not be prepared to stay for two, four, five years to give the country a chance to be held together.''
Under Bush's new ``strike first'' policy, which has evolved since the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. military can take pre-emptive action if necessary against terrorist-harboring nations that have weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq may fit the bill:
-- Bush increasingly suspects that Saddam still aids terrorists, despite repeated warnings.
-- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld recently dismissed claims by the Iraqi government that it has no nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. ``They are lying,'' Rumsfeld said.
On Nov. 16, Bush contended for the first time that Osama bin Laden was seeking chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. He had been told that the al-Qaida may have access to those weapons through Pakistan.
The news is said to have crystallized Bush's thinking that terrorist groups and nuclear nations are a deadly combination.
That led to the State of the Union address in which Bush called Iraq, Iran and North Korea an ``axis of evil.'' Standing before Congress, he offered the first hint of his ``strike first'' doctrine and, perhaps, his plans for Iraq.
``I will not wait on events while dangers gather,'' Bush said.
EDITOR'S NOTE -- Ron Fournier has covered the White House for The Associated Press since 1993.
-------- israel / palestine
Palestinian Urges End to Militias
By IBRAHIM HAZBOUN
Associated Press Writer
JUNE 14, 2002 10:30 ET
http://wire.ap.org/?FRONTID=MIDEAST&SLUG=ISRAEL%2dPALESTINIANS
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - The new Palestinian security chief said Friday he wants to put an end to militias involved in shooting and bombing attacks on Israelis, and Israeli said it would begin building a fence along parts of the West Bank to keep out attackers.
Gen. Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, who was appointed interior minister in a weekend Cabinet reshuffle, said he would first engage in dialogue with the armed groups. Yehiyeh did not say how he would proceed if his appeals go unheeded.
The Cabinet reshuffle, including the appointment of new interior and finance ministers, are part of reforms sought by the United States as a prerequisite for future diplomacy, including the convening of a regional crisis conference this summer.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Friday, after swearing in five new Cabinet ministers, that presidential and parliamentary elections would be held in December or January.
Israel's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said it would begin construction of a 75-mile fence along one-third of the unmarked frontier with the West Bank on Sunday. The fence is designed to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers and gunmen who have killed more than 520 Israelis in the past 21 months of fighting. In the same period, more than 1,700 people have been killed on the Palestinian side.
There were signs of tension in Israel's coalition over the fence, which the Defense Ministry said would more or less run alongside the so-called Green Line - Israel's border before the capture of the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war.
Jewish settler leaders and right-wing parties in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's coalition demanded that a fence instead be built around Palestinian towns and cities.
Settler leaders have met with five right-wing Cabinet ministers to enlist their support for blocking a fence that would run along the Green Line, the Haaretz daily reported. The chairman of the Settlers' Council, Benzi Lieberman, has said he will wage a ``bitter struggle'' against the government if the fence is built, the daily said.
About 200,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank, and settler leaders fear that what the Defense Ministry is describing as a ``security fence'' will turn into a future border with a Palestinian state and leave the settlers further isolated on the wrong side.
At least in some areas, however, the fence would cut deep into the West Bank. The army has already seized about 30 square miles of West Bank land near the Palestinian towns of Jenin and Tulkarem for the construction of the barriers.
The Palestinians have dismissed the fence construction as ineffective, saying only peace agreements can bring Israel security. ``We don't want physical separation,'' Mohammed Dahlan, the former head of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service in Gaza, told the Yediot Ahronot daily. ``This fence will be a fence of hatred. The `whites' in Tel Aviv and the `blacks' in the West Bank.''
Yehiyeh, the Palestinian security chief, said Friday, a day after being sworn in, that he would strive to neutralize the armed groups that have been carrying out terror attacks. ``We should put an end to all the militias. We should end it completely,'' Yehiyeh said in an interview with The Associated Press.
``I will not agree in any way to pollute the name of the Palestinian people with terrorism,'' Yehiyeh said.
The attacks have been carried out by the military wings of the various Palestinian factions, including the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, which is linked to Arafat's Fatah movement. Israel has accused Arafat of doing little to stop the attacks or even encouraging and financing them, a charge he has denied.
Yehiyeh did not say how he would handle the militias, and it was not immediately clear how much authority he was being given by Arafat.
Critics of Arafat's reform program have said the changes are largely cosmetic, and the Palestinian leader is keeping power concentrated in his hands.
In the reshuffle, Arafat reduced the size of the Cabinet from 31 to 21 ministers, adding five new members, but keeping in place several who have been accused of engaging in corruption.
Several Palestinian legislators complained that ministers accused of mismanagement were not ousted. They demanded that the entire Cabinet be presented to the parliament for approval. However, Arafat said he would only submit the appointment of the five new Cabinet members to the legislature next week.
Also Friday, Israeli forces entered the West Bank city of Hebron before dawn. Israeli armored vehicles and a bulldozer surrounded an empty building, arrested a Hamas activist and then destroyed the structure, leaving after about two hours.
The Israeli military said three suspects were arrested, and an explosives laboratory was found in the building and destroyed.
At the Jewish settlement of Kadoumim, near Nablus, a Palestinian stabbed and lightly wounded an Israeli. Soldiers shot and killed the attacker, the military said.
The military said Shin Bet agents found a huge bomb near the West Bank town of Qalqiliya and exploded it safely. In a statement, Sharon's office said the bomb, made up of ``dozens of kilograms (pounds) of explosives,'' was meant to be planted in Israel. Qalqiliya is next to the unmarked line between the West Bank and Israel.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, meanwhile, said he has resumed contacts with Palestinian officials but has no plans now to talk to Arafat, who accused Israel of trying to derail his attempt to reform the Palestinian leadership.
Peres told Israel Radio that his talks with Palestinians are ``just initial probes, and that's why I'm being so careful not to go into detail, because there aren't any details yet.''
Sharon has ruled out peace negotiations with the Palestinians until all violence stops and has banned talks with Arafat, charging that he is responsible for Palestinian attacks. However, Peres said Sharon had set no limits on his current contacts. ``I don't know about any conditions, but I don't plan on talking to (Arafat) at this point, anyway,'' he said.
Several months ago, Peres and Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia came close to agreement on a Mideast peace plan under which Israel would recognize a Palestinian state before solutions were negotiated on key issues such as borders and Palestinian refugees.
Peres said the concept was similar to the idea of a provisional state for the Palestinians, raised this week by Secretary of State Colin Powell.
--------
Expert Accuses Israel of War Crimes
June 14, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-UN-Israel-Settlements.html
GENEVA (AP) -- Israel's policy of building settlements in Palestinian territories and destroying Arab homes and farmland is a war crime, a United Nations investigator said Friday.
``Israel has used the current crisis to consolidate its occupation'' of Palestinian areas, said Miloon Kothari, the housing expert of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights.
Yaakov Levy, Israel's ambassador to U.N. offices in Geneva, rejected Kothari's ``wild compilation of one-sided accusations.''
Kothari, an Indian architect who visited Israel and Palestinian territories earlier this year, told reporters, ``The serial and deliberate destruction of homes and property constitutes a war crime under international law.''
The building of new Jewish settlements is ``incendiary and provocative'' and settlers are ``free to indulge in violence and confiscate land,'' he said.
Kothari cited international accords like the Geneva Conventions on warfare, which govern the behavior of occupying powers.
Israel has built more than 100 Jewish settlements -- home to about 200,000 Israelis -- on land conquered in the 1967 Middle East war and is continuing construction. It claims the territory it seized is disputed, rather than occupied and that the Geneva Conventions do not apply.
``The issue of settlements is a political issue on which Israel and the Palestinians disagree,'' Levy told The Associated Press. Both sides discussed settlements ahead of the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and Palestinians and during later talks in 2000 and 2001, he said.
``We made detailed suggestions on how to solve the issue, but the Palestinians broke off negotiations. The difficulties were caused by a conscious Palestinian decision not to work with us and resort to a policy of violence.''
In a 27-page report, Kothari said Israel claimed that settlement expansion was necessary because of ``natural'' population growth. But while settler numbers have risen by 12 percent a year, the Israeli population has been growing by just 2 percent a year, he said.
-------- mideast
Arab League Leader Warns West Again
By George Jahn
Associated Press Writer
Friday, June 14, 2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A51209-2002Jun14?language=printer
VIENNA, Austria -- The United States and its allies should not pursue "hidden agendas" in their widening war on terror because the campaign is not the world's overriding concern, the head of the Arab League said Friday.
Rather, the Arab world's major worry is "the Israeli military occupation of Arab territories and the infringement of the rights of Palestinians," Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said.
Moussa warned Washington and its allies against using their worldwide hunt for terrorists for "settling accounts and imposing a different world order" - an apparent reference to Arab fears of a planned U.S. attack on Iraq.
Even though Middle East countries also consider terrorism "evil," joining the Western campaign against it was not the region's top priority, Moussa said.
Moussa spoke at an international conference planning anti-terror strategies. His comments appeared to indirectly criticize Western participants, who depicted the need for worldwide mobilization of resources against terrorism as the main concern of the international community.
He also argued that terrorism is not linked to any one region, race or religion.
"We see an attempt to link Islam to terrorism," Moussa said. He also criticized unspecified nations and governments for allegedly "accusing all Arab or Muslims of terrorist intentions and cultures."
In separate comments, NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson said the alliance - traditionally focused on conventional warfare - now is paying increased attention to the threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
Robertson said a planned NATO summit in Prague, Czech Republic, in November will endorse concrete measures to "sharpen the alliance's terrorist-fighting potential," including approving a "military concept for defense against terrorism."
"Terrorism is no longer a domestic problem," Robertson declared in urging a worldwide alliance against a "threat to international security."
NATO, created in 1949 to counter the threat of a large-scale Soviet-led attack, shifted its focus after the Cold War ended in the 1990s, putting more emphasis on political pressure to prevent conflicts and on the ability to respond to small-scale conflicts like that in Kosovo in 1999.
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the 19-member alliance has moved quickly to join the war on terror, Robertson said, including sending early warning aircraft to patrol American skies after the strikes and cracking down on "terrorist cells" in the Balkans.
"For the longer term, we are focusing more systematically on the protection of our forces and populations against nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, on the dangers of proliferation, and on ballistic missile defense," he said.
NATO will act against "terrorists and those who harbor them," said Robertson, referring to resolutions adopted last week at a meeting of alliance defense ministers in Brussels, Belgium. "We agreed that NATO should be ready to deploy its forces 'as and where required' to carry out such missions."
Robertson also praised the newly created NATO-Russia Council, saying the "fight against terrorism is the key component" in relations between the former enemies.
-------- pakistan
Suicide bomber outside U.S. Consulate kills 10
06/14/2002
Associated Press
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002/06/14/consulate-pakistan.htm
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) - A suicide driver slammed his explosives-packed vehicle into a concrete barrier in front of the U.S. consulate Friday, setting off a huge explosion that killed 11 people and injured 45.
The attack - the fourth against foreigners in Pakistan since January - prompted the U.S. government to consider scaling back its diplomatic staff in this country on the front line of the war against al-Qaeda.
No Americans were among the dead, but one U.S. Marine guard suffered slight injuries from flying debris. Five Pakistanis who work at the consulate also were injured, said Mark Wentworth, a U.S. Embassy spokesman in Islamabad.
Tight security measures, including concrete barriers around a 10-foot-high concrete wall, probably prevented more casualties inside the heavily guarded compound.
U.S. officials in Washington said they suspect al-Qaeda or affiliated Islamic extremist groups carried out the attack, but have no direct evidence. Several Pakistani groups in Karachi have ties to Osama bin Laden's terror network.
Late Friday, Karachi newspapers received a fax message claiming responsibility in the name of the previously unknown "Tarjuman-Al-Qanoon," or Spokesman for the Law. The message said the attack was a "preview with more to follow" and was part of a holy war against the United States and its "puppet ally," the Pakistani government.
In Washington, U.S. counterterrorism officials said they were aware of the claim but had not determined if it was credible. And President Bush said the bombing speaks to the nature of terrorism itself.
"We fight an enemy that are radical killers; that's what they are," Bush said. "They claim they are religious people, and then blow up Muslims. They have no regard for human life."
The United States promptly closed its consulates in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar, as well as the American Center in Islamabad. A State Department official said a decision will be made soon whether to reopen them Monday.
The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad notified Americans in Pakistan about the bombing and advised them to take precautions.
Police said the driver clipped a police guard post at the southern end of the consulate grounds at 11:08 a.m. before slamming into one of the 3-foot-high concrete security barriers around the perimeter wall.
The vehicle exploded on impact, disintegrating the barrier, collapsing part of the steel-reinforced concrete wall around the compound and hurling debris a half-mile away. The blast incinerated nearly 20 cars and damaged a large tree inside the compound.
Many victims were blown to bits, their body parts found hundreds of yards away.
Dr. Hafiz Athar said 11 people were killed, including 10 identified by relatives or colleagues. The other remains was believed to be that of the bomber.
The dead included the bomber, four Pakistani police constables, three passers-by and three women in a car who had just finished a driver's education course and were on their way to get their licenses.
The blast also damaged the adjacent Marriott Hotel and other buildings, including the Japanese consulate 300 yards away. A Japanese employee was slightly injured by flying debris.
Violence against foreigners has increased since Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf threw his support behind the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.
The blast occurred less than a mile from the site where 11 French engineers and three others were killed in a suicide bombing May 8. Police suspect Islamic extremists, possibly al-Qaeda members, were responsible.
Karachi was also where Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was abducted and slain in January while working on a story about Islamic militants. Four Islamic militants are on trial in that case.
On March 17, a man ran down the aisle of a church in Islamabad's diplomatic enclave, throwing grenades. He was killed along with four others, including two Americans - a U.S. Embassy employee and her teenage daughter. The man has not been identified.
Sharif Ajnabi, a private security guard, was sitting in a park across the street from the consulate in Karachi Friday when the bomb went off.
"I heard a deafening explosion," he said. "There was smoke everywhere. Moments later, I saw a man's body flying in the air, and it fell near me. He was badly injured. Before we could give him water or medical help, he died. It was a horrifying scene."
Police and emergency workers collected body parts and put them on sheets spread on the ground. Ambulances shuttled the injured to hospitals. Wreckage from a car was stuck in a water fountain and in trees.
Police sealed off the area. The heavily secured consulate always has four layers of Pakistani and American guards. The sidewalk in front normally is blocked off and barricades shunt traffic away from lanes next to the building. Few people are allowed inside - even U.S. citizens have to make appointments days in advance.
Javed Ashraf Hussein, chief secretary of Sindh province, visited the scene. "This is sheer terrorism," he said. "We have put this area under high alert and heavy security, but the terrorists struck."
He would not comment on who might be responsible.
Karachi Mayor Naimat Ullah offered sympathy for U.S. officials and vowed to arrest those responsible.
"The terrorists have no religion. They are not Muslim. They are not human. They are just terrorists," he said.
The United States withdrew all nonessential personnel and relatives of other staffers from Pakistan after the church bombing. Other countries have followed suit. Last month, the British mission evacuated 150 staffers out of security concerns.
--------
11 Killed as Bomb Goes Off Near U.S. Consulate in Pakistan
New York Times
June 14, 2002
By TERENCE NEILAN
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/14/international/14CND-STAN.html
A suspected suicide bomber set off a car bomb outside the United States Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, today, killing at least 11 people, the police said.
No Americans were believed to have died in the attack, but six consulate employees, including an American, were slightly injured, a spokesman for the United States Embassy in Islamabad said.
The police, who said the blast had all the earmarks of a suicide attack, at first put the death toll at eight. But police officials said later that examination of body parts showed that three female trainees of a driving school were also killed.
The blast occurred less than a mile from where 11 French engineers and three others were killed outside the Sheraton Hotel in a suicide bombing on May 8. It also came a day after Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld left Islamabad after talks with Pakistani officials.
A Karachi security official told Reuters that the police had received a tipoff a week ago that another suicide blast was imminent, but had no details of when or where it might occur.
In February the chief suspect in the kidnapping and subsequent slaying of The Wall Street reporter Daniel Pearl said Mr. Pearl's death was part of a wider plot that was to have included an attack on the Karachi consulate, Pakistani intelligence and law enforcement officials said. But the claims by the suspect, the British-born Ahmed Omar Sheikh, were not corroborated, the officials added.
Two of the dead in today's attack were Pakistani police officers guarding the consulate, Tariq Jamil, Karachi's police chief, told reporters.
The nearby Marriott Hotel was damaged in the blast and about 20 cars were destroyed. Body parts were scattered up to 200 yards along the street, Reuters reported.
The Interior Ministry said 45 people were wounded by flying debris and news agencies said the explosion left a crater at least 10 feet deep in the compound wall and destroyed the guard post.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
In Columbus, Ohio, the White House said the attack was a "vivid reminder" of the dangers that Americans faced in the war on terrorism.
"This is a vivid reminder of the fact that our nation is at war against terrorists who use any means at their disposal to harm Americans and others," the White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters traveling with President Bush to Columbus for a commencement address at Ohio State University.
"It's also a reminder of the risk that men and women in the foreign service take every day in doing their jobs," he added.
Before the death toll was amended, a police spokesman in Karachi told Reuters: "Six bodies are in the hospital, while parts of two bodies are still at the place of the incident. We believe one of the two, whose parts are still there, is a suicide bomber."
Today's blast is the fourth attack this year in Pakistan aimed at foreigners after Mr. Pearl's death in January and a grenade attack on a church in Islamabad in March in which five people people were killed, including three foreigners.
After the church attack the United States ordered all nonessential diplomatic workers out of Pakistan.
The United States Embassy spokesman, Mark Wentworth, told reporters that the bomb exploded about 50 feet from the consulate, which received some structural damage.
A Pakistani journalist, Azhar Abbas, who was near the scene of the blast, told CNN that the bomb was much bigger than the one that exploded outside the Sheraton.
Sharif Ajnabi, a private security guard, was sitting in a park across the street from the consulate when the bomb went off.
"There were bodies all over and smashed cars and injured people," he told the Associated Press.
"I heard a deafening explosion," he said. "There was smoke everywhere.
"Moments later, I saw a man's body flying in the air, and it fell near me. He was badly injured. Before we could give him water or medical help, he died. It was a horrifying scene."
Witnesses told the agency that American marines took up protective positions around the consulate.
India, locked in a tense military situation with Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir, condemned the attack.
"It is a very sad and a very regrettable incident that we condemn fully," India's foreign minister, Jaswant Singh told reporters in New Delhi.
"I am really grieved and unhappy that yet another terrorist activity of a suicide bomb variety has taken place in Karachi."
-------- spies
Spies in Iranian skies
America does its own thing - again
Friday June 14, 2002,
The Guardian
UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/bush/story/0,7369,737220,00.html
Unexplained happenings in the skies over Iran raise questions about the opening of a new front in America's "war on terror". Last month Iranian television aired pictures purporting to show a pilot-less US spy plane crash-landing in Iran's western Kurdestan province. This week brought more unconfirmed reports in Tehran of the discovery of wreckage from another US drone. It may be that only one plane, probably a Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, was involved. It may be that the target of the surveillance flight was not Iran but Iraq, where the US (and Britain) enforce the northern and southern no-fly zones. Either way, the American military appears to be violating Iranian airspace in a manner which can only bolster anti-western hardliners in Tehran and deepen the moderates' fears about Bush administration intentions. None of Iran's neighbours possesses the technological means for invasive snooping of this kind. But the US has both capability and motive.
Speaking in Doha this week, Pentagon boss Donald Rumsfeld said he had information that Iran was "sheltering al-Qaida fighters who fled Afghanistan". As with his claim about an al-Qaida presence in Pakistan Kashmir, Mr Rumsfeld does not deign to share his evidence. But in the current Washington climate, the accusation alone is sufficient to trigger military action under "Bush doctrine" rules. By way of mock reassurance, Mr Rumsfeld suggested he was not plotting "regime change" in Iran since the US was rather counting on an internal revolution to do the job for it.
Like the spy plane incidents, this dismaying display of open hostility follows close on President George Bush's inclusion of Iran in his "axis of evil"; Iran's designation by the state department as the world's number one state sponsor of terrorism; more unsubstantiated claims that Tehran is building nuclear missiles (with Russian help); and Washington's refusal to end its embargo and join the EU in developing trade and diplomatic links. Completely forgotten now, apparently, is Iran's assistance in the early stages of the Afghan campaign. Completely ignored, it seems, is the Iranian majority's wish for gradualist social and civil reform within an Islamic system. Mr Rumsfeld prefers spy planes and confrontation, in Iran as elsewhere. Since that way the "war on terror" will surely be lost, it might be better on balance to lose this clumsy loudmouth instead.
-------- us
Senate panel votes to kill Crusader artillery system
By Rowan Scarborough
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
June 14, 2002
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020614-17858696.htm
The Senate Armed Services Committee last night backed, in part, President Bush's desire to kill the Army's Crusader artillery system, voting 13-6 to remove $475 million in funding from the 2003 defense bill.
The vote came on an amendment by Committee Chairman Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat, to delete the funding. The amendment included something the White House does not want: authorization for the Army to study alternatives to the Crusader. The Pentagon cannot spend the $475 million on other uses until the study has been completed.
Pentagon civilians do not want additional studies. They have already decided the alternatives will be a mix of new munitions and an armored vehicle called the Future Combat System (FCS).
But administration officials last night called the vote a win. Even some Crusader advocates voted for the amendment in the face of likely defeat, either on the Senate floor or through a promised presidential veto.
The House has voted to continue Crusader funding. But a Senate-House standoff may be avoided: The committee vote came as Sen. James M. Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican and a key Crusader backer, was holding private discussions with the Pentagon on a compromise.
Under the deal, Oklahoma's congressional delegation would win Army assurances that the FCS would be tested at Fort Sill in their home state, according to two defense sources. Fort Sill was to be the test center for the Crusader.
Mr. Bush's decision to follow a recommendation by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to terminate the Crusader had faced stiff resistance in Congress, especially from Republican members. Mr. Bush says the 40-ton, $11 billion artillery no longer fits into his plans for a lighter, more mobile armed forces.
The White House has threatened to veto any defense bill that contains continued Crusader funding. But it wants to avoid that step, especially when the country is at war.
The Pentagon and the White House have searched for a deal that would end the dispute and make peace with two Republican stalwarts: Mr. Inhofe and Rep. J.C. Watts Jr. of Oklahoma, a Republican House leader.
Under a deal, each party would get a benefit. Mr. Bush would win the day on terminating his first major weapon system as a symbol of commitment to military transformation; Oklahoma would win continued activity at Fort Sill; and United Defense Industries Inc., the Crusader's prime contractor, would win work transferring Crusader technologies to the FCS.
A Pentagon document delivered yesterday to the committee spells out the switch.
The document is a set of answers to questions submitted to Edward C. Aldridge Jr., the Pentagon's acquisition chief, by Mr. Levin and Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia, the panel's ranking Republican.
The Pentagon document states: "Perhaps the most compelling reason to terminate the current Crusader contract is precisely because we intend to transition Crusader technologies to the Future Combat System on an accelerated [basis]. The Army and the contractor appear to be in agreement that this is the most expeditious way to proceed."
The FCS is a family of vehicles designed to provide artillery fire, smart munitions, infantry transportation and battlefield sensors. The 20-ton wheeled armored platform would carry guns capable of attacking a wide range of targets. The vehicle is being designed for Army units later this decade.
----
Inside the Ring
Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough
Notes from the Pentagon.
June 14, 2002
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020614-28672193.htm
Navy message
Adm. Vern Clark, chief of naval operations, has sent a message to commanders praising the fleet for being the "leading edge of the fight" in the war on terrorism.
His message sent earlier this month gives statistics to support the assertion. He also cautions to watch for combat-readiness problems. "We are in this fight for the long haul and must plan accordingly," the four-star admiral says.
A sample of statistics provided in the message:
•U.S. Central Command, which runs the war in Afghanistan, has used 78 Navy ships and 60,000 sailors and Marines.
•Six aircraft carriers, more than half the 11-carrier fleet, have seen action off the Pakistani coast. One, the USS Kitty Hawk, was used in an innovative way as a floating base and launch site for special operations forces.
•Navy aircraft have flown 12,000 combat sorties and dropped more than 5,000 precision-guided munitions during the war in Afghanistan. Navy vessels launched 82 Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Adm. Clark also mentions Seabees (Navy engineers), who built the airfields near Kandahar and at Bagram, north of Kabul, used daily by coalition forces.
"I need you to keep a sharp eye on readiness indicators," says Adm. Clark, who has focused his tenure on shoring up Navy readiness lost during the 1990s. "The increased tempo of wartime operations demands the highest degree of professional dedication to sustain our war-fighting edge." Navy laser protection
Several years after a Navy officer suffered eye damage from a laser, the service has developed eye protection designed to protect against a range of laser attacks.
The Crew Systems Science and Technology division of the Naval Air Systems Command, known as NAVAIR, at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Southern Maryland said it will be fielding new anti-laser goggles later this year.
The protection is considered state of the art. It combines several light filters used in eye goggles and helmet visors that will protect the eyes of military personnel from the damaging effects of lasers.
The goggles were identified as EDU-5/P protective glasses. They use holographic and dielectric technology to filter laser beams and prevent them from reaching the eyes, according to a NAVAIR spokesman.
The goggles will be distributed to aviators and aircrews in the coming months. They provide protection from various lasers that emit differing wavelengths of light. They can be used day and night, and can be combined with night-vision goggles.
The current eye protection is limited to single wavelength lasers and is not as effective as the new spectacles.
"Through this team effort, U.S. Navy and Marine Corps fixed- and rotary-wing and patrol aircrew will have state-of-the-art laser eye protection to protect against the hazards of anti-personnel lasers," said Brandon Johnson, who worked with a team of specialists who developed the spectacles.
The new goggles are being fielded more than five years after an intelligence officer, Lt. Cmdr. Jack Daly, was hit in the eyes by a laser fired from Kapitan Man, a Russian merchant ship. The ship was spying on a U.S. nuclear missile submarine in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, north of Washington state's Puget Sound.
Two members of an Army helicopter crew also suffered eye damage from a laser fired at them during a mission over Bosnia- Herzenovina.
Cmdr. Daly, who was aboard a Canadian military helicopter, suffered burns to the retina of his right eye and has not recovered. The Canadian pilot, Capt. Pat Barnes, also suffered career-ending eye injuries.
A 1997 Pentagon investigation of the incident offered conflicting conclusions. It found that Cmdr. Daly suffered eye injuries caused by exposure to a laser but stated that there was "no physical evidence tying the eye injury to a laser located on the Russian merchant vessel."
Members of Congress charged that the Clinton administration covered up facts about the incident to avoid upsetting the Russians. Last year, Cmdr. Daly brought a lawsuit against the owner of the ship, the Vladivostok-based Far Eastern Shipping Co., or Fesco, for negligence. The case is scheduled for trial later this year in Seattle. Arabic speakers
At least one military school is urging future officers to learn Arabic as the open-ended war on terrorism continues and focuses on militant Islamists.
The urging comes as the military, as well as law enforcement and intelligence agencies, realize they need more Arabic speakers to translate monitored communications, interrogate suspects and conduct military-to-military relations overseas.
The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in Lexington, Va., has sent letters to cadets inviting them to enroll in Arabic language courses.
"Our nation has a great need for young leaders with an in-depth understanding of the languages and cultures of the Middle East," said a May letter to cadets from an Arabic lecturer at VMI.
"You can position yourself to play a key role in the on-going struggle between terror and freedom by choosing to study Arabic at VMI," the letter states. "As you know no other language is so directly vital to our national security. Arabic is the native tongue of more than 400 million people in 21 countries extending from Morocco to the far reaches of the Persian Gulf."
"It is the second language of the more than one billion Muslims of the world. If you are seeking a career in the armed forces, the Foreign Service or any intelligence services, knowledge of Arabic will open doors to unimaginable opportunity. Likewise, if you are pursuing a career in business, Arabic can be a very valuable tool that distinguishes you from other candidates for a particular exotic, challenging and lucrative position."
At the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., there is no special encouragement to learn Arabic. But West Point is looking to increase awareness among cadets about varying cultures, says spokeswoman Andrea Hamburger
"We are training cadets for service around the world," she said. "It's important that they know how others think - cultural differences - that they have an appreciation of that."
West Point offers seven foreign languages, including Arabic. Cadets must take one language course for two years. About 8 percent of each class chooses Arabic. Rodman to Beijing
The Pentagon will send Peter Rodman, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, to communist China later this month. His assignment: Try to restart military-to-military ties that were curtailed sharply since the April 2001 incident involving a U.S. EP-3 reconnaissance plane and a Chinese F-8 jet fighter.
Mr. Rodman also will make stops in Japan and South Korea.
The main topic of discussion for Mr. Rodman is to convince the Chinese to correct previous military exchanges that favored China more than the United States.
The Pentagon wants concrete assurances from Beijing that there will be more "transparency, consistency and reciprocity" for military exchanges, Pentagon spokesman Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis said.
Past exchanges have included Chinese military visits to sensitive facilities, such as the Joint Warfighting Experimentation Center in southern Virginia.
U.S. visits have been limited to some staged exercises. China refused to let any U.S. military personnel see elements of China's military buildup, which includes new command and control systems, missiles, bombers and ships.
"That's where we feel contacts with the PRC [People´s Republic of China] in the past have been lacking," Cmdr. Davis said. "Prior to normalization or full restoration of military exchanges we want to ensure there is equal benefit to the United States and narrowed down to the three areas to be improved. If they agree to fix the problems, we would consider holding [Defense Consultative Talks] and have a more normalized exchange program."
The Defense Consultative Talks are senior-level meetings of Pentagon and Chinese military officials. None have been held since the April incident, when a Chinese pilot flew his F-8 into the EP-3 reconnaissance plane over the South China Sea. The EP-3 limped into a Chinese military base. The Chinese military imprisoned the 23-member crew for 11 days.
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said in a speech earlier this week that China's military buildup needs to be watched. China "needs to work with us to show us and its neighbors transparency, to show us what they are doing, thereby building trust and reducing tensions," Mr. Powell said.
"An arms buildup, like those new missiles opposite Taiwan, only deepens tensions, deepens suspicion," Mr. Powell said. "Whether China chooses peace or coercion to resolve its differences with Taiwan will tell us a great deal about the kind of relationship China seeks not only with its neighbors, but with us."
----
Lawmakers See Army's Crusader System
June 14, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Crusader-Demonstration.html
YUMA, Ariz. (AP) -- Soldiers and engineers put the Army's new Crusader artillery system through its paces Friday as two congressmen who support the embattled weapons program looked on.
At the touch of a button, a computerized targeting system launched seven 155mm shells from the 60-ton cannon toward a target about 25 miles away. Powerful blasts shook the walls and windows of the trailer where Reps. J.C. Watts and George Nethercutt watched the demonstration on a video monitor.
``It's the future of artillery,'' said Watts, a Republican whose district in Oklahoma includes the area where the Crusader would be assembled. ``It gives our soldiers the resources to win, not just the resources to play a good game.''
Watts, who arranged a trip to Yuma Proving Ground, said the new howitzer allows soldiers to strike with incredible precision at enemies they can't see, destroying them before they even have a chance to start fighting.
But there's plenty of opposition to the $11 billion program.
President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld want to redirect Crusader funds to other high-tech Army artillery programs. Bush has proposed to Congress new ways to spend the $475 million he initially sought for the Crusader next year.
Although there's a 40-ton Crusader being developed, critics say it's too big and unwieldy to operate in the Army's lighter, more mobile fighting force.
On the Net:
Yuma Proving Grounds: http://www.yuma.army.mil
-------- POLICE / PRISONERS
[To reply or expand - mailto:letters@washingtontimes.com]
Intelligence security cell fusion
Austin Bay
June 14, 2002
Washington Times
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20020614-3252372.htm
Mating dinosaurs and merging government agencies have much in common. Given the bulk and mass engaged, in both cases the turf shakes.
The ritual noise generated can't be ignored. Success is a relative thing, literally and figuratively. Dinosaurs beget dinosaurs. Merged government agencies beget another government agency. Dinosaurs were the whiz-kids of the Cretaceous, which ended 65 million years ago. Government agencies tend to turn whiz-kids into bureaucrats, ending audacity and creativity.
I know I'm being a bit unfair. The new Department of Homeland Security won't simply be another government agency. The threat presented by theo-babbling fanatics is too immediate. After the political turf battles cease and congressional noise diminishes, the Department of Homeland Security as proposed by the Bush administration should improve America's ability to thwart terrorist attacks. Reorganizing and more cogently connecting emergency response assets should also improve our ability to react when a terror attack occurs.
Domestic security operations already link the Border Patrol, Customs and the Coast Guard. While the cooperation is often ad hoc, dedicated people with common sense know how to collaborate. Bringing U.S. border security agencies under the wing of a single department is an attempt to make common sense a federal policy.
However, when it comes to agile action, enormous bureaucracies have a sorry track record. Many paleontologists argue that brontosaurs and other huge dinos really didn't lumber and weren't stupid. Be that as it may, small, quick mammals inherited the Earth.
Brains do trump brawn. That's why the key element to any kind of security operation is its brain.
The brain of Homeland Security will be the "intelligence fusion cell" charged with synthesizing data gathered by a range of government and private agencies. "Fusion" will be tasked to produce "an integrated intelligence picture," which means forming a dynamic pattern from all the data, tips and facts. That's hard enough, but genuine "intel fusion" also entails drawing accurate conclusions from that pattern - to include "seeing" that pattern the way the enemy sees it. Successful fusion also means disseminating useable intelligence so that field officers and units can act in time.
We've tried "fusion" before, albeit in a political climate that lacked this moment's certain urgency. In the mid-1980s, CIA and other government agencies began to share information through the Counter Terror Center. In July 1996, the Clinton administration spokesman Ken Bacon asserted that the counterterror intel fusion cell formed after the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia was already "pretty much going," and it was only a "question of improving what's already there."
Gee. Shucks. Pretty much.
Effective intel fusion - whether at Homeland Security, the FBI or CIA - requires leaders with spine, vision and persistence. It also requires leaders who trust their subordinates to think, exchange information and act quickly. Leaders like that are rare in bureaucracies. Ironically, press critics who practice gotcha journalism are the allies of "zero defect" bureaucrats who lock up information and squelch imaginative, aggressive subordinates.
Secure digital technology has given intel analysts the ability to be "highly lateral" when sharing information and concepts. The quick exchange of ideas by imaginative, intuitive and experienced analysts accelerates the development of an integrated intel picture.
Sure, there are risks, the worst being the potential compromise of spies if information leaked, but that's always a risk. Rapid lateral exchange runs counter to the "command and control" culture of traditional federal bureaucracies. If we intend to beat "low observable threats" like terror networks, however, leadership must force those cultures to change.
"Brains" must promptly connect to brawn. A potential weakness in the Bush proposal is the separation of Homeland Security's analytical fusion center from FBI, CIA and Defense Department operational perspectives. A truly integrated intelligence picture includes the good guys' capabilities. This means the fusion cell must receive timely and accurate operational updates.
If "intel fusion" can be made to work, Homeland Security won't be a dinosaur bureaucracy, but a new breed of agency - bred for an intricate, nuanced and brutally contemporary kind of war.
Austin Bay is a nationally syndicated columnist
----
[Does this happen in your town too?]
D.C. agency keeps cash of deceased
By Brian DeBose
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
June 14, 2002
http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20020614-61075338.htm
The D.C. Department of Mental Health has not returned $1 million to the relatives of deceased patients and has mismanaged the accounts and care of hundreds of others, according to a report to be released today by the inspector general.
The report documents the mismanagement of 3,000 patient accounts in the mental health department during the past two years.
About 600 accounts have accumulated a total of more than $1 million in 30 years because of inadequate procedures for notifying relatives of patients' deaths, the report states. The mental health department has also maintained 900 accounts totaling $250,000 for patients no longer in its care.
"Nearly 1,000 accounts had balances of less than $10, and numerous others had less than $1 and should be closed out," D.C. Inspector General Charles C. Maddox says in the report, which was obtained by The Washington Times.
Mr. Maddox's audit of the agency's patient accounts found that the agency provided irresponsible care for several patients with addictive disorders and who were known to be incompetent in managing their money.
"We found several instances where patients were given large sums of cash that ultimately were used to buy drugs and alcohol," Mr. Maddox says in the report, which notes that some of these patients were arrested for drug- and alcohol-related offenses when they should have been in the care of a case manager.
Martha B. Knisley, director of the mental health department, asked the inspector general in August to audit her agency's patient accounts, which emerged from federal receivership May 15.
Mrs. Knisley, who took charge of the department in April 2001, said the purpose of the report is to identify any problems in the agency that may have been missed by herself or her staff.
"I was most interested in if we missed something in our review, but the IG mostly confirmed what we already knew," Mrs. Knisley said.
She blamed lax record-keeping, the lack of a reliable information-management system and poor training for employees.
The Department of Mental Health, which has a budget of $227 million this year, has long been one of the most poorly run agencies in the District. It regulates the city's mental health system and provides services through the Community Service Agency and St. Elizabeths Hospital.
D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams identified the mental health department as one of three agencies that wastes the city's budget. He has vowed to clean up the agency but has repeatedly said that will "take time."
Mrs. Knisley said the mayor asked Mr. Maddox to conduct a general audit of the agency from January 2000 to last September. During budget negotiations this year, Mr. Williams fought to increase the agency's budget to help its new director address widespread and long-standing problems.
"DMH is the last agency to come back home, and we are tremendously impressed with Mrs. Knisley's progress," said Tony Bullock, spokesman for Mr. Williams.
Mrs. Knisley said her staff has rewritten every job description so that all employees, including those with alcohol- and drug-addicted patients, will know exactly what their responsibilities are. "We have made it clear to our managers that they are accountable, and some have already been disciplined," she said, without elaborating.
Inactive patient accounts with little money in them will be closed, and the money will be considered unclaimed property, she said.
The mental health department has already received and trained workers on its new information system, she said. "When you have this, you can actually manage for the first time," Mrs. Knisley said.
In addition, the agency will submit monthly financial reports on patient accounts to the mayor's office, she said.
For the past three months, the mental health department has been working with the Social Security Administration to locate and identify relatives who are owed money.
"We want to make sure deceased consumers' finances are fully explained to their loved ones. Any funds that remain in their accounts will be transferred quickly to the survivors or their representatives," Mrs. Knisley said.
To inquire about an individual's account, relatives should call the Office of Finance and Information Systems at 202/645-7370 on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., or send an e-mail to pas.info@dc.gov.
----
ACLU, NAACP oppose police cameras
June 14, 2002
By Brian DeBose
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20020614-70639616.htm
The ACLU and NAACP yesterday joined critics of Metropolitan Police Department plans for video surveillance of public spaces.
Nkechi Taifa, a member of the NAACP's Police Task Force and a Howard University law professor, said the cameras could lead to racial profiling and spying by police.
"Before the council acts on an issue of this magnitude, it should insist on data from responsible independent research," Mrs. Taifa told the D.C. Council.
Mrs. Taifa and other proponents of civil liberties voiced concerns about the cameras at a fact-finding hearing yesterday led by D.C. Council members Kathy Patterson, Ward 3 Democrat, and Carol Schwartz, at-large Republican.
The Washington Times reported in February that the Metropolitan Police Department has plans to link hundreds of closed-circuit television cameras to monitor streets, parks, subway stations, schools and other public areas throughout the city.
The cameras, police officials said, will be used to counteract terrorism and domestic criminal activity. The cameras are monitored in a central control center that is activated, police say, only during times of crisis.
That "Big Brother" approach to crime-fighting is unconstitutional and likely to land the District in court, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union said.
Attorney Steven Block said the ACLU would begin looking for a client to file a test lawsuit if the city moves forward with the system.
Mayor Anthony A. Williams, who was not present for yesterday's hearing, has endorsed the surveillance plans, saying the cameras have helped bring crime under control in cities in Britain and Australia.
But speakers yesterday said the benefits of surveillance in cities such as London, where the government responded to the threat of terrorism by the Irish Republican Army by installing more than 150,000 cameras, is undocumented or overstated.
Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington-based think tank that studies abuse of electronic information, said the benefits of video surveillance "have been significantly overstated."
Mrs. Taifa testified that other American cities, such as Detroit, have abandoned experiments with cameras after years of less-than-satisfactory results.
Robert Wolf, a retired federal attorney who lives in Northwest, decried the loss of privacy in the city. "The use of video will not solve our problems. What will solve our problems is better police work, better intelligence and better cases for our prosecutors. Use of cameras is a waste of money without any regard given to their implications on civil rights and liberties."
Mrs. Patterson and Mrs. Schwartz were sympathetic to the concerns of the speakers, but both were confident that the regulations governing the use of the cameras could be written to address problems or potential for abuse.
"As long as the legislation is very careful and specific, we can use the cameras," Mrs. Patterson said. "But what I have found from these witnesses is that no one wants to see the District turn into London."
She said the District should take steps to ensure that other government agencies don't abuse the system.
"Prior to the Bush inauguration, the Secret Service asked the MPD to use the surveillance system for their own purposes. We need to find out or determine whether or not or in what instances we will allow someone else to use the video," she said.
Guy Gwynne, who chairs the Federation of Citizens Associations, said the MPD's regulations for the use of the proposed system are too vague.
"The guidelines are unresearched," he said, calling for a "commission or outside investigation team - paid for by a one-time appropriation - to study video surveillance on a global level."
City officials such as Margret Nedelkoff Kellems, deputy mayor for public safety and justice, testified on behalf of the surveillance system.
Privately operated cameras, Mrs. Kellems pointed out, are already in place in banks, at ATMs and in many thousands of businesses in the District.
"The cameras could be used as a powerful tool to serve the public trust in managing traffic, detecting crimes, reducing citizens' fear of crime and countering terrorism," she said.
Mrs. Schwartz said that since the events of September 11, fear of another attack has made camera surveillance a viable tool, but she said citizens want more police officers patrolling neighborhoods.
"Given a choice between nothing and a camera, citizens would of course pick the camera," she said.
After a parade of witnesses skeptical of the government's plans, one D.C. resident stepped forward to testify that she had no problems with cameras in public spaces.
Northwest resident Kathy Smith said women are more vulnerable to attack in public places, "especially at night."
"Private security officers and our sworn police officers are too few and far between to cover places now covered by security cameras," Mrs. Smith said.
Executive Assistant Police Chief Michael J. Fitzgerald, who recently took over the No. 2 spot in the department from departing Executive Assistant Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer, said Mrs. Smith's comments are more typical of the public's reaction to the plans for more cameras.
"We have community requests for these devices, and we are trying to accommodate them," Chief Fitzgerald said.
He said the command center's 12 cameras are currently activated and that officers are monitoring monuments, parks and buildings downtown.
-------- terrorism
US condemns Karachi bomb attack
Friday, 14 June, 2002
BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_2044000/2044359.stm
The suicide bomber and policemen are among the dead The White House has condemned a suicide attack on the US consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi, describing it as a "vivid reminder" of the dangers Americans face in the war on terror.
Police say 11 people, including the attacker, died when a vehicle packed with explosives was detonated just outside the consulate.
More than 40 people were wounded.
The US has now closed its diplomatic missions in Pakistan as well as the American Center in Islamabad. It is not clear when they will re-open.
It is not known who carried out the attack - the fourth in Pakistan this year to apparently target foreigners or foreign interests.
Forceful blast
"This is a vivid reminder of the fact that our nation is at war against terrorists who use any means at their disposal to harm Americans and others," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.
"It's also a reminder of the risk that men and women in the foreign service take every day in doing their jobs," he added.
No foreigners or staff at the consulate were killed in the blast but one US Marine and five Pakistani employees are reported to be among the wounded.
Four Pakistani policemen guarding the heavily-fortified building were among the dead.
The explosion, which blew a gaping hole in the mission's perimeter wall, was the second in Karachi in a matter of weeks.
It comes a day after US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had talks in Islamabad with Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf on curbing extremism in the region.
India 'not ruled out'
Pakistan's information minister said the involvement of the Indian intelligence services could not be ruled out.
India has condemned the attack.
Police said the bomb was concealed in a white vehicle that the driver crashed into a police kiosk at the southern end of the consulate.
It left a crater about 1.5 metres (five feet) deep, and a hole about three metres (10 feet) wide in the perimeter wall.
"There was smoke everywhere... moments later, I saw a man's body flying in the air, and he fell near me. He was badly injured. Before we could give him water or medical help, he died. It was a horrifying scene," eyewitness Sharif Ajnabi told the Associated Press.
Terrified guests at the next-door Marriott luxury hotel were reported to have packed bags and rushed to check out within minutes of the bombing.
Security in the area around the consulate is very high - no cars have been allowed to park nearby since an attack in Karachi last month, although they can still drive down the street.
Al-Qaeda 'link'
A bomb attack outside Karachi's Sheraton hotel on 8 May killed 11 French nationals and three Pakistanis.
Pakistani police suspect that attack was the work of Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
Many al-Qaeda members are believed to have fled into Pakistan after the defeat of the Taleban in neighbouring Afghanistan.
In March, a grenade attack on a church in Islamabad left five people dead, including two Americans.
Many foreign diplomatic staff have left Pakistan following the attacks.
Last January General Musharraf made a televised speech to the nation in which he pledged to eradicate extremism in Pakistan.
But critics say he has made little headway in fulfilling his promise.
-------- ENERGY AND OTHER
-------- alternative energy
New Renewable Energy Council Invites Leadership to Convene
June 14, 2002
SolarAccess.com
http://www.solaraccess.com/news/story?storyid=2205
WASHINGTON, D.C. The American Council for Renewable Energy (ACRE) has invited the leadership of the U.S. Renewable Energy community to convene for a two-day meeting on July 10-11, 2002 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington DC. The purpose of the meeting is to charter a new national strategy to "take Renewable Energy to the next level" in the U.S.
"ACRE is unique as a group that covers all forms of Renewable Energy, and brings together the current and future leadership of this community," said Hank Habicht, co-chair for the conference. Other co-chairs are Dan Reicher, Roger Ballentine, and Judy Siegel. Registrants include individuals from industry, service firms, end users, utilities, green power marketers, associations, government, finance, law, research organizations, foundations, environmental and other nonprofit groups, the media and others.
Confirmed speakers include Senator Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the U.S. Senate Energy Committee, and David Garman, DOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Amory Lovins, CEO (Research) of Rocky Mountain Institute, will give the luncheon keynote speech on July 10. Christopher Flavin, President of Worldwatch Institute, will give the challenge speech on the global context for renewables, with responses from Mohammed El Ashry, President of the Global Environment Facility, and Frank Tugwell, President of Winrock International.
A panel of national financial leaders includes top financiers from Credit Suisse First Boston, Merrill Lynch, Nth Power Ventures, Winslow Management, and GE Capital. There will be a session representing each of the renewable energy technologies with talks from the heads of the trade associations and industry leaders from solar, wind, hydro, biomass, geothermal and hydrogen. This will be followed by a market-oriented session, with talks from utility, industrial, military and green power sectors.
Setting a framework for real change in national strategy and public policy, the speakers include R. James Woolsey and C. Boyden Gray. Hermann Scheer, leader of the Renewable Energy movement in Europe, will give a vision speech on making the necessary changes.
"This is a very big community if you ever put it all together," said Dan Reicher, a conference co-chair. "In fact, there are several hundred leaders of Renewable Energy organizations in the U.S., and an equal number of emerging leaders. It is long overdue that the leadership come together and create a new, national initiative that can take renewables to a higher level of credibility and results. It is time to put an end to on-again off-again public policy. This is not a conference to miss."
-------- environment
Device Turns Contaminants into Harmless Byproducts
June 14, 2002
ENS
http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2002/2002-06-14-09.asp#anchor3
EVANSTON, Illinois, A new device can render perchlorate - a thyroid damaging ingredient of rocket fuel that contaminates drinking water in some areas - harmless.
A Northwestern University environmental engineer has received a U.S. patent for the treatment device, which has potential applications that extend beyond the safety of drinking water and this one pollutant.
Bruce Rittmann has patented a hollow fiber membrane biofilm reactor, that, through a natural biochemical process of electron transfer, turns perchlorate into innocuous chloride.
The system also works on nitrate, a contaminant from agricultural fertilizers that can cause methemoglobinemia, or blue-baby syndrome, in infants. It is expected to work on other oxidized pollutants, such as bromate, selenate, heavy metals, radionuclides, and a range of chlorinated solvents, including trichloroethylene, produced by the semiconductor industry.
There is no effective clean up solution for perchlorate, which was discovered in the water supplies of many states in the late 1990s. Existing methods are also not always successful when dealing with other contaminants.
"Many emerging pollutants are difficult to treat with conventional methods," said Rittmann. "These methods do not destroy the contaminants but simply move them from place to place, from the water to a solid resin to a nasty brine that still contains the contaminants."
"Our simple method, which destroys the contaminant, should work for almost every oxidized pollutant, which means it has an incredible range of applications, including being used on more than drinking water," he added.
Rittmann has teamed up with the environmental engineering firm Montgomery-Watson-Harza Engineers, Inc. to conduct a pilot study in California, treating groundwater contaminated with perchlorate and nitrate. The biofilm reactor can treat 0.3 gallons of water per minute, removing perchlorate and nitrate at the same time.
The decontamination process takes advantage of a community of microorganisms that lives as a biofilm on the outer surface of the membranes in the system. The natural microorganisms act as catalysts for the transfer of electrons from hydrogen gas to the oxidized contaminant, such as perchlorate or nitrate.
The hydrogen gas supplies the electrons, and the biofilm microorganisms are the agents for the transfer. The contaminants are reduced to harmless substances - perchlorate to chloride and nitrate to nitrogen gas - while the hydrogen gas is oxidized to water.
"We are exploiting nature," said Rittmann. "Life is all about transferring electrons. We have an extraordinarily efficient system for bringing hydrogen and its electrons to oxidized pollutants, such as perchlorate, and reducing them to innocuous substances."
Rittmann also is conducting research on the microbial ecology of the bioreactor system in order to understand how it works.
"By looking at the details of what's going on in the biofilms, we can make the system even more reliable and efficient in cleaning up some of the most dangerous and newly discovered contaminants in drinking water, ground water and wastewater," said Rittmann.
-------- imf / world bank / wto / g7
[To reply - mailto:letters@washingtontimes.com]
G7 and the developing world
EDITORIAL •
June 14, 2002
Washington Times
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20020614-97894541.htm
Leave it to the Europeans to find fault with a U.S. proposal to give money away to the Third World. Today and tomorrow, at a meeting of the Group of Seven countries in Halifax, Canada, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill will be advocating a trailblazing proposal to use some multi-lateral aid dollars for grants, rather than loans, to poor countries. This plan, which the White House first floated last year in Genoa, makes abundant sense. For some countries, paying back aid loans with their attendant interest has been painful in the extreme. Rather than crying for highly indebted countries like Argentina to pay off their debt, the White House wants to prevent debt burdens from getting out of control.
In anticipation of the G7 meeting of finance ministers, U.S. and European officials have reportedly met behind the scenes to negotiate a compromise on approaches to aid. Originally, the White House had suggested that 40 percent of the aid disbursed by the International Development Association, an arm of the World Bank, be in the form of grants. The proposal would allow policymakers to measure the effectiveness of the grants without overhauling lending policies overnight. But since the overall foreign aid-dollar figures would naturally be lower for grants than for loans, Europeans have been highly skeptical.
Still, European officials appear to accept that grants can be used for some aid programs, such as assistance in combating HIV-AIDS - in which case the world's poorest countries will get about 18 to 20 percent of their aid money in the form of grants, according to the Financial Times. The White House, meanwhile, is poised to accept this compromise. "It looks like we're on the verge of an agreement," said John Taylor, treasury international undersecretary.
The British government has taken a lead in opposing the increased use of grants in multilateral funding. British policymakers seem to have forgotten how onerous debt burdens have been for the developing world. Poor countries often spend more on servicing foreign debt than they do on health care or education, even when they have had debt forgiven in the past. The congressionally chartered Meltzer Commission, which made recommendations for foreign lending in March 2000, articulated the virtues of grant-giving succinctly: "Without loans, there is no debt and no future debt problem." The commission said these grants should be audited to ensure proper use.
The United States and Europe certainly have a stake in the development of poor countries. For this very reason, the G7 industrialized nations should craft effective aid policy that won't mire Third World countries in escalating debt. The White House has pioneered a bold policy of foreign aid reform, and Europe would be wise to follow.
-------- ACTIVISTS
Iceland Sends Police Abroad in Effort To Stop Falun Gong
Associated Press
Friday, June 14, 2002; Page A27
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A48405-2002Jun13?language=printer
REYKJAVIK, Iceland, June 13 -- Iceland sent police officers to Boston and three European cities today to try to prevent Falun Gong members from flying here on Icelandair while China's president is visiting.
Iceland banned visits by Falun Gong members June 7-18 in an effort to prevent large demonstrations against Jiang Zemin, who arrived here today.
News media reported Wednesday that the ban had been lifted. But the government said they had misinterpreted a statement about the release from police custody of more than 65 suspected Falun Gong members detained at Iceland's Keflavik Airport.
China banned Falun Gong in 1999, calling it a threat to communist rule and a cult that has caused 1,700 deaths. Falun Gong followers say it is a peaceful meditation movement that builds health.
----------
Peruvians Protest Sale of Companies
June 14, 2002
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Peru-Protests.html
LIMA, Peru (AP) -- Protests erupted in two cities in southern Peru on Friday after the government forged ahead with the contentious sale of two state-owned electricity companies.
Police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters who gathered in the colonial plaza of Arequipa, chanting slogans against President Alejandro Toledo and tearing up stone bricks from the cobblestone streets.
The demonstrators filled the plaza after the government announced in Lima, the capital, that it had sold an electricity-generating company in Arequipa and another in neighboring Tacna to Tractebel, a Belgian company, for $167 million.
The sale came despite weeks of delays, demonstrations and work stoppages in the two southern cities and in other parts of Peru, including Lima, to demand the government call off the privatization.
Cable news station Channel N also reported that dozens of people marched in the streets of Tacna, 600 southeast of Lima.
The protesters fear the privatization will mean layoffs at the two companies and higher utility rates.
The government, however, has pledged to carry out its privatization plans, which include selling at least $700 million in state-owned assets this year to help cover its budget needs. l
--------
Iceland Protesters Give China's Jiang Cold Shoulder
June 14, 2002
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-iceland-falungong.html
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (Reuters) - Followers of the outlawed Chinese spiritual movement Falun Gong and human rights activists demonstrated in Iceland on Friday against a visit by Chinese President Jiang Zemin, despite government efforts to rein in protests.
The rally by some 500 protesters in front of the parliament building was the largest political demonstration in recent memory on the small North Atlantic island, witnesses said.
Jiang arrived in Iceland on Thursday following security meetings in Russia and Central Asia, and a tour of the Baltic states. His visit to the small NATO member is the culmination of a series of political and business exchanges over recent years.
The protest took place despite a government ban on foreign followers of Falun Gong entering the country, a measure which caused an outcry among politicians of all parties, human rights groups and the media.
The United States said five of its citizens were among those detained and that it was seeking an explanation.
The government said the ban was necessary because Iceland's police force was too small to keep order if hundreds of foreign demonstrators flocked to the country during the visit.
Nevertheless, around 130 Falun Gong followers managed to get into the country before the ban. The government has allowed them to meditate and protest in central Reykjavik.
Beijing banned the Falun Gong movement in 1999 as thousands of its followers demanded recognition of their faith, which teaches a blend of Taoist and Buddhist beliefs and traditional Chinese exercises.
One political leader told Reuters the parliament protest in central Reykjavik had been a complete success with more demonstrators than for the September 2000 visit of Li Peng, head of China's national assembly, when hundreds of people demonstrated against breaches of human rights in China.
``We believe this is the largest demonstration we have seen for many, many years,'' said Agust Agustsson, leader of the Young Social Democrats.
The government detained 70 Falun Gong followers Tuesday, triggering demonstrations in Reykjavik. They were later released but the authorities asked the country's airline not to allow followers of the group to board planes for Iceland.
``We had planned all along to protest against political oppression in China. However, what we did not expect was that we would have to demonstrate against human rights breaches committed by the Icelandic government,'' Agustsson said.
State Department spokesman Philip Reeker told a news briefing the Americans were detained at the airport in Iceland on June 11 but released the next day on condition they abided by ``certain rules of conduct.''
A U.S. official visited them during their detention and there were no allegations of any mistreatment, Reeker said, but added: ``We have asked the government of Iceland for an official explanation of its actions.''
He noted the justice ministry said it was imposing the ban to ensure order and Jiang's safety, not to limit free speech.
Another U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said other Americans had been stopped from boarding flights to Iceland but had no further details.
Stefan Eiriksson, director of police and judicial affairs at the Interior Ministry, said up to 200 police were deployed to ensure public safety during the protests.
Some demonstrators wore black ribbons tied over their mouths in protest at political censorship in China, while others carried ``free Tibet'' banners.
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------- Depleted Uranium Keeps On Killing!
-----------
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