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NUCLEAR
Malfunction cuts power at Fermi II
USEC Inc. Reports Results for 3rd Quarter 2004;
Mobile Armageddon
Diplomats: Nuke Report on Iran May Weaken U.S. Case
Iran can make the bomb, but doesn't want to: Iranian official
US Librarian of Congress visits Iran as nuclear tensions rise
S.Korea lobbies hard at UN nuke watchdog-diplomats
NKorea lays out terms for rejoining six-way nuclear talks: report
Weapons-Grade Plutonium Never Disappeared in Russia - Atomic Official
Russia and Iran Are to Sign Nuclear Deal in December, Says Tass
Axis of failure
Ill., Mich. Want New Federal Isotope Lab
Permit Change Bars High-Level Sludge from WIPP
Study: Nuclear shipments broke rules for testing
Future Of Hanford Initiative In Doubt Despite Voters' Approval
State to bolster oversight of WIPP
MILITARY
Karzai Win Gives Chance to Cleanse Afghan Government
Afghan Militants Extend Hostage Deadline
Karzai Formally Named Winner of Afghan Presidential Election
U.N. Accuses Sudan of Moving Refugees
UC Regents lose control of nuclear weapons program
BAE investigated over Saudi fraud allegations: two arrested
Britain warns EADS it could lose multi-billion dollar aircraft order
Northrop Grumman Demonstrates Key Technologies
Lockheed to Take Charge on Court Decision
Defense stocks surge after Bush win
Sarin 'Gulf war syndrome cause'
Chemical weapons disposal behind schedule
Hungary Will Withdraw Troops From Iraq
Hungary to withdraw troops from Iraq by March 2005: Gyurcsany
Hungary abandons conscription as it joins European
Marines' 'Night Walkers' Watch Over Dark Skies
Gunmen Seize Five in Two Iraq Kidnappings
Insurgents Blow Up an Iraqi Oil Pipeline
Israeli Lawmakers Back Settlers' Funding
Sharon's Gaza Pullout Plan Faces Key Vote
Israel Parliament Clears Payoffs for Gaza Settlers
India Test-Fires Brahmos Supersonic Cruise Missile From Warship
Ball Aerospace Proud Of ERBS Spacecraft That Keeps Going And Going
Annan Urges New Security Council Steps on Darfur
Air, marine operations merged
Guard revamps recruit incentives
Abu Ghraib Prison MP Pleads Guilty to Reduced Charge
G.I. in Abu Ghraib Abuse Is Spared Time in Jail
G.I. Gets Light Sentence for Desertion in '65
EU will keep the heat on war crimes suspects in Bosnia: commander
Ex-Yugoslav capitals pressed over warcrimes suspects
POLICE / PRISONERS / COURTS / JUSTICE
Court hears case about death-row defense tactics
On Alert for Terror Activity
Status of Hondurans, Nicaraguans extended November 03, 2004
Race-segregated prisons eyed
Race-Based Prison Policy Is Under Justices' Scrutiny
POLITICS
White House: Debt Ceiling Must Be Raised
The Wedge Politics of Osama bin Laden
Victorious Bush vows to reach out to Kerry voters
Bush wins race as Kerry concedes
US Election Outcome Impacts Europe
Early charges of vote fraud suggest a raft of challenges
Election 2004: Shoplifting the Presidency?
George McGovern on Daschle's Defeat
Rep. Dennis Kucinich on the Showdown in Ohio
ENERGY
Bush Likely to Renew Push for Alaska Oil Drilling
ACTIVISTS
Sole protester held after anti-war demo at Britain's Foreign Office
A Bridge Across Tears For Iraq
11 anti-war protesters arrested
SF Protesters Decry U.S. Presence In Iraq
-------- NUCLEAR
-------- accidents and safety
Malfunction cuts power at Fermi II
Glitch fixed; full operation resumed
The Toledo Blade
November 3, 2004
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041103/NEWS17/411030356/-1/NEWS
Detroit Edison Co. yesterday said its Fermi II nuclear plant in northern Monroe County experienced an unexpected loss of power Sunday night.
But the Nuclear Regulatory Commission acknowledged the problem was a relatively simple fix and that the public was not endangered. The plant was allowed to resume operation promptly.
It ascended back to full power at 11:47 p.m. Monday, 27 hours after the malfunction was diagnosed at 8:45 p.m. Sunday.
"They had a troubleshooting problem with some equipment and were able to fix it right away," said Jan Strasma, NRC spokesman.
The malfunction involved an electronic circuit card on one of two major pumps used to control the flow of coolant water over the nuclear reactor. When the circuit card failed Sunday night, the pump that it's associated with slowly lost power.
"It happened suddenly and unexpectedly," John Austerberry, utility spokesman, said. "When one pump [slowed] down, it caused the other to slow down."
Neither pump became idled. They just weren't able to run at full speed until the repair was made, he said.
Operators held the reactor at 62 percent power until the circuit card was replaced. Then, the gradual ascension back to full power began. The plant remained in stable condition at all times, Mr. Austerberry said.
Detroit Edison is days from shutting down Fermi II for normal refueling and maintenance, a outage that all 103 operating nuclear plants have on average once every 18 months to two years. The upcoming outage at Fermi II will last about a month.
Mr. Austerberry yesterday acknowledged the outage will begin in early November, but said the utility is not divulging the date in advance.
-------- business
USEC Inc. Reports Results for 3rd Quarter 2004;
$3.4 Million Quarterly Loss in Line with Guidance; USEC Increases Full-Year Guidance to $18 to $20 Million
(BUSINESS WIRE)
Nov. 3, 2004
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20041103005785&newsLang=en
BETHESDA, Md.---USEC Inc. (NYSE:USU) today reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2004 of a net loss of $3.4 million or $.04 per share compared to net income of $3.4 million or $.04 per share in the same quarter last year. For the nine months ended September 30, 2004, USEC reported a net loss of $2.9 million or $.03 per share compared to net income of $9.8 million or $.12 per share in the same period last year. These results are consistent with previous guidance for a loss in the quarter; however, USEC is increasing its full-year 2004 earnings guidance to $18 to $20 million, reflecting higher margins in SWU and uranium sales.
The Company's results continue to be impacted by its investment in the future, the American Centrifuge technology. For the nine-month period ended September 30, 2004, USEC expensed $36.4 million to support the American Centrifuge demonstration, which had the effect of reducing net income by about $23 million or $.27 per share in the period. In the same period of 2003, USEC expensed $32.7 million, which had the effect of reducing net income by about $20 million or $.24 per share.
As anticipated in the Company's guidance, revenue from the sale of Separative Work Units (SWU) in the first nine months of 2004 was significantly lower than in the same period of 2003. This reduction was due to lower prices in the first quarter of the year as some customers took orders under low-priced contracts signed during the late 1990s, and lower sales volume as customers take delivery of higher-priced SWU later in the year. SWU volume in 2004 is also negatively affected by lower contractual commitments and postponed refuelings due to the shutdown of a Japanese customer's reactors for special inspections. This lower revenue was partially offset by an improved gross profit margin in both the three and nine-month periods. SWU prices billed to customers showed improvement in the third quarter. USEC expects approximately half of its SWU deliveries for 2004 to occur in the fourth quarter.
USEC's customers generally place orders under their long-term contracts tied to reactor refuelings that occur on a 12- to 24-month cycle. Therefore, short-term comparisons of USEC's financials are not necessarily indicative of the Company's longer-term results.
"The long-term nature of our customer contracts, coupled with the essential role that nuclear fuel plays in generating 20 percent of America's electricity, gives us clear visibility into near-term revenue. Customer orders to be delivered in the fourth quarter are firm, and we have high confidence in our revenue, earnings and cash flow projections for the remainder of 2004," said William H. Timbers, president and chief executive officer.
Revenue and Cost of Sales
Revenue for the third quarter was $252.2 million, compared to $341.1 million for the same quarter a year ago. USEC's revenue is primarily related to the sale of the SWU component of low-enriched uranium. This quarter's 29 percent reduction in SWU volume was responsible for the 26 percent reduction in total revenue compared to the third quarter of 2003. The average SWU price billed to customers increased 3 percent quarter over quarter.
For the nine-month period ended September 30, 2004, revenue was $750.8 million compared to $1,030.8 million in the same period of 2003, on 34 percent lower SWU volume this year. The average SWU price billed to customers declined 1 percent compared to the same nine-month period of 2003, with most of the decline coming in the first quarter of 2004. USEC anticipates that over the full year, the average SWU price billed to customers will be flat year over year.
Although revenue from natural uranium sales declined in the quarter, it was $7.6 million higher on 16 percent lower volume during the first nine months of 2004 compared to the same period last year. The average price billed to customers increased 28 percent during the period. USEC's natural uranium inventory is being supplemented with uranium available as a result of underfeeding operations at the Paducah, Kentucky enrichment plant. Underfeeding uses less uranium in the enrichment process but requires more SWU, which requires more electric power. Underfeeding results in incremental uranium available to USEC to sell at today's higher prices, which have increased approximately 50 percent in 2004. Revenue from these sales exceeds the incremental power cost incurred during the underfeeding process.
The decline in SWU sales volume produced a corresponding reduction of $263.7 million or 33 percent in the cost of sales for SWU and uranium in the nine-month period. The unit cost of SWU sales was 2 percent lower than in the same period of 2003, reflecting the impact of lower production and purchase costs in previous periods.
The average unit cost of production and purchases increased by 3 percent during the nine-month period compared with the corresponding period in 2003. The cost of electricity, labor and benefits increased compared to 2003. The Company's purchase costs per SWU increased under a market-based formula with Tenex, the Russian government's executive agent, which reflects the impact of higher SWU market prices since 2001. Under the average inventory cost method, coupled with USEC's inventory position, an increase or decrease in costs will have an effect on cost of sales in future periods.
The gross profit margin for the quarter was 14.1 percent compared to 12.0 percent in the same period last year, due to improved margins on SWU and uranium. For the nine-month period, the gross profit margin was 14.2 percent compared to 11.4 percent in the same period last year.
Selling, general and administrative expenses totaled $15.3 million in the quarter, about the same as last year, and are $2.9 million higher in the nine-month period compared to last year. The increase is due to higher compensation and employee benefit costs, legal and consulting fees, insurance expense and new costs incurred to ensure compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley.
Outlook
USEC continues to project revenue for 2004 at approximately $1.4 billion, with about half of its revenue from deliveries of SWU and natural uranium coming in the fourth quarter. Revenue includes the sale of natural uranium, which is expected to total approximately $210 million. While the revenue projection is virtually unchanged, USEC expects its cost of sales to decline below its previous forecast, resulting in a one-half percent improvement to its gross profit margin.
USEC raises its earnings guidance for 2004 to $18 to $20 million, or $.21 to $.24 per share. The previous guidance given for the year was $14 to $16 million.
USEC expects to invest approximately $70 million in the American Centrifuge technology in 2004. The Company has reassessed its allocation of costs for 2004 between expense and capital, and now anticipates that approximately $60 million related to demonstration activities will be expensed, which has the effect of reducing net income by about $37 million or 44 cents per share. USEC's earnings guidance reflects the effect of American Centrifuge expenses on net income. Approximately $10 million related to the American Centrifuge Plant is expected to be capitalized in 2004.
USEC expects cash flow from operating activities to improve from its earlier forecast. Cash flow from operating activities will be in a range of negative $45 to $55 million, and capital expenditures will total approximately $25 million, including expenditures related to the American Centrifuge. The Company anticipates ending the year with a cash balance in a range of $115 to $125 million.
American Centrifuge Continues to Exceed Milestones
USEC is in the process of demonstrating its next-generation American Centrifuge uranium enrichment technology. USEC expects to begin operation of the American Centrifuge Demonstration Facility in Piketon, Ohio in 2005 and to begin construction of the American Centrifuge Plant in 2007, reaching an annual production capacity of 3.5 million SWU by 2010. Expenses during the quarter were $16.4 million, or $4.3 million more than in the third quarter of 2003.
In August, USEC applied for a construction and operating license for the American Centrifuge Plant from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and on October 7 the NRC accepted the application for detailed review. NRC's acceptance of the application comes seven months ahead of schedule and completes the seventh milestone in the Company's June 2002 agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). NRC has established a 30-month schedule for conducting its detailed review, which will include an extensive safety and environmental analysis. USEC is optimistic, however, that the commission will be able to complete its review and issue the construction and operating license in 24 months given the NRC's familiarity with the American Centrifuge technology and the Piketon site gained during the licensing process for the American Centrifuge Demonstration Facility.
The application seeks a license term of 30 years for the American Centrifuge Plant with an initial production capacity of 3.5 million SWU per year. USEC's environmental report submitted with the license application also evaluates the potential expansion of the commercial plant to an annual production capacity of 7 million SWU.
Engineering, assembling and testing of centrifuge components and the initial centrifuge machines will continue at USEC's test facilities located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Under a license granted in February 2004 by the NRC, USEC has begun construction and refurbishment activities at the American Centrifuge Demonstration Facility, and USEC expects to begin operations there in 2005.
USEC has signed agreements with the Boeing Company and Honeywell International to support the manufacture of centrifuge machines for the American Centrifuge program. Both companies have extensive experience in building centrifuge machines through their involvement with DOE's original centrifuge program. During the two-year term of the current agreements, centrifuge components will be manufactured, tested and assembled into full-size machines. As reported previously, USEC has also engaged Fluor Enterprises to provide engineering, procurement and construction management services for the American Centrifuge Plant over the next two years.
Cash and Cash Flow
At September 30, 2004, USEC's cash balance was $15 million. Cash flow from operating activities for the nine-month period, as anticipated in the Company's guidance, was negative $197.2 million compared to negative $52.4 million in the same period a year ago. The $144.8 million difference between the two periods was primarily due to decreased SWU deliveries and SWU inventory that increased by approximately $300 million in 2004 in preparation for fourth quarter sales. Inventory levels fluctuate based on timing of anticipated deliveries and seasonal production schedules. Other factors affecting cash flow included a $33.2 million payment to resolve the termination of a power contract in 2003. The Company had no short-term debt at September 30. USEC anticipates drawing funds under its bank credit agreement in the fourth quarter with the expectation of repaying the loan before year's end. As previously reported, net cash flow from operating activities is expected to return to positive levels in 2005.
Other Business Matters
-- As of September 30, 2004, USEC had processed and cleaned 5,357 metric tons of out-of-specification uranium contaminated with technetium (Tc99), or 56 percent of the total. The remaining amount of uranium inventory to be replaced or remediated is 4,193 metric tons. In October 2004, USEC and DOE entered into an agreement that obligates DOE to transfer title and custody of 2,116 metric tons of uranium to USEC in exchange for 2,116 metric tons of out-of-specification uranium, subject to certain conditions, including inspection and acceptance by USEC. Separately, in October 2004 DOE approved a work authorization for USEC to continue processing out-of-specification uranium for DOE through November 20, 2004. USEC and DOE are negotiating contract terms for USEC to continue processing out-of-specification uranium for the period November 21 to December 31, 2004, as well as contract terms for additional years. As part of the uranium transfer agreement, USEC has begun cleaning contaminated uranium belonging to DOE.
-- In July, the U.S. Department of Commerce concluded administrative reviews of its 2002 orders that established countervailing and antidumping duties for imports of low-enriched uranium. The reviews resulted in substantially lower duties applied to imports from USEC's European competitors than initially estimated, indicating a reduction in dumping and subsidization following the granting of trade relief by the Commerce Department. The ruling demonstrates that the duties are working and that the government's investigation has successfully returned stability to the low-enriched uranium market.
This news release contains forward-looking information that involves risks and uncertainty, including certain assumptions regarding the future performance of USEC. Actual results and trends may differ materially depending upon a variety of factors, including, without limitation, market demand for USEC's products, pricing trends in the uranium and enrichment markets, deliveries under the Russian Contract, the availability and cost of electric power, implementing agreements with the Department of Energy (DOE) regarding uranium inventory remediation and the use of centrifuge technology and facilities, satisfactory performance of the American Centrifuge technology at various stages of demonstration, USEC's ability to successfully execute its internal performance plans, the refueling cycles of USEC's customers, final determinations of environmental and other costs, the outcome of litigation and trade actions, performance under government contracts and audits of allowable costs on government contract work, and the impact of any government regulation. Revenue and operating results can fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter, and in some cases, year to year.
Please refer to our SEC filings, which can be accessed through the Company's website www.usec.com, for a more complete discussion of these factors.
USEC Inc., a global energy company, is the world's leading supplier of enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.
USEC Inc.
CONSOLIDATED CONDENSED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (LOSS) (Unaudited)
(millions, except per share data)
Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended
September 30, September 30,
------------------- -------------------
2004 2003 2004 2003
-------- -------- -------- --------
As As
restated(a) restated(a)
Revenue:
Separative work units $194.6 $265.6 $518.2 $798.0
Uranium 16.8 28.0 111.8 104.2
U.S. Government
contracts 40.8 47.5 120.8 128.6
-------- -------- -------- --------
Total revenue 252.2 341.1 750.8 1,030.8
Cost of sales:
Separative work units
and uranium 180.1 263.7 533.3 797.0
U.S. Government
contracts 36.5 36.4 110.9 116.1
-------- -------- -------- --------
Total cost of sales 216.6 300.1 644.2 913.1
-------- -------- -------- --------
Gross profit 35.6 41.0 106.6 117.7
Centrifuge demonstration
costs 16.4 12.1 36.4 32.7
Selling, general and
administrative 15.3 15.1 47.2 44.3
-------- -------- -------- --------
Operating income 3.9 13.8 23.0 40.7
Interest expense 10.0 9.8 29.8 28.7
Interest (income) (1.2) (1.5) (2.7) (4.6)
-------- -------- -------- --------
Income (loss) before
income taxes (4.9) 5.5 (4.1) 16.6
Provision (credit) for
income taxes (1.5) 2.1 (1.2) 6.8
-------- -------- -------- --------
Net income (loss) $(3.4) $3.4 $(2.9) $9.8
======== ======== ======== ========
Net income (loss) per
share - basic and diluted $(.04) $.04 $(.03) $.12
Dividends per share $.1375 $.1375 $.4125 $.4125
Average number of shares
outstanding 84.4 82.3 83.8 82.1
(a) USEC performs contract work for DOE and DOE contractors at the Portsmouth and Paducah plants. In the three and nine months ended September 30, 2004, billings under government contracts are reported as part of revenue, and costs incurred are reported as part of costs and expenses. In the three and nine months ended September 30, 2003, the net amount of income or expense for government contracts had been reported as part of other income (expense), net. The statements of income for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2003, have been restated to conform to the current presentation. There was no effect on income before income taxes, net income or net income per share as a result of the change.
USEC Inc.
CONSOLIDATED CONDENSED BALANCE SHEETS
(Millions)
(Unaudited)
September 30, December 31,
2004 2003
--------- ---------
ASSETS
Current Assets
Cash and cash equivalents $15.0 $249.1
Accounts receivable - trade 159.4 254.5
Inventories 1,205.1 883.2
Prepaid items 14.1 16.9
Other current assets 34.4 23.0
--------- ---------
Total Current Assets 1,428.0 1,426.7
Property, Plant and Equipment, net 174.4 185.1
Other Long-Term Assets
Deferred income taxes 34.7 52.5
Prepayment and deposit for depleted
uranium 23.5 47.1
Prepaid pension benefit costs 80.9 76.3
Inventories 198.5 266.1
--------- ---------
Total Other Assets 337.6 442.0
--------- ---------
Total Assets $1,940.0 $2,053.8
========= =========
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
Current Liabilities
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities $173.5 $188.3
Payables under Russian Contract 136.1 119.3
Uranium owed to customers and suppliers - 45.0
Termination settlement obligation under
power purchase agreement - 33.2
Deferred revenue and advances from
customers 26.0 25.8
--------- ---------
Total Current Liabilities 335.6 411.6
Long-Term Debt 500.0 500.0
Other Long-Term Liabilities
Deferred revenue and advances from
customers 6.7 13.5
Depleted uranium disposition 27.6 53.5
Postretirement health and life benefit
obligations 144.1 138.1
Lease turnover and other liabilities 63.6 50.9
--------- ---------
Total Other Liabilities 242.0 256.0
Stockholders' Equity 862.4 886.2
--------- ---------
Total Liabilities and Stockholders'
Equity $1,940.0 $2,053.8
========= =========
USEC Inc.
CONSOLIDATED CONDENSED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited)
(millions)
Nine Months Ended
September 30,
----------------
2004 2003
------- -------
Cash Flows from Operating Activities
Net income (loss) $(2.9) $9.8
Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash
provided by (used in) operating activities:
Depreciation and amortization 23.6 21.7
Deferred revenue and advances from customers (6.6) (43.4)
Liabilities accrued for consolidating plant
operations - (9.1)
Changes in operating assets and liabilities:
Accounts receivable - (increase) decrease 95.1 (43.5)
Inventories - net (increase) decrease (299.5) 31.5
Payables under Russian Contract - increase
(decrease) 16.8 (15.2)
Payment of termination settlement
obligation under power purchase agreement (33.2) -
Accounts payable and other - net increase
(decrease) 9.5 (4.2)
------- -------
Net Cash (Used in) Operating Activities (197.2) (52.4)
------- -------
Cash Flows Used in Investing Activities
Capital expenditures (13.1) (20.5)
------- -------
Net Cash (Used in) Investing Activities (13.1) (20.5)
------- -------
Cash Flows Used in Financing Activities
Dividends paid to stockholders (34.6) (33.9)
Common stock issued 10.8 2.2
------- -------
Net Cash (Used in) Financing Activities (23.8) (31.7)
------- -------
Net (Decrease) (234.1) (104.6)
Cash and Cash Equivalents at Beginning of Period 249.1 171.1
------- -------
Cash and Cash Equivalents at End of Period $15.0 $66.5
======= =======
Supplemental Cash Flow Information:
Interest paid $34.2 $34.1
Income taxes paid (refund) 8.1 (2.8)
-------- depleted uranium
Mobile Armageddon
www.dissidentvoice.org
by Reza Fiyouzat
November 3, 2004
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Nov2004/Fiyouzat1103.htm
As a naturalized citizen of the USA, I am grateful that this country has established voting as a right of the citizenry, no matter how well or poorly this right may be exercised at times. And, as an Iranian long-time observer (and object) of things political, I can safely expect that almost all that is of essential significance will remain unchanged no matter who wins. And for these particular US general elections, not even the tempo of atrocious behavior toward Middle Easterners is expected to change. For the most part, now that the voting is over, we are still left with all our fundamental questions un-addressed and all our problems growing worse.
At least for those Iraqi and Afghans who are inhaling uranium fumes in their streets, ingesting uranium dust in their food, drinking uranium particles in their water; and watching their kids play in uranium-shielded vehicles after the soldiers are through destroying with them. This radioactive poison, gassing all the people of Iraq and Afghanistan and, downwind, of all countries in the Middle East, will burn cancers into all organic life forms, for the next four and a half billion years. We heard not a single word from either major candidate that such a war crime should be questioned, never mind stopped. This is the equivalent of not caring to form an opinion over Nazis' gassing of Jews and Gypsies in concentration camps.
Of course, all familiar with the history of colonization know well that the schemes and intentions driving the atrocities in Iraq are not new. For only the most famous example, Thom Hartmann has a good overview: "Prior to Columbus' arrival, some scholars place the population of Haiti/Hispaniola ... at around 1.5 to 3 million people. By 1496, it was down to 1.1 million, according to a census done by Bartholomew Columbus. By 1516, the indigenous population was 12,000, and according to Las Casas (who were there) by 1542 fewer than 200 natives were alive. By 1555, every single one was dead," (from "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: The Fate of the World and What We Can Do Before It's Too Late" by Thom Hartmann, www.thomhartmann.com)
This dark history of ours, however, should not be 'quoted' in the spirit of cynicism, to insinuate that humans are by immovable nature perpetually afflicted with nothing but greed, and mysteriously beyond any cure. Not at all. The reference to history is done in the spirit of a warning, a call to lift the heads and a plea for persuasion.
The singular mechanism of voting does not exhaust by a long shot all that is meant by the word 'democracy'. If that were the case, the Mullahs in Tehran could (and some perhaps do) claim to be more democratic than the politicians in Washington, DC, since, taken as a percentage of eligible population that participated in the elections, more Iranians participated in their Presidential and Parliamentary elections of 1997 than did Americans in their Presidential and Congressional elections of 1996 or 2000. Thus rendered quantitatively, would it then be logical to conclude that the Iranians practiced more democracy? Hardly!
Clearly voting alone does not guarantee a realistic control over the decisions that truly shape our lives. As some among the ancient Greeks would have it, to be a citizen implied responsibilities far beyond the occasional casting of a ballot. It would be indeed the antithesis of democracy when such occasional casting of the ballot is only followed by a swift disappearance behind the daily chores and duties and obligations that comprise the 'comfort' of the private life, little of which is truly private. Most of what we have in private was gotten through very social and public means. It is indeed public questions that determine to the last minutiae of our private lives.
Compared to the Greek ideal then, it becomes clear how deeply undemocratic and indeed anti-democratic all our states are. Laws do get written, laws that change and affect our lives, yet none of us (the people) are doing any of the writing of the laws, nor exerting any real control over the corporations that steal our common goods and natural resources at the same time as they dictate laws to our legislatures to the effect of our entrapment.
"As for the question of ... administration, [the ancient Greeks'] system was one in which every citizen was expected to, and got to serve in various capacities, chosen through a process that has come to be known as sortition, a sort of selection by lot. This magnificent mode of experimentation, this readiness to learn by doing, has given humanity one of the most vibrant epochs of its history," (To Be or Not to Be an Idiot, H. Utanazad, March 3, 2003, www.iranian.com).
Within this ideal framework, what of those individuals who chose not to participate in the making of the decisions which shape the conditions of their lives? "They had a name -- those Greeks -- for the occasional one who refused to get involved: they called him the idiotes, the private person, the one who cared not for the affairs of the community, or for politics," (ibid).
So, which are we? Citizens or idiots?
Post Mortem for Postmodernism
Each and every aspect and dimension of this juncture of our history, as is always with our social class activities, is a forced situation. There is nothing fatalistic about it, and very little of it is based on chance or came about randomly.
Ever since the appearance of the 'New Movements' for social justice in the 1960s and 1970s, and the subsequent seeming displacement of 'classes' by 'race/gender/identity/environment', the pragmatism of the dispersed fights in concrete localities has dominated the US left. Furthermore, as the New Movements have diverged increasingly, activists of all localities, even while fighting disconnected fights, have grown more timid with every successive demand they have put forth, so as to reassure all that they are not in any way form or shape one of those 'big-picture' bad guys, to sooth any worries that, God forbid, should they be engaged in trying to change the system!
As a result, the followers of postmodernist oppositional practices have abided loyally by a policy of standing aside when it has come to 'big-picture' questions of big narratives of systems and utopias; meaning, they have voluntarily handed the most crucial domains over to the boys with the guns running the current global system.
The postmodern activist in the USA should find it instructive that politically what they preach would resonate harmonically well with a majority of middle class parents all over the world, as they persist to dissuade all from political oppositional activity. My own homegrown type have been repeating to their kids by rote: "Just tend to your own little garden. Forget about politics! What can you do anyway? See what happened when we tried to change things in Iran? We ended up with a worse totalitarianism! See child? We should have appreciated the Shah and kept our mouths shut!"
Another point of contention, and one of irony, is that, at any political juncture where the New Movements joined hands with the workers the results were the most dramatic openings in the political spaces previously undisputed, in fundamental ways. The May 1968 uprisings of Paris were perhaps the best example of this. But then, one must also mention that this is the city that, almost a century prior to the May uprisings of the 'Vietnam generation', had given us the Paris Commune.
So, maybe the working class militancy does make a big difference. Simply because working classes change shape and form does not mean militancy can be safely dispensed with; we have not entered some radically changed universe simply because more aspects of our overlooked humanity are raising their voices. The New Movements did not displace classes, nor could they.
What did take place, however, was a very systematic attack on the living standards as well as autonomous institutions of the working classes, waged on all fronts: from purely economic (systematic increases in temping, reduction and where possible axing of benefits in more and more industries, outsourcing, holding the workers at ransom practically with the threat of relocation, while reducing wages and taking rights away) to the legislative (in the form of the so called 'deregulation' revolution); all of which expanded and deepened radically the realms governed by private capital. Not to forget the destruction of the safety net for the most vulnerable portions of the working classes, thereby dropping the floor even further, all of this led by a group of rightwing activist political representatives, starting most notably in the UK and the US, by the end of 1970s. By the end of their rollback, capital had maximum mobility, while labor was locked into ghettoized, localized, dispersed parcels.
While the New Movements busied themselves with over-estimations of their own impact and scope, the infrastructure for all oppositional movements deteriorated considerably.
Ultimately, the system has laughed all the way. Feminism was reduced to having a seat at the table, as was the race 'issue'; THE table; the only table; the table at which decisions are made regarding the perpetuation of starvation, disease and insecurity, bombing or poisoning of innocent communities for the price of a loot.
Very obviously women's liberation has not come about. Nor has colonization ended. Nor have grand narratives stopped dictating the shapes of our lives. And, indeed, they continue to dictate life with special ferocity to the people living outside the so-called Metropolis, away from the North, distant from the First World.
Whatever the name, the reality is clear to us. A very definite Totality does constitute our reality, and we perceive clearly how the shitty end of this system ends up where it does, and see clearly where the loot ends up. We all exist in this totality, so we should not mistake it for randomly put together contingent narratives. The most productive intellectual tool that explains best how our historical situation has specifically come to this point is that old concept of the struggle of the SOCIAL CLASSES!
The total emancipation of women today is negated primarily by the uneven wage structure that is in perpetuity a fundamental requirement for a capitalist way of organizing social production. This, and not simply the general history of patriarchy, explains the specific and concrete shape of women's subjugation today.
The decades of 1980s and 1990s were the decades of rightwing restoration, resurgence, and renewed dominance. With the collapse of the Soviet Union the outright maniacal unleashing of unsheathed capitalism became possible and immediately went into effect. The collapse, or complete disappearance of the US left, then, has been a long process. But, with this election, we can without a doubt state that in the US the true left, with the exception of Nader, is now entirely located outside the officialdom.
Along with about 50% of the electorate that regularly does not vote. And along with a great amount of truth and un-pretty reality, under which we must continue to labor.
Two Points for Agitation:
Taxation without Representation, Radioactive Poisoning
Yet, this is exactly the last place to act timidly!
Just because it was legal to own slaves did the slaves simply surrender and lose their conviction that slavery was anything but a crime against humanity?
One point that must be raised has to do with the question of the degree of idiocy allowed. Did not the Declaration of Independence have some bearing on the slogan, 'No Taxation without Representation!'? But, on this day more than ever, we have relinquished our representation for the taxes we pay.
The question of the theft that is called taxation can be turned around, though.
Here is a modest proposal. In the magnificently hi-tech country of the USA, we have all the means and the wherewithal to devise a simple re-introduction of representation into our tax system. Imagine, if you will, a system whereby, coupled with the documents we submit for our taxes yearly, we are required to submit also a list of priorities that dictate to the government how our taxes are to be spent in the fiscal year to come.
So, for example, as a tax payer I can dictate to the government that, of the taxes just received from me, I would like them to spend 30% of it on various welfare programs, 20% on education, 20% on national healthcare, 20% on proliferation of artistic activities among the elderly, and 10% on developing a sound science of child psychology, so that we can stop torturing and stupefying our kids. Thus, under this system, the decision over the expenditure of our money is not relegated to some 'expert' legislator, but is actually carried out by us, so that each and every one of our priorities is not only respected, but accounted for, and our money is put where our collective mouths would have been through that fiscal year.
By deciding the budgetary restrains of policies and thus prioritizing expenditure, citizens become more politically adept at the same time that they are becoming more relevant in a real sense. So, where better to start demanding rights of decision making than when you are handing over your money to the government? Such a reformulation of taxation system can bring about a real lever of control exercised by the citizens over a myriad of social policies, orientation of the foreign policy, trade, would even have repercussions on industrial policy, and could far more easily exert control over questions that could lead to costly endeavors such as wars.
This is not a revolutionary idea. Loudly demanding that governments be more accountable to the people, in a very concrete way, in the light of the question of representation for taxation, is a legitimate right that most citizens of any bourgeois society can relate to without being horrified that, God forbid, they be required to turn into rabid revolutionaries, forced to abandon their families and communities!
But, if enacted, such a practiced conception of taxation would be far more conducive to creating more radical conditions.
The second point is one of guilt on a mass scale. Yes, we are repeating ourselves, and yes it is a good thing to repeat what needs repeating; we are talking about the use of uranium munitions. Did you hear about those 'bunker-buster' bombs those nice guys in Israel just bought, and received on time from their US manufacturing clients? The type that is used daily, weekly, monthly in Iraq and Afghanistan? The bunker-busting capabilities of which brought to you by uranium. A weapon of mass destruction. A nuclear weapon of a new generation.
In view of the fact that the genocidal and omnicidal (killing of all living things) impact of the US and the UK's military tactics in using uranium munitions are denied daily, while the clinical and the criminal evidence piles higher and higher, and while other more 'mundane' atrocities are becoming normalized, we must think of what lies ahead for those exposed to uranium munitions.
As a result of the unprecedented proliferation of uranium munitions by the US and the UK military forces in the Gulf region between 1991 and August 2004, Terry Jemison of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs has reported that 518,739 soldiers returning from the Gulf region in that 13-year period are currently on medical disability. In that same time period only 7,039 were injured on the battlefield. Sixty five percent of the post-war babies born to a group of 400 returning soldiers were born with severe deformities - missing brains, missing eyes, arms and legs and other organs (from, "Depleted uranium: Dirty bombs, dirty missiles, dirty bullets: A death sentence here and abroad," by Leuren Moret, San Francisco Bay View, August 18, 2004).
That is not counting the human cost of soldiers who will never return, nor the tortured souls who will return to shattered lives. The families of the military personnel being sent to Iraq and Afghanistan must be told this. It is everybody's duty to inform them of this atrocity being committed against them by their own government, which qualifies as a war crime. Just as much an atrocity as being sent into harm's way to secure no-bid contracts for Halliburton, Bechtel, the Carlyle Group, and assorted oil, banking, and construction cartels.
And the reports are clear that the bad boys in the big business of war are aware of the growing opposition to uranium weapons from US citizens, and are therefore currently outsourcing the manufacturing of uranium into munitions to Belgium and South Africa.
Here is the truth as told in an email interview with Leuren Moret, the courageous geoscientist, formerly at Livermore National Laboratories, who has since been informing the world of the horrors of uranium munitions: "I called [a] veteran who was in munitions, Special OPs, and has testified in Congress. He is a reliable source in my opinion, and has been in contact with Joyce Riley and her program The Power Hour for years. After testifying in Congress after Gulf War-I, he was put in military prison for telling the truth on the floor of Congress ... He said that soldiers he is in touch with who are on active duty told him that recently crates of depleted uranium ballistics (bullets, missiles and bombs) have been arriving at the port at Corpus Christi, Texas. There is a large US Army depot there where munitions are stored for distribution to all branches of the military. There is also a quarantine station there which may mean extra privacy for whatever they are doing with the DU. The crates of DU ballistics are labeled with point of embarkation as "Belgium" or "South Africa". He said that Belgium is where NATO headquarters is located, and that the winds there blow out to sea which would carry any depleted uranium dust or residue away from populated areas. The munitions are being shipped to the US for storage and deployment here. He said the metal DU is shipped to those countries for manufacturing, a way to appease the outcry in the US against DU munitions."
Ms Moret said that depleted uranium weapons are in violation of US laws and meet the federal definition of Weapons of Mass Destruction: US CODE, Title 50: Chapter 40, Section 2302: The term "weapon of mass destruction" means any weapon or device that is intended, or has the capability, to cause death or serious bodily injury to a significant number of people through the release, dissemination, or impact of - (A) toxic or poisonous chemicals or their precursors; (B) a disease organism; or (C) radiation or radioactivity." Depleted uranium WMD are therefore illegal under US Military Law, and all international treaties, agreements, and the Geneva and Hague Conventions.
"Our babies are dying again from global pollution with low level radiation," Ms Moret warned. "The US and UK are turning this planet into a death star - for greed, for profits, and to steal the mineral resources from other countries to bolster the US and UK economies. In a unit of 20 soldiers who served in the 2003 Iraq war, 8 of those soldiers have malignancies just 16 months later. What will happen to the other soldiers who have served or will be serving in the contaminated regions?"
When I suggested that, following from the available statistics, we can extrapolate that at least 50,000 returning soldiers will have died in a decade, Ms Moret's objection was that my estimate was far too low.
She said "Our children are becoming uranium meat for someone else's profits, and that is not why we had children." She added that all future generations born to contaminated people will continue to express birth defects from their damaged DNA.
The planned and conscious proliferation of uranium poisoning by the US and the UK governments can and must be used in campaigns of organized, legal mass mutiny. In this effort the clear clinical evidence that exists of the effects of uranium munitions' use must be widely disseminated among the armed forces of the US and the UK being sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. The governments of the US and the UK must be held accountable.
The Nazis were neat. Anal, if you will. They created specific facilities to carry out their evilest deeds away from the public eyes, so that they could maintain their starched public appearance. One stereotypical image of the Yanks, by contrast, is the sloppy type. As tourists, they can stand out in a crowd of a million, and as military beings they feel comfortable only when they're leaving a huge mess everywhere they go. As go the stereotypes, so does some of the reality. On a less negative note, the American ruling classes are perpetually retro-proactive. Meaning, in plain English, they're always covering their tracks. This time, though, they have a hell of a track to cover.
The history of mankind has consisted mainly in the fight between the monkey within each and every one of us and the human within all of us. Faced with the monkeys, are we, let's ask again, are we going to act as citizens or as idiots?
Reza Fiyouzat is an applied linguist and freelance writer working in Japan. Iranian by birth, bi-national by passports (a US citizen), his writings have appeared in CounterPunch, and (in English and Portuguese) on the Brazilian website, Revista Espaco Academico. He can be reached at: rfaze@gol.com.
-------- iran
Diplomats: Nuke Report on Iran May Weaken U.S. Case
Reuters
By Louis Charbonneau
Wednesday, November 3, 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21560-2004Nov3.html
VIENNA (Reuters) - A new report on U.N. nuclear inspections in Iran may be worded in a way that undermines the U.S. case for reporting Tehran to the Security Council this month, diplomats said Wednesday.
United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei is due to present a report next week summarizing his agency's two-year investigation of Iran's nuclear program, which Washington says is a front to develop atomic weapons.
Tehran insists its nuclear ambitions are limited to electricity generation.
"ElBaradei plans to say in his November report on Iran that the agency has so far found no evidence of diversion (to a nuclear weapons program)," a diplomat who follows the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) probe told Reuters.
"But he will balance that by saying that Iran's fuel cycle activities would appear to be out of proportion with the other parts of its nuclear program," the diplomat added, referring to Iran's controversial uranium enrichment activities.
Diplomats said ElBaradei had told the Iranians he would be able to pen a positive report if there was a constructive atmosphere in their talks Friday with European counterparts who want Tehran to freeze its enrichment program.
The IAEA report will be crucial in the U.S. push to have Iran reported to the U.N. Security Council for possible economic sanctions when the watchdog's board meets on Nov. 25.
While the agency has uncovered many previously concealed parts of Iran's nuclear program, it has found no "smoking gun" clearly proving the U.S. allegations.
Several diplomats said a statement that there was no hard proof of diversion would remove a key legal ground for reporting Iran to the Security Council but would not make it impossible.
An IAEA spokeswoman declined to comment, saying the report was still being drafted.
Tehran's pursuit of enriched uranium fuel is the most controversial aspect its nuclear program because it could potentially be used to produce material for atomic weapons.
ElBaradei is trying to encourage Iran to accept an EU offer of peaceful nuclear technology and other political and economic incentives in exchange for an end to its enrichment program.
"ElBaradei told the Iranians that if the atmosphere in the EU three talks is positive, then his report on Iran will also be positive," a diplomat said. "That is quite a carrot for Iran."
Friday's talks with French, German and British officials will be held in Paris.
If no deal is struck ahead of the Nov. 25 IAEA meeting, the EU is expected to support a referral to the Security Council.
Diplomats in Vienna say they expect Iran will agree to a temporary suspension of enrichment soon to avoid being referred to the Security Council. However, they said a deal was unlikely to be struck at Friday's meeting.
--------
Iran can make the bomb, but doesn't want to: Iranian official
MOSCOW (AFP)
Nov 03, 2004
http://www.spacewar.com/2004/041103163910.1gz1kawp.html
Iran has the capacity to produce nuclear weapons but does not intend doing so, a senior Iranian official said here Wednesday.
"We do not intend making nuclear weapons," said Ali Akbar Soltan, deputy director-general of Iran's foreign ministry political department.
The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) in Vienna has set a November 25 deadline for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment activities and answer all questions about its nuclear ambitions.
The United States alleges Iran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies.
"If we had had such an intention, we would have done so a long time ago because Iran has the capacity to do so, especially talented scientists," Soltani told an international conference here.
"But we are interested only in nuclear power for peaceful purposes," Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
Last month, Russia called on Iran to ease international concerns about its nuclear ambitions by ratifying the additional protocol of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and halting all uranium enrichment.
"The IAEA would like to seek more steps to strengthen trust in Iran's nuclear programme, and Iran must take such steps," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying in the Tajik capital Dushanbe.
Lavrov urged the Iranian parliament to ratify the additional protocol of the NPT, which Tehran signed in December 2003 and which steps up international controls on the nuclear activities of signatory states.
He also called on Tehran to immediately freeze all uranium enrichment activities, another key demand of the international community.
The uranium enrichment process produces fuel for civilian reactors but is also used for production of the explosive core of atomic bombs.
Lavrov also emphasised that Russia's help in building Iran's first nuclear power station in the southern city of Bushehr "was absolutely not a cause for concern at the IAEA" and vowed that Moscow would forge ahead with the project.
The United States has also opposed the project over concerns that spent fuel from the plant could be used by Iran to produce low-yield nuclear weapons.
-----
US Librarian of Congress visits Iran as nuclear tensions rise
WASHINGTON (AFP)
Nov 03, 2004
http://www.spacewar.com/2004/041103171550.au89hnjb.html
The chief of the US Library of Congress is visiting Iran this week to explore expanding the facility's Iranian document collection as tensions between Washington and Tehran soar over the Islamic republic's nuclear program, US officials said Wednesday.
Librarian of Congress James Billington is leading a small delegation on the rare trip which also comes as Iranians celebrate the 25th anniversary of the November 1979 seizure of the US embassy in Tehran during the country's Islamic revolution, the officials said.
"The purpose of Dr Billington's trip to Iran is purely cultural," said Helen Dalrymple, a spokeswoman for the Library of Congress. "The Library of Congress is interested in expanding its collection of Iranian publications.
"The process of collection has been curtailed since the Islamic Revolution in 1978-79, and the Library wishes to ensure that Congress is well served with printed, digital and other materials in different formats that are available not only in Persian but also in the other languages of Iran," Dalrymple said.
She said Billington had been invited by the director of the National Library of Iran.
A State Department official said that Billington's trip had been approved by the US government.
The Federation of American Scientists, which first reported Billington's trip, said the visit had been arranged by a private organization known as "Catalytic Diplomacy" and that it was intended to explore a possible exchange program.
The federation said the visit was expected to end on Friday after the conclusion of an exchange agreement between the Library of Congress and Iran's national library.
The director of Catalytic Diplomacy, Jeremy Stone, organized a scientific exchange agreement between the non-governmental National Academy of Sciences and the Iranian Academy of Sciences in 1999 but formal contact between Washington and Tehran at Billington's level is rare.
The United States and Iran severed diplomatic relations after the seizure of the embassy which resulted in the taking of 52 American hostages who were held captive for 444 days by Islamic students.
In Tehran on Wednesday, thousands of Iranians gathered at the former US embassy in Tehran, chanting "Death to America" and carrying posters depitcting the Statue of Liberty with a death mask.
As in past years, demonstrators burnt the Stars and Stripes along with the flag of Israel, the closest US ally in the Middle East and as the rally broke up, organizers read a statement that Iran would refuse to give up its right to nuclear technology.
The United States accuses Iran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weaopons under cover of a civilian atomic energy program and was the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to refer the matter to the UN Security Council later this month for possible sanctions.
Iran has vehemently denied the US allegations and is fighting Washington's efforts to send the matter to the Security Council.
-------- korea
S.Korea lobbies hard at UN nuke watchdog-diplomats
(Reuters)
By Louis Charbonneau
03 Nov 2004
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L03718584.htm
VIENNA, Nov 3 - South Korean diplomats are lobbying hard to prevent the United Nations nuclear watchdog reporting it to the U.N. Security Council for violating the global non-proliferation pact, diplomats said on Wednesday.
South Korea said in September that scientists at government laboratories had enriched a minuscule quantity of uranium in 2000 and had extracted a trace amount of plutonium in 1982, all without government knowledge or authorisation.
"They really don't want to be reported to the Security Council. They're trying to move heaven and hell to avoid it," a Western diplomat on the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
South Korean diplomats have been visiting missions of key members of the IAEA board to plead their case, he said.
Some diplomats on the IAEA board have said Seoul's failure to report the experiments violated the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and should be reported to the Security Council.
Unlike Iran's potential NPT breaches, which the United States has been trying unsuccessfully to have reported to the Security Council for over a year, Washington is not pushing hard to refer Seoul's case to the U.N. Security Council.
"The U.S. is not actively trying to get South Korea reported to the Security Council, but it would not block any such report if the IAEA determined that South Korea violated the NPT," said another Western diplomat on the board. The diplomats said they would wait for the IAEA assessment before deciding whether Seoul's case should go to the Council.
"NO MAJOR NEW FINDINGS"
Along with a report on a two-year investigation of Iran's atomic programme, which Washington says is aimed at weapons, the IAEA board will discuss IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei's report on South Korea's nuclear programme when it meets on Nov. 25.
One diplomat in Vienna said there would be "no major new findings" in the IAEA's report on South Korea and that anything not previously reported would be details connected with either its plutonium or its uranium enrichment research.
Another diplomat said that the IAEA's investigation of South Korea would not be closed by the November board meeting.
This means that the board would probably not decide this month on whether to send the case of South Korea to the Security Council, which has the power to impose economic sanctions.
One of the diplomats said that Seoul has been cooperating with U.N. inspectors, who are in South Korea for their last inspection before this month's IAEA meeting. Part of the reason for the visit is to discuss the draft report that will be submitted to the IAEA board next week.
"They (South Korea) have been cooperating ... I think the report will say that," the diplomat said.
South Korea insists that it never intended to build nuclear weapons and was fully committed to non-proliferation.
North Korea has cited the experiments as one reason for holding up multilateral negotiations aimed at ending its own nuclear weapons programmes.
-----
NKorea lays out terms for rejoining six-way nuclear talks: report
HONG KONG (AFP)
Nov 03, 2004
http://www.spacewar.com/2004/041103023049.ppls40h2.html
North Korea has spelled out its terms for rejoining six-nation talks on its nuclear programme, saying the outcome of the US vote will have no bearing on resolving the crisis, a report here said Wednesday.
The isolated Stalinist state said talks would depend on the US dropping human rights demands on Pyongyang and abandoning sanctions.
The remarks were made by Han Song Ryol, ambassador in charge of US affairs and a North Korean envoy to the United Nations, in a report in the Hong Kong-based Asian Wall Street Journal.
Han told the newspaper he saw little merit in US presidential hopeful John Kerry's policy of pursuing bilateral talks with Pyongyang, calling such a move a mere "change in formality".
"It's not a matter of who will be elected as the next US president, but rather a matter of who has the political will to change the US's DPRK (North Korea) policy," Han reportedly said.
To restart stalled talks with China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States, Han demanded that Washington drops North Korea's inclusion among the "axis of evil" countries and abandon sanctions on Pyongyang, the report said.
He also said progress would not be made without the US repeal of a law passed by President George Bush calling on the country to allow freedoms of expression.
The ongoing crisis began in October 2002 when US officials said North Korea had admitted in a bilateral meeting to pursuing a covert uranium-enrichment program.
North Korea, however, has since denied such a program, and has demanded food and energy aid and diplomatic concessions in return for refreezing an older, plutonium-based nuclear arms program, mothballed in 1994.
-------- russia
Weapons-Grade Plutonium Never Disappeared in Russia - Atomic Official
MosNews
03.11.2004
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/11/03/plutonium.shtml
No case of weapons-grade plutonium disappearing has been registered in Russia, an official of Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency said.
It was reported earlier that a resident of an Altai town handed eight containers of weapons-grade plutonium-238 to the police.
Nikolai Shingarev was quoted by ITAR-TASS as saying the material found and handed over by Leonid Grigorov was not weapons-grade but an "isotope widely used in various devices. Any enterprise with a license can freely obtain plutonium-238, for instance, in Kurchatov Atomic Energy Institute in Moscow. Speaking about weapons-grade plutonium, it is closely controlled and registered."
Each of the containers handed in by Leonid Grigorov held 50 grams of plutonium. Grigorov planned to receive $8.25 per milligram after reading about rewards for surrendering radioactive material in the local media. However, criminal proceedings were instigated against him for "illegal storage of radioactive substances".
Many years ago Grigorov worked as a nuclear engineer at the laboratory of the local mining and enrichment plant. The enterprise was closed in 1992. The installation, whose "heart" was plutonium, was broken up and thrown on the scarp heap. The radioactive metal should have been handed over to a special plant, but this did not happen, ITAR TASS reported.
Grigorov was quoted by the agency as saying that seven or eight years ago he had found cylinders of radioactive metal and written a few letters about this. However, nobody answered him. Then he placed the cylinders in a lead container and hid the plutonium in his garage. "As an expert, I was simply obliged to do this to prevent anything bad from happening," Grigorov said.
"Having hidden the hazardous find, Grigorov acted as any person should have acted from the moral point of view. But we are considering the situation from the legal aspect. Grigorov's actions are categorized according to the Criminal Code," the local police department was quoted by the agency as saying.
Experts said Grigorov's plutonium-238 is normally used to generate heat but, if mixed with other materials, could be used in a nuclear explosive device. It is much more radioactive than plutonium-239, a radio-isotope normally used in atomic bombs.
In a separate incident, 44 kg of radioactive scrap metal was discovered in Chelaybinsk, the agency reported on Tuesday. The region is heavily polluted with radioactive material from its nuclear reactor and plants producing plutonium for atomic bombs. The agency said the discovery was the second such find in a week.
-----
Russia and Iran Are to Sign Nuclear Deal in December, Says Tass
By Reuters
November 03, 2004
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=296
MOSCOW - Iran will sign an agreement in December to return spent nuclear fuel to Russia for disposal, Russia's Itar-Tass news agency reported on Tuesday, heading off U.S. fears that the material could be used to make bombs.
Russia has built an $800 million reactor at the Iranian port of Bushehr despite pressure from the United States, which says Iran's atomic energy program is a front for the development of nuclear weapons.
Iran says the program is peaceful, but Russia has insisted on the spent fuel deal to alleviate Washington's concerns.
"Now there are no technical or political reasons not to sign such a protocol during the forthcoming visit to Tehran by the head of the Russian atomic agency Alexander Rumyantsev," Tass quoted an Iranian official as saying.
The official, Ali Akbar Soltani, who is deputy director-general of political and international affairs at Iran's Foreign Ministry, said only a few financing details remained and they would be settled a month before the visit.
Tass quoted the Russian Atomic Ministry as saying the visit would take place in the second half of December.
-------- terrorism
Axis of failure
The war in Iraq has realised Tony Blair's worst fear: the creation of another country where terrorists can easily find weapons of mass destruction
The Guardian
November 3, 2004
Richard Norton-Taylor
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9115,1342003,00.html
Early last year, Tony Blair was warned by the joint intelligence committee that invading Iraq would increase the risk of a far greater threat than anything posed by Saddam Hussein: namely international terrorism, and al-Qaida in particular. The JIC also warned, according to the parliamentary intelligence and security committee, that "any collapse of the Iraqi regime would increase the risk of chemical and biological warfare technology ... finding their way into the hands of terrorists".
The invasion has produced a toxic mix of insurgents, resistance fighters, former soldiers, foreign "jihadists" and bandits, with no shortage of weapons, including thousands of mortars and rocket-propelled grenades - and, we now know, enough explosives to make thousands of bombs, and powerful enough to detonate nuclear weapons.
In May, an International Atomic Energy Agency memorandum warned that terrorists could be helping themselves "to the greatest explosives bonanza in history". The looting became public after the UN agency subsequently told the security council that nearly 380 tonnes of nuclear-related high explosives had gone missing from the al-Qaqaa weapons factory, about 45 kilometres south of Baghdad.
The IAEA had sealed the explosives before the invasion and warned the US of the need to keep them secure. The agency has also warned that machine tools that could be used to make nuclear weapons are missing from other sites in Iraq - sites that before the invasion were known to contain them.
Shortly after the invasion, when US troops were busy protecting Iraq's oil ministry and pipelines, Greenpeace reported that not one soldier was guarding Tuwaitha, a nuclear research base near Baghdad with nuclear equipment that had also been sealed by inspectors. Tuwaitha and al-Qaqaa were well known to the CIA and MI6.
In June last year, a Greenpeace radiation team found looting still going on at Tuwaitha, with villagers taking contaminated materials for house building and barrels that had contained uranium yellowcake for storing food and water. Two months earlier, American soldiers stood by as looters took potentially lethal viruses from an Iraqi laboratory well known to UN inspectors.
Human Rights Watch says that it gave British and US troops precise information about weapons stockpiles in Iraq. The response was that there were not enough soldiers to guard them. Meanwhile, 1,000 inspectors from the CIA's Iraq Survey Group were looking for WMD.
The threat that, before the invasion, Blair said he feared most - terrorists getting their hands on WMD - has increased immeasurably. Even before the full extent of the looting - now exposing British and American troops to greatly increased danger - was known, their military commanders were furious with their political masters and the misjudgments of their intelligence agencies. Britain's commanders had more reason to be angry as Washington dismissed their entreaties that the Iraqi army be encouraged to remain in place to maintain law and order and prevent looting.
A new study spells out the huge dangers to international security of the Bush view of the world. Amitai Etzioni, an American who influenced New Labour's "third way" thinking on the domestic front, argues that Washington's emphasis on "rogue states" is thoroughly misconceived. "Failing states" are the problem, he says. Iraq seems in danger of rapidly falling into this category.
"Much of the attention that is paid to nuclear threats has been focused on the three members of the axis of evil: Iran, Iraq and North Korea. However, nuclear attacks in this day and age are much more likely to be the work of terrorists," says Etzioni in Pre-Empting Nuclear Terrorism in a New Global Order, which is published by the Foreign Policy Centre.
The reason, he argues, is that it is "more difficult to deter suicide bombers than even rogue states".
Though Etzioni concentrates on the nuclear threat, the same may be said to apply to attacks with biological or chemical weapons. Etzioni says that among failing states, Pakistan ranks high as a country from which terrorists are most likely to be able to obtain ready-made weapons, either by toppling the government or by corrupting the guardians of its bombs.
Yet Pakistan is not on the axis-of-evil list. The US ignored the the fact that the leading Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan was found to be at the centre of a transnational black market in nuclear materials, because, says Etzioni, it was focusing on capturing Osama bin Laden and Pakistan promised to help.
Russia, where some 20,000 nuclear warheads are sitting in 120 separate nuclear weapons storage sites, is a failing state. So, too, says Etzioni, are Nigeria, Ghana, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, countries that have scores of sites from which terrorists may get their hands on HEU (highly enriched uranium) used for nuclear reactors there. Four tonnes of spent HEU of Russian origin are in 20 reactors in 17 countries. More than 40 tonnes of HEU of American origin are in more than 40 locations around the world.
Over the past decade, according to the IAEA, there have been 18 incidents involving the seizure of stolen highly enriched uranium or plutonium.
Etzioni says that a new global safety authority should be set up with the backing of the UN. Some new authority is needed before the excesses and failings of George Bush and Tony Blair in Iraq are repeated elsewhere.
· Richard Norton-Taylor is the Guardian's security affairs editor
-------- u.s. nuc facilities
Ill., Mich. Want New Federal Isotope Lab
The Associated Press
Wednesday, November 3, 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21457-2004Nov3.html
CHICAGO - Like most of us, politicians don't know much about isotopes. But because they know something about money and jobs, lawmakers from Illinois and Michigan are locked in a battle to convince the federal government that their state and not the other one is the perfect place for a new lab devoted to these unstable atomic forms.
The federal government plans to spend about $1 billion to build an isotope lab that could create a few hundred jobs for scientists and a few hundred more for support staff.
The choice, expected to be made next year, could come down to Argonne National Laboratory in suburban Chicago or Michigan State University, both leaders in nuclear physics.
The proposed facility - known as a rare isotope accelerator, or RIA - would allow physicists to explore the structure and forces that make up the nucleus of atoms, test theories of fundamental structure of matter and perhaps play a role in developing new nuclear medicines and techniques.
Among those trying to bring the RIA to Illinois is Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who formed a task force of politicians, including U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., business leaders and academics to lobby for Argonne.
"The rare isotope accelerator project is a marvelous opportunity for Illinois," said Hastert, who praised both the lab's scientific value as well as its ability to produce "major economic benefits in the form of job creation and investment."
In Michigan, officials have been equally effusive. The RIA "will make important contributions to the nation in research and education, add to national security, help attract the next generations of scientists for cross-discipline research," Michigan State President Peter McPherson said in a news release last year.
The project, in its early stages, is expected to be significant on a number of fronts, delivering new technology that will advance both industry and medicine.
For example, it could help track the origin of nuclear weapons. The detectors needed to operate the RIA could be modified to identify the "fingerprints" of radiation given off by weapons to determine where in the world the weapons came from.
Illinois officials say placing the lab at Argonne makes the most sense because the lab already has built a major isotope accelerator, called ATLAS, that creates isotopes for study.
"We have the infrastructure at Argonne," said Dale Knutson, the director of Argonne's project management office. "That would save the government about $100 million in project costs."
But in Michigan officials counter that the university's cyclotron lab - where a machine hurls atoms against each other at 100,000 miles per second, allowing scientists to separate the nuclei of atoms and study their properties - makes it the best place for the RIA.
"It would attract not just nuclear physics students, but engineering students and computer science students," said Konrad Gelbke, director of the lab. "There is great synergy that can only be found on a university campus."
-------- us nuc waste
Permit Change Bars High-Level Sludge from WIPP
The Associated Press
November 3, 2004
http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/252472nm11-03-04.htm
SANTA FE- State Environment Secretary Ron Curry has signed off on a permit modification designed to bar the disposal of high-level tank sludge at the U.S. Department of Energy's nuclear waste dump near Carlsbad.
The permit modification ensures the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant will remain solely devoted to the disposal of transuranic waste.
"This action gives New Mexico the clear authority to prevent any high-level sludge from coming to WIPP," Curry said.
The 2,150-foot-deep repository excavated from underground salt beds opened in 1999 under a federal law prohibiting high-level waste. The facility buries such things as gloves, rags, tools, dried sludge and other debris contaminated by plutonium during weapons work.
The DOE had tried to reclassify some of the 90 million gallons of radioactive waste kept in tanks at federal facilities in Washington state, Idaho and South Carolina.
After a federal judge in Idaho ruled last year that reclassifying such sludge as low-level waste violated the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, the department began pushing to change the law.
The DOE reached a deal with the New Mexico Environment Department in June. It agreed to stop trying to move the sludge to WIPP as long as it could apply for future permission to bring the sludge to the state. The state, however, still has the legal right to reject it.
By modifying the permit, Curry said any reclassified high-level waste- including the tank sludge- cannot be brought to WIPP unless the federal government proves the waste is not high-level waste.
-----
Study: Nuclear shipments broke rules for testing
(AP)
November 03, 2004
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2004/11/03/news/regional/450d3a6318f05c6687256f40007bdad6.txt
SANTA FE, N.M. -- At least 602 drums of plutonium-contaminated waste sent to the federal government's nuclear waste dump near Carlsbad, N.M., violated a directive against shipping waste when there are questions about whether the shipments were properly tested.
An internal Environmental Protection Agency document obtained by the Albuquerque Journal says one option under consideration is shutting down shipments from the Hanford nuclear reservation to the Waste Isolation Pilot Project.
The shipments from the Washington state facility were made in violation of the EPA's August 2003 directive about testing.
It's the second incident this year and the fourth since WIPP opened in March 1999. The internal review said such problems threaten public confidence.
The EPA and the Energy Department "need to demonstrate that the violation is being taken seriously, and that changes will be made to ensure that it does not happen again," the review said.
State Environment Secretary Ron Curry called the problem "mismanagement at the highest level."
New Mexico environmental officials were concerned about how long the DOE might have known about the problem and why energy officials haven't been talking about it.
In the most recent case, Hanford had set up a testing program that EPA had not yet approved as sufficient, WIPP manager Paul Detwiler wrote the EPA on Oct. 18. He said EPA had forbidden shipments of questionable waste while the review was under way.
EPA spokesman Dave Ryan, in a statement Monday, said the agency is conducting a technical review of the waste and gathering information about any further action required. He would not answer questions.
The DOE had no comment.
The state Environment Department is negotiating with the DOE over a fine that could run up to $2.4 million as a result of a similar incident in which more than 100 drums of plutonium-contaminated waste were shipped to WIPP from the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory without proper testing.
The DOE suspended shipments from the Idaho lab in mid-July after workers at WIPP discovered drums of waste that should have not been in the shipment. The drums were added after a batch readied for shipment had been tested for explosives, chemicals and other materials prohibited at WIPP.
In each case, the DOE and EPA determined after the shipments that no prohibited waste ended up being buried in WIPP, which places plutonium-contaminated materials left over from nuclear weapons work in underground rooms excavated in salt beds.
"Although we do not believe this waste will adversely affect WIPP's performance or affect protection of public health and the environment, a serious and thorough response to these problems is necessary to maintain public confidence in the WIPP's performance and EPA's oversight," the internal review said.
-----
Future Of Hanford Initiative In Doubt Despite Voters' Approval
By KOMO Staff & News Services
November 3, 2004
http://www.komotv.com/stories/33785.htm
SEATTLE - Voters overwhelmingly approved an initiative to limit the amount of nuclear waste at the Hanford nuclear site, but opponents argued the measure's future remains in doubt.
"Legal challenges are inevitable," said Grant Nelson, government affairs director for the Association of Washington Business. The measure is scheduled to take effect in 30 days.
Initiative 297 blocks the U.S. Department of Energy from sending more waste to the Hanford nuclear site until all the existing waste there is cleaned up.
By a more than 2-to-1 margin, voters overwhelmingly approved the initiative. With 97 percent of precincts reporting statewide early Wednesday, 69 percent of voters approved, with just 31 percent voting against it.
"It's clear that the rule of the people of the state of Washington is that Hanford needs to be cleaned up before more waste can be dumped there," said Gerald Pollet, executive director of Heart of America Northwest, a Seattle-based Hanford watchdog group and the initiative's sponsor.
The 586-square-mile reservation in south-central Washington, which was created in World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb, remains the most contaminated site in the nation.
Supporters called the initiative a no-brainer: Don't add more waste until the existing waste is cleaned up. Opponents feared that barring waste shipments to Hanford could backfire if other states take similar steps to ban Hanford waste.
The Energy Department took no official position on the initiative. Agency spokeswoman Colleen French said the Energy Department would be studying the initiative and evaluating its options over the next 30 days.
Opponents have said the initiative is likely to end up in court because they believe it is illegal on several fronts: It pre-empts the federal government's nuclear waste and interstate commerce policies, imposes a tax on the federal government and addresses more than one issue, which would violate the state constitution.
The bigger concerns are the potential for delaying cleanup and jeopardizing annual federal funding for cleanup, which now stands at about $2 billion, Nelson said.
"I think it's safe to say the federal government will not want to put its limited available resources toward a project that is now clouded," he said.
But Pollet said the initiative will stand up in court, and supporters will mount a vigorous defense.
"The voters will be outraged by anyone who takes this initiative to court to make this a radioactive waste dump," he said.
At issue are the federal government's plans for disposing of waste from World War II and Cold War nuclear weapons production nationwide.
The Energy Department chose Hanford to dispose of some mildly radioactive waste and mixed low-level waste, which is laced with chemicals.
The site also would serve as a packaging center for some transuranic waste - plutonium-contaminated rags, tools and other discarded items - before it is shipped elsewhere for long-term disposal. Transuranic waste is highly radioactive and can take thousands of years or more to decay to safe levels.
A citizens' petition sent the initiative to the Legislature early this year. Lawmakers declined to act on it, sending the measure to the ballot. The roughly $1 million cost of the initiative was largely funded by Heart of America Northwest.
Energy Department officials have said the site's most dangerous waste will be shipped out-of-state anyway. Of the 405 million curies of radioactivity at Hanford, about 374 million curies will be sent to other states for long-term disposal.
Hanford already is home to 53 million gallons of highly radioactive liquid, sludge and saltcake stored in 177 underground tanks. The Energy Department aims to bury much of that waste in a nuclear waste repository in Nevada. Another 75,000 55-gallon drums of transuranic, radioactive and hazardous waste also are buried at Hanford.
In 2003, Washington state filed suit to block waste shipments from entering the state, fearing Hanford would become a radioactive waste dump. The Energy Department voluntarily suspended the shipments after the lawsuit was filed, but the case remains in U.S. District Court.
-----
State to bolster oversight of WIPP
ap
11/3/2004
http://www.krqe.com/environment/expanded.asp?RECORD_KEY%5BEnvironment%5D=ID&ID%5BEnvironment%5D=7534
The state Environment Department is bolstering its oversight of the federal government's underground nuclear waste dump near Carlsbad.
The agency has announced that it's Department of Energy Oversight Bureau will reopen its Carlsbad operations next Monday.
There will be four employees, and the agency expects to add three employees in the coming months.
State Environment Secretary Ron Curry says recent problems at WIPP involving unapproved waste disposal highlight the need for improved oversight.
The most recent snafu involved at least 602 drums of plutonium-contaminated waste sent to WIPP from the Hanford nuclear site in Washington.
Federal officials say the drums violated a directive against shipping waste when questions were raised about whether shipments had been properly tested.
-------- MILITARY
-------- afghanistan
Karzai Win Gives Chance to Cleanse Afghan Government
Reuters
Wednesday, November 3, 2004
By Simon Cameron-Moore
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A21470-2004Nov3?language=printer
KABUL (Reuters) - Incumbent Hamid Karzai was declared the winner of last month's Afghan presidential election Wednesday and now faces the task of forming a government minus the warlords and drug runners who tainted his last cabinet.
For the past three years Karzai has led an interim government installed after U.S. and Afghan resistance forces overthrew the Taliban militia in late 2001 for refusing to handover al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
But Karzai's second cabinet will look very different from his first if he sticks to his word that he will not be forming coalitions with main rivals, characterized as regional strongmen who rely on ethnic loyalties and private militias.
The advent of democracy in this Islamic central Asian country after a quarter century of war, was hailed by President Bush as a foreign policy success as he campaigned for re-election himself.
"Karzai is the winner," Sultan Baheen, spokesman for the U.N.-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body told journalists after an independent panel of election experts investigating vote fraud told a news conference that undoubted irregularities, including ballot stuffing, had not altered the outcome.
But Karzai's triumph has been soured by the kidnapping last week of three U.N. election officials.
Wednesday, an Islamist militant group that has threatened to kill the Filipino diplomat and women from Northern Ireland and Kosovo extended a deadline for its demands to be met as negotiations continued with Karzai's government.
The group had demanded authorities release all Taliban prisoners in U.S. custody in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay by 0730 GMT Wednesday, but extended the deadline indefinitely.
Armed with a mandate from the people, Karzai can now form a cabinet of his own choosing, though his choices will have to be ratified once the National Assembly is established after parliamentary elections due in April.
VICTORY NEVER IN DOUBT
"The coming government should not be formed according to the vote. We should have a new formula to achieve national reconciliation in Afghanistan, security and political stability," former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who supported Karzai and remains an influential figure, told Reuters.
Rabbani's own government disintegrated in a civil war that paved the way for the Taliban militia to take over the country in the mid-1990s. He is now a strong advocate of Karzai's disarmament policies so long as former mujahideen fighters are retrained or given pensions to reward their sacrifices.
Karzai's victory had never been in doubt, but counting the votes from the Oct. 9 poll took several weeks and the election commission had also to assess a report given by a three-man panel investigating allegations of vote fraud.
The panel delivered its report Tuesday and concluded that while there had been shortcomings, including cases of ballot stuffing, the irregularities had not affected the overall result. After the news conference given by the British, Canadian and Swedish panel to explain their findings, a United Nations spokesman said the results would be formally certified later on Wednesday.
Karzai won 55.4 percent of the vote, obtaining the simple majority needed to avoid a run-off against his nearest rival. He will be inaugurated at the end of this month.
"There were fewer problems on election day than many experts had expected," Craig Jenness, the Canadian member of the panel, read from the conclusion of their report.
The panel made several recommendations implicitly criticising the election commission, remarking on opposition candidates' lack of trust in the body, and it put a priority on taking an audit of the voter register before parliamentary elections due in April.
Meantime, Karzai is still dependent on nearly 28,000 U.S. and NATO troops to guarantee security and fight an insurgency in southern provinces by remnants of the Taliban.
A U.S.-trained Afghan National Army is in the making. Currently over 15,000-strong, the plan is for a force of 70,000 troops by 2007.
U.S. policy toward Afghanistan, heavily influenced by Bush's Afghan-born ambassador to Kabul, Zalmay Khalilzad, revolves around Karzai forging some semblance of unity in country riven by sharp ethnic divides, highlighted by election results.
There have been two assassination attempts on Karzai so far, and a vice presidential running mate survived another during the election campaign. That attack was later blamed on drug lords in the north rather than Taliban fighters.
Washington pays for private U.S. bodyguards, overseen by State Department officers, to protect the Afghan president.
--------
Afghan Militants Extend Hostage Deadline
By STEPHEN GRAHAM
The Associated Press
Wednesday, November 3, 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20784-2004Nov3.html
KABUL, Afghanistan - Militants threatening to kill three U.N. hostages pushed back their deadline until Wednesday evening, saying negotiations were continuing on demands that include the world body's withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Afghan officials and colleagues of the three foreign election workers expressed hope that the abduction will eventually end with their safe release.
There was no confirmation that the kidnappers had been contacted or the victims located. Still, an official said Wednesday that police units had launched a fresh search operation west of Kabul.
A Taliban splinter group claims it abducted Annetta Flanigan of Northern Ireland, Filipino diplomat Angelito Nayan and Shqipe Habibi of Kosovo in the Afghan capital last Thursday.
Jaish-al Muslimeen, or Army of Muslims, released a videotape on Sunday showing the frightened captives pleading for their freedom. However, several Afghan officials say they suspect that warlords or criminal groups were also involved in the bold daylight snatch.
Syed Khaled, a purported spokesman for the group, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that talks with government and U.N. envoys were taking place at an undisclosed location.
"We will decide this evening what we will do," Khaled said in a satellite telephone call.
He declined to say whether that meant the hostages could be killed or if a new deadline would be set.
U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva refused to discuss any negotiations, saying it could endanger efforts to free the hostages. The Philippine government, which has sent diplomats to Kabul to seek their freedom, also imposed a news blackout.
Still, one election official said privately that there was some optimism that the three would be released. "We have a good feeling," the official said.
Latfullah Mashal, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, which is leading Afghan government efforts to find the hostages, said the ministry had "not been informed" of any contacts with the kidnappers.
But he said the ministry, whose security forces are leading the search, had undertaken unspecified initiatives which were "going well."
"We're progressing and hopeful that the hostages will be released safely," Mashal said.
He declined to elaborate. But another government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said police units had been deployed to Wardak, a province west of Kabul, on Tuesday evening.
"They're searching there in two or three places," the official said.
Afghan security forces, backed up by NATO troops based in Kabul, have also focused their search in the city and the neighboring Paghman valley.
The militants say that they have divided up the hostages to thwart any rescue attempt, and warned authorities to back off.
All three hostages were in Afghanistan to help manage its Oct. 9 presidential election.
U.S.-backed interim leader Hamid Karzai, who has condemned the latest kidnapping, secured a majority of the votes, but is still awaiting official confirmation as the country's first popularly chosen leader.
Associated Press writers Amir Shah in Kabul and Noor Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.
--------
Karzai Formally Named Winner of Afghan Presidential Election
November 3, 2004
By CARLOTTA GALL
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/03/international/asia/04afghancnd.html
KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov. 3 - President Hamid Karzai was formally announced the winner of the Oct. 9 presidential election by Afghanistan's electoral board this afternoon after an international panel announced that irregularities it had investigated were not significant enough to change the overall result.
""We sincerely congratulate him and wish him big success in his affairs," Zakim Shah, president of the board, said in front of assembled journalists.
Mr. Karzai polled 55.4 percent, easily passing the necessary 50 percent threshold, and 39 percentage points ahead of his nearest rival, former education Minister Muhammad Yunus Qanooni, who won 16.3 per cent.
The final results had barely changed from unofficial figures released 10 days ago, but the formal announcement had to wait for the investigation of complaints of fraud by most of Mr. Karzai's 17 opponents.
The complaints, which the international panel agreed today had merited investigation, marred Mr. Karzai's historic win as Afghanistan's first directly elected head of state, and spoiled the impressive achievement of the Afghan people, who turned out to vote in high numbers despite threats of violence and intimidation.
Mr. Karzai's success at the polls has also been overshadowed by the kidnapping of three foreign United Nations election workers in Kabul six days ago by a group that has threatened to kill the three if its demands are not met. The group, which calls itself Jaish-e-Muslimeen, or Army of Muslims, extended its deadline from noon today until night, saying that it was in negotiations with the government.
"We have extended the deadline because we are hopeful about negotiations," Sayed Khalid Agha of the group told Reuters by satellite phone.
The leader and others claiming to speak for the group have made demands in almost daily telephone calls to news agencies that the United Nations and international troops leave Afghanistan and that all Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners being held in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, be released. They have also said that if security forces attempt to rescue the hostages, they will be killed.
The three hostages - a British-Irish woman, Annetta Flanigan, a Kosovo-Albanian woman, Shqipe Habibi, and a Filipino diplomat seconded to the United Nations, Angelito Nayan - were all working on the Afghan elections and were shown in captivity in a video released Sunday by the kidnappers.
Mr. Qanooni's office declined any comment. Representatives of two other candidates said they rejected the findings of the international panel and continued to accuse the Karzai camp of fraud.
The international panel concluded that fraud had occurred, in particular evident ballot box stuffing, but that it had not been widespread or limited to one particular candidate. "There were fewer problems on election day than many experts had anticipated," Craig Jenness, a Canadian diplomat and one of the three members of the panel, said.
The panel dismissed the allegation that the failure of the indelible ink had led to multiple voting, an allegation leveled on election day by 15 of Mr. Karzai's opponents who called for a boycott just hours after polling stations had opened. Up to 60 percent of polling stations were affected by the ink problem, yet it "did not have a significant effect on the credibility of the election process as a whole," the panel reported today.
Yet the panel criticized the electoral board's handling of the problem and recommended changes to the organization, to improve efficiency and diminish the high level of mistrust that opposition candidates harbor for the board, which they see as a pro-Karzai body.
Acknowledging that there were serious irregularities in the registration process, the panel also called for an immediate and thorough audit of the electoral register. Some estimates have said that 10 to 15 percent of the 11.5 million registered voters, both inside Afghanistan and among refugees, may be multiple registrants, the panel said. It said, however, that local and foreign observers had seen little multiple evidence of multiple voting.
Dr. Yassa, a representative of the Shia Hazara leader Muhammad Mohaqeq, who came in third with 11.7 percent, described their final meeting with the international panel as a "farce" saying the international experts had admitted the irregularities but kept repeating, "like a mantra." that the problems were not significant enough to alter the result.
Dr. Yassa said Mr. Mohaqeq would accept the result in the interests of the country, but Dastagir Hazhabr, a representative of Mr. Pedram, who came fifth, said that the result was illegitimate and that Mr. Karzai's future rule would be illegitimate.
-------- africa
U.N. Accuses Sudan of Moving Refugees
November 3, 2004
By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Writer
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/UN_SUDAN_DARFUR?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The top U.N. envoy to Sudan accused security forces in southern Darfur of forcing several thousand people who had taken refuge in a camp to move against their will in "flagrant violation" of international law.
Jan Pronk demanded that all those rounded up and forced to leave the El Geer camp at 3 a.m. Tuesday be returned immediately from the Sherif camp, where they were taken.
"It has to stop - not only in El Geer but as a policy everywhere," Pronk said, demanding that the government keep its agreement with the United Nations barring the forced transfer of any internally displaced people, known as IDPs. Refugees, in legal terms, are those who have crossed borders.
The U.N. envoy, who is scheduled to report to the U.N. Security Council Thursday on the situation in Darfur, confirmed that the "overall" security situation in the vast western region - which is the size of France - has deteriorated in the last few weeks.
Pronk said the early morning incident at El Geer, a camp close to the city of Nyala where about 30,000 people have taken refuge, was the most important but "there are other activities also in other places," which he did not disclose.
At a hastily called news conference, Pronk said "a couple of thousand" people were taken early Tuesday to Sherif, a location "desired by the government" that is outside Nyala and not as desirable for displaced people trying to earn money.
He said the people who were forced to move from El Geer had "the right to resist." He said he couldn't confirm reports that the Sudanese forces used tear gas, but said there were no reports of injuries.
While he blamed Sudanese forces in southern Darfur, Pronk left open the possibility that the forced transfer from El Geer was not carried out on instructions from the government in Khartoum.
But he was clearly outraged that those rounded up in the middle of the night were erroneously told that the United Nations had approved the move.
"The government has told these IDPs that this was happening in close consultation with the United Nations and in consultation with non-governmental organizations, which is not the case," Pronk said.
In a statement issued later by his spokesman, Secretary-General Kofi Annan echoed Pronk's words and strongly urged the government "to halt immediately all such relocation operations and to facilitate the return of the affected persons from the inappropriate sites to which they have been taken."
Pronk said he expected a strong international protest against the forced moves not only by the United Nations and non-governmental organizations working in Darfur but also by the United States and European governments.
The violence in Darfur began in January 2003 when two black African rebel groups took up arms over alleged unjust treatment by the Sudanese government and ethnic Arab countrymen. Pro-government militias called Janjaweed reacted by unleashing attacks on villages.
The conflict has killed at least 70,000 people and forced 1.5 million people to flee their homes, creating what U.N. officials say is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today.
U.N. officials said Tuesday's action was in apparent retaliation for the abduction of 18 Arabs by the rebel Sudan Liberation Army.
Annan urged the rebels to release the hostages and called on the Arab militias who have mobilized thousands in west and south Darfur to "stand down," warning that "the SLA and the militias risk sparking a new round of violence that could claim the lives of thousands of civilians."
He also urged the parties to respect a cease-fire signed in April.
-------- biological weapons
UC Regents lose control of nuclear weapons program
Five admirals, Carlyle Group and Rand take over - Part 6
11/3/04
sfbayview.com
by Leuren Moret
http://www.sfbayview.com/110304/ucregents110304.shtml
Dr. Henry Kissinger, who wrote: "Depopulation should be the highest priority of U.S. foreign policy towards the Third World."
Research on population control, preventing future births, is now being carried out secretly by biotech companies. Dr. Ignacio Chapela, a University of California microbiologist, discovered that wild corn in remote parts of Mexico is contaminated with lab altered DNA. That discovery made him a threat to the biotech industry.
Chapela was denied tenure at UC Berkeley when he reported this to the scientific community, despite the embarrassing discovery that UC Chancellor Berdahl, who was denying him tenure, was getting large cash payments - $40,000 per year - from the LAM Research Corp. in Plano, Texas.
Berdahl served as president of Texas A&M University before coming to Berkeley. During a presentation about his case, Chapela revealed that a spermicidal corn developed by a U.S. company is now being tested in Mexico. Males who unknowingly eat the corn produce non-viable sperm and are unable to reproduce.
Depopulation, also known as eugenics, is quite another thing and was proposed under the Nazis during World War II. It is the deliberate killing off of large segments of living populations and was proposed for Third World countries under President Carter's administration by the National Security Council's Ad Hoc Group on Population Policy.
National Security Memo 200, dated April 24, 1974, and titled "Implications of world wide population growth for U.S. security & overseas interests," says:
"Dr. Henry Kissinger proposed in his memorandum to the NSC that 'depopulation should be the highest priority of U.S. foreign policy towards the Third World.' He quoted reasons of national security, and because `(t)he U.S. economy will require large and increasing amounts of minerals from abroad, especially from less-developed countries ... Wherever a lessening of population can increase the prospects for such stability, population policy becomes relevant to resources, supplies and to the economic interests of U.S."
Depopulation policy became the top priority under the NSC agenda, Club of Rome and U.S. policymakers like Gen. Alexander Haig, Cyrus Vance, Ed Muskie and Kissinger. According to an NSC spokesman at the time, the United States shared the view of former World Bank President Robert McNamara that the "population crisis" is a greater threat to U.S. national security interests than "nuclear annihilation." In 1975, Henry Kissinger established a policy-planning group in the U.S. State Department's Office of Population Affairs. The depopulation "GLOBAL 2000" document for President Jimmy Carter was prepared.
It is no surprise that this policy was established under President Carter with help from Kissinger and Brzezinski - all with ties to David Rockefeller. The Bush family, the Harriman family - the Wall Street business partners of Bush in financing Hitler - and the Rockefeller family are the elite of the American eugenics movement. Even Prince Philip of Britain, a member of the Bilderberg Group, is in favor of depopulation:
"If I were reincarnated I would wish to be returned to earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels" (Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, leader of the World Wildlife Fund, quoted in "Are You Ready for Our New Age Future?" Insiders Report, American Policy Center, December 1995).
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has been proposing, funding and building Bio-Weapons Level 3 and Level 4 labs at many places around the U.S. - even on university campuses and in densely populated urban locations. In a Bio-Weapons Level 4 facility, a single bacteria or virus is lethal. Bio-Weapons Level 4 is the highest level legally allowed in the continental U.S.
For what purpose are these labs being developed, and who will make the decisions on where bio-weapons created in these facilities will be used and on whom? More than 20 world-class microbiologists have been murdered since 2002, mostly in the U.S. and the UK. Nearly all were working on development of ethnic-specific bio-weapons (see "Smart Dust, Roboflies ...").
Citizens around the U.S. are frantically filing lawsuits to stop these labs on campuses and in communities where they live. Despite the opposition of residents living near UC Davis, where a Bio-Weapons Level 4 lab was planned, it had the support of the town's mayor.
She suddenly reversed her position after a monkey escaped from a high security primate facility on the campus where the bio-weapons lab was proposed. Residents claimed that if UC Davis could not keep monkeys from escaping from their cages, they certainly could not guarantee that a single virus or bacteria would not escape from a test tube. The AWOL monkey killed the project (see "Smart Dust, Roboflies...").
Population is a political problem. The extreme secrecy surrounding the takeover of nuclear weapons, NASA and the space program and the development of numerous bio-weapons labs is a threat to civil society, especially in the hands of the military and corporations.
The fascist application of all three of these programs can be used to achieve established U.S. government depopulation policy goals, which may eliminate 2 billion of the world's existing population - through war, famine, disease and any other methods necessary.
Two excellent examples of existing U.S. depopulation policy are, first, the long-term impact on the civilian population from Agent Orange in Vietnam, where the Rockefellers built oil refineries and aluminum plants during the Vietnam War. The second is the permanent contamination of the Middle East and Central Asia with depleted uranium, which, unfortunately, will destroy the genetic future of the populations living in those regions and will also have a global effect already reflected in increases in infant mortality reported in the U.S., Europe, and the UK.
References
Birth defects: "The Tiny Victims of Desert Storm," Life photo-essay (1995), http://www.life.com/Life/essay/gulfwar/gulf01.html.
Statement by Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, http://homepage.mac.com/kaaawa/iblog/C337802379/E1557478132/.
"Smart dust, roboflies, microbugs: UC is spying on you" by Leuren Moret, San Francisco Bay View, Feb. 26, 2003, http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/Berkeley-Library-Classified22feb03.htm.
-------- business
BAE investigated over Saudi fraud allegations: two arrested
LONDON (AFP)
Nov 03, 2004
http://www.spacewar.com/2004/041103134356.49rvdiw0.html
Britain's largest defence contractor, BAE Systems, is being investigated over allegations of false accounting in relation to defence contracts held with Saudi Arabia's government, prosecuters said Wednesday.
Two men, aged 73 and 66, were arrested following searches at eight locations across London and the southern England by Serious Fraud Officeinvestigators and the Ministry of Defence Police.
"The Serious Fraud Office, with the Ministry of Defence Police, has commenced an investigation into suspected false accounting in relation to contracts for services between Robert Lee International Ltd, Travellers World Ltd and BAE in connection with defence equipment contracts with the government of Saudi Arabia," the SFO, an independent government department, said in a statement.
News of the investigation followed recent BBC allegations, denied by BAE, that it paid millions of dollars into a slush fund for a leading member of Saudi Arabia's royal family with the knowledge of its chief operating officer.
BAE, formerly British Aerospace, laid on luxury hotels, chartered aircraft, limousines and exotic holidays for Prince Turki bin Nasser and his entourage, the broadcaster's Money Programme alleged last month.
The prince was responsible for running the Saudi side of Al Yamamah, the biggest arms sale in British history, worth billions of dollars in orders to
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Britain warns EADS it could lose multi-billion dollar aircraft order
LONDON (AFP)
Nov 03, 2004
http://www.spacewar.com/2004/041103005049.94w7kyb6.html
The British government has warned pan-European defence group EADS that it could lose a huge contract agreed earlier this year to supply the Royal Air Force with refuelling aircraft, a report said Wednesday.
The Ministry of Defence has told a consortium led by EADS that unless some contract issues are resolved, it would lose the massive deal, worth 13 billion pounds (18.8 million euros, 24 million dollars), the Financial Times said.
Citing letters sent by defence procurement officials which it had obtained, the business daily said EADS had been cautioned that the British government was starting "fall-back studies" to find a possible alternative supplier.
In one letter, Britain's chief military acquisition officer Sir Peter Spencer said that competing proposals would be "pursued vigorously" unless a final contract was agreed soon.
It was announced in January this year that the EADS-led AirTanker consortium had won the 27-year-long deal to provide the planes, seeing off competition from a joint bid by leading British defence contractor BAE Systems and US aviation giant Boeing.
The British deal is seen as crucial for EADS, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, in pushing a tanker adapted from its Airbus A330-200 airliner as an alternative to Boeing.
Boeing, which had offered Britain tankers based on its 767 model, had previously enjoyed a virtual monopoly in the air refuelling market.
According to the Financial Times, Spencer warned AirTanker that one of his possible options for the end of this year was a recommendation that the deal be called off.
"A number of the detailed issues that we originally set out last January... have yet to be satisfactorily resolved," he said in a letter.
He added: "Whether and how quickly you gain a PB (preferred bidder) recommendation is therefore up to you."
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Northrop Grumman Demonstrates Key Technologies For Army Unmanned Armed Rotorcraft Program
(SPX)
Nov 03, 2004
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/unmanned-combat-04e.html
San Diego CA - Northrop Grumman recently used two company-funded test flights of an unmanned helicopter surrogate to demonstrate key technologies for its proposed concept for a new U.S. Army unmanned armed rotorcraft program.
The test flights of the company-owned Yamaha RMAX unmanned helicopter, which is being used as a surrogate for the company's concept for the Army's Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft (UCAR) program, included a remote-control flight and the RMAX's first autonomous flight. The flights are the latest in a series of company-funded activities designed to demonstrate how unmanned systems can increase the fighting effectiveness of Army ground- and helicopter-based units.
Northrop Grumman is currently competing for Phase III of the UCAR demonstration program, which is funded jointly by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the U.S. Army. To date, the company has conducted more than 60 flight tests of the RMAX UCAR surrogate covering more than 35 hours of flight time to help refine its UCAR concept.
The RMAX's first autonomous flight was completed Oct. 7 at Camp Pendleton, Calif. In that test, the air vehicle, which incorporates vehicle management system hardware and autonomy software that Northrop Grumman is developing for the UCAR program, was piloted remotely to an altitude of 200 feet, then transitioned to a fully autonomous flight. After the autonomous flight, which lasted approximately eight minutes, the vehicle landed under remote control. All software tests and previously predicted vehicle responses were achieved with success.
During Army exercises conducted Sept. 9-14 at Fort Rucker, Ala., the RMAX was operated under remote control to demonstrate how unmanned systems could reinforce the combat operations of an advancing ground unit supported by a rotary wing aviation unit. These company-funded flights were coupled with virtual manned and unmanned combat units provided through modeling and simulation activities, which included network communications.
The exercises included three scenarios, representing different phases of a typical joint combat engagement: virtual U.S. Marine Corps ground units advanced over desert terrain to an urban area, then dismounted and cleared the city - building by building. Mounted in light armored vehicles, the Marines were supported by virtual Fire Scout vertical take-off and landing tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and simulated Marines "flying" AH-1Z Super Cobras. The Army aviation unit also supported the virtual ground forces using real pilots to "fly" virtual cockpits configured as AH-64D helicopters, and Hunter UAVs simulated by systems at Redstone Arsenal.
For these exercises, the RMAX UCAR surrogate provided real-time video surveillance support for the virtual engagement. While the virtual Army and Marine units "advanced," the UAV flew actual flights at the Fort Rucker test range under remote control, gathering video surveillance data about the "enemy" and feeding it to the virtual troops via its mobile ground station.
"Our primary goal for the autonomous flight test at Camp Pendleton was to demonstrate predicted autonomous vehicle response for our UCAR concept," explained Greg Zwernemann, Northrop Grumman's UCAR program director. "In the Fort Rucker exercise we wanted to show that it can fly over a battle zone, collect critical visual information, then transmit it to the ground for use by dismounted soldiers, helicopter units or other members of a tactical strike team."
The Fort Rucker exercises were conducted as part of the Army's Unmanned Systems Initiative, a coordinated, Army-wide effort to rapidly identify, evaluate, develop and integrate unmanned systems technologies into operational systems. In addition to Army aviators from Fort Rucker, Aviation and Missile R&D UAV system program managers and P Executive Office tactical missile representatives from Redstone Arsenal, Ala., and dismounted combat soldiers from Fort Benning, Ga. cooperated in the exercise.
Army Col. Glen A. Rizzi (ret.), working in support of the director of Combat Developments was enthusiastic about the Fort Rucker tests. "The Unmanned Systems Initiative allows us to experiment with manned and unmanned systems using the latest technology to bring live UAVs, computer simulation, and constructive aircraft simulators from three different locations - Fort Rucker, Redstone and Benning - all together at one time," he said.
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Lockheed to Take Charge on Court Decision
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
November 3, 2004
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/27972/story.htm
NEW YORK - Lockheed Martin Corp. will take a fourth-quarter after-tax charge of about $110 million, or about 25 cents per share, for damages and costs from a court decision rejecting its request to overturn a contract's termination, the No. 1 U.S. defense contractor said.
Lockheed Martin (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) had asked to overturn the contract's termination for default and claimed damages of approximately $270 million. The company had assumed that it would recover some portion of the costs it incurred under the contract, it stated.
Instead, the court concluded that Lockheed must repay $54 million in progress payments, plus interest, and pay about $12 million in decontamination and decommissioning costs.
Lockheed in 1994 had won a fixed-price contract to design, construct and test remediation facilities, as well as remediate waste found in Pit 9 at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory reservation.
But in 1998, the management contractor for the Department of Energy terminated the contract for default and filed a lawsuit against Lockheed seeking damages and interest totaling approximately $100 million.
Lockheed shares closed at $55.09 on Friday
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Defense stocks surge after Bush win
Associated Press
DAVE CARPENTER
Nov. 03, 2004
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/business/10090661.htm
CHICAGO - Defense stocks jumped higher Wednesday in what one analyst called a "relief rally" following President Bush's re-election.
Downplaying the impact of the election, the head of Boeing's defense unit said he still sees slower growth ahead for U.S. spending on military contracts after the surge that occurred throughout Bush's first term.
Nonetheless, shares in the nation's three biggest military contractors increased, making defense one of the strongest sectors on a bullish day on Wall Street.
Lockheed Martin Corp.'s stock closed up $1.78 per share, or 3.3 percent, at $55.89 on the New York Stock Exchange. Boeing shares increased $1.27, or 2.5 percent, to $51.15, and Northrop Grumman Corp. surged $2.10, or 4.1 percent, to $53.75. All finished near 52-week highs.
Even after retrenching somewhat late in the trading session, the gains easily exceeded the 1 percent increase in the Dow, reflecting not only investors' embrace of an unchallenged outcome but confidence that defense companies will get more business from a second-term Bush administration than they would have under John Kerry.
But Merrill Lynch defense analyst Byron Callan said in a note to investors that he foresees cuts to the U.S. military's modernization plans that will result in slower growth rates for those programs, affecting contractors.
"We see today's strength in stocks as more of a relief rally than a signal of new directions for the defense sector," he wrote.
Jim Albaugh, the head of Boeing's more than $30 billion-a-year defense business, told analysts a slowdown in military procurement has begun despite "a great last five years" that saw defense spending rise sharply, particularly for development and technology.
"We have taken the position that regardless as to whether or not President Bush is in the White House or Sen. Kerry was elected, we would see a moderation in defense spending in the years ahead," he said at a Goldman Sachs conference in New York. "I think we're (already) starting to see a flattening of the spending on the defense side."
Albaugh also indicated Boeing can wait only about seven more months to land a new contract supplying the Air Force with air refueling tankers based on the 767, before deciding whether to end production of the slow-selling commercial jet.
"If one looks at the 767 line that we have up in Everett (Wash.), we continue to get an order here and an order there," he said. "But realistically, we need to make a decision on shutting that line down sometime in early June of next year - early summer of next year."
Aerospace analyst Paul Nisbet of JSA Research said Boeing currently has 22 767s yet to deliver and is producing about one a month - "about as slow as you can go and not lose money." He said Boeing, with its 767, remains the leading candidate to land a revised tanker contract.
-------- chemical weapons
Sarin 'Gulf war syndrome cause'
bbc
3 November, 2004
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3979975.stm
Gulf war syndrome may have been caused by exposure to the nerve gas sarin, according to reports.
The New Scientist journal has reported a leak of a US inquiry into the ill-health of veterans of the 1991 war.
The US Department of Veterans Affairs' Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses is due to publish its findings next week.
But the magazine said researchers have found neural damage consistent with the nerve agent used by Saddam Hussein.
The link is said to have been "crucial" to a change of heart by the US authorities over Gulf war syndrome.
The New York Times newspaper reported last month that US scientists believed the syndrome did exist and was caused by "toxic exposure" but it was not clear whether this was from drugs or nerve agents.
The UK government has always insisted a unique Gulf war syndrome does not exist.
Symptoms
But campaigners say 6,000 British war veterans are suffering from the syndrome, with symptoms ranging from mood swings, memory loss, lack of concentration, night sweats, general fatigue and sexual problems since the war.
According to the New Scientist report "a substantial proportion of Gulf war veterans are ill with multi-system conditions not explained by wartime stress or psychiatric illness".
Instead, the magazine reported the ill-health could have been caused by low level exposure to sarin.
Three research groups had independently found specific kinds of neural damage that could explain some of the veterans' symptoms.
UK troops were exposed to sarin and this, along with the multiple vaccinations troops were given and exposure to depleted uranium, has caused the illnesses Shaun Rusling, of the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association
Q&A: Gulf war syndrome
These veterans also had lower levels of an enzyme which breaks down sarin-like compounds.
British and US authorities have always denied that any troops were affected by nerve gas, as no soldiers showed the classic symptoms of acute exposure.
But the New Scientist said: "It now appears that very small, repeated exposure can also harm."
Experiments on animals have shown that exposure to doses of sarin too low to cause observable or immediate effects causes delayed, long-term nerve and brain damage similar to that seen in veterans, the magazine reported.
Alarms
Troops could have had low level exposure to chemical weapons throughout the war.
A Senate investigation heard in 1994 that each of the 14,000 chemical weapons alarms around the troops went off on average twice or three times a day during allied aerial bombardment of Iraq - a total of between one and two million alarms.
All were said to have been false alarms. However, evidence was mounting that soldiers may in fact have been exposed to sarin, the New Scientist said.
Another source of exposure could have been for the thousands of troops stationed near Khamisiyah in southern Iraq in March 1991.
After the fighting was over, a large chemical weapons dump was blown up, creating a plume of gas, which would have contained sarin and which could have affected at least 100,000 allied soldiers, possibly far more, the New Scientist said.
Shaun Rusling, vice chairman of the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association, said: "I agree with the findings, it is what we expected.
"It is absolutely ridiculous for the MoD to deny Gulf war syndrome does not exist. UK troops were exposed to sarin and this, along with the multiple vaccinations troops were given and exposure to depleted uranium, has caused the illnesses."
The Ministry of Defence said it would not comment on leaks.
A spokeswoman said: "Our understanding is that the report only reviews existing research. In our view, research to date has shown there is insufficient evidence to support the existence of Gulf war syndrome."
She said the UK was considering whether or not to carry out further research, testing the urine of veterans exposed to sarin, on the advice of the Medical Research Council.
She said similar investigations were currently being conducted in the US on 400 veterans, 200 of whom are Gulf war veterans.
"So it might be that it won't be necessary for the UK to do that work," she said.
The MoD has released a report on the medical lessons learned from the first Gulf war.
It says it has made significant improvements to a wide range of its policies and procedures which have contributed towards the successful deployment and conduct of the more recent military operations in Iraq.
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Chemical weapons disposal behind schedule
USA TODAY
By Peter Eisler,
Nov 3, 2004
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=676&ncid=676&e=12&u=/usatoday/20041103/ts_usatoday/chemicalweaponsdisposalbehindschedule
The Pentagon (news - web sites) is missing treaty deadlines for wiping out its chemical weapons, which raises concerns about possible terrorism or accidents at eight U.S. sites where the stockpiles are to be destroyed.
Federal audits find that the military will not eliminate its 31,000 tons of deadly nerve gases and skin-blistering agents by 2012 as required by the international Chemical Weapons Convention.
The military destroyed only 6% of the arsenal in the past 12 months. And disposal plants that were supposed to start this summer in Newport, Ind., and Pine Bluff, Ark., still aren't running. In all, 32% of U.S. chemical weapons have been eliminated since work began in 1990.
The Pentagon's struggles to meet destruction deadlines lessens U.S. leverage to press Russia to eliminate its chemical arms, seen by U.S. officials as a proliferation risk.
Local officials and community activists near the eight U.S. disposal sites where chemical weapons remain stockpiled say the delays also raise domestic safety and security risks. They fear accidental chemical releases or attacks by terrorists to detonate or steal the weapons. One artillery round filled with nerve gas could kill thousands in a crowd.
"The (disposal) timetable is out the window," says Craig Williams of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, a citizen coalition monitoring U.S. progress. "Our national security is hindered by letting our own weapons of mass destruction languish in U.S. communities."
Russians feel 'left off the hook'
Under the 1997 weapons convention, the United States and Russia were to destroy 45% of their chemical stockpiles by April 2004, with total elimination by 2007. Both nations got extensions on the 45% deadline, and both say they will exercise options to extend the final deadline by five years, to 2012.
Technical problems and construction snags have stalled chemical weapons disposal at several U.S. incineration plants this year. And the Pentagon in September froze design work on a disposal plant slated for Pueblo, Colo., that will neutralize chemical agents instead of burning them. That decision also slows the design of a similar plant in Blue Grass, Ky.
Because of the delays, the Pentagon has raised cost estimates for eliminating its chemical arsenal from $15 billion to $24 billion. Officials now believe costs will rise an additional $1.4 billion, according to reports by Congress' Government Accountability Office (GAO).
"Current (Pentagon) schedule estimates show that the Army will not complete destruction of the entire stockpile until after the year 2012," the GAO reported this year.
Michael Parker, who manages the military's disposal program, says the audits don't account for recent changes that make the program more efficient.
"I still think we have a reasonable shot ... at 2012," he says.
In the months after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the Bush administration promised an urgent effort to secure and destroy both U.S. and Russian stockpiles of chemical weapons. Officials scrambled to boost protection of U.S. caches and speed disposal efforts. And they promised financial aid to help Russia do the same.
Since then, the Pentagon has moved all U.S. chemical weapons into hardened bunkers and destroyed one of its nine original stockpiles, on Johnston Atoll in the Pacific. Russia has added new fences, alarms and other security measures at major storage sites.
"The sooner we get rid of these weapons, the safer we're all going to be. But it's been a very costly, technically challenging and politically laden process," says Paul Walker of Global Green USA, a U.S.-Russian watchdog group pushing for safe and rapid destruction of both countries' chemical weapons. Because of the U.S. disposal delays, "the Russians really have felt a bit left off the hook," he says.
The U.S. and Russian arsenals include VX and sarin nerve gases as well as blister agents such as mustard gas. All are stored both in bulk containers and armed munitions. U.S. holdings total 31,000 tons. Russia has close to 40,000 tons.
Costs mounting with delays
The United States spends about $1.5 billion a year to protect and dispose of chemical weapons. That's about twice as much as Russia, even counting hundreds of millions of dollars the Russians get each year in U.S. and European assistance. But the Pentagon's investment is bringing limited progress:
• The Bush administration warned Congress this year that the U.S. disposal program has a high potential for failure. The assessment, provided in a 2004 budget addendum, gave the program a score of 17% out of 100% on progress toward destroying all stockpiles by 2012.
• The Pentagon has repeatedly pushed back its schedules for destroying the weapons. Some Pentagon reviews, cited in congressional reports, suggest the program could miss the 2012 deadline by several years or more.
• As of April, six of 10 states that are near the eight remaining U.S. stockpiles were considered fully prepared for emergencies, such as chemical leaks or a terror attack, according to the GAO audits. The other four states were close to being prepared. But delays in disposing of the weapons are increasing safety and security costs. Community requests for federal money to help with emergency preparedness exceeded budget allotments by $88 million in the last two years.
Parker says all the stockpile sites "are in a very strong security posture now." But he says the coming months will be a "cardinal moment" in salvaging any prospect of making the 2012 disposal deadline.
Glitches delay plant startups
One key goal, Parker says, is to begin operating the disposal plants in Indiana and Arkansas, where startups were delayed by technical problems.
At the same time, the Pentagon must keep work on schedule at incineration plants that are running in Anniston, Ala., Umatilla, Ore., and Deseret, Utah. Work at the Utah plant resumed earlier this year after a nine-month halt caused by a small chemical leak.
The Pentagon also must get the planned neutralization plants in Colorado and Kentucky back on track after freezing design work because plans wouldn't meet disposal schedules at an acceptable cost.
The final hurdle is funding to keep the program on track, especially given its troubled history.
"If any part of (the equation) fails to happen," Parker says, "it makes it extremely problematic against the treaty deadline of 2012."
-------- europe
Hungary Will Withdraw Troops From Iraq
November 3, 2004
By KARL PETER KIRK
Associated Press Writer
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HUNGARY_IRAQ?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) -- Hungary will withdraw its 300 non-combat troops from Iraq by the end of March, the country's new prime minister said Wednesday, dealing a blow to the United States' effort to hold the Iraq multinational force together.
The former communist country, which joined the European Union in May, sent the troops as part of the U.S.-led coalition, but the government has been under mounting pressure at home to pull out.
Recent polls had shown that around 60 percent of Hungarians wanted an immediate withdrawal. Hungary has a transportation contingent of 300 troops in Iraq stationed in Hillah, south of Baghdad.
President Bush has struggled to keep the U.S.-led multinational force from unraveling since Spain pulled out its 1,300 troops earlier this year.
Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said Hungary's troops will leave by March 31, after elections in Iraq slated for the end of January.
"We are obliged to stay there until the elections. To stay longer is an impossibility," Gyurcsany said at a ceremony to mark the end of mandatory military service in Hungary.
Hungary's Defense Minister Ferenc Juhasz had said the government would await the outcome of the U.S. presidential election before making the decision about the troops.
There were no immediate signs Wednesday that other coalition members were considering pulling out their troops.
Denmark's prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said his country's 501 troops in the southern Iraqi port city of Basra "will stay ... as long as needed so the Iraqis can be helped to become masters in their own homes."
But Fogh Rasmussen added: "We don't want to be there one day more than necessary. The goal is to get out of Iraq."
Concerns about Hungary's security increased after the country was specifically mentioned in a message attributed to al-Qaida as a terrorist target.
"The threat to Hungary is no longer at its borders but often far away," Gyurcsany said. "One of the most important conditions for creating order in Iraq lies ahead of us: the elections at the end of January. After that, the conditions for democratic order, peace and security can be created."
"Therefore, by March 31, 2005, we will bring our troops back from Iraq. From then on, the existence of a stable democratic and safe Iraq has to be created by different means, above all political means. If Iraq is not safe, Hungary (is) not safe," he said.
Parliament last year authorized Hungary's military mission until Dec. 31. The government will ask parliament on Monday to extend the mandate of the Hungarian troops by three months, Defense Ministry spokesman Peter Matyuc said.
One Hungarian soldier has died in Iraq, killed when a roadside bomb exploded by the water-carrying convoy he was guarding.
Gyurcsany, who was elected in September, said last month he did not believe in pre-emptive war.
"Personally, as the father of four children, as a young man, as a working Hungarian who trusts in the future, and as head of government, I believe not in preventive war but in policies which prevent conflicts," Gyurcsany said at the time.
Gyurcsany - a wealthy businessman who replaced ousted Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy - said in October that the future of the troops was "one of the most important decisions" faced by his new government.
In a telephone conversation with Bush last month, Gyurcsany said his government would "stress continuity in its foreign policy" and remain a "predictable, trustworthy and stable" partner of international cooperation.
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Hungary to withdraw troops from Iraq by March 2005: Gyurcsany
BUDAPEST (AFP)
Nov 03, 2004
http://www.spacewar.com/2004/041103154051.053emibf.html
Hungary will withdraw its 300 troops from Iraq by March 31, 2005, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said at a military ceremony in Budapest on Wednesday.
"To stay there until the elections are held is our duty," Gyurcsany said, referring to elections set for January in Iraq.
"To stay there much longer is impossible. That is why by March 31, 2005, we are withdrawing our troops from Iraq."
The parliamentary mandate for Hungary's mission in Iraq is due to expire on December 31, and a defence ministry spokesman said the government would on Monday ask parliament to extend it until March 31.
"We will ask parliament on Monday to extend the mandate of our troops in Iraq until March 31," ministry spokesman Peter Matyuc told AFP.
The legislature needs to approve an extension with a two-thirds majority.
Defence Minister Ferenc Juhasz admitted last week that the Socialist coalition would have face an uphill battle extending the mandate as the conservative opposition has urged the withdrawal of the troops.
Juhasz told AFP it would be all the more difficult as most Hungarians also oppose the troop presence in Iraq.
"If we decide to stay we would create serious domestic political conflict since most people would disagree," he said.
The defence minister said that Hungary would wait until after the US presidential election to announce a decision as it did not want the matter to become a campaign issue.
Hungary is one of 30 countries that contributed troops to the US-led force in Iraq in March 2003. Several allies have since withdrawn, including the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, the Philippines and Spain.
The Hungarian soldiers are based at Hilla, 100 kilometers (65 miles) south of Baghdad under Polish command and has so far suffered one fatality when a soldier was killed by a bomb south of Baghdad in June.
Warsaw is due to begin scaling down its troops in Iraq in January.
Juhasz has said that if Hungary, a member of NATO, opted for withdrawal it would look for other military missions abroad to which it could contribute the troops currently serving in Iraq.
The country currently has 1,000 troops taking part in international peace-keeping missions, including Afghanistan.
Hungary on Wednesday abandoned its military draft system after 136 years and Gyuarscany made the announcement on Iraq at a ceremony where the country's last conscripts marked the end of their military service.
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Hungary abandons conscription as it joins European move to professional military
BUDAPEST (AFP)
Nov 03, 2004
http://www.spacewar.com/2004/041103163847.e6f2p3ni.html
Hungary became Wednesday the latest European country to abandon conscription, as professional forces replace large armies dependent on often reluctant conscripts in the changed post-Cold War landscape.
European militaries have been switching to volunteer forces to make their armies leaner, more quickly deployable against unconventional threats like terrorism and to prepare troops for participation in a variety of international military missions.
"There will be no more draft in Hungary," Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany told soldiers at a military ceremony in Budapest where the last conscripts bid farewell to the army.
Hungary, which joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union on May 1 of this year, aims to reduce its professional military from the current level of over 30,000 soldiers to between 22,000 and 25,000.
"We no longer have to amass an army along the country's borders in order to confront an imaginary enemy," Defence Minister Ferenc Juhasz told AFP in an interview.
"Wars based on ethnic or religious conflicts can not only threaten the world militarily, they can also threaten through terrorism, the drug trade or human trafficking," he said.
France, Spain and Britain are already among the top military powers in Europe with all-professional forces.
Portugal and the Czech Republic will adopt volunteer armies before the year is out while Italy is expected to make the switch in 2005 and Slovakia will follow suit a year later.
Bulgaria has indicated it would turn its marines and air force services into volunteer institutions by 2006 and do the same for its land forces by
Most of the conscript-turned-volunteer armies are also smaller, preferring quality to quantity in forces which are increasingly reliant on high-tech weaponry, analysts said.
"The professionalization of the armed forces has been a clear trend since World War II and especially in the 1990s after the Cold War," Hungarian defence analyst Peter Deak said.
"The military objectives that could once only be attained by armies of soldiers can now be done with advanced weapons technology complemented by a small but highly trained force," he said.
A number of countries such as Germany, Sweden and Norway maintain conscription but other states still reliant on draftees are moving to at least partly professionalize their armies.
In Russia, with 1.13 million soldiers, the 76th parachute division in the northwestern town of Pskov became the first all-volunteer part of the military in December 2003.
Experts have said the division could serve as an example of how to professionalize the army as the government aims to recruit 147,000 volunteers into combat-ready units by 2008.
Austria keeps 43,000 conscripts but at the same time is currently forming special divisions up to 80 percent of which are made up of professional soldiers trained to participate in international military missions.
Still, volunteer armies do face an obstacle: recruitment.
Spain, which switched to a professional force in 2001, is now recruiting from abroad, mainly Latin America, in order to boost troop levels.
In 2003, 707 foreigners donned the Spanish military uniform, half of whom were from Equatorial Guinea and a quarter from Colombia.
Italy, in an effort to counter an expected fall in the number of soldiers in its professional forces when to abolishes the draft in January 1, 2005, will require a military service of one year of those who want to join the paramilitary police, police, customs or fire departments.
-------- iraq
Marines' 'Night Walkers' Watch Over Dark Skies
By Jackie Spinner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 3, 2004; Page A03
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19590-2004Nov2.html
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov. 2 -- From the air, there was nothing to see but the firefly dance of the fluorescent yellow light sticks waving the Marine chopper down until it settled in a bowl of fine, talcum-like dust.
The passengers disembarked from the back of the CH-46 Sea Knight and immediately plunged into the dark territory ruled by the Night Walkers, the Marines responsible for the helicopter landing zone at this military outpost in western Iraq.
The Marines fly primarily at night, so that's when the Night Walkers go to work. Like bats, they wake up as the sun sets, shaving and brushing their teeth at a portable water tank parked in the mud. By sunrise, they are tucked into their racks.
Out on the flight line, the Night Walkers have no running water, no chow hall, no one but each another. But on a clear night, they have a sky filled with stars.
"At night here, no clouds, when you can see the Milky Way, it almost kind of makes you forget where you are sometimes," said Staff Sgt. Randal Southern, 29, a reservist with Marine Air Control Squadron 24, based in Fort Worth.
Where they are is one of the most dangerous U.S. military camps in Iraq, a Marine outpost near a city that the military may storm and retake from insurgents and foreign fighters if the interim Iraqi prime minister gives the word.
In the larger Marine camp, which the Night Walkers call town, Marines and soldiers have been gearing up for battle in recent days, cleaning their weapons, drilling, lining up at the barbershop for haircuts, turning in a last load of laundry and stocking up on cigarettes, foot powder and cases of soft drinks at the Post Exchange.
Southern said the Night Walkers sense a military operation may be imminent because of the increase in flights at the landing zone, where 16 helicopters, or "birds," as the Marines refer to them, landed one night recently during a four-hour period.
"There's been a lot of pushing out and pushing in," he said. "It still feels like we're being a part of the fight or close to it."
The landing zone is home to three controllers from the Marine Air Control Squadron and a small detachment of land support Marines from the Combat Service Support Battalion, known as "red-taggers" for the red bar worn on their pant legs, an identifier first used in World War II to help Marines coming ashore find someone in charge.
"I like being out here, away from everyone and everything," said Staff Sgt. Thomas Purnell, 32, a member of Combat Service Support Company 115, which provided the land support detachment. "We have a job to do. We get it done, and nobody bothers us. You kind of feel safer out here, away from everyone else."
On Tuesday night, just before dusk, as the hues of the sky moved from light purple to dark blue, Lance Cpl. Dustin Oppert, 20, of Grand Prairie, Tex., walked across a mud field to flip on the radar, signaling the start of the night shift.
"It's quiet here," said Oppert, a member of the Marine Combat Service Support Battalion 1. "You're not dealing with people walking around. We like our solitude. We have the luxury of going into town if we need to, if we need real people, our social fix. That's what we call it, 'town.' Like we're in the country."
Although a bird will land here occasionally during the day, most helicopters arrive in darkness. The pilots must rely solely on sight to guide the aircraft to a strip of asphalt lined with blue lights.
There are no other lights on the landing zone, and at night, even the larger camp is largely plunged in darkness. Marines walk around in the dark, their boots somehow managing to find the terrain. This absence of light makes the camp feel like a black-and-white movie, with grainy, shadowy figures that abruptly appear and disappear.
"We have to talk some pilots into getting here," said Southern, an engineer in civilian life. "We've had pilots make two to three passes before they find us. Our job is to make sure the pilots get on deck safely. It's like being a traffic cop."
The air traffic control tower is the roof of a single-story, concrete building at the landing zone that serves as an office and sleeping quarters. To reach the top, the Marines climb a handmade wooden ladder braced against a broken drain pipe. The controller uses a portable radio and a small electronic weather gauge that hangs on a string and resembles a stopwatch.
Out on the flight line, Lance Cpl. Andrea Hopkins, 21, of Everett, Wash., talked into a yellow hand-held radio and prepared a group of passengers to board the second of a pair of CH-46s coming in from Baghdad.
"I tell my mom it's not as bad as it seems," Hopkins said after the helicopters took off in a rumble of noise and a swirl of dirt.
And out here, in this corner of the outpost that Purnell calls "heaven," it certainly feels that way, particularly on a night like this, when the air is crisp, the booms of the outgoing artillery rounds are off in the distance and the clouds, full of rain, fail to deliver.
--------
Gunmen Seize Five in Two Iraq Kidnappings
November 3, 2004
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq.html
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Gunmen abducted a Lebanese-American contractor who worked with the U.S. Army from his Baghdad home, Iraqi officials said Wednesday, while four Jordanian truck drivers were seized by assailants in a separate kidnapping.
Radim Sadeq, a Lebanese-American contractor with a mobile phone company, was snatched by gunmen when he answered the door of his home in Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood overnight, Lt. Col. Maan Khalaf said.
It was the second abduction this week in upscale Mansour, where many foreign companies are based. On Monday, gunmen stormed the two-story compound of a Saudi company, abducting six people, including an American, a Nepalese, a Filipino and three Iraqis, after a bloody gunbattle that left an Iraqi guard and one of attacker dead.
Also Wednesday, a car bomb exploded near a bus carrying airport employees to work in Baghdad, injuring nine people.
Gunmen also killed an Oil Ministry official, Hussein Ali al-Fattal, in a driveby shooting as he was on his way to work, the ministry said.
In Jordan, said Wednesday that four Jordanian drivers have been kidnapped in Iraq and two others were shot at by unknown assailants.
Jordanian spokeswoman Asma Khader declined to provide details on the abducted Jordanians but said her government has taken up the matter with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
She said the two other Jordanians came under fire in the Ramadi area in central Iraq -- a Muslim Sunni militant stronghold.
More than 160 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq since Saddam Hussein's regime fell in April last year. Some kidnapping groups seek ransom, while others pursue political motives such as the withdrawal of foreign companies and troops from Iraq. Kidnappers have killed about 30 hostages.
Meanwhile, the kidnappers of aid worker Margaret Hassan are threatening to hand her over to al-Qaida-linked militants notorious for beheading hostages unless Britain agrees within 48 hours to pull its troops from Iraq, an Arabic television station reports.
The threat to Hassan, the Iraq director for CARE International, was made in a videotape received by Al-Jazeera television but not broadcast in its entirety because the station said it was ``too graphic.''
Instead, it transmitted a segment Tuesday night showing a hooded gunman but without sound. The newscaster said the kidnappers gave Britain 48 hours to meet their demands, ``primarily the withdrawal'' of British troops.
Otherwise, the 59-year-old Hassan will be handed over to al-Qaida in Iraq, a group headed by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. His followers have beheaded at least six hostages: three Americans, a Briton, a Japanese and a South Korean.
Meanwhile, there has been no word on an American and two other foreigners -- one Filipino and a Nepalese -- abducted Monday night in Baghdad.
In London, Prime Minister Tony Blair's office and the British Foreign Office both declined to comment on the reported demand. Britain has 8,500 troops in Iraq, the second-largest contingent after the United States.
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern told his parliament that the full tape showed the Dublin-born Hassan pleading for her life directly to the camera before suddenly fainting.
Ahern, who had not seen the video, said a bucket of water is then thrown over Hassan's head and she is filmed lying wet and helpless on the ground before getting up and crying.
Ahern described the text of the video as ``distressing'' and said ``there were a number of very dangerous and very serious timescales stated.''
Hassan, an Irish-British-Iraqi citizen who is married to an Iraqi, was kidnapped last month from her car in western Baghdad. No group has claimed responsibility for her kidnapping and there was no sign on the brief broadcast of any banner identifying who held her.
On Tuesday, insurgents blew up an oil pipeline and an oil well in northern Iraq in a pair of attacks that shut down oil exports from the north, probably for the next 10 days, Iraqi oil officials said.
A huge explosion rocked the compound of Ghabaza oil field, 22 miles southwest of Kirkuk, late Tuesday night. Earlier in the day, attackers blew up an oil pipeline in northern Iraq.
The violence came as American forces prepare for a major offensive against Fallujah and other Sunni militant strongholds north and west of Baghdad in hopes of curbing the insurgency so that elections can be held in January.
Early Wednesday, U.S Marine warplanes hit an insurgent command post in Fallujah in a precision airstrike, the U.S. military said. Late Tuesday, a known weapons cache site in the southeastern part of the city was also destroyed, according to a statement.
In the past 12 hours, Iraqi and U.S. forces have been conducting ``coordinated offensive operations in and around the Fallujah-Ramadi area,'' the U.S. command said.
--------
Insurgents Blow Up an Iraqi Oil Pipeline
November 3, 2004
By EDWARD WONG
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/03/international/middleeast/03iraq.html?pagewanted=all&position=
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Wednesday, Nov. 3 - Insurgents blew up a northern oil export pipeline on Tuesday, dealing a severe blow to the national economy, even as car bombs and gun battles across the country left at least 12 Iraqis dead, Iraqi officials said.
The sabotage of the northern oil pipeline forced a shutdown of crude oil exports to a port in Turkey, Iraqi officials said. The pipeline pumps out 400,000 barrels a day of crude oil and is the frequent target of sabotage.
Hours after the explosion, firefighters were still battling the pipeline blaze near the city of Kirkuk, where pipelines run from oil fields west to the country's largest refinery in Bayji and north to Turkey.
An Iraqi oil official in Baghdad told The Associated Press that the amount of crude oil in storage at the port of Ceyhan in Turkey was down to four million barrels, half of the port's storage capacity.
The attacks on oil pipelines near Kirkuk and around Basra in the south, where the oil fields are much more extensive, have sharply cut into Iraq's main economic hope. American and Iraqi officials are relying on steady oil exports to help revive the stagnant economy in a country where the unemployment rate hovers at 60 percent.
The Arab news network Al Jazeera reported Tuesday night that it had received a new videotape in which the kidnappers of a British-Iraqi aid official, Margaret Hassan, threaten to turn her over to the group led by the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi within 48 hours if Britain does not withdraw its troops from Iraq.
In the first of the bombings on Tuesday, insurgents drove a car bomb up to the Ministry of Education offices in northwestern Baghdad in the morning, killing at least six people and wounding dozens more, said Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman, an Interior Ministry spokesman.
The blast took place in the Adhamiya neighborhood a Sunni-dominated area generally hostile to the Americans. People at the scene said two ministry guards in the parking lot, a father and his son, died immediately in the blast.
In the volatile northern city of Mosul, a car bomb aimed at a military convoy near the police academy killed one person and wounded at least seven security officers, hospital officials said. The target appeared to be Maj. Gen. Rashid Flayeh, the commander of a special security force who had arrived in the city just days ago to assist the local police. He was unhurt in the blast, police officials said.
At 1 p.m., another car bomb exploded by a convoy of Iraqi National Guardsmen in Mosul, killing two civilians and wounding seven others, hospital officials said. Clashes between insurgents and Iraqi guardsmen in the city's Widha neighborhood left three civilians dead, the officials said.
The latest attacks came about halfway through the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. During the holiday, the number of attacks in Iraq per day has spiked by 30 percent, and suicide car bombs appear to be an increasingly common weapon, American military officials say.
Since April, when a two-front uprising convulsed the country, American-led forces have been unable to dampen what appears to be a growing insurgency, much of it led by disenfranchised Sunni Muslims ousted from power with the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
In recent weeks, American military officials have been gathering their troops for a planned invasion of the insurgent stronghold of Falluja, 35 miles west of the capital, in the hopes that crushing that sanctuary will break the backbone of the insurgency. Thousands of rebels are believed to have dug into positions in the city, awaiting the assault.
Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has said he is ready to call for a sweeping offensive in order to bring Falluja into his fold before elections scheduled for January. But Iraq's president, Sheik Ghazi al-Yawar, a leader of one of the largest Sunni tribes in the country, said in an interview with a Kuwaiti newspaper on Monday that he absolutely opposed any military action.
The break between the two strong-willed men suggests that there could be enormous political fallout in Iraq if an invasion led by the American marines goes forward.
Marines are now engaged in some of the most intense urban combat in the country in the provincial capital of Ramadi, 30 miles west of Falluja. There, insurgents have been ambushing Marine convoys that race daily through the downtown area.
On Monday, a freelance cameraman working for Reuters, Dhia Najim, was shot and killed while covering the fighting in the area. The American military said in a statement on Tuesday that Mr. Najim had been killed during a battle between American marines and insurgents.
Military officials said in interviews that the cameraman had been killed by the marines as they took fire from the insurgents. One official said marines had inspected Mr. Najim's camera after the battle and found footage that showed insurgents attacking convoys. By Tuesday night, the marines had opened an investigation, the official said.
"We did kill him," he said. "He was out with the bad guys. He was there with them, they attacked, and we fired back and hit him."
Reuters reported that its global managing editor, David Schlesinger, was strongly urging the American military to conduct a proper investigation and was dissatisfied with the military's statement. "We reject the clear implication in the Marines' statement that Dhia was part of an insurgent group," he said.
Mr. Najim's death brought to 36 the number of journalists who have been killed in Iraq, at least eight by American fire, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, based in New York. Nineteen have died from insurgent actions.
Early Wednesday, Al Jazeera showed a short segment of a videotape of Ms. Hassan, the kidnapped aid worker, who was born in Dublin. The network said it was not broadcasting the complete tape because parts of it were too emotionally intense. Prime Minister Bertie Ahern of Ireland said in the Irish Parliament that he had read a text of the video and that it appeared "distressing."
In the part shown, an insurgent wearing a dark track suit and a white cloth around his head was speaking while he held a Kalashnikov rifle. The network reported that he had said the group would turn Ms. Hassan over to Mr. Zarqawi's group within 48 hours if Britain did not withdraw its troops.
The Press Association, a British news agency, quoted Mr. Ahern as saying that as in two previous videos, the new tape showed Ms. Hassan pleading for her life. She faints, and then a bucketful of water is thrown over her head, and she gets up and begins crying.
News agencies reported Tuesday that two Iraqi guards kidnapped from an office on Monday in the affluent Baghdad neighborhood of Mansour had been released. Still missing are an unidentified American, a Nepalese and two other Iraqi guards, said Col. Abdul-Rahman, the Interior Ministry spokesman. The two released Iraqi guards were from the Falluja area, The A.P. reported. All work for a Saudi Arabian food supply company.
More than 160 foreigners have been kidnapped this year in Iraq, most by bandits seeking ransom. More than 30 have been killed, some in grisly videotaped beheadings posted on the Internet.
Mr. Zarqawi's militant group posted such a video on Tuesday showing the decapitation of Shosei Koda, a 24-year-old Japanese backpacker whose body was discovered in Baghdad on Saturday. Mr. Koda's body was wrapped in an American flag, and the video showed insurgents shoving him down on that flag and slicing off his head.
In a separate Internet statement, the group, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, said the Japanese government had offered a ransom of "millions of dollars" but had refused to withdraw its 550 troops in Iraq, prompting the group to kill Mr. Koda.
Also on Tuesday, a supervisor in the Iraqi electoral commission, Adel al-Lami, said voter registration lists had been distributed on Monday in parts of several cities, including Baghdad, Amara and Basra. Though Monday was the first day that Iraqis collecting their food rations could receive registration lists for verification, the distribution of such lists apparently did not take place at all 540 or so food centers around the country, Mr. Lami said. The commission still has until the end of November to complete its voter rolls.
Richard A. Oppel Jr. contributed reporting from Ramadi for this article, and Iraqi employees of The New York Times from Baghdad and Mosul.
-------- israel / palestine
Israeli Lawmakers Back Settlers' Funding
By MARK LAVIE
The Associated Press
Wednesday, November 3, 2004; 11:29 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A22186-2004Nov3?language=printer
JERUSALEM - Israel's parliament gave preliminary approval Wednesday to compensation payments for Jews living in Gaza and four West Bank settlements, clearing a major hurdle in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate 25 settlements next year.
By a 64-44 vote with 9 abstentions, the Knesset passed the first of three votes on compensation packages giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to each family of the 8,800 settlers in Gaza and parts of the West Bank.
Sharon's "disengagement plan" has been strongly supported by the United States, Europe and most Israelis, but it has divided Sharon's own Likud party and weakened his domestic political position.
Following the vote, the compensation bill goes to a committee for fine-tuning, and must pass two more votes before becoming law. The government plans to complete the legislation by Dec. 31.
Sharon's chief rival in the Likud, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, supported the plan, but its opponents included parliament speaker Reuven Rivlin.
Sharon already has won a series of battles, including last week's parliamentary vote approving the withdrawal in principle. Wednesday's vote was the first time parliament debated the specifics of the plan.
The withdrawal is expected to begin next summer and be completed within three months, despite settlers' vows to resist eviction.
The settlers, a traditional constituency of Sharon, are furious with their former patron. Rabbis have issued rulings accusing him of violating Jewish law, and officials have warned of the threat of violence, civil war and assassinations.
The Yesha settlers' council ran a full-page ad Wednesday in the Maariv daily newspaper criticizing the bill.
"Warning: Dictatorship," it said, "Sharon is tearing apart the nation."
Sharon's plan calls for a full withdrawal from Gaza, where 8,200 Jewish settlers live amid 1.3 million Palestinians, and a pullout from four West Bank settlements. He has said the moves will improve the country's security and help it hold on to large chunks of West Bank settlements.
Sharon has refused to coordinate the pullout with the Palestinians, saying Yasser Arafat's administration is tainted by terrorism. Arafat was evacuated to a French hospital last week for an unidentified ailment, raising speculation he may not return to power.
Sharon has said he will continue with his plan regardless of Arafat's condition, but he held out the possibility of resuming peace talks if a moderate Palestinian leadership emerges.
The Palestinians, who have criticized Sharon's plan as an elaborate Israeli land grab, say Arafat remains in control.
The proposal represents a dramatic turnaround for Sharon, who for decades was the prime mover in building and expanding Jewish settlements. His hardline constituency, which supported Jewish footholds in the Palestinian territories out of political, security and religious beliefs, has been unable to accept his sudden shift.
To get his plan through a rebellious Cabinet in June, Sharon dismissed a pro-settler party and its two ministers. Another minister quit after the vote. Their departures deprived Sharon of his parliamentary majority, and about half the members of the Likud Knesset faction oppose the pullout, leaving Sharon at the mercy of Labor for his continued political survival.
That put the Labor Party, led by 81-year-old Nobel peace laureate Shimon Peres, in an awkward position. Labor voted for the compensation bill but opposed the Sharon government's domestic policies and did not want to be regarded as an automatic safety net for its longtime political enemy.
Since Sharon announced the plan, Gaza has experienced a surge in violence, as rival Palestinian militant groups compete for power and step up attacks on Israel in an attempted show of strength. Israel has responded with harsh reprisals, intent on showing it is not fleeing the volatile area.
In fresh violence Wednesday, Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian man in Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza, hospital officials said. Witnesses said the man was driving his car along the border with Egypt. The army was investigating the report.
Troops and armored bulldozers were clearing land on the outskirts of the camp and firing machine guns sporadically, witnesses said. Six other Palestinians were lightly wounded. Palestinian security sources said eight homes were demolished.
The destroyed buildings included the 50-year-old Zenoureen mosque, said Mohammed Lafi, director of the local Islamic trust.
The military said troops, searching tunnels used to smuggle weapons, were attacked with gunfire, anti-tank missiles and other explosives. It said troops demolished several partial structures but denied damaging a mosque.
Also in Gaza, two Israeli soldiers were injured - including one critically - when they came under fire as they patrolled the Rafiah Yam Jewish settlement, the army said.
Palestinian militants fired a mortar shell at the Neve Dekelim settlement, injuring three soldiers, military officials said on condition of anonymity. The conditions of the soldiers were not immediately known, they said.
--------
Sharon's Gaza Pullout Plan Faces Key Vote
By MARK LAVIE
The Associated Press
Wednesday, November 3, 2004; 5:57 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21306-2004Nov3.html
JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon marched forward with his Gaza withdrawal plan on Wednesday, with parliament set to vote on providing compensation for the 8,800 settlers to be uprooted under the plan.
Sharon was expected to win the vote, which would give him more momentum as he continues with the contentious plan.
Sharon has already won a series of battles, including a parliamentary vote last week approving the withdrawal in principle. Wednesday's vote was the first time parliament has debated the specifics of the plan.
The withdrawal has split the nation and cost Sharon his majority in parliament. Jewish settlers, a traditional constituency of Sharon, are furious with their former patron. Rabbis have issued rulings charging that he is violating Jewish law, and officials have warned of the threat of violence, civil war and assassinations.
Stepping up their opposition, the settlers' council ran a full-page ad Wednesday in the Maariv daily criticizing the bill. "Warning: Dictatorship," it said, adding the slogan. "Sharon is tearing apart the nation."
Sharon's plan calls for a full withdrawal from Gaza, where 8,200 Jewish settlers live amid 1.3 million Palestinians, and a pullout from four West Bank settlements. He says the moves will improve the country's security and help it hold on to large chunks of West Bank settlements.
Sharon has refused to coordinate the pullout with the Palestinians, saying Yasser Arafat's administration is tainted by terrorism.
Arafat was evacuated to a French hospital last week for an as-yet unidentified ailment, raising speculation that he may not return to power.
Sharon has said he will continue with his plan regardless of Arafat's condition, but held out the possibility of resuming peace talks if a moderate Palestinian leadership emerges.
The Palestinians, who have criticized Sharon's plan as an elaborate Israeli land grab, say that Arafat remains in control.
Wednesday's parliamentary vote is the first of three readings of the compensation bill, which would give as much as US$500,000 to veteran settler families. Opponents, including many members of Sharon's own Likud Party, were gearing up to try to defeat the bill, which would effectively kill the whole plan.
To win approval of the compensation bill, Sharon needs the support of the moderate opposition Labor Party.
The proposal represents a dramatic turnaround for Sharon, who for decades was the prime mover in building and expanding Jewish settlements. His hardline constituency, which supported Jewish footholds in the Palestinian territories out of political, security and religious beliefs, has been unable to stomach his sudden shift.
To railroad the plan through his rebellious Cabinet in June, Sharon dismissed a pro-settler party and its two ministers from his government. Another minister quit after the vote. Their departure deprived Sharon of his parliamentary majority, and about half the members of the Likud Knesset faction are opposed to the pullout, leaving Sharon at the mercy of Labor for his political survival.
That has put Labor, led by 81-year-old Nobel peace laureate Shimon Peres, in an awkward position. Labor strongly backs the pullout but opposes the Sharon government's domestic policies and does not want to be regarded as an automatic safety net for its longtime political enemy.
Labor was expected to vote in favor of the compensation bill but was considering a vote against the national budget in its first reading, also set for Wednesday. Without resolution, the budget battle could topple Sharon's government in the coming months.
Since Sharon announced the plan, Gaza has experienced a surge in violence, as Palestinian militants compete for power and step up attacks on Israel in a show of strength. Israel has responded with harsh reprisals, intent on showing it is not fleeing the volatile area.
In fresh violence Wednesday, Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian man in Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza, hospital officials said. Witnesses said the man was driving his car along the border with Egypt.
--------
Israel Parliament Clears Payoffs for Gaza Settlers
November 3, 2004
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-mideast.html?pagewanted=all
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's parliament backed compensation payments for Jewish settlers leaving the Gaza Strip in a vital vote Wednesday for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate the occupied territory.
Right-winger Sharon only won with help from center-left opponents.
In a sign of his political vulnerability, he postponed a separate vote on the 2005 budget that he could have lost without support from rebels in his ruling Likud party.
The U.S.-backed plan to evacuate troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip and parts of the northern West Bank next year has thrown politics into turmoil in the Jewish state and sparked warnings of civil strife.
It would be the first time that Israel has removed settlements from land captured in the 1967 Middle East war, though Palestinians fear it would strengthen Israel's hold on most West Bank settlements and deny them a viable state.
Settlers are expected to get up to $500,000 per family for quitting the 21 Gaza settlements and four of 120 settlements in the West Bank next year. Any who clash with the soldiers evicting them face up to five years in jail.
The compensation bill passed 64-44 with nine abstentions in its first reading. It must clear two more readings before becoming law, though settlers can already start filing claims.
In votes on the ``disengagement'' plan, the former general who was once seen as the settlers' champion counts on the center-left opposition Labor party -- which backed last week's landmark vote on the principle of withdrawing from Gaza.
But Labor would vote against the 2005 state budget because of proposed spending cuts.
Likud rebels could join the ``No'' vote on the budget to embarrass Sharon without spelling the end of his government immediately.
Uncertain that the budget could pass its first reading on Wednesday, the vote was postponed. A new date has yet to be set.
Financial markets would see any lengthy delay as a blow to Israel's economic credibility and fear that the government will whittle away spending cuts in order to get the budget through, upsetting international credit rating agencies.
Sharon says his plan for ``disengagement'' from years of conflict with the Palestinians will make Israel easier to defend while strengthening its hold on West Bank settlements far bigger than those in Gaza.
Vital for the plan are assurances from President Bush that Israel could expect to keep parts of the West Bank in any peace deal. Bush's re-election will only help Sharon, political sources said.
-------- pakistan / india
India Test-Fires Brahmos Supersonic Cruise Missile From Warship
Nov 03, 2004
Bhubaneshwar, India (AFP)
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/missiles-04zzs.html
India on Wednesday test-fired for a sixth time the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, which it has developed jointly with Russia, defence officials said.
"The BrahMos missile was launched at 11.18 am (0548 GMT) from the Indian destroyer INS Rajput off the Bay of Bengal and it successfully hit a target at sea," said the defence official.
India last fired its BrahMos, 280-kilometre (about 175-mile) range missile in November last year. It will arm Indian warships and submarines, and has been tested six times since its development by Indian and Russian experts in
BrahMos was on display at the January 26 Republic Day military parade, and an unspecified number of countries are said to be interested in buying the cruise missile, which carries a conventional warhead.
India has developed an array of ballistic missiles in its goal to achieve military self-reliance and eventually become a major player in the global arms bazaar.
-------- space
Ball Aerospace Proud Of ERBS Spacecraft That Keeps Going And Going
Boulder CO (SPX)
Nov 03, 2004
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/weather-04za.html
Ball Aerospace & Technologies recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of one of the longest-running space mission to date. The Earth Radiation Budget satellite (ERBS) was launched in 1984 as the first spacecraft specifically designed to be launched by a space shuttle.
Ball Aerospace was responsible for the spacecraft bus and the Stratospheric Aerosol Gas Experiment (SAGE II), one of the three instruments onboard. In 1984, ERBS was expected to have a two-year design life, but 20 years later, this mission is still supplying valuable data about the Earth's ozone layer.
ERBS was part of NASA's three-satellite Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE), designed to investigate how energy from the Sun is absorbed and re-emitted by the Earth.
This process of absorption and re-radiation is one of the principal drivers of the Earth's weather patterns.
Observations from ERBS were also used to determine the effects of human activities (such as burning fossil fuels and the use of CFCs) and natural occurrences (such as volcanic eruptions) on the Earth's radiation balance.
After two decades of data from SAGE II aboard ERBS, scientists at NASA and Hampton University's Center for Atmospheric Sciences, believe that ozone depletion is slowing.
During the last four years ERBS received an overhaul by a ground-based "pit crew" of Ball Aerospace engineers who restored some of the systems on the vintage spacecraft.
The reaction wheels, which have been running constantly for 20 years, were used along with small rockets to adjust the orbit and a previously decommissioned Nickel Cadmium battery was returned to service in a tricky switch-over to compensate for a failing battery.
ERBS and SAGE II are expected to return data about the Earth's ozone until the recently revived battery fails. Until then, the instrument will continue to provide scientists with a critical view of the Earth's ozone layer.
-------- un
Annan Urges New Security Council Steps on Darfur
Reuters
By Irwin Arieff
Wednesday, November 3, 2004; 12:14 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22310-2004Nov3.html
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Violence has increased in Sudan's Darfur region and the U.N. Security Council should put more pressure on the government and rebels to stop the fighting, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Wednesday.
Attacks are on the rise on all sides, a new rebel movement has emerged and there has been no verified progress in disarming fighters in the region, as the rebels and the government have promised, Annan said in his latest progress report on Darfur to the Security Council.
As a result, the 15-nation council "may wish to consider creative and prompt action to ensure effective implementation of the demands set out in its earlier resolutions," he said.
Previous council resolutions have threatened sanctions if the government failed to meet commitments to end attacks on civilians, rein in Arab militias and prosecute those responsible for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
A Nov. 18-19 council meeting in nearby Nairobi, Kenya, will be a major opportunity to discuss next steps, Annan said.
Darfur, the site of what the United Nations says is the world's worst humanitarian crisis, has been torn by violence since rebels took up arms against the Khartoum government in February 2003, saying it had neglected and marginalized the impoverished region.
The rebels accuse the government of arming mounted Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, to loot and burn non-Arab villages in a campaign of ethnic cleansing in an area where Arab nomads and mostly non-Arab farmers have fought over resources for years.
"Political leaders, on any side, who deny the facts on the ground, neglect the sorrow of poor and vulnerable people living in areas under their control and use delaying tactics in negotiations and implementation procedure are acting irresponsibly," Annan's report said.
"There have been more breaches of the cease-fire. Overall, violence seems to be increasing and impacting civilians indirectly as well as directly," he said.
Too little is being done to punish those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, which appear to be occurring "on a large and systematic scale," his report said.
While the vast majority of those battered by the fighting in Darfur are getting food and other aid, many are not and the number of needy is still growing, Annan said.
-------- us
Air, marine operations merged
November 03, 2004
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20041102-092241-4822r.htm
Air and marine operations assigned to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were transferred yesterday to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a decision hailed by rank-and-file agents in both agencies as a positive step in the war on terrorism and the battle against illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
The move, based on recommendations after a lengthy review by officials at the Homeland Security Department, consolidates into one agency helicopters, airplanes and boats dedicated to air and marine law enforcement.
The Office of Air and Marine Operations at ICE had more than 1,000 employees and a fleet of 134 aircraft and 72 vessels, including Black Hawk helicopters, Citation aircraft and numerous "go-fast" boats. The agency maintained 10 branches, two surveillance support centers, 11 air units and 16 marine units across the southern tier of the United States and Puerto Rico.
CBP, which is responsible for managing, controlling and protecting the nation's borders at and between the ports of entry, maintains 115 helicopters and airplanes, and 102 patrol boats, most of which are used by the Border Patrol.
Led by Commissioner Robert C. Bonner, the CBP has 41,000 inspectors and agents from the U.S. Customs Service, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the entire U.S. Border Patrol, which were merged into a single agency in March 2003.
Earlier this year, Rep. Christopher Cox, California Republican and chairman of the Select Committee on Homeland Security, noted that ICE, CBP, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration all had air and marine divisions and suggested that Homeland Security consider ways to consolidate efforts where missions and needs overlapped.
"An integrated modernization program could result in cost savings to the government as well as sharper focus on the security mission," Mr. Cox said during a May hearing. "It also could enable Coast Guard, ICE and CBP air, surveillance and maritime asset operators to achieve other advantages and efficiencies, such as joint training of employees, shared repair and maintenance facilities, and increased communications interoperability.
"It is imperative, in the event of an attack, that there be seamless coordination of efforts among these agencies," he said.
The Senate Appropriations Committee this year also said "potential redundancies in the areas of air and marine interdiction" had created two separate air and marine operations within ICE and CBP.
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge ordered a review to "enhance efficiencies in existing resources." He said that, because the principal focus of the air and marine division was interdiction, its "natural location" rested more with CBP than with ICE.
"There will be no degradation of the [air and marine] mission, only an improvement in operating efficiencies as the two air and marine elements of ICE and CBP are brought together in one agency," Mr. Ridge said.
Homeland Security officials said that throughout the transfer, efforts will be made to find efficiencies with aviation and marine operations, locations and acquisition and recapitalization. During the interim, they said, there be no drop in air or marine support to legacy missions in ICE, CBP or the other many agencies served by the air and marine division.
--------
Guard revamps recruit incentives
(AP)
November 03, 2004
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20041102-092240-8046r.htm
DAYTON, Ohio - Free hunting and fishing licenses. More chances to get signing bonuses. Pink T-shirts for women.
The Army National Guard, which has fallen short of recruiting goals during the prolonged fighting in Iraq, is trying new marketing beyond the traditional enticement of college-tuition aid.
"There are fewer people who are voluntarily expressing an interest - calling or returning postcards," said Lt. Col. Dan Kenkel, spokesman for the Guard in Nebraska.
Nationally, the Army Guard reached just 88 percent of its goal of 56,000 recruits by the end of September, signing up 49,210.
"Recruiting is tougher than it's been in a while," said James Sims, spokesman for the Ohio Guard, which is about 500 short of its target of 2,100 recruits.
Guard officials around the country blame concerns about the Iraq war, Pentagon orders that keep some soldiers from leaving active duty and going into the Guard, and turnover among recruiters, some of whom have been sent overseas.
Of the 100,000 Army Guard members sent to Iraq, about 110 have died.
In the past, young people saw enlisting as a way to get college tuition with little risk to themselves, said Lt. Col. Greg Hapgood, spokesman for the Iowa National Guard. "Today, that risk has changed," he said.
The pink T-shirt bearing the words "Soldier Girl" was designed by Sgt. Stacey Weston, a recruiter in Indiana, to get the attention of potential recruits. She said the Guard quickly ran out of the first order of 800 shirts.
"A lot of young ladies are under the impression they can't be feminine if they join the military," Sgt. Weston said. "I wanted to dispel that myth."
The Nebraska Guard was 87 soldiers short of its goal of 519 recruits. It is plastering several Dodge Stratuses with its decals and logos in hopes of catching the eyes of potential recruits.
Ohio has used Hummers - with oversized tires, televisions and booming sound systems - for the past few years to draw a crowd. The Guard also plans to increase the number of recruiters from 81 to 106.
The number of job-skill categories that pay signing bonuses of $3,000 to $8,000 - such as driving heavy equipment - will be upped from 19 to 30 in the Kansas Army Guard. And thanks to the Legislature, its members will be eligible for free fishing and hunting licenses and passes to state parks beginning in January.
Some potential recruits said they still were drawn mainly to the promise of college aid. The benefit ranges from full tuition reimbursement to aid of up to $4,500 a year to loan repayments.
Ted Trautman, 20, of Minneapolis, considered joining for the tuition benefits, but decided against it because he didn't want to fight in a war that might not be justified. Now a sophomore at Wittenberg University, he said none of the new incentives would have changed his mind.
Paul Meyers, 21, of Hilliard, noticed TV ads that showed Guard members having fun and serving their country at the same time. An appeal to his patriotic duty was a factor in his decision to join the Guard, but tuition assistance was the main reason.
"Hopefully, I won't get deployed, but if I do, it happens," Mr. Meyers said.
--------
Abu Ghraib Prison MP Pleads Guilty to Reduced Charge
By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 3, 2004; Page A12
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18659-2004Nov2.html
A Northern Virginia military police soldier who served at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq has pleaded guilty to one charge of dereliction of duty, accepting responsibility for not preventing or reporting detainee abuses at the hands of other U.S. soldiers in her company, according to her civilian lawyer and military officials in Iraq.
Megan Ambuhl, 30, of Centreville, entered her plea Saturday in Baghdad as part of a deal with prosecutors, who agreed to drop charges of conspiracy, maltreatment of detainees and indecent acts. In a summary court-martial, which spared her the possibility of a lengthy prison term, Ambuhl was sentenced to a reduction in rank from specialist to private and was ordered to forfeit half of one month's pay, according to a military spokesman in Iraq.
Ambuhl became the third soldier from the 372nd Military Police Company to plead guilty to charges connected with the scandal that broke in April after photographs of detainee abuse surfaced. One soldier was sentenced to a year in prison, and another to eight years.
According to investigative documents, Ambuhl was the least involved in the abuse of the seven soldiers who have been charged so far. She was accused in large part of watching abusive acts and failing to report them.
Harvey Volzer, Ambuhl's Washington-based civilian attorney, said yesterday that his client witnessed some abusive acts on Tier 1 of the prison but did not report them because her superiors were involved and military intelligence soldiers appeared to be sanctioning the acts. Volzer said Ambuhl regrets not doing something to stop the abuses and shows remorse.
"I think we all came to the conclusion that my client didn't hit or kick a detainee or anything like that," Volzer said, "but everyone had a duty to protect the detainees, and even if this was authorized from above, in some instances it went too far."
According to investigative documents, Ambuhl was present when sexual abuses occurred in the prison's most secure wing, including episodes when soldiers placed naked and hooded detainees into a pyramid and then posed with them for photographs. She is also partially visible in a photograph that showed Pfc. Lynndie R. England holding a leash attached to a naked detainee's neck.
Ambuhl was praised by several detainees for treating them well, and in at least one instance she came to the aid of a detainee who was having trouble breathing after being punched in the chest by another soldier, the documents showed.
Volzer said Ambuhl's punishment is appropriate because of her limited involvement, but he said he is dismayed by the lack of accountability for higher-ranking officials who he says condoned the abusive treatment.
"My position is that if people order you to do things and you do what they said, and as a result you're punished, the people who gave the orders should also be punished," Volzer said. "Since the orders came down from the White House, someone has to bear responsibility for it."
Volzer said Ambuhl is prepared to testify at other military proceedings. Additional courts-martial for those involved in the abuses are scheduled to begin early next year.
Ambuhl, who was supposed to have returned home from duty last summer, is expected to return within the next two weeks. Volzer said Ambuhl plans to leave the military and to return to her job as a lab technician.
Staff writers Jackie Spinner in Iraq and Elizabeth Williamson contributed to this report.
--------
G.I. in Abu Ghraib Abuse Is Spared Time in Jail
November 3, 2004
By DOUGLAS JEHL
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/03/politics/03abuse.html?pagewanted=all
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 - One of the first seven American soldiers charged in connection with the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq will be spared jail time under an agreement approved last week by a military judge.
Prosecutors agreed to drop the most serious of three charges against the soldier, Pvt. Megan M. Ambuhl. At a proceeding in Baghdad on Oct. 30, she pleaded guilty to a single charge of dereliction of duty, and was sentenced to a reduction in rank, to private from specialist, and the forfeiture of a half-month's salary.
Private Ambuhl had contended that she was primarily a bystander in abuses carried out by other military guards in her unit, some of whom have already been convicted of taking part in the most notorious abuses. She was charged initially with crimes that included conspiracy, maltreatment and commission of an indecent act, but was convicted only of having "willfully failed to protect Iraqi detainees from abuse, cruelty and maltreatment."
Among the abuses by American soldiers that she was said to have witnessed were the piling of naked detainees in a human pyramid, the photographing of a naked prisoner with a leash around his neck and the encouraging of a group of prisoners to masturbate in a public corridor. In a hearing in May, she portrayed herself as a someone who treated the Iraqi prisoners kindly, giving them copies of the Koran and making sure their meals contained no pork.
The terms of the agreement were spelled out in Washington on Tuesday by Private Ambuhl's lawyer, Harvey J. Volzer. In a telephone interview, he said he believed that prosecutors in the case had "made a conscious effort to distinguish between the accused."
"She didn't leash anyone, she didn't hurt anyone, and she didn't take pictures," Mr. Volzer said.
Private Ambuhl was one of two female soldiers to have been charged in the case to date. The other, Pvt. Lynndie England, is facing trial on Jan. 17.
--------
G.I. Gets Light Sentence for Desertion in '65
November 3, 2004
By JAMES BROOKE
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/03/international/asia/04desertercnd.html?pagewanted=all
CAMP ZAMA, Japan, Nov. 3 - Four decades after Charles Robert Jenkins disappeared into the mists of the Cold War, the United States Army sergeant, now a frail 64-year-old, received a light sentence today after pleading guilty in a court-martial here to desertion and aiding the enemy, North Korea.
After bleak testimony about Sgt. Jenkins's harsh life in North Korea, , an Army judge seemed to accept a defense lawyer's argument that he had "already suffered 40 years of confinement." The judge, Col. Denise Vowell, then demoted him to private, stripped him of four decades of back pay and benefits, and gave him a dishonorable discharge and a 30-day suspended sentence.
The prosecutor, Capt. Seth Cohen, had called for a tougher sentence, evoking, in a veiled way, the need for military discipline while American soldiers are fighting in Iraq. Referring to non-commissioned officers like Sgt. Jenkins, he said: "We can't have soldiers going into the field fearing that their N.C.O.'s will abandon them, especially given the state of the world today."
But the trial and sentencing seem to reflect American political needs to mollify Japanese public opinion, which has been moved by the drama of the American defector from North Carolina and his Japanese wife, Hitomi Soga Jenkins, whom he met in North Korea a few years after North Korean agents had kidnapped her from a Japanese island in 1978.
Massaging Japanese public opinion is important to Washington, which wants to move the United States Army's 1st Corps from the state of Washington to this base, already the headquarters of the United States Army in Japan. By receiving a 30-day sentence, Private Jenkins is now detained in Japan, avoids return to the United States for incarceration, and can receive weekly visits from his wife and their two North Korean-born daughters.
To further soften Japanese opinion, military officers gave a slide show of the detention facility, which is on a United States Navy installation at Yokosuka. Drawing oohs and aahs from Japanese reporters, the slides showed rows of exercise bicycles, a living room style visitation room, and close-ups of the food, including a large photo of a slice of pumpkin pie with whipped cream on top.
"It's not Club Med, but it is not hard labor either," said Capt. King H. Dietriech, commander of the Navy facility. He also stressed: "There will be no special treatment for Private Jenkins."
In rare testimony today about life in North Korea, Mr. Jenkins and his wife said that their lives were controlled by omnipresent "political supervisors."
Mrs. Jenkins said that her supervisor prepared her for her first meeting with Mr. Jenkins in June 1980 by suggesting that "I was to marry" him.
"Little by little we started to love each other," Mrs. Jenkins said, noting they they decided to get married barely one month after meeting. "My husband did not like North Korea, nor did I."
One day, when Sgt. Jenkins was a bachelor, living with three other defectors, the American took advantage of the rare absence of their political supervisorto search their house. In the attic, he recalled, they found tape recorders. In each room, they found a microphone.
The Americans, he said, were forced for 10 hours a day to study and memorize the writings of North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung, writings that he called "class struggle from the perspective of a crazy man."
Six months ago, while he was still in North Korea, such a statement could have earned Sgt. Jenkins execution. He said here today that if he had once criticized Kim Il Sung or his successor, Mr. Kim's son Kim Jong Il, there would have been no forgiveness. "Go dig your own hole, because you are gone,'' he testified. "I have seen that done."
With little coaxing by the defense counsel, Capt. James D. Culp, Mrs. Jenkins painted a portrait of a broken industrial society where living standards had regressed to the 19th century.
With no heat or electricity in their Pyongyang house during most of the winter, she said that to sleep in the cold "we would wear everything we owned in terms of clothing when we went to bed." Warm water never flowed from faucets. Warm baths were rare luxuries.
Reading at night was by candlelight. When the candle wick had burned, she said, her husband "would collect the melted wax in a can and use it for a home made candle." With the food rationing system breaking down, she said they grew vegetables and raised chickens in their yard, but the family often went to bed hungry.
The family was forbidden to leave the house without their political supervisor. Coils of barbed wire surrounded their house, she told the court.
Deprived of books, Sgt. Jenkins said that he so treasured a banned a copy of the historical novel "Shogun" that he read it 20 times. In later years, he tinkered with a state-issue single-channel North Korean radio so that he could secretly listen to BBC and Voice of America.
Such surreptitious acts of rebellion carried the sanction, Mrs. Jenkins said., of being "thrown out of the city, and taken to a remote mountain area to live."
With anti-American hostility acute, Sgt. Jenkins recalled that one day he was taken to a hospital where orderlies held down his forearm as a doctor, without using anesthesia, cut off a piece of skin tattooed: "U.S. Army."
In his closing statement, Sgt. Jenkins apologized to soldiers under his command, to the Army and to the nation.
"After living 40 years in North Korea, there is no freedom like the freedom in the United States," he said. Referring to Kim Jong Il, he added: "People in North Korea suffer under a system that is evil and is run by a man who is evil to his bones."
After one day in North Korea, he said, he realized he had made a terrible mistake.
Noting that he was forbidden from writing his family while in North Korea, he said: "I am deeply sorry to my family who suffered in silence for 40 years."
From North Carolina, his younger sister, Pat Harrell, said by telephone she would tell the news to their 91-year-old mother. Mrs. Harrell said: "This has been 40 years in coming, in believing that one day I would hear from him. I never gave up hope. Now I am just waiting to able to touch him."
-------- war crimes
EU will keep the heat on war crimes suspects in Bosnia: commander
SARAJEVO (AFP)
Nov 03, 2004
http://www.spacewar.com/2004/041103172901.0i7kyhej.html
The EU force which will replace NATO troops in Bosnia next month is determined to pursue war crimes suspects wherever they may be hiding in the Balkan country, Major General David Leakey said Wednesday.
"If EUFOR finds a war criminal during the course of our operations there is no question that we would hesitate to detain him," said Leakey, the British commander of the EU's military mission in Bosnia, known as "Althea".
But Leakey was quick to tell his first press conference here since his appointment that the hunt for suspected war criminals was not EUFOR's main priority in the former Yugoslav republic, which remains deeply divided nine years after the end of its bitter inter-ethnic war.
"I must stress that the primary responsibility to arrest war criminals still lies with the Bosnian governmental authorities and law enforcement agencies," Leakey said.
The 7,000-strong EUFOR will take over from NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) on December 2 in the biggest military operation yet undertaken by the 25-nation European Union.
It will use NATO hardware and has already taken up quarters in the Bosnian capital. Eighty percent of the troops serving with SFOR will simply swap their insigia and join the EU force.
The new force will also be assisted by partner countries that include Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, Morocco and Switzerland. An EU police force has been on the ground in Bosnia since last year.
NATO has gradually cut its troop numbers in Bosnia since 60,000 personnel poured into the Balkan country at the end of its 1992-1995 war between Croats, Muslims and Serbs. Some 200,000 people died in the conlfict.
Top Balkan war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic, the former Serb political leader, has repeatedly evaded NATO raids in Bosnia, and remains a hero to his die-hard supporters.
The North Atlantic alliance will maintain a small headquarters in Sarajevo to help with defence reforms and the manhunt for war crimes suspects.
"There will be a seamless transition from SFOR to EUFOR and we shall build on SFOR's success," Laekey said.
-----
Ex-Yugoslav capitals pressed over warcrimes suspects
BRUSSELS (AFP)
Nov 03, 2004
http://www.spacewar.com/2004/041103173046.tg8scz2o.html
Chief UN war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte issued a new appeal Wednesday for the Serb, Bosnian and Croatian governments to arrest war criminals still on the run.
Speaking after talks in Brussels with European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Javier Solana and NATO ambassadors, she singled out the government in Belgrade for particular criticism.
"Serbia is much more of a problem. The government of Serbia has publicly said 'we'll not arrest the fugitives.' It is a scandal," she told a small group of reporters.
The UN war crimes court, based in The Hague, is seeking a list of war crimes suspects, at the top of which are wartime Bosnia Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, on charges including genocide.
In an address to NATO diplomats, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) tribunal lamented that "unfortunately, Serbia and Montenegro has become a safe haven for our fugitives."
"Unfortunately, (Serbian) Prime Minister (Vojislav) Kostunica and members of his government made it clear to me that they were not prepared to arrest and transfer the 15 indictees who live in Serbia," she added.
Bosnian Serb authorities were not much better, she indicated. "The authorities of (Republika Srpska) have still not located and arrested one single indicted fugitive to date."
She also blasted Croatian authorities over the continued flight of fugitive Croatian general Ante Gotovina. "It is a great disappointment for the ICTY that Croatia did not arrest general Gotovina to this day."
General Gotovina has been on the run despite his indictment by the ICTY in 2001 over the massacre of at least 150 Croatian Serbs at the end of the Serb-Croat war from 1991-1995.
"Gotovina is still in Croatia," she added.
-------- POLICE / PRISONERS / COURTS / JUSTICE
-------- death penalty
Court hears case about death-row defense tactics
November 03, 2004
ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20041102-092240-1960r.htm
Lawyers should be able to decide the best trial defense for prospective death-row inmates, even if it means conceding the defendant's guilt without his explicit consent, a government lawyer told the Supreme Court yesterday.
"Counsel has a right to make strategic judgments when there is no objection by the client," said Irving L. Gornstein, assistant to the U.S. solicitor general.
A ruling otherwise "prevents counsel from pursuing an effective strategy for saving a defendant's life," he said.
On Election Day, justices heard arguments in a case challenging a Florida Supreme Court decision to grant a new trial for Joe Elton Nixon. He was convicted in the 1984 murder of a woman he met at a Tallahassee mall.
At issue is the court-appointed attorney's decision to admit at trial that Nixon was responsible for the victim's "horrible, horrible death" in the hope that his candor would persuade the jury to spare the man's life.
Edward H. Tillinghast, an attorney representing Nixon, argued that his client was unfairly given the death penalty because his trial lawyer didn't try to prove his innocence.
"There was a complete breakdown in the adversarial process," he said.
Florida prosecutors said Nixon tied Jeanne Bickner, a 38-year-old state worker, to trees with jumper cables and set her on fire. Facing substantial evidence against him, Nixon's lawyer offered unsuccessfully to plea-bargain for life imprisonment before deciding to concede the man's guilt at the beginning of trial.
After he was sentenced to death, Nixon charged he was denied a Sixth Amendment right to counsel because his attorney had not vigorously argued in his defense. Prosecutors countered that Nixon did not object when his attorney told him of the trial strategy to build jury sympathy.
The case hinges on a pair of Supreme Court decisions handed down in 1984 amid misgivings among some justices that punishments were sometimes imposed arbitrarily as a result of poor attorney representation.
Thirty-seven states allow the death penalty, and about 3,500 convicted murderers are on death row.
The 1984 rulings limit inmates' ability to claim a Sixth Amendment violation if their attorneys made the strategic choice not to pursue certain defenses at trial. The rulings also provide exceptions when counsel utterly fails to challenge the prosecution with "meaningful adversarial testing."
In a 5-2 decision last year, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new trial after determining that the lawyer did not effectively represent Nixon nor did the defendant agree to his attorney's strategy.
"Counsel's duty is to hold the state to its burden of proof by clearly articulating to the jury or fact finder that the state must establish each element of the crime charged," the Florida court said.
Nixon did not attend his trial; instead, he stripped off his clothes and refused to enter the courtroom. The judge held a hearing in Nixon's cell to make sure the defendant waived his right to attend the trial. Wearing only underwear, Nixon told the judge he wanted another attorney, and he would disrupt the trial if forced to attend.
-------- homeland security / national intelligence
SECURITY
On Alert for Terror Activity Timed to Disrupt Election, Agencies Find Little Reason to Worry
November 3, 2004
By DAVID JOHNSTON
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/03/politics/campaign/03security.html
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 - Terrorism command centers were activated in dozens of states and cities throughout the country on Tuesday because of fears of an election-year attack. Security authorities said emergency personnel were on standby alert, but there were no reports of any incidents.
In the capital, officials at the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency were stationed at their emergency command posts, but even there officials reported little activity beyond routine reports from their field units, which indicated no sign of terror activity.
The relative tranquillity of Election Day contrasted with the high anxiety of the preceding months when counterterrorism officials had repeatedly warned of a potentially catastrophic attack by Al Qaeda inside the United States timed to disrupt the electoral process. In recent days, these officials said they had uncovered no evidence of such an operation, after thousands of interviews in the United States and a global effort to track down anti-American extremists.
In May, July and August, senior law enforcement and intelligence authorities made urgent public announcements about the terror threat warning that Al Qaeda was almost ready to strike. At the same time, they issued dozens of bulletins to state and local officials advising them to be increasingly vigilant.
Some officials said they suspected that an attack of some kind might still be coming. They said the period of concern should be extended from the election through the presidential inauguration in January.
But over all, it seemed apparent from interviews among counterterrorism officials on Tuesday that the mood of feverish concern had ebbed as the election appeared to have taken place without incident.
Some hinted that the government might soon downshift its terror warnings. "Following the election, we will assess the threat environment and the alert status to determine what security posture we will need to have in place based on intelligence assessments," said Brian Roehrkasse, the spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security.
At the Justice Department, Mark Corallo, the spokesman, said: "We're still working overtime. The F.B.I. and all of our partners at the state and local level are pounding the pavement, pressing sources for information, staying on top of it. We're doing everything we can to detect and disrupt the terrorist threat. And if nothing happens, we're going to be out there tomorrow doing the same thing."
Officials said that absence of any tangible sign of an attack had led them to a fresh assessment of the possible significance of a recent videotape by Osama bin Laden, which was first broadcast Friday by the Arab-language satellite network Al Jazeera and transmitted by television outlets around the world.
On the videotape, Mr. bin Laden directly addressed Americans in an unusually formal statement in which he said: "Your security is not the hands of Kerry or Bush or Al Qaeda. Your security is in your own hands."
It was possible, the officials theorized, that Mr. bin Laden, while he remained a worrisome threat, lacked the resources and personnel to direct an attack in the United States. Instead, they said, he may have decided to resort to a statement in an effort to disrupt the election.
Within counterterrorism circles in the government, officials are still debating why they have found so little evidence of an election-year attack, a concern that seemed credible enough to impose extraordinary security measures at the two national political conventions in Boston and New York and other government events, like the Group of 8 economic summit in Georgia this past summer.
Some counterterrorism officials said they doubted that there was ever a solid basis for believing that Al Qaeda would strike in the United States this year, although others disputed that assessment and said the intelligence about an attack was specific and persuasive.
Some officials suggested that intensive disruption and detection efforts might have caused Al Qaeda to postpone or cancel its plans, which could still be activated any time the terror network gauged that it had a good chance of successfully carrying them out.
The most significant threat discovered by the authorities this year, a Qaeda surveillance operation directed at five American financial institutions, has led the authorities to what they now say is a dead end. The detailed reconnaissance plans alarmed the authorities and caused them to elevate the alert level in New York, Newark and Washington.
The investigation led to a group of eight Qaeda suspects in Britain, including a man who officials said actually carried out the surveillance operation. But the investigation yielded no evidence that the group had been planning to attack the financial institutions or any other targets in the United States, as was initially suspected.
-------- immigration / refugees
Status of Hondurans, Nicaraguans extended November 03, 2004
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20041102-111446-8359r.htm
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) yesterday announced an 18-month extension of temporary protected status for nationals of Honduras and Nicaragua until July 5, 2006.
Under the extension, those who already have been granted temporary status are eligible to live and work in the United States for another 18 months.
CIS spokesman Dan Kane said there are about 81,875 nationals of Honduras and 4,309 nationals of Nicaragua who are eligible for re-registration. He said the extension is effective Jan. 5 and will remain in effect until July 5, 2006.
Nationals of Honduras and Nicaragua who have been granted temporary status must re-register for the 18-month extension during the 60-day re-registration period, which begins today and remains in effect until Jan. 3, 2005.
Mr. Kane said that in an effort to prevent potential gaps in employment authorization while eligible Hondurans and Nicaraguans wait for their temporary status re-registration applications to be processed, the agency is granting a six-month automatic extension of the expiration date to July 5, 2005.
A temporary status extension also is pending for El Salvador, which suffered damage similar to that of Honduras and Nicaragua based on a series of severe earthquakes. Mr. Kane said CIS is favorably disposed to considering an extension for El Salvador if the country conditions warrant it. The current temporary-status designation for El Salvador expires March 9, 2005.
The Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, who oversees CIS, to grant temporary status to aliens in the United States who are nationals of countries that are subject to ongoing armed conflicts, environmental disasters or other extraordinary and temporary conditions.
In January, Attorney General John Ashcroft, who had the authority over temporary- status designations prior to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, designated temporary status for Honduras and Nicaragua based on the devastation resulting from Hurricane Mitch and, later, extended the designation four times.
Mr. Kane said that because of continued reconstruction of infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Mitch, the U.S. government determined that an 18-month extension of the temporary-status designation was warranted because Honduras and Nicaragua remain unable to handle adequately the return of its nationals.
-------- prisons / prisoners
Race-segregated prisons eyed
November 03, 2004
ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20041102-092240-7661r.htm
The Supreme Court took up a racial-segregation case yesterday that asks whether black California inmates are being unconstitutionally bunked together for months at a time, in the name of keeping prisons safe.
The Bush administration has sided with a black convicted killer who claims he has been humiliated by forced prison segregation.
Fifty years after the Supreme Court declared racial segregation unconstitutional in public schools, said acting Solicitor General Paul Clement, the court must make clear that governments cannot separate people based on skin color in other places without the strongest of reasons.
Mr. Clement reminded the court of America's "uniquely pernicious history" of racial discrimination in prisons, evoking images of chain gangs and prison farms in the Deep South.
While the court barred the blanket segregation of prisons in 1968, the justices also have given prison officials a generally free hand in managing their facilities, to control violence and protect inmates and those who guard them.
"California is ground zero for race-based prison and street gangs," Frances Grunder, the state's senior assistant attorney general, told the court as she defended temporary segregation of inmates.
At issue is an unwritten California policy, dating back more than 25 years, requiring officials to assign newly arrived black prisoners to bunk only with other black prisoners for two months or more. Inmates are separated again by race when they transfer to a new facility.
Miss Grunder said California has more than 165,000 inmates and violence can erupt if white and black gang members are mixed, she said.
The inmate who challenged the practice is Garrison Johnson, who has been in prison since 1987 for murder, robbery and assault. He contends the policy violates his constitutional right to equal treatment.
Johnson's attorney, Bert Deixler of Los Angeles, told justices the Supreme Court has helped "march this country away from the road of segregation, and there should be no turning back."
Johnson, who is not a gang member, has been forced into segregation with each transfer - five so far and a sixth coming soon, the attorney said.
The high court's only black member, Clarence Thomas, was silent during the argument, in keeping with his usual practice. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist is expected to vote although he missed the argument because he is receiving radiation and chemotherapy for thyroid cancer.
The other justices had a lively debate about the Crips, Bloods and the Aryan Brotherhood.
Justice Antonin Scalia said prison officials are smart not to put white and black tattooed gang members in the same cell until officials have had time to assess how dangerous they are.
Prisoners lose many rights, Justice Scalia said. "That's one of the consequences of committing a crime and being sent to prison."
But Justice Stephen G. Breyer, echoing concerns raised by opponents of prison segregation, said, "With racial discrimination, it's a terrible symbol ... divisive to the whole society."
--------
Race-Based Prison Policy Is Under Justices' Scrutiny
November 3, 2004
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/03/politics/03scotus.html
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 - A California prison policy of temporarily segregating all new and newly transferred inmates by race came under attack at the Supreme Court on Tuesday in a case that pits the justices' tradition of deferring to prison administrators against their dislike of government policies that classify people by race.
California defended its policy, which the federal appeals court in San Francisco upheld, as necessary to prevent violence in a gang-ridden prison system.
"California is ground zero for race-based street gangs," Frances T. Grunder, a senior assistant state attorney general, told the justices. "The animosity between the gangs is purely race-based, and the racial pressures in prison are very, very severe."
More than 25 years ago, California adopted the practice of placing inmates in double cells with cellmates of the same ethnic background for the first 60 days after their arrival at a prison, either as newcomers to the system or following a transfer from another prison. The inmates are evaluated during that time for propensity to violence, among other things, and then are assigned permanent quarters on a nonracial basis.
Neither the federal Bureau of Prisons nor any other state follows such a policy, which the lawyer for a black inmate who challenged the system described as nothing more than "routine, blanket racial segregation." The lawyer, Bert H. Deixler, said it was based on a "needless and dangerous" stereotype that assumed that all members of a racial or ethnic group acted and thought alike.
California applied the policy last year to segregate 40,000 new prison inmates and several hundred thousand others who were transferred between prisons. On Tuesday, several justices questioned the rationale for applying the policy to transferred inmates.
"What's the justification?" Justice David H. Souter asked Ms. Grunder, observing that by the time of a transfer, prison officials had had "plenty of time" to assess an inmate's potential for violence. Justice Antonin Scalia was openly skeptical of the policy's application to transfers despite his apparent willingness to accept it for new inmates.
Justice John Paul Stevens wondered aloud whether placing inmates of the same race together might have the effect of increasing gang membership, by facilitating close contact between potential members of the same gang.
Garrison S. Johnson, the inmate who brought the lawsuit, is a black man who chose not to join a prison gang. "There is no record that he has ever been involved in interracial violence," his lawyer, Mr. Deixler, told the court. In prison since 1987, Mr. Johnson has been transferred five times, meaning he has encountered six periods of segregation. "He is in peril, unable to reach out across racial lines for support," Mr. Deixler said.
The Bush administration entered the case on Mr. Johnson's behalf to argue that segregation by race should always be regarded as presumptively unconstitutional and subject to the most exacting level of judicial scrutiny. The question in the case, Johnson v. California, No. 03-636, is what standard of judicial review should apply to the policy.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in upholding it, applied the more deferential standard that the Supreme Court has developed for evaluating choices made by prison administrators. Both the inmate's lawyer and the administration are arguing that when it comes to race, the deferential stance should not apply.
Instead, they maintain, "strict scrutiny" should apply to prison policies that classify people by race, as to any such policies by government in any setting. Under strict scrutiny, a policy will be upheld only if it is narrowly tailored to achieve a "compelling" government interest.
"This case provides an opportunity to reaffirm that all government policies based on race are subject to strict scrutiny," Paul D. Clement, the acting solicitor general, told the justices. Mr. Clement said the federal Bureau of Prisons made housing assignments for prisoners based not on their race but on an individual evaluation drawn largely from the presentencing report that is prepared after conviction.
The strict-scrutiny position fits with the Bush administration's general view that race-conscious policies like affirmative action are constitutionally impermissible. Mr. Clement said the California policy would fail even a deferential standard of review if that standard were properly applied, but he tried to keep the justices focused on the strict-scrutiny argument. If the court agrees that strict scrutiny should apply, it will most likely return the case to the Ninth Circuit with instructions to re-evaluate the policy under that standard.
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, under treatment for thyroid cancer, was not at the court, but Justice Stevens announced that the chief justice would take part in deciding the two cases that were argued on Tuesday. Two years ago, when the chief justice missed two weeks of argument because of knee surgery, he voted in all the argued cases after studying the transcripts.
-------- POLITICS
-------- budget
White House: Debt Ceiling Must Be Raised
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
The Associated Press
Wednesday, November 3, 2004; 12:54 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22410-2004Nov3.html
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration announced Wednesday that it will run out of maneuvering room to manage the government's massive borrowing needs in two weeks, putting more pressure on Congress to raise the debt ceiling when it convenes for a special post-election session.
Treasury Department officials announced that they will be able to conduct a scheduled series of debt auctions next week to raise $51 billion. However, an auction of four-week Treasury bills due to be completed on Nov. 18 will have to be postponed unless Congress acts before then to raise the debt ceiling.
"Due to debt limit constraints, we currently do not have the capacity to settle our four-week bill auction scheduled to settle on Nov. 18," Timothy Bitsberger, acting assistant Treasury secretary for financial markets, said in a statement.
Congress is scheduled to return for a lame-duck session beginning on Nov. 16 to deal with the debt ceiling, an omnibus spending plan for the rest of this budget year and other matters.
The Republican-controlled Congress put off dealing with the debt ceiling before adjourning in October, preferring not to force members to vote on the politically sensitive issue of adding to the national debt before the November elections.
The government hit the current debt ceiling of $7.384 trillion on Oct. 14, forcing Treasury to begin a series of bookkeeping maneuvers to keep financing the government's normal operations without breaching the debt ceiling. But Treasury Secretary John Snow has warned that those special measures would last only until mid-November.
The Treasury Department's actions have included reducing the amount of debt in government trust funds to free up room for further borrowing from the public. The nonpublic debt is then replaced in the trust funds once the debt ceiling is increased along with any lost interest payments.
Republicans have proposed that the debt ceiling be raised by $690 billion to $8.074 trillion, an amount that would get the government through next September, when the 2005 budget year ends.
The need to raise the debt ceiling reflects the record budget deficits of the past two years. The deficit for the 2004 budget year, which ended Sept. 30, was an all-time high of $413 billion, surpassing the old mark, in dollar terms, of $377 billion in 2003.
Democrats blame the surging deficits on Bush's tax cuts, while the administration contends the tax cuts provided critical economic stimulus to help lift the economy out of the 2001 recession.
The administration says the president has a plan to cut the deficit in half by 2009, but critics contend that the real problems will come in later years as retiring baby boomers put unprecedented strains on Social Security and Medicare.
In its announcement Wednesday, Treasury said it will sell $51 billion in new securities next week including $22 billion in three-year notes on Monday, $15 billion in five-year notes on Tuesday and $14 billion in 10-year bonds on Wednesday.
-------- propaganda wars
The Wedge Politics of Osama bin Laden
COPYRIGHT CREATORS SYNDICATE
by Patrick J. Buchanan
November 3, 2004
http://www.antiwar.com/pat/?articleid=3897
To the workers, peasants and soldiers of a war-weary Russia in 1917, Lenin promised "peace, land and bread." To Germans of the Great Depression, Hitler promised an end to war reparations and the overturning of the injustices of Versailles.
Now, Osama bin Laden, with his remarkable videotape on the eve of the U.S. election, seeks to embed his cause - overthrow of the regimes of the Arab world, expulsion of the Americans and the re-establishment of an Islamic caliphate - with the causes of Arab nationalism and independence.
He is also attempting a transformation of himself - a la Ben Bella, Kenyatta, and Mandela - from terrorist and guerrilla into elder statesman.
Asserting authorship of 9/11, for which he may have been only the financier, Osama claims the idea of bringing down the towers of the World Trade Center came to him in a vision, as retribution, as he watched Israel, with the aid of the U.S. 6th Fleet, destroy the towers of Beirut during the invasion of Lebanon in 1982.
Osama is fabricating here an ex post facto justification for mass murder. But, more than that, by invoking the causes of the Lebanese and Palestinians, by altering his dress and demeanor, he is trying to redefine himself as no longer an Islamist terrorist, but a visionary, the leader of a great and historic cause.
That he is lying, that there is nothing in his personal history to suggest he came upon the idea of dropping the World Trade Center towers in 1982, is irrelevant. For, to Osama, the truth is irrelevant. After all, Lenin never intended to give the Russian people land or peace, and Hitler's agenda was somewhat broader than he let on to President Hindenburg in 1933.
But Osama's fabrications serve his purposes, one of which is to drive wedges between Arab peoples and their rulers, and Western peoples and their rulers.
Taking a page out of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, bin Laden suggests that the seven minutes during which President Bush sat listening to the reading of My Pet Goat after he learned the second tower had been hit enabled Al Qaeda to succeed.
Such mockery and insult is designed to rally an impatient and impotent "Arab Street," and convert this conflict in Arab eyes into a great climactic struggle, with Bush as leader of the Crusaders and bin Laden as a taunting Saladin. By attacking Bush personally, bin Laden puts himself on a plane with the leader of the world's greatest power.
He goes on to attack the "sons of kings and presidents" who rule in the Arab world as arrogant and greedy collaborators and moral kinsmen of the Bush dynasty, and writes directly to Americans:
"Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or Al Qaeda. Your security is in your hands. Each state that doesn't mess with our security has automatically secured their security." If you wish to be as safe as Sweden, bin Laden is saying, all you need do is act like Sweden and end your interventions in our Middle East.
What bin Laden is saying here is in conscious echo of what many have said: The terrorists of 9/11 were over here because we were over there. We are not hated for our principles. We are hated for our policies. The neo-imperial presence of U.S. troops on Arab soil, our support of Israel's dispossession of the Palestinian people, our backing of regimes in the Arab world that deny their people freedom and rights we champion before the world - this is why we are hated; this is why we were attacked.
So says Osama bin Laden.
His grand vision, of course, is not at all about freedom as we know it. It is about the overthrow of existing Arab regimes and resurrection of a caliphate where militant Islam - i.e., universal submission to the will of Allah - is the established faith of the superpower destined to rule the world.
The problem with Osama's message is the messenger, a man complicit in the murder of 3,000 innocents. He can never escape it. It is as though we were given a moderate message against the injustices of Waco and Ruby Ridge from Timothy McVeigh, after Oklahoma City.
Osama's moderate words, his appearance - the robes and turban, with no AK-47 - suggest he is also making his case to history. Should his end come at America's hands, he wishes to be remembered as one who had to resort to extreme methods to rectify extreme injustices, a man who died fighting in a great and noble cause.
Unfortunately, that is probably how he will be remembered by hundreds of millions of Arabs and Muslims. And we should not cease to ask ourselves why.
-------- us politics
Victorious Bush vows to reach out to Kerry voters
Democrat concedes after nail-biting night that focused on Ohio
NBC, MSNBC and news services
Nov. 3, 2004
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6363692/
WASHINGTON - "America has spoken," President Bush said Wednesday as he claimed a second term and appealed to voters - even those who opposed him - to back his agenda.
advertisement "I'm humbled by the trust and the confidence of my fellow citizens," Bush told hundreds of Republican supporters who gathered two blocks from the White House after a long night of poll watching and uncertainty. "With that trust comes a duty to serve all Americans. And I will do my best to fulfill that duty every day as your president."
Bush tried to reach out to the 55 million voters who chose Democratic Sen. John Kerry instead of him. Many of those voters said they were not so much enthusiastic backers of Kerry as rather strong opponents of the president's policies, including the invasion of Iraq.
"Today, I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent," Bush said. "To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust."
"A new term is a new opportunity to reach out to the whole nation," he added. "We have one country, one Constitution and one future that binds us. And when we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America."
--------
Bush wins race as Kerry concedes
November 03, 2004
ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20041103-114626-2050r.htm
President Bush won four more years in the White House on Wednesday, pocketing a quiet concession from Democrat John Kerry that closed out a loud and long campaign fought over the war on terror and the economy.
"Congratulations, Mr. President," the Massachusetts senator said simply in a call that lasted less than five minutes and followed Kerry's decision not to contest Bush's lead in make-or-break Ohio.
The victory gave Bush a new term to pursue the war in Iraq and a conservative, tax-cutting agenda - and probably the chance to name one or more justices to an aging Supreme Court.
He also will preside alongside expanded Republican majorities in Congress. The GOP gained four Senate seats and led for a fifth. The party bolstered its majority in the House by at least two.
His re-election secure, Bush planned a midafternoon appearance before supporters in Washington. By pre-arrangement, Kerry was speaking first to a hometown crowd in Boston to conclude a campaign that came achingly close to success.
Ohio's 20 electoral votes gave Bush 274 in the Associated Press count, four more than the 270 needed for victory. Kerry had 252 electoral votes, with Iowa (7) and New Mexico (5) unsettled.
Bush was winning 51 percent of the popular vote to 48 percent for his rival. He led by more than 3 million ballots.
Officials in both camps described the conversation between two campaign warriors.
A Democratic source said Bush called Kerry a worthy, tough and honorable opponent. Kerry told Bush the country was too divided, the source said, and Bush agreed. "We really have to do something about it," Kerry said, according to the official.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush told Kerry, "I think you were an admirable, honorable opponent."
Kerry placed his call after weighing unattractive options overnight. With Bush holding fast to a six-figure lead in make-or-break Ohio, Kerry could give up or trigger a struggle that would have stirred memories of the bitter recount in Florida that propelled Bush to the White House in 2000.
Kerry's call was the last bit of drama in a campaign full of it. While Bush remains in the White House, he returns to the Senate, part of the shrunken Democratic minority.
He acted, hours after White House chief of staff Andy Card declared Bush the winner and White House aides said the president was giving Kerry time to consider his next step.
One senior Democrat familiar with the discussions in Boston said Kerry's running mate, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, was suggesting that he shouldn't concede.
The official said Edwards, a trial lawyer, wanted to make sure all options were explored and that Democrats pursued them as thoroughly as Republicans would if the positions were reversed.
Advisers said the campaign just wanted one last look for uncounted ballots that might close the 136,000-vote advantage Bush held in Ohio.
An Associated Press survey of the state's 88 counties found there were about 150,000 uncounted provisional ballots and an unspecified number of absentee votes still to be counted.
Ohio aside, New Mexico and Iowa remained too close to call in a race for the White House framed by a worldwide war against terror and economic worries at home.
But those two states were for the record - Ohio alone had the electoral votes to swing the election to the man in the White House or his Democratic challenger.
Bush remained at the White House, a GOP legal and political team dispatched overnight to Ohio in case Kerry made a fight of it.
Republicans already were celebrating election gains in Congress. They picked up at least three seats in the Senate, and a fourth was within their grasp, in Alaska. And they drove Democratic leader Tom Daschle from office.
That will be the state of play on Capitol Hill for the next two years, with the chance of a Supreme Court nomination fight looming along with legislative battles.
Republicans also re-enforced their majority in the House.
Glitches galore cropped up in overwhelmed polling places as Americans voted in high numbers, fired up by unprecedented registration drives, the excruciatingly close contest and the sense that these were unusually consequential times.
"The mood of the voter in this election is different than any election I've ever seen," said Sangamon County, Ill., clerk Joseph Aiello. "There's more passion. They seem to be very emotional. They're asking lots of questions, double-checking things."
The country exposed its rifts on matters of great import in Tuesday's voting. Exit polls found the electorate split down the middle or very close to it on whether the nation is moving in the right direction, on what to do in Iraq, on whom they trust with their security.
The electoral map Wednesday looked much like it did before; the question mark had moved and little else.
Bush built a solid foundation by hanging on to almost all the battleground states he got last time. Facing the cruel arithmetic of attrition, Kerry needed to do more than go one state better than Al Gore four years ago; redistricting since then had left those 2000 Democratic prizes 10 electoral votes short of the total needed to win the presidency.
Florida fell to Bush again, close but no argument about it.
Bush's relentless effort to wrest Pennsylvania from the Democratic column fell short. He had visited the state 44 times, more than any other. Kerry picked up New Hampshire in perhaps the election's only turnover.
In Ohio, Kerry won among young adults, but lost in every other age group. One-fourth of Ohio voters identified themselves as born-again Christians and they backed Bush by a 3-to-1 margin.
A sideline issue in the national presidential campaign, gay civil unions may have been a sleeper that hurt Kerry - who strongly supports that right - in Ohio and elsewhere. Ohioans expanded their law banning gay marriage, already considered the toughest in the country, with an even broader constitutional amendment against civil unions.
In all, voters in 11 states approved constitutional amendments limiting marriage to one man and one woman.
In Florida, Kerry again won only among voters under age 30. Six in 10 voters said Florida's economy was in good shape, and they voted heavily for Bush. Voters also gave the edge to Bush's handling of terrorism.
In Senate contests, Rep. John Thune's victory over Daschle represented the first defeat of a Senate party leader in a re-election race in more than a half century.
--------
US Election Outcome Impacts Europe
What awaits the world over the next four years?
deutche welle
03.11.2004
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1384561,00.html
A day after the US poll, DW-WORLD readers comment on Bush's re-election and predict a rocky future road for international relations.
The following comments reflect the views of our readers as received so far. If you would like to have your say on this our another issue, please click on our feedback button below. For editing purposes, not all reader comments will be automatically published. DW-WORLD reserves the right to edit for length and appropriateness of content.
I would just like to say as a young American, I am definitely opposed to Bush's decisions concerning world policies. He has time and time again gone against what most Americans hope for the future of this country and the countries that rely upon us. He has created a dichotomy within our nation that is cause for alarm. I have a hard time sleeping at night knowing that he is in power, and that my vote today for J. Kerry went without notice. I just hope that the people of the world can look beyond the governing body of America at present and realize that a large number of Americans want what the world wants: a future of peace, understanding and a commitment to the further prosperity of the world as a whole. -- Autumn Baker
Bush has been a disaster for our international relations; he does not have the political experience that a lifelong political career has given Kerry; he does not exhibit the desire or need to use diplomatic means to build international (or indeed, domestic) consensus or form coalitions. And he does not admit mistakes. Re-election would surely, in his mind, give him the "mandate" to practice more of the same unilateral, unsettlingly authoritarian governing policies both at home and abroad. -- Louise Cantwell, USA
I am of the opinion that the American election will be crucial for the world. It is clear that if America re-elects the Bush administration he will have an important endorsement of his current foreign policy. In political terms this fact might endanger the current situation, specifically in the Middle East. It is also clear that the "old Europe" is not a current friend of the Bush administration. Our world needs new politicians. I hope that American can understand this necessity. -- Carlos Adrián Ferretti, Republic of Argentina
US-German relations
The best way to improve US-German relations is to replace Chancellor Gerhard Schröder with a pragmatic leader. After all it's his fault we will be turning our backs on your country and that your economy is so bad compared to the US and Great Britain. Next, send in troops to assist us in the conversion of Iraq to a democratic country. And last, apologize for letting down your staunchest ally. -- J. Chao, USA
You ask which candidate would be best for improving relations with Europe, my answer is neither. As your article said, the foreign policy would not change, nor would the arrogance in Washington improve. Because Kerry speaks foreign languages does not make him a better president. Bush and Kerry are nothing but front men for the people behind the scenes that are pulling the strings. -- Helen Schneider, California, USA
Kerry would have been better for Europe and the planet. Bush and associates have gotten greedy. Their total disregard for life on the planet will foment and encourage increasing resistance from peoples affected by Bush's policies to change the economic climate of the planet through aggression, misinformation and fear. What happened to diplomacy in the neighborhood? Our war toys have become too dangerous to continue this way. Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq are heavily contaminated by US "depleted uranium" munitions dust, in the soil, water and air. But, what happens if this greed brings nuclear back into play? It's time for a change before we create our own Armegeddon. -- Daniel Ferry
The re-election of George W. Bush is best for America and the rest of the free world. Although tensions are apparent, Europe and other democracies count on the United States on many levels. Kerry is a proven opportunist who has achieved nothing greater than marrying well twice. The rest of the world may not agree with our president, but at least they would not wonder what he really stands for or whether he would be dependable and not bend with the political winds. I live in Germany and love this country and its people as my second home. You do not have to love our president to acknowledge him as a strong leader as compared to a waffler. -- Vivla Ray Hill
I do not think it is appropriate for foreign governments to voice their choice for US president. While most individuals have a preference, it is not in the best interest of the country that the foreign officials make their opinions public. If their candidate of choice does not win, how will that affect the relations with the US? I believe it is best that they keep their comments to themselves as they must work with whomever wins the election. It is not worth jeopardizing future relations over a comment. -- Elisabeth Kolenko, Canada
It's the US election not the European election. Quite frankly, I don't really care what results would be best for Europe. -- A. Barnes, Charlotte, NC, USA
The US president's most important tasks are supporting and leading its own country. But since the United States have been taking some kind of leading position in the world, they also have some responsibility to the world and the alliances/partners. Even so, most Americans do not know much about or are interested in the opinion of foreign countries' leaders. -- Christiane Kaufmann, Germany, currently living in the USA
-------- voting
Early charges of vote fraud suggest a raft of challenges
November 03, 2004
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20041103-030957-8557r.htm
Accusations of voter intimidation and fraud surfaced nationwide yesterday as Americans streamed to the polls in a divisive presidential election with the possibility of a flood of legal challenges by an army of lawyers - particularly targeting several swing states.
Several civil rights organizations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, added fuel to the potential legal firestorm, charging that dirty tricks, unprecedented voter eligibility challenges, and bureaucratic bungling at election offices nationwide threatened turnout in minority neighborhoods.
Julian Bond, NAACP chairman, said voter intimidation and accusations of fraud by Republicans were indications of the "racist impulses of people who are so desperate to prevail that they will break the law again and again and again."
The Republican National Committee rebutted the accusations, saying the Democrats' strategy was to charge voter intimidation whether it existed or not.
Meanwhile, in Florida, Rep. Kendrick B. Meek, a Democrat, sought to douse a disinformation campaign in hotly contested Miami-Dade County, saying black voters should not go to the polls because of long lines and that voting had been extended through today.
A lawyer on President Bush's legal team, Hayden Dempsey, also was preparing to challenge in court what he described as efforts by Democrats in Florida to "make sure that felons are able to vote for their candidate."
The Republican legal team on Monday filed a lawsuit accusing Broward County Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes of failing to update a list of voters who had cast ballots. The lawsuit later was rejected by Circuit Judge David Krathen, who said no court could "micromanage an election, and I have no intention of doing so."
Elsewhere, a bogus flier with the McCandless Township, Pa., seal said because of long lines, Republicans should vote Nov. 2 and Democrats should vote on Nov. 3; a faked NAACP letter in Columbia, S.C., said voters with outstanding parking tickets or unpaid child support would be arrested if they voted; and in Miami, Haitian Americans said they were threatened with deportation by several "thugs" who walked along lines at a polling site and demanded to see identification.
Also, fliers in Missouri and Wisconsin were sent to black voters showing a photo of a firefighter hosing a black man in what appeared to be a civil rights confrontation from the 1960s, blaming Republicans for past and present voter discrimination; a faked letter purportedly from the Republican National Committee went to Wisconsin voters saying the party's chairman had endorsed Sen. John Kerry; and telephone callers told senior citizens in Pennsylvania that Mr. Bush was going to take away Social Security benefits.
Kay J. Maxwell, president of the League of Women Voters, said long lines at polling precincts were testing the capacity of the election system, but voters "are showing real dedication by voting early, standing in long lines and making sure their voices are heard."
"While we know there have been problems at the polls today, it remains to be seen how serious or widespread they will turn out to be. We will need to move quickly to fix what is wrong in voter registration systems, counting of ballots, voting systems or polling place operations," she said.
The Justice Department sent 840 federal observers and 250 Civil Rights Division personnel to 86 jurisdictions in 25 states to monitor the general election, seeking to protect the rights of Americans to participate in the electoral process without discrimination.
Several partisan organizations, such as Citizens United, which supports Mr. Bush, and America Coming Together, which has backed Mr. Kerry, sent thousands of volunteers throughout the battleground states to monitor polling precincts and challenge questionable election results.
"You name the battleground state, we've had an extensive presence there," said David N. Bossie, president of Citizens United. "I'm going to personally be in Florida for most of the day, and then I might head up to Ohio later in the day."
America Coming Together spokeswoman Sarah Leonard said the organization targeted what she called pro-Bush voter suppression, saying, "We intend to help voters get information on their rights to vote."
In Ohio, Republican poll watchers were dispatched to precincts in the state's 88 counties after a federal appeals court panel, in a pre-dawn decision, overturned rulings in two lower courts barring the challengers from the polls. The U.S. Supreme Court later declined a request by Democrats to intervene.
In a 2-1 decision, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel said the presence of Election Day challengers was allowed under state law, giving both Republicans and Democrats the right to each place one challenger per precinct.
Republicans had sought to assign poll watchers at the precincts to watch for voter fraud. Democrats had accused the Republican Party of seeking to deny voters their rightful access to the poll precincts, mainly blacks and Hispanics who would be expected to favor Mr. Kerry.
--------
Election 2004: Shoplifting the Presidency?
democracynow.org
November 3rd, 2004
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/03/1520249
We speak with investigative reporter Greg Palast and Barbara Arnwine of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law about voting problems in Florida, Ohio and New Mexico. [includes rush transcript] President Bush won Florida along with its 27 electoral votes four years after the Supreme Court stopped the recount and put him in the White House.
With 99% of precincts reporting, Bush won 52 percent of the votes and John Kerry 47 percent. Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader won less than 1 percent.
Hundreds of thousands of people across the state took advantage of early voting, which started 15 days ago. By the time the polls opened on Nov. 2nd, more than 2 million voters had cast ballots. But in heavily Democratic Broward County, thousands of voters never received their absentee ballots in time.
Broward elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes came under fire over the weekend for losing track of as many as 58,000 ballots that were allegedly given to the Postal Service earlier in the month.
County officials moved to get the ballots sent out in time for voters to return them by November 2nd as required by state election rules. According to the U.S. Postal Service, after mail carriers had left on Saturday, both Broward County and Palm Beach County dropped off more than 8,000 absentee ballots for mailing. Many of the ballots arrived unsealed, forcing postal employees to take the time to seal envelopes. In a video press release from the US Postal Service, spokesperson Gerald McKiernan described the situation.
Gerald McKiernan, U.S. Postal Service Spokesman speaking in Broward County, FL on October 30.
US Postal Service, spokesperson Gerald McKiernan. The American Civil Liberties Union has now filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Glenda Hood and elections supervisors in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, asking that completed absentee ballots mailed in the U.S. be subject to the same Nov. 12 deadline as overseas votes. State law required those ballots to reach county offices by Tuesday night. As the ACLU was preparing to file the suit, Glenda Hood addressed the issue to reporters.
Glenda Hood, Florida Secretary of State speaking on November 2.
# Barbara Arnwine, Executive Director of the Lawyers" Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
# Greg Palast, investigative reporter with the BBC and author of the books "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" and "Democracy and Regulation." RUSH TRANSCRIPT
This transcript is available free of charge, however donations help us provide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV broadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution. Donate - $25, $50, $100, more...
AMY GOODMAN: In a video press release from the U.S. Postal Service, spokesperson Gerald McKiernan described the situation.
GERALD MCKIERNAN: Well, incredibly here on Saturday afternoon at 2:00, we received 2,467 more ballots to be sent out, even though Dr. Snipes said she finished her work yesterday, and that was Friday. Sadly, some of the ballots are going to Atlanta, Georgia. This one's going to Little Rock, Arkansas. I'm not sure we can do this. We'll deliver the local ones. We'll do the best we can. We'll get out as many as we can and hopefully get them returned.
AMY GOODMAN: U.S. Postal Service spokesperson Gerald McKeirnan. The American Civil Liberties Union (A.C.L.U.) has now filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of State, Glenda Hood and elections supervisors in Miami, Dade, and Broward counties asking that completed absentee ballots mailed in the U.S. be subject to the same November 12th deadline as overseas votes. State law required those ballots to reach county offices by Tuesday night. As the A.C.L.U. is preparing to file the suit, Glenda Hood addressed the issue to reporters.
REPORTER: The A.C.L.U. has already said they are going to sue over the issue of absentee ballots in South Florida, and accepting them, having them count past today if they're postmarked today. I mean, are you all prepared to defend that, and to defend the state law on that, and not have the ballots count?
GLENDA HOOD: We will always follow State Law, and State Law requires that absentee ballots be turned in at a certain time. With the exception of overseas ballots, and those must be in the Supervisor's of Elections hands by November 12th.
AMY GOODMAN: Glenda Hood, Florida's Secretary of State. We're joined now to address this issue as well as issues around the country of voting and problems voters faced, by Greg Palast, investigative reporter with the B.B.C., author of the book The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. Also, Barbara Arnwine joins us again, executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Greg Palast, your response?
GREG PALAST: Wow. I hate to say it again, they're going to say that I'm a spoilsport. Who shoplifted? In New Mexico and Ohio, when I was last on your program, we called the fence and we hit it over. We said that if this thing is going to be taken, it'll be Florida, it'll be New Mexico, it'll be Colorado, Ohio. Florida is, I think, suspect, but Bush may have it. Colorado is definitely a Bush turf. New Mexico, this is the big game. This is where. The reason why Bush may get those electoral votes, and the White House again, and Ohio is not the count, but the non-count. We have something in America called spoilage. I'm looking at these CNN numbers and they all add up very neatly to 100%. Doesn't happen. Especially the two worst states in America, in terms of votes simply not counted for technical reason, are Ohio and New Mexico. And guess whose votes don't get counted? In Ohio, it's black votes. In New Mexico, it's brown and Native American votes. I'm looking at suspect numbers out of Dona Ana, Las Cruces. The vote numbers just came in, and you have a tremendous non-count of Hispanic votes, 3-4 % of the entire vote there just doesn't get counted. McKinley, you have a problem that about 8-9% of the votes in the machines, that's a Native American area outside the Navajo reservation. Rio Arriba, again Hispanic votes under counted. You get weird numbers, like two to one for Bush in Chavez County, heavily Hispanic. It's an area called Little Texas that republicans control. It's a suspect vote. If you take the votes out of the garbage can in New Mexico, I have no doubt that it was Kerry by a slim majority.
AMY GOODMAN: Barbara Arnwine.
BARBARA ARNWINE: Yes, I think what we're seeing is fascinating. I've been watching a number of these elections, and obviously, it's very interesting. The quotes that you played from Glenda Hood, the Secretary of State of Florida was very telling because she says that she will always follow state law yet they didn't send the ballots on time as required by state law. I mean, it's a very interesting double standard that we're still seeing out there, governments that are failing to comply with their own procedures and then holding voters accountable for their errors that have been made by the government. It's a fascinating situation. What I find interesting, I have been watching the coverage, and one thing is obvious, that most of the news anchors do not understand our current electoral system. The fact that people are saying they had 100% of the count in when they hadn't even counted provisional ballots. We have not yet counted absentee ballots in certain states or overseas ballots, military ballots. It's really bizarre. I mean, I think this rush to judgment that the press has wanting to, you know, post figures and declare victors so prematurely is part of the problem. I was fascinated to watch Tom Brokaw and others this morning, the station where they were saying that they didn't understand what a provisional ballot was, some of the anchors were saying. It was very obvious that they didn't. And it's just, I think that we need, you know, massive education, but at least those covering it need to be much more informed and stop talking about 100% of the count being in when it's not. If you have not counted 176 or whatever the count is, 276,000 ballots in Ohio, how in the world can say that you have 100% of the count in? You don't. All you know is that you are trying to get your count correct. I think this whole thing has been fascinating. I also think the other unexplored story from this election has been New Orleans. No one is talking about what went wrong in New Orleans, how many polls were down for so long. You know, during the day and how that affected what everyone's been talking about instead, which is the, they say the overwhelming unexpected victory for the senatorial Republican, Republican senatorial candidate there. I think that has something to do with the fact that New Orleans had, most of their polls down for a good part of the day. So, I think that there's, you know, a lot that's unexplored. I'm kind of sad to see the whitewash that has been given to this election by the media in general saying that it was, you know, it had a few flaws, long lines, basically a good election. That's just not true.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you explain provisional ballots, and what they are when, for example, right now the issue comes down to Ohio's, what both the Secretary of State there, Ohio's Ken Blackwell, as well as the democrats are saying is some 250,000 provisional ballots?
BARBARA ARNWINE: Yes. A provisional ballot is required by the help America Vote Act. It is a particular special kind of ballot that is used for any voter for whom an election official cannot determine immediately whether or not that person is actually eligible or entitled to vote, and that includes people who show up without what may be called proper identification. It includes people who, quote, may be in the wrong precinct. It includes, you know, people who show in their, they registered to vote, but the registration officials have a backlog of registrations and have never entered their name into the system. It includes all kinds of voters of that nature. So, you have no idea within the provisional ballot universe, you know, who is really entitled to vote and who actually, whose vote will ultimately be counted. So, I think it's a fascinating, you know, procedure, but the reason why provisional ballots exist is because in 2000, there was such a misadventure by Florida, and failure to administer their elections in a fair and honest way, that we, you know, the Help America Vote Act was passed to make sure that all voters would at least, if they showed that the polls have a right to cast a ballot and not be turned home. What, however, what has happened in Ohio in particular, the lawyers committee and the election protection coalition. We have taken hundreds of calls from voters who are complaining because in Ohio, they were turned away. They were not even allowed to cast a provisional ballot. They were not, you know, allowed this right, which they're entitled to under federal law. So, we have a lot of problems all over the state of Ohio with complaints from people upset about the fact that they weren't even given a provisional ballot, not to talk about the fact that they haven't been counted.
AMY GOODMAN: Greg Palast, your expose last week about a so called caging list in Florida that was sent to instead of the georgewbush.com website, well, you got your hands on it.
GREG PALAST: Right, we got our hands on it. And what that was this turned out to be what was obviously a list of voters that they wanted to challenge in Florida, the Republicans. This was, they went to the head of the Bush campaign in Florida yesterday during, while the polls were open, I got 12 more of these lists. We're talking 25,000- 30,000 people, almost all African American voters they intended to challenge, but after we broke the story on BBC, the democrats went to court, pushed against the Republicans, sent out letters to supervisors warning about this stuff, and they backed down in Florida. However, they didn't back down in Ohio, where unlike the secret lists of Florida, they were up front causing massive problems as Barbara was speaking about in particular, just holding up the lines, making challenges against basically African American voters. You know this is against the law. We had in 1965 Voting Rights Act, the whole point of that was to stop states from using so-called legal means of impeding the black vote, profiling black voters and saying that "you cannot vote." Give them a provisional ballot, which for the most part is thrown out. I'm looking in Ohio, just as I said in New Mexico. In Ohio, you've got a tremendous problem again with non-count of the vote. Barbara is right. When they talk about 100% of the vote counted. Not so. They never count 100% of the vote in Ohio it is one of the worst states in terms of non-counts of the vote, and most of the non-count occurs in African American areas. That's your margin. I'm sorry, if you count all of the votes that should be counted it's not that close of a race. It's a blue state.
BARBARA ARNWINE: Yes. I mean, it's fascinating. You know, obviously, from a non-partisan vantage point, I mean, I find it just absolutely fascinating that we still are talking about yet another election in which we cannot say with any certainty that the African American voting population was treated fairly. In fact, we could say very clearly that there were several, several horrible incidents that remind us that our system is not racially neutral. For example, everything from not only the challenges, which were very racial in their orientation, but also, you know, the fact that in many of the precincts where African Americans were voting, that's where people were the most adamant about, I would say, using dual standards. For example, we got a lot of complaints from voters who were made in African American precincts to show double identification, but then when a white voter would come in, they would not make them show the same identification. They were much less stringent. These kinds of problems. We also had the dirty tricks that we have no idea how many people they discouraged or kept from the polls by, as we reported last night, the recording that was going on in Philadelphia, the automated recording that was going to African American homes with an actor, apparently very good actor, who was imitating Bill Clinton's voice telling African American voters don't worry about the long lines, you can always come back and vote on November 3.
AMY GOODMAN: Greg Palast, ten seconds.
GREG PALAST: They're also not letting people register. Black registrations were thrown out in the Cleveland area by the tens of thousands. Tens of thousands. I'm telling you it was not close.
AMY GOODMAN:How do you know that?
GREG PALAST: This was an analysis by Democracy Now! Excuse me, by Democracy South of the registration forms, which are just tossed in the garbage, in fact.
AMY GOODMAN: Barbara Arnwine and Greg Palast, we'll leave it there as we end today's program with the outcome of the presidential election remaining very much in the air. A number of groups are beginning mobilizing some against what happened yesterday, others aimed at continuing the anti-war movement. Early this morning as we broadcasting, the war resistors' league held a procession that began at ground zero where the towers of the World Trade Center once stood and headed to Wall Street.
VICKY REVERE: I live on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, two miles from Ground Zero. I'm out here because I'm a pacifist. I believe that war is a crime against humanity. I think this war is worse than a lot of others in that it was totally unnecessary, and I'm just devastated that it's going to continue on a day --
AMY GOODMAN: And thanks to Daniel Cashin for recording this protest this morning here in New York.
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George McGovern on Daschle's Defeat in South Dakota and the Politics of War
democracynow.org
November 3rd, 2004
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/03/1520244
As all eyes focus on the presidential election, we take a look at what many consider the second most important contest of 2004: South Dakota and the Senate race between Democratic Minority Leader Tom Daschle and Republican John Thune. We speak with an American political legend: former Senator and Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern. [includes rush transcript] As things stand now, Ohio has become ground zero in the battle for the White House. While most of the focus of the nation zeroes in on yet another contested presidential election, the Republicans dealt a serious blow to the Democrats in a race many considered the second most important contest of 2004. And that is the South Dakota Senate race between the Senate's most powerful Democrat, Minority Leader Tom Daschle.
He faced fierce opposition from his Republican challenger John Thune, who campaigned heavily on his fierce opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Very early this morning the networks began to call the race in Thune's favor, bringing down the Senate's most powerful Democrat. We go now to South Dakota where we are joined by a veteran of presidential and Senate politics.
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
This transcript is available free of charge, however donations help us provide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV broadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution. Donate - $25, $50, $100, more...
AMY GOODMAN: We go now to South Dakota where we're joined by a veteran of presidential and senate politics, George McGovern, the senator from South Dakota for 18 years, from 1962 to 1980, and the democratic candidate for president in 1972. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Senator McGovern.
GEORGE McGOVERN: Thank you very much. It's nice to be on your program.
AMY GOODMAN: It's great to have you with us. I know you hardly slept as you followed two races, the presidential race, and your own in South Dakota, and the defeat of Tom Daschle. Your response.
GEORGE McGOVERN: Well, I feel especially sad about the defeat of Tom Daschle. We have never had a senator from this state who has worked any harder than Tom Daschle has to serve the people of South Dakota and who stayed in close contact with the people of the state. He had a practice of visiting all 67 counties in the state every year. Whether it was an election year or not. So, it's a particularly bitter disappointment to see him expelled from office. It was done largely with the so-called social, or what you might call personal issues, the question of abortion, and the same sex marriage issues. I don't think that either of those issues even ought to be in politics. They're basically personal and moral and medical questions. But it's essentially the same appeal that was used against me 24 years ago when, like Tom Daschle, I was coming up for my fourth term in the United States Senate. Tom, this time, and I, 24 years ago, had reached the apex of our power and influence and capacity to get things done in the Senate. So it's a great loss to us to lose not only a South Dakota senior senator, but also the democratic leader in the United States Senate.
AMY GOODMAN: Once again, the final vote count, as we went into the early hours this morning, coming from Native Americans in South Dakota and finally from the Pine Ridge reservation. Senator Daschle sued John Thune over the issue of suppressing the Native American vote in the midst of this race in the last few days.
GEORGE McGOVERN: Yes. That's true. I don't know what the details are there. I don't think anybody else does other than maybe some of the observers who were right at the top of the Daschle campaign. I have no idea what the legal questions are there. But that's probably not going to change the results. I think the Daschle campaign was right when they had suspicions of that kind to pursue it in the courts. And obviously there's still a slight hope that something might happen on that front, but I'm afraid that race has been lost.
AMY GOODMAN: Senator McGovern, the issue of the Senate minority leader, Tom Daschle, the most powerful democrat in the Senate now losing his seat as the republicans retain both the House and the Senate, control over that, and we'll see what happens with the presidential race, but clearly George Bush is ahead, at least according to the counts by some 4 million votes in this country. What does this mean? Put the two together.
GEORGE McGOVERN: Well, I'm concerned about that, and I would think if President Bush is finally affirmed as the leader, the provisional ballots in Ohio and the absentee ballots of our service men and others, if in the end, it comes out that the president has been re-elected, I would think that he would be deeply concerned about how divided this country is on the war, on his leadership. It's almost a repeat of his first election in 2000. In that case, the Supreme Court of the United States stopped the recount in Florida, and as Justice Stevens, an appointee of the court from a republican president, said, we may never know who really won the presidential election of 2000, but we know who the loser was, it was the court of the United States. And I think that's true. It's left a very bad taste not only in the mouths of democrats and in the hearts of democrats, but a great many people across the country that both parties who have to be tormented somewhat to this day about what really happened four years ago. I hope we don't go through that again this year. It's the nightmare that I think people in both parties have feared that we would end up with another disputed result. So, I'm with Dennis Kucinich. Let's let the process play itself out. Let's make sure that we have counted the provisional votes fairly and the absentee ballots fairly. Ohio still has not been officially determined.
AMY GOODMAN: Senator McGovern, you were a U.S. Congress member and you were a democratic presidential candidate, most noted for your opposition to the Vietnam War. Whatever happens here, do you think that John Kerry made a mistake in not appealing more to his natural base, to the anti-war movement in this country, in the same way that George Bush vigorously went after his own base?
GEORGE McGOVERN: Well, I hate to make an analysis of a situation right now with the outcome still debatable. You know, I was opposed to the war before we went in there. Of course, I wish that the whole democratic group in the Senate had voted against that war resolution, including Senator Kerry, but he did what he thought was the right thing. He made very clear his doubts about the way the war was being conducted. He never said that the war was a total mistake, but he recognized that we're in a mess in Iraq. I think both the leaders of both parties know that. We, of course, never should have put our army into that Arabian desert. It's as big a mistake as the war in Vietnam was, but Senator Kerry was trying to appeal to the whole Democratic Party. He was trying to make clear his doubts about the war, about -- especially about the way it was being conducted, and who knows whether he would have done better had he come out solidly against it.
AMY GOODMAN: Senator McGovern, you ran in 1972, it was right about the time that Senator Kerry came back from serving in Vietnam, and fiercely opposed it, and testified before the Senate and talked about his opposition. The time you ran, you lost in a landslide to Richard Nixon, despite the fact that there was gaining momentum and criticism of the Vietnam War. But two years later, Richard Nixon was forced to resign. Can you comment on that time, and if you see any parallels to today.
GEORGE McGOVERN: Well, I don't see the parallel. The Nixon administration which was clearly in violation of federal law, in violation of the Constitution, they were engaged in illegal wiretapping. They were engaged in using the federal Internal Revenue Service to get even with people that they opposed. They broke into a doctor's office. They did various flagrant legal and Constitutional violations. I don't see that in the Bush administration, but I do see a war going forward supposedly in the name of fighting terrorism, which we never should have entered. And we never should have entered the Vietnam conflict, so I think just about every American now knows that Vietnam was a disaster. Who is any longer going it defend that war knowing what we know about it now? I think we will come to that conclusion eventually on Iraq. Iraq was no threat whatsoever to the United States. They had nothing to do with the 9/11 tragedy, so what are we doing over there? But apparently now we're trying to superimpose a government on Iraq that may or may not be able to stand the test of time, but in any event, we're losing young American soldiers over there every day in a war that can't be won, and shouldn't be won. We never should have been there in the first place. I thought one of the ironies of the 2004 presidential campaign is that the vice president especially led the assault on John Kerry's war record. Here is a young man who volunteered and fought bravely in Vietnam. He believed what we were doing at that time and today, Cheney is one of the few people in the country that still thinks the Vietnam War was a good idea, but he never participated. He didn't volunteer. He says that he had other priorities than going off to war in that period or in Korea or any other conflict, and yet he was willing to question the integrity of John Kerry. Now, John Kerry came back from the war, began to read about it, began to study it as a very young man. He was just a youngster. Even after he came back from the war and had the same courage when he reached a conclusion that the war was wrong to come out against it publicly and said this war is a mistake. And he was right, I think, to show his convictions in both instances, and to have a man like that attacked as he was for his war record and then for deciding the war was a mistake, I think is a political outrage.
AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Senator McGovern, if George Bush wins, where do we go from here? If John Kerry wins, same question.
GEORGE McGOVERN: Well, we have got to try to get the country back together regardless of whether in the last result it's Kerry or Bush. No matter which one is finally designated our president for the next four years, an effort has to be made to bring the country back. It's obviously that we're divided as we have not been in my memory on this issue, on the issue of the war, on the issue of this huge tax cut. This is the first time in American history that we have gone to war and accompanied it with a great big tax cut for the people that least need it -- usually we have to raise taxes to keep from going hopelessly into debt during a war. So, we have got serious, serious problems before the country. It's going to be difficult to get the country united again, but of course, I love this country above all others. There's never been a day in my life that I wouldn't sacrifice that life in the interest of this country. So, we want America to be strong. We want it to be united. We certainly want it to -- want it to retain its freedoms, and I hope that's going to be possible despite this overheated and divisive election.
AMY GOODMAN: Senator George McGovern, I want to thank you for being with us. Senator from South Dakota for 18 years, 1962 to 1980, democratic candidate for president in 1972. From the state now where Senate minority leader, Tom Daschle, has been defeated by John Thune. Thanks for being with us.
GEORGE McGOVERN: Thanks to you.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!
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Rep. Dennis Kucinich on the Showdown in Ohio: "Hoping for a Miracle Here"
democracynow.org
November 3rd, 2004
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/03/1520237
As Ohio becomes Ground Zero in the 2004 election, we speak with Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich about the race for the presidency, John Kerry's campaign and ballot counting in his home state. [includes rush transcript] This is Democracy Now!'s special election coverage, Showdown: The Morning After, the Battle for the White House. I'm Amy Goodman. Not since 1960 has such a great percentage of the eligible voting population in this country voted in a presidential election. Millions of Americans awoke this morning with no decisive winner. As it stands right now, President Bush leads John Kerry in the popular vote by some 3 and a half million votes. As for the electoral college count, that is now the source of great controversy. The eyes of the nation now focus on the battleground state of Ohio. After John Kerry took Pennsylvania by a significant margin, President Bush was declared the narrow winner in Florida, leaving Ohio to determine the outcome of an election many saw as the most important of their lifetime. The vote tally in the Buckeye state seemed to trickle in slowly through the night, as Kerry and Bush appeared neck and neck. As Bush pulled to a 4 point lead with a sizable majority of precincts reporting, Fox News and NBC declared Bush the winner in the state. But CNN and the other networks determined that Ohio was too close to call. That also was the view expressed by the Kerry campaign. The Democrats charge that there are some 250,000 provisional ballots that have yet to be counted and that when they are, Kerry would emerge victorious. Here is what Kerry"s running mate John Edwards had to say when he addressed their supporters in Boston"s Copley Square late last night.
John Edwards, vice presidential candidate.
At about 5 am, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card addressed Bush"s supporters at the Reagan Center in Washington DC.
Andrew Card, White House Chief of Staff.
Andrew Card speaking very early this morning in Washington DC. So, as things stand now, Ohio has become ground zero in the battle for the White House. We go now to Ohio, where we are joined by Ohio Congressmember Dennis Kucinich who retained his seat in yesterday's election.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Democratic Congressmember from Cleveland, Ohio and a former candidate for president. Last night, he retained his seat in the House of Representatives.
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
This transcript is available free of charge, however donations help us provide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV broadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution. Donate - $25, $50, $100, more...
AMY GOODMAN: Here is what Kerry's running mate John Edwards had to say when he addressed their supporters in Boston's Copley Square late last night.
JOHN EDWARDS: It's been a long night, but we have waited four years for this victory we can wait one more night. Tonight John and I are so proud of all of you who are with here with us, and all of you across the country, who have stood with us in this campaign. John Kerry and I made a promise to the American people, that in this election, every vote would count and every vote would be counted. Tonight, we are keeping our word and we will fight for every vote. You deserve no less. Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: John Edwards. At about 5:00 a.m. White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card addressed Bush's supporters at Reagan Center in Washington, D.C.
ANDREW CARD: I want to thank all of you for staying up so late with us, and good morning. I'm Andy Card. I'm President Bush's chief of staff. We are convinced that President Bush has won re-election with at least 286 Electoral College votes. And he also had a margin of more than three-and-a-half million popular votes. President Bush's decisive margin of victory makes this the first presidential election since 1988 in which the winner received a majority of the popular vote. And in this election, President Bush received more votes than any presidential candidate in our country's history. Republicans also scored other great victories in this election. We won important victories, adding to our majority in the house, and adding to our majority in the Senate. In Ohio, President Bush has a lead of at least 140,000 votes. The secretary of state's office has informed us that this margin is statistically insurmountable, even after the provisional ballots are considered. So President Bush has won the State of Ohio!
AMY GOODMAN: Andrew Card, speaking early this morning in Washington, D.C. So, as things stand now, Ohio has become ground zero in the battle for the White House, which is where we go right now, to Ohio. We're joined by Ohio Congress member, Dennis Kucinich, former candidate for president. He won his seat last night once again, from Cleveland. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Congress member Kucinich.
DENNIS KUCINICH: Thank you, good morning.
AMY GOODMAN: It's good to have you with us, your reaction to the latest developments.
DENNIS KUCINICH: Well, you know, I think we have to look at the process play itself out, and that's exactly what's happening. I mean, Ohio is going to have to review the votes, and see where the provisional ballots are, and meanwhile, we have to remember our commitments and not lose heart. This is a test of our resolve and the depth of our belief.
AMY GOODMAN: What do you assess has happened exactly, could you explain what the democrats are contending, actually not just the democrats, but Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell. Are 250,000 provisional ballots yet to be counted?
DENNIS KUCINICH: Well, that's why I say, we have to let this process play itself out. You know it, would appear that President Bush has a -- you know a substantial popular vote victory. The electoral votes are still being decided. We must less this process continue. And so, that's something that I think the American people want to happen, and that we owe it to the effort that's been conducted here to make sure that every vote counts, and every vote is counted.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to play for you the Ohio Secretary Ken Blackwell, last night. He was interviewed on CNN.
DENNIS KUCINICH: Well, none of the provisional ballots are counted, and they won't be counted until the 11th day after the election, Wolfe. We have very clear laws on how to handle those ballots, and remember: there are overseas ballots from militaries and others that only have to be postmarked today. So, we have a ten-day window for all of those ballots to get in. This is a very deliberate and cautious process. So, I tell everybody, just take a deep breath and relax. We cannot predict what the results are going to be opinion we can only guarantee that you are going to get an honest and fair count through our bipartisan system.
AMY GOODMAN: Congress member Kucinich, do you think we can get that fair and bipartisan count?
DENNIS KUCINICH: Secretary Blackwell has really capitalized the integrity of his office with his early conduct of this election. I don't think that we can give him the benefit of the doubt on this. It's going to be absolutely essential that all those who have been involved in this campaign become involved in the process of making sure that the count is validated, that the provisional ballots are fully reviewed, that any absentee ballots that are out there are checked, and that a canvass of the election itself and the election returns county by county is carefully reviewed. I mean this is, and you know what, this is actually a routine matter at this point. Because even though the results are not routine, it is as a matter of simple protection of the right to vote of the people of Ohio and of the roll that Ohio will play in the Electoral College, we have an absolute obligation to check all this out carefully and not take any comfort from the secretary of state of Ohio who has conducted his office in a manner of almost of a partisan at a time when people really needed someone in that office who actually shows true impartiality. We haven't seen that come out of the secretary of state's office.
AMY GOODMAN: Blackwell said we'd have to wait 11 days. Yet, we heard John Edwards saying people can wait one more night. What about that?
DENNIS KUCINICH: I think John Edwards' statement was really a matter of fact of saying, "Hey, wait a minute, let's look at what's happening develop." You have to realize, even now we are still trying to get an analysis that would give us some guidance as to whether or not the provisional ballots and the absentee ballots provide any kind of opening for a turn-around in the outcome in Ohio with respect to the Ohio's electoral vote process. You know, let's face it, I supported John Kerry, and I'm still hoping for a miracle here. At the same time, there is an absolute obligation to keep faith with the American people to make sure that every vote is counted in Ohio, and that there is no attempt to sweep that aside while people simultaneously call for fairness. It's not fair to sweep it aside. We have to see where the provisional ballots are, and we have to make sure that the absentee ballots are counted. So, you know, we do have the additional problem of a secretary of state in Ohio, who is actually auditioning to be the second Katherine Harris. And look, I have not been a partisan throughout this entire process or my career. You know, I am a democrat, and I'm working to make sure that the Democratic Party does everything it can to provide viable alternatives in our great debates. But I will tell you something, what's happening in Ohio out of that secretary of state's office does not give anyone any confidence that he can be an impartial arbiter of the results in the state of Ohio. We have to make sure that an effort is made to fully review the provisional ballots, and the absentee ballots, and then if, when all is said and done, President Bush maintains his lead, well, that's what the democratic process is all about.
AMY GOODMAN: Congress member Kucinich, many critiqued John Kerry saying he should have appealed more to his base, especially around war in the way that your platform did, when you were running for president. What is your response to that?
DENNIS KUCINICH: I think that John Kerry ran a campaign which was really aimed at trying to give the American people the broadest type of representation in the White House. I think it's too early to do a post mortem on a campaign and candidacy that is still very much alive. So, I'm proud of the effort that we made in Cleveland County. We were able to build an almost unprecedented margin for a democratic candidate out of our area. I think John Kerry won this area by 217,000 votes. There's going to be plenty of time for analysis on this, but I think we owe it to each other, to let this process play itself out, and I will say again, we have to remember our commitments we cannot lose heart. This is going to be a test of our resolve, and you know, in the long run it, will be a test of the depths of our belief, but at the same time, you know, it's the morning after a very closely contested election, and there is always a tendency for those who win to say, well, that basically confirms every policy they believe in and it nullifies the stand of those who have not been successful, this country has a great debate that's going to continue, and I expect to continue to be a part of that.
AMY GOODMAN: Last question, Congress member, Kucinich, your state, Ohio, is also the state of Waldon O'Dell, the head of Diebold, the company that makes many of the electronic voting machines who vowed to deliver Ohio to Bush, deliver the votes to Bush. What about this, do you believe the results? We saw exit polls yesterday in places like Ohio and Florida that indicated that Kerry was ahead, and now once the counting has been done, it seems otherwise.
DENNIS KUCINICH: Well, you know what, that's a separate question, Amy. I don't have any evidence at this point to suggest there's been any attempt to actually tamper with the vote itself. I share the concerns that people across this country have about Diebold, but I think that most of the votes that were cast here in this state had nothing to do with Diebold, and I cannot tell that you I'm the expert on this at this moment. There's so many things happening that we're just trying to do everything we can to get a proper analysis of the election, but right now, what remains to be done is to address the issue of the provisional ballots or the absentee ballots of making absolutely certain that a canvass of the results in Ohio will yield and reflect the will of the people of this state and its proper role in the electoral process. Meanwhile, I'm going to do everything that I can to people posted. The website at www.kucinich.us will have updates and speak directly to people about this as it develops. You know, we are in a moment where everything is still developing. You know, those of us who worked very hard to achieve some change here know that it doesn't look promising at the moment, but we have learned also from four years ago that we don't give up and let those commitments that we have pass away like some autumn leaves dropping from the trees getting ready for winter.
AMY GOODMAN: Ohio Congress member Dennis Kucinich thanks for joining us.
DENNIS KUCINICH: Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: Speaking to us from Cleveland where he just won his own re-election; Cleveland from the state of Ohio, ground zero now in the election of the President of the United States. This is Democracy Now!
-------- ENERGY
-------- energy
Bush Likely to Renew Push for Alaska Oil Drilling
Reuters
By Tom Doggett
Wednesday, November 3, 2004; 1:41 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A22532-2004Nov3?language=printer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In his second term, President Bush is likely to stick to his plan to fill the nation's emergency crude oil stockpile and may find more Congressional allies to open an Alaskan wildlife refuge to oil drilling, energy experts said.
Democratic challenger John Kerry conceded defeat on Wednesday, handing Bush another four years in the White House.
Key energy issues facing Bush include managing the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), relations with OPEC oil producers, and winning congressional approval of an energy bill to boost domestic oil and gas drilling.
Kerry said he wanted to temporarily suspend oil shipments to the 671-million-barrel Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) amid tight U.S. oil supplies and record high prices that topped $55 a barrel last week. But Bush has insisted on continuing to fill the stockpile.
Bush took a lot of criticism for his position during the campaign from Kerry, members of Congress and energy experts, and some believe there is no need for him to buckle now.
"Bush is generally characterized as a man who stays on the message. He has time and time again said, 'No, we don't tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve unless there is a severe disruption in supply' and I think he'll stick with that," said Robert Ebel, who oversees the energy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington.
However, other experts noted that in a second term, Bush could fine-tune his policies without taking a political hit.
"I think the Bush administration might take another look at the box that it has painted itself into on SPR policy," said David Goldwyn, head of Washington-based Goldwyn International Strategies and a former assistant energy secretary in the Clinton administration.
Bush "might have a little less fear in a second term...and might be more willing to use the reserve," he added.
However, Bush would keep a tight lid on the stockpile if the administration believes there is a serious threat of supply disruptions in the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia, according to Goldwyn.
An open question is whether Bush might tap the separate 2-million-barrel heating oil reserve in the U.S. Northeast this winter. Unlike the SPR, federal law specifically allows that stockpile to be used to combat high heating oil prices.
RELATIONS WITH OPEC, CONGRESS
Few, if any, changes are seen in the administration's relationship with OPEC. But Bush could face a possible oil production cut from the cartel soon after he is sworn in for a second term in late January.
U.S. oil demand typically falls in the second quarter of each year when there is a switch from winter heating oil to spring gasoline use. That is when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries may cut its crude oil production.
"If OPEC cuts (output), then prices will stay high. But if they're sensible they would maintain production so that we could build (oil) stocks in this country and be more comfortable when we go into the driving season," Ebel said.
Separately, Bush faces an uphill battle in winning Senate approval to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling, a key plank in his energy policy.
The House of Representatives backs ANWR drilling, but moderate Republicans and Democrats in the Senate have voted to keep the refuge off limits to oil companies.
When the new Congress convenes early next year, the House will have more Republicans lawmakers to increase support for drilling in the refuge.
While Republicans picked up several seats in the Senate, they appeared to still fall short of 60 votes needed to end a filibuster of an energy bill that would open ANWR. New Republican senators include David Vitter of Louisiana, Mel Martinez of Florida, Jim DeMint of South Carolina and John Thune of South Dakota, giving the party possibly 55 seats in the chamber.
Bush could explore another route such as having ANWR drilling language attached to the yearly bill that funds the government, experts said. That bill requires just 51 votes to pass the Senate.
Comprehensive energy legislation that became bogged down in the current Congress could be split into several measures in the new Congress, focusing on increasing ethanol use, improving the reliability of the U.S. electric grid and boosting nuclear power, according to lobbyists.
-------- ACTIVISTS
Sole protester held after anti-war demo at Britain's Foreign Office
LONDON (AFP)
Nov 03, 2004
http://www.spacewar.com/2004/041103144918.evilzq00.html
A British anti-war protester was arrested on Wednesday after climbing on to the side of the Foreign Office and writing on the building in protest at an expected US-led assault on the Iraqi city of Fallujah.
The protester wrote "Don't Attack Fallujah. Black Watch Out" on the wall of the building, in reference to Scotland's Black Watch regiment which has been redeployed closer to Baghdad to help the US-led coalition.
The protester, named as Milan Raiby by his protest group Justice Not Vengeance, splashed the Foreign Office building with fake blood before being arrested for causing criminal damage.
"Today is a day of fear for the people of Fallujah and they need our active solidarity," Rai said.
The US military said early Wednesday it had launched two air raids overnight on the rebel-held Iraqi flashpoint town of Fallujah, located 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
US ground troops have encircled Fallujah since mid-October, and Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi issued an ultimatum to the city on Sunday to surrender insurgents holed up inside or face an all-out military assault.
The 850 British troops are expected to return back to their base in Basra, southern Iraq, within 30 days, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said on Wednesday.
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A Bridge Across Tears For Iraq
A Statement of Solidarity in Suffering
Independent Media Center
03 November 2004
http://chiapas.mediosindependientes.org/display.php3?article_id=109719
To the People of the World who profit from our tears
To the People of the World who care not of our tears
To the People of the World who know not of our tears
To the People of the World who live also with our tears
We speak to you, in whispers and in screams; in despair and in hope; in defeat and in struggle; to reclaim our humanity.
With the violated people of Iraq, we stand in solidarity, our arms joined in this bridge across tears.
We learn everyday of the killing, plunder, destruction and humiliation that takes place in Iraq.
We have heard the tired justifications of Power many times over - security, freedom, democracy, reconstruction - these are words that are not alien to us; they haunt us everyday as we tread upon our earths.
100,000 lives, of children, women and men, in Iraq have been the latest price to be paid for the betterment of civilisation.
Innocence is no protection. We know.
For each one of the 100,000 lives sacrificed at the altar of Power, united in death rests the remains of 100,000 more of our sisters and brothers of many names upon that same altar.
The tanks, the bullets, the airstrikes, the depleted uranium, the torture, the collective punishments, these that have been the weapons of vengeance against the people of Iraq, are all kin to the hunger, the destitution, the 'structural adjustment programmes', the poisoned rivers and lands, the suffocating clouds of 'progress', the police truncheon, the barbed wires, that have been and are our scourge.
We name all as violation.
As we shed our tears for our losses, our tears fall also on the lands of Iraq.
Though Power seeks to blind us with their lies, our eyes remain ablaze with the fire of life that we carry of all our dead.
And we denounce Power with its many faces of violence.
For theirs is not a 'Security' in which we are secure.
Theirs is not a 'Freedom' in which we are free.
Theirs is not a 'Civilisation' in which we are dignified as humans.
This we say as we build a Bridge Across Tears:
To Power:
We notify you that we, the peoples of the global south, stand together with the people of Iraq in resisting your cruelty. Be aware.
We demand of the US-UK led 'Coalition' the cessation of violence against the people of Iraq, the withdrawal of all the occupying forces from Iraqi lands, and the restoration of the will of the Iraqi people for genuine self-determination.
We demand that those who call themselves leaders of nations act as leaders in halting the impunity of the Occupation in Iraq by mobilising themselves against the US-UK led 'Coalition' in Iraq.
We demand of the United Nations immediate action to withdraw support for the on-going Occupation of Iraq, and to initiate an international process of judgement against the illegal and criminal use of force against the people of Iraq.
We affirm our common humanity in struggle, with the people of Iraq against the invading forces, and with sisters and brothers everywhere against the invasions upon their lives, livelihoods and dignity.
We pledge that ours is a common struggle for peace, justice and humanity.
To the People of the World,
We call on you to be a Bridge Across Tears so that Humanity may prevail over the cruelties of Power.
---
To sign this statement of solidarity, please reply to this email, including your name, country and occupation/organisation. May the voices of humanity raise itself and declare, we exist, and we refuse to be silent or silenced.
Please circulate widely and campaign with this statement as you see possible.
Thank you
Jayan Nayar Coordinator Peoples' Law Programme
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11 anti-war protesters arrested
THE REGISTER
By TOM ALEX
November 3, 2004
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041103/NEWS11/411030337/1012
Quiet time: Chris Gaunt of Grinnell spends a moment in meditation Tuesday under a banner outside the National Guard Armory complex at Camp Dodge in Johnston. She and others protested after officials announced an Iowa soldier had died in Afghanistan. Eleven people were arrested.
Eleven anti-war protesters were arrested Tuesday after they climbed a fence at a military installation north of Des Moines.
The protest at the Iowa National Guard Armory complex at Camp Dodge was launched about 90 minutes after military officials announced that an Iowa soldier had been killed in Afghanistan.
Jay Kozel, 17, said that the protest was scheduled as an Election Day event, but that the news of another Iowa war casualty "if anything, is more of a reason."
"Our main objective here is to bring our message to the powers that be in the STARC Armory that we don't want to see any more kids killed," said Kozel, a Roosevelt High School student. "We don't want to see any more going to Iraq or Afghanistan, or any other nation for that matter, and be forced to kill and be killed."
Lt. Col. Gregory Hapgood, the Iowa Guard's public affairs officer, pointed out that "the Iowa National Guard is not responsible for sending soldiers anywhere."
"All that we do is train so that, when the Department of Defense calls us, our soldiers are ready to go wherever it is they are asked," he said. "The protesters have decided to break the law by crossing the line and trespass on military property and because of their trespassing, it's not freedom of speech any more, it's actually a criminal act."
The protesters, numbering 35 men and women, gathered across a road from the armory about 4 p.m.
"Just as that last mosquito left flying around in a tent creates disruption, I come here today to vote my whole vote against the war," Renee Espeland, 43, said into a loudspeaker.
A group of pompom-waving young women who called themselves "radical cheerleaders" joined the protest.
Stacie Miller, a Des Moines Area Community College student, called it "a creative protest, turning the idea of traditional cheerleader on its head."
"The purpose today is to get pumped up, do more than vote - to protest the war," she said. The protesters publicly asked National Guard officials to refuse to process orders for any more soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The National Guard was originally designed as a state militia to help the state. They have federalized it so they can cross seas and fight. I just think that's wrong and immoral," said Spencer Pierce, 19, a Grand View College freshman.
Pierce said talk of a military draft "really scares me," but that "if there was a war I felt we had a right to participate in, I would have no problems fighting for what I believe in."
Protest organizer Frank Cordaro of the Catholic Worker House in Des Moines said prior to his arrest that it would be the fourth time he was taken into custody at the STARC Armory.
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SF Protesters Decry U.S. Presence In Iraq
(BCN)
Nov. 3, 2004
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/news/110304_nw_war_protests.html
- San Francisco activists joined like-minded people in cities across the nation today by marching through the streets to protest U.S. military presence in Iraq and call attention to other issues facing the nation.
Approximately 200 people marched around 9 a.m. from Justin Herman Plaza to the Federal Building, where approximately 20 protesters were arrested, according to San Francisco police Officer Guillermo Amigo.
In addition to protesting U.S. actions in Iraq, the demonstrators wanted to highlight issues such as healthcare and education, according to Patrick Reinsborough, a spokesman for Direct Action to Stop the War, one of the organizing groups.
This morning's march, one of 30 held around the country, would have taken place regardless of the outcome of Tuesday's election, Beinsborough said.
"Regardless of what has happened in the presidential election we have to go beyond voting to build a real grassroots democracy in the streets," he said.
Protesters held a banner proclaiming their preference for a national focus on "healthcare, not warfare," and claimed solidarity with some 4,000 unionized city hotel workers who have been locked out of their jobs.
The union and a group representing the hotels have been at odds over health care costs, among other issues. The union began a two-week strike at four hotels on Sept. 29; by its end on Oct. 13, all 14 hotels had locked out the workers.
A second march, highlighting similar issues, began at 5 p.m.
Reinsborough said the march began at Powell and Market streets, and is set to end at 24th and Mission streets. He estimated that 1,000 people are participating.
In contrast, Officer Amigo estimated that there are about 500 people participating in this evening's march. As of 7 p.m., no arrests had been reported, Amigo said.
Both of today's protests are "laying the foundation for continued mobilizations to show (President George) Bush that he does not have a mandate to continue the war in Iraq," Reinsborough said.
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