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NUCLEAR
Edmonton filmmaker attempts to unravel Cold War secret in Lost Nuke
Miners Seek Fortune In Uranium's Glow
EU's Solana says Iran nuclear deal 'only the start'
UN says found no proof of secret Iranian nuclear program
Uranium enrichment to be suspended, U.N. told
Europeans try to play down deal on Iran's uranium plans
Iran Vows To Freeze Nuclear Programs
Britain, France and Germany Announce Accord With Iran
Iran Gives Pledge on Uranium, but Europeans Are Cautious
Tokyo bows to Bush on defence
Two Faces of Japan's Nuclear Power
Consort's death rocks Kim Jong-il
Roh urges US dialogue with North Korea
European Commission's Joint Research Centre
Al-Qaeda considers moving nuclear material to US through Mexico: report
Arms Control Glance
Vandy hosts scientist workshop on nuclear materials
Emergency alert problem silences radios in nuclear planning zone
Feds don't have funds to test nuclear waste casks
MILITARY
Nerve gas death was 'unlawful'
CONTRACTS AWARDED
Hungarian MPs vote to withdraw troops from Iraq by year-end
Trouble Spots Dot Iraqi Landscape
Fighting in Fallujah Nears End
Rebels Routed in Falluja; Fighting Spreads Elsewhere in Iraq
'Catastrophic conditions' in Falluja
His Red Right Hand
Shooting Breaks Out in Gaza Around Likely Arafat Successor
Israel rights group condemns army
Arafat's rival heirs - a field guide
McCain Backs CIA Shake-up
C.I.A. Shakeup Continues as 2 Senior Officials Quit
CIA Plans to Purge Its Agency
Government looking at military draft lists
Commanders plead for armor
POLICE / PRISONERS / COURTS / JUSTICE
Death Sentences Hit 30-Year Low in U.S.
Justice Dept. Reports a 30-Year Low in Death Sentences
U.S. Plans Assault On Afghan Heroin Poppy Growing Still Widespread
Pentagon Finds First Responders Inadequately Prepared
Private jet takes men for 'torture'
POLITICS
A Watchdog Follows the Money in Iraq
Empire of the Senseless
U.S. plans to sneak tiny radios into North Korea
Powell to Leave Bush's Cabinet When Successor Is Chosen
Powell, 3 others leaving Cabinet
ENERGY
Energy Secretary Abraham Resigns Post
Executive Shows Great Energy in Attempt to Sell Wind-Farm Project
OTHER
Indian Marchers Protest Coca-Cola Pollution, Water Use
Geneticist claims to have found 'God gene' in humans
ACTIVISTS
Noam Chomsky on Yasser Arafat, Iraq and the Draft
Thai PM says military will no longer break up rallies
What happened last Thursday Nov' 11th.
-------- NUCLEAR
-------- accidents and safety
Edmonton filmmaker attempts to unravel Cold War secret in Lost Nuke
The Canadian Press
November 15, 2004
http://www3.cjad.com/content/cp_article.asp?id=/global_feeds/canadianpress/entertainmentnews/e111513A.htm
TORONTO (CP) - High up in the mountains of northern British Columbia, among jagged rocks and ice, lies the scorched wreckage of a Cold War-era mystery - one that Edmonton-based filmmaker Michael Jorgensen has tried to crack but now admits may never be solved.
In his latest documentary Lost Nuke, which airs this Friday evening on Discovery Channel, Jorgensen and a team of experts fly about 160 kilometres north of Terrace, B.C., to the site of America's first "broken arrow" incident - a military codeword for an accident involving a nuclear weapon.
"The evidence to be able to solve this mystery is on the mountain, because the U.S. military is never going to release the classified documents about what really happened that night," Jorgensen said in a recent interview in Toronto.
The documentary by the Emmy Award-winning filmmaker centres on a U.S. Air Force mission that began in Fairbanks, Alaska on February 13, 1950.
A B-36 bomber - the largest bomber ever built - carrying 17 crewmembers and a Mark IV nuclear weapon flew out on a simulated combat training mission to Fort Worth, Texas.
Part of the way to their destination, along the coast of B.C., three of the six engine propellers caught fire and the crew was forced to parachute out.
Twelve of the crewmembers were later rescued from Princess Royal Island on B.C.'s west coast while the other five were presumed drowned.
Jorgensen says the U.S. military issued one brief news release about the incident, six months after it happened, saying "We dropped the weapon over the Pacific Ocean and it exploded in a non-nuclear detonation (near Vancouver Island)."
Official U.S. Air Force documents also claim the bomber was set to autopilot before it plunged into the Pacific.
But three years later, U.S. Air Force crews found the B-36 bomber crashed in B.C.'s rugged interior - 300 kilometres in the opposite direction from where it supposedly went down.
Jorgensen says the facts don't add up.
"This airplane had three engines on fire, it was losing 500 feet per minute so it really could've only flown about another seven minutes," he explained in an impassioned recount of the story.
"But somehow, after the crew of 17 supposedly jumped out, the plane turned around 180 degrees and flew another 300 kilometres in the exact opposite direction and it crashed just 80 kilometres from Alaska."
Jorgensen says the team is convinced that somebody stayed on board the plane and steered it toward U.S. territory, "And that guy, they believe, is the weaponeer - the guy responsible for the bomb, Capt. Ted Schreier."
Jorgensen calls Schreier a "hero" who "did everything in his power to try to save the weapon," which could have been picked up by a Soviet submarine had it been dropped in the Pacific.
And yet Schreier, the Third Pilot who was among the five men presumed drowned, was never acknowledged by U.S. Air Force officials as having any significant role in the operation.
In fact, when Schreier's nephew was contacted for the documentary, he had no idea that his uncle was even a weaponeer.
"The family didn't know anything. They were told when Ted went missing that he was on a transport plane ... they were totally shocked," says Jorgensen, who wrote, directed, shot and produced the documentary in about a year and a half.
What's more, after the incident, the U.S. Air Force named streets after all of the men who perished - all except Schreier.
The actions are unexplainable, says Jorgensen, who is also befuddled as to why the U.S. Air Force sent in a special operations team to blow up the wreckage when it found out the crash site.
"Why do you need to blow up an airplane that's lost in a remote part of the mountains?" asks Jorgensen.
"It just doesn't make any sense - unless there's something there that you don't want anybody to find."
After obtaining documents on the incident through the Freedom of Information Act in the U.S., Jorgensen put together an expedition team of three men who had been independently pursuing the story for the past two decades.
The team's leader, nuclear weapons expert Dr. John Clearwater, was then granted the first Canadian archeological permit to remove artifacts from the site and they flew in via helicopter last August.
During their stay, the team found several strong clues, but not the key item they were looking for.
"One treasure hunter from the U.S. went to the site in, I think it was in '98, and removed this object called 'the birdcage,' which they used to transport the plutonium core in," said the 40-year-old filmmaker.
The lead-lined container may have held the key evidence to suggest whether there was an atomic device onboard, ready for detonation.
Jorgensen also interviewed - but obtained little information from - two of the four surviving crewmembers who are still alive, gunner Dick Thrasher and co-pilot Ray Whitfield, who is now a priest.
"The couple of guys that I interviewed ... say 'there are things that happened that we just can't talk about because we don't want to say anything to damage our country,"' says Jorgensen.
Still, he is confident the expedition team obtained enough strong, albeit inconclusive, evidence to explain what happened.
"I think there was a plutonium core in that birdcage, but I think it was on the mountain and I think it was taken out in 1954, when the Air Force went in there to destroy the airplane."
He then puts it into perspective. "It's my belief, given the evidence that we have, that a nuclear weapon laid in the mountains of northern Canada for four years."
But Jorgensen concedes that in the end, it's just a theory.
"Unless the Pentagon comes clean with the documents ... we may never really know what happened."
-------- canada
Miners Seek Fortune In Uranium's Glow
November 15, 2004
REUTERS CANADA:
by Nicole Mordant
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/28151/story.htm
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Canada's crowd of small, fortune-seeking miners have fixed on a new pot of gold.
(Amounts in US dollars unless noted)
Uranium is suddenly the hottest topic in the high-stakes mining industry in the mineral-rich country that is home to the world's richest deposit.
Its price has doubled to above $20 a pound and the shares of producers and junior explorers have soared as analysts predict that the metal will become an increasingly important energy source for producing electricity around the world.
"To me it's one of the next commodities that there is going to be a boom in," said Randy Turner, a well-known Canadian diamond executive who spent 11 years in the uranium business.
"There are a lot of juniors that are getting back into it. There's tremendous staking activity going on in Saskatchewan, Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Labrador," he said.
Named after the planet Uranus, uranium's elemental make-up allows it, under certain conditions, to give off a lot of energy, which is used in nuclear reactors to drive generators that produce electricity.
Concerns of a future of declining energy resources have put nuclear power back on the map, overshadowing uranium's murkier role in bomb-making, and its dangers in the event of power-plant accidents.
Regarded as the world's worst nuclear disaster, the 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine killed 30 people and forced 200,000 to flee a cloud of radioactive debris as it drifted over the then Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
RUSH TO SASKATCHEWAN
Northern Saskatchewan is home to the world's richest uranium belt, the Athabasca Basin, where a third of the world's yearly uranium supply comes from. Cameco Corp., the world's biggest producer, has its largest mines here
Juniors have watched Cameco's stock double in value this year, prompting a rush to buy up every inch of land in the area. They have also gone further afield, purchasing potential uranium-bearing properties in Australia, Peru, the United States and Asia.
On Friday, Cameco's stock climbed 6 percent to C$107.10, helping lift the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index , which ended 10.20 points higher at 8,896.37.
For 20 years, the world has used more uranium than has been mined, filling the gap from utility and government stockpiles that include material from dismantled nuclear weapons.
But with nearly half of annual supply coming from above-ground stocks, inventories of the dense, silvery metal are running down.
At the same time, the price of oil has soared and the burning of fossil fuels like oil or coal has fallen out of favor because they give off carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.
"Recently, security concerns over the global oil supply and fears of global warming have shifted public opinion, with nuclear energy becoming an acceptable option again," said Jim Mustard, an analyst at Haywood Securities.
"Significant uncovered demand exists in the market, and the uranium price will have to rise in order to encourage uranium exploration and bring higher-cost producers back on line," Mustard said in a research report.
According to the World Nuclear Association, about 16 percent of global electricity is generated by 430 nuclear plants. Three-quarters of France's electricity supply is nuclear, 35 percent in Japan and 20 percent in the United States.
The world industry body says that a further 30 reactors are being built and another 70 are on the drawing board, news that is encouraging explorers to find new uranium deposits.
This week, CanAlaska Ventures Ltd. bought land in the Athabasca Basin to position itself to take part in what chairman Harry Barr described as "the largest expansion in uranium exploration since the 1970s." CanAlaska's stock jumped 9 percent on Friday to 31.5 Canadian cents.
Clan Resources Ltd. said this week it has staked uranium properties in Nevada and Arizona. Its stock has quadrupled this year.
"All the uranium books are being dusted off," said Turner, adding that next year's Mineral Exploration Roundup, an annual mining conference in Vancouver, of which he is chairman, will feature a short course on the metal.
-------- europe
EU's Solana says Iran nuclear deal 'only the start'
BRUSSELS (AFP)
Nov 15, 2004
http://www.spacewar.com/2004/041115190356.uk9slevp.html
European Union foreign affairs chief Javier Solana said Monday a hard-fought agreement clinched by the EU to get Iran to suspend its nuclear uranium drive was "only the start" before a long-term accord.
"This is a welcome agreement. We can now look forward to the International Atomic Energy Agency's report that Iran's voluntary suspension is being implemented in full," he said in a statement.
"Potentially it is the start of a new chapter in our relations. The negotiations on a Trade and Cooperation Agreement (with the EU) should be resumed as soon as suspension is verified," Solana noted.
"It is however only the start. We now need to work rapidly to produce a solid long-term agreement," the Spanish official continued.
"This should on the one hand provide lasting confidence in the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme and on the other bring concrete results in the area of trade, technology exchange and security, as well as in the nuclear dimension.
"This will not be an easy task but we have taken the first step and that is very important."
In an 11th-hour deal with the EU's three biggest powers -- Britain, France and Germany -- late Sunday, Iran agreed to freeze uranium enrichment-related activities to ease fears its fuel cycle work could be diverted to make an atomic bomb.
The agreement, which is to be verified by the UN's atomic watchdog, was seen as averting the threat of Iran being hauled before the UN Security Council for possible sanctions later this month.
---- iran
UN says found no proof of secret Iranian nuclear program
VIENNA (AFP)
Nov 15, 2004
http://www.spacewar.com/2004/041115174631.gj4djqos.html
The UN atomic watchdog said Monday it had found no proof of a secret Iranian nuclear weapons program but could not yet conclude there was no covert activity, as Iran pledged to suspend uranium enrichment to prove its peaceful intentions.
In a confidential report, the International Atomic Energy Agency said that while Iran had been guilty of breaching international safeguards, almost two years of inspection had uncovered no proof of an illicit weapons program.
The IAEA's report sets the stage for a definitive review of Iran's nuclear program when its board of governors meets here on November 25, with the United States charging that Tehran is secretly developing nuclear weapons.
"All the declared material in Iran has been accounted for, and therefore such material is not diverted to prohibited activities," the IAEA report said, according to a copy obtained by AFP.
A diplomat close to the agency pointed out that the IAEA's legal authority was to investigate nuclear material and was "quite limited when you get into the area of nuclear weapons related activity."
The report said the IAEA was "not yet in a position to conclude that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in Iran."
Washington wants the agency to haul Iran before the UN Security Council for possible sanctions, but the Iranian agreement to suspend enrichment, and the lack of a "smoking gun" in the report, will make that task harder.
The report was issued after Iran agreed in a deal with Britain, France and Germany to suspend uranium enrichment activities pending a longer-term accord, comprised of European Union incentives and "objective guarantees" it will not make nuclear weapons.
A test of the agreement released in Tehran said the suspension covers "the manufacture and import of gas centrifuges and their components; the assembly, installation, testing or operation of gas centrifuges; work to undertake any plutonium separation... and all tests or production at any uranium conversion installation".
Uranium enrichment makes fuel for nuclear reactors but also what can be the explosive core for atomic bombs.
"The suspension will be sustained while negotiations proceed on a mutually acceptable agreement on long-term arrangements," the text said.
Iran said those talks, carried out by the European trio on behalf of the EU would begin in the first half of December, and would include "negotiations with the EU on a trade and cooperation agreement."
The EU "will actively support the opening of Iranian accession negotiations at the WTO (World Trade Organisation)," the text said.
Iran's top national security official Hassan Rowhani said the timespan of the talks should be "reasonable," as Iran has refused an indefinite suspension of enrichment.
But Rowhani admitted the talks would "take some time."
A European diplomat in Vienna said it was now "out of the question" for the IAEA to take Iran to the Security Council.
The United States is still certain to point out that the IAEA found Tehran guilty of "many breaches" of international nuclear safeguards obligations in a policy of concealment that lasted until October 2003.
"It is clear that Iran has failed in a number of instances over an extended period of time to meet its obligations under its safeguard agreement with respect to the reporting of nuclear material, its processing and its use as well as the declaration of activities where such material has been processed and stored," the IAEA report said.
"Iran's policy of concealment continued until October 2003 and has resulted in many breaches of its obligations to comply."
Iran has been cooperating, although somewhat reluctantly, with the agency since then. In September, the IAEA demanded that Iran suspend all activities concerning uranium enrichment.
The report noted that Iran had invited the agency to verify the suspension as of November 22, although this would leave inspectors only three days before the board meeting to confirm Iran's suspension.
"We may or may not finish by the board," a Western diplomat close to the IAEA said, adding that the agency "will do its job and do it thoroughly and if it takes a few more days, it will take a few more days."
The board meeting is expected to last around a week, which would give the IAEA time to verify suspension by the time it ends.
--------
Uranium enrichment to be suspended, U.N. told
November 15, 2004
By George Jahn
ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20041114-111415-7652r.htm
VIENNA, Austria - Iran notified the U.N. nuclear watchdog in writing yesterday that it would suspend uranium enrichment and related activities to dispel suspicions that it was trying to build nuclear arms.
With its move, Iran appeared to have dropped demands to modify a tentative deal worked out with European negotiators on Nov. 7.
Diplomats said Iran promises in its letter to continue freezing enrichment - the process to make either nuclear fuel or the core for nuclear weapons - and also to suspend related activities.
"Basically, it's a full suspension," said one of the diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It's what the Europeans were looking for."
Shortly after diplomats revealed the Iranian move, Tehran's top nuclear negotiator, Hossein Mousavian, confirmed that his country was giving its "basic agreement" to a temporary suspension.
"We accept suspension as a voluntary measure on the basis of agreement with the European Union," Mr. Mousavian said on Iranian state television, emphasizing that his country viewed the move as a concession for "confidence building" and not a "legal obligation."
As part of the agreement, "Europe will support Iran's joining the international group of states possessing the ability to manufacture nuclear fuel" once the suspension ends, Mr. Mousavian said, signaling yet again that Iran viewed the freeze as temporary.
State Department spokeswoman Darla Jordan said yesterday: "We are awaiting a briefing by the EU three on Monday. We continue to believe that Iran has to abide by the IAEA Board of Governors' resolution."
Washington has argued that Iran's enrichment activities violate its international treaty obligations and part of a nuclear-arms program.
The United States has called for the indefinite suspension, if not an outright scrapping, of Iran's domestic enrichment program. Iran says it wants to master the technology only to generate power.
The diplomat said Iran also had fulfilled a key part of the deal by formally informing the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency - the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - of its decision.
That cleared the way for inclusion of Iranian intentions in a report prepared by IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei.
As negotiators for France, Germany and Britain struggled with Iranian counterparts to bridge differences over the weekend, the IAEA had delayed the report on Iran's nuclear activities scheduled for limited circulation to diplomats accredited to the agency. A diplomat close to the agency said the report would be released today.
The IAEA study on nearly two decades of clandestine activities that the United States asserts is a secret weapons program is being prepared for review by the agency's 35-nation board of governors when it meets Nov. 25.
Based on the report, they will decide on actions that might include referring Iran to the U.N. Security Council, which could lead to sanctions.
After talks in Paris with Iranian envoys last weekend, European diplomats said Tehran tentatively had agreed to suspend uranium enrichment and all related activities.
The suspension would last at least as long as it took the two sides to negotiate a deal on European technical and financial aid, including help in developing Iranian nuclear energy for power generation.
But the diplomats said Friday that Iranian officials had presented British, French and German envoys in Tehran with a version of the pact that was unacceptable to the three European powers - the main brokers of the deal - and the European Union as a whole.
The key dispute concerned the conversion of uranium into gas, which when spun in centrifuges can be enriched to lower levels for producing electricity or processed into high-level, weapons-grade uranium, the diplomats said.
The diplomats - all of them briefed on the dispute and based in Europe - said Iran was insisting that the deal allowed it to process uranium into a precursor of uranium hexafluoride, the gas introduced into centrifuges for enrichment. The diplomats said the tentative deal reached in Paris disallowed this.
--------
Europeans try to play down deal on Iran's uranium plans
By Financial Times Reporters
November 15 2004
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/a35801b8-372e-11d9-a8bb-00000e2511c8.html
European and Iranian officials on Monday described a Sunday agreement, under which Iran agreed to suspend all its uranium enrichment activities, as an important first step in a longer process of negotiation.
But while European officials played down the deal, Iranian officials hailed it as the start of a "new era" in Iranian European relations.
The agreement was reached in negotiations between Tehran and three European governments France, Germany and Britain. The suspension should head off, for now, US-led efforts to have Iran referred to the United Nations Security Council by the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear monitor.
Hassan Rowhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said on Monday the agreement would lead to talks on "fundamental issues" that could begin "a new era between Iran and Europe".
"We have never held serious talks with the Europeans with such an extensive scope," he said.
Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, responded cautiously. "We have seen a little bit of progress, hopefully, over the last 24 hours," he said, adding that the US had to work with its "European Union friends" and the IAEA to find a solution.
Silvan Shalom, Israel's foreign minister, expressed his government's displeasure at the agreement. "They are trying to buy time," he said of Iran after talks in Washington.
Richard Boucher, the State Department spokesman, said the US position remained that Iran should be referred to the Security Council because of past violations of their nuclear safeguards commitments. But he suggested the US could change its mind if the IAEA verified that Iran was correcting those breaches. The US had previously refused to endorse the European strategy. But diplomats said Washington remained in close touch during the talks. Iranian officials produced a text of the agreement making clear the three European governments had accepted Iran's suspension as a "voluntary confidence-building measure" to be "sustained while negotiations proceed on a mutually acceptable agreement on long-term arrangements".
As well as beginning talks on "political and security issues, technology and co-operation, and nuclear issues", the three governments would resume negotiations on a trade agreement and support the opening of negotiations on Iranian accession to the World Trade Organisation, according to the agreement.
Mr Rowhani said Iran would begin suspension of uranium enrichment on November 22, which would include the conversion of raw uranium into uranium hexofluoride gas and the manufacture or assembly of centrifuges, the means of converting the gas into enriched uranium.
The three European governments are not trumpeting their achievement, however, due in part to Washington's enduring suspicions, despite Iranian denials, that Tehran is pursuing a nuclear weapons programme. A European diplomat insisted on Monday that the accord was only "a step towards a long-term agreement".
Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, said the agreement was "only the start. We now need to work rapidly to produce a solid long-term agreement . . . This will not be an easy task but we have taken the first step and that is very important."
In a report on Monday to its board, the IAEA made plain that the suspension agreed by Iran went beyond a previous halt it had agreed last year and later abandoned. The new suspension covered "the manufacture and import of gas centrifuges and their components; the assembly, testing or operation of gas centrifuges; and all tests and production for conversion at any uranium conversion installation".
Reporting by Gareth Smyth in Tehran, Raphael Minder in Brussels, Stephen Fidler in London and Guy Dinmore in Washington
--------
Iran Vows To Freeze Nuclear Programs
In Return, Europeans Guarantee Freedom From U.N. Sanctions
By Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 15, 2004; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A49246-2004Nov14?language=printer
Iran agreed yesterday to immediately suspend its nuclear programs in exchange for European guarantees that it will not face the prospect of U.N. Security Council sanctions as long as their agreement holds.
The nuclear deal, accepted by Iranian officials in a meeting in Tehran with French, German and British ambassadors, set the stage for a serious test of whether diplomatic engagement is capable of halting Tehran's nuclear ambitions in the long term.
European officials were reviewing Iran's acceptance letter, diplomats said, and expected to brief Washington today before making an official announcement.
The European deal will require months, and possibly years, of further negotiations before Iran agrees to permanently end its nuclear work and falls far short of the strategic decision the Bush administration said Tehran needs to make to convince the world it is not a danger.
For nearly two years, the administration's Iran policy has been based on the threat of taking the Islamic republic to the Security Council. During that time, the White House has remained steadfast in its opposition to negotiating with Iran and has chided European allies for offering inducements to a country President Bush once said was in an "axis of evil" with North Korea and Iraq.
But Washington's closest allies chose another path. A previous agreement reached by the European trio and Iran last year fell apart after six months, leading the Bush administration to argue that negotiations with Tehran produce only empty promises.
Washington's push for Security Council action is unlikely to succeed as long as Iran and the Europeans continue to work together. Officials said that they expect the deal to be lauded in a report today by Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and that the agreement is likely to win the support of much of the agency's board when it meets to discuss Iran on Nov. 25 in Vienna.
U.S. officials, who would discuss the next steps only on the condition of anonymity, said Bush had not decided whether to support the European deal or to lobby the IAEA board to get tougher with Iran. Previous U.S. attempts to win over the board have been unsuccessful.
"That's a decision that will have to be made this week," said one U.S. official involved in Iran policy but unauthorized to discuss it publicly. "But I can't imagine how anyone could argue to the president the tactical benefits of trying to do that again because the result would be U.S. diplomatic isolation."
Senior Bush administration officials have declined to say whether they would seek economic sanctions or an oil embargo against Iran if it was taken to the U.N. Security Council. The public response to those questions has been only: "No options are off the table." But the ambiguity convinced Iran and much of Europe that the White House is trying to take Tehran down a path similar to the one Iraq experienced in the Security Council for more than a decade.
Of the 35 countries on the IAEA board, only Canada and Australia had shown a willingness to refer Iran's file to U.N. headquarters in New York. "That leaves us 2 to 32, and I'm not sure Canada and Australia would even be with us now that there's a deal," the U.S. official said.
Diplomats who have seen drafts of ElBaradei's report said it will be similar to a positive assessment of Iran's cooperation that he offered the IAEA board in September. Several outstanding issues regarding Iran's program remain unanswered, and U.S. diplomats said they would focus on those and pursue a toughly worded resolution against Iran that included more aggressive IAEA inspections and an automatic referral to the Security Council if Tehran breaks any part of the European deal.
Over 18 years, Iran secretly assembled uranium enrichment and conversion facilities that could be used for a nuclear energy program or for the construction of an atomic bomb. The underground sites became a target of a massive IAEA investigation after they were exposed by an Iranian exile group two years ago.
Although Iran's work does not violate international law and U.N. nuclear inspectors have not found evidence that the country is trying to build a bomb, the scale and history of the program have continued to fuel U.S. and Israeli suspicions that Tehran has a covert weapons program. The deal with Europe's three main powers is meant to blunt those suspicions by putting an end to nuclear energy work that could be diverted for bomb making.
The agreement, set out in two phases, began immediately yesterday when Iran informed ElBaradei it had agreed to a full suspension and invited inspectors to verify the commitment.
Western diplomats in Vienna, where the IAEA is based, said that a small team of nuclear inspectors would begin sealing and tagging Iran's nuclear facilities and equipment immediately and that the work would be completed by the time the agency's board meets on Thanksgiving day.
Hassan Rohani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, told reporters in Tehran the suspension would remain as long as talks continued on a resolution of Iran's nuclear case. Those negotiations could begin next month, and diplomats said they were discussing a kickoff ceremony to be attended by Iranian, British, German and French foreign ministers.
The four countries involved in the talks will then set up three working groups: one to tackle nuclear issues, another for nonnuclear cooperation between Iran and Europe, and a third for regional security issues. The groups will report every three months to a steering committee made up of senior participants.
Iran had wanted that phase of negotiation to last no more than six months, but Europe insisted that it be open-ended to avoid time-pressured negotiations. One European diplomat said Europe expected the negotiations to last two years or more.
As part of the understanding reached by the parties yesterday, negotiators will spend that time working out a package deal that gives Iran lucrative trade agreements with Europe once it agrees to put a permanent end to its nuclear programs.
The suspension arrangement, which was reached in two days of talks in Paris that ended Nov. 7, nearly collapsed last week after Iran pushed for two changes: an exemption on an early step in the uranium conversion process and promises that the IAEA would close its Iran file. European officials balked at both, and Iran agreed to accept the deal as it had been offered. But the disagreements over interpretations and expectations indicated that future negotiations would not be easy.
European diplomats said Bush's reelection helped the negotiations by limiting Iran's options. Had Democrat John F. Kerry won, Iran might have tried to play for time or probe what policy shifts a new administration was considering, they said.
Staff writer Robin Wright contributed to this report.
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Britain, France and Germany Announce Accord With Iran
November 15, 2004
By ELAINE SCIOLINO
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/15/international/middleeast/15cnd-iran.html?ei=5094&en=f809ee363a1db915&hp=&ex=1100581200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=all&position=
PARIS, Nov. 15 - France, Britain and Germany announced today that they had reached a formal agreement with Iran that commits the country to suspend production of enriched uranium in exchange for an array of possible rewards.
Under the complex but limited agreement aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear bombs, Iran agreed to stop all uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities as long as it was negotiating the possible benefits it would receive with the three European countries and the European Union.
Uranium can be enriched both for use in peaceful nuclear power plants and to make nuclear weapons.
Iran is the second-largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and the announcement of the deal apparently calmed fears of potential turmoil in the region. Crude oil prices fell to their lowest level in almost two months, with the December futures contract trading as low as $45.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The agreement is a diplomatic victory for both the Europeans and the Iranians, although both sides had to make hard concessions and it fell far short of the comprehensive deal the Europeans had hoped for by which Iran would permanently end its enrichment activities.
"This accord constitutes an important stage in the diplomatic efforts that lead the international community to find a satisfactory response to the preoccupations created by the Iranian nuclear program," said Hervé Ladsous, the French foreign ministry spokesman.
The Europeans were deeply embarrassed after Iran violated the terms of a less-precise agreement both sides reached in Tehran 13 months ago. Determined to do better this time, the Europeans insisted that Iran accept the agreement as negotiated and rejected Iran's attempts in the past several days to modify it.
The Iranians, by signing on to the agreement, are likely to defuse a threat by the United States to take Iran to the Security Council for possible censure or sanctions because of its nuclear activities when the International Atomic Energy Agency's ruling board of governors meets in Vienna later this month.
In a related development today, the International Atomic Energy Agency, a United Nations group that monitors nuclear programs around the world, announced in a still-confidential report that Iran had agreed in writing to suspend its uranium enrichment program starting a week from now.
But the agency's report did not totally reject the view of the United States and the three European countries that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, saying it could not rule out covert activities inside the country.
"All the declared nuclear material in Iran has been accounted for, and therefore such material is not diverted to prohibited activities," the report said, referring to possible work weapons activity. "The agency is, however, not in a position to conclude that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities in Iran."
Under the agreement with the Europeans, there must be "objective guarantees" that Iran's nuclear program "is exclusively for peaceful purposes." In exchange, the Europeans must provide "firm guarantees" on nuclear, technological and economic cooperation."
Specifically, Iran agreed to suspend "the manufacture and import of gas centrifuges and their components" all work on plutonium separation and the construction or operation any plutonium separation installation; and "all tests or production at any uranium conversion installation."
Last year's agreement said nothing about the production and assembly of centrifuges, which purify uranium by spinning at supersonic speeds. When International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors caught Iran building centrifuges, the Europeans felts duped.
The agreement implicitly requires Iran to stop its program to convert raw uranium into uranium tetrafluoride, a precursor to the form of uranium that is fed into centrifuges to enrich it for use as fuel that can be used either for energy or weapons purposes.
Finally, the agreement commits both sides to combat terrorist activities, including those of Al Qaeda and the Iranian opposition group known as the Mujahedin al-Khalq.
Once suspension is verified, the European Union will restart negotiations on a trade and cooperation agreement with Iran. It will also "actively support" negotiations for Iran to enter the World Trade Organization, a move that the Bush administration has blocked and can continue to block.
Iran's leadership has steadfastly held to the position that Iran is not engaged in a nuclear weapons program but has the sovereign right to enrich uranium as it sees fit.
So as a face-saving gesture for the Iranians, the agreement says that Iran's suspension of its enrichment activities "is a voluntary confidence building measure and not a legal obligation."
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Hassan Rowhani, reiterated that point at a news conference in Tehran today, calling uranium enrichment "Iran's right, and Iran will never give up its right to enrich uranium."
He also said that the suspension during the negotiations for the incentives package "will be a matter of months, not years," an assertion that the Europeans immediately rejected.
"Suspension must remain in force until the I.A.E.A. gives Iran a clean bill of health," one European official said. "If the suspension is lifted, the process is deemed to have broken and we, the Europeans, will withdraw and go to the Security Council."
Making concessions on Iran's nuclear program has been widely unpopular inside Iran, and Mr. Rowhani was put on the defensive by conservative journalists during the news conference.
When the Pars news agency reporter remarked that "the reason Iran has given so many concessions is because the Iranian team was weak," Mr. Rowhani replied that the country's best diplomats conducted the negotiations and "this is the outcome of our best diplomacy."
Another Iranian journalist cited an Iranian newspaper report today that accused Iran of giving "a pearl in exchange for a lollipop."
"That's not true," Mr. Rowhani shot back.
In Washington, White House press secretary Scott McClellan withheld judgment on the agreement, saying: "We will be talking to our friends and allies about this agreement. We will have more to say after we've had the opportunity to learn more about the specific details. At this point, we have not had that opportunity."
The hours before the announcement of the deal with the Europeans were mired in confusion about whether or not a deal had been reached.
The European governments were unwilling to accept the deal until after they reviewed Iran's letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency today, and some European negotiators were irritated that the agency announced on Sunday that there was a deal.
There was also a flurry of last-minute conversations among the Europeans about why Iran told the International Atomic Energy Agency it would begin the enrichment suspension on Nov. 22, not immediately. In the end, European officials said, the three governments decided to let the matter drop.
--------
Iran Gives Pledge on Uranium, but Europeans Are Cautious
November 15, 2004
By ELAINE SCIOLINO
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/15/international/europe/15iran.html
PARIS, Nov. 14 - The governments of France, Germany and Britain are studying a letter delivered Sunday by Iran in which it pledged to suspend uranium enrichment activities temporarily in exchange for economic and political incentives, European officials said.
The officials said it was unclear whether Iran had agreed to all the conditions set out in marathon talks in Paris last weekend with senior officials from France, Britain, Germany and the European Union or had inserted new conditions that could not be accepted.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the diplomacy between the Europeans and Iran is so sensitive, said the letter had been delivered to the ambassadors of the three countries in Tehran and to the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency in Vienna and would have to be scrutinized Monday before any announcement of a deal was made.
"All three governments need to examine the text carefully to see if this is what we want," said one British official in London.
A French official in Paris said an issue of such magnitude could not be rushed, adding, "We need to get as clear a deal as we can."
However, at the International Atomic Energy Agency, as the watchdog agency is called, the mood was more upbeat.
A Western diplomat connected to the agency said: "A letter has been received from Iran confirming that it will implement a full suspension of its uranium enrichment program. It's what the Europeans asked Iran to do."
The agency is prepared to include Iran's new pledge in its comprehensive special report on Iran's nuclear activities, expected to be released Monday.
But the three European governments are particularly cautious about a premature embrace of Iran.
The foreign ministers of the three countries brokered a deal, announced with much fanfare in Tehran 13 months ago. In it, Iran agreed to suspend its production of enriched uranium, which can be used in nuclear energy or nuclear weapons programs, and to submit to more intrusive inspections of its nuclear facilities.
After Iran violated the agreement, officials from the three countries acknowledged that the deal had been made too hastily and that the language of the final accord was too vague and open to misinterpretation.
In Tehran on Sunday, Hassan Rowhani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, announced that the letter had been given to the three ambassadors. Mr. Rowhani, who conducted the negotiations with the Europeans last year and who reports directly to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the suspension would not be indefinite. Rather, he said, it would continue "during the period of talks" with the European Union on the entire package deal, which includes a long list of incentives for Iran.
"We have agreed to suspend nearly all activities related to enrichment," Mr. Rowhani was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse in Tehran after meeting with the ambassadors of the three European countries. He added that what Iran had accepted "virtually corresponds" with what the 35-country ruling board of the International Atomic Energy Agency demanded in September.
Mr. Rowhani's deputy, Hossein Mousavian, who led the Iranian delegation talks in Paris a week ago, told reporters in Tehran that Iran had bowed to European demands that it suspend its program to convert raw uranium into uranium tetrafluoride. Uranium tetrafluoride is a precursor to the form of uranium that is fed into centrifuges to enrich it for use as fuel that can be used either for peaceful purposes or to develop nuclear weapons.
Mr. Mousavian also made clear that Iran's decision was not legally binding. "We have accepted the suspension as a voluntary step, and it does not create any obligations for us," Mr. Mousavian told Iranian state television.
On Nov. 25, the 35-country governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency is scheduled to decide whether to accept the Bush administration's call for Iran's case to be referred to the Security Council for possible sanctions over its nuclear program. The United States contends that Iran's program is a cover for a secret program to build nuclear bombs.
The Bush administration has repeatedly expressed skepticism over the European initiative, arguing that Iran needs to be punished, not rewarded, for its nuclear activities.
But in a surprising shift last Friday, President Bush lent support to the European initiative. At a joint news conference with the British prime minister, Tony Blair, at the White House, Mr. Bush praised Mr. Blair's efforts to try to achieve a deal.
"We don't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and we're working toward that end," Mr. Bush said. "And the truth of the matter is the prime minister gets a lot of credit for working with France and Germany to convince the Iranians to get rid of the processes that would enable them to develop a nuclear weapon."
-------- japan
Tokyo bows to Bush on defence
Peter Alford, Tokyo correspondent
November 15, 2004
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11387411%255E2703,00.html
UNDER pressure from the Bush administration, the Koizumi Government is moving quickly, if warily, to craft a new defence posture.
On Friday in Washington, within a fortnight of President George W. Bush's re-election, the two sides had completed a new round of preparatory talks on the realignment of US forces in Japan.
"Forces realignment" is the critical factor in the future shape of the Japan-US Security Treaty, the cornerstone of Japanese defence policy and strategy. And it is an important part of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's "global transformation" of the US military.
The Americans are ready to withdraw some troops and facilities from Okinawa, where their overbearing presence is the main cause of domestic friction over the alliance.
But they want Japan's co-operation in several force consolidations. The most significant - and troublesome for the Japanese - is the proposed transfer of US Army 1 Corps headquarters from Washington State to Camp Zama, southwest of Tokyo.
--------
Two Faces of Japan's Nuclear Power
donga.com
NOVEMBER 15, 2004
by Won-Jae Park parkwj@donga.com
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=060000&biid=2004111602978
The Japanese Daily Yomiuri said on November 15 that Japan, the world's fourth-largest plutonium holder (40 tons), has decided to reprocess its spent nuclear fuel (fuel rods) itself and to continue to produce plutonium.
Until now, the Japanese government has put the U.K. and France in charge of reprocessing its nuclear fuel. Yomiuri said that, however, starting in 2006, when the reprocessing facility in Japan is completed, the Japanese government plans to reprocess the nuclear fuel itself. If so, Japan is likely to posses an additional five tons of plutonium every year, which is equivalent to an amount that can produce 1,000 nuclear weapons.
In fact, until now, Japan has enjoyed several favors regarding nuclear power thanks to its cooperative relationship with the U.S. and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Knowing this, critics have pointed out that Japan is not in a position to raise its voice towards Korea for its nuclear experiments.
Energy Security First, Economic Efficiency Later-
The Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) under the Japanese Cabinet has recently established a new long-term plan, which makes reprocessing all spent nuclear fuel mandatory.
Against the institute's decision, Japanese electric power companies requested the JAERI to reclaim at least some of the rods, arguing that reprocessing all spent nuclear fuel would dramatically increase the production cost of electricity. But the institute rejected the request, saying that increasing the efficiency of using nuclear fuel is more important.
If reprocessed nuclear fuel is used, each Japanese household is expected to pay 800 yen (or 8,000 won) more annually for electric charges than they used to pay from power by the reclaimed fuel.
However, the Japanese government reconfirmed its decision, saying that the reclamation is likely to cause environmental problems and nuclear fuel is a significant resource as well.
Currently, Japan is known to have 52 nuclear power plants running at full capacity producing 1,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel. The Japanese press said that if a second reprocessing plant in Aomori of northern Japan starts operation in 2006, annually, 800 tons of fuel would be reprocessed, producing five tons of plutonium along with it.
Double Standard of Japan's Nuclear Policy
Japan is the only non-nuclear weapon nation that has run its own reprocessing facilities to extract plutonium from spent nuclear fuel.
As of late 2003, Japan holds a total of 40.7 tons of plutonium, including 5.5 tons in Japan, 21.6 tons in France and 13.6 tons in the U.K., which Japan has entrusted with reprocessing work. With this amount, Japan is capable of producing a large number of nuclear weapons anytime it wants. Though low enriched uranium, experts have pointed out that if Japan changes the use of the Aomori plant, it is possible to produce high-enriched uranium (HEU) there for nuclear weapons.
In the meantime, the IAEA reached an agreement that Japan's nuclear capability was unlikely to be converted into nuclear weapons, and it decreased the number of nuclear inspections on Japan from four to two times.
The problem is that Japan, still not deciding how to use surplus plutonium, continues to accumulate its plutonium reserve. Even the nation's conservative newspaper Yomiuri pointed out that the Japanese government should be clear regarding the use of plutonium so as not to attract suspicion of attempting nuclear weapons development.
-------- korea
Consort's death rocks Kim Jong-il
Michael Sheridan, Beijing
November 15, 2004
The Sunday Times
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11387512%255E2703,00.html
HARDLINERS have tightened their political grip on North Korea while Kim Jong-il, the Stalinist state's dictator, has retreated into virtual seclusion after the death of his favourite consort from cancer.
Chinese and Western sources say the regime has prepared for a state of siege as it confronts a re-elected US administration under George W. Bush that is determined to break Pyongyang and disarm it of nuclear weapons.
As Japanese envoys tried to persuade the North Koreans last week to rejoin multinational talks, Mr Kim's absence from the scene led to speculation a debilitating power struggle might have paralysed the ruling group.
This followed the death of Koh Young-hee, a dancer who had provided Mr Kim with an heir-apparent to the world's only communist dynasty.
"The loss of this woman was a blow," said a foreign diplomat.
"But (US Democratic candidate) John Kerry's loss in the US election was a harder one. These are now very worried men."
Diplomats and aid officials in Pyongyang noticed the first signs of a clampdown when some members of their North Korean staff were abruptly reassigned to new jobs and others became more nervous than usual about discussing current affairs. Restrictions had been imposed on foreigners' movements, they said.
Telephones used by foreign residents have been cut off and the secret police have assumed control of the country's mobile phone service.
Entry permits for foreigners have been curtailed.
The story of how personal bereavement and international crisis became intertwined began with the shipment of an elaborate coffin from Paris to Pyongyang during the summer.
North Korean diplomats had ordered it for Koh, 51, who flew home to die after specialists at an exclusive Paris clinic decided she could not be saved from breast cancer.
There was no public funeral, but North Koreans noticed that extravagant praise for a figure called Omonim ("respected mother") had vanished from propaganda documents.
Koh, whose family arrived from Japan in the 1960s, caught Mr Kim's roving eye when she was dancing in the renowned Mansudae Art Troupe.
The dictator, 63, has had at least two wives and many affairs, but defectors say Koh emerged as the most influential woman in a regime beset by dynastic rivalries.
In 1981, she gave birth to their son Kim Jong-chul, who was educated in Geneva and now works in the propaganda department of the ruling Korean Workers Party. A second son, Kim Jong-un, followed three years later.
South Korean intelligence officials have identified Jong-chul as Mr Kim's chosen heir, displacing his eldest son, Kim Jong-nam, whose mother, Song Hye-rim, died in Moscow in 2002 after seeking treatment for depression.
Chinese, Japanese and Russian diplomats have all urged the North Koreans to return to the negotiating table to avoid a showdown with the US. The response was a demand that the US President renounce a refugee law he signed to help North Korean refugees.
Meanwhile, the human toll of China's treaty of friendship with North Korea is mounting. The Chinese have sent home 62 defectors caught in police raids, knowing they are destined for concentration camps. The deportations, commented Chosun Ilbo, the South Korean newspaper, were "tantamount to telling them, 'Go and die"'.
--------
Roh urges US dialogue with North Korea
reuters
November 15, 2004
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_14-11-2004_pg4_3
SEOUL: South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun has called on the United States to try dialogue with North Korea rather than take a hardline approach in its efforts to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons programme.
"The use of force as a negotiation strategy should be restricted," Roh said in an address to an international affairs think tank in Los Angeles on Friday, according to a text released by the presidential Blue House on Saturday.
"I can't ask Koreans to risk a war again ... I believe the United States will respect the situation here." A blockade against North Korea would be undesirable too, as it would only drag out uncertainties and risks, Roh said.
"I'm saying here that there's no other way than dialogue. A hard-line policy means too much for the Korean peninsula."
According to Japanese and Chinese officials on Thursday, the North has said that early resumption of six-nation talks on the nuclear crisis would be difficult, insisting that it first wants to see what approach US President George W Bush will take to the issue following his recent re-election. At the beginning of his first term, Bush branded North Korea part of an "axis of evil" along with Iran and pre-war Iraq.
The United States, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea have held three rounds of talks with the Stalinist North since mid-2003, but Pyongyang declined to attend a previously agreed follow-up meeting in September.
In his Los Angeles speech, Roh insisted that the nuclear issue must be resolved through six-party talks, "peacefully and as soon as possible". "North Korea will certainly give up nuclear weapons," he said. "If it doesn't, Pyongyang won't be able to get any aid, not only from the United States and the Western world, but also from China, Russia and South Korea."
IAEA report: South Korea is satisfied with the IAEA report on its unauthorised nuclear experiments and expects an "impartial" conclusion from the U.N. agency's upcoming board meeting, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency report confirmed on Thursday that South Korea had enriched a tiny amount of uranium in 2000 to a level close to what could be used in an atomic weapon.
Seoul only recently revealed the experiments, saying that they had been conducted without government knowledge or approval.
"Although the quantities of nuclear material involved have not been significant, the nature of the activities - uranium enrichment and plutonium separation - and the failures by (South Korea) to report these activities in a timely manner ... is a matter of serious concern," said the report, obtained by Reuters.
-------- russia
European Commission's Joint Research Centre marks ten years of nuclear safeguard cooperation with Russian Federation
2004-11-15
CORDIS RTD-NEWS
http://dbs.cordis.lu/cgi-bin/srchidadb?CALLER=NHP_EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN=EN_RCN_ID:22917
The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) celebrated ten years of cooperation with the Russian Federation in the field of nuclear safeguards on 12 November.
Collaboration first began after the break-up of the Soviet Union and its centralised control and management structures for nuclear installations and material. JRC programmes and projects are carried out under the EU's Technical Assistance to the Commonwealth of Independence States (TACIS) programme.
'We are committed to developing further our relationship with the countries of the former Soviet Union to assist in the control of nuclear material,' said Roland Schenkel, acting Director-General of the JRC. 'Ten years of successful cooperation in the areas of training and the development of nuclear accountancy and monitoring systems has led to improved nuclear safety and security, which is so important in the fight against illicit trafficking and nuclear and radioactive material.'
The main objective of the partnership under TACIS has been the establishment of Nuclear Material Accountancy and Control (NMA&C) based on international standards. The EU has done this through a programme divided into three pillars focusing on: safeguards methodology training for experts, operators and inspectors; improving nuclear analytical capabilities serving NMA&C; and developing the instrumentation in cooperation with industry in the Russian Federation.
One of the big successes of the partnership has been the Russian Methodological Training Centre in Obninsk, which was established to facilitate training in internationally approved nuclear safeguards methods. To date, over 2,000 nuclear experts from the Russian Federation and the Russian nuclear regulatory body have been trained. Legislation on nuclear material control has also been completed, and pilot implementation projects have been carried out in several nuclear facilities.
Future TACIS projects will continue to develop reference laboratories and methodological training centres for the exchange of expertise. The JRC is also planning to provide expertise and support in the area of environmental monitoring and waste management.
For further information, please consult the following web address: http://npns.jrc.it/frameset.html
-------- terrorism
Al-Qaeda considers moving nuclear material to US through Mexico: report
Mon Nov 15, 2004
AFP
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041115/ts_alt_afp/us_mexico_pakistan_041115145032
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Al-Qaeda has considered plans to smuggle nuclear material into the United States through neighboring Mexico, an Egyptian operative from the extremist group told interrogators after his capture in Pakistan, Time magazine reported.
Sharif al-Masri, who was captured late August near Pakistan's border with Iran and Afghanistan, has told interrogators of "al-Qaeda's interest in moving nuclear materials from Europe to either the US or Mexico," according to a report circulating among US government officials, the weekly magazine reported.
Osama bin Laden's network has considered plans to "smuggle nuclear materials to Mexico, then operatives would carry material into the US," Masri said, according to the report, parts of which were read to Time.
Though unproved, Masri's account has added to US concerns over its border with Mexico, the magazine said.
US and Mexican intelligence officials have also discussed reports from several Al-Qaeda detainees saying that Mexico could potentially be used as a staging area "to acquire end-stage chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear material."
US officials are closely monitoring heavy trucks crossing the border, while Mexicans will watch flight schools and aviation facilities in Mexico.
Some senior US officials are worried about the theft in southern California of a crop duster plane that was seen flying south toward Mexico two weeks ago.
Though it is unclear whether the theft is connected to terrorism, a senior US law enforcement official told Time crop dusters can be used to disperse toxic agents.
-------- u.n.
Arms Control Glance
By The Associated Press
November 15, 2004
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-arms-control-glance,0,412078.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines
A look at some Bush administration nonproliferation activities:
- Proliferation Security Initiative: Begun in 2003, this calls on countries to work together to intercept components of weapons of mass destruction.
- Global Threat Reduction Initiative: Introduced this year, this provides assistance for nations to remove and secure high-risk radioactive materials so they can't be used by terrorists.
- Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program: This 1991 program initiated by Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and then-Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., provides funding for the dismantling of weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union and finding work for former weapons scientists. In 2003, it was expanded to other nations and President Bush recently approved using Nunn-Lugar money to destroy chemical weapons in Albania, the first time for use outside the Soviet Union.
With support from the administration, Lugar is proposing changes to the program intended to remove bureaucratic obstacles and proposing a new program for the dismantling of conventional weapons.
- Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty: This long-debated treaty would ban production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons. The administration supports the treaty but says verification is not possible and that trying to develop verification procedures would delay approval of the treaty. Some arms control advocates say the treaty would be meaningless if compliance can't be verified.
- Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty: The administration supports an additional protocol to the treaty intended to make it harder for countries to use civil nuclear programs as a cover for nuclear weapons programs.
- U.N. Security Council Resolution 1540: Approved in April, this resolution sought by the administration required all U.N. members to pass laws preventing "non-state actors" such as terrorists and black marketeers from making or trafficking in weapons of mass destruction or the materials, the materials to make them and the missiles and other systems to deliver them.
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-------- u.s. nuc facilities
-------- tennessee
Vandy hosts scientist workshop on nuclear materials
November 15, 2004
American City Business Journals Inc.
http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2004/11/15/daily2.html
Russian and American scientists are meeting this week at Vanderbilt University to share methods and research related to the management of nuclear materials, including those at nuclear power plants, weapons sites and nuclear waste facilities.
The workshop is sponsored by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Vienna, Austria, in cooperation with the International Science and Technology Center in Moscow and Vanderbilt.
The keynote speaker is Alexander Eliseev, chief of the Headquarters for Civil Defense and Emergency Situations of Moscow City Government and Larry Satkowiak of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
-------- vermont
Emergency alert problem silences radios in nuclear planning zone
By Kathryn Casa
Vermont Guardian
November 15, 2004
http://www.vermontguardian.com/local/0904/VYRadios.shtml
BRATTLEBORO - A weeks-old glitch in southern Vermont's emergency alert system has disabled an unknown number of the thousands of weather-alert radios used to notify people of a nuclear crisis, emergency management officials have told the Vermont Guardian.
The problem, if it persists, could force regulators to increase inspections at the plant or take other action.
Officials from the National Weather Service in Albany, NY, were in Brattleboro last week to conduct a special test of the alert system. They determined that some radios did not emit a tone when tested.
"We haven't been able to determine exactly where the problem lies," Warning Coordination Meteorologist Raymond O'Keefe said Monday.
A second test will be conducted from Albany between noon-1 p.m. Tuesday, O'Keefe said. The problem came to the attention of emergency-management officials "several weeks ago," he said, adding that he did not yet know enough to determine whether the problem is with the radios themselves, the transmission lines or the local transmitter. There are 21 sirens and some 5,000 weather-alert radios in the three-state, 10-mile emergency planning zone around Vermont Yankee, according to the Nuclear Regulator Commission. Of those radios, Vermont emergency planners said there are five or six different makes and models in use.
Contacted Monday afternoon, officials at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and a spokesman for Vermont Yankee, said they were not aware of the problem.
NRC Region I spokesman Neil Sheehan wrote in an e-mail that the agency "will be checking into this and if there is a problem with this or any other aspect of the system, we would expect Vermont Yankee to remedy it as expediently as possible.
"If the system fails to meet specific measures of performance, we could heighten our level of inspection until satisfactory improvement is shown," Sheehan wrote. "We also have other regulatory tools at our disposal, including orders, if problems persisted. "In the event of an accident, prompt notification of those who live and work around the plant would be essential. The system must be capable of notifying members of the public in a timely manner."
The NRC last week issued a finding of "low to moderate safety significance" after inspectors determined that Vermont Yankee does not keep adequate records on the number or condition of weather-alert radios within the 10-mile emergency planning zone surrounding the nuclear power plant in Vernon.
In a Nov 12 letter to Vermont Yankee site Vice President Jay Thayer, NRC inspectors said the plant "did not have the means to provide early notification to the entire populace within the plume exposure pathway emergency planning zone.
"Specifically, it was determined that Entergy did not properly assure the distribution and maintenance of tone-alert radios, which are relied upon to alert the populace outside of siren coverage within the emergency planning zone. In your efforts to advertise the availability of the tone alert radios, you ultimately placed the onus on the individuals who needed the radios and not on your organization," the letter stated.
Vermont Yankee has subsequently begun making more radios available to the public. "It's essential that these radios function and they're capable of receiving the signal if an event did occur at the plant," Sheehan said Tuesday.
NRC inspectors reviewed the plant's emergency preparedness system between July 26-Oct. 12.
O'Keefe said during his tests in Brattleboro last week "some of the radios worked and some didn't." On Tuesday, a signal will be sent to the same set of radios from the Albany transmitter, rather than the one near Brattleboro, he said.
During the NWS weekly test of the emergency tone-alert system, a signal leaves the Albany office and travels via land lines and microwaves to a transmitter near Brattleboro. From there, the alert is sent to weather radios, which alert listeners to any weather or radiological emergency within the region.
"People have indicated that they haven't gotten the weekly test on some radios and they have gotten them on other radios," O'Keefe said.
The problem could be with the radios, the lines or the transmitter, or some combination, he said. Emergency planners will narrow it down through a process of elimination, he said.
The problem exists within the Brattleboro Municipal Center, where Town Manager Jerry Remillard said the radio in his office works consistently, but some radios upstairs in the state emergency management office do not work.
Steve Goldsmith, the state's emergency-response planner in Brattleboro, did not return phone calls on Monday.
-------- us nuc waste
Feds don't have funds to test nuclear waste casks
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
November 15, 2004
http://www.harktheherald.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=40145&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
SALT LAKE CITY -- A federal agency is lacking the funds to test casks that will be used to transport nuclear waste across the country to the underground repository planned for Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
But even without that testing, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved the casks for transporting 3,000 tons of waste yearly past more than 11 million people in 45 states -- including Utah -- to the repository 90 miles north of Las Vegas.
The NRC, however, won't test casks to demonstrate their ability to survive severe real-world accidents, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Sunday. The agency, instead, is relying on computer analyses and scale modeling.
One in question is the cask model destined to hold waste at a temporary storage facility in Utah.
Critics contend the computer simulations are inadequate.
"The NRC has adopted as fact the fictional notion there are no real-world accidents that could cause casks to fail," said Bob Halstead, a consultant to Nevada on Yucca Mountain transportation issues.
NRC senior transportation adviser Earl Easton says the agency doesn't have the money to do real-world testing.
"We're trying to scrape together the funds," Easton said.
The states of Utah and Nevada are demanding full testing of the casks.
NRC regulations require casks to pass a series of hypothetical accident conditions: a 30-foot free fall onto an unyielding surface, followed by a 40-inch fall onto a steel rod six inches in diameter.
Then, casks would be subjected to a 1,475-degree Fahrenheit fire for 30 minutes before being submersed in 3 feet of water for eight hours. The sequence is supposed to mimic a rail or truck crash.
The casks are protected by "impact limiters," which are caps on both ends that make the containers resemble barbells and cover vulnerable seals and bolts.
The NRC has tested full-scale impact limiters by dropping them onto unyielding surfaces. But Halstead said the most dangerous impact wouldn't be to the limiters.
"It's a sideways truck jackknifing so the bridge abutment hits the cask in the body, bypassing the limiter, causing it to twist and force the lid to pop open, like Popeye's can of spinach," he said.
That could cause a tiny opening and allow lethal radioactive cesium and strontium to escape.
The casks, weighing between 25 and 125 tons, are made of multiple layers of steel and other materials. The NRC has certified 16 different designs, including a rail-transport model made by New Jersey-based Holtec International that Private Fuel Storage would use at its facility proposed for the Skull Valley Goshute Reservation 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.
Holtec would be willing to sell the $3 million casks for any kind of testing NRC would want to do, said Joy Russell, a Holtec spokeswoman.
Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of eight utilities, is planning to send 40,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel to an open-air storage site in Skull Valley.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board is expected to decide early next year whether Skull Valley can safely keep nuclear fuel. The board in March 2003 stalled construction by ruling the chances of a fighter jet from Hill Air Force Base crashing into the storage pad makes the project too risky.
As planned, the storage pad would hold up to 4,000 casks filled with depleted nuclear fuel -- about 10 million rods -- across 100 acres of the Skull Valley. The waste would be shipped over rail lines, mostly from reactors east of the Mississippi. Utah has no nuclear power plants.
-------- MILITARY
-------- britain
Nerve gas death was 'unlawful'
Monday, 15 November, 2004
BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/wiltshire/4013767.stm
Ronald Maddison died after an experiment at Porton Down The inquest into a young airman who died 51 years ago during secret nerve gas tests has ruled that he was unlawfully killed.
Ronald Maddison, 20, from County Durham, died after being exposed to sarin at Porton Down in Wiltshire.
The original inquest in 1953 ruled that Leading Aircraftman Maddison's death was caused by misadventure.
In 2002, the High Court quashed that verdict and ordered that a new inquest should be held.
After hearing 64 days of evidence, the jury concluded that the cause of Mr Maddison's death was "application of a nerve agent in a non-therapeutic experiment".
An MoD spokesman said: "The Ministry of Defence notes the jury's findings and will now take some time to reflect on these.
It was Russian Roulette, Ronald Maddison was just the first... they have got away with murder Terry Alderson, 74, Porton Down veteran
"We will be seeking legal advice on whether we wish to consider a judicial review.
"We don't believe the verdict today has implications for other volunteers. However, we will consider the implications."
The original inquest was held behind closed doors "for reasons of national security".
Volunteer Terry Alderson, 74, said outside the court: "It was Russian Roulette, Ronald Maddison was just the first.
"Reading between the lines they have got away with murder - our health was never monitored afterwards and nobody knows how many died.
'Cold research'
"This shows what liars (the MoD) were - nobody volunteered for these tests. We were sent in there like sheep."
Family lawyer Alan Care said: "We would now join with the Porton Down veterans in calling for a public inquiry."
Mr Maddison's family claimed he was tricked into taking part in the tests, and was told he was helping to find a cure for the common cold.
We would now join with the Porton Down veterans in calling for a public inquiry Family lawyer Alan Care
Mr Maddison was exposed to 200 milligrammes of sarin which was dropped on to a piece of uniform material wrapped around his arm.
The second inquiry was prompted after ex-serviceman Gordon Bell complained to Wiltshire Police that he had been duped into similar tests.
The constabulary launched Operation Antler which looked at experiments using chemical and biological agents at Porton Down government research centre between 1939 and 1989.
The operation found that the coroner at the original inquest was "not apparently provided with all the potentially available material".
The outcome could lead to legal action by veterans of Porton Down who claim they were duped into taking part in similar dangerous trials.
The hearing, at Trowbridge Magistrates' Court, lasted six months.
-------- business
CONTRACTS AWARDED
By Washington Technology
Monday, November 15, 2004; Page E04.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50196-2004Nov14?language=printer
CACI International Inc. of Arlington won a $15.7 million contract from the Navy to support its command and control processor/common data link management system.
KSJ & Associates Inc. of Falls Church won a $30 million contract to perform program management functions for the Defense Department's Tricare Management Activity, part of the military health system.
Northrop Grumman Information Technology of Herndon won a $46 million contract from Indianapolis/Marion County, Ind., for outsourced informaton technology services.
Constellation NewEnergy Inc. of Baltimore won a $44.3 million contract from the Defense Energy Support Center for various Defense Department and federal civilian installations in the District, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Dimensions International Inc. of Alexandria won a $12.2 million contract from the Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command for armor installation for medium tactical vehicles.
VSE Corp. of Alexandria won an $11 million contract from the Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command for the application of a fuel tank self-sealing system and necessary add-on armor panels for fuel-dispensing tankers.
Integrated Systems Support Associates of Herndon won a $1.3 million contract from the Navy for program management and engineering services.
Nextel of California Inc.'s McLean office won a $20 million contract from the Navy for nationwide and branch-wide cellular phone service.
AT&T Wireless Inc. of Beltsville won a $20 million contract from the Navy for nationwide and branch-wide cellular phone service.
Building Technology Inc. of Silver Spring won a $1.5 million contract from the General Services Administration for management, organizational and business improvement.
Dimensions International Inc. of Alexandria won a $12.2 million contract from the Navy for tank/automotive services.
Intelligent Decision Systems Inc. of Fairfax won a $4.1 million contract from the Navy for education, training, evaluation and development technical support services.
Amentra Inc. of Richmond won a $1 million contract from the General Services Administration for management, organizational and business improvement.
Leadership Performance Solutions Inc. of Falls Church won a $2.5 million contract from the General Services Administration for management, organizational and business improvement.
C2 Technologies Inc. of Vienna won a $6.7 million contract from the Environmental Protection Agency for course development and video services.
Systems Planning and Analysis Inc. of Alexandria won a $3.6 million contract from the Navy for Strategic Weapons Systems program assessment support.
Johnson Controls Security Systems LLC of Gaithersburg won a $3.8 million contract from the Department of Health and Human Services for the nationwide MDI security network system.
ICS Technologies of McLean won a $3.2 million contract from the Army for AFRN equipment.
Staff writer Judith Mbuya contributed to this report.
-------- europe
Hungarian MPs vote to withdraw troops from Iraq by year-end
BUDAPEST (AFP)
Nov 15, 2004
http://www.spacewar.com/2004/041115191330.44zyh7xx.html
The Hungarian parliament voted Monday to withdraw the country's 300 troops from Iraq by the end of the year, rejecting a government initiative that would have prolonged the deployment until March
Conservative opposition parties made good on their pledge to block the extension of the military mandate beyond the current one, which expires on December 31.
The vote in parliament was 191 in favour and 159 against the extension of the deployment, short of the two-thirds majority needed in order to approve the measure.
Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany earlier this month said the government planned to withdraw the soldiers from Iraq, but wanted to do so three months after their mandate expires, on March 31, in order to see through the Iraqi elections planned for January.
The Iraqi mission has been unpopular in Hungary and public opinion is also strongly in favour of a quick withdrawal.
Some 54 percent of Hungarians want the soldiers to return home before year-end, while only 19 percent are in favour of them staying through the Iraqi elections, according to the results of a Median poll published in Nepszabadsag daily on Monday.
Gyurcsany, meanwhile, has called a troop pullout prior to the Iraqi elections "irresponsible politics".
"We must not flee from Iraq but come back with respect," Gyurcsany said in a radio interview last week.
"In order to do this we must stay through the democratic elections which is the most important condition in the establishment of a democratic order.
"To come home before this is irresponsible politics," he added.
A deputy of the main conservative opposition Fidesz party, Istvan Simicsko, however argued that Hungary has already sacrificed enough in Iraq and expressed doubt that the elections would restore order there.
"There is a lot of uncertainty in Iraq and the Iraqi elections may not establish order in the country," Simicsko told AFP on Monday.
"The Hungarian public is also overwhelmingly opposed to us staying in Iraq and political decisions must reflect the will of the people," he added.
"Our mission in Iraq is over."
The Hungarian soldiers, charged with carrying out logistics work, are based at Hilla, 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad under Polish command. So far the contingent has suffered one fatality when a soldier was killed by a bomb in June.
Hungary is one of some 30 countries that contributed troops to the US-led force in Iraq in March 2003.
Several allies have since withdrawn, including Spain, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, the Philippines and Thailand.
Other coalition members, such as Poland, Italy, Ukraine and Latvia have announced they would begin to scale back the scope of their deployment or withdraw in early 2005.
Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot on Monday confirmed his country's decision to withdraw its troops from Iraq next March, despite a call by Washington for the troops to remain involved in the strife-torn country.
"We will leave Iraq by mid-March ... By that time Iraqi security will have taken over," Bot told journalists in The Hague.
The Netherlands has 1,300 soldiers serving under British command in southern Iraq.
Hungarian Defence Minister Ferenc Juhasz has said that in case Hungary, a member of NATO, opted for withdrawal from Iraq it would look for other military missions abroad to which it could contribute the troops currently serving in strife-torn country.
Hungary currently has 1,000 troops taking part in international peacekeeping missions, including Afghanistan.
-------- iraq
Trouble Spots Dot Iraqi Landscape
Attacks Erupting Away From Fallujah
By Karl Vick
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, November 15, 2004; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A49770-2004Nov14?language=printer
BAGHDAD, Nov. 14 -- The fighting started in Mosul two days after U.S. tanks entered Fallujah. Armed men appeared in a sudden tide on a main street in Iraq's third-largest city, a wide avenue where so many American convoys had been ambushed that locals nicknamed it "Death Street."
At 11 a.m. Thursday, the target was an armored SUV. Witnesses said that after its Western passengers were chased into a police station, the driver was burned alive atop the vehicle as the attackers shouted "Jew!" The city of 1.8 million people then devolved into chaos. Thousands of police officers abandoned their precinct houses. The governor's house was set alight. Insurgents took the police chief's brother, himself a senior officer, into his front yard and shot him dead.
By Sunday, the dawn of a three-day festival celebrating the end of Ramadan, control over sections of the city remained in doubt. In streets emptied by fear and gunfire, insurgents battled hundreds of Iraqi National Guard reinforcements dispatched by the interim government to quell an uprising that was at once largely expected and disquieting.
U.S. and Iraqi officials said they knew that Ramadan would bring attacks, and that the widely publicized offensive in Fallujah would spark violent provocations in other predominantly Sunni Muslim centers. But the scale of the Mosul attack surprised the U.S. forces in the city. And the disintegration of the city's police force recalled the debacles of April, when a suddenly rampant insurgency shattered faith in the security forces that are expected to assume the ever more difficult task of making Iraq at least reasonably safe.
"They were scaring us, and we are from Mosul, so we withdrew to our houses," said Yusuf Rashid, a police officer in a Mosul neighborhood named "Justice."
As fighting winds down in a Fallujah that has been returned by overwhelming force to the sovereignty of the new Iraq, U.S. forces are turning to the many other cities besieged by a fresh wave of insurgent attacks. The resistance remains concentrated in regions dominated by the Sunni Muslim minority, further complicating the interim government's stated desire to include Iraq's entire population in January elections. U.S. tanks and attack helicopters on Sunday swooped into Baiji, the midway point between Mosul and Baghdad, where insurgents destroyed a key highway bridge and claimed the city. Masked men carried guns aloft in a protest Sunday in Baqubah, a chronic trouble spot for U.S. forces just northeast of the capital. U.S. forces also engaged fighters in Tall Afar, a largely Turkmen city west of Mosul, and in Hawija, northwest of Baghdad.
Bands of armed men moved freely at night in several neighborhoods of Baghdad, where the number of attacks on U.S. forces has more than doubled from a week ago. Ramadi, 30 miles west of Fallujah, remains a rebel stronghold.
And U.S. and Iraqi forces continue to fight in Samarra, the city advertised as a model for the assault on Fallujah when 1st Infantry Division tanks rolled in there six weeks ago to reclaim the city from insurgents. Under the curfew again in effect there, Samarra residents are allowed on the street for only four hours each morning, and over the weekend its latest police chief, installed just last month, quit.
"We never believed a fight in Fallujah would mean an end to the insurgency," a U.S. Embassy official in Baghdad said. "We've never defined success that way.
"We still have the very difficult problem of a Sunni insurgency."
Just how much the move on Fallujah is roiling the rest of Iraq is a matter still being assessed by Iraqi and U.S. officials. They appear heartened that the country's Shiite majority remains quiescent and largely animated by the prospect of asserting power through the ballot. That marks the sharpest contrast with the April uprising, when militias loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr took control of cities across the country's south, opening a vast new military front just as Marines assaulted Fallujah the first time.
Sadr's defeat in August by a U.S. offensive in the holy city of Najaf, followed by weeks of grinding assault in the Baghdad slum named for his father, did much to persuade the radical cleric to shift his energies to politics. For Iraqi and U.S. decision-makers, it also reinforced the decision to confront the Sunni insurgency in its own strongholds.
But if the tactical battle was won in Fallujah -- removing both a symbol of successful resistance and a genuine paramilitary base -- it remains far from clear who will prevail in the larger strategic fight to make the interim government credible to a Sunni population embittered by the loss of influence it enjoyed under the government of former president Saddam Hussein.
The attacks in Mosul did not signal imminent success, at least not to its residents.
"The city is a mess," said Bahaa Aldeen Abdulaziz, owner of the Casablanca Hotel. "The shops are closed. There's no security. And the reason for all this is because the Americans invaded Fallujah.
"And Fallujah will never finish. It has gotten into people's blood."
"I believe the situation will continue like this, and Mosul will become another Fallujah," said Noofel Mohammed Amen, a shoe salesman. "And later on all the cities of Iraq will be Fallujah."
The most immediate concern for the interim government is manpower. Iraq has no more than eight battalions of the newly trained troops, whose main job is to occupy cities after U.S. forces defeat insurgents. Duty in Samarra and Fallujah, which have about half a million people between them, was already stretching that force thin. Adding duty in Mosul "means you're operating right out on the edge of what forces you have -- Iraqi forces," the U.S. official said.
American forces may be stretched thin as well. A battalion deployed outside Fallujah raced back to its Mosul base when insurgents struck, attacking in groups as large as 50 at a time, numbers not previously seen in the city, said Lt. Col. Paul Hastings of Task Force Olympia, the brigade that in February replaced a much larger unit, the 101st Airborne Division.
The magnitude of the Mosul assault generated a wave of excited reports that officials feared would further undermine public order elsewhere in Iraq. The city's governor went on state television to attack "lies" on Arabic-language satellite news channels, which at one point reported that U.S. forces had evacuated one of their main bases. On Sunday, the interim Interior Ministry issued a statement denying that insurgents had overrun two police stations in northern Baghdad.
The news was not all bad for the government. Also Sunday, Najaf buzzed with the news that local tribesmen had carried out three days of devastating attacks in the town of Latifiyah. Located on the exceedingly dangerous road between Baghdad and Najaf, the town harbors extremists blamed for killing 18 young Iraqi men returning from Najaf after signing up for the National Guard earlier this month. The victims' tribal leaders, incensed after extremists demanded payment before handing over the bodies, last week sent fighters north to burn farms and carry out revenge killings, officials in Najaf said.
But in the Sunni Triangle west and north of Baghdad, the insurgency regularly demonstrates its resilience. In Samarra, local insurgents and foreign fighters driven from the city Oct. 1 began trickling back a month later. A wave of car bombs and mortar attacks Nov. 6 killed 17 Iraqi police and made the city a combat zone once more.
Residents assembled each day at the bridge leading from the main highway across the Tigris River into town, shut down by U.S. forces.
"It is our fault," said Abu Muhammed, stranded on the wrong side. "We sold the city to those terrorists and let them enter, and now we cannot enter because of them."
"They made it hard to live till the army came and freed the city," said another man, who gave his name as Abu Omar. "We were able to move around freely and stay out late at night. But now they are back."
Special correspondents Naseer Nouri near Samarra and Saad Sarhan in Najaf contributed to this report.
--------
Fighting in Fallujah Nears End
U.S., Iraqi Forces Target Small Pockets of Insurgents; Commanders Claim Victory
By Jackie Spinner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 15, 2004; Page A16
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49798-2004Nov14.html
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov. 14 -- U.S. and Iraqi security forces scoured Fallujah for remaining insurgent fighters and pounded the city's southernmost neighborhoods with heavy artillery and bombs late Sunday night, as military commanders declared victory seven days after launching their largest operation since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
"The city has been seized," said Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. "We have liberated the city of Fallujah."
Marines found the mutilated body of a Western woman in a street Sunday as they searched for the remaining fighters, the Associated Press reported. The disemboweled body, which could not be immediately identified, was wrapped in a blood-soaked blanket, the Marines said.
Two Western women abducted last month from Baghdad are known to be missing. Margaret Hassan, 59, director of CARE International in Iraq, and Teresa Borcz Khalifa, 54, a Polish-born longtime resident of Iraq, were taken at gunpoint.
The military said 38 U.S. troops had been killed and 275 wounded since the offensive operation began Nov. 8. Three of the fatalities resulted from noncombat injuries. Six Iraqi soldiers have been killed and more than 40 wounded. Military commanders estimated that between 1,000 and 1,200 insurgents have been killed.
Marine units engaged fighters throughout the day, poking at what Sattler called "isolated pockets of enemy resisters."
"If they are trapped and isolated and want to fight till the death, we'll have no choice but to accommodate them," he said.
With Iraqi soldiers following closely behind, the Marines went door-to-door Sunday, searching for fighters and stockpiles of weapons. A day earlier, advancing Army units found evidence of a highly trained and well-organized fighting force dressed in professional military uniforms.
"The enemy is broken into very small groups," Sattler said during a visit with wounded troops at a Naval field hospital outside the city, about 35 miles west of Baghdad. "They don't have eyes. They can't see outside. They are truly broken into isolated pockets."
A U.S. official in Baghdad said most of the fighters carried no identification.
"The normal Iraqi would carry minimal identification, ID cards at least. Food ration cards or something," the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "These people are carrying nothing."
U.S. and Iraqi forces have detained more than 1,000 military-age men since the battle started, and Sattler said he expected that two-thirds would be questioned and freed.
U.S. forces failed to capture Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian leader of a group linked to al Qaeda that has claimed responsibility for numerous car bombings targeting Iraqi civilians and security forces, assassinations of local leaders and beheadings of foreign hostages.
"I feel we really had an impact" on Zarqawi's network, Sattler said. "We don't know where he is. Maybe he's dead and we don't know. We weren't really focused on him."
Iraqi soldiers who participated in the battle said Sunday that they also felt confident that the insurgency had been broken.
"They cannot move," said a 22-year-old soldier from the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad who gave his name only as Ahmed. He had been shot in his left shoulder and was recovering at an Iraqi army base outside the city.
"We destroyed the head of the snake, their leaders," he said. "They don't have anyone to lead them."
Although Iraqi forces fought mainly in the rear of advancing U.S. troops, they were responsible for keeping areas clear after the Americans pushed through, a role that military commanders said would remain vitally important after the combat operation had ended.
Sattler said U.S. forces would keep a "hand on the shoulder" of the Iraqi security forces.
A U.S. official in Baghdad said the Fallujah battle was nearly over. "There are some groups still fighting but it's pretty much the end of the game. It is clearly not a battle that is going to go on for days and day and days."
Correspondent Karl Vick in Baghdad and special correspondent Omar Fekeiki contributed to this report.
--------
THE INSURGENCY
Rebels Routed in Falluja; Fighting Spreads Elsewhere in Iraq
November 15, 2004
The New York Times
By DEXTER FILKINS and JAMES GLANZ
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/15/international/middleeast/15falluja.html?oref=login&pagewanted=all&position=
FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 14 - American forces overran the last center of rebel resistance in Falluja on Sunday after a weeklong invasion that smashed what they called the principal base for the Iraqi insurgency.
While much of the city lay in smoking ruins and isolated bands of rebels still harassed American and Iraqi troops, the American takeover of Falluja addressed a growing problem that had gnawed at the Iraq occupation force for months. But American military commanders were reluctant to declare the invasion a total success and were forced to contend with insurgent violence spreading elsewhere, particularly in the northern city of Mosul.
The governor of Mosul's province, saying he had lost faith in local security forces, called in thousands of Kurdish militiamen for the first time to help quell the insurgent uprising there. The American commander in the area, Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, called the situation "tense, but certainly not desperate," and said the next few days would bring more hard fighting.
Tanks and armored vehicles, their guns blazing in all directions, finished the sweep through Falluja early Sunday and were followed by infantry troops of the 15,000-member invasion force that had first besieged the city on Nov. 7. The patrols turned up huge caches of weapons in methodical house-to-house searches.
"We're sweeping through the city now," said Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski, a senior Marine commander in Iraq. "We're clearing out pockets of resistance. There are groups numbering from 5 to 30. They're moving, too. They're trying to get behind us."
"People will never appreciate the movement of soldiers down here, what it took to move them and immediately conduct a relief in place with the soldiers," he said. "It ought to go down in the history books."
American commanders said 38 American servicemembers had been killed and 275 wounded in the Falluja assault, and the commanders estimated that 1,200 to 1,600 insurgents - about half the number thought to have been entrenched in Falluja - had been killed. But there was little evidence of dead insurgents in the streets and warrens where some of the most intense combat took place.
Army reconstruction teams were already beginning to survey the devastation in the city, which will require an enormous rebuilding effort. Most of Falluja's 250,000 residents had fled the city before the assault began and have been staying with relatives or in makeshift camps.
Solely from a military standpoint, the operation redressed a disastrous assault on Falluja last April that was called off when unconfirmed reports of large civilian casualties drove the political cost too high.
This time, the Americans, with the limited participation of Iraqi security forces, pummeled a dark and mostly abandoned city defended only by a wraithlike band of insurgents who fired Kalashnikovs, mortars and rockets at the Americans and then fled into alleys and apartment blocks, only to reappear elsewhere.
In the end they were no match for American armor, air power and military training.
As the battle for Falluja wound down, however, clashes continued for the fourth day between insurgents and American and Iraqi forces in Mosul. American commanders said guerrillas remained deeply rooted in the heart of that city. The revolt also appeared to be spreading to the town of Tal Afar, near the Syrian border, forcing American forces to encircle the area. In Ramadi, the insurgent stronghold 30 miles west of Falluja, violence against American troops continued as well. There were several attacks with small-arms fire, and insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade at troops. American commanders said many rebels who had fled Falluja were now in Ramadi.
A representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most powerful Shiite cleric in Iraq, condemned the violence of both the Americans and the insurgent fighters.
"What is happening in Falluja, Samarra, Latifiya and other cities in Iraq is a disaster, because the occupation doesn't want our cities to be stable," the representative, Murtada al-Qezweni, said during prayers in the southern city of Karbala at the start of Id al-Fitr, the three-day holiday marking the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.
In the northern Kurdish region, a member of the National Assembly died in a car crash on Saturday night after being ambushed by gunmen, Reuters reported. The politician, Waddah Hassan Abdel Amir, an official in the Iraqi Communist Party, and two of his aides were chased down by four cars between the cities of Khalis and Erbil.
Elsewhere, two relatives of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi were released by insurgents, though a third remained captive, Al Jazeera, the Arab news network, reported Sunday. News of the releases, attributed to unidentified sources, could not be immediately confirmed.
Those said to be released were the wife and daughter-in-law of Ghazi Majeed Allawi, a 75-year-old cousin, the network reported. The three were kidnapped last Tuesday. The next day, a group called Ansar al-Jihad posted an Internet message saying it would behead the three hostages within 48 hours unless Dr. Allawi called off the invasion of Falluja and released all prisoners in Iraq.
The fate of Dr. Allawi's cousin, Ghazi Allawi, remains unknown.
Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin of France said at a political congress that he believed that two French journalists abducted south of Baghdad in August were in a relatively calm area of Iraq. Mr. Raffarin said the assumption was based on information from the journalists' Syrian driver, who was discovered in a house in Falluja last week. "The messages we are getting have reassured us a little," Mr. Raffarin said, according to Reuters.
The kidnapped reporters are Georges Malbrunot, a writer for Le Figaro, and Christian Chesnot of Radio France Internationale.
In Baghdad, rocket and mortar explosions jolted the downtown area and the fortified compound known as the Green Zone, which houses the interim Iraqi government and the American Embassy.
The absence of insurgent bodies in Falluja has remained an enduring mystery. Roaming American patrols found few on Sunday in their sweeps of the devastated landscape where the rebels chose to make their last stand, the southern Falluja neighborhood called Shuhada by the Iraqis and Queens by the American troops. Now, the Americans are rushing in engineers who will begin rebuilding what the conflict has just destroyed.
Falluja's power grid, for instance, is so decayed that it must be turned on sector by sector or it will fail, officials said. If residents manage to return before the power is on, they could be without services like plumbing, water and heat, and any ensuing crises could aid rebels hoping to destabilize the reconstruction.
Even as those needs loom, however, military officials have not yet allowed aid groups into the city, saying that the situation is not safe. The decision has outraged some critics who say substantial numbers of people still need aid.
Although large-scale fighting in Falluja appeared to have ended, American commanders have been reluctant to declare success.
"We don't want this to become a microcosm of what this whole country has become," said one Marine officer who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the American claim of victory in Iraq in May 2003.
In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said that it was too early to declare victory but that American and Iraqi troops had achieved one of their major objectives in eliminating the insurgents' largest haven.
Troops were still combing the deserted houses in southern Falluja on Sunday after a mechanized unit smashed through the Shuhada neighborhood the day before.
The searches have turned up large caches of weaponry like artillery shells and mortar rounds along with electronics for bombs and mujahedeen literature. Fearing booby traps, the troops generally entered the houses only after tanks rammed through walls or specialists put explosive charges on doors. American troops also discovered the body of a woman on a street in Falluja, but it was unclear whether she was an Iraqi or a foreigner.
As the searches moved southward through the neighborhood, leaving a swath of devastation behind, fighting continued around the city, and at least one marine was killed by a sniper on Sunday morning, shot through the head from an area that had been all but obliterated the night before.
It seemed clear that any further resistance would have to come from smaller bands of rebels rather than from a coherent fighting force.
In the northern city of Baiji, the site of Iraq's largest oil refinery, American troops fought off an ambush on Sunday morning, said Capt. Bill Coppernoll, a spokesman for the First Infantry Division. The troops called in air support and pursued the insurgents into a building. Apache helicopters fired missiles while M1 tanks blasted the building.
A Black Hawk helicopter carrying medical supplies north of Falluja was struck by antiaircraft fire on Sunday, but landed safely. Another helicopter was struck east of Falluja, but managed to land safely at the Baghdad airport.
Reporting for this article was contributed by Edward Wong from Baghdad, Eric Schmitt from Washington, Robert F. Worth from Falluja and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from Karbala.
--------
'Catastrophic conditions' in Falluja
aljazeera
15 November 2004
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7D9D45C5-DD8A-4F6C-9A19-A7EF943DCF38.htm
The six-day US-led assault on Falluja has turned catastrophic for civilians there and fuelled fighting in Iraq's northern city of Mosul.
"Conditions in Falluja are catastrophic," Firdus al-Abadi, spokeswoman for the Iraqi Red Crescent in Baghdad, said.
A four-truck convoy of relief supplies left Baghdad on Saturday for Falluja, even though the US military and Iraq's interim government have not accepted the Red Crescent's pleas for permission to enter the urban war zone.
Dangerous destination
"Our destination is Falluja. We know it is risky but this is our duty as a humani-tarian society and as Iraqis," al-Abadi said.
Officials said the trucks are carrying food, blankets, first-aid kits, medicine and a water-purification unit from the Red Crescent, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Unicef.
"We've had no contact with the Americans," said Jamal al-Karbuli, the doctor in charge of the convoy. The trucks would drive until troops stopped them, he said.
"Then we'll try to talk to them, let them search the trucks to see we only have medicine, food and first-aid," he said as the convoy began its eastward 50km drive to Falluja.
Fierce fighting
Fadhil Badran, Aljazeera's correspondent in Falluja, said fighting was fierce and continuous in Falluja's south-eastern neighbourhood al-Shuhadaa and in al-Julan to the north-west.
Day sometimes turns into night due to the intense smoke from burning homes, shops and factories as also from US military vehicles set ablaze, Badran said.
US forces have moved from the middle to the north of the town, Badran said. The north and west are still controlled by the city's Iraqi resistance, he said, adding that large numbers of fighters were present in the Senaee and Askari neighbourhoods.
Describing the conditions of civilians as abysmal, Badran said US air strikes had killed several families. Women, children and the sick had been buried in their gardens, he said.
"I met a Falluja civilian who told me that he asked the Red Crescent for help but they could not oblige. He said he had buried two of his children and that two would die today, and hence he would not need any assistance," Badran said.
Resentment
The attack on Falluja has inflamed resentment across central Iraq, where anti-US fighters have launched a wave of attacks and bombings.
Iraqi national guardsmen based near the Syrian border were ordered to move to Mosul where the fighters have taken over streets and police stations since Wednesday.
On Saturday, looters rampaged through a palace that had been used as a US base in Mosul after troops apparently left at dawn.
Cars and trucks packed with people swarmed to the palace, where they were seen making off with food, equipment and clothes, even a mattress, a reporter at the scene in northern Mosul said.
Air strikes
The government fired Mosul's police chief after nine police stations fell into the hands of fighters. Residents said armed men roamed the streets on Saturday, with no sign of security forces.
The US military denied on Friday that Mosul was out of control, but said it had launched air strikes on Thursday night to try to curb fighters.
The United States said the Falluja offensive launched by 10,000 US and 2000 Iraqi troops on Monday would not stop until all resistance in the city had been wiped out.
Aljazeera's offices in Iraq were shut by Iraqi government order
Aljazeera regret
In New York, the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was deeply disturbed by a new directive from Iraqi authorities warning media to stick to the government line on Falluja.
"It damages the government's credibility in establishing a free and democratic society," CPJ director Ann Cooper said.
Aljazeera has meanwhile apologised to its viewers for being unable to cover the Iraqi events directly due to the closure of its offices by the Iraqi interim government three months ago.
AMS member held
In other incidents, an Iraqi national guards team arrested Mustafa al-Dulaimi, a member of Iraq's influential Muslim body Association of Muslim Scholars, after raiding his home in Baghdad.
Witnesses confirmed that he was brutally assaulted by some of the guardsmen.
Oil pipeline in Baiji was set ablaze
Al-Dulaimi had earlier led a demonstration in front of the Abu Hanifa mosque to condemn the US and Iraqi forces attacks on Falluja.
Clashes spread
Also on Saturday, four Iraqis were killed and 12 injured in a US raid at Abu Ghraib west of Baghdad. Two military vehicles were damaged in the area by an explosive device that targeted a US army convoy on the highway, Aljazeera has learned.
In Baiji, a blast in an oil pipeline caused by an explosive device set it ablaze. Two of the oil facility guards were reported missing after the incident.
In Tikrit, four Iraqis, three of whom were policemen, were injured seriously in an explosion.
US vehicle destroyed
In Baquba, a US Humvee military vehicle was destroyed by an explosive device. The US forces cut off all roads leading to the accident site. Witnesses said the injured were evacuated in a US military aircraft.
"We know it is risky but this is our duty as a humanitarian society and as Iraqis"
Anti-US fighters also broke into al-Sadr hotel located in al-Karada, a centrally located area of Baghdad, Aljazeera reported.
Fighting erupted in al-Adhamiya between Iraqi fighters and US and Iraqi police forces near the Abu Haneefa mosque.
US and Iraqi forces also raided a mosque in al-Habaniya on the suspicion that fighters from Falluja carrying weapons had taken refuge there.
Iraq's international airport in Baghdad will remain closed for commercial flights until further notice, the office of US-backed interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has said.
--------
His Red Right Hand
By William Rivers Pitt
truthout | Perspective
Tuesday 16 November 2004
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/111604A.shtml
He's a ghost, he's a god He's a man, he's a guru You're one microscopic cog In his catastrophic plan Designed and directed by His red right hand
- Nick Cave
The top story on the New York Times website on Monday morning read, "Rebels Routed in Fallujah." It's a good thing, too, because we need to be fighting the terrorists over there in Iraq instead of over here in America. Who were these Fallujan terrorists, anyway? They really must have been the hardest of the hard-core to have gotten the kind of military reaction we have seen from U.S. forces in the last week. This is what I've been told, anyway.
Michael Georgy of the UK Independent, writing from the heart of the battlefield, described the aftermath of the battles: "After six days of intense combat against the Fallujah insurgents, U.S. warplanes, tanks and mortars have left a shattered landscape of gutted buildings, crushed cars and charred bodies. A drive through the city revealed a picture of utter destruction, with concrete houses flattened, mosques in ruins, telegraph poles down, power and phone lines hanging slack and rubble and human remains littering the empty streets."
At last, these scabrous terrorists have felt the awful price to be paid for defying our God-blessed right to bring 'democracy' wherever we wish by the point of the sword and the Sidewinder missile. The level of devastation wrought upon Fallujah is clear proof that the people who dwelled there were the scum of the earth, deserving of death and disaster. This must certainly be so, because George W. Bush would never order an all-out assault on a city filled with civilians in order to cover up his gross mismanagement of the situation lo these last twenty months. This is what I've been told, anyway.
An Associated Press photographer named Bilal Hussein calls Fallujah his home town. He was there to watch our justice come down. "Destruction was everywhere," said Hussein. "I saw people lying dead in the streets, wounded were bleeding and there was no one to come and help them. Even the civilians who stayed in Fallujah were too afraid to go out. There was no medicine, water, no electricity nor food for days."
After a few days, the shooting got too close for comfort, so Hussein decided to try and flee across the Euphrates River with other civilians. "I decided to swim," said Hussein, "but I changed my mind after seeing U.S. helicopters firing on and killing people who tried to cross the river." Down by the river, he was treated to the sight of a family of five being shot down as they tried to cross the water. Not long after, he "helped bury a man by the river bank, with my own hands. I kept walking along the river for two hours and I could still see some U.S. snipers ready to shoot anyone who might swim. I quit the idea of crossing the river and walked for about five hours through orchards."
Stories like this have been coming out of Fallujah for days now. Thousands of families went without food and water, trapped in their homes, watching tanks roll over dead bodies that littered the streets. Aid organizations like the Red Cross and the Red Crescent were barred from entering the city to distribute food and medical supplies. Large numbers of wounded civilians have been evacuated to hospitals in Baghdad because the Fallujah hospitals have either run out of supplies or been blasted to rubble.
A young refugee who gave his name only as Ahmed said, "The Americans didn't care about us. Every night we said goodbye to one another because we expected to die. You could see areas where all the houses were flattened, there was just nothing left. Even those of us who do not fight, we are suffering so much because of the U.S. bombs and tanks. Can't they see this is turning so many people against them?"
The Sunni population of Iraq, watching as Sunni mosques were destroyed and Sunni religious leaders were arrested in this Sunni city, see this assault as an attack upon their religious core. In all likelihood, the Sunni population will boycott whatever cobbled-together election American forces can manage to organize in the coming months. The attack upon Fallujah has further divided Sunni from Shi'ite; Sheik Mahdi al-Sumaidaei, leader of the Supreme Association for Guidance and Daawa, a conservative Sunni organization, took a swipe at the Shi'ites for not condemning the attacks. "We didn't hear from them at all," he said. "I assume they are either satisfied or they are afraid. However, when there were attacks on Shiite cities, the Sunni clerics in Iraq immediately condemned them. What about the Shiites?"
As for American casualties, 67 soldiers have died in the last fifteen days. The total number of American soldiers killed in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion stands at 1,188. The total number of 'Coalition' troops killed to date stands at 1,334. There is no accurate count of the number of wounded from these first two weeks of November.
Thanks to the competent yet generous leadership of George W. Bush, the military invasion of Fallujah will certainly cure what ails us in Iraq. To be sure, the deaths of thousands of civilians will further inflame the Iraqi populace. To be sure, the number of 'insurgents' killed in Fallujah will be immediately replaced by fresh recruits. To be sure, fierce battles have erupted in Mosul, Tal Afar, Ramadi, Beiji, Baquba, Buhriz, Khabbaza, Baghdad, and indeed all across the country. To be sure, we will have to grind all these cities to powder, along with all the residents of these cities, to make sure no one thwarts our aforementioned God-given right to bomb and shoot and burn and smash whomever and whatever we please.
Fear not, however. All is well. "The objective," said John Ashcroft in his resignation letter last week, "of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved." This is what I've been told, anyway.
Mission accomplished.
- William Rivers Pitt is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of two books - 'War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know' and 'The Greatest Sedition is Silence.'
-------- israel / palestine
Shooting Breaks Out in Gaza Around Likely Arafat Successor
November 15, 2004
By GREG MYRE
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/15/international/middleeast/15mideast.html?pagewanted=all&position=
JERUSALEM, Nov. 14 - A group of Palestinians unleashed deadly bursts of gunfire on Sunday as Mahmoud Abbas, a likely successor to Yasir Arafat, arrived at a mourning service for Mr. Arafat in Gaza City. Mr. Abbas was whisked away by security guards and was not hurt.
As Mr. Abbas approached the tent where the service was held, the gunmen chanted slogans denouncing him and then began firing into the air without aiming at him. Palestinian security officers began firing, and two officers were killed and four more were wounded by the time the gunfire ended.
The shooting came just hours after the Palestinian leadership announced that presidential elections would be held on Jan. 9 to replace Mr. Arafat, who died Thursday.
The leadership has moved swiftly to fill Mr. Arafat's posts, and the January election is to choose a new head of the Palestinian Authority, which runs Palestinian affairs in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The vote will be crucial in providing legitimacy to whoever succeeds Mr. Arafat, and could also improve the prospect for renewed peace talks.
While he is seen as the strongest contender in the election, Mr. Abbas lacks support on the Palestinian street. He prefers behind-the-scene negotiations to the public stage. And perhaps more than any other senior Palestinian figure, he has criticized Palestinian violence against Israel as counterproductive to the Palestinian cause. That has angered many militants, who view him as conciliatory toward Israel.
In the days after Mr. Arafat's death, Palestinian areas have been highly combustible. The latest demonstration of that came Sunday, at the large, crowded tent erect in Gaza City so Palestinians there could pay their last respects to their longtime leader.
Mr. Abbas, widely known as Abu Mazen, traveled from the West Bank and arrived Sunday afternoon at the tent grounds, in an open field near Mr. Arafat's seaside compound in Gaza City. The mourners numbered in the hundreds, and a small group of armed men spotted Mr. Abbas and began shouting, "No to Abu Mazen!" and "No to Dahlan!" a reference to Muhammad Dahlan, a former security chief who accompanied Mr. Abbas.
Between 10 and 20 armed men pushed their way into the tent, and amid much shoving, began firing their rifles into the air, witnesses said.
Security guards ringed Mr. Abbas, 69, but kept him inside the tent as the shooting increased and carried on for several minutes. Most of the fire by the security guards and the gunmen was directed into the air, and witnesses said the casualty toll would have been much higher if the two sides had fired directly at each other in such a tightly enclosed space.
The gunmen wore civilian clothes and many had black-and-white checkered scarves around their necks, the kind favored by Mr. Arafat, witnesses said. They were believed to be members of Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, which is linked to the Fatah movement. Israel's Channel One television reported Sunday that Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades had denounced the shooting.
Mr. Arafat was Fatah's founder, and Mr. Abbas has been a senior figure in the group for many years. Mr. Abbas served briefly as prime minister last year, and immediately after Mr. Arafat's death was named as head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which incorporates numerous factions, including Fatah.
But many young members of the brigades were fiercely loyal to Mr. Arafat and are deeply suspicious of Mr. Abbas.
The gunmen eventually left the scene, but in no particular hurry, and no one was arrested, according to witnesses and Palestinian officials.
"It was not an assassination attempt," Mr. Abbas told reporters shortly afterward at his office in Gaza City. "Emotions were high. There was random gunfire and pushing in the crowd."
"We must deal with the security situation,'' he said. "Some aspects of the security situation are chaotic."
Rawhi Fattouh, installed as the caretaker leader of the Palestinian Authority after Mr. Arafat's death, announced the January election