NucNews - March 18, 2005 -------- NUCLEAR [If anyone knows anything about these "radioprotectants," please inform us? et] New nuclear countermeasures March 18, 2005 Washington Times http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20050317-083102-4366r.htm Biotech companies say they're on the cusp of developing "radioprotectants," drugs that guard against acute radiation syndrome. Since most people who die in a nuclear attack do so from radiation sickness, these drugs promise great benefits as safeguards against nuclear terrorism. If they work, they would be unprecedented. It goes without saying that the federal government should be doing its utmost to promote them. Congress started, albeit belatedly, by authorizing funding for radioprotectants among other counter-WMD drugs in Project BioShield, a 10-year, $5.6 billion effort signed into law last July and currently under implementation. We criticized Congress last year for delaying it. Now, Congress can improve its record by passing a mostly unheralded bill introduced in the House this week. The bill, the Radioprotectant Procurement Act of 2005, would commit the government to developing and stockpiling the drugs. Passing this bill would send biotech companies a clear signal that they will have a buyer if and when they produce a workable drug. Project BioShield already authorizes funding for these purposes, but to judge by the markets, analysts aren't buying the commitment. Knowledgeable observers tell us the bill is meant to spur action after months of foot-dragging. Sponsored by a bipartisan group of 15 congressmen, it had a predecessor bill in the previous Congress sponsored by Pete Sessions, and in its current iteration is supported by an unusual combination of Republican stalwarts, including Dan Burton and Tom Davis on the one hand and liberal Democrats Chris Van Hollen and Susan Davis on the other. The federal government's thinking about handling nuclear terrorism in American cities is still in a formative phase, so there is opportunity to make radioprotectant promotion a priority. In fact, as Department of Homeland Security (DHS) presentations we've reviewed show, federal disaster planners still labor under the impression that they will be able to evacuate a major American city in the event of a nuclear terror strike. In one scenario we reviewed, a DHS program manager posits evacuating upwards of half a million people in the event a 10-kiloton improvised nuclear device detonated in a U.S. city. At the same time, he admits that infrastructure -- roads, bridges and highways -- will be devastated for up to a mile radius of the blast. It simply can't be done. But radioprotectants would greatly reduce the need to evacuate. In his first public address as DHS secretary, Michael Chertoff emphasized risks and tradeoffs. "We all live with a certain amount of risk," he said Wednesday at George Washington University. "That means that we tolerate that something bad can happen; we adjust our lives based on probability; and we take reasonable precautions." Radioprotectants could be just the kind of reasonable precautions we need. -------- accidents and safety Radiation Detectors Inadequate, New York Official Says By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire, March 18, 2005 http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2005_3_18.html#2FB9D0CB LONDON — The thousands of radiation detectors employed by New York City to identify radioactive material smuggled into the city for terrorism are too sensitive, sapping police resources with false alarms, a senior official said here yesterday (see GSN, March 8). Ed Gabriel, deputy commissioner at the New York City’s Emergency Management Office, discussed the issue in a presentation on the city’s extensive post-Sept. 11 efforts to prevent or mitigate the consequences of any potential terrorist attack using a radiological or nuclear weapon. As many as 20,000 hand-held radiation detectors carried by police, fire and emergency personnel throughout the city “go off all the time,” he said. “They’re really not that effective in terms of their capability to help us protect, but we are deploying them and we have a standard protocol for response to that,” he said. Similarly, stationary devices throughout the city are triggered often by vehicles transporting medical isotopes. “Each and every time they go off, we are required to take that car off the road and look at their papers and define whether or not it is a threat or not,” Gabriel said. As a result, “that’s a huge manpower issue. … The response to that situation is really problematic for anyone who places these detectors,” he said. The Brookhaven National Laboratory of Upton, N.Y, is working on altering the equipment to focus on specific kinds of isotopes, he said. Multifaceted The Emergency Management Office has multiple missions, including coordinating federal, state and city response to a disaster, attack prevention, information dissemination, preattack public education, and funding solicitation, Gabriel said at a conference on nuclear and radiological security organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency. In the event of an incident, the agency is geared to manage multiple components of response, including organizing transportation shutdowns, and ensuring the availability of sources of drinking water, power and medical assistance. “There are many, many thousands of people responding to these kinds of events,” he said. Initial response to an incident, he said, takes an “all hazards approach,” anticipating any number of kinds of possible attacks. “We take a broad perspective of approaches to WMD,” he said. “The emergency response personnel who come to the scene will not know whether it is a radiological event or whether it’s a chemical event.” In the event of a catastrophic attack, the office would operate continuously a military-style command center that would be the focal point for coordinating a response. Mechanisms exist for bringing medicine into the city if needed for radiological or biological events, and some 50,000 people are prepared to administer such drugs at 210 locations to all 8.5 million people in the city within 48 hours, he said. The office has put together databases that can track equipment and supplies, at local, state and federal levels for knowledge of what’s in hand and potentially available. It can also locate physicians throughout the state and people with other skills throughout the city. “One of the things we learned from Sept. 11 is that without this kind of planning process, we have lots of equipment and it took us a long time to use it. Now we know where the equipment is and we have a logistics plan to use it in case it comes into play,” he said. To mitigate public panic, the office has prepared an information booklet called the Ready NY guide that gives citizens information on basic measures for preparing and dealing with different kinds of disasters. Comedians were hired to inform the public about city security preparations. “People are resilient when they know that everything’s going to be OK,” he said. To facilitate quick resumption of business in the city, authorities have “precredentialed” large numbers of people “in the event that their businesses are in an affected area, so they can get back into work,” he said. Working with the U.S. Energy Department, the office has a plume tracking mechanism for informing responders on who might be affected and who might require evacuation from an attack at a given location, he said. Training Training for disaster planning also is extensive, according to Gabriel. “We bring in all of the agencies that could participate and we run exercise after exercise after exercise in different venues around the city with thousands of emergency responders,” he said. For the sake of realism, exercises often are modeled on major events that occurred in other cities that illustrate particular challenges, called “motivational events,” and are informed by intelligence threat information. “In each of those exercises, we try to put in something that includes not only a force protection element, [but also] a large regional response element including hospitals. … Our events include 50, 60 hospitals from around the area,” he said. “Anything that we think is a large-scale event, we will test,” Gabriel said. The city conducted eight major exercises last year, each involving more than 1,000 patients treated by four or five thousand emergency responders, he said. “The only way you’ll ever work together in an emergency response is to practice, practice, practice,” he said. --- Third World Must Boost Nuclear Security, Experts Say By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire, March 18, 2005 http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2005_3_18.html#D2463C5C LONDON — A strategy for preventing nuclear and radiological terrorism must include increased efforts to secure radioactive materials in developing countries, experts said at a conference here this week sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (see GSN, June 19, 2003). There may be thousands of sources of radioactive material in countries with no nuclear weapons programs or nuclear power plants, experts said. Many such countries lack the resources to secure them all on their own. “The problem of nuclear and radiological security is not a simple one,” said Azhar Djaloeis of Indonesia’s Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency in a presentation. “Loss of control over such materials, illicit trafficking, existence of orphan sources, all increase the risks not just of one country but of all countries of the region,” said Ron Cameron of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization. He cited three security incidents involving radioactive material that have occurred in Southeast Asia in recent years: accidental overexposures and deaths in 2001 in Thailand from a noncontrolled radiotherapy source; illegal possession and attempted smuggling of cesium in 2003 in that country; and theft in 2000 from a steel company in Indonesia of 25 radioactive sources, many of which have not been recovered. The International Atomic Energy Agency in a report last year estimated there were more than 10,000 sources of radiotherapy materials worldwide and tens of thousands of large radiation sources used as gauges, sterilizers and metal irradiators by industries, according to a story last June by New Scientist. There were 215 cases of confirmed radioactive materials smuggling in the previous five years and many more unconfirmed instances, the story said. Security measures can include technologies such as radiation detectors for border controls and on-site physical security arrangements including locks, alarms, tracking systems, and armed guards, according to experts attending the conference. They can also include incident response training, support in developing regulatory and legal frameworks, an independent national regulatory body, assessments of security strengths and vulnerabilities, international sharing of experiences and best practices, and mechanisms for cross-border coordination on trafficking, they said. Different countries, though, might identify different security challenges, according to Denis Flory, a nuclear adviser for the French Embassy in Moscow, summarizing several papers submitted to the conference from different countries. He noted trafficking fears in crossroads countries such as Serbia, Bulgaria and Paraguay, regulatory framework and nuclear expertise concerns in Serbia, and a desire to obtain the most modern physical protection systems by the Czech Republic. For all four countries, a “need for trained and competent personnel was very, very strongly expressed,” he said. Indonesian Case Djaloeis estimated that more than 3,000 sites with radioactive material at hospitals and about 1,000 industrial sources exist in Indonesia, in addition to the country’s three research reactors, research and development and training centers, and fuel cycle production facilities. He called the nation’s prevention, detection and response capabilities “inadequate” and said Indonesia faces “major challenges” in improving safety and protection features at the sites and in developing a strong regulatory framework and infrastructure. Indonesia also must overcome patterns of “collusion, corruption and conflicts of interest,” he said. Securing such facilities is particularly important in light of recent major terrorist attacks and also because Indonesia aspires to have in about 10 years a nuclear power plant, he said. A radiological attack could “perhaps kill our nuclear program entirely,” he said. To muster political will for improving national capabilities, the government needs to promote national awareness about radiological threats, he said. Indonesia also must obtain the benefit of international funding and expertise. The problems are “too big to handle” by the country alone, he said. Cameron said there are a number of countries including Australia, organizations including the International Atomic Energy Agency and agreements providing various kinds of assistance in the Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, including expertise, assistance with implementing international guidance, and potential tactical support. He said, though, that securing radioactive sources is a national responsibility and noted only three countries in the region — Indonesia being one of them — have indicated they intend to implement an International Atomic Energy Agency revised Code of Conduct on Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources published in January 2004. -------- business Prices for uranium have risen 79 percent since 2003 Bloomberg, March 18, 2005 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000102&sid=auMUL2OomhCE&refer=uk Reefton Mining NL (RTM LN), which explores for diamonds, gold and other metals, jumped 4.2 pence, or 158 percent, in London after the company said it discovered uranium in Namibia. It was the first day the stock traded in six sessions. Uranium was found in a four areas covering 64 square kilometers (25 square miles) on its Erongo property, the Perth, Australia-based company said. Prices for uranium, used to fuel nuclear power plants, have risen 79 percent since 2003, Reefton said. -------- depleted uranium Parents of slain soldiers protest U.S. involvement in Iraq DANIEL YEE Associated Press Fri, Mar. 18, 2005 [lots of papers picked this one up] http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/special_packages/iraq/11174122.htm http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/special_packages/iraq/11174122.htm http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/11174122.htm http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/11174122.htm http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/special_packages/iraq/11174122.htm http://www.accessnorthga.com/news/ap_newfullstory.asp?ID=57453 http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/special_packages/iraq/11174122.htm http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/politics/11174122.htm http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/11174122.htm ATLANTA - Two years ago, Patricia Roberts' world was in order. Her son, Spc. Jamaal Addison, had just gotten married and she became a grandmother. Four days into the Iraq war, however, the 22-year-old soldier was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade, the first Georgian to die in the war. Addison's wife moved on. Roberts was left to care for Addison's son, Jamaal II, who was born prior to his marriage. The 44-year-old grandmother moved from Conyers, Ga., to Lithonia, Ga., in order to be near her son's cemetery. "Once you die for this country, they forget who you are," Roberts said of the government. "Now I have a grandson they're not even helping raise. What about the rest of my life, the rest of his life? He'll never be able to see his dad." Roberts is one of several parents of U.S. soldiers killed who are participating in a series of anti-war marches in Atlanta and Fayetteville, N.C., commemorating two years of war in Iraq. "We don't need to be out there," she said. "There's too many people like me, their lives have changed forever." In Friday's Atlanta rally, timed to coincide with the city's infamous rush-hour traffic, about 300 marchers gathered at Centennial Olympic Park carrying black coffins with U.S. and Iraq symbols and black balloons saying "Bring the Troops Home Now." The demonstrators planned to march to a park in the city's Midtown neighborhood, a few miles away. "The vast majority of people in the peace movement in America and Europe were aware there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, no nuclear program and no al-Qaeda link," said organizer Gloria Tatum, 61, of Decatur, Ga., who is with the activist groups International Action Center and Georgia Peace and Justice. Activists say more than 1,500 U.S. soldiers and more than 100,000 Iraqis have died, that Iraq's infrastructure has been crippled and its environment polluted because of U.S. depleted-uranium tank rounds. March speaker Gary Pelphrey, who served in the Navy during the Vietnam War, said he is not against all war but opposes the current U.S. involvement in Iraq. Pelphrey, a member of the group Military Families Speak Out, said he finds parallels to the Vietnam War. "We've gotten ourselves into a mess and we have leadership unwilling to admit it," said Pelphrey, 69, of Marietta. "It seems to me we wound up getting out of Vietnam at least partially from the pressure the public came to bear" and that similar public pressure can force U.S. officials to withdraw American troops from Iraq. Another rally was expected Saturday in Fayetteville, N.C., the town next to Fort Bragg, the home of the 82nd Airborne Division. The rally there is one of the largest being organized by the United for Peace & Justice group. On its Web site, the group says war opponents in 726 cities and towns across the country plan rallies this weekend. Last year, a similar protest there involved about 1,200 activists and drew hundreds of observers and a group of people protesting the protesters. An organization called Free Republic has prepared for this year's rally by asking supporters of the war in Iraq to attend a counter-demonstration. In Lithonia, Roberts said she's been working hard to raise her grandson and to steer others away from her son's career path in the military. She started the Jamaal Addison Motivational Foundation, which will raise money to provide scholarships to young people, so they do not have to depend on the military for an education. "My son joined (the Army) to go to school. He wanted to come out and start his own business with computers," Roberts said. Roberts and her foundation are planning fundraisers in Atlanta for Wednesday - the two-year anniversary of Addison's death - and on Oct. 7, which would be his 24th birthday. "People should find out what they can do to protest against this war to bring these troops home," she said. On the Web: United for Peace & Justice: http://www.unitedforpeace.org/ -------- europe Production halted at three of nine Spanish nuclear plants MADRID, March 18 (AFP) Mar 18, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050318113850.98y65el5.html Three of Spain's nine nuclear power plants have seen production come to a halt owing to various faults, the country's nuclear watchdog CSN said Friday. Production was expected to be held up for a fortnight at the Asco I plant near the northeastern city of Tarragona following problems with electric transformers in two reactors which led to a fuel leak. According to CSN, the incident did not pose any risk to the population. Production was set to stop for a month at the Vandellos plant, also in northeastern Spain on detection of a problem in the water system of the plant's "essential service". Production also came to a standstill at the Garona plant near the northern city of Burgos to enable a combustible recharge two months overdue. The process was delayed for repairs to the ventilation system after an inspection had shown up an anomaly. Greenpeace spokesman Carlos Bravo criticised the "poor functioning" of the plants concerned and what he termed a "lack of security of Spanish nuclear technology, (which is) intrinsically dangerous." Spain's nuclear energy production supplies just under a third of the country's overall energy needs and its nuclear sector is substantially smaller than neighbouring states such as France, Germany and Britain. -------- israel Israel armed itself with "nuclear option" 40 years ago: ex-minister JERUSALEM (AFP) Mar 18, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050318103640.4bfzo7ql.html Israel armed itself with the "nuclear option" 40 years ago for use as a last resort should Arab countries threaten its existence, one of the men responsible for the state's nuclear programme said in remarks published on Friday. "The Israeli nuclear option had a single aim -- to demonstrate to the opposing camp that we had the same capacities as it (for) the day when they will have the nuclear option," said former science minister Yuval Neeman in an interview with the daily Yediot Aharonot. The Jewish state has never formally acknowledged having nuclear weapons although foreign experts believe it used its desert Dimona reactor to arm itself with some 200 nuclear warheads capable of being carried by medium- or short-range missiles. Neeman added: "We were convinced that Arab states would not hesitate to make use of the nuclear option against us" once they had atomic bombs. The former minister, who was also a senior military intelligence officer and a distinguished scientist, said: "Never did we see this option as a way to get results which more conventional methods would have enabled us to attain." In November 2001, Labour party leader Shimon Peres revealed how France had provided essential help from 1956 for Israel's atomic programme. It was thanks to Paris that Israel was able to build the Dimona nuclear reactor in the Negev desert in the south, without the United States being told about it. Neeman, who attended the French military academy, lived in France for a considerable time during the two countries' period of close military cooperation. A former technician at Dimona, Mordechai Vanunu was jailed for 18 years after revealing Israel's nuclear secrets to the British Sunday Times newspaper which published them. Since his release in April 2004, he has been subject to a raft of draconian restrictions. Israel has never signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which allows international checks on nuclear installations. -------- korea Russia wants quick resumption of roundtable NKorea nuclear talks MOSCOW (AFP) Mar 18, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050318103428.9lp9aclp.html Russia said Friday that it favored the resumption of six-nation talks over North Korea's nuclear program as soon as possible. "We are in favor of resuming the six-sided negotations as soon as possible and finding solutions that would correspond with the interests of all sides," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alexeyev was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. "We believe that if the concerns and fears of all the regional states that are taking part in the negotiation process are truly taken into account, it would create the conditions necessary for restarting the six-sided process and initiating the nuclear disarmament of the region," he said at the North Korean embassy in Moscow. Alexeyev will discuss the North Korean nuclear standoff during a visit to Beijing on March 24-25, the RIA Novosti news agency reported later Friday. Russia -- along with the two Koreas, the United States, China and Japan-- participated in the three rounds of the talks aimed at trying to resolve a nuclear standoff that erupted in 2002 when the United States accused Pyongyang of operating a secret uranium-enrichment program. The talks made little progress, with the final round held in June 2004. North Korea boycotted a fourth round scheduled for September last year. Friday's statement by Moscow came as Washington and Pyongyang exchanged a fresh round of verbal vitriol. While US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice accused North Korea of avoiding discussing its nuclear program, Pyongyang said it would not deal with "such a woman bereft of any political logic." Rice is on her first official tour of Asia, much of it dedicated to trying to break a deadlock on the nuclear issue and draw the Stalinist regime back to multi-party talks. -------- North Korea an 'imminent threat' Friday, March 18, 2005 Posted: 2:56 AM EST (0756 GMT) http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/03/17/iaea/index.html LONDON, England (CNN) -- North Korea poses more of a nuclear threat than Iran, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency told CNN, because the country already has the nuclear material that would go into a weapon. "We know North Korea has the plutonium that can go into the bomb," Mohammed ElBaradei told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Thursday. "We have not seen any such material in Iran." North Korea, he said, represents an "imminent threat or an imminent danger," while Iran is merely suspected of having a nuclear program. "That is why, when people sometimes grumble about our slow pace in Iran, I would like them to compare that situation with North Korea," he said. "In Iran we are active, we are generating information and we know what's going on, more or less. In Korea, it is an absolutely black hole." (Transcript) ElBaradei said he could not discount the possibility that North Korea is building a nuclear weapon. "They have that plutonium ... they have the industrial infrastructure, but more yeah importantly, they said [in early February] they are doing it," he said. North Korea halted all cooperation with the IAEA, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, however, and kicked out agency monitors in December 2002. When North Korea announced last month it had nuclear weapons it also said it would not take part in another round of six-party disarmament talks because of U.S. hostility toward its government. The United States, the two Koreas, China, Japan and Russia have held three rounds of six-party talks since 2003, aimed at persuading the North to abandon its nuclear weapons development in return for economic and diplomatic rewards. Earlier this week, North Korea refused to have any dealings with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who in January labeled the country one of the world's "outposts of tyranny." (Full story) The top U.S. diplomat is on a six day visit to Asia and is due to visit South Korea on Saturday after a stop in Japan. There she will meet President Roh Moo-hyun and other top officials before heading to China for more consultations on the crisis. In his interview with CNN, ElBaradei said the non-proliferation treaty allowed countries to explore nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. But it posed a problem, he said, because "things have changed since 1970" and know-how and technology have spread. "A country that can have control of highly enriched uranium or plutonium is not far away from a nuclear weapon," he said. "We need to make sure that every country in the future has what we call assurance of supply, that they have access to nuclear technology for electricity, for other applications, but try to minimize the risk associated with that by having an international consortium, for example, producing the fuel and then take back the fuel again under international supervision. ... No one country should enrich its own uranium." A "microcosm of what we should have in the future," he said, is an agreement between Iran and Russia in which protocols were established for transferring nuclear fuel from Russia to Iran's Bushehr power plant and moving the spent fuel back to Russia. The deal, signed last month, flew in the face of U.S. requests and heavy diplomatic pressure on Moscow. Iran claims it is trying to "protect their activities," ElBaradei acknowledged, but would not say the country is trying to hide evidence concerning a possible nuclear program. "They are fulfilling their legal obligations," he said, with a "minor infraction here and there." And, he said, recent events are leading in the right direction, particularly the United States' support of a European initiative to bring Iran in line through dialogue. Iran had a tepid response to the U.S. move to drop objections to its membership in the World Trade Organization. "Basically, the Iranians are saying, 'This is not enough,'" ElBaradei said. But "we need to make sure the process continues ... as long as the parties are talking, we're on the right track." -------- mideast Syria, Iran aiding Iraq insurgents By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published March 18, 2005 http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20050317-112954-7044r CIA Director Porter J. Goss told Congress yesterday that the governments of Syria and Iran are helping insurgents in Iraq, despite U.S. efforts to end the cooperation. "Despite a lot of very well-intentioned and persistent efforts to try and get more cooperation from the Syrian regime, we have not had the success I wish I could report," Mr. Goss said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. On Iran, Mr. Goss said intelligence analysts understand that Tehran "has been meddling in the affairs of Iraq, in the interests of Iran." "I would also say that how that is going to work out in the future is a matter of some concern," he said. Mr. Goss said Iran remains one of the few "obvious sponsors of state terrorism" and that Tehran is funding the Hezbollah terrorist group. Iran also has been hiding its nuclear program, its intentions regarding the development of arms and what its nuclear capabilities are, Mr. Goss said. "That is extremely worrisome from the point of view of proliferation," Mr. Goss said. Mr. Goss said intelligence shows that "several high-level al Qaeda" terrorists are in Iran, but it is not clear whether the Iranian government has them in custody or whether Tehran is harboring them. The CIA director said the agency could not gauge accurately the number of insurgents in Iraq or how many of them have come into Iraq from outside the country. Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said the estimate of the number of insurgents in Iraq is between 15,000 and 20,000, mostly Iraqis and a few foreign nationals. Under questioning from Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, Mr. Goss said the lack of security at U.S. borders is a "very serious" problem. "And I think it's not just our southern border. It's any border," Mr. Goss said. Mr. McCain said he is concerned that terrorists might be trying to infiltrate the southern U.S. border. The concerns, he said, were heightened by the recent discovery of Arabic-language documents near the border. Mr. Goss softened his earlier testimony about the danger of China's military buildup. He told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Feb. 16 that China's military buildup "is tilting the balance of power in the Taiwan Strait" and that improved Chinese military capabilities "threaten U.S. forces in the region." Yesterday, however, Mr. Goss said the military forces' improvements "seemingly threaten U.S. forces in the region." Mr. Goss repeated earlier assessments of the main threats facing the United States, including the danger that al Qaeda terrorists will circumvent U.S. security and "strike Americans and homeland." "Their intent, perhaps passion, to harm us for being who we are is just as vital as ever," Mr. Goss said. Al Qaeda or other terrorists also are attempting "to use chemical, biological, radiological, and/or nuclear weapons," he said. -------- missile defense Japan Would Not Use U.S.-Aided Missile Defense System to Protect Allies, Prime Minister Says Global Security Newswire, March 18, 2005 http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2005_3_18.html#932FA564 Japan would not use a missile defense system it is developing jointly with the United States to intercept missiles launched at other countries, including allies, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said today (see GSN, Feb. 22). “The purpose of our country’s missile defense is to intercept incoming missiles targeting Japan,” Koizumi told the upper house of parliament, according to the Associated Press. “We are not thinking of dealing with other missiles targeting our allies” (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, March 18). -------- pakistan Experts to Assess Pakistan Nuclear Export Controls Fri Mar 18, 2005 8:50 AM ET World - Reuters By Louis Charbonneau http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050318/wl_nm/nuclear_pakistan_dc_1 VIENNA (Reuters) - Experts representing the world's top nuclear exporters will visit Pakistan next month to assess whether controls are in place to prevent illicit exports of sensitive atomic technology, the group's chairman said. The team from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the 44-nation alliance that polices global exports of materials and equipment that can be used in atomic weapons, should arrive in early April, said the NSG's Swedish chairman, Richard Ekwall. Pakistan is at the center of an investigation of a nuclear black market linked to the father of Pakistan's atom bomb program, the disgraced engineer Abdul Qadeer Khan. Khan's network, established to skirt sanctions to procure sensitive technology for Pakistan's weapons program, supplied Iran, North Korea and Libya with centrifuge technology that can produce enriched uranium fuel for atomic power plants or bombs. The government denied any prior knowledge of Khan's network and vowed to prevent any future illegal nuclear exporting. Ekwall said the visit to Pakistan was part of the NSG's "outreach" program to states that are not members but are important for the global export control regime. He said NSG teams had recently visited Israel, India and Egypt. Speaking about those visits and his upcoming visit to Pakistan, Ekwall said the trips were to "review and discuss export control systems of those governments." "They (Pakistan) have passed new legislation," he said. "The visit to Islamabad would give us the opportunity to discuss in more detail what their export control system looks like." Several diplomats from NSG member states said Pakistan's poor compliance with NSG rules is one of the group's biggest problems. Asked if this was true, Ekwall declined to comment. Although Khan remains under house arrest, neither U.S. officials nor inspectors from the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have been allowed to question him to learn the extent of his nuclear black marketeering. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday she wanted be certain all of Khan's network had been rolled up. "We want to make certain that its tentacles are broken up as well," Rice told a news conference in Islamabad. Earlier this week, diplomats in Vienna and nuclear experts said Pakistan had found new covert channels to buy equipment to upgrade its own nuclear weapons program. Islamabad dismissed this charge as "baseless." NO CHANCE OF JOINING NSG Pakistan has expressed its desire to join the NSG, whose members include the key nuclear supplier states, including the United States, Russia, China and Germany. "Being a nuclear weapons state, Pakistan has the capability of research and development of nuclear technology and materials," foreign ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said. "Therefore, Pakistan can contribute to the objectives of non-proliferation by joining the NSG as a partner." Ekwall said it was virtually impossible for Islamabad to join the NSG, since it is a nuclear weapon state that has neither signed nor complies with the NPT. "One of the criteria for joining the NSG is that you adhere to the NPT, the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," Ekwall said, along with proof of full compliance with NSG export controls. Pakistan has indicated that it would be willing to sign the NPT as a weapon state, like the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain. But IAEA officials and nuclear analysts say this is politically impossible. Nuclear-armed India and presumed atomic power Israel also remain outside the NPT. North Korea withdrew two years ago. -------- russia Resurgent Russia challenges US By Jephraim P Gundzik Mar 18, 2005 Asia Times SPEAKING FREELY http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/GC18Ag01.html Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say. Please click here if you are interested in contributing. http://www.atimes.com/mediakit/write-for-atol.html Washington's "war on terrorism" is designed to militarily establish United States economic and geopolitical hegemony on a global scale. Rather than subduing Russia, the "war on terrorism" is encouraging Moscow to strengthen its relations with Washington's prominent foes. The war is also supercharging Russia's economy. Over the next four years, Russia will increasingly challenge the foreign policy goals of the Bush administration. Dominating the world The Bush administration's stated aim for the "war on terrorism" is to eliminate the threat of terrorist strikes against the US. Rather than addressing the underlying cause of terrorism, namely unpopular US polices in the Middle East, the Bush administration opted to invade Afghanistan and Iraq in order to uproot international terrorism. International terrorism has been strengthened after three years of war as evidenced by the upsurge in terrorist strikes worldwide. In addition to rampant terrorism in Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, terrorist strikes have escalated across the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Terrorism has also impacted Europe. It is almost inconceivable that Pentagon and Bush administration planners overlooked the impact US military action in Afghanistan and Iraq would have on terrorism. Even government officials cannot be that ignorant. Cognizant of its impact on terrorism, it's safe to assume that the Bush administration had another motive for launching the "war on terrorism". This motive was most likely to establish US economic and geopolitical hegemony globally. Supporting this idea is Washington's strongly unilateralist foreign policy tilt. In addition to the invasion of Iraq, unilateralism has characterized US foreign policy action on issues ranging from international trade to the isolation of rogue regimes. No longer lying down Initially, Moscow supported Washington's "war on terrorism". However, the US invasion of Iraq changed this support into resistance, and later into active efforts to counterbalance the US. In the past two years both Washington and Moscow have sought to strengthen their influence in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Events surrounding the recent election in the Ukraine signal that the competition for influence between the US and Russia has increased. More significantly, Moscow is working diligently to strengthen its ties with Iran, Syria and China - countries that Washington considers to be adversaries. In addition to supplying Tehran with dual use nuclear technology, Russia is also selling Iran a broad array of conventional military equipment. Many believe that Moscow is also supplying Tehran with missile technology and equipment. Early this year, Israeli media reported that Russia had concluded a deal with Damascus to sell Syria sophisticated shoulder-fired and stationary missiles. Both Syria and Russia denied the existence of this deal. However, the benefits to both Moscow and Damascus from such a deal are unmistakable. Rapprochement between Moscow and Beijing in 2004 was an extremely significant geopolitical event that went largely unnoticed in the West. In addition to settling long-standing border disputes and deepening commercial ties, Russia and China agreed to hold joint military exercises in 2005. The last joint military exercises conducted by Russia and China occurred in 1958. Similar to closer relations with Syria and Iran, the newfound friendship between Moscow and Beijing has fostered Russia's sale of sophisticated military equipment to China. Interestingly, relations between Beijing and Tehran have also warmed recently. It appears clear that the Moscow-Beijing-Tehran axis is designed to counter US foreign policy in Eurasia, the Middle East and Asia. Russia's upper hand The Bush administration's "war on terrorism" has been a boon for Russia's economy. This war has contained global oil production growth thus driving international oil prices higher. Higher international oil prices have sharply increased Russia's oil and gas exports, which have fueled accelerated economic growth. In addition to oil and gas exports, the "war on terrorism" has also fed rapid growth of Russia's arms exports. In 2004, fuel and arms production directly accounted for about 30% of production-based gross domestic product (GDP), 65% of total exports and 50% of federal government tax revenue. The contribution of fuel and arms exports to expenditure-based GDP is much larger than their contribution to production-based GDP. In addition to accounting for the majority of domestic and foreign investment, tax revenue generated by fuel and arms production and exports have financed strong growth of wages and pension incomes, boosting private consumption. President George W Bush's reelection practically ensures that the "war on terrorism" will intensify over the next four years, sustaining strong economic growth in Russia. This will strengthen Moscow's ability to challenge the Bush administration's hegemonic intentions. The Kremlin's trump In 2005 Russia is likely to surpass Saudi Arabia as the world's largest oil exporter. This, combined with continued contraction of global oil stocks, gives Moscow enormous leverage over international oil prices. Russia could easily push the price of crude oil above US$100 per barrel by reducing oil production. No other oil-producing country, including Saudi Arabia, has sufficient spare production capacity to counter a production cut by Russia. By effectively controlling international oil prices, Russia could undermine US economic growth. More importantly, Russia could encourage the devaluation of the dollar by redenominating its substantial energy trade with Europe from dollars into euros. Redenomination, which is supported by both Russia and the European Union, would force Europe's central banks to rebalance their foreign exchange reserves in favor of the euro. Rather than establishing economic and geopolitical hegemony around the world, the "war on terrorism" is making the US increasingly vulnerable to a sharp economic recession delivered to Washington by Moscow. The Bush administration should consider this when formulating plans to expand US power into Russia's traditional sphere of influence or to undermine Iran's government. Without this consideration, Washington risks an economic war. Jephraim P Gundzik is president of Condor Advisers, Inc. Condor Advisers provides emerging markets investment risk analysis to individuals and institutions globally. Please visit http://www.condoradvisers.com for further information. -------- ukraine Ukraine Dealers Said to Smuggle Missiles By ALEKSANDAR VASOVIC Associated Press Writer Mar 18, 2005 9:09 AM EST http://ap.washingtontimes.com/dynamic/stories/U/UKRAINE_WEAPONS_DEALING?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- Ukrainian weapons dealers smuggled 18 nuclear-capable cruise missiles to Iran and China during former President Leonid Kuchma's administration, prosecutors said Friday. The missiles have the range to reach U.S. allies. The Kh55 cruise missiles were smuggled out of Ukraine four years ago, the Prosecutor General's office said Friday in a statement. Prosecutors said the missiles, which have a range of 1,860 miles, were sold illegally and were not exported by Ukrainian enterprises. The Associated Press reported exclusively on Feb. 4 that a government probe into lucrative illicit weapons sales by officials loyal to Kuchma has led to secret indictments or arrests of at least six arms dealers accused of selling nuclear-capable missiles to Iran and China. On Friday, prosecutors said, "The proceedings against persons implicated (in the illicit sale) have been forwarded to the Kiev Court of Appeals and are being heard behind closed doors." Last month, the AP reported that missiles purportedly ended up in Iran and China although export documents known as end-user certificates recorded the final recipient of some 20 Kh55 missiles as "Russia's Defense Ministry," according to a letter written by a lawmaker to current President Vladimir Yushchenko. The letter by lawmaker Hrihoriy Omelchenko did not say what happened to the other missiles. The Kh55, known in the West as the AS-15, is designed to carry a nuclear warhead with a 200-kiloton yield. The missiles allegedly sold to Iran were unarmed. The United States and other Western nations have accused Iran of trying to develop a nuclear weapons program, an allegation Tehran denies. Iran does not operate long-range bombers but it is believed Tehran could adapt its Soviet-built Su-24 strike aircraft to launch the missile. The missile's range would put Israel and a number of U.S. allies within reach. China is a declared nuclear weapons state. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry officials were not available for comment Friday. Omelchenko's letter to Yushchenko and another to the prosecutor-general, Svyatoslav Piskun, refer to a Ukrainian Security Service report that details the allegations. At least three people were arrested and another three were indicted last year in connection with the illicit arms trade, an intelligence official told the AP on condition of anonymity. According to Omelchenko, in 2000 Russian national Oleg Orlov and a Ukrainian partner identified as E.V. Shilenko "exported 20 Kh55 cruise missiles through a fake contract and end-user certificate" with Russia's state-run arms dealer and with a firm called Progress, which is a daughter company of Ukrspetseksport - Ukraine's weapons exporting agency. Yushchenko has promised to investigate illicit weapons-dealing, including a U.S. allegation that Kuchma approved the sale of a sophisticated Kolchuga radar system to Iraq despite U.N. sanctions against Saddam Hussein's regime. Kuchma denied the allegations. On Feb. 25, a top defense official ordered officials to take an inventory of all military weaponry and equipment in Ukraine after two anti-aircraft missile systems were discovered missing from a military depot. Petro Poroshenko, chief of Ukraine's Defense and Security Council, gave the military six weeks to perform a "total inventory," noting that it would be an "extremely difficult task" given the size of the country's weapons stores. -------- u.s. nuc weapons U.S. Energy Department Nuclear Materials Watchdog Hopes for “New Day” for Security Under Bodman By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire, March 18, 2005 http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2005_3_18.html#4DD9FCC4 WASHINGTON — A U.S. Energy Department watchdog for nuclear materials security today criticized the past performance of managers involved in the effort but expressed hope for a “new day” under the department’s new leader (see GSN, Feb. 1). The department must succeed in improving physical and information security, protection technology and personnel at sites housing weapon-sensitive nuclear materials, Office of Security and Safety Performance Assurance Director Glenn Podonsky told the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. The department has been shaken in recent years by a series of security slip-ups, such as the apparent loss last year of computer disks at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico that were later found never to have existed. “We depend on local DOE line management for … timely identification and correction” of such weaknesses, Podonsky said, but management “has not always been up to the task.” He added, however, that the tenure of new Secretary Samuel Bodman could bring more discipline and effectiveness. Bodman became head of the department last month, replacing Spencer Abraham. “It’s a new day with Secretary Bodman,” Podonsky said. “He has made it clear that he will not tolerate missed commitments and inadequate management controls.” Speaking as part of the same panel, National Nuclear Security Administration chief Linton Brooks struck a different tone, emphasizing progress as he outlined security changes made at sensitive sites. “While we still need to improve, none of the security assets entrusted to NNSA are at risk, and our security program is robust and effective,” Brooks said. Brooks said his agency is taking measures to harden nuclear sites — by increasing numbers of guards, improving weapons and barriers, and making employees more aware of potential security threats — even as it works toward consolidating special nuclear materials in fewer locations. Physical security must be accompanied by electronic security of classified materials, Brooks said. He said the agency is reducing the amount of classified materials at its facilities and has begun using central, formal lending libraries at the sites. Ultimately, he said, the facilities will operate in a “diskless computer environment” without removable hard drives or zip drives containing classified material. Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) elicited a difference of views between the two officials when he asked whether Brooks’ plan to create an oversight office within his agency would clash with Abraham’s purpose in creating Podonsky’s office. Brooks replied that his goal was to create a more frequent oversight process to keep him and his site managers continually informed about security performance. “He [Podonsky] is the verification to the secretary that we’re doing our job,” Brooks said. “What I want to do is provide a routine interaction … that the site manager can call on if he needs help.” Podonsky said he approved of the plan as Brooks described it but voiced concern that the planned office’s eventual role could become different from what was intended. He added that oversight at the Energy Department often does not bring improvement. “This department does a lot of checking on itself without much improvement,” Podonsky said, blasting what he called a history of “checkers checking checkers … a lot of reports and not a lot of action.” -------- u.s. nuc facilities -------- nevada Developer Fined for Discharge on Nevada Tribal Lands SAN FRANCISCO, California, March 18, 2005 (ENS) http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2005/2005-03-18-09.asp#anchor6 A fine of $76,800 has been proposed against a Minden, Nevada developer to resolve violations of the federal Clean Water Act observed during construction of a 63 acre housing development on tribal lands in Douglas County. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to levy the penalty against PTP, Inc. to correct violations of federal storm water requirements. The proposal is open for public comment until April 8. The violations were discovered during a November 2003 inspection of the Pine View Estates, a 240 single-family home subdivision located about seven miles southeast of Gardnerville. EPA inspectors determined that PTP had been discharging polluted storm water into the nearby East Fork Carson River without a permit since 1999. The inspectors found that PTP had not installed any required control measures to stop pollutants from flowing into the river during construction. The river is located approximately three miles from the site. EPA inspectors also noted that the developer had not stabilized several acres of soil, which is required to prevent erosion and is particularly critical during the rainy season. In December 2003, the EPA ordered PTP, Inc. to correct violations of federal stormwater requirements In addition to the penalty, the EPA has ordered PTP to correct the violations, submit a revised pollution prevention plan, and provide documentation indicating that the violations had been corrected. PTP has complied with that order. The civil penalty also resolves PTP Inc.’s alleged violation of the Construction General Permit that occurred after PTP Inc. obtained authorization to discharge storm water under this permit in February 2004. "Runoff from construction projects can pose a serious threat to water quality," said Alexis Strauss, the director of the EPA's water division for the Pacific Southwest region. "The Clean Water Act requires developers to comply with permit requirements and take simple, basic steps to prevent pollutants from contaminating storm water." When it rains, the water that flows through streets, lawns and parks - storm water - runs untreated directly into the nearest lake or river. At construction sites, said Strauss, storm water can pick up pollutants such as sediment and debris and carry these pollutants directly into the nearest body of water. Large amounts of sediment flowing into waterways can destroy aquatic habitats, and high volumes of storm water can erode stream banks. On Nevada tribal lands, the EPA is responsible for administering the storm water program. On non-tribal lands, the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection administers the program. Both agencies require that all construction projects larger than one acre obtain a discharge permit by applying for coverage under the general construction permit. The public can review and comment on the EPA's proposed settlement with PTP here. -------- new mexico Los Alamos security shutdown costly; government picks up tab By: H. JOSEF HEBERT - Associated Press Friday, March 18, 2005 10:26 PM PST http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/03/19/special_reports/science_technology/20_57_483_18_05.txt WASHINGTON -- Disruptions caused by last year's security flap at the Los Alamos weapons laboratory may have cost as much as $367 million because activities were shifted away from the lab's normal work, members of Congress were told Friday. Lab officials virtually shut down the facility last July after reports that two classified computer disks had disappeared. An investigation later determined they never existed. Some of the normal activities did not resume until last month. The laboratory also disclosed Friday that the mystery about the disks might have been resolved quickly last summer if two employees had not falsified an inventory sheet showing the disks existed. Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Peter Nanos said the inventory sheet was signed though no inventory had been taken. The two individuals were fired, but when pressed at a House hearing about whether they should be criminally prosecuted, Nanos said that was not for him to decide. During the so-called "stand-down" at the lab in New Mexico, thousands of employees were told to stop their normal work and join the search for the disks, undergo security training and undertake other safety- and security-related activities. Many of the workers returned to their normal duties after a month. Linton Brooks, the Energy Department's undersecretary for nuclear security, told the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on investigations Friday that the $367 million figure "represents an upper limit" estimate of how much the security-related suspension may have cost the lab in lost or delayed activities. The laboratory disagrees, putting the figure at $119 million. The Energy Department number includes tens of millions of dollars in indirect costs that should not be attributed specifically to the work stoppage, according to Nanos. Whatever the figure, "the costs are significant," said Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., the chairman of the investigations subcommittee. Several lawmakers questioned why the University of California, which manages the Los Alamos lab, shouldn't be charged for some of the costs since, they say, the work stoppage resulted from security failures related to poor management. "The university was hired to do the job and they didn't do it," said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore. He said letting the university off the hook was "outrageous." But Brooks told the panel that in all likelihood the government would absorb the costs because activities related to the work suspension were covered by the Energy Department's contract with the university. Nanos strongly defended the decision to suspend laboratory operations as "absolutely the right thing to do" and said the cost should not be viewed as lost money. During the stand-down more than 3,000 issues were found that raised safety or security concerns. Nanos said the redirected dollars were an investment in the lab because the funds were refocused toward safety, security and compliance activities. However, if the government were to determine the spending was not covered under its contract, the university would lose tens of millions of dollars it had expected to receive from the government under its contract. Earlier this year, the Energy Department penalized the university $5.8 million because of the debacle surrounding the allegedly lost computer disks and other security and safety concerns at Los Alamos. On a broader security issue, Brooks told the subcommittee that it will not be until fall 2008 that he expects the Energy Department's nuclear sites to meet the more stringent security levels demanded in a post-Sept. 11 era of heightened terror risks. The tougher requirements were issued last October and the department previously had said implementation would take several years. Brooks said facilities where nuclear material is kept must submit by July implementation plans and a list of resource requirements to meet the new standards. "Almost certainly additional resources will be required" to meet the new standard, he said, but it's too early to determine how costly the security improvements will be. While there have been "significant security problems" at Los Alamos and some other sites where nuclear materials are kept, Brooks told the subcommittee "none of the vital national security assets -- nuclear weapons, special nuclear material or classified material -- are at risk anywhere within the nuclear weapons complex." A watchdog group, the Project on Government Oversight, testified that some facilities such as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories in California are unlikely to be able to meet the tougher standards and that the nuclear material, including plutonium, should be moved to a safer location. Livermore officials have said they expect to be able to meet the new requirements. On the Net: Los Alamos: http://www.lanl.gov -------- MILITARY -------- business Two contractors accused of cheating U.S. military By John O’Connor Associated Press March 18, 2005 http://www.airforcetimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-730767.php SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A former employee of a Halliburton subsidiary and a Kuwaiti businessman were charged with cheating the U.S. military out of $3.5 million for refueling tankers used in the Iraq war. Jeff Alex Mazon, 36, who was a procurement officer for Halliburton subsidiary KBR Inc., and Ali Hijazi developed a scheme to defraud the government by inflating bids on the tanker subcontract, an indictment announced Thursday alleges. The men face four counts each of major fraud and six counts each of wire fraud. Each faces as much as 10 years in prison on each major fraud charge and a $5 million fine if convicted. Conviction on each count of wire fraud could carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 on conviction. U.S. Attorney Jan Paul Miller refused to say whether KBR or Houston-based Halliburton are being investigated. Neither is named in the indictment. Mazon was arrested Wednesday in Norcross, Ga., the Justice Department said. Hijazi is not in custody and Miller refused to say whether authorities know where he is. The indictment came from a federal grand jury in Illinois because the Army Field Support Command at the Rock Island Arsenal oversees the military contract that included the tanker deal. According to the indictment, Mazon accepted a bid on the tankers from Hijazi’s company, LaNouvelle General Trading and Contracting Co., in 2003. He is accused of inflating the bid to $5.5 million on a project the company estimated would cost $680,000. The indictment says Mason then secretly inflated the bid of a competing company to make LaNouvelle’s bid appear to be lower. Hijazi paid Mazon $1 million for the favorable treatment, the indictment alleges. Miller, the U.S. attorney, said KBR brought the matter to the government’s attention last year. KBR repaid the government for the refueling tanker subcontract when it recognized the potential fraud, and disqualified LaNouvelle from future work, said Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall. The bidding for the subcontract was reviewed by a Defense Department audit agency, said Dan Carlson, an Army Field Support Command spokesman. He could not say why auditors did not catch the allegedly inflated price on the tankers. Miller said the investigation is continuing but would not elaborate. Since 2001, the government has paid KBR $7.6 billion of an $11.6 billion contract for supporting troops in the Iraq war. Vice President Dick Cheney headed Halliburton from 1995 to 2000, and Democratic members of Congress have repeatedly questioned whether Halliburton and its subsidiaries received favored treatment because of its connections. Cheney and other administration officials have denied Cheney had any role in Halliburton’s government contract work. ---- Air Force plans $5.7 billion Predator buy By UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL Published March 18, 2005 http://www.wpherald.com/North_America/storyview.php?StoryID=20050318-115336-8500r WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Air Force says it will spend $5.7 billion over five years to increase the number of its Predator airborne surveillance vehicles five-fold. There are now three squadrons of Predator unmanned aerial vehicles with 40 air vehicles total, all operating out of Nellis Air Force Base and Indian Springs airfield in Nevada. The air vehicles are deployed around the world, but are flown and controlled by ground-based "pilots" in the United States. The surveillance video collected by the Predator is immediately available to ground commanders via satellite. The Air Force plans to create a total of 15 squadrons, each with 12 air vehicles per squadron, Capt. Shelley Lai said Friday. It will stand up two more Predator squadrons in the Texas and Arizona Air National Guards, which have been experimenting with operating the system, one of the most highly tasked since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It will also assign a Predator squadron to the Air National Guard in New York. The Predator can dwell over a region for roughly 24 hours and normally flies at a height of around 15,000 feet, making it difficult to observe from the ground. -------- europe Schroeder Says No Conflict Over Russian-Iran Nuclear Contract March 18, 2005 (Bloomberg) http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aEhM6N5nWxoI -- German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Russia's $1 billion project to construct a nuclear-power plant in Iran is not in conflict with European moves to persuade Iran not to pursue a nuclear-weapons program. ``We have a common interest in Iran not having atomic and nuclear weapons,'' Schroeder said at a news conference in Paris today after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Jacques Chirac and Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. ``The Russian policy is in this spirit.'' Russia is building a nuclear reactor in the southern Iranian city of Bushehr to generate electricity. The U.S. has urged Putin to abandon the project, arguing that Iran, the Middle East's second-biggest oil producer, doesn't need nuclear energy and is building the reactor to help it develop nuclear weapons. France, Germany, and the U.K. have been seeking to persuade Iran to end the program through negotiations and economic incentives. The United Nations atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has criticized Iran for failing to cooperate fully with the body's inspectors. Putin has said he is convinced Iran's recent actions prove the nation isn't seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has agreed to send all the spent fuel from the reactor back to Russia. Russia took over the Bushehr contract after Ukraine pulled out of an agreement to supply turbines for the plant in 1998 because of pressure from the U.S. and Israel. -------- iran 'No contradiction' between EU-Iran talks and Russian nuclear aid PARIS (AFP) Mar 18, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050318212105.dxg2gvdl.html France and Germany said Friday they saw no contradiction between an EU bid to secure guarantees Iran will not use an atomic energy program to acquire nuclear weapons and nuclear cooperation between Moscow and Tehran. "Russia ships fuel and takes it back," German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said at a press conference following a summit of the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Spain in the French capital. "The fuel is not processed, nor is it enriched and cannot be enriched in Iran," he said with Russian President Vladimir Putin by his side. "This is why there is no contradiction" with the position of the EU troika -- Britain, France and Germany -- which are negotiating with Iran to try to secure "objective guarantees" that the clerical regime will not use its atomic energy program to acquire nuclear weapons. In exchange, the three European governments are offering a package of trade, security and technology incentives. The United States accuses Iran of using an atomic energy drive as a cover for developing nuclear weapons, and has threatened to take the issue to the UN Security Council. French President Jacques Chirac said he shared Schroeder's position. "There is no contradiction between the Russian position and the position which England, Germany and France are jointly negotiating or trying to negotiate, with positive steps," he said. Putin said Russia's cooperation with Iran was conditional on the transparency of Tehran's policies, its respect of International Atomic Energy Agency decisions and its renunciation of any nuclear military program. Under a deal signed last month at Bushehr, the site in Iran of the country's first civilian nuclear power station still under construction, Iran agreed to return immediately to Russia all nuclear fuel after it has been spent in civilian reactors. "We will meet agreements signed (with Iran) but we will attentively monitor Iran's level of cooperation with international organizations to control nuclear technologies," he added. ---- Atomic clock ticks down to fallout with Iran Simon Tisdall Friday March 18, 2005 The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldbriefing/story/0,15205,1440432,00.html Iran and the western powers are on a collision course as the clock ticks towards crucial talks in Paris next week about Tehran's nuclear programme. Iranian diplomats insist that their country's development of nuclear technology is for peaceful, civilian purposes only. They say Iran is merely exercising its right, under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, to enrich uranium for reactor fuel. But the EU "troika", comprising Britain, France and Germany, and the Bush administration do not believe them. Brandishing evidence of past concealment gathered by UN inspectors, they suspect that Iran is seeking weapons-grade uranium to build atomic bombs. The talks are highly technical in nature. Yet the basic problem underlying complex disputes about yellowcake and centrifuges is more easily understood. It boils down to an abiding, mutual lack of trust. Unless somebody gives ground soon, the Paris talks between the EU and Iran could mark a parting of the ways. "The US is using the nuclear issue as a pretext for regime change," a senior Iranian official said this week. "The issue is a diversion. The US wants to weaken Iran. Even if the nuclear issue was solved, they would want another thing and another thing." Iran had agreed a temporary suspension of uranium enrichment as a confidence-building measure, not a complete cessation, the official said. And the suspension would not necessarily last much longer. President Mohammad Khatami drove the point home in Isfahan this week: "Cessation of these activities is unacceptable to us. If the Europeans insist ... whatever happens after, the responsibility lies with them." Determined not to repeat its North Korea mistakes, the US is equally adamant that Iran must give way before it acquires full nuclear weapons capabilities. "It really is now up to the Iranians to do what they need to do," Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, warned. By offering limited incentives to Iran for the first time last week, she said the US had "forged a common front with Europe ... I'm sure it makes the Iranians uncomfortable." Stephen Hadley, the US national security adviser, dismissed Iran's proffered "objective guarantees". "The best guarantee is to permanently abandon their enrichment facilities," he said. Stuck in the middle, the EU is in the increasingly awkward position of holding the ring between Tehran and Washington, which is not directly involved in the talks. While it worries about Iran, Europe's bottom line is avoiding an Iraq-style rift with the US. British officials are urging Tehran to agree to an indefinite suspension of enrichment while talks on trade and normalisation issues proceed. "Like history, diplomacy never ends," a senior official said. But this approach does not recommend itself to Washington neoconservatives such as Richard Perle, who assert that only regime change in Tehran can ultimately solve the problem. "The belief that there's a diplomatic solution to be had here is increasingly the triumph of hope over experience," the Wall Street Journal commented. On the American right, distrust also extends to the EU, whose leadership on Iran is resented and whose post-Iraq solidarity is doubted. Iranian officials have been quick to suggest that by agreeing with the US to carpet Iran in the UN security council if incentives flop and the talks fail, the troika is walking into trap. "The Americans are trying to create an environment so the US can hit Iran," one diplomat said. "And I don't think the Europeans would ultimately accept this." That could be a serious miscalculation. But any Iranian attempt to play the EU off against America would test Europe's unity of purpose. Mr Khatami is due to visit the French president, Jacques Chirac, next month. British diplomats point out that the Iranians have long sought US engagement. Now it is forthcoming, they say, Tehran detects a plot. ---- EUROPE BLINKED: The US-EU negotiations on Iran Phyllis Bennis Institute for Policy Studies March 18, 2005 http://www.ips-dc.org/comment/Bennis/blink_iran.htm Despite the Bush administration's and media spin that the U.S. and Europe both compromised to create a unified policy towards Iran, the reality is far more unbalanced. Europe -in this case the "E-3" governments of Britain, France and Germany, collapsed under U.S. pressure and accepted Washington's demands to ratchet up the pressure on Iran. To be sure, the European surrender included a thin veneer of political cover for London, Paris and Berlin. But the new "unified" trans-Atlantic approach to Iran is thoroughly rooted in the U.S. preference for military threats over diplomatic engagement. The earlier U.S. rejection of Europe's effort to seriously engage Iran on the question of its nuclear facilities and specifically its uranium enrichment capacity remains largely intact. The U.S., with great fanfare, "accepted" Europe's approach of offering small economic carrots to Iran, but stipulated that such carrots would be made available only AFTER Tehran implemented a permanent halt to its nuclear production program. And the carrots themselves are of limited value. Access to imported spare parts for civilian aircraft, useful but hardly likely to match the importance Tehran places on its nuclear program, would be made available only on a case-by-case basis. And allowing Iran to apply for membership in the WTO only begins a process that takes years or decades to complete and would require such massive shifts in Iran's domestic economy that it remains unclear whether Iran even intends such a move. What Washington did not give up was its continuing threat of military force - whether bombing or allowing Israel to bomb alleged nuclear facilities or full-scale "regime change" - against Iran. In what was called a compromise but was in fact a major abandonment of the European Union's longstanding commitment to diplomatic engagement, the E-3 not only accepted Washington's militarized approach but agreed to join it. Europe essentially abandoned the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The E-3's letter to the president of Luxembourg, currently presiding over the European Union, described a situation of no progress, despite Iran's current internationally-verified halt in enrichment activities. The letter also supported the U.S. intention to hand the issue over to the UN Security Council (which would then be pressured to authorize harsh multi-lateral sanctions or even military force against Iran) if Tehran does not accept the demand to make its current nuclear halt permanent. A different approach, far more consistent with longstanding European commitments to use diplomacy over force, would have been be to work for strengthening, rather than discarding, the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to which Iran is a signatory. Such an approach would include pressuring Tehran - along with every other non-nuclear state - to ratify and implement the NPT's optional protocol allowing for no-notice, highly intrusive inspections of nuclear facilities when the IAEA has reason for suspicion. It would also mean reconfirming and beginning implementation of the obligations the NPT imposes on nuclear weapons states (the U.S., Britain, France, China and Russia) to move towards full nuclear disarmament. But instead, the U.S.-E-3 agreement brought European acquiescence to, and willingness to provide international legitimacy for, Washington's unilateral claim of the right to impose its will around the world. Europe agreed to toss international law out the window. As the New York Times acknowledged, without a hint of outrage or even unease, "the statements made clear that the West would not tolerate Iran's enriching uranium for civilian nuclear energy, despite international accords that allow it. The reference is to the fact that the NPT allows non-nuclear states to generate nuclear energy including the production of enriched uranium. The NPT calls for inspections, by the International Atomic Energy Agency, to deal with disputes, and Iran has accepted those inspections Europe, not the U.S., made all the serious concessions. Along with accepting the U.S. mandated referral to the Security Council if Iran rejects an imposed permanent halt of enrichment activities and/or an imposed timetable, Europe gave up two important positions. First, it agreed to drop its longstanding rejection of selectivity in enforcing nuclear non-proliferation. Specifically, Europe has long recognized that imposing demands for ending nuclear production on one country, while allowing other non-nuclear states to carry out such production, simply won't work. So if other non-nuclear signatories to the NPT, such as South Korea, Brazil, South Africa or others are carrying out nuclear enrichment programs as allowed under the NPT without challenge, confronting Iran alone will likely fail. Second, it appears that Europe - or at least the E-3 - now support Washington's assertion that even with instruments of multi-lateral arms control like those in the NPT, Iran's nuclear power can never be reliably surveilled or prevented from misuse. What this may signal is that key European powers are themselves prepared to abandon rather than reinforce the NPT, a long-sought goal of the unilateralists central to the Bush administration. Further, the White House rejected the idea of a U.S.-Iran non-aggression pact, something that might reduce Iran's ambition for nuclear weapons. Nor was there mention of even considering an end to the punitive unilateral sanctions the U.S. has imposed on Iran since 1979. To the contrary, in an aggressive move largely unreported in the U.S. press, on the night before the high-profile announcements of a new "U.S.-European unity" regarding Iran, President Bush announced he was extending the existing sanctions regime against Iran. According to Agence France Presse, on the night of March 10, Bush renewed the executive order first imposed by Bill Clinton in March 1995. In his order Bush called Iran a "significant and unusual threat" and accused Iran of supporting international terrorism, undermining the Middle East peace process, and attempting to obtain weapons of mass destruction. On March 13 Bush's new national security adviser, Stephen Hedley, told CNN that the Europeans were now also supporting Washington's claims regarding Iran's violations of human rights and alleged support of terrorism. This marked a major reversal of the earlier European stance that the negotiations with Iran should focus solely on the nuclear threat. Bush's renewed executive order went even further, claiming that "the actions of Iran contradict the interests of the U.S. in this region, and pose a lasting, significant threat to the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States of America." But in fact, in abandoning serious diplomacy in favor of the threats and potential use of force, it is this latest U.S.-European alliance against Iran that represents the potentially greatest significant threat to the U.S. since the illegal invasion of Iraq two years ago. -------- iraq Baghdad Under Siege by DAVID ENDERS [posted online on March 18, 2005 by The Nation] http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20050404&s=enders Baghdad It is raining, and many of the yellow-jumpsuited prisoners in Camp Redemption are looking for a dry place to stand. There are few prisoners outside their leaky tents, save those receiving family visitors or those who have decided to take shelter under the concrete culverts provided for mortar attacks. Redemption, which was built for 2,500 inmates but holds about 3,300 at the moment, is an open-air prison and all that remains of the US military's presence at Abu Ghraib, the facility that was formerly synonymous with Saddam Hussein's brutality and is now synonymous with the brutality of the US occupation. The cellblocks where the abuse scandal took place were turned over to the Iraqi justice system last spring. As we slog through the mud to visit soaked soldiers at the camp (interviews with detainees are not allowed), a US spokesman says military officials in Iraq have requested that Redemption be replaced with a more permanent facility alongside Camp Cropper at Baghdad International Airport, where the United States has a military base and houses about 100 "high value" detainees. In part, the aim is to provide the prisoners with more suitable dwellings, but it also reflects the lack of safety on the few miles of road between the airport and Abu Ghraib. The Abu Ghraib site is often attacked by insurgents, as are the police in Abu Ghraib village. Two years after the US invasion of Iraq, the theater-level detainee population is approximately 9,100, the highest it has been. The theater-level facilities are Abu Ghraib, Camp Bucca in the south (the largest) and Camp Cropper at the airport. At any given time, there are 1,000-1,500 detainees at the nontheater level at various military bases around the country. Some of these are released without charge and others are eventually transferred to the theater-level facilities. But prisoners are essentially off the books until that point. Despite the expanding prison population, the US military controls no more ground than it did when major combat operations ended two years ago. Abu Ghraib is a place I've visited intermittently throughout my time in Iraq, usually to conduct interviews with families waiting outside the prison for information or to visit family members. Like most military/government installations in and around Baghdad, the most notable change over the past two years is the continuing addition of concrete and earth-filled blast barriers and concertina wire, pushing visitors ever farther from the walls of the actual complex. All roads out of the capital are considered extremely dangerous, and the entire time we are outside the prison, we hear explosions in the surrounding town. Some former detainees allege that abuse continues to occur at base detention facilities as well as at the theater level, including the use of electric shocks during interrogation, beatings and stress positions. "I was made to stand for two days at a time. Almost every night they took us out of our cells and beat us," says Mustafa, a 24-year-old who was arrested in November at his home in southern Baghdad. "They often used [tazers], which would knock people out for five minutes at a time." Mustafa says he was held at Scania, a base on the city's southern edge, for nearly a month, and that he never received a formal detainee identification bracelet, which prisoners receive at theater level. "They just wrote numbers on our hands with a marker. That was how they identified us." There have been 11,670 releases from the system during the past two years, more than 4,500 of them approved by a review board, established last August, that consists of three US military and six Iraqi lawyers. Some Iraqi lawyers have complained that the process does not work quickly enough and that not enough prisoners have been released, but US Army Maj. Robert Berry of the 306th Military Police, a reserve battalion from New York and the unit in charge of Redemption, sums up the review board's dilemma succinctly: "You don't know if the person you're releasing is your next suicide bomber," he says. The main complaint of the families now is the number of juveniles the military is holding--106, according to US military figures. Standing in line with hundreds of others outside Camp Redemption, Iqbal Ali Khadim does not look up when US troops on the prison perimeter fire a rocket in the direction of some of the houses across the highway, but she breaks into tears at the mention of her 12-year-old son, Ali. "I just want him to be out. The last time I visited him, he told me they had beat him. He said they put him in the hospital for three days. They think he was going to be a suicide bomber," she says. Ali, along with his father, two older brothers and a pair of uncles, was arrested at Khadim's home in Yusefiya, south of Baghdad, two months ago. She says the following day she plans to make the daylong trip to Camp Bucca in Umm Qasr, south of Basra, where Ali's brothers and uncles are being held, accused of supporting the insurgency. As Hiba (the translator I work with) and I return to the parking lot after our most recent visit, we notice that a man who has been watching us closely the entire time is now on his cell phone and waving toward people in the lot. Bassim, our driver, who has already covered our license plate with mud to make it harder for anyone to call people on the road ahead with specific information about the car, starts the engine before we arrive. As we get in, another car pulls up behind us. Two men get in and the chase is on. All this takes place 500 meters or so from the walls of the prison. Save for the US troops on the perimeter, no other security, Iraqi or American, is to be seen. Once out of the parking lot, Bassim weaves through a local market, expertly dodging pedestrians and livestock at high speed as we gradually pull away from the car behind us. When we get on the open highway he punches the accelerator up to 100 mph and we lose sight of the other car. Insurgents or would-be kidnappers? I'm relieved I don't have the chance to find out. Two things became clear as the negotiations to form a government dragged on: American pacification efforts have stalled, and the euphoria accompanying the January 30 elections is beginning to evaporate. "The insurgents are increasing, and the reason is that the new government has not met yet--it encourages them to go on with their attacks," said Said Rashid, a political science professor at Baghdad University, just before the March 16 opening of Parliament. Baghdadis have grown resigned to life under the state of emergency that was declared in November. Spokesmen at the oil and electricity ministries say attacks on their employees and infrastructure averaged at least one a day last year and will rise this year. "The war is getting worse," says a furniture dealer who spent years in exile in London but returned to help pull down the statue of Saddam in central Baghdad's Firdos Square on April 9, 2003, a shot broadcast around the world. "I thought after the war it would be OK to open a business here. Now I can't even negotiate with my customers -- I'm afraid that if I say no, they might kidnap or kill me. I was optimistic before, but now I think I will return to Britain." Iraqis hope the 275-member national assembly will bring change. It is charged with writing a permanent constitution and setting up a system to elect a permanent government in December (likely prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari told me last month he would like to see direct elections for prime minister and the national assembly rather than the representational ones that have led to much of the wrangling since the January elections). But Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, one of the two main parties in the United Iraqi Alliance, the coalition that garnered the largest share of January's vote, has another burning issue he expects the assembly to address. "We are working to make the American forces and the non-American forces no longer exist. There is no nation in this world that's free and has dignity that would agree to have foreign forces on its land," Hakim told me in an interview last week. I asked him if this includes the apparently permanent US bases that are being built all over the country. "Iraqi people want a full pullout of the American forces," he replied. Hakim blamed US and British policy for the country's continued instability and said Iraqis can do better. "They depend on figures with connections to the previous regime and didn't give the chance to the honest, good Iraqis to take part to be in charge," he said. Hakim and other members of the UIA have been extremely critical of US-appointed prime minister Iyad Allawi's repeal of US proconsul Paul Bremer's de-Baathification order. Essentially, Hakim plans to gut the Interior Ministry, replacing the current administration with his own people. Whether this will work or create further division within the government remains to be seen. But the real trick will be winning over a dubious populace. Like millions of others, Ahmed Hassan, a businessman, risked his life by voting on January 30. As he sipped coffee in a Baghdad cafe, he lamented the lack of progress since then and compared the mindset of the populace now to that under Saddam: "To be honest, we are just fooling ourselves that it's getting better. In the past, we used to say 'the embargo will be lifted today or tomorrow,' but it never was." ---- List of Foreigners Taken Hostage in Iraq Fri Mar 18, 2:00 PM ET By The Associated Press http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050318/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_hostages_glance Insurgents in Iraq have kidnapped more than 200 foreigners: HELD: _ Ibrahim al-Maharmeh, a Jordanian businessman. Kidnapped in Baghdad on March 5. The Jordanian foreign ministry says his captors demanded $250,000 ransom. His brother was abducted earlier and freed after the family paid $50,000 ransom. _Florence Aubenas, a journalist for the French daily Liberation. Disappeared Jan. 5 after leaving her Baghdad hotel. Seen appealing for help on a videotape made public March 1. _Joao Jose Vasconcellos, 55, an engineer from Brazil. Seized in an ambush Jan. 19 en route to Baghdad airport. An Iraqi and a British security contractor die in the attack, which was claimed in a joint statement issued by the Ansar al-Sunnah Army and the Mujaheeden Brigades. _Abdulkadir Tanrikulu, a Turkish businessman. Abducted by gunmen from the Bakhan Hotel in Baghdad on Jan. 13. Reportedly ran a construction company that worked with U.S.-led occupation. _Badri Ghazi Abu Hamzah, a Lebanese businessman. Abduction reported by Lebanese government. Lebanese media quoted his family as saying he was seized on the road to Tikrit Nov. 6. _Sadeq Mohammed Sadeq, a Lebanese-American who formerly worked for SkyLink USA, a Virginia-based contractor. Kidnapped by gunmen around midnight Nov. 2 from his home in Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood. Shown on a video released Nov. 11. _Roy Hallums, a 56-year-old American, and Robert Tarongoy of the Philippines, workers for a Saudi company that does catering for the Iraqi army. Kidnapped Nov. 1 from their office in the Mansour district after a gunbattle kills an Iraqi guard and an attacker. A Nepalese and three Iraqis are also abducted but later freed. _Aban Elias, 41, Iraqi-American civil engineer from Denver. Seized May 3 by Islamic Rage Brigade. KILLED: _Margaret Hassan, 59-year-old director of CARE international in Iraq and a citizen of Britain, Ireland and Iraq. Abducted Oct. 19 in Baghdad. Makes videotaped appeals for the withdrawal of British troops and the release of female Iraqi prisoners. On Nov. 15, her family in London and Al-Jazeera television say they believe she is the female hostage whose shooting death is shown in a videotape. The tape is not broadcast. _Shosei Koda, 24, of Japan. Found decapitated, his body wrapped in an American flag, in Baghdad on Oct. 30. A video posted on the Internet had said he was kidnapped by followers of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who threatened his life unless Japan pulled its troops from Iraq. Japan rejected the demand. _Three Macedonian contractors, Dalibor Lazarevski, Zoran Nastovski and Dragan Markovic. Abducted Aug. 21; Macedonian government confirms their deaths Oct. 22. _Ramazan Elbu, a Turkish driver. A video posted Oct. 14 on the Web site of the Ansar al-Sunnah Army shows his beheading. _Maher Kemal, a Turkish contractor. Internet posting Oct. 11 shows his beheading. A statement says he was captured by the Ansar al-Sunnah Army. _British engineer Kenneth Bigley, 62. Kidnapped Sept. 16 with two American co-workers for Gulf Services Co. A video issued in al-Zarqawi's name threatens their lives unless the U.S. frees all Iraqi women in custody. The Americans are beheaded first; Bigley's decapitation is confirmed Oct. 10. _Jack Hensley, 48, a civil engineer from Marietta, Ga. Seized Sept. 16; an Internet message posted Sept. 21 reports his killing by al-Zarqawi's followers. _Eugene "Jack" Armstrong, 52, formerly of Hillsdale, Mich. Kidnapped Sept. 16; video made public Sept. 20 shows his beheading by al-Zarqawi. _Akar Besir, a Turkish driver. Body found Sept. 21. _Durmus Kumdereli, Turkish truck driver. Beheaded in video made public Sept. 13 but digitally dated Aug. 17. Video posted on a Web site that carries statements from al-Zarqawi's group. _Twelve Nepalese construction workers. One beheaded and 11 shot in the head in a video posted on the Internet Aug. 31. Killings claimed by Ansar al-Sunnah Army. _Enzo Baldoni, Italian journalist. Reported killed Aug. 26; Islamic Army in Iraq had threatened his life. _Murat Yuce of Turkey. Shot dead in video made public Aug. 2 by followers of al-Zarqawi. _Raja Azad, 49, engineer, and Sajad Naeem, 29, driver, both Pakistani. Slain July 28. The Islamic Army in Iraq said they were killed because Pakistan considering sending troops to Iraq. _Georgi Lazov, 30, and Ivaylo Kepov, 32, Bulgarian truck drivers. Al-Zarqawi's followers suspected of decapitating both men. _Kim Sun-il, 33, South Korea translator. Beheaded June 22 by al-Zarqawi's group. _Hussein Ali Alyan, 26, Lebanese construction worker. Found shot to death June 12. Lebanon says killers sought ransom. _Fabrizio Quattrocchi, 35, Italian security guard. Killed April 14. Unknown group, the Green Battalion, claimed responsibility. _Nicholas Berg, 26, businessman from West Chester, Pa. Kidnapped in April and beheaded by al-Zarqawi's group. FREED OR ESCAPED: _36 Turks, 19 Jordanians, 19 Lebanese, 13 Chinese, 13 Egyptians, six Italians, five Japanese, five Chinese, four Americans, four Indonesians, three Kenyans, three Czechs, three Indians, three Poles, three Frenchmen, two Canadians, two Russians, a Sri Lankan, a Bangladeshi, a Swede, a Filipino, a Syrian, a Sudanese, a Nepalese, an Australian, a Briton, an Iranian, a Pakistani, a Somali, a Syrian-Canadian, and an Arab Christian from Jerusalem. MISSING: _U.S. Army Spc. Keith M. Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio, and Timothy Bell of Mobile, Ala. Disappeared April 9 after attack on a fuel convoy. Arab television reported June 29 that Maupin had been killed; he is listed as missing by the U.S. military. ---- Baghdad cop's war in land of dead By Ned Parker Agence France-Presse Friday-Saturday, March 18 -19,2005 http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news12.htm BAGHDAD — The red welt on his left shoulder, the ripped flesh on his neck, a bullet hole in his head, Salem Zajay's body is a map of the violence that has scarred Iraq for the last two years. The paunchy44 -year-old Iraqi police colonel returned to the job three weeks ago for the first time since assassins drove up from behind him on the second night of Ramadan in mid-October and riddled his car with bullets. Blood splattering from his shoulder, he fired back, clenched the steering wheel with his right hand and tried to shield his wife in the passenger seat from the bullets. Only now is the26 -year police veteran back at his station in Dura, perhaps the meanest neighbourhood in Baghdad, where killing is a daily ritual. A place he has nicknamed the "land of the dead." Zajay, in his light blue shirt and dark pants, and a creased black leather jacket, is a survivor of the capricious bloodshed that has targeted civilians and Iraqi security forces alike since the fall of the old regime in spring2003 . "Now we work without the law. There is no government. The people don't feel there is a law until now... People feel there is nobody," Zajay says. With the fall of Saddam, Zajay has lost too many friends. On the job, he bears witness to the kidnappings and murders that have become the scourge of Baghdad. On October27 ,2003 , a suicide car bomb rammed into the gates of his old Baghdad police station in the Hayad Allam neighbourhood. Seven of his officers died, along with one US soldier, whose corpse he tried to carry out of the building. Zajay is lucky to be alive. And despite it all, somehow he believes things are improving. "I think we are getting better," he says. "If we get stability, if we get control of the borders, everything will be fine." The colonel's optimism seemed to fly in the face of reality. In the chilly corridor of Baghdad's morgue, the medical staff says they receive an average of around500 dead from gunshot wounds each month. The numbers stand in sharp contrast to the Saddam years when the morgue averaged around 16 such victims a month. But Zajay, with his darting black eyes, dispels the notion Baghdad was tranquil under the old regime. Waving his hands, he describes cases he cracked back then like the gruesome strangling to death of three men, whose necks were choked by women's stockings. How a man he arrested in 1992 tracked him down six years later on a street and slashed his left cheek and his chest. He proudly unbuttons his shirt to show the knife scars and brags he tackled the man and cuffed him before heading to the hospital to have his face sewn up. So much of the rebel killing and criminal activity blur today that it is often impossible to distinguish where the insurgency ends and low-life crime begins. "Saddam released all the criminals in2002 . Some of them are very bad," Zajay says. "Many of them work with the terrorists [now] because they [rebels] have money." Zajay is convinced much of the bloodshed is overwhelmingly sectarian. "The Sunnis are trying to cleanse Dura. They're trying to get rid of the Shiites and they've already succeeded with the Christians." At least 14 Christians were killed in Dura in the past 10 months, he says. Adding to his woes, the colonel is not sure whom to trust. He has 110 men under his command, another 90 have deserted. "Most of my cops... have a lot of information but they don't give it because most of the terrorists in Dura are family or neighbours. It's dangerous for them to give information and it is dangerous for me. "I'm sure the terrorists ... watch me when I come and go. They have eyes everywhere in my police station and not just one or two." Almost embarrassed, he admits quietly he wants to transfer to another station. He does not let his four children, the oldest one18 , out of the house except for school. Zajay heard on the radio Saturday one of his best friends, Colonel Ahmed Obeiss, was gunned down in Baghdad. The pair had survived together the horrific suicide car bombing in October2003 . "Everyday, we hear about an Iraqi policeman killed. My wife and my children asked me not to go back to the police station. But I can't listen. This is our country. We must work for change." -------- israel Palestinians to seek 440 million dollars for houses demolished by Israel 3/18/2005 Turkish Press http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=39006 ALGIERS - The Palestinian Authority will ask next week's Arab summit to approve 440 million dollars to build housing for Palestinians whose homes were demolished by Israel during the four-year intifada, the Palestinian economy minister said here Friday. Mazen Sunukrot said a project to build two large complexes -- one in the Gaza Strip and the other in the West Bank -- had already been approved by the Arab League's economic and social council. The plan will be submitted to a meeting of foreign ministers this weekend. The two-day summit in Algiers is slated to begin on Tuesday. The Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem estimates that 28,000 Palestinians have been left homeless as a result of the practice. The policy has sparked repeated condemnations by human rights groups which claim it amounts to collective punishment and a breach of international law. Last month, Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz ordered a halt to demolitions. -------- prisoners of war Britons warned on prisoner handling By Shaun Waterman UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL Published March 18, 2005 http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20050317-102022-7373r Britain's Secret Intelligence Service told its personnel in Afghanistan two years ago that the treatment of U.S. prisoners may not meet "appropriate standards" and warned them to avoid participation in "coercive" interviews, a parliamentary committee reported. The report said the warning was issued one day after the SIS, also known as MI6, was first granted access to U.S.-held detainees in Afghanistan, and was based on what was thought to be an "isolated incident" witnessed by a single British officer. Nevertheless, SIS officers were warned that the British government's "stated commitment to human rights makes it important that the Americans understand that we cannot be party to such ill treatment nor can we be seen to condone it," says the report, dated March 1 and signed by Ann Taylor, chairman of the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee. A full copy of the report, titled "The Handling of Detainees by UK Intelligence Personnel in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and Iraq," is posted on the Internet at http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/publications/reports/intelligence/treatdetainees.pdf. The report says that on Jan. 10, 2002, the first day the SIS had access to U.S.-held detainees in Afghanistan, "an SIS officer conducted an interview of a detainee. Whilst he was satisfied that there was nothing during the interview which could have been a breach of the Geneva Conventions, he reported back to London his 'observations on the circumstances of the handling of the detainee by the U.S. military before the beginning of the interview.' " Those comments raised concerns about the U.S. treatment of detainees, the report says, and the next day instructions were sent to all SIS officers in Afghanistan advising them that all prisoners were entitled to equal protection under the Geneva Conventions. "It appears ... that they may not be treated in accordance with the appropriate standards," said those instructions as quoted by the parliamentary report. Although it is not the responsibility of British officers to intervene with the American handling of prisoners, the instructions continued, "in no case should they be coerced during or in conjunction with an SIS interview of them. If circumstances allow, you should consider drawing this to the attention of a suitably senior U.S. official locally." "It is important that you do not engage in any activity yourself that involves inhumane or degrading treatment of prisoners," continued the instructions, which went on to point out the obligations of the SIS officers under British criminal law. The parliamentary report says the SIS officer who first reported a problem did not witness any "further instances of this kind" during his remaining three weeks in Afghanistan and that the agency regarded it as an isolated incident. -------- russia / chechnya Military exercises significant for Sino-Russian relations, says Beijing BEIJING (AFP) Mar 18, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050318134212.5ioo9vjc.html The planned joint China-Russia military exercises to be staged later this year will be a significant event in relations between the two neighbours, China's defense minister said Friday. "The exercise will exert both immediate and far-reaching impacts," Minister Cao Gangchuan said in a Xinhua news agency report after meeting with visiting Russian army chief Yuri Baluyevsky. Baluyevsky added the military exercises, the first between the two countries, would be "a new way of cooperation between the two militaries, aimed at improving the training capabilities of the two militaries and boosting their cooperation", the report said. The Russian military chief also met Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday afternoon, before leaving for the southern coastal resort of Sanya, where China has a naval base, Xinhua said. According to a source in the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Sino-Russian exercises would have an "anti-terrorist orientation" and would be held on the Shandong peninsula. On Sunday, Baluyevsky will travel to Seoul where he will hold talks with South Korea's defense minister and military about cooperation, the situation on the Korean peninsula and about North Korea's nuclear ambitions. ---- Russia and Georgia to hold talks over bases by end of month MOSCOW (AFP) Mar 18, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050318160251.mjakdppv.html Georgia said Friday that it was close to resolving the thorny issue of Russian military bases on its territory with Moscow. "The issue is practically resolved," Georgy Khaindrava, Georgia's minister for conflict resolution, said on a visit to Moscow. "We are working on the details and hope that a solution will be found before the end of May," he said in an interview with Moscow Echo radio. The Georgian official said that the three-year time limit that Moscow has requested to withdraw its two bases, which Georgia inherited from Soviet times, was "reasonable." The two nations have agreed to hold talks on the issue, which has strained relations between Moscow and Tbilisi for years, before the end of March. Russia has two bases remaining on Georgian territory, in the Akhalkalaki region in the south and Batumi in the west, for years. "The bases are an anachronism... that dates to the Soviet times and were meant to protect the (Soviet) south," Khaindrava said Friday. "Today NATO and Turkey are not longer Russian enemies, so there is no longer an argument for their existence." Last week, the Georgian parliament passed a resolution that gave Russia until January 1 to close the facilities, but Russia is insisting it will need at least three years to withdraw its equipment and troops. In a joint statement signed by Russia and Georgia during a 1999 summit of member countries of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Istanbul, Moscow agreed to close two of four military bases in Georgia and to present a timetable for closure of the remaining two. -------- space Lockheed Martin Passes Key Design Milestone For MUOS System Illustration of MUOS. Sunnyvale CA (SPX) Mar 18, 2005 http://www.spacedaily.com/news/milspace-comms-05l.html The Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) team led by Lockheed Martin has successfully completed the System Preliminary Design Review (PDR) with its customer, the U.S. Navy. The System PDR kicks off a key design and development phase for the space and ground segments to ensure the system will meet or exceed the customer's requirements for the next generation narrowband tactical satellite communications system. MUOS will provide significantly improved and assured communications for U.S. mobile warfighters. With the adaptation of state-of-the art 3rd Generation (3G) mobile technology, the Lockheed Martin design will deliver simultaneous voice, data and video services as well as the ability to increase capacity and features over the life of the program. Users of the current Ultra High Frequency Follow-On (UFO) system will have improved service and complete interoperability with MUOS to ensure a smooth transition. More than 200 representatives from the Navy, Department of Defense agencies, as well as industry teammates General Dynamics C4 Systems, Boeing Satellite Systems (BSS), and other system engineering and technical assistance support contractors, participated in the three-day review held recently at Lockheed Martin's Sunnyvale facility. The PDR validated that the MUOS architecture supports the Navy concept of operations and provides backward compatibility and interoperability with the UFO system. The first MUOS satellite is scheduled for on-orbit hand over to the Navy in 2010 along with the entire ground system. "We are extremely proud to have successfully completed this significant review in the MUOS program," said Leonard F. Kwiatkowski, vice president and general manager, Lockheed Martin Military Space Programs. "Working closely with our Navy customer, the team has taken an important first step towards providing warfighters the long-sought capability of real-time communications on the move." Last year, Lockheed Martin Space Systems was awarded a $2.1 billion contract to build the first two satellites and associated ground control elements by the U.S. Navy. The Navy's Program Executive Office for Space Systems, Chantilly, Va., and its Communications Satellite Program Office, San Diego, Calif., are responsible for the MUOS program. The contract also provides for options on three additional spacecraft. With all options exercised, the contract for up to five satellites has a total potential value of $3.26 billion. -------- us Campus Resistance: Students Stage Counter-Recruitment Protests Across the Country Democracy Now Friday, March 18th, 2005 http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/18/1450222 Students around the country have launched a national week of campus resistance to mark the second anniversary of the Iraq invasion and high profile counter-recruitment protests are being staged at university campuses around the country. We speak with a former marine and recruiter's assistant who is now speaking out against the military and two people arrested during a protest against military recruiters on university campus. [includes rush transcript] Students around the country have launched a national week of campus resistance to mark the second anniversary of the Iraq invasion. In New York Wednesday the Hunter Campus Anti-war Network staged a protest at a career fair featuring military recruiters. At the University of Wisconsin in Madison, students protested against the ROTC's presence on campus. Last week high profile counter-recruitment protests were staged at City College in New York and San Francisco State University. Today we are joined by three guests in our New York studio. Chris Dugan is a graduate student at Hunter College. He served in the Marine Corps from 1995 to 1999 and has worked as a recruiter assistant. He is now a member of the Campus Antiwar Network and has protested against recruiting on campus. Hadas Thier is a student at City College New York. She was arrested last week during a protest against military recruiters on campus. She was charged with assault and has been suspended from the University and banned form setting foot on campus. And Carol Lang, a City College staff member who was picked up in her office and arrested in connection with the protest and also charged with assault. * Hadas Their * Carol Lang * Chris Dugan AMY GOODMAN: Today we're joined by three guests here in our firehouse studio in New York. Chris Dugan is a graduate student at Hunter College. He served in the Marine Corps from 1995 to 1999 and has worked as a recruiter assistant. He is now a member of the campus anti-war network and has protested against recruiting on campus. Hadas Their is a student at City College here in New York. She was arrested last week during a protest against military recruiters on campus. She was charged with assault and has been suspended from the university and banned from setting foot on campus. Carol Lang, City College staff member, long-time secretary, was picked up in her office and arrested in connection with a protest. She was charged with assault, but she was picked up two days after the protest at her office. Well, why don't we begin with Hadas. Why don't you explain what happened at your protest and where it was? First, how old are you? HADAS THEIR: I'm 28, in my last semester at City College. And basically what happened was a group of about 20 of us went to protest the military recruiters. They had four different branches set up at our career fair at City College. And the reason that we were there is that we felt like we needed to make our case that this was not a real job opportunity, that you know, the military recruiters set up at City College because, you know, it's a working class school. It's predominantly people of color, and they feel like they can target our community as people who might just be desperate enough, you know, to take this as a quote, unquote, “job opportunity,” you know, when it's really about risking our lives, you know, for what I think is an unjust war, and one that was based on lies. And essentially, within, you know, moments of us arriving -- and we just started chanting “Recruiters Off Our Campus, U.S. Out Of Iraq” -- within moments, the security guards swooped in, pushed us out into the hallway, and in the hallway, we were -- several people were actually assaulted, and three of us – AMY GOODMAN: Assaulted by whom? HADAS THEIR: By security. And then three of us were arrested and now -- well, and then the fourth, obviously, Carol, two days later. And now three out of the four of us are actually charged with assault, despite the fact that we were peacefully protesting. We have tons of witnesses on the scene who know that we were just peacefully protesting, and it was actually security that was violent with us. JUAN GONZALEZ: Now, City University has increasingly over the last decade or so developed a sort of a militarized force, and they also use some outside private contractors. Can you talk about that a little bit? HADAS THEIR: Yeah. Actually they were private contractors on the scene, and they're not -- they weren't supposed to be involved in handling us, and they were. The other thing that's really kind of shocking to me, anyway, that I found out while all this ordeal was happening was that security forces at City College aren't hired by the administration. They're hired by the city, and they're not actually accountable to even the administration, let alone the student body. So, essentially, we have this sort of occupying force in our own school. And they just went really ballistic on us. I mean, I think they were ready to go all out. AMY GOODMAN: So you were arrested, and now you are banned from campus? HADAS THEIR: Mm-hmm. AMY GOODMAN: What happened? HADAS THEIR: Well, the administration, within a day of our release from central booking, came out with its own statement. The president put out a statement to the entire faculty and student body. AMY GOODMAN: The president is – HADAS THEIR: Gregory Williams. And he sent out a statement stating as fact, basically, what the security officers were alleging, that hasn't been proven in any court of law, and he just stated that, you know, we were violent, that we assaulted security, and then that day I received a phone call notifying me of my suspension without even having asked me or anyone on the scene for that matter, you know, what had happened. Not actually even wanting to hear our point of view. So, they lined up very squarely with security and the state right off the bat. JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, it used to be on college campuses that before you could be suspended, you would have to have some kind of administrative hearing to judge whether you had done anything to violate university rules. HADAS THEIR: Yeah. Well, they told me -- I said, you know, “You realize that I'm entitled to due process at the university.” And they said, “Well, according to the bylaws, we can suspend you temporarily until your disciplinary hearings.” AMY GOODMAN: And when are they set for? HADAS THEIR: They're set for probably early April. They were -- they are obligated to give us a disciplinary hearing within seven business days, but we didn't have our -- they told us within a day, basically, they gave us 24 hours notice, so we didn't have time to prepare our case, so we have it pushed back until early April. AMY GOODMAN: Carol Lang, what happened to you? CAROL LANG: Well, I was at the protest also, and pretty much what Hadas said was what happened. Within two minutes, security had pushed us out into the hallway, and then within the space of another two minutes, they had assaulted three of the students – or two of the students, and Hadas was also arrested for taking pictures of the assault. And then I got into a discussion with one of the administrators there saying, “What about our right to free speech?” And this vice president, whose name I have forgotten right now, said, “Well, that's a question.” And I said, “Well that's my question. What’s your answer? You're the administrator. You're supposed to be coming up with the policy.” And she said, “You were disruptive.” And I said we hadn't prevented anybody from getting to any of the tables. We just stood there and shouted “U.S. Out Of Iraq! Recruiters Off Campus!” And then I went to work. I had asked her again about free speech, and she responded in the same way. “That's a question.” And I said, well -- and, this is on tape – because one of the film students happened to be in the area, and he filmed it, and he was also harassed by the administration. Had he not stopped, something -- he might have been expelled also from the school. So they actually charged me with fleeing the scene, when in fact I had this long discussion with this vice president after the whole thing happened, and then two days later, four -- they're called peace officers, and they actually work for the police department, and they are stationed at the different, you know, segments of the City University -- they came into my office and said I was going to security and I said AMY GOODMAN: You were at your desk? CAROL LANG: I was at my desk. This was 12:00 in the afternoon. AMY GOODMAN: How long you have been a secretary? CAROL LANG: 30 years, and nothing has ever -- I generally join in protests, but… AMY GOODMAN: How often do you get arrested? CAROL LANG: This is the first time. Williams has decided -- Williams used to be a Deputy Sheriff when he lived in the Midwest somewhere, and – AMY GOODMAN: The president. CAROL LANG: Yes. And he has decided -- after 9/11 happened, he put up signs all over the place saying, “United We Stand.” So, he is taking homeland security to heart and bringing it to City College. Every time something happens there, he immediately calls the police. And historically, except for early on in the 1930s and the 1940s, the police have not generally been called. It's sort of unstated that cops just don't come on campus, but Williams has basically decided that he wants to militarize the school and has decided that no matter what the opportunity, he's going to call them on campus. So, four police came to my office, and when I got on Amsterdam Avenue, because my office is on 140th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, they said I wasn't going to security. They handcuffed me, put me in a cop car and took me to the 26th precinct. And my lawyer came down, and I said to the cops, “Is my lawyer there?” And they said, “No.” And they told my lawyer that I didn't want a lawyer and that I said that he should go home. And so, this was all -- it got worse as I went down to central booking. All of the police decided that they were going to lie, and they said that I was unwilling to be fingerprinted. And that was why they weren't letting me out of jail, when in fact I had been fingerprinted three times. And I'm not about to tell somebody with a gun that I'm not going to be fingerprinted. So, they had to after 30 hours let me go, but the whole thing was orchestrated, I believe, by CUNY administration and with Williams at the head of this. AMY GOODMAN: I have to say, we called City College to ask them to join us. They declined. We also called the recruiting centers for the Army Reserve, for the National Guard, for the Marine Corps. We also called the Pentagon. In some cases, didn't get return calls; in other cases, were told that they would not come on. Juan. JUAN GONZALEZ: In terms of -- now, you as an employee, what happened to you? Were you also suspended from work? CAROL LANG: Well, I was not only suspended, but I was suspended without pay for 30 days. Or until -- after 30 days, they either have to make some decision or put me back. I have to have a step one hearing and step two hearing, but they can wait for 30 days. They can do it in a week; they can do it whenever they want to. But I have been essentially convicted, even before I had my day in court. JUAN GONZALEZ: But, my understanding is, at least in the universities and the public school systems, if you are a teacher or a faculty member accused of child abuse or assault, you get suspended with pay. CAROL LANG: If you're a faculty member. JUAN GONZALEZ: Right, if you’re a faculty member. CAROL LANG: But not if you're just a worker there. JUAN GONZALEZ: But just a worker there, they can -- automatic suspension without pay. CAROL LANG: Right. So here we're making a third of the salary, and I'm not begrudging anybody, but obviously this is a tremendous punishment to people in my category, because we don't make a lot of money. My lawyer basically said that this is retaliation, and I think that suspending me is retaliation, as well. AMY GOODMAN: We're talking to Carol Lang, Hadas Their, and Chris Dugan. Chris, you were a military recruiter. Now you’re protesting military recruitment on campus. Talk about when you were in the military. CHRIS DUGAN: Like you said, I was in from 1995 to 1999. I was very lucky, I wasn’t in during a time of war. But I was sort of gung ho. I wanted to do the best I could. I obtained the rank of sergeant while I was in. And the way I obtained that rank was by recruiting someone into the Marines, and you get points. They have quota systems. And by getting that one guy to join the Marines, it helped me to get promoted to sergeant. So now, I mean, my conscience got to me. Also, I’m just opposed to American imperialism in this war. And I want it to end. From my experience in the military, how they dehumanize you, how they desensitize you, they make your enemy look like an object. They make human beings look like objects. And I’m opposed to that. JUAN GONZALEZ: Can you talk about that a little bit? The Marines, obviously, are the most elite of the American armed forces. In terms of how you reached your conclusions, did you have your political views before you joined the Marines, or did they develop during that time? CHRIS DUGAN: I did. I mean, I had visited Ireland, the occupied six counties of Northern Ireland before I went into the Marines, and I saw the occupation there, but I was constantly rationalizing. “Ok, at least I have a future. I'm going to be getting a paycheck the 1st and 15th of every month. Let me just put this aside, do my four years, get out and then I won't have to worry about it.” But just -- I read A People's History by Howard Zinn. I was a history buff. They were telling me about how we freed the Philippines and how we're peacekeepers. And I was just like, this is the same things that they told the British soldiers when they were occupying Ireland, India and all around the world. So I started drawing the parallels, and from that I came to the conclusion that we were wrong, that I was wrong. AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about how you were taught to recruit, and what you do? What are your tactics? CHRIS DUGAN: Actually, I didn't go to the school where -- recruiters would go to a school. I was a recruiter's assistant. So, they would just tell me, you know, spots to go. This is the best -- you go to restaurants, malls during the day, where people are just walking around, working class kids, high schools. What I would say is, basically, I would ask them a question, and then from that question – AMY GOODMAN: Would you be wearing a uniform? CHRIS DUGAN: Yes. Absolutely. And from that question, I would feed off them and pitch them sort of like, to what they wanted. So, like they would ask me – like I’d say, “Are you interested in the Marines?” “Well, I don't know. I sort of need college money, but I don’t know.“ “Well, the Marine Corps can do a lot for you. Look at me. They took me, and they made me a disciplined person. That's getting a college education. I have already gotten 30 credits in school. I'm doing really well.” You know, I would block everything else out that was going on in my life and just focus in on the positive, and I would relate it to their lives. I’d ask them about them: “How are you doing in school?” I’d seem very concerned. When really all I was worried about – and I like to think that most people – well, not like to think, but -- a lot of the recruiters are worried about that bonus, they’re worried about those points. And it's a career move. It helps them in their career to be a recruiter. JUAN GONZALEZ: Now even the Marines in the last few months, for the first time in their history, have had difficulty meeting their quota, in terms of a recruitment quota. CHRIS DUGAN: Yeah. That's right. JUAN GONZALEZ: What is your sense of what's going on among young people in this country now, as they’re continuing to see the reality of the Iraq war and how they're reacting to the pitches of the military? CHRIS DUGAN: Well, I think that, I mean, it debunks that whole patriotism myth. I mean, that – I mean, I joined up for certain, I guess, somewhat patriotic ideologies a little bit. You know, I watched too many war movies as a kid. But I think that they're seeing – I mean, on like shows like this and other independent media sources, they're seeing the actual effects of war, and what's going on. And I don't think that – I mean, like I said, dying in Iraq is not a career opportunity. I don't think that these people want to shoot other or kill other working class people in another country that have never done anything to them. It doesn't make any sense. AMY GOODMAN: We're talking to Chris Dugan, who was an assistant recruiter, was in the Marines; Hadas Their, a student who was arrested this week, now banned from campus as she protested recruiting on her campus at City College; and Carol Lang, a 30-year secretary at City College who was also arrested two days after the protest. AMY GOODMAN: Our guests are, well, a former assistant recruiter in the Marines from '95 to '99, Chris Dugan; Hadas Their is with us, she's a student at City College, now she's banned from her own campus because she participated in a counter-recruitment protest this week; and Carol Lang, long time secretary at City College, also arrested. Though she was at the protest, she was arrested two days later, suspended without pay, as we talk on this eve of the second anniversary of the invasion. Yesterday on NPR's "Morning Edition," they were talking about the recruiting woes at the National Guard. NPR tracked down one recruiter working at Bell High School in southeast Los Angeles. As part of her pitch to students, the recruiter claimed there is a greater chance of being killed in their own neighborhood than in Iraq. The reporter says this recruiter has little patience with parental fears that their kids might get wounded or killed. She thinks there's a better chance of being killed in LA than in Iraq. And the recruiter says, because they might get killed when they step outside the door -- they can get shot -- you might as well get shot for freedom, for a purpose. Your response, Chris Dugan? CHRIS DUGAN: I think it's sad. I think, why don't we address that concern about the communities: people being shot by cops, gangs? Why don't we -- where is the money going towards that, rather than going and killing other people in Iraq? And I heard this a lot. I mean, I remember a corporal in the Marines asked me and another marine, asked me, why did I join? I said, “A sort of patriotism. I wasn't sure what to do.” He said, you know, “Yeah, whatever.” He asked the other guy, “Why did you join?” It was an African American gentleman from Chicago, the inner city. And he said, “Because I was going to get shot at home. And that's why I joined. I might as well make some money.” But it wasn't for this freedom mentality. It was because he was afraid of getting shot at home. I mean, there wasn't a war going on at the time. AMY GOODMAN: What about this idea that you can get out? Often -- in the week we've been looking at this eve of the invasion -- CHRIS DUGAN: Right. AMY GOODMAN: Yesterday our producer went over to one of the recruitment stations, and he was told, if you want to -- if you want to get out of the Navy, he said, “If you don't want the Navy, the Navy doesn't want you.” CHRIS DUGAN: I heard that all the time. I went to the recruiting station also, and he said the exact same thing to me. And it's amazing. They make it seem like it's like, “Well, you can get out.” Exactly. The whole time it's like, “We don't want people in there who don't want to be in. It doesn't benefit us.” Well, I knew a lot of guys who wanted to get out, especially with the anthrax shots. People were scared about the anthrax shots, and they would not let them out. When I was in Okinawa, when I occupied Okinawa in Japan, the Marines all the time are saying, “I don't want to get these anthrax shots.” And they were like, “You're not getting out, and you're getting an anthrax shot. And if you refuse, then we're discharging you.” And it's not an honorable discharge that they discharge you under. JUAN GONZALEZ: Now, Hadas, I'd like to ask you, in terms of this whole effort at protesting the recruiters, what do you think is the impact in terms of the other students? Why do you do it? And what is the role of these recruiters on campus other than just -- do they just man tables there, attempting to grab students who are passing by their tables, or are they more active throughout the campus? HADAS THEIR: Well, they mostly just man tables. I think that there's been a more and more aggressive policy. I know that they've taken over certain high schools and middle schools. There's even a military middle school right now in Harlem. And essentially, they prey -- they prey on us and our brothers and sisters. And they prey on people's worst fears, and like that quote, you know, is just disgusting, “Well, you know you're just going to get shot in your own community.” Just preying on people's worst fears and conditions and things like that. I think the effect of counter-recruitment work has been great. And I think that that's actually why they were prepared for us, and why they crack down on us in the way that they have. You know, I think you mentioned earlier in the show that recruitment numbers are down. I heard a Reuters report recently that that said that the Army was down 6% in terms of reaching its targeted goal, the Reserves 10%, and the National Guard 26%. I don't think that's because of just counter-recruitment activism. I think that that's because of, you know, massive disaffection with the war and not wanting to get killed or kill for no weapons of mass destruction and all the lies and the rest of it. But I think that counter-recruitment has helped on that. It's helped to tap into what I think is a very wide, wide disaffection. And the reason that we were out there is we wanted to give some voice to that and give some confidence to what is a growing sentiment on campuses. AMY GOODMAN: How big is this campus recruitment protest movement around the country? HADAS THEIR: I think it's gotten to be quite massive in a very short amount of time. I think it's been a fairly spontaneous outpouring. I think you mentioned that San Francisco State University, the day before we got arrested, they had at their career fair, 200 protesters that -- at their career fair, because there were so many of them, managed to have a sit-in and had a teach-in for a couple of hours. [They] took over their career fair, which is fabulous. The next day, a couple of them came back, you know, to hand out leaflets, and they were handled in a similar way that we were at City College. But this is something that's been growing. And I think, you know, for the first couple of weeks, you know, it caught administrations and recruiters unawares, and you know, last semester at City College, we actually managed to shut down our recruiters twice in a row. But I think that now they're not so unaware, and they're trying to formulate their response, because they need us. They cannot fight this war without us. AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask Chris Dugan, the Indianapolis Star recently reported at least six recruiters have been charged with sexually assaulting young recruits in the past few years. In Indiana, a National Guardsman named Eric Vetesy was charged earlier this month with sexually assaulting six young women. They were mostly high school students. He faces 31 counts of rape, sexual battery, official misconduct, corrupt business influence. Prosecutors say he assembled background information on each recruit and was able to target those he thought most likely could be coerced. He went after high school students during lunch breaks at school. The local prosecutor said, “These were very young women who were being recruited out of high school classes. This is one of the most heinous investigations of this type I have seen and one of the worst abuses of authority.” Now, he had personal information about them. Is this the information that the schools hand over to the Pentagon? CHRIS DUGAN: I would think -- I mean, I don't know personally, but I would think so. I mean, that's how he gets their names. That's how he compiles the data on them, and then he probably again manipulates them through that information. “Oh, my cousin was from the same town you're from.” Things like that. Just to relate to the people like you're their friend. The family. That's the whole idea of the pulley program, the delayed entry program. They bring you in, and they make you feel, before you go to boot camp, that you're part of a unit. That you're part of something greater than just society. And it's a testament to the dehumanizing factor that I mentioned earlier. My recruiter, the guy who recruited me, he was having sexual relations with a recruit. He also touched a teacher in the high school, which -- he wasn't allowed back in my high school. He wasn't allowed back in. I mean, it's rampant in the military. AMY GOODMAN: Well, on that note, I want to thank you all for being with us, Chris Dugan and Hadas Their and Carol Lang. To purchase an audio or video copy of this entire program, click here for our new online ordering or call 1 (800) 881-2359. ---- No Child Left Unrecruited: Rep. Jim McDermott Seeks to Protect Students From Military Recruiters Democracy Now Friday, March 18th, 2005 http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/18/1450217 We speak with Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) who is backing a bill that would make it easier for parents to block military recruiters from gaining access to their high school-aged children. The bill seeks to amend a provision of the No Child Left Behind Act that requires school districts to provide the Pentagon the names, addresses and phone numbers of every student in the school. [includes rush transcript] Tomorrow marks the second anniversary of the launch of the Iraq invasion. Two years ago, on March 19, 2003, the United States began dropping bombs on Iraq, while thousands of US and British forces began pouring across the country's borders. Since then, as many as 100,000 Iraqis have died and an unknown number have been wounded. Over 1,500 American soldiers have been killed and some 20,000 medically evacuated. Two years after the launch of the invasion, the occupation continues. Some 150,000 US troops still occupy Iraq with no clear withdrawal date in sight. Meanwhile, the so-called Coalition of the Willing continues to shrink. This week, Italy announced it will begin withdrawing its troops leaving only three nations besides the U.S. with have more than 1,000 soldiers in Iraq. And for the first time in a decade - the Army and Marines have missed their recruiting targets for two consecutive months. Part of the reason for the drop is that African American recruits have fallen 41 percent since the year 2000. Today, we spend the hour looking at military recruiting. Later in the program, we will speak with a former marine and recruiter who is now speaking out against the military as well as two people arrested during a protest against military recruiters on university campus. But first, we turn to Democratic Congressmember Jim McDermott of Washington. Along with California Congressman Mike Honda, he has put forward a bill that would make it easier for parents to block military recruiters from gaining access to their high school-aged children. The bill seeks to amend a provision of the No Child Left Behind Act that requires school districts to provide the Pentagon the names, addresses and phone numbers of every student in the school. Yesterday in Washington, Congressman Jim McDermott held a press conference on the steps of the Capitol to announce a petition drive for the bill. He joins us on the line from Washington. * Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), Democratic Congressman representing the Seattle area. He was first elected in 1989. He is a psychiatrist by training. Related Links: * MilitaryFreeZone.org * MilitaryFreeZone.org's Online Petition regarding the No Child Left Behind Act AMY GOODMAN: Yesterday in Washington, Congress member McDermott held a news conference on the steps of the Capitol to announce a petition drive for the bill. He joins us on the line from Seattle. Welcome to Democracy Now! REP. JIM McDERMOTT: How you are, Amy? Hi, Juan. AMY GOODMAN: Its good to have you us with. REP. JIM McDERMOTT: Good to be here. AMY GOODMAN: First, can you explain what this section of the No Child Left Behind Act says? REP. JIM McDERMOTT: Well, buried in the No Child Left Behind Act, in section 9528, it says schools are required to give military recruiters names, home addresses, and home phone numbers. If they don't do that, they can be penalized by receiving no money from the federal government. So, it's really a stick, a big heavy stick on schools to give out that information. There is a possibility for youngsters to opt out, but nobody tells kids about opting out. And that's what this campaign is really all about. It's to give kids the awareness that they can opt out, give their parents the awareness they can opt out, so that they're not bugged by recruiters. JUAN GONZALEZ: And what are the prospects right now of being able to get this amended and out of the legislation? REP. JIM McDERMOTT: Well, the reason we're doing it through the public is that this is the only way we'll get it changed. The Bush administration never had enough troops and has denied they want a draft, so they're using all these tricks, the stop-loss orders to keep troops over there. They're pushing the recruiters to go into schools and call up kids at home at night. They're doing all this because they are short of troops, and they will not change this because they don't want to institute a draft. So, this is going to stop when the kids and the parents of this country start talking. We didn't change the environmental laws in this country because Washington wanted to do it, or we didn't end the Vietnam War because Washington wanted to do it, it was done because people in the society said we're through with this. We don't want any more of this. Clean up the environment. Stop the war. AMY GOODMAN: We're talking to Congress member Jim McDermott. He's in Seattle now about to get on a plane. If you can explain, though, because I don't think, and maybe this is why you've introduced this, most people understand how it works, that the school automatically hands over students' names, high school students' names to the Pentagon, unless a parent or the student, him or herself, actually proactively says, “Do not hand over that name.” Is that right? REP. JIM McDERMOTT: Yes. AMY GOODMAN: And the principal can decide whether to send a letter home to inform parents about this so they have the choice, or more often than not, the names are just handed over. REP. JIM McDERMOTT: Yep. The school has no requirement to, or the school board has no requirement to tell parents what's happening to their kids' private information. And in most cases, they are not doing anything. In some places, we had a youngster yesterday at the press conference from New Jersey, where the kids got 90% of the kids in the school to opt out in a New Jersey high school. Now, that’s student activism at its very best. AMY GOODMAN: So -- REP. JIM McDERMOTT: That's what it takes. AMY GOODMAN: You held a news conference yesterday with the punk group Anti-Flag? REP. JIM McDERMOTT: Yes. I met them during the campaign. They went across the country doing punk vote, and were registering. They had something like a 100 and some-odd thousand kids that they registered around the country in these concerts, telling them that if they didn't want Bush to send whatever is going on in this country, the only way to do it was to get out and vote. And so I got to know them. They're a straightedge group. They don't smoke, no drink, no drugs, no anything. And they are just interested in what's good for kids. And they are running this petition drive. They're going out on the road shortly all over the country to get kids signed up for opting out. JUAN GONZALEZ: On another note, you have been actively involved over the last few years in the question of returning veterans from Iraq and health problems that they have had, and the issue of possible exposure to depleted uranium. Could you tell us the latest on that and your efforts in that area? REP. JIM McDERMOTT: Well, we continue to get reports of people reporting difficulties, which at least in theory could be caused by depleted uranium. We cannot get the military to do a study. We have had a billion to have a study. The chairman of the committee won't bring it up for discussion, because the Pentagon simply does not want to look at this, and it's going to turn out in my -- my fear is it's going to turn out like agent orange, where during the war people said, you know, this is doing stuff, but it took us 25 years to finally admit that agent orange was a serious problem. And I think that's the same is true with depleted uranium. I was in Iraq and went to the hospitals, the pediatric hospitals, where they have had a 600% increase in leukemia among children and 600% increase in physical deformities at birth. No head, no eyes, no arms. These kind of really horrible kinds of deformities, which the doctor there says all of these people were exposed to heavy dosages of depleted uranium. It's down in southern Iraq in Basra where we dumped thousands and thousands of tons in the Gulf War, and we simply are leaving debris that our soldiers are walking through. Nobody tells these kids when they recruit them that you are going to be sent out, and you're going to have to deal with depleted uranium. That's not part of what you tell a kid when you are trying to get him to sign up for something like this. And I really think that this is just one more reason why I am very concerned about our continuing warfare around the world and needing more and more troops. We are going to get to a draft if we don't stop this war. AMY GOODMAN: We're talking with Congress member Jim McDermott at the Seattle Airport. He's about to get on a plane. You went to Iraq, and you were criticized by some for criticizing the U.S. government when you were there. Tell us when you were there? REP. JIM McDERMOTT: I was there in September, before we went to war in March, September of 2001. It was very clear to me that we simply -- the President of the United States wanted to go to war, and he was going to go to war no matter what. The peace groups and the church groups in my area sent me over there, paid for my trip and said go have a look. It was clear to me from talking to people in Iraq, from talking to people on the street and so forth, that this simply was a fait accompli. We were heading for a war no matter what the Iraqis did. And that's why I came back and said I didn't believe all of this business about weapons of mass destruction. They didn't want to let the inspectors go on with their work. They said, you know, you've hidden this, you've done that. It turns out that it was all misleading the American people. I don't like to use the word “lie,” but it certainly was not telling the truth to the American people. AMY GOODMAN: The other night, Congress member McDermott, I came home. It was pretty late, and I was surprised to see on C-SPAN Live, you went on the floor of the House to share your thoughts on -- to share your thoughts on Paul Wolfowitz being named the president of the World Bank. You can talk about that? REP. JIM McDERMOTT: Well, this President has never liked the United Nations or any kind of international organization. It's always been “my way or the highway” for President Bush. This recent appointment of John Bolton as the ambassador to the United Nations, a guy who hates international organizations, and Paul Wolfowitz, who has disparaged these people over and over again as the head of the World Bank is just -- it is such a slap in the face to the international community. We're going to give Paul Wolfowitz the power and the money to go out and redevelop places that we bombed flat. I mean, we're going to put money into Iraq and Fallujah that he bombed flat. I mean, how can you possibly think that that's going to inspire confidence in the rest of the world, to put Paul Wolfowitz, the architect of this war, the head neo-con, in the position of now reconstructing the world and using the money as he sees fit. That will be, once again, the Americans punishing some countries because they didn't help us, they weren't part of the coalition of the willing, and so we're not going to give them the money they need for this or for that. The AIDS epidemic and everything will be on this guy's control. And he simply does not have an internationalist view. JUAN GONZALEZ: And the last 30 seconds before you have to board your plane, your reaction to also John Bolton and now Zalmay Khalilzad being named to key posts, as well, also a part of the Project for a New American Century? REP. JIM McDERMOTT: You know, this administration is going to be wreaking havoc on us for the next three years, because what they got out of this last election was they think they have a mandate. And they think that the country agrees with them, that we want to continually isolate ourselves and try and solve our problems with military power. That is not going to work. It didn't work for any other empire in the history of man. And they are trying a failed policy. And I really think that all these appointments are simply putting in place people who are yes-men, who will go along with exactly what the Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld and Cheney plan is. Really, I think Cheney is at the head of it. Wolfowitz is really only a second in hand, but the two of them really constructed this whole crazy idea, and we are committed to it for four years. It is a terrible situation, and we cannot -- we'll never be able to get out of Iraq, because the President says we have to stay until it's stable. Well, as long as we stay there irritating the situation, it will never be stable. So, that's why they're building a permanent base at the Bagram Airport. We are building permanent bases all through Iraq. And we have no intention whatsoever of leaving. I don't care what the President says. Nobody believes him. AMY GOODMAN: Congress member McDermott, you are a psychiatrist, as well as a Congress member. Are you using crazy in the clinical sense? REP. JIM McDERMOTT: No, I'm using it in the political sense. AMY GOODMAN: Tomorrow there will be more than 700 antiwar protests around the country on the second anniversary of the invasion. Will you be at one of them? REP. JIM McDERMOTT: I will. I will be there. And I've got to run and catch my plane. I'll see you. AMY GOODMAN: Thank you for being with us, Congress member Jim McDermott, speaking to us from Seattle Airport, as he gets on his plane. To purchase an audio or video copy of this entire program, click here for our new online ordering or call 1 (800) 881-2359. ---- The National Military Strategy of the US (3/18/05) http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2005/d20050318nms.pdf National Defense Strategy of the US (3/18/05) http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2005/d20050318nds1.pdf -------- POLICE / PRISONERS / COURTS / JUSTICE -------- courts / tribunals Myers Vote Sets Up Senate Battle Over Bush Judicial Nominees By J.R. Pegg WASHINGTON, DC, March 18, 2005 (ENS) http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2005/2005-03-18-10.asp The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved the nomination of former Interior Solicitor William Myers for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, setting the stage for a major confrontation over the rules of the Senate. Republicans have threatened to change Senate rules in order to prevent Democrats from filibustering judicial nominees – a tactic the minority party has used to effectively block Myers and nine other controversial nominees. William Myers has a history as a lobbyist for mining and grazing interests that the Democrats say would prevent him from making unbiased rulings on environmental law. (Photo courtesy DOI) Although confirmation of judicial nominees requires a simple majority, 60 votes are needed to break a filibuster and force a vote. Democrats say the claims that they are obstructing nominees are unfair – only 10 of the administration’s 214 judicial nominees have been blocked. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said the potential rule change would make the Senate “merely a rubber stamp” for the White House. “It would mean that one man, sitting in the White House, has the practical ability to personally hand out lifetime jobs to judges whose rulings can last forever,” said the Nevada Democrat. ““That is not how America works.” Democrats say if Republicans change Senate rules to eliminate the filibuster – a move called the “nuclear option” - they will respond by using procedural tactics to shut down the Senate. Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist said that response “would be irresponsible and partisan” and called on Democrats to compromise. In a letter sent Thursday to Reid, the Tennessee Republican did not remove the threat but said he “undertake such a course only if it were clear to me that reasonable alternatives were not possible.” Senator William Frist, M.D. is the Senate Majority Leader (Photo courtesy Office of the Senator) “I agree that the Senate must not be a rubber stamp, but l firmly disagree that the filibuster is the appropriate way to vindicate the Senate’s check on the appointments process,” Frist said. The Majority Leader suggested he would call on the Senate to limit debate with the certainty that a confirmation vote would follow – a tactic used in by the Democratic majority in 1979. Frist said his proposal “will protect the Constitution, validate our duties as Senators, and restore fairness to a process gone awry.” Although the confrontation over the “nuclear option” appears inevitable, Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter said he opted to consider Myers ahead of the other recycled nominees because he hoped the showdown could be avoided. Specter believes some Democrats can be convinced to join virtually all the Senate’s 55 Republicans and confirm the nomination of the longtime cattle and mining industry lawyer. Last August supporters of the nomination mustered 53 votes – only two Democrats crossed party lines to support Myers. Republicans now hold a 55 to 45 majority. At Myers’ confirmation hearing earlier this month, Specter said he could “count 58 votes for cloture, so we are within hailing distance.” But Democrats appear determined to fight against confirming Myers, who they say is an unqualified, anti-environmental ideologue. “This nomination is an example of how this President seeks to misuse his power of appointment to the federal bench,” said Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat. Leahy said Myers “is neither qualified nor independent enough “to serve as a federal appellate court judge and called his nomination “the epitome of the anti-environmental tilt of so many of President Bush’s nominees and policies.” Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy objects to the appointment of Myers to the Court of Appeals. (Photo courtesy Office of the Senator) ”Will the federal courts continue to stand as a bulwark against the administration’s assault on environmental protection? Not if people like Mr. Myers are confirmed to the federal courts,” Leahy said. More than 180 conservation groups, Native American tribes, and other organizations actively oppose Myers’ nomination to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which plays a major role in environmental issues. The court cases from Alaska and the American West, where environmental law concerning 485 million acres of public lands is decided. Republicans say the Idaho lawyer is well-qualified and would restore balance to one of the most liberal federal courts in the nation, but critics say Myers’ record in the private sector and the Interior Department show he is too keen to represent the interests of ranchers and miners above all else. During the past two decades, Myers has lobbied for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the Public Lands Council and a host of mining companies. Myers served as the Interior Department’s top lawyer from 2001 through May 2003 and faced criticism for many of his decisions, including a move that approved a gold mine on California land considered sacred by Native Americans. “Mr. Myers’ record does not justify a life-time appointment to the Court of Appeals,” said Senator Ted Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat. “He is free to keep advocating for private interests in his law practice, but I doubt we would even confirm him now for the Department of Interior, and we certainly shouldn’t confirm him for a federal court.” -------- homeland security / national intelligence Markey Reintroduces Bill on Hazardous Rail Shipments Global Security Newswire, March 18, 2005 http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2005_3_18.html#91B68C76 U.S. Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.) yesterday reintroduced legislation requiring some rerouting of trains carrying hazardous materials away from sensitive areas and other measures designed to improve the safety of such shipments (see GSN, Feb. 24). “Across the country, enough chlorine to kill 100,000 people in half an hour is routinely contained in a single rail tanker car that rolls right through crowded urban centers without adequate security protections,” Markey said in a press release. “The industry, with the encouragement of the Bush administration, claims it can’t afford to beef up security and reroute the most dangerous materials. The reality is that we can’t afford not to.” Markey’s bill calls on the Homeland Security Department to take the following actions: — reroute particularly dangerous materials such as chlorine and highly flammable or explosive substances away from urban centers or other sensitive areas unless no safer routes are available; — increase security on hazardous materials shipments by adding guards and surveillance technology; — require rail companies to use technology to make railcars more resistant to puncture; — prepare response plans and increase notification of local emergency personnel when toxic shipments are coming through their jurisdictions; — mandate training for personnel working with toxic materials shipments; — ensure whistleblowers are protected; and — establish civil and administrative punishments for those who violate the regulations. Senator Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) plans to submit a similar bill, the press release states. “This legislation isn’t about adding an extra layer of regulation on industry, but about adding an extra layer of protection for everyday Americans,” Corzine said in the release (U.S. Representative Edward Markey press release, March 17). -------- POLITICS -------- propaganda wars "Media Filter" Global Eye: Filter Tips By Chris Floyd Published: March 18, 2005 Moscow Times http://context.themoscowtimes.com/story/140882/ U.S. President George W. Bush often complains about the "media filter" that distorts the true picture of his administration's accomplishments in Iraq. And he's right. For regardless of where you stand on Bush's policies in the region, it's undeniable that the political and commercial biases of the American press have consistently misrepresented the reality of the situation. Here's an excellent example. Earlier this month, the American media completely ignored an important announcement from an official of the Iraqi government concerning the oft-maligned U.S. operation to clear insurgents from the city of Fallujah last November. Although the press conference of Health Ministry investigator Dr. Khalid ash-Shaykhli was attended by representatives from The Washington Post, Knight-Ridder and more than 20 other international news outlets, nary a word of his team's thorough investigation into the truth about the battle made it through the filter's dense mesh. Once again, the American public was denied the full story of one of President Bush's remarkable triumphs. Dr. ash-Shaykhli's findings provided confirmation of earlier reports by many other Iraqis -- reports that were also ignored by the arrogant filterers, who seem more interested in hearing from terrorists or anti-occupation extremists than ordinary Iraqis and those like Dr. ash-Shaykhli, who serve in the U.S.-backed interim government vetted and approved by President Bush. But while the media elite turn up their noses at such riffraff, the testimony of these common folk and diligent public servants gives ample evidence of Bush's innovative method of liberating innocent Iraqis from tyranny: He burns them to death with chemical weapons. Dr. ash-Shaykhli was sent by the pro-American Baghdad government to assess health conditions in Fallujah, a city of 300,000 that was razed to the ground by a U.S. assault on a few hundred insurgents, most of whom slipped away long before the attack. The ruin of the city was complete: Every single house was either destroyed (from 75 to 80 percent of the total) or heavily damaged. The city's entire infrastructure -- water, electricity, food, transport, medicine -- was obliterated. Indeed, the city's hospitals were among the first targets, in order to prevent medical workers from spreading "propaganda" about civilian casualties, U.S. officials said at the time. Eyewitness accounts from the few survivors of the onslaught, which killed an estimated 1,200 noncombatants, have consistently reported the use of "burning chemicals" by American forces: horrible concoctions that roasted people alive with an unquenchable jellied fire, InterPress reported. They also tell of whole quadrants of the city in which nothing was left alive, not even dogs or goats -- quadrants that were sealed off by the victorious Americans for mysterious scouring operations after the battle. Others told of widespread use of cluster bombs in civilian areas -- a flagrant violation of the Geneva Conventions, but a standard practice throughout the war. The few fragments of this information that made it through the ever-vigilant filter were instantly dismissed as anti-American propaganda, although they often came from civilians who had opposed the heavy-handed insurgent presence in the town. Rejected as well were the innumerable horror stories of those who had seen their whole families -- including women, children, the sick and the elderly -- slaughtered in the "liberal rules of engagement" established by Bush's top brass. Most of the city was declared "weapons-free": military jargon meaning that soldiers could shoot "whatever they see -- it's all considered hostile," The New York Times reported, in a story buried deep inside the paper. Yet the ash-Shaykhli team -- again, appointed by the Bush-backed government -- confirmed the use of "mustard gas, nerve gas and other burning chemicals" by U.S. forces during the battle. Dr. ash-Shaykhli said that survivors -- still living in refugee camps, along with some 200,000 former Fallujah residents who fled before the assault -- are now showing the medical effects of attack by chemical agents and the use of depleted uranium shells. (American officials have admitted raining more than 250,000 pounds of toxin-tipped DU ammunition on Iraqis since the war began.) The Pentagon has acknowledged using white phosphorus in Fallujah, but only for "illumination purposes." It denied using napalm in the attack -- but, in the course of that denial, it admitted that its earlier denials of using napalm elsewhere in Iraq were in fact false. And individual Marines filing "After Action Reports" on the Internet for military enthusiasts back home have detailed the routine use of white phosphorus shells, propane bombs and "jellied gasoline" (also known as napalm) during direct tactical assaults in Fallujah. Dr. ash-Shaykhli's findings -- coming from a pro-American government, buttressed by reams of eyewitness testimony from ordinary Iraqi civilians -- appear to be substantial, credible and worthy of further investigation by the U.S. press. Certainly, the findings are more credible than the pre-war lies and fantasies about Saddam's phantom WMD, which the "media filter" lapped up from the Bush regime and amplified across the nation, rousing support for an unnecessary, illegal and immoral war. Yet these serious new atrocity charges have not even been mentioned, much less examined. Behind the filter -- with its basic story template of "always moral U.S. policies occasionally marred by a few bad apples" -- a relentless degeneration of American society is taking place. Brutality and atrocity are becoming normalized, systemized and rewarded. The noble American ideal of transcendence -- overcoming the beast within, seeking to embrace an ever-broader, ever-deeper, ever-richer vision of universal communion and individual worth -- is dying at the hands of the resurgent barbarity championed and cultivated by the Bush regime. Old-fashioned citizens are being replaced by "Bush Americans": wilfully ignorant, bellicose zealots, cringingly servile toward the powerful, violently hostile to all "outsiders." Despite Bush's artful complaints, the media filter has served his degenerate purposes very well. Annotations Napalm, Chemical Weapons Used at Fallujah: Iraqi Official ILCA Online, March 7, 2005 Stories From Fallujah Iraq Dispatch, Feb. 8, 2005 Fallujah, Tent City, Awaits Compensation Informed Comment, March 13, 2005 Another Sad Day for Our Country The American Independent, March 7, 2005 Iraqi Health Ministry Confirms Use of Prohibited Weapons in Attacks on al-Fallujah Mafkarat al-Islam (Iraq), March 2, 2005 U.S. General From Abu Ghraib Scandal Promoted Stars and Stripes, March 15, 2005 Odd Happenings in Fallujah Electronic Iraq, Jan. 18, 2005 U.S. Denies Use of Napalm in Fallujah U.S, International Information Programs Jan. 27, 2005 The Eyewitnesses Must Be Crazy Antiwar.com, March 15, 2005 Life Under the Bombs in Iraq TomDispatch, Feb. 2, 2005 TV News Turns Myopic: Profits Come First Houston Chronicle, March 16, 2005 The Media Lobby CorpWatch, March 11, 2005 Journalism, Infotainment and the Bottom-Line Business of Broadcasting Buzzflash, March 17, 2005 Handmaiden of the State: The Role of Media in an Age of Empire Antiwar.com, March 16, 2005 Extreme Cinema Verite: Soldiers Make Music Videos of Death and Destruction Los Angeles Times, March 14, 2005 A War Crime in Real Time: Obliterating Fallujah CounterPunch, Nov. 15, 2004 Inside Fallujah: One Family's Diary of Terror Scotland Sunday Herald, Nov. 14, 2004 The Marine's Tale: 'I Felt We Were Committing Genocide The Independent, May 23, 2004 Smoke and Corpses BBC, Nov. 11, 2004 20 Doctors Killed in Strike on Clinic: Red Crescent UN Integrated Regional Information Network, Nov. 10, 2004 US Strikes Raze Fallujah Hospital BBC, Nov. 6, 2004 Ghost City Calls for Help BBC, Nov. 13, 2004 Let Them Drink Sand: War Crimes in Fallujah CounterPunch, Nov. 13, 2004 American Heroes Baghdad Burning, Nov. 16, 2004 Beyond Embattled City, Rebels Roam Free Los Angeles Times, Nov. 12, 2004 Administration Rejects Ruling on PR Videos Washington Post, March 14, 2005 $226 Million in Government Ads Helped Pave the Way to War Antiwar.com, May 28, 2004 -------- In Iraq, director sought out grit on the ground MICHAEL GILBERT; The Tacoma, WA News Tribune Last updated: March 18th, 2005 03:23 PM http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/4699735p-4342896c.html Michael Tucker and his wife, Petra Epperlein, worked together on the Iraq war documentary “Gunner Palace.” It chronicles the vignettes of everyday life there. Filmmaker Michael Tucker thinks too many Americans are so entrenched in their political points of view about the war in Iraq that they can’t let themselves comprehend what it’s really like for the troops who have to be there. It was his motivation for making “Gunner Palace,” which opens locally this weekend – to peel away the interpretation and spin and let the viewer see and hear directly from soldiers. Viewers who look to the documentary for either an endorsement or an indictment of the invasion and occupation will likely be disappointed. Tucker, a 42-year-old Army brat who lived in Seattle for several years, said he hopes audiences find his film “a really honest portrayal that’s not saying it’s good or it’s bad – it is what it is.” “Gunner Palace” opened earlier this month in major markets around the country and begins a run tonight at The Grand Cinema in Tacoma. The picture documents the experiences of soldiers from the Army’s 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment – known as the Gunners – who are based in Germany. Tucker filmed for two months in the fall of 2003 and lived with the troops in one of Uday Hussein’s old palaces in Baghdad. The scenes will be familiar to anyone who has spent time in Iraq the past two years, and by now there are at least 10,000 men and women in the greater Tacoma area who have. The film is a random sequence of raids and patrols and things going boom in the night and down time around the hooches. There are kids throwing rocks and kids sniffing glue and kids taking lollipops from soldiers. There are local sheiks and semishady interpreters, some of them good guys, at least one of them not. There is little blood and gore. Tucker said that’s for two reasons: He wasn’t on the scene when the worst casualties occurred, and he didn’t need graphic footage to convey the impact on soldiers. During production, five of the Gunner soldiers were killed, including Lt. Ben Colgan from Kent. Tucker learned of Colgan’s death via e-mail a few weeks after he left Baghdad. He returned afterward to continue filming. The dialogue will likewise be familiar to anyone who has spent time around soldiers. The language is raw, but Tucker persuaded the Motion Picture Association of America to reconsider its R tag. “Gunner Palace” is now rated PG-13. The humor is dark. Tucker frequently contrasts upbeat Armed Forces Radio Network news reports with the way things really look on the ground. Tucker made the film with his wife, Petra Epperlein. She is from Germany, and the couple now make their home in Berlin. After a recent screening in Lacey, soldiers in the audience endorsed the movie. Other viewers said it didn’t go far enough in portraying the horror of war. They said the camaraderie among the soldiers in the film might serve to entice young people into the military. Tucker bristled at the criticism. He said he didn’t make the film to make a statement for or against the war, or for or against the Army. John Powers, a former Army captain who was with the Gunners when Tucker made his film, said it answers questions on a basic level. “The average American sees a couple minutes on CNN, 30 seconds on Fox – that’s it, boom. People want to know what it was like,” said Powers, who accompanied Tucker on a tour promoting the movie. “This shows people what it was really like.” Tucker said he was motivated to capture the soldiers’ experiences because he knows Hollywood will soon be along with movies and TV shows about the war in Iraq. He said he doesn’t want the soldiers’ experiences to be lost in the storytelling. “This is not simple. It’s not easy,” he said. “It’s not black-and-white. In the end, I was just trying to be faithful to the soldiers, to tell it like it is.” Michael Gilbert: 253-597-8921 mike.gilbert@thenewstribune.com -------- us politics George F. Kennan Dies at 101; Leading Strategist of Cold War By TIM WEINER and BARBARA CROSSETTE March 18, 2005 NY TIMES http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/18/politics/18kennan.html?pagewanted=print&position= George F. Kennan, the American diplomat who did more than any other envoy of his generation to shape United States policy during the cold war, died on Thursday night in Princeton, N.J. He was 101. Mr. Kennan was the man to whom the White House and the Pentagon turned when they sought to understand the Soviet Union after World War II. He conceived the cold-war policy of containment, the idea that the United States should stop the global spread of Communism by diplomacy, politics, and covert action - by any means short of war. As the State Department's first policy planning chief in the late 1940's, serving Secretary of State George C. Marshall, Mr. Kennan was an intellectual architect of the Marshall Plan, which sent billions of dollars of American aid to nations devastated by World War II. At the same time, he conceived a secret "political warfare" unit that aimed to roll back Communism, not merely contain it. His brainchild became the covert-operations directorate of the Central Intelligence Agency. Though Mr. Kennan left the foreign service more than half a century ago, he continued to be a leading thinker in international affairs until his death. Since the 1950's he had been associated with the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where he was most recently a professor emeritus. By the end of his long, productive life, Mr. Kennan had become a phenomenon in international affairs, with seminars held and books written to debate and analyze his extraordinary influence on American policy during the cold war. He was the author of 17 books, two of them Pulitzer Prize-winners, and countless articles in leading journals. His writing, from classified cables to memoirs, was the force that made him "the nearest thing to a legend that this country's diplomatic service has ever produced," in the words of the historian Ronald Steel. "He'll be remembered as a diplomatist and a grand strategist," said John Lewis Gaddis, a leading historian of the cold war, who is preparing a biography of Mr. Kennan. "But he saw himself as a literary figure. He would have loved to have been a poet, a novelist." Morton H. Halperin, who was chief of policy planning during the Clinton administration, said Mr. Kennan "set a standard that all his successors have sought to follow." Mr. Halperin said Mr. Kennan understood the need to talk truth to power no matter how unpopular, and made clear his belief that containment was primarily a political and diplomatic policy rather than a military one. "His career since is clear proof that no matter how important the role of the policy planning director, a private citizen can have an even greater impact with the strength of his ideas." The force of Mr. Kennan's ideas brought him to power in Washington in the brief months after World War II ended and before the cold war began. In February 1946, as the second-ranking diplomat in the American Embassy in Moscow, he dispatched his famous "Long Telegram" to Washington, perhaps the best-known cable in American diplomatic history. It explained to policy makers baffled by Stalin that while Soviet power was "impervious to the logic of reason," it was "highly sensitive to the logic of force." Widely circulated in Washington, the Long Telegram made Mr. Kennan famous. It evolved into an even better-known work, "The Sources of Soviet Conduct," which Mr. Kennan published under the anonymous byline "X" in the July 1947 issue of Foreign Affairs, the journal of the Council on Foreign Relations. "Soviet pressure against the free institutions of the Western world is something that can be contained by the adroit and vigorous application of counterforce," he wrote. That force, Kennan believed, should take the form of diplomacy and covert action, not war. Mr. Kennan's best-known legacy was this postwar policy of containment, "a strategy that held up awfully well," said Mr. Gaddis. But Mr. Kennan was deeply dismayed when the policy was associated with the immense build-up in conventional arms and nuclear weapons that characterized the cold war from the 1950's onward. His views were always more complex than the interpretation others gave them, as he argued repeatedly in his writings. He came to deplore the growing belligerence toward Moscow that gripped Washington by the early 1950's, setting the stage for anti-Communist witch hunts that severely dented the American foreign service. At the height of the Korean War, he temporarily left the State Department for the Institute for Advanced Study. He returned to serve as ambassador to Moscow, arriving there in March 1952. But it was "a disastrous assignment," Mr. Gaddis said. Mr. Kennan was placed under heavy surveillance by Soviet intelligence, which cut him off from contact with Soviet citizens. Frustrated, Mr. Kennan publicly compared living in Stalin's Moscow to his experience as an internee in Nazi Germany. The Soviets declared him persona non grata. From One Dulles to the Other Mr. Kennan was then pushed out of the Foreign Service in 1953 by the new Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, who took office under the newly elected President Eisenhower. Allen Dulles, the new director of central intelligence, then offered a post to the man his brother had rejected - knowing, as few others did, of Mr. Kennan's crucial role in the formation of the C.I.A. clandestine service. Mr. Kennan had argued for "the inauguration of political warfare" against the Soviet Union in a May 1948 memorandum that was classified top secret for almost 50 years. "The time is now fully ripe for the creation of a covert political warfare operations directorate within the government," he wrote. This seed quickly grew into the covert arm of the Central Intelligence Agency. It began as the Office of Policy Coordination, planning and conducting the agency's biggest and most ambitious schemes, and within four years grew into the agency's operations directorate, with thousands of clandestine officers overseas. A generation later, testifying before a 1975 Senate select committee, he called the political-warfare initiative "the greatest mistake I ever made." Mr. Kennan also played a formative role in the foundation of Radio Free Europe. Seeking ways to use the skills of émigrés from the Soviet Union's cold-war satellites, he asked a retired ambassador, Joseph C. Grew, to form an anticommunist group called the National Committee for a Free Europe. Backed by the C.I.A., the committee set up Radio Free Europe, which broadcast news and propaganda throughout Eastern Europe. Two prominent dissidents of their times, Lech Walesa in Poland and Vaclav Havel in Czechoslovakia, praised R.F.E. as highly influential. Mr. Kennan supported the war in Korea, albeit with some uncertainty, but opposed United States involvement anywhere in Indochina long before American troops were sent to Vietnam. He did not include the region in his mental list of areas crucial to American security. In February 1997, Mr. Kennan wrote on The New York Times's Op-Ed page that the Clinton administration's decision to back an enlargement of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, to bring it to the borders of Russia was a terrible mistake. He wrote that "expanding NATO would be the most fateful error of American policy in the entire post-cold war era." "Such a decision may be expected to inflame the nationalistic, anti-Western and militaristic tendencies in Russian opinion; to have an adverse effect on the development of Russian democracy; to restore the atmosphere of the cold war to East-West relations, and to impel Russian foreign policy in directions decidedly not to our liking," he wrote. His views, shared by a broad range of policy experts, did not prevail. Mr. Kennan was the last of a generation of diplomatic aristocrats in an old world model - products of the "right" schools, universities and clubs, who took on the enormous challenges of building a new world order and trying to define America's place within it after the defeat of the Nazis and a militaristic Japanese empire. With history as a guide, these worldly-wise policy makers ultimately decided against punitive policies toward the losers, instead helping the defeated countries rebuild as democracies. But the diplomatic establishment had no precedent to fall back on as they wrestled with Soviet Communism and a Maoist revolution in China. Though Mr. Kennan is often grouped among the "Wise Men" who shaped Washington after World War II, he did not share their heritage. "He was not part of the elite East Coast establishment," Mr. Gaddis said. "He was never wealthy. He worked his way through college, and he lost all his money in the Depression. He always felt he was an outsider, never an insider." Mr. Kennan was often a gloomy, sensitive and intensely serious man. Perennially unable to tailor his crisp intellectual views to political necessity in Washington, and lacking the political and bureaucratic skills needed to survive there, Mr. Kennan appeared to those who knew him to be happy to find a long-term home in Princeton, where Albert Einstein and other leading thinkers also honed their ideas. Ever the Policy Maker From that perch in 1993, Mr. Kennan recommended, characteristically, that the United States needed an unelected, apolitical "council of state" drawn from the country's best brains to advise all branches of government in long-term policies. He proposed the council in a very personal book, "Around the Cragged Hill" (Norton 1993), which revealed his core social conservatism as he reviewed the evolution of America. He fretted that the population of the United States was growing too fast and that, environmentally, the country was "exhausting and depleting the very sources of its own abundance." He blamed cars and the suburban sprawl they created for the death of not only a magnificent railway network but also the "great urban centers of the 19th century, with all the glories of economic and cultural life that flowed from their very unity and compactness." But Mr. Kennan was most preoccupied with society's effects on making foreign policy, an increasingly shrunken intellectual field in an age when American diplomacy itself has been driven to penury by a dominant new breed of post-cold-war America-Firsters. He saw American policy by the end of the 20th century as unfocused, adrift and subject to too many (sometimes conflicting) domestic political pressures, with a host of players who have diminished the role of the secretary of state at a moment in history when the United States stood alone in its world power. "It is not too much to say that the American people have it in their power, given the requisite will and imagination, to set for the rest of the world a unique example of the way a modern, advanced society could be shaped in order to meet successfully the emerging tests of the modern and future age," he wrote in "Around the Cragged Hill." Among his other well-known works were "American Diplomacy 1900-1950"; "Russia Leaves the War," winner of the Pulitzer prize for history in 1957 and the Bancroft and Francis Parkman prizes and a National Book Award; and two volumes of memoirs, in 1967 and 1972, the first of which won another National Book Award and another Pulitzer. Mr. Kennan was awarded the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor, by President George H.W. Bush in 1989. The Modest Beginnings George Frost Kennan was born in Milwaukee on Feb. 16, 1904, the son of Kossuth Kent Kennan, a lawyer who was a descendant of Scotch-Irish settlers of 18th-century America and who was named for the Hungarian patriot. His mother, the former Florence James, died two months after his birth. When he was 8, he was sent to Germany in the care of his stepmother - his father had remarried - to learn German in Kassel, because of the purity of the language there. It was the first of numerous languages he would eventually master: Russian, French, Polish, Czech, Portuguese and Norwegian. Educated at St. John's Northwestern Military Academy in Delafield, Wis., and at Princeton University, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1925, he decided to try for the Foreign Service rather than return to Milwaukee. "It was the first and last sensible decision I was ever deliberately to make about my occupation," he said. Mr. Kennan served as a vice consul in Geneva and Hamburg in 1927 and was on the verge of resigning to go back to school when he learned that he could be trained as a linguist and get three years of graduate study without leaving the service. He went to Berlin University and chose to study Russian, partly in preparation for the opening of United States-Soviet relations, which occurred in 1933, and partly because another George Kennan, his grandfather's cousin, had devoted himself to studying Russia. While in Berlin, Mr. Kennan met Annelise Sorensen, a Norwegian, and they were married in 1931. They had four children. He is survived by his wife and their children - Grace Kennan Warnecke of New York, Joan Kennan of Washington, D.C., Wendy Kennan of Cornwall, England, and Christopher J. Kennan of Pine Plains, N.Y. - and by eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. In the five and a half years between Mr. Kennan's decision to become a specialist on Soviet affairs and his first assignment to Moscow in 1933, he served in a number of posts on the periphery of the Soviet Union. He was third secretary in the embassy in Riga, Latvia, when he was assigned to accompany William C. Bullitt, the first United States ambassador to the Soviet Union. During his career, he was assigned to Moscow three more times - as second secretary in 1935 and 1936, as minister-counselor from 1944 to 1946, first under W. Averell Harriman, then under Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, and finally for a brief term as ambassador in 1952. When he was appointed to the embassy in Moscow in 1944 as minister-counselor, he described his return after a six-year absence as an unsettling experience because of the hostility and suspicion he found in the official circles of a wartime ally. "Never," he wrote, "except possibly during my later experience as ambassador to Moscow, did the insistence of the Soviet authorities on the isolation of the diplomatic corps weigh more heavily on me. We were sincerely moved by the sufferings of the Russian people as well as by the heroism and patience they were showing. We wished them nothing but well. It was doubly hard in these circumstances to find ourselves treated as though we were the bearers of some species of the plague." Mr. Kennan, convinced that it would be folly to hope for extensive Soviet cooperation in the postwar world, was frustrated by the development in Washington of what he saw as an increasingly naïve policy based on notions of Soviet friendship. He wrote analytical essays, but these won little or no attention in the State Department. It was not until the United States Treasury, stung by Moscow's unwillingness to support the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, asked the State Department for an explanation of its behavior that Mr. Kennan was able to make his points in the "Long Telegram," which arrived in Washington on Feb. 22, 1946. It was so well-received that "my official loneliness came to an end," he wrote later. "My reputation was made. My voice now carried." Regrettably, in Mr. Kennan's view, the warnings that had fallen on deaf ears for so long found receptive ones partly for the wrong reasons, and he felt that the idea of a Soviet danger became as exaggerated as the belief in Soviet friendship had been. He held that the Soviet Union should be challenged only when it encroached on certain areas of specific American interest, but he did not accept the view that this could be accomplished only by military alliances or by turning Europe into an armed camp. He felt that Communism needed to be confronted politically when it appeared outside the Soviet sphere. Publicly, he was sharply critical of émigré propaganda calling for the overthrow of the Soviet system, believing that there was no guarantee that anything more democratic would replace it. In the 1960's and 70's, he concluded that the growing diversity in the Communist world was one of the most significant political developments of the century. But "he missed the ideological appeal of democratic culture in the rest of the world," Mr. Gaddis said, as the slow rot of Soviet Communism undermined the cold war's architectures. The 'X' Article on Containment Mr. Kennan had returned to Washington in 1946 as the first deputy for foreign affairs at the new National War College, where he prepared a paper on the nature of Soviet power for James V. Forrestal, then secretary of the Navy. In July 1947, that paper, drawn largely from his Moscow essays, became the "X" article. The article, advocating the containment of Soviet power, was not signed because Mr. Kennan had accepted a new State Department assignment. But the author's identity soon became known. Mr. Kennan was attacked by the influential columnist Walter Lippmann, who interpreted containment - as did many others - in a military sense. In his memoirs, Mr. Kennan said that some of the language he had used in advocating a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies "was at best ambiguous and lent itself to misinterpretation." He had failed to make it clear, he said, that what he was talking about was not the containment by military means or military threat, but the political containment of a political threat. As chairman of the planning staff at a time when planning still played a large role in policy-making, Mr. Kennan helped shift the United States to political and diplomatic containment. He contributed an overall rationale to a series of actions like Greek-Turkish aid, under what became known as the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan and the creation of the Western military alliance. Taking an active interest in the occupation of Japan and Germany, he incurred considerable criticism by opposing the Nuremberg war-crimes trials, arguing that the United States should not sit in judgment with the Soviet Union, where millions had been killed by their own government. He also argued against basing American troops in Japan under long-range agreements, feeling this would antagonize the Soviet Union, which might feel its eastern flank threatened. In 1950, having left the planning staff to become a counselor to Secretary of State Dean Acheson, Mr. Kennan was at odds with the State Department over the American military role in Korea and other issues. He asked for a leave of absence and moved to Princeton at the invitation of his friend J. Robert Oppenheimer, who headed the American development of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos, to join the Institute for Advanced Studies. He and his family divided their time between a home in Princeton and a farm in New Berlin, Pa. Later they added a family home in Norway. After General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was dismissed by President Truman in 1951, Mr. Kennan was asked by the State Department to sound out Yakov A. Malik, the Soviet delegate to the United Nations, about a possible settlement of the Korean War. Secret meetings took place between the two men in June 1951- Russian was spoken - and formal talks leading to a cease-fire followed, a sequence that, in Mr. Kennan's view, underlined the value of secret diplomacy conducted by professionals. Mr. Kennan's entire career had seemed to be preparation for his 1952 appointment as ambassador to Moscow, but his tour ended after five months when he was declared persona non grata - on Stalin's whim, he thought - for a chance remark to a reporter in West Berlin who had asked him what life was like in the Soviet Union. He drew a comparison to his imprisonment earlier by the Nazis, adding, "Except that in Moscow we are at liberty to go out and walk the streets under guard." Left in limbo by the State Department on his return to Washington, and with policy disagreements growing between him and Secretary of State Dulles, who viewed containment as too passive, Mr. Kennan retired from the Foreign Service in 1953. This difficult period was made even more painful by McCarthyism. Many of Mr. Kennan's old colleagues and friends - among them Professor Oppenheimer, John Paton Davies, John Stewart Service and Charles W. Thayer - came under attack. He testified repeatedly in their defense and wrote and spoke against what he termed the malodorous tide of the times. During a pleasant academic year in 1957-58 as Eastman professor at Oxford, he was invited to deliver the BBC's annual Reith Lectures, radio talks to which all intellectual Britain is attuned. A Surprising Offer to the Soviets He attracted great attention by proposing that the time was right to begin negotiating with the Soviet Union for mutual troop withdrawals from Germany. It was an idea acceptable to only a small body of left-wing opinion, as was his further suggestion that the demilitarization be achieved through the guarantee of a neutral, unified Germany. His views came under immediate fire all over Western Europe and in North America. Called back into government service in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, Mr. Kennan was named ambassador to Yugoslavia and became embroiled in arguments over the proper role of Congress in foreign affairs. He sought unsuccessfully to dissuade Mr. Kennedy from proclaiming Captive Nations Week in 1961 - as required by a Congressional resolution of 1959 - on the ground that the United States had no reason to make the resolution, which in effect called for the overthrow of all the governments of Eastern Europe, a part of public policy. The next year Congress voted to bar aid and trade concessions to the Yugoslavs, so Mr. Kennan felt he could no longer serve usefully in Belgrade. In 1966 Mr. Kennan, who had returned to Princeton in 1963, was called to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the Vietnam War, an American involvement he felt should not have been begun and should not be prolonged. In 1967 he took part in a Senate review of American foreign policy. For Mr. Kennan the Vietnam years were what he later characterized as instructive. His views on what he saw as almost entirely negative Congressional interference in foreign affairs altered as Congress moved to curtail the American role in Southeast Asia, an area where he believed the American interest was not at stake. In an interview at the time of his 72nd birthday, he said that he had been "instructed" by Vietnam, and that he now agreed that Congress should help in determining foreign policy. He added that given that reality, the United States would have to reduce its scope and limit its methods because Congressional control of foreign affairs deprives the Government of day-to-day direction of events "and means that as a nation we will have to pull back a bit - not become isolationist, but just rule out fancy diplomacy." Opposed though he was to United States involvement in Southeast Asia, he was critical of the student left in the 60's. In a speech at Swarthmore College in December 1967, he assailed the students' methods of protest and their failure to present a coherent program of reform. Later in life, Mr. Kennan turned his attention to support of Russian and Soviet studies in the United States, feeling that scholarship was one of America's most productive links with Moscow. "They are impressed by our work," he remarked in an interview. "It keeps Russian intellectuals from thinking we are all a nation of flagpole-sitters." In 1974 and 1975, while in Washington as a Woodrow Wilson scholar, he helped to establish the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies in the Smithsonian complex. Recalling the ancestor who led him to study Russian, he said, "When my colleagues gave it a name, they had in mind both George Kennans." ---- George F. Kennan, 1904-2005 Outsider Forged Cold War Strategy By J.Y. Smith Special to The Washington Post Friday, March 18, 2005; Page A01 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45242-2005Mar17.html George F. Kennan, a diplomat and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian who formulated the basic foreign policy followed by the United States in the Cold War, died last night at his home in Princeton, N.J. He was 101. A Foreign Service officer from 1926 to 1953, Mr. Kennan also was a student of Russian history, a keen and intuitive observer of people and events and a gifted writer. In his years in the State Department, he was recognized as the government's leading authority on the Soviet Union, and his views resonated in the corridors of authority with rare power and clarity. -------- ENERGY -------- energy When OPEC Speaks, Not Everyone Listens By JAD MOUAWAD March 18, 2005 NY TIMES http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/18/business/worldbusiness/18oil.html?pagewanted=print&position= TEHRAN, Iran, March 17 - While OPEC ministers were being feted by Iran's president on Wednesday with Persian food and Kurdish music, traders in the oil pit of the New York Mercantile Exchange sent them an unexpected message. Hours after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which was meeting in Isfahan, Iran, decided to increase its production ceiling by half a million barrels a day, prices in New York spiked to a new high. On Thursday, oil futures in New York rose sharply, hitting $57.60 before closing 6 cents below the Wednesday close, at $56.40. The new quota of 27.5 million barrels a day was seen as a signal that OPEC was trying to push prices down. In terms of actual oil production, however, the new quota did nothing, since the cartel is already producing 27.7 million barrels a day. Crude prices have risen by about 50 percent in the last year. Some analysts say $100 a barrel is a possibility in the event of a major disruption in supplies, another war in the Middle East, for example. For OPEC, the situation is paradoxical since the group is uncomfortable with today's high prices. The OPEC president said he did "not accept this" while Saudi Arabia, the cartel's most powerful member, favors oil at $40 to $50 a barrel. But there is not much OPEC can do. Its 11 members are pumping close to 29 million barrels a day and do not have much more production capacity left to tap. Saudi Arabia, which has been pumping 9.5 million barrels a day since the beginning of the year, can add another million barrels or so, but the oil is mostly heavy crude that is less in demand. All the others in OPEC can do is count their record revenues and plan expansions. But as it is, some countries - including Iran, Indonesia, Venezuela and Libya - are struggling to meet production quotas. OPEC's president, Sheik Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah, said Thursday that if prices remained at their current highs for another 10 days, the group would lift its ceiling by another half a million barrels a day. "The market has not absorbed OPEC's decisions," said Mr. Sabah, adding that the jump in prices in the last two days "could be a result of fears or a shortage in products." Société Générale's analysts said in a note that OPEC members clearly "hoped to reassure the market, talking prices down and they failed." So for international markets this year seems to be heading much the same way as last year - runaway demand, tight supplies, political uncertainties, bullish investors and OPEC's incapacity to rein in prices. And much like last year, these factors are feeding into each other. To be sure, the increase in nominal prices has not reached the levels of 1981, when crude rose to around $80 a barrel in today's currency. Today's economies are better protected against high prices because they have managed to squeeze oil out of much of their industries, substituting nuclear energy, natural gas or even coal. Still, the increase in prices is worrying consumers and their governments. The United States and Europe have repeated calls for producers to pump more oil. And the Bush administration finally scored a victory this week on its plans to expand domestic production when the Senate authorized drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. But that will not be enough. Production in most regions outside of the Persian Gulf is declining or being kept steady by billions of dollars in costly recuperation technology. International oil companies, starved of potentially oil-rich regions to explore, are handing back huge amounts of cash to shareholders instead of drilling new fields. The world, meanwhile, is consuming oil at a record pace, straining the ability of producers and refiners to deliver gasoline. This year, global oil demand is expected to grow 2.2 percent, or 1.81 million barrels a day, to 84.3 million barrels. This follows last year's estimated growth of 3.4 percent. OPEC ministers argue that this means that oil markets are going through a fundamental transformation. (In recent years, the average growth in oil demand was around 1 percent.) "There has been a huge change in the structure of the market," Mr. Sabah, who is also Kuwait's oil minister, said on Wednesday. "The market is not missing supplies, but prices are going higher." Many of the objective factors that drove growth last year are still around. Crude oil exports out of Iraq remain unreliable; Nigeria's biggest oil region is in the middle of a political and social conflict; Venezuela keeps sending contradictory signals about its intention to supply the United States; and Russia is still embroiled in the handling of its biggest oil producer, Yukos. In addition, China continues to surprise analysts by the resilience of its export industries and its internal oil consumption rate. While Chinese demand for oil is slowing from last year's 15 percent growth, it is expected to rise by 7.9 percent in 2005, or around half a million barrels a day, according to the International Energy Agency. "The reality is that oil consumption has caught up with installed crude and refining capacity," the energy agency said in its last monthly report, released earlier this month. With demand expected to climb to 86 million barrels a day in the fourth quarter, oil traders in New York are signaling that they see no ceiling on prices. OPEC, meanwhile, is enjoying its dinner. -------- OTHER -------- environment Climate Change Inevitable March 18, 2005 PhysOrg.com http://www.physorg.com/news3432.html Even if all greenhouse gases had been stabilized in the year 2000, we would still be committed to a warmer Earth and greater sea level rise in the present century, according to a new study by a team of climate modelers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The findings are published in this week's issue of the journal Science. The modeling study quantifies the relative rates of sea level rise and global temperature increase that we are already committed to in the 21st century. Even if no more greenhouse gases were added to the atmosphere, globally averaged surface air temperatures would rise about a half degree Celsius (one degree Fahrenheit) and global sea levels would rise another 11 centimeters (4 inches) from thermal expansion alone by 2100. "Many people don’t realize we are committed right now to a significant amount of global warming and sea level rise because of the greenhouse gases we have already put into the atmosphere," says lead author Gerald Meehl. "Even if we stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations, the climate will continue to warm, and there will be proportionately even more sea level rise. The longer we wait, the more climate change we are committed to in the future." The half-degree temperature rise is similar to that observed at the end of the 20th century, but the projected sea level rise is more than twice the 3-inch (5-centimeter) rise that occurred during the latter half of the previous century. These numbers do not take into account fresh water from melting ice sheets and glaciers, which could at least double the sea level rise caused by thermal expansion alone. The North Atlantic thermohaline circulation, which currently warms Europe by transporting heat from the tropics, weakens in the models. Even so, Europe heats up with the rest of the planet because of the overwhelming effect of greenhouse gases. Though temperature rise shows signs of leveling off 100 years after stabilization in the study, ocean waters continue to warm and expand, causing global sea level to rise unabated. The paper concludes with a cogent statement by Meehl: "With the ongoing increase in concentrations of GHGs [greenhouse gases], every day we commit to more climate change in the future. When and how we stabilize concentrations will dictate, on the time scale of a century or so, how much more warming we will experience. But we are already committed to ongoing large sea level rise, even if concentrations of GHGs could be stabilized." The inevitability of the climate changes described in the study is the result of thermal inertia, mainly from the oceans, and the long lifetime of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Thermal inertia refers to the process by which water heats and cools more slowly than air because it is denser than air. The new study is the first to quantify future committed climate change using "coupled" global three-dimensional climate models. Coupled models link major components of Earth's climate in ways that allow them to interact with each other. Meehl and his NCAR colleagues ran the same scenario a number of times and averaged the results to create ensemble simulations from each of two global climate models. Then they compared the results from each model. The scientists also compared possible climate scenarios in the two models during the 21st century in which greenhouse gases continue to build in the atmosphere at low, moderate, or high rates. The worst-case scenario projects an average temperature rise of 3.5°C (6.3°F) and sea level rise from thermal expansion of 30 centimeters (12 inches) by 2100. All scenarios analyzed in the study will be assessed by international teams of scientists for the next report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, due out in 2007. The NCAR team used the Parallel Climate Model (PCM), developed by NCAR and the Department of Energy, and the new Community Climate System Model (Version 3). The CCSM3 was developed at NCAR with input from university and federal climate scientists around the country and principal funding from the National Science Foundation (NCAR’s primary sponsor) and the Department of Energy. The CCSM3 shows slightly higher temperature rise and sea level rise from thermal expansion and greater weakening of the thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic. Otherwise, the results from the two models are similar. The models were run on supercomputers at NCAR and several DOE labs and on the Earth Simulator in Japan. -------- health Environmental Mercury, Autism Linked by New Research SAN ANTONIO, Texas, March 18, 2005 (ENS) http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2005/2005-03-18-09.asp#anchor4 For every 1,000 pounds of mercury released into the environment in Texas counties there is a multiple-digit increase in the rate of autism, a study by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio has found. The study compared mercury totals reported for 2001 in the 254 Texas counties to the rate of autism and special education services in nearly 1,200 Texas school districts. The districts, which range from urban to small metro to rural, enroll four million Texas children. "The main finding is that for every 1,000 pounds of environmentally released mercury, we saw a 17 percent increase in autism rates," said lead author Raymond Palmer, Ph.D., associate professor in the Health Science Center's department of family and community medicine. Autism is a developmental disorder that varies in severity in individuals and is characterized by impaired ability to engage in normal social behavior and by behavior patterns such as repetitive motions and sounds. Autism is estimated to occur in as many as one in 200 children and is reported to be rising in prevalence, although statistics vary. Palmer and his team note that the new research "has implications for toxic substance regulation and prevention policies. The effects of differing state policies regarding toxic release of mercury on the incidence of developmental disorders should be investigated." Large scale mercury exposures such as accidental spills long have been implicated with developmental disabilities, but this study is among the first to examine the relationship between potentially chronic, low-dose mercury exposure and a developmental disorder such as autism, Palmer said. Mercury is the third-most frequently found toxic substance nationwide, after arsenic and lead. Coal-burning power plants, which supply energy to cities and generally are in close proximity to population centers, release more mercury than any other source in the United States. Texas is fourth among the states in reported mercury releases, after California, Oregon and West Virginia. Using statistical modeling, the researchers showed that increases in the rate of special education services were associated with higher mercury release levels. However, "it is the increase in autism that explains this relationship" in Texas, Palmer said. The authors cautioned that the study is an ecological investigation based on county level and school district data. This type of study does not lend itself to interpretation at the level of the individual. More investigation is needed, the researchers say as this study does not assess changes in mercury levels over time as a predictor of rates of change in developmental disorders. The Bush administration on Tuesday finalized regulations ordering coal-fired power plants to cut mercury pollution under acontroversial emissions trading plan rather than by installing the maximum available control technology. The states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania have already announced that they will challenge the rule in court and other states, along with several environmental groups, are likely to sue as well. Mercury emissions from the nation's 1,300 power plants are currently unregulated. These facilities emit some 48 tons of mercury each year, accounting for about 40 percent of the nation's mercury pollution. Exposure to mercury, usually through eating contaminated fish, can cause permanent neurological damage in humans and reproductive harm in wildlife. Young children whose brains are still developing, and women of childbearing age are most at risk from the toxic metal. The study is published in the peer-reviewed journal "Health & Place," an Elsevier Ltd. publication. Co-authors are Claudia S. Miller, M.D., from the department of family and community medicine at the Health Science Center; Zachary Stein from San Antonio; Stephen Blanchard, Ph.D., of the department of sociology at Our Lady of the Lake University; and David Mandell, Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research. The team is working on a second report that will investigate the association between mercury and autism rates over time. -------- ACTIVISTS Reflections of a Firebrand March 18, 2005 By Elizabeth Mehren, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-coffin18mar18,0,4669516.story?coll=la-home-nation STRAFFORD, Vt. — From a corner of his parlor here, the fiery Presbyterian minister gazed through lace curtains at a spindly tree made bare by winter. A sparrow that defied the elements to take up residence peered back. Beyond lay the snow-covered village Common, the hub of the 18th century town where William Sloane Coffin has lived on and off for a quarter-century. At 80, Coffin has come home to spend his final days. Doctors gave him six months to live when they diagnosed chronic heart failure after a series of strokes. That was 2½ years ago. No less defiant than when he was arrested as a Freedom Rider during the civil rights movement or when he protested the Vietnam War as chaplain of Yale, Coffin heeded medical opinion by writing another book. When "Credo" came out late in 2003, Coffin put pen to paper again and produced "Letters to a Young Doubter," to be published in July. Still, reclined in the leather lounge chair that his wife, Randy, gave him for Christmas, he admitted, "My energy is so low now." This disclosure came awkwardly from a man known for relentless energy in pursuit of social justice. Coffin was an Army officer in World War II, acting as liaison to the French and Russian armies. He also worked for the CIA, training anti-Soviet Russians to work in their country. After the war, he graduated from Yale University and the Yale Divinity School. As chaplain at Yale in the early 1960s, Coffin organized busloads of protesters known as Freedom Riders to challenge segregation laws in the South. He promptly landed in jail — the first of many times — but the conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court. In 1967, Coffin was arrested along with his friend Dr. Benjamin Spock, the pediatrician and baby book author, on charges of conspiracy to aid draft resisters. These charges also were reversed. Coffin used his pulpits as a platform for like-minded crusaders, hosting the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, among others. Fellow Yale graduate Garry Trudeau has immortalized Coffin as "the Rev. Sloan" in the Doonesbury comic strip. But ill health finally slowed him down. His infirmity kept him from joining in this town's recent vote to bring U.S. troops back from Iraq. Strafford was one of 50 Vermont towns that approved a referendum protesting U.S. policy in Iraq. "I think of this as a consciousness-raising act for the people here," he said. "A reminder that we live in history, not only in Strafford." Struggling to enunciate, Coffin said he applauded the decision by small towns in a small state to send a bold message to Washington. Yet he wondered if President Bush and others were prepared to hear views in conflict with their own. "People are forever attributing informed wisdom to power," he said, "while willful ignorance might be closer to the truth." In Strafford, a town of a little more than 1,000, such pronouncements are familiar. The village has become a bedroom community of sorts for faculty from nearby Dartmouth College, as well as a weekend and summer destination for many New Yorkers. With rows of Cape Colonial houses lining the Common — including the gray-and-white home of the Coffins — Strafford is a prototypical quaint New England village. "We all cross paths at Coburn's, the general store," said Coffin's older brother Ned, who moved to Strafford with his wife, Vi, in the early 1970s. His brother followed, choosing Strafford as a quiet spot to write a book. Coffin fell in love not only with the town, but with Randy. After they married, and Coffin took over as senior minister at New York City's Riverside Church in 1977, they kept their house in Strafford and spent as much time there as possible. "Bill is known by everybody," said Michael Manheim, who lives two doors from the Coffins. "He is very much revered, except by some very conservative people, of whom there are not many." In years when his health was better, Coffin often gave talks in the area, Manheim said. He presided at funerals and weddings at the United Church of Strafford, just a few houses away on the Common. Coffin officiated when Manheim's son was married, and also solemnized the vows of actor Daniel Day Lewis and filmmaker Rebecca Miller, daughter of playwright Arthur Miller, Coffin's close friend. Coffin, an accomplished pianist, also gave concerts at the church. Manheim recalled that at one of his last performances as a tuba player, he asked Coffin to accompany him. "He was wonderful to work with, and something of a taskmaster," Manheim said. "He reminded me that I could have practiced more." But Coffin is just as likely to lace his commentary with kindness, said Town Clerk Shelby Coburn. "Bill used to come in here and make copies of his sermons and things he had written," she said. "If you asked how he was, he always deflected the question and asked about you. That's Bill. He thinks of others." He took the inspiration for his newest book from Rainer Maria Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet." Coffin imagines a series of missives with a fictional college student named Tom, who is struggling with undergraduate angst over a range of issues. When Tom writes, for example, that he wants to take a summer job as a lifeguard, Coffin challenges him, urging the boy to travel and advising: "There are two ways, my friend, that you can be rich in life. One is to make a lot of money and the other is to have few needs." Nicole Smith Murphy,who worked on the book at Westminster John Knox Press in Louisville, Ky., said her calls with Coffin have grown shorter, as it becomes harder for him to speak. But she said he always leaves her with a joke, often something from a little girl in his neighborhood — such as, "What do you call a cow with two legs?" (Answer: Lean beef.) "You ask him how he is doing, and he says, 'Randy and I are great. It is snowing. How can you not be doing great?' " Murphy said. Here in his parlor, Coffin broke the stare of the sparrow and reached for a book beside him, "War and Peace." Coffin finds the leather lounge chair in the sunny corner a fine spot for rumination. "I used to, all my life, think: Well, finally we can count on American wisdom coming through," he said. "That is a bit harder to believe now. I would not say I am optimistic. I am hoping — hope being a matter of the soul, not of the circumstances surrounding your life." -------- Over 725 Protests Planned to Mark Second Anniversary of Iraq Invasion Friday, March 18th, 2005 Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/18/1450226 More than 725 anti-war protests and events are scheduled across the country on March 19th to mark the second anniversary of the invasion Iraq. We hear from organizers around the country who describe what is happening in their communities. [includes rush transcript] Saturday, March 19th, marks the second anniversary of the Iraq invasion. More than 725 anti-war protests and events are scheduled across the country to mark the anniversary. United For Peace and Justice reports this is more than double the number of actions that took place a year ago to mark the first anniversary of the war. One of the largest rallies is expected to take place in Fayetteville, North Carolina outside the military base Fort Bragg. Main sponsors of that protest include Veterans For Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and Military Families Speak Out. Yesterday we spoke with organizers around the country to get a sense of what is happening in their communities. * Voices of Dissent, protests organizers around the U.S. describe what is happening in their communities on March 19, 2005. RUSH TRANSCRIPT This transcript is available free of charge, however donations help us provide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV broadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution. Donate - $25, $50, $100, more... AMY GOODMAN: Yesterday, Yoruba Richen, one of our producers, spoke with organizers around the country to get a sense of what was happening in their communities. LOU PLUMMER: My name is Lou Plummer, and I'm a member of Military Families Speak Out. I live in Fayetteville, North Carolina, right outside of Ft. Bragg. On Saturday, March 19, we are having a rally that’s sponsored by Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and the Gold Star Families for Peace. This will be a rally, of course, marking the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, and there are approximately 20,000 to 25,000 people from our community who have been in Iraq. A great many of them were -- didn't come away with that, with a big warm, fuzzy feeling inside, so we organized this event as veterans and members of military families to give people an opportunity to speak their opposition with the added ingredient that there are people who have been to Iraq and who have seen what's going on there firsthand. BOB KRZEWINSKI: My name is Bob Krzewinski with Veterans for Peace for Southeast Michigan. We're going to have our Arlington Midwest display of one cross for every dead soldier killed in Iraq. It'll be on Saturday at Grand Circus Park in downtown Detroit. This is Bob Krzewinski of Veterans for Peace of Southeast Michigan. We're going to be having our Arlington Midwest display of one cross for every soldier killed in Iraq. This will be in downtown Detroit at Grand Circus Park on Saturday and in Ann Arbor at the university central campus on Sunday. BILL HACKWELL: My name is Bill Hackwell. I’m with the ANSWER Coalition in San Francisco. On the 19th, this Saturday, which is the second anniversary of the illegal war against Iraq, tens of thousands of people are expected in San Francisco. We're having an opening rally at the Dolores Park, the traditional spot of anti-war rallies in San Francisco in the Mission. After that, we'll be marching down to the Civic Center where there will be a following rally. Significant in this year is that we're starting to see sort of a groundswell of grassroots organizations who haven't always come out for the anti-war marches, maybe have supported it, but haven't come out in numbers. FRIDA BERRIGAN: I'm Frida Berrigan. I’m with the War Resisters League, a local organization in Manhattan and Brooklyn. And we're organizing funeral processions to recruiting stations around the city. In Manhattan, we'll be meeting in the morning at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza and carrying coffins representing Iraqi and American victims of the war. We'll be carrying those coffins along 42nd Street to the Times Square recruiting station where some of our participants will commit civil disobedience and block the doors of the recruiting station. Simultaneously, actions will happen in Brooklyn on Flatbush Avenue and in the Bronx on Fordham Road. In both locations there are military recruiting stations, and activists will be carrying coffins and photographs of Iraqi and American victims of the war. PHUNG VO: This is Phung Vo. I'm calling from Toledo, Ohio. On the anniversary of – the second anniversary of the Iraq war, the organization Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition is going to set up an event called Arlington Midwest at the University of Toledo, where we put over 1,500 tombstones with the names of the American fallen in Afghanistan and Iraq at the campus of University of Toledo. BRIAN STEWART: Hi, this is Brian Stewart. I’m with Work for Peace in Downeast Maine, and on Saturday, we're doing a teach-in at the university. And Sunday, we're putting up 100-mile memorial along the highways of Downeast Maine, remembering the names of people who have been killed in Iraq. EDWINA VOGAN: This is Edwina Vogan from Phoenix, Arizona. And there are two events, two of several, actually, but one is Saturday morning by the Department of Peace in downtown Phoenix; and then, the other one is Saturday afternoon between 5:00 and 7:00, and it's by the Arizona Alliance of Peaceful Justice, and it's a candlelight vigil and memorial service. And it's to remember the war dead in Iraq, and that's because it was an illegal war based on lies and deception. LEE HUGHES: Hi. This is Lee Hughes. I'm from Act Now, which is in Australia in Cambra, and this Saturday, on March 19, we'll be protesting against, you know, the war in Iraq and reminding people that two years on from the invasion, Australians still oppose the war. We think that with 100,000 Iraqis dead, and the U.S. just moving further and further away from actually bringing democracy to Iraq, we should bring the troops home and, you know, we should let Iraqis rebuild their own country. AMY GOODMAN: Voices of dissent on this eve of the invasion of Iraq, the second anniversary of the invasion. -------- Misdirecting the Anti-War Movement The Perfidy of the Democratic Party's Puppets By JOHN WALSH March 18, 2005 Counterpunch http://www.counterpunch.org/walsh03182005.html Scarcely a day goes by that I do not receive an email from a self-proclaimed "progressive" organization soliciting contributions and asking for support and participation. Unfortunately most of these groups are tightly allied with, if not completely controlled by, the Democratic Party leadership and they toe the party line with a fidelity that would make an old Stalinist blush. The groups are legion: MoveOn, ACT, American Family Values, True Majority, etc. They raise many issues, the favorites being Social Security and (surprise!) electing Democrats in 2006. But one issue that is rarely mentioned is the war on Iraq. And although these groups will tell you that the war was a mistake, they are careful to state that now the U.S. cannot withdraw ­ at least not anytime soon. They are for "staying the course," although they do not like to use those words. The giant fissure now separating these groups and their hawkish masters like Howard Dean, H. Clinton and John Kerry from genuine progressives and from a near majority of the American people is the issue of total withdrawal from Iraq, commencing at once. Perhaps no organization is more illustrative of this kind of sell-out, and none more powerful, than MoveOn.org. Take a look at their web-site today (03/16/2005). You will find nothing about the upcoming actions on the weekend of March 19th, the second anniversary of the War, calling for withdrawal now. (There is an advertisment for an old documentary on Iraq done in 2003, but that is it. That is a long period of silence.) But the site is awash with items on the approved Democratic Party agenda. (It is pretty pathetic when the only possible victory these "progressives" can hope to claim is preservation of a program from the 1930's. Hardly progress.) But MoveOn is apparently feeling some heat. After an incisive piece by Norman Solomon exposing the pro-war stance of MoveOn, I received an unexpected email today. In it MoveOn calls on its contributors to participate in peace "vigils" sponsored by Sojournors. But Sojournors on its web-site does not call for total and prompt withdrawal from Iraq, only for "lasting peace and security in the region," whatever that means. Sojournors is apparently intent on proving that you don't have to be anti-war to be pro-peace. But that is not the worst of it. MoveOn wants to make sure its stance is not misinterpreted, saying: "The fundamental error of the invasion has left us, as a nation, with no opportunity for a quick fix." "Quick fix" is MoveOn speak for prompt withdrawal. Even more pathetic were the house parties organized by MoveOn nationwide last March 10. There were many younger people at the one I attended who were brought there by anger over the war in Iraq. And what did they confront ­ an organizing meeting where the word Iraq was mentioned only once over the webcast and that as something MoveOn would eventually address. To kick the meeting off, the webcast was addressed by Senate minority leader, Harry Reid, who is pro-war, anti-choice, anti-environment (siding with the mining interests in his state of Nevada) and the author of a constitutional amendment prohibiting flag burning. Some progressive! And then we were "organized" to call Senators to urge them to oppose Bush's judicial nominations ­ a bit of political tone deafness in light of the fact that the second anniversary of the war comes in the same week when this action is being urged. MoveOn's fundamental problem is that it is not democratic. There is no effective way for members to communicate with the leadership. The leadership polls its members but only within certain guidelines. When they did their on-line primary which launched the candidacy of pro-war Howard Dean, they did not include Nader or any non-Democrats. In the on-line discussions one's comments get lost in a fog of blog. And I have personally had my comments critical of the Democratic Party pulled from such a Discussion. MoveOn will either democratize or die as progressives understand that it is strictly a partisan organization. But I fear that other "progressive" organizations are sliding into the same pro-war pit inhabited by MoveOn. For example, The Nation's call for immediate withdrawal, at least in the last half year, has been minimal. It is noteworthy that both the Nation and the paleo-conservative magazine, The American Conservative, have opposed the war. But whereasThe Nation endorsed the pro-war John Kerry, the American Conservative refused to endorse the pro-war George Bush. So which magazine is principled and which merely partisan? (The American Conservative even did an extensive interview with the anti-war Ralph Nader leading up to the election whereas The Nation excoriated him and banished him from its pages.) And now leading up to the March 20th anniversary of the war, there is no clear call in The Nation this week to join the Out Now demonstrations. Hopefully, The Nation will change course, invite Nader's contributions on the war and vigorously promote actions calling for U.S. withdrawal. And sadly this slide to the Right includes the Greens (my party). At least The Greens are calling for immediate withdrawal and sponsoring the Out Now demonstrations this coming weekend. But they are hardly leveling a blistering critique at the Democratic Party for its pro-war stance ­ which is precisely what a political party like the Greens exists to do. Instead the Greens seem to be stalled in some kind of time warp where all that matters is the vote count in Ohio. Or take Air America Radio. Its anchor program, the Al Franken show, has not called for withdrawal or pointed even once to the complicity of the Democrats in the war. Franken, author of "Lies and the Lying Liars That Tell Them," should know that a very powerful way of lying is by omission. Fortunately some other voices on Air America are not following the party line, calling instead for immediate withdrawal and promoting the Out Now demonstrations. And it is evident from the calls that many are fed up with the Democrats. Beneath all this an anti-war movement is stirring. One can see it in organizations and coalitions like the one organizing the March in Fayettteville, NC, calling for the troops to be brought home now, in the town meetings in Vermont where 49 of 52 towns voted for withdrawal, in the anti-war movement in Washington, DC, which has been sparked into a fury of progressive activity following its work together with A.N.S.W.E.R on the anti-war demonstration at the Inaugural, and in the demonstrations at military recruitment centers. (To its credit, MichaelMoore.com tirelessly tracks these genuine anti-war efforts.) So it is on to Fayetteville this weekend. Or if you cannot make Fayatteville then demonstrate locally ­ not at a phony vigil but at a genuine "Out Now" anti-war event. (See www.unitedforpeace.org/) Soon the misleadership must either change or lose its following. John Walsh can be reached at bioscimd@yahoo.com ---- Anti-war vet spreads message through public appearances By John Curran, Associated Press, 3/18/2005 16:43 http://www.boston.com/dailynews/077/region/Anti_war_vet_spreads_message_t:.shtml OCEAN CITY, N.J. (AP) Speaking out against the war in Iraq doesn't mean you're against the troops fighting it. It's a small distinction, but an important one especially to Jim Talib. The 31-year-old Philadelphia man, a medic in the U.S. Naval Reserve, has been deployed to Iraq once and is scheduled to return in June. In the meantime, he speaks to church groups and clubs, using the voice of experience to stir up opposition. ''I love my country, and I don't think we should rule the world,'' he said, speaking to a group of 40 people at a meeting of the Ocean City Democratic Club on Wednesday night. ''I don't think it's un-American to say that.'' A native of New Brunswick and graduate of Rutgers University, Talib is an 11-year Navy veteran. When he's on duty, he's Petty Officer Third Class James Talib, a medical corpsman. When he's on the anti-war stump, he dresses in casual civilian clothes and urges people who oppose U.S. involvement in Iraq to get involved and to lobby congressmen to withdraw troops. Talib spent 10 months in Iraq last year, assigned to a U.S. Marine Corps infantry unit in Fallujah and tending to wounded troops. After returning last November, he joined up with Iraq Veterans Against the War, a small Philadelphia group formed last year to raise public awareness about opposition among those who have served. The group sends speakers out to college campuses, community groups and clubs who are interested in hearing the anti-war message. ''Basically, we formed in response to the fact that you've got the Department of Defense and the government and the military putting out these pro-war troops, saying `This war's good,' but there's no opposing voice,'' said Michael Hoffman, national coordinator for IVAW. ''That's where we came in.'' Some of the group's 150 members are active-duty military, some have left the service and some like Talib are in the reserves. Talib, the only IVAW public speaker who's still in the military, has some restrictions on what he can say. He cannot reveal military secrets, or appear in uniform speaking against the war, according to Hoffman; U.S. Navy officials did not respond to requests for comment made with the Navy's press office at the Pentagon. On Wednesday, he drove about an hour from his Philadelphia home to this New Jersey shore town to speak to the Democratic Club, showing up untucked and unshaved, wearing an unbuttoned shirt, blue jeans and sneakers. His audience, a sympathetic crowd of teachers, tradesmen, Vietnam veterans, senior citizens and curious teenagers, sat quietly on folding chairs as he talked about the war. He began his 55-minute presentation with a plug for Iraq Veterans Against the War before telling the group he believes it was oil and American imperialism that drove the decision to invade, not weapons of mass destruction or links to the Sept. 11 terror attacks. ''We ought to be honest about why we went there, admit we made a mistake and get out,'' he said. ''We have to develop a culture that doesn't encourage rampant wars and militarism.'' Many returning GIs are unhappy with U.S. involvement in Iraq, said Talib, who withheld the gory details of his own experience, saying only that he was against the war before he went and saw nothing to change his mind. It's an occupation, not a war, he told the group. ''It's not a war against a military force. The only reason there's so much bloodshed is that we're making ourselves such a huge target,'' he said. After a question-and-answer session, the organizers of the event passed a baseball cap around the room to raise money to cover Talib's expenses, which he pays out of his own pocket, and contribute to the group. Those who heard Talib were impressed. ''It's powerful,'' said Vietnam veteran Steve Cole, 65. ''He's been there. He's got firsthand knowledge.'' ---- Sides gird for planned war protests in N.C. By Valerie Bauman Associated Press March 18, 2005 http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-730792.php RALEIGH, N.C. — A peace rally planned for Saturday in Fayetteville, N.C., is expected to draw protesters and counter-protesters — and plenty of law enforcement officers to keep the two separated. Estimates of how many people will turn out for the event, which marks the second anniversary of the United States’ invasion of Iraq, vary wildly. Rally organizers have said they anticipate more than the 1,200 people they say protested the war at a similar event last year in Fayetteville. Speakers and participants are slated to include family members of soldiers who are currently fighting or have died in Iraq, veterans, and conscientious objectors who were held in military jails for refusing to fight in the war. The rally is one of the largest being organized by the United for Peace & Justice group to mark the second anniversary of the war. On its Web site, the group says war opponents in 726 cities and towns across the country plan rallies this weekend. Besides Fayetteville, sites listed in North Carolina include Asheville, Charlotte, Raleigh, Shelby, Waynesville and Wilmington. Fayetteville, which is home to the sprawling Army post at Fort Bragg, will again this year be a focal point of national efforts, after members of the community asked protesters to return, rally organizer Liz Seymour said. “I think there’s a lot of respect for the anti-war movement, when people ask us to come to their hometown, we listen,” Seymour said. Seymour and others say they support the soldiers in Iraq, but want an end to military and civilian deaths there. But a spokesman for New York-based Operation Truth, a group that objects to Saturday’s event, said Fayetteville is the wrong place to protest the war. “If they are looking for an emotional reaction, why don’t they protest at soldiers’ funerals or at homecomings or troop deployments? Those are obviously inappropriate,” Will Coghlan said. “But the public at large doesn’t understand that this is inappropriate too.” Last year’s Fayetteville protest drew hundreds of observers and a group of people protesting the protesters. An organization called Free Republic has prepared for this year’s rally by asking supporters of the war in Iraq to attend a counter-demonstration. Lynn Huber, a chair for the Old North State Chapter of Free Republic said anti-war protests do not represent the way the majority of the country feels. “I think anti-war demonstrations are a bad idea because they give insurgents in Iraq hope ... we do believe that their activism is dangerous,” Huber said. Seymour said the rally is designed to support the soldiers and help bring them home safely. “I don’t think anything that is important is done without a difference of opinion,” Seymour said. “I think there will be people who will be hurt by (the protest) and there will be people who will stop and think.” The Fayetteville Police Department will monitor security and traffic control with the help of the State Highway Patrol and other law enforcement agencies. The rally is to begin at 11 a.m. and continue until 5 p.m. ---- Area residents receive conscientious objector training View opinions on this and other stories. By TEDDYE SNELL, Press Staff Writer Friday, March 18, 2005 11:05 AM CST http://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/articles/2005/03/18/news/top_stories/aaaaaatraining.txt As the country approaches the second anniversary of the war in Iraq, many people are concerned about the possibility of the draft being reinstated, particularly parents with teenagers who are contemplating their futures. JoKay Dowell, Tahlequah resident and director of the Eagle and Condor Indigenous Peoples' Alliance, is a parent and peace activist concerned about the future of not only her children, but her community and its children. "I think there probably will be a draft," said Dowell. "Based on President [George] Bush's history, he has no credibility when he says there will be no draft." Congress brought twin bills, S 89 and HR 163 forward in 2003, introduced by Democratic Representative Charles Rangel and Democratic Senator Fritz Hollings. Titled the Universal National Service Act of 2003, their aim is "to provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons (age 18-26) in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes." These active bills currently sit in the Committee on Armed Services. Because of the broad scope of these bills, Dowell's organization is conducting workshops on conscientious objectivism. "We held a workshop in mid-February about the requirements for obtaining conscientious objector status," Dowell said. "What we're trying to do is get the youth and their parents involved, because to become a conscientious objector, you have to demonstrate a long history of faith in that belief. You can't just wake up one day and say, 'Oh, I don't want to fight in this war.'" Dowell has two daughters, 22 and 14, who have a history of community service, peace activism and spiritual education that would, more than likely, qualify them for conscientious objector status. The February workshop, co-sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Tahlequah, was led by OCU law student James M. Branum and Oklahoma City attorney Rex Friend, a Quaker who has counseled conscientious objectors for many years, including those wishing to leave the military for moral and spiritual reasons. Friend is a sponsor of the "Spiritual Walk for Peace" and won the NAACP Oklahoma City Volunteer of the Year Award and the Oklahoma Conference of Churches Nonviolent Activist of the Year in 2001. He also won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty in 2004. Dowell said members of the Alliance will attend a conscientious objector training course led by Branum and Friend in order to better serve area residents who are interested in gaining information. According to the Selective Service System Web site, HR 163 was defeated in the House of Representatives on Oct. 5, 2004, by a vote of 402-2. This contradicts information circulating on blog-spots on the Internet such as www.NoDraftNoWay.org, which states, "On March 31, the Selective Service System will report to President Bush that it is ready to implement a draft within 75 days." Dowell is not convinced. "I know this much," Dowell said. "When the war dogs like Bush, [Paul] Wolfowitz, [Dick] Cheney, [Donald] Rumsfeld and others agree to send their children to fight in their war, I'll be interested in discussing whether or not I'll be supportive of sending mine." Learn more To learn more about Conscientious Objector Status, visit the Oklahoma Committee of Conscientious Objectors at http://www.okobjector.org. For information regarding the draft and the Selective Service System, visit http://www.sss.gov.