NucNews - September 26, 2005 -------- NUCLEAR US ready to convert highly enriched uranium for peaceful use VIENNA (AFP) Sep 26, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050926173531.2oo3q46u.html The United States is ready to convert highly enriched uranium, which can be used in atom bombs, into low enriched uranium and offer it to countries which give up the enrichment process, US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Monday. A senior US diplomat said the offer was made in order to "kick start" the creation of a multilateral fuel bank so that countries could have access to nuclear fuel without having the capability to make it themselves. This so-called "break-out" capability is a proliferation risk since highly enriched uranium (HEU) can be either fuel for reactors or bomb material. Low-enriched uranium (LEU), which is also reactor fuel, is not a direct bomb risk. Both US President George W. Bush and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei have made proposals to create an international fuel service but details have never been made clear. One problem is that there are abundant supplies of enriched uranium on the world market, experts have said. Bodman said, in a speech read to an IAEA conference in Vienna: "We are working with major suppliers and the IAEA on a back-up supply mechanism, for states that forego investment in these capabilities." "With that in mind, we are pleased to announce that the US Department of Energy will reserve up to 17 metric tons of highly enriched uranium for htis effort," Bodman said. A Western diplomat close to the IAEA said ElBaradei wants the conference of 139 IAEA nations meeting in Vienna this week to "adopt a resolution that reinforces his mandate to get a focused group to make such a bank." But it was not clear how this would "mesh" with the US proposal, the diplomat said. The diplomat said US state department non-proliferation point man Robert Joseph had met in Paris earlier this month with "three IAEA experts." The diplomat did not provide details. ElBaradei's priority is that the fuel in the bank would be guaranteed to participating nations since "without ironclad guarantees nations would not make such a deal," the diplomat said. The senior US diplomat said Bodman was trying to deliver the message "that the United States strongly supports the peaceful use of nuclear energy." The diplomat said the exact amount of HEU the United States is ready to "blend down" is 17.4 metric tons, which is enough for hundreds of atom bombs and would make enough low enriched uranium (LEU) to power 10 nuclear power reactors. The HEU is an amount "currently in the US investory but declared in excess of national security needs." The blended-down LEU will be "available about 2009." IAEA officials said they had been alerted to the US offer but had not yet studied it. The United States and the European Union are leading an international effort to stop Iran from getting the capacity to enrich uranium. But US officials have been careful to point out that they are not against nations having nuclear energy, even if they want to eliminated proliferation risks. "Our administration firmly believes that all responsible nations should have access to peaceful uses of the atom," Bodman said. -------- accidents and safety Dounreay hit by radioactive spill The Caithness site is in the process of being decommissioned Monday, 26 September 2005 (BBC) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4283610.stm Part of the Dounreay nuclear site in Caithness has been shut down after a radioactive spill. A treatment plant was closed after an alert involving a batch of hazardous, dissolved spent fuel. Officials said nobody had been harmed, or exposed to radioactive waste, as a result of the problem in the cementation area. It happened during decommissioning work at the complex, which is run by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. The liquid, which is kept in underground tanks, is pumped to the area, where it is mixed with cement then stored in 500-litre drums. The work is done by robot but early on Monday morning, 266 litres of radioactive material and 300 kgs of cement were spilled. The material has solidified onto the floor of a treatment cell. The authority said the spill was "contained within the cell", but admitted it was a "setback" to the 30-year decommissioning programme. All the radiation is contained within the cell and there was no danger to any individual as the walls are about 4ft thick and work is done robotically Dounreay spokesman The unit at the centre of the alert plays a key role in the operation to clear Dounreay of radioactive material. A Dounreay spokesman said: "An alarm was activated and the operators became aware of a problem. "The plant has been shut down and our people are investigating what action we can take. "All the radiation is contained within the cell and there was no danger to any individual as the walls are about 4ft thick and work is done robotically." 'No immediate implications' A Health and Safety Executive spokesman said: "On the basis of what we know, there are no immediate safety implications either for the workers, the public or the environment. "Our Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) will go to the site next week." The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) have also been alerted. The latest problem came only days after managers were served with an enforcement order, after breaking rules which allowed the disposal of radioactive waste. -------- business Entergy Corporation's New Orleans Subsidiary Files Chapter 11 Petition; Entergy Board Approves Debtor-in-Possession Financial Package to Facilitate Business Continuity Sept. 26, 2005 Electric Energy http://www.electricenergyonline.com/IndustryNews.asp?m=1&id=41011 NEW ORLEANS - To protect its customers and ensure continued progress in restoring power and gas service to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Entergy Corporation(NYSE: ETR) announced today that its New Orleans subsidiary - Entergy New Orleans, Inc. (Entergy New Orleans) -- has filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Simultaneous with this filing, Entergy New Orleans filed a motion with the Court for "debtor-in-possession" financing that contemplates Entergy Corporation making loans up to $200 million to Entergy New Orleans to address Entergy New Orleans' current liquidity crisis. The petition also requests that up to $150 million of these loans be approved on an interim basis. These funds will enable Entergy New Orleans to meet its near-term obligations, including employee wages and benefits, payments under power purchase and gas supply agreements, and its current efforts to repair and restore the facilities needed to serve its electric and gas customers. Entergy Corporation trusts that the bankruptcy court will act swiftly to approve its debtor-in-possession financing for Entergy New Orleans. Entergy New Orleans, which provides electric and natural gas service to customers within the city of New Orleans, is the smallest of Entergy's five utility companies and represented about 7 percent of the consolidated revenues and 3 percent of its consolidated earnings in 2004. Neither Entergy Corporation nor any of Entergy's other utility and non-utility subsidiaries were included in the bankruptcy filing. "We took this action after careful review of the various options available to preserve Entergy New Orleans' business over the near- and long-term" said Dan Packer, Entergy New Orleans' chairman and chief executive officer. "Due to our parent company's financial support, we can focus on the city's reconstruction and rebirth, as those restoration efforts continue today." This filing also is intended to address the very legitimate concern expressed recently in a letter by U.S. Senators Mary Landrieu and David Vitter from Louisiana to President Bush that the potential bankruptcy of Entergy New Orleans would stall or cease restoration efforts in the City as a result of creditor disputes that could arise in such a filing. In making the filing for debtor-in-possession financing, it is Entergy's hope and desire that Entergy New Orleans will be able to continue its restoration efforts for the immediate future. The Court has set this petition and motion for hearing on Monday, September 26. As the City Council of New Orleans stated in a letter of support to Entergy Chief Executive Officer J. Wayne Leonard this week, any long-term solution, that provides for a financially viable utility at Entergy New Orleans and protects customers from the massive restoration costs they can ill afford to pay, must involve a substantial federal financial commitment. In a related action, a bill was introduced by Senators Landrieu and Vitter in the U.S. Senate on September 22 that could provide $250 billion of financial aid to Louisiana, of which $2.5 billion was earmarked to cover restoration costs of in-state utilities, including Entergy's Louisiana subsidiaries. Federal resources, in addition to reimbursement of certain costs covered by insurance, are critical to restoring the system and restoring Entergy New Orleans' financial health. Entergy is working with public officials at the federal, state and local levels to try to secure vital government assistance. Entergy also announced it had taken steps in advance of this bankruptcy filing by Entergy New Orleans to mitigate any effects of the filing on the parent and its financially stronger subsidiaries. Prior to the Entergy New Orleans' bankruptcy filing, Entergy obtained amendments to the $2 billion bank revolving credit facility and other bank facilities to eliminate the bankruptcy of Entergy New Orleans as an Event of Default under the terms of those bank agreements. Therefore, this bankruptcy filing by Entergy New Orleans will not trigger a default under these bank facilities or other financing obligations of Entergy and subsidiaries that are not party to this bankruptcy filing. Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, and it is the second-largest nuclear generator in the United States. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.7 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of over $10 billion and approximately 14,000 employees. Entergy's online address is http://www.entergy.com For More Information Contact Yolanda Pollard +1-800-844-8084 ypollar@entergy.com Michele Lopiccolo +1-501-607-3557 www.entergy.com mlopicc@entergy.com -------- india India defends Iran nuclear vote, denies sellout to US NEW DELHI (AFP) Sep 26, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050926091037.hdqjsrnh.html India Monday denied charges it bowed to US pressure in supporting a resolution which opens the door to reporting Iran to the UN Security Council for violating international nuclear safeguards. India's vote in favour of the motion drafted by EU negotiators Britain, Germany and France stirred protests from the government's leftist allies and the opposition who said New Delhi yielded to Washington. But Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran told reporters the vote Saturday "was a considered decision" keeping the country's national interests in mind and was in fact supportive of its longtime ally Iran. "The resolution as passed addressed the main preoccupations that India had, and those were ... that the Iran nuclear issue should not be taken (immediately) to the UN Security Council," he said. "This was not something that the United States wanted," Saran said. The United States has accused Iran of hiding secret nuclear weapons work, allegations denied by Tehran which insists it has a right to pursue a peaceful civilian nuclear program. The motion passed at the meeting of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) states Iran is in "non-compliance" with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, mainly for hiding sensitive atomic activities. A finding of non-compliance is an automatic trigger for taking the matter to the Security Council which can impose sanctions. But referral would come only after a report by IAEA chief Mohammed El Baradei, expected in November. "We also wanted more time for consultations which was also something the United States was not in favour of," Saran said. As the European Union negotiators agreed "to dilute some of the provisions of the draft and make them concede on these points which are very important from Iran's point of view," India decided to vote for the resolution rather than abstain, he said. Saran's comments came after the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said Sunday the government "caved in to US pressure." "India should ponder over the fact that Russia, China and many Third World countries have abstained from voting on the resolution," said the party which extends crucial support to the government in parliament. The main opposition Hindu nationalist BJP party also said India "buckled under the intense pressure from the US." "The veil is off. India is now firmly in the US camp," said BJP member and former foreign minister Yashwant Sinha. "A government which came to power vowing to follow an independent foreign policy has finally surrendered its independence to US," he said. The United States has agreed to assist India with its far-reaching civilian nuclear programme. But US Congressmen had said the help could be jeopardised if New Delhi refused to support firm action against Iran over its nuclear drive. Ties between Hindu-majority India and the Islamic republic have been on an upswing since a landmark visit to India by then-Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani 11 years ago. The nations signed a strategic partnership deal in 2003 and have cooperated on key issues including opposing Washington's war in Iraq in 2003. New Delhi has also been looking at Iran as an energy source for its booming economy, having concluded two deals for supply of natural gas. It is also pursuing talks for a multi-billion dollar gas pipeline through Pakistan. Saran said India's position on the nuclear standoff was "supportive of Iran." He said India had no reservations about Iran's right to pursue a peaceful nuclear energy program. When asked by reporters whether Iran appreciated the stand India had taken in buying time for further negotiations, Saran said, "I hope they do." The vote was 22-1 in favour with 12 abstentions including Russia and China. ---- Canada Announces New Areas of Cooperation with India September 26, 2005 Government of Canada http://news.gc.ca/cfmx/view/en/index.jsp?articleid=171429& Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew today met with Indian External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh. The two discussed relations between Canada and India and agreed on new areas for cooperation. “I welcome Foreign Minister Singh’s visit and the occasion to advance the already dynamic partnership between Canada and India,” said Minister Pettigrew. “India is a global power and an important partner with whom we are building an intense, broad and enduring relationship.” The two ministers reviewed progress in meeting the commitments outlined in the Joint Declaration agreed to by Prime Ministers Paul Martin and Manmohan Singh during the visit of Prime Minister Martin to India in January 2005. They noted that advances have been made in all of the key areas of the Joint Declaration: a science and technology initiative, environmental cooperation, a partnership for prosperity, people-to-people links between Canada and India, and foreign policy issues. The two ministers also discussed important regional and international security issues, including Afghanistan, South Asia, non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament, and counterterrorism. They agreed to maintain an ongoing discussion on these issues, including through the high-level strategic issues dialogue launched earlier this year. They indicated that Canada and India will continue their counterterrorism collaboration and announced that the two countries will work toward jointly hosting a workshop on financial remittance systems and terrorism to be held in 2006. The two ministers also agreed to explore ways to enhance energy relations between Canada and India. Minister Pettigrew welcomed India’s support of international nuclear non-proliferation norms and noted its interest in international cooperation in civilian nuclear energy. To this end, the two ministers agreed on the following measures: • agreement by India to Canada’s proposal for nuclear safety collaboration and agreement by both governments to develop a mutually beneficial bilateral framework; • support by both governments for scientific and technical contacts on a broader range of civilian nuclear issues within the public domain; • agreement by Canada to allow the supply of nuclear-related dual-use items to Indian civilian nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, in accordance with the requirements of the Nuclear Suppliers Group’s dual-use guidelines; and • agreement by both governments to pursue further opportunities for the development of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy both bilaterally and through the appropriate international forums, consistent with their international commitments. Both ministers reaffirmed the importance of deepening people-to-people and academic linkages between the two countries. Minister Pettigrew confirmed Canada’s ongoing support for the work of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, which promotes, among other things, innovative science and technology partnering between Canadian and Indian member universities. The two ministers agreed that continued high-level engagement is essential to building the partnership. In this regard, Minister Pettigrew welcomed Minister Singh’s confirmation that Indian Prime Minister Singh will visit Canada in 2006. - 30 - For further information, media representatives may contact: Sébastien Théberge Director of Communications Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs (613) 995-1851 Media Relations Office Foreign Affairs Canada (613) 995-1874 http://www.international.gc.ca ---- Canada gives green light to supply nuclear technology to India OTTAWA (AFP) Sep 26, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050926180327.bq3le1wi.html Canada agreed Monday to allow the supply of "nuclear-related dual-use items" to India for use in its nuclear reactors, officials said, despite concerns doing so may destabilize the region. The agreement does not entail any specific sales of uranium or nuclear technology that may be converted to military use to India, which has come close to the brink of nuclear war with neighbour Pakistan, although their relations have warmed in recent months. Neither India nor Pakistan are signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, officials from both Canada and India are working towards that end, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew told reporters outside the House of Commons Monday. "Clearly, we will consult with our allies and strategic partners," Pettigrew said. "We're going to be responsible, but we have to acknowledge the substantial progress that has been made in India." "We favour everyone signing the non-nuclear proliferation treaty... In the meantime, we respect India's major progress in that direction," he said. Indian External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh pointed to his country's "no first strike" policy and its recent end to nuclear testing as evidence that it has so far acted as a responsible nuclear power. Canada's move "recognizes our responsive record and the importance of civilian nuclear energy for India's economic growth," he said. -------- iran Iran threatens to resume uranium enrichment Mon Sep 26, 2005 2:55 PM ET (Reuters) http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050926/ts_nm/nuclear_iran_statement_dc TEHRAN - Iran will resume uranium enrichment and stop allowing U.N. snap checks of its atomic facilities if moves to report it to the Security Council are not reversed, a foreign ministry statement said on Monday. The statement, read out on state television, said Iran "would cancel all its voluntary and temporary measures including implementation of the Additional Protocol." The Additional Protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty allows snap checks of atomic facilities. -------- japan Nagasaki ordered to pay for funeral of S.Korean atom bomb survivor TOKYO (AFP) Sep 26, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050926085851.q38lbkeg.html A Japanese high court ruled Monday that the Nagasaki city government must pay the funeral expenses of a South Korean who survived one of the World War II atomic bombings and died in his homeland. Nagasaki has offered 190,000 yen (1,800 dollars) to the family of each atomic bomb survivor but refused to pay the widow of Choi Gye-Chol, who died in July last year in Busan at the age of 78, because he died outside Japan. It was the first case to be decided by a high court related to funeral allowances for atomic bomb survivors who die abroad. Nagasaki city officials had argued it was too hard to assess the authenticity of foreign death certificates. In March a district court rejected the argument, saying difficulty verifying death certificates was not a valid reason for rejecting all applications from atomic bomb survivors who live abroad. The case went to the Fukuoka High Court after an appeal by the Nagasaki city government, but presiding Judge Koji Ishii dismissed the appeal. The mayor of Nagasaki, Iccho Ito, issued a comment afterwards saying the local authority would decide whether to appeal to the Supreme Court in consultation with the central government. After the high court ruling, the government's main spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, told reporters Japan needed to rethink its treatment of foreign victims of the 1945 bombings. "It is important to explore the way to promote the convenience of the atomic bomb survivors abroad," he said. "I would like relevant ministries, especially foreign ministry and health ministry, to take the high court ruling seriously and think hard," he said. Some 4,500 survivors of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki live outside Japan, most of them ethnic Koreans including people who were brought to Japan as laborers. The Japanese government decided in 2001 to extend support to aging survivors living outside the country as many lacked access to medical services available to others inside Japan. The bombing of Hiroshima killed about 140,000 people, almost half the city, either immediately or in the months that followed from radiation injuries or horrific burns. The Nagasaki bombing killed another 70,000 people. -------- korea Two New South Korean Reactors Approved Updated Sep. 26, 2005 21:34 KST (englishnews@chosun.com ) http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200509/200509260021.html South Korea is to build its 23rd and 24th nuclear power plants. The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said Monday it approved a plan by Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Corp. (KHNP) to build two homegrown Shinwolseong nuclear reactors. The nuclear reactors will be built in Bongil-ri near Geyongju City, North Gyeongsang Province. The new facilities are Korean-made standard nuclear power reactors with a combined output of 2 million kW. The first reactor is to go into operation in 2011 and the second in 2012. The completion of the two new facilities will increase Korea’s total electricity output to 19.7 million kW. The government plans to invest about 4.71 trillion (about US$4.71 billion) in constructing the two nuclear reactors. The ministry expects the building of the reactors to boost the region’s economy and to create jobs for eight million people a year during the construction period. About W200 billion will be spent on the project this year. The nuclear reactor plan was approved according to the government’s long-term electricity supply plan. -------- russia Russian admiral named patron saint of nuclear bomber force MOSCOW (AFP) Sep 26, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050926130528.685jskg3.html Historic Russian admiral Fyodor Ushakov -- a hero of Russia's wars against Turkey and Napoleon Bonaparte -- was designated the patron saint of nuclear-armed, long-distance Russian bombers by the Orthodox Church on Monday. Russian Patriarch Alexei II, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, carried a reliquary and an icon of the admiral, who was canonised in 2004, into the Moscow chapel of the Russian Air Force's 37th Air Army in Moscow, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency said. "I am sure he will become your intermediary as you fulfil your responsible duties to the fatherland in the long-range air force," the patriarch said. "His strong faith helped Saint Fyodor Ushakov in all his battles," the religious leader said, reminding his audience that the famous admiral of the 18th and 19th centuries never lost a battle. Fyodor Ushakov distinguished himself in numerous naval battles in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, most notably in the Russo-Turkish war between 1787 and 1791. But his reforms of the navy were not popular in the upper echelons of the Russian imperial administration and Tsar Alexander I forced Ushakov to retire to Tambov province south-east of Moscow in 1807, where he died in 1817 aged 73. Ushakov's canonisation as a saint in 2004 follows a strong tradition in Russia of close relations between the Orthodox Church and the state, which was revived after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. -------- security On guard for disaster By Jack Dew and Christopher Marcisz, Pittsfield, MA, Berkshire Eagle Staff Monday, September 26, 2005 http://berkshireeagle.com/headlines/ci_3062674 Emergency planning is as old as the Cold War, when nightmares of a nuclear holocaust prompted homeowners to dig bomb shelters, schoolchildren to practice ducking and covering, and cities and towns to rig sirens on public buildings. Though the fear of a nuclear war has diminished with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the possibility of a nuclear accident remains, with the specter of long-range missiles replaced by concern over what could happen at the two nuclear power plants that sit close to the Berkshires. Although a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) said that every city and town in the county has an emergency plan, officials acknowledge that planning can go only so far. A catastrophe that generates at least 1,000 casualties would rapidly exceed the ability of local authorities to respond. Hospitals would be overwhelmed with patients, ambulances would be full, and police and fire departments would be stretched thin. Because of the Berkshires' mountainous geography and distance from the ocean, the chances of a Katrina-magnitude hurricane or flood overwhelming the region are slim. But the nearest operating nuclear plant is Vermont Yankee, located in the town of Vernon, just south of Brattleboro, about 30 miles from North Adams. The plant began operating in February 1973. Two years ago, the plant's owner, EntergyNuclear, asked federal regulators for permission to increase the plant's generation output by 20 percent. The move has come under intense criticism from many who say the plant cannot safely handle the additional wear and tear. It is currently under consideration by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. As with all nuclear plants, there is a 10-mile emergency planning zone, or EPZ, around it. The zone includes the Vermont towns of Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guil-ford, Halifax and Vernon. In Massachusetts, it includes the Franklin County towns of Ber-nardston, Colrain, Gill, Leyden, Northfield, Warwick and parts of Greenfield. There is a federally funded program to provide potassium iodide (KI) pills to everyone within an emergency planning zone. KI is a salt that, if taken correctly, blocks the thyroid gland's uptake of radioactive iodine and reduces the long-term risk of thyroid cancer and other diseases. The Vermont and Massachusetts departments of health make the pills available to those who live and work near the plants. But the pills are a stopgap measure. "The primary method of protection remains evacuation and sheltering, and KI should be viewed as an adjunct to these primary measures," the Massachusetts Depart-ment of Public Health advised in July 2002. A total meltdown at Vermont Yankee could send thousands of evacuees toward the Berkshires, along with, theoretically, a cloud of radioactive gas. But Bob Walker, director of the state's Radia-tion Control Program, said Mass-achusetts is well-prepared for that type of catastrophe. "We have had the plan in place for 40 years, and we exercise those plans at least once annually," he said. If a cloud is moving toward the Berkshires or any other part of the state, he said, field crews would monitor its levels and use computer models to predict its path. If it seemed likely that people in the cloud's path would be exposed to levels greater than the amount a nuclear power plant worker would receive in a year, Walker's agency would recommend evacuation. Any disaster of that scale would mean the involvement of MEMA, which can bring additional help in the form of medical workers, emergency vehicles and communications equipment. If the disaster exceeded MEMA's abilities, the organization would seek help from the Federal Emergency Manage-ment Agency, which has access to special equipment, federal funds and the National Guard. If a catastrophe were to affect North Adams, every road out of the city would become one way, with five traffic-control points where police would move motor-ists along, according to James Mannion, the MEMA spokesman. There also is a list of "special needs" locations where residents might need help to leave. In a worst-case scenario, Mannion said, the state police can commandeer school buses or similar vehicles to evacuate those without cars. Combined, the 11 acute-care hospitals in Western Massachusetts — including North Adams Regional, Fairview in Great Barrington and Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield — are prepared to receive 1,000 patients if a bioterrorist attack hits the state, according to Lucy Britton, BMC's clinical services manager. That number is slightly higher for a radiation incident. "As the incident gets larger and larger, then we need to look at resources coming from outside the area," Britton said, citing MEMA's disaster medical assistance team as an example. If the hospital exceeds its threshold, it can ship patients to New York, Vermont and Connec-ticut, Britton said. Closer to the Berkshires, the Yankee Rowe Nuclear Power Sta-tion, which stopped operating in 1992, remains a storage site for 16 "dry cask" units of radioactive uranium fuel. The roughly 1,700 tons of spent fuel casks are under 24-hour guard. If an accident occurred at Yankee Rowe, North Adams Regional Hospital would be the first destination for many of the injured, according to emergency plans. Once a year, the hospital practices how it would respond. With the plant shut down, Dr. Paul Donovan, director of the Emergency Department at NARH, said the potential for a large-scale disaster has declined. The drills now typically involve treating a dozen or so workers who would have been both injured and exposed to radiation. This is not the widespread radiation exposure that would come from a major meltdown, such as the one at Chernobyl in the Soviet Union in April 1986. According to a United Nations report released this month, that accident — by far the worst nuclear accident on record — killed about 50 emergency workers directly, but eventually will be responsible for the deaths of an estimated 4,000 people. Donovan estimates that the hospital could decontaminate as many as 30 people, and expects that those who suffered only slight exposure and were not otherwise injured would be treated at the plant by emergency responders. When Berkshire County emergency workers drill for disasters, they concentrate on the most likely catastrophe — a severe high-wind thunderstorm or a tornado. Earlier this month, Berkshire Medical Center, North Adams Regional Hospital, several ambulance services, and firefighters from Hancock and other departments ran a drill at Jiminy Peak Ski Resort. The scenario had a microburst, strong, short-lived winds hit an outdoor wedding reception. Tables were knocked over, debris was sent flying, and 24 "victims" were left. A gas grill was toppled and exploded and, by the time the first firefighters arrived, the air was full of artificial smoke and the screams of the actors playing victims. Brian Andrews, co-chairman of the Central Berkshire Regional Emergency Planning Committee — which includes Pittsfield, Lanesborough and seven other towns — said the drill was de-signed to look at "mass casualties, and how we would deal with large numbers of patients." Andrews said the organizers place a premium on making sure that public safety departments and health workers can communicate easily, that the chain of command is effective and that help gets to those who need it. In a few weeks, the participants will meet to assess what went well at Jiminy Peak and what must be improved. Andrews said participants drill "for what we think the level of the threat is." "Certainly, the terrorism threat is not as high as in New York City or Boston," he said, "but we don't disregard it." -------- treaties Egypt warns against dealing with NPT in double standard Egypt-Regional, Politics, 9/26/2005 Arabic News http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/050926/2005092621.html Egypt's ambassador to Austria and its delegate to UN Vienna seat said maintaining the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is a joint responsibility. Addressing meetings of the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Egyptian diplomat warned against double standards and selective attitudes in applying NPT rules. He expressed concern and frustration over failure of IAEA and the international community to make any tangible progress towards applying IAEA guarantees in the Middle East after the Israeli refusal to sign the treaty. -------- u.n. UN nuclear chief ElBaradei gets a third term VIENNA (AFP) Sep 26, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050926111633.a6eg1zyp.html http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050926/ts_afp/iaeaconferenceelbaradei_050926075210 The UN nuclear watchdog on Monday unanimously named Mohamed ElBaradei to a third term as its director general, despite the initial opposition of the United States. A former Egyptian diplomat who has headed the watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency since 1997, ElBaradei was appointed by acclamation and immediately sworn in at an IAEA general conference in Vienna of the agency's 138 member states. The agency's 35-nation board of governors had in June unanimously nominated him to continue as its head after Washington dropped its opposition. ElBaradei, who has led investigations into both Iraq's and Iran's nuclear programs, told the conference, which began Monday and is to end Friday, that "independence and impartiality will continue to guide my work." He said that "security and development issues are closely linked" and that "all of the challenges we face can only be overcome through a collective approach." Washington had resisted a new mandate for ElBaradei, saying two terms was enough for running an international agency, but received no backing from other members of the board. Diplomats said ElBaradei had provoked Washington's ire for questioning US intelligence that Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and for not being tough enough on Iran, which Washington accuses of secretly developing nuclear weapons. ElBaradei, 63, has said the "jury is still out" on Iran's intentions, even though IAEA inspectors have discovered that the Islamic republic hid sensitive atomic work for almost two decades until the agency's inspection of its program began in 2003. Final approval of the director general was up to the general conference, which endorses decisions made by the board of governors, the IAEA's executive arm. ElBaradei told an IAEA board meeting on Saturday that there was still room for diplomacy on Iran, despite the board adopting a resolution that could lead to Tehran being taken to the UN Security Council. Iran was found to be in non-compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which the IAEA supervises. The Security Council can impose penalties, including sanctions, but it is not expected to be asked to deliberate before November, when an IAEA board meeting is to hear a report on Iran from ElBaradei. In his opening speech, ElBaradei also spoke about energy problems, saying it was clear that nuclear energy was regaining stature as a serious option. Promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy is one of the main missions of the IAEA. Greenpeace demonstrators outside the conference hall blasted the IAEA for "promoting nuclear power and thereby aiding the spread of nuclear weapons," according to a statement given to the press. "Nuclear power is not only dirty, dangerous and economically insance, it also generates the very materials that can be used for nuclear bombs," Jan Vande Putte, Greenpeace's international energy expert, said. Some 20 Greenpeace activites unrolled a 60-metre (yard) long banner outside the conference hall linking the agency to nuclear weaponry. They tried to meet with ElBaradei but were turned away. Greenpeace also "calls on the world's governments to engage in a diplomatic process in the Middle East, instead of escalating the confrontation with Iran." Acting on behalf of the Arab states, Oman distributed a document at the opening of the conference on "Israeli nuclear capabilities and threat." An explanatory memorandum from the Arab League said that "the policies of the present Israeli government have obstructed the peace process in the Middle East and all initiatives to free the region of the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction, and in particular of nuclear weapons, have failed." Israel, which is believed to have some 200 atom bombs, has not signed the NPT and so is not subject to IAEA safeguards verifications, although it is a member of the agency. ----- IAEA blasted for promoting nuclear energy VIENNA (AFP) Sep 26, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050926102653.2icmb3sp.html The Greenpeace environmental group Monday criticized the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for promoting "dirty, dangerous" nuclear energy, saying it would contribute to the spread of nuclear weapons. "Nuclear power is not only dirty, dangerous and economically insane, it also generates the very materials that can be used for nuclear bombs," Jan Vande Putte, Greenpeace's international energy expert, said As the IAEA's 138-member general conference got under way, a score of Greenpeace activists unrolled a 60-metre (yard) long banner outside the conference hall with the text "IAEA=nuclear power=nuclear bombs." They tried peacefully to enter the conference hall to meet with newly reappointed IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei but were turned away. ElBaradei said in opening the conference, "It is obvious that nuclear power is re-emerging in a way that few would have predicted a few years ago." The IAEA promotes the peaceful use of nuclear energy, which ElBaradei has said is a non-polluting alternative to the fossil fuels that contribute to global warming. Greenpeace said it also "calls on the world's governments to engage in a diplomatic process in the Middle East, instead of escalating the confrontation with Iran." The IAEA has found Iran guilty of non-compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and is threatening to take Tehran before the UN Security Council. Arab states at the IAEA are lobbying for a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East and castigate Israel, which is believed to have nuclear weapons, for not signing the NPT. ---- UN Atomic Agency Wrestles With Iran, Iraq, North Korea VIENNA, Austria, September 26, 2005 (ENS) http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/sep2005/2005-09-26-03.asp Appointed to a third consecutive four year term by the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei today told the opening session of the UN nuclear watchdog's weeklong general conference, "The current challenges to international peace and security, including those related to nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear arms control, cannot be wished away, and will continue to stare us in the face." As priorities, Dr. ElBaradei listed normalizing safeguards in Iraq; bringing the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea, DPRK or North Korea, back to the Nonproliferation Treaty; providing the required assurances about Iran's nuclear program; and continuing to investigate the nature and extent of the illicit nuclear procurement network. "The Agency's resumption of inspections in Iraq, the termination of inspections in the DPRK, our investigation of clandestine nuclear programs in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and the Islamic Republic of Iran, the discovery of illicit nuclear procurement networks, and the lack of agreement at the 2005 NPT Review Conference have put the spotlight on an unprecedented array of challenges to the non-proliferation and arms control regime," said ElBaradei. But Greenpeace demonstrators staged a protest in front of the UN building in Vienna denounced the role of the IAEA in promoting nuclear power and "thereby aiding the spread of nuclear weapons." Greenpeace "calls on the world's governments to engage in a diplomatic process in the Middle East, instead of escalating the confrontation with Iran." Forty activists attached a banner to the building reading: 'IAEA = Nuclear Power = Nuclear Bombs.' A flying six meter (19 foot) long nuclear bomb with 'IAEA' on it flew above the IAEA venue and a nuclear missile with 'Nuclear Power = Nuclear Bombs' was deployed in front of the entrance. "Nuclear power is not only dirty, dangerous and economically insane, it also generates the very materials that can be used for nuclear bombs," said Jan Vande Putte of Greenpeace. Greenpeacers said the only solution to the current security and proliferation concerns in the Middle East is through the creation of a Nuclear Free Zone, a diplomatic process that will eliminate all weapons and nuclear technology in the region, and the rapid development of renewable energy. They support "the abandonment of so-called civil nuclear program because nuclear power equals nuclear bombs." Inside the building, Dr. ElBaradei outlined a different approach to nuclear safety. He urged emphasis on broader national participation in international safety conventions, greater use of IAEA safety reviews, and enhanced coordination among the IAEA and international nuclear safety bodies to ensure that efforts are complementary and mutually reinforcing. In areas of nuclear safety and security, the director general pointed to progress related to international conventions, safety standards, radiation protection, radioactive waste management, and the multi-agency Chernobyl Forum, which recently issued a landmark report on consequences of the 1986 accident. Regarding nuclear security, ElBaradei said that the agency's activity has undergone "major expansion" over the past four years. "The agency must continue to promote a global nuclear safety regime," he said. The head of Russia's Federal Nuclear Energy Agency, Alexander Rumyantsev, said the IAEA should create a mechanism for guaranteed fuel supplies to nations that give up their uranium enrichment programs. As leader of the Russian delegation to the IAEA general assembly, Rumyantsev said the mechanism could be established through bilateral intergovernmental agreements, the Russian news agency Novosti reports. The Bushehr plant, the only ongoing nuclear cooperation project between Russia and Iran, will be implemented in strict compliance with international law and IAEA regulations, Rumyantsev said. The facility's first reactor is expected to be launched in 2006. Moscow and Tehran are cooperating under protocol on the supply of nuclear fuel and the return of waste. But the IAEA Board of Governors Saturday decided to condemn Iran for "non-compliance" with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a first step towards a referral to the United Nations Security Council in November. The Security Council may decide to impose sanctions on Iran, including an economic embargo and a comprehensive ban on nuclear experiments, meaning the construction of a second Bushehr reactor will have to be put on hold indefinitely. Vice-President and head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Gholam-Reza Aqazadeh said on Monday that the Board of Governors' resolution demonstrated how "politics drives" the IAEA. Aqazadeh told the general conference delegates that the resolution is based on "an invalid legal precept, unjustified technical grounds and misguided political forecast." "The issue of high enriched uranium, the only issue which could have raised proliferation concerns has been resolved," the Iranian official said. "It has been verified that the UEU particles have surfaced as the result of contamination." "On the few remaining questions there has been progress, and resolving them does not hinge on Iran's cooperation alone," said Aqazadeh. "They require also cooperation from European states where individuals involved in the clandestine network are either under custody or surveillance." -------- u.s. nuc facilities Exelon CEO Rowe faces off with Gov. Blagojevich By Steve Daniels September 26, 2005 Crain Communications http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=17891 Exelon Corp. CEO John W. Rowe holds a hot hand in the electric power market, but he'll have to wrestle his winnings away from Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Mr. Rowe staked Exelon's future on nuclear power plants, a move that proved prescient beginning nearly two years ago when rising natural gas prices pushed up the cost of electricity generated by natural gas-fired plants. The lower cost of nuclear plants positions Mr. Rowe to reap big profits when a freeze on electric rates in Illinois expires two years from now. But Gov. Blagojevich is taking dramatic steps to stop him. Last month, the governor all but ordered Illinois regulators to reject Exelon's proposal to set electric rates through an auction-based system expected to produce big price hikes. And last week, he appointed consumer advocate and longtime Exelon adversary Martin Cohen to chair the Illinois Commerce Commission, the state agency that regulates utilities. Now it's Mr. Rowe's move. In the face-off with the governor, he holds strong, if controversial cards. The 60-year-old executive told Wall Street in August that he'd consider selling Exelon's Illinois unit, Commonwealth Edison Co., if regulators set the utility's rates below the wholesale market price of power. "I'll divest it," he told the group. Mr. Rowe wasn't available last week to comment on the governor's latest moves, but ComEd President Frank Clark backed up his boss, saying ComEd would have to file for bankruptcy protection "in a matter of months" in 2007 if it were forced to buy power at market prices but couldn't pass those costs to its customers. Asking Exelon's nuclear power plants to subsidize the utility, which no longer owns any plants, would be unfair to the company's investors, he argues. "(Shareholders) are buying (Exelon stock) because they think we have low-cost generation capacity that can be sold into a market that's rising," Mr. Clark says. "We cannot and will not deceive them." "I know Exelon would like to see ComEd perform like a high-growth company," a spokeswoman for the governor says. "But that approach is not good for consumers. And ComEd does have a responsibility to provide reliable electricity at affordable rates." The dispute between Mr. Rowe and Gov. Blagojevich boils down to a fight over the benefits of the state's abundant, low-cost nuclear power. Gov. Blagojevich, a politician facing re-election next year, wants consumers to get those benefits in the form of lower electric rates. Mr. Rowe, chief executive of a publicly traded company, has promised them to shareholders in the form of higher profits. Mr. Rowe largely has pleased Exelon's investors since his hiring as CEO in 1998 after leading utilities in New England. Called Unicom at the time, the company was better known for frequent power outages and a fleet of underperforming nukes than as a consistent earnings generator. But Mr. Rowe — aligning himself with former Navy submariner Oliver D. Kingsley Jr., whom Mr. Rowe's predecessor had hired to turn around the ailing nukes — believed the plants could be turned into a strategic advantage. With Mr. Kingsley riding herd on the company's nuclear plant workforce and quickly improving the plants' production, Mr. Rowe bet against conventional industry wisdom that the future was with plants fueled by natural gas, touted in the late 1990s as clean, plentiful and cheap. FAITH IN GAS Consumer groups and politicians believed the gas boosters. As part of the state's 1997 deregulation law that cut ComEd rates 20% and froze them for a decade, they agreed to allow ComEd to sell or spin off its power plants and focus exclusively on delivering power. That led to the sale of ComEd's coal-fired plants to a California company in 1999 and the spinoff into a separate subsidiary of the nukes a year later. The upshot: The state's utility regulators no longer had jurisdiction over what the power plants could charge. The state's bet was that the market would keep prices low once the rate freeze expired. Through the early part of this decade, Mr. Rowe saw few signs his bet would pay off. Falling wholesale power prices actually meant ComEd customers were paying more in their frozen rates than they would have in a market-priced system. Investors were anxious that rates, and Exelon's profits, would fall once the freeze expired. PURCHASE FAILED Mr. Rowe two years ago attempted to package a proposed purchase of troubled Decatur-based utility Illinois Power Co. with a deal to raise rates by no more than 9% through 2010. House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, shot down the bill, which had passed the state Senate. Almost immediately thereafter, natural gas prices began to rise, and power prices along with them. A year after Mr. Rowe's offer was rejected, it was clear that a market-based system of setting rates beginning in 2007 would result in an increase well above 9%. Today, any market-based, post-freeze system of pricing electricity is certain to produce rate hikes of at least 16% in Illinois. Wall Street investment firm Sanford C. Bernstein estimates the auction means 42 cents per share to Exelon, or 11% of consensus 2007 earnings projections. But to collect, Mr. Rowe must be willing to counter the governor's seizure of power rates as a potent political issue with dramatic action of his own, like committing all the 2007 power from Exelon's nukes to outside buyers, selling ComEd or allowing the utility to spin toward bankruptcy. There's not much talk of compromise in Mr. Rowe's statements so far. "We don't do this for theory," he told investors last month. "We do it for money." Wall Street cheers the tough talk. Kit Konolige, utility analyst with Morgan Stanley & Co. in New York, recently wrote: "Because ComEd is a relatively small part of Exelon, especially after the closing of the proposed merger with (New Jersey-based Public Service Enterprise Group Corp.) — less than 10% — we believe Exelon could earn about $4.50 to $5 (per share) in 2007, even if ComEd contributed nothing." A spokesman for Mr. Madigan, one of Exelon's toughest critics, isn't fazed by the bankruptcy threat. "That's the power company's traditional message — my way or the highway," he says, predicting no resolution of the dispute until next year. -------- nevada Shining a light on nuke dump September 26, 2005 LAS VEGAS SUN Editorial http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/2005/sep/26/519416375.html The state of Nevada has won a victory in its efforts to get the U.S. Energy Department to release a draft license application to build a high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel has ruled that the Energy Department can no longer keep secret the 5,800-page draft application. Although it's not the final document that will be submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, lawyers for Nevada say it will be extraordinarily helpful once the state receives it because the draft application will reveal what direction the Energy Department will be taking in trying to get the dump approved. The Energy Department has vigorously fought attempts by state officials and Nevada's congressional delegation as they tried to get a copy of the draft application, with Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., likening it to "pulling teeth." The reason for the Energy Department's stonewalling is simple: It wants to steamroll its application through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- the regulatory agency that will have the final say on Yucca Mountain -- without giving Nevada officials enough time to raise substantive scientific objections to the proposed dump. There have been serious questions raised about the project, including the danger of shipping nuclear waste thousands of miles cross-country to burying it in a seismically active location, where concerns have been raised that the 77,000 tons of nuclear waste planned for the dump might leak into the environment . The desperate attempt by the Energy Department to keep such important information from seeing the light of day is proof that the agency is worried about the viability of the Yucca Mountain project, which recently has been beset by regulatory and legal setbacks. Why, otherwise, would it be so afraid to let the public take a look at its draft application to open a nuclear waste dump? -------- new york Spano asks for meeting with NRC about latest Indian Point leaks Monday, September 26, 2005 Mid-Hudson News Network http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/IP_Spano-NRC-26Sep05.htm Saying he remained alarmed about the revelation last week of a leak of radioactive water at Indian Point, Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano has written to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to ask for an immediate meeting. “The leak, although characterized by both Entergy and the NRC as insignificant, is anything but that,” Spano said in a letter to Nils Diaz, the chairman of the NRC. “The fact that this condition was first reported to the NRC in late August or early September and local officials weren’t informed of its existence until September 20th has left us questioning the effectiveness of the NRC as an industry regulator. It also questions how we can continue to assure our citizens that the NRC is closely monitoring the licensee and plant operations.” Saying he was writing in his capacity as chairman of the Four County Nuclear Committee for the Indian Point Nuclear Plants, Spano said he was concerned about the revelation last week of an ongoing leak of radioactive water from an excavation site near the spent fuel pool of Indian Point Reactor #2. He said to Diaz, “I genuinely appreciated your visiting Westchester to meet and provide us with security information. During that visit you encouraged me to never hesitate to contact you in the future with any concerns. I am asking that you come again to Westchester to meet with me and the county executives of Rockland, Putnam and Orange to discuss the details of this fuel pool leak.” -------- virginia Nuclear proposal prompts reaction By Megan Rowe / Charlottesville, VA, Daily Progress staff writer September 26, 2005 http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=CDP%2FMGArticle%2FCDP_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031785280072&path=!news LAKE ANNA - A group of concerned Lake Anna residents is urging the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to consider the environmental impact of additional nuclear reactors at North Anna power station. Harry Ruth, a Bumpass resident who lives off a section of the lake near the plant, said using lake water to cool a third reactor would reduce water levels and heat parts of the lake to unsafe temperatures. Dominion Virginia Power officials, however, insist that the company could safely regulate both water level and temperature.The 13,000-acre lake was built for the plant in the early 1970s. Many Louisa County residents live in nearby subdivisions and have private access for boating, water-skiing and swimming. Dominion applied for an early site permit in 2003, but Richard Zuercher, a spokesman for Dominion’s nuclear program, said the company has no definite plans to build additional reactors. If approved by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the permit would allow the company 20 years to seek additional certification required to build more reactors. Before the NRC can make a decision about the permit, DEQ must decide if it would be consistent with the state’s coastal management program. Members of the newly formed Friends of Lake Anna collected more than 400 signatures on a petition, which was submitted to DEQ. Ellie Irons, an environmental impact review manager at DEQ, said she forwarded a letter from Ruth to the state Health Department and the Game and Inland Fisheries Department, two of many state agencies that will give DEQ comments on the early site permit. The plant uses lake water to cool its two existing reactors. After the water travels through the plant, it goes back into the lake 13 degrees warmer but flows through a discharge canal almost a mile long and three lagoons that cool it to “essentially ambient temperatures,” Zuercher said. Keith Pierce, a Gainesville resident who owns a vacation house in Bumpass off the third and coolest lagoon of Lake Anna, said he’s recorded water temperatures as high as 96 degrees in August. If the water temperature gets much higher, he worries that it will be unsafe for swimming. “You hear about all the health issues and everything associated with hot tubs, and of course directly relate that to the lake because of temperature similarities,” he said. Zuercher said the plant projects future average surface-level water temperatures using a computer module. Based on these projections, water temperatures at the plant would rise to 109 degrees only six days in 42 years. “There are ways to mitigate the temperatures,” Zuercher said, adding that the plant might run the water through a cooling structure in addition to the canal. The plant currently discharges around 1.8 million gallons of water every minute, and a third reactor would discharge another million gallons. Ruth said this increased water flow could raise the water levels at certain times of the year and create drought conditions at other times. Dominion can control the lake’s level using stop logs, Zuercher said. “We can make it the same level it currently is, and it’s not going to be an issue,” he said. Ruth said Friends of Lake Anna is not opposed to additional reactors as long as they don’t harm the lake. “We’re saying, ‘Be respectful, and don’t use another water-cooled reactor and heat up the water greater because there’s over a half-million people who use the water for swimming and boating and whatever else,’” he said. DEQ will announce its decision Nov. 7. Dominion will be allowed to appeal the decision if the permit is found to be inconsistent with the coastal management plan. Contact Megan Rowe at (434) 978-7267 or mrowe@dailyprogress.com. -------- us nuc waste Nuclear waste from Davis-Besse may go to Utah 9/26/2005 2:02:53 PM Associated Press http://www.wkyc.com/akron/akron_article.aspx?storyid=41273 OAK HARBOR -- Akron-based utility FirstEnergy is moving closer to finding a site to send reactor waste from its nuclear power plants. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission earlier this month approved a private company's plan to build a nuclear waste storage site on an Indian reservation in Utah. FirstEnergy's Davis-Besse plant near Toledo is pressed for space to store its used reactor fuel. The company is one of eight utilities that has pushed to open the storage site in Utah. FirstEnergy spokesman Richard Wilkins calls the site plan a contingency move for Davis-Besse and the utility's other nuclear plants. FirstEnergy also operates the Perry nuclear plant near Cleveland. -------- MILITARY -------- africa Ugandan policemen leave for peacekeeping in war-ravaged Darfur region KAMPALA (AFP) Sep 26, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050926172238.9s0js6vr.html Dozens of Ugandan police officers on Monday left for Sudan's war-torn region of Darfur as part of the African Union'sefforts to restore stability there, officials said. The officers left Uganda's Entebbe International Airport aboard an Ethiopian airliner destined for Khartoum, the head of the Ugandan police force Major-General Katumba Wamala, told AFP by phone. The 56 officers include 13 inspectors, 13 deputy inspectors and 30 sergeants, including two women. The mission has an initial three-month contract that is renewable for a maximum of a year, Wamala said. "It also gives us a challenge as the officers are being deployed in a region as Darfur," he added. "But they will face these challenges and know something beyond Uganda." Uganda has participated in other UN missions elsewhere including its military having served in Liberia and some 20 police officers are still in the west African state. Since Darfur rebels launched an uprising in western Sudan in February 2003 more than 300,000 civilians have been killed and around two million people driven from their homes, according to UN relief agencies. The AU is currently brokering peace talks between Khartoum and Darfur rebels. Last week, both main rebel groups active in Darfur denounced Khartoum's new power-sharing government, saying it did not represent the country's marginalised people. -------- arms Russia reportedly woos Iran on arms MOSCOW (AFP) Sep 26, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/050926082731.egs1c2mq.html Russia is intensifying efforts to sell weapons to Iran while such sales remain legal amid mounting pressure on the Islamic state over its controversial nuclear program, the daily Kommersant said Monday. Moscow "has stepped up military-technological cooperation with Tehran," the business daily said, citing an unidentified source. It said top officials within Russia's military-industrial complex decided to concentrate on arms sales to Tehran for two reasons: "Firstly, as many weapons as possible must be sold to Iran before an international embargo against this country comes into force." Secondly, should the United States decide to go to war in Iran, Russia wants Iran to be well-armed to ensure that US forces become at least as bogged down there as they already are in Iraq, the daily said. "In either case, such a policy carries a high risk of creating a major international scandal, at the very least," the newspaper commented. The report came two days after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) formally found Iran in violation of its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a decision the United States hailed as a "significant step forward" in its efforts to curb Iran's nuclear plans. "The United States practically no longer even hides the fact that, in parallel with diplomacy at the IAEA, it is making preparations to resolve the conflict by force," Kommersant said. The US ambassador to the ex-Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, which borders Iran, told AFP in a recent interview that Washington is encouraging -- and helping fund -- a buildup in the capacities of naval forces for Azerbaijan and another former Soviet republic, Kazakhstan. Both border the oil-rich Caspian Sea, as does Iran. In its assertion that Washington is already making preparations for military action in the region, Kommersant cited the US-funded construction of two radar stations in Azerbaijan. -------- puerto rico FBI Assassinates Puerto Rican Nationalist Leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios Monday, September 26th, 2005 Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/26/1434229 For the past four decades Filiberto Ojeda Rios had been a leading figure in the fight for Puerto Rican independence and against U.S. colonial rule. He was wanted by the FBI for his role in a 1983 bank heist. [includes rush transcript] Longtime Puerto Rican nationalist leader Filiberto Ojeda Rios has been killed by the FBI. The shooting occurred Friday after FBI agents surrounded a house where he was staying. According to an autopsy, Rios bleed to death after being hit with a single bullet. Officials didn’t enter his home until Saturday, many hours after he was shot. The FBI claimed the 72-year-old Ojeda Rios fired first but independence activists accused the FBI of assassinating him. For the past four decades Ojeda Rios had been a leading figure in the fight for Puerto Rican independence and against U.S. colonial rule. In 1967 he founded and led the Armed Revolutionary Independence Movement. He was later a key organizer with the FALN, the Armed Forces of National Liberation and then the Boricua Popular Army, also known as the Los Macheteros. The FBI considered Ojeda Rios a wanted fugitive because of his ties to a $7 million bank robbery in 1983 in Connecticut. He had been living underground for 15 years. On Friday night, 500 supporters of independence protested the shooting by blocking one of the main roads in San Juan. Here in New York, a protest is scheduled for today at 5 p.m. at 26 Federal Plaza. Earlier this morning I spoke with political analyst and radio host Juan-Manuel Garcia-Passalacqua in Puerto Rico and asked him to lay out what happened. Juan-Manuel Garcia-Passalacqua, Puerto Rican political analyst and radio host. RUSH TRANSCRIPT AMY GOODMAN: Earlier this morning, I spoke with political analyst and radio host, Juan-Manuel Garcia-Passalacqua, in Puerto Rico and asked him to lay out what happened. JUAN-MANUEL GARCIA-PASSALACQUA: What happened, and again it's in all the newspapers, because the widow survived, and she has told the story. What happened was that the special team of the Federal Bureau of Investigations entered Filiberto Ojeda's home in a rural barrio in the town of Hormigueros by crashing the gate and shooting one hundred times against the house. Filiberto then put on his fatigues and his boots and responded the fire with ten shots. And the number of -- the number of spent cartridges shows that he was shooting ten times, and the F.B.I. was shooting a hundred times. After that, again, none of the hundred shots caught him, but a sharpshooter that was located on a high ground, maybe in a helicopter, shot him with a single bullet through again his neck or his -- place near the face. And he fell, and then for 12 solid hours, the F.B.I. refused to enter or let anyone enter the house waiting for Filiberto Ojeda Rios to bleed to death, which is exactly what the coroner certified this morning that Filiberto Ojeda Rios died of a single wound brought because of bleeding caused by that wound that lasted for hours without any medical or any other help. So, once again, it is clear this was a political assassination. AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the significance of Filiberto Ojeda Rios? JUAN-MANUEL GARCIA-PASSALACQUA: Yes, Filiberto Ojeda Rios was a young trumpet player in Chicago when he was involved in the efforts of the revolutionary Cuba intelligence in that city to promote independent sentiment in that city, and after that, he came back to Puerto Rico and founded what was known as the Ejercito Popular Boricua Macheteros, the clandestine sector of the nationalist movement in Puerto Rico that was responsible, as you know, for several successful attacks, including the blowing up of several airplanes in the military base in San Juan for $45 million, and later for the assault of a truck, a brinks truck in Hartford, Connecticut, also successful, again, in the course of independence. He was tried for those events in a federal court in Puerto Rico, and he was absolved unanimously by a Puerto Rican jury. I had the chance of interviewing him on television that day, and we remained friends from that day on. And he obviously was very proud of the fact that the Puerto Rican jury had absolved him of all crimes and had decided -- and this is the official decision of the jury -- that he had acted in legitimate defense against the forces of the United States. Then he went into clandestine activity again by taking off his -- how would you call that thing that they put on your feet -- whatever -- the electric -- whatever. AMY GOODMAN: The bracelet. JUAN-MANUEL GARCIA-PASSALACQUA: The bracelet, exactly. And he went into the mountains and lived there in the mountains in the town of Hormigueros. He built a house there, changed his physical appearance, shaved his beard -- that was his trademark -- and became Don Luis, the gardener of roses. And that’s how his neighbors knew him for many years. But again, on the day of the celebration or commemoration of the Grito de Lares, the Puerto Rican revolution against Spain in 1868, he was attacked by a group of at least 25 Federal Bureau of Investigation officials that, again, broke the gate of his home, shot one hundred times against him. He had a chance of responding that fire only ten times, and then the fatal shot by a sharpshooter in high ground took his weapon from his hands and fell. After that, for 12 or 15 solid hours, he was left there to bleed. The blood from his body seeped out of the house under the door and through the little place in front of the house and could be seen by everybody. Everybody watching could have known that he was bleeding to death, but the Federal Bureau of Investigations repeatedly [inaudible] his doctors or his attorneys that were there as he bled to death. And that is the story. That’s how Filiberto Ojeda Rios has gone into immortality in the history of Puerto Rico. AMY GOODMAN: And his wife? JUAN-MANUEL GARCIA-PASSALACQUA: His wife is now freed. She will hold a press conference in a couple of hours here in Puerto Rico. And the press today advances what she will say. She will say that she is the only living witness and that the F.B.I. officers entered her home shooting one hundred times, that Filiberto Ojeda Rios defended himself, and he was shot and fell, and he shouted to her, “Leave now! Save your life and keep fighting!” And that is what she will testify in a couple of hours in a press conference at the [inaudible]. AMY GOODMAN: Radio host Juan-Manuel Garcia-Passalacqua, speaking from Puerto Rico on the assassination of Filiberto Ojeda Rios. -------- ENERGY -------- alternative energy Solar-Power Cars Set Off Across Australian Outback September 26, 2005 — By Reuters http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=8884 SYDNEY — Twenty-two bug-shaped solar cars designed and built by corporations and universities from around the world set out across the vast, inhospitable Australian outback on Sunday in the eighth World Solar Challenge. Japan's Sky Ace Tiga car, from the Ashiya University in Osaka, led off after qualifying fastest for the 3,000 km (1,860 miles) race across the centre of Australia from the tropical north city of Darwin to Adelaide in South Australia. Ashiya University's Professor Kunio Nakagawa said his team's car, one of the race favourites, was capable of speeds averaging 95 kph (59 mph). "The first target is hoping to finish this race with safety and the second target is to get a top-three position," Nakagawa told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. Dutch team Nuna 3 returns after winning the past two races in 2001 and 2003 and is joined by entrants from 10 other countries, including the United States, France and Canada. Nuna 3 set the race-record time of 30 hours 54 minutes in 2003. Race leaders were expected to reach Adelaide by mid-week. The race was devised as a challenge to design and build solar-powered cars using the most innovative application of alternative energy and transport technologies. -------- OTHER -------- environment New Jersey Workers Included in Toxic Release Inspections TRENTON, New Jersey, September 26, 2005 (ENS) http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/sep2005/2005-09-26-09.asp#anchor4 The state of New Jersey has become the first state in the nation to include workers in inspections at industrial sites. The inspections are intended to help identify environmental health and public safety hazards and potential sources of toxic releases that include, but are not limited to, hazards resulting from an intentional terrorist attack. The inspections will take place at the 101 facilities in the state covered by New Jersey's Toxic Catastrophe Prevention Act (TCPA), which requires them to implement risk management programs. These companies include water treatment plants, chemical manufacturers, food manufacturers and processors, pharmaceutical companies, refineries and warehouses. Acting Governor Richard Codey said the move will provide greater protection for residents living near the industrial sites. "Greater participation by workers to identify and resolve potential threats involving the use of hazardous chemicals in the industrial process will make neighborhoods safer and is good business policy," he said. "We will work with New Jersey businesses to ensure this initiative improves risk prevention plans for each facility." Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Bradley Campbell signed an administrative order that establishes procedures for employees and their representatives to participate in inspections, investigations or audits of facilities regulated by the law and its associated rules and regulations. "New Jersey's newly adopted worker participation standard is a first-in-the-nation for the inspection of facilities that handle extraordinary hazardous substances," said Campbell. "Workers know their own facilities, and can help us strengthen protection of communities from the risk of catastrophic accidents." In 2003, the DEP added reactive chemicals to the list of extraordinarily hazardous substances that trigger risk management planning requirements of TCPA. These chemicals can explode when accidentally exposed to air or water, or when they are improperly mixed with certain other chemicals. The force of the explosion can kill or permanently disable people outside the facility. "We applaud DEP for making New Jersey the first state in the nation to take this important step to protect workers, communities and the environment," said Rick Engler, director of the New Jersey Work Environment Council, a coalition of 70 labor unions and environmental organizations. "Workers are uniquely positioned to point out chemical hazards to DEP inspectors. Nobody knows the workplace better than the men and women who work there every day," Engler said. The DEP also works with the Domestic Security Preparedness Task Force to oversee companies' implementation of best management practices at their facilities to reduce the risk of a terrorist attack. TCPA rules require that all regulated facilities evaluate state of the art technologies every five years to reduce the risk of an accident and implement this technology "if cost effective," the DEP said. The state of the art standard also applies for new processes when a company expands or changes operations. ---- Montana Faces Eternal Clean-Up of Toxic Lake September 26, 2005 — By Adam Tanner, Reuters http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=8882 BUTTE, Montana — Long before Hurricane Katrina inundated New Orleans with what officials describe as a dangerous toxic soup, Montana's mining capital struggled to deal with a massive watery hazard. Even as bad as the sewage and chemical infested water around New Orleans may be, the Berkeley Pit, a toxic lake filling a 1-1/2 by 1 mile open pit mine in Butte (pop. 34,000) may pose an even greater long-term ecological risk. The site, which includes land near the lake, is the largest Superfund environmental clean-up project in the country in terms of area. The Superfund program, created in 1980 and run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, seeks to clean up the worst U.S. hazardous waste sites. Unlike the sudden devastation of the Gulf Coast floods, the Berkeley Pit mess was many decades in the making, a legacy of the demand for copper wire spurred by electrification that made Butte America's mother lode of copper, generating an estimated $48 billion in mineral wealth. The "Copper Kings" of the Butte mines made vast riches starting in the 1870s. By 1955, Anaconda Mining Company decided it was most economical to engage in open-pit mining rather than to continue digging a maze of underground shafts. The Atlantic Richfield Company, which is now owned by BP bought Anaconda in 1977, and ended active mining in the Berkeley Pit in 1982. Since then, highly acidic underground water has continuously seeped into the pit from higher land, creating a rust-colored lake. The Berkeley Pit, a remnant of what was once called "the richest hill on Earth", has also become Butte's top tourist attraction where visitors pay a small fee to enter a viewing platform and read about the lake's history. But if its lake rises above a certain level, it will ruin the town's ground water. "The plan is to continue with pumps to keep the water below that level and then treat the water that they pump out and that's going to have to go on until the end of time," Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer said in an interview. The water, with high concentrations of copper, arsenic and other metals, is dangerous enough that officials will warn off birds with gunfire, for a stay at the lake could prove fatal, as in 1995 when 342 snow geese died. "If there is a lesson, it is that actions have consequences; know your consequences," Gavin Scally, Atlantic Richfield's deputy regional manager said about its history. PUMPING 'TIL THE END OF TIME What to do about the consequences is set out in a 2002 court-approved deal in which Atlantic Richfield and Montana Resources, a separate company which still mines a nearby pit, assumed joint responsibility for future clean up. Under that agreement, a $20 million plant and pumps are treating contaminated surface water that used to flow into the Berkeley Pit. Atlantic Richfield will also start pumping from the Berkeley Pit itself as the water level -- fed by underground aquifers -- begins to approach the dangerous mark of 5,410 feet above sea level, something estimated to happen in 2020. The effort is costing at least $1 million a year. "If we could have come up with a solution that would have been better for the environment and low cost, we would have done it," Scally said. Some say the never-ending clean-up costs leave a bad financial deal for future generations. "The end of time is a long time so I wonder if all of the value of the copper that we took out will match the expenditure that we will make trying to clean up the mess," Gov. Schweitzer told Reuters. He also expressed concern that the public sector may one day wind up shouldering costs of the clean-up even though the profits flowed to private hands. "It was a few rascals that made all the money. But I guess that is in some ways the story of the West," he said The Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology estimates the Butte hill produced more than $48 billion in mineral wealth. The costs included 2,300 deaths from mining accidents, not including chronic illness sparked by mine exposure. Even though the Berkeley Pit is not being actively mined, privately owned Montana Resources says it still extracts about 400,000 pounds of copper a month by filtering the water there. The company is also operating the nearby smaller Continental Pit that will also have to be treated into the future. The firm says it has extracted more than 1.2 billion pounds of copper since its operations began in 1986. The environmental manager for Montana Resources, Tad Dale, gave an impassioned defense of society's need for mining, but declined to be quoted for this article. Russ Forba, the Environmental Protection Agency project manager for Berkeley Pit, estimates the perpetual treatment costs at $100 million, which includes the cost of inflation and of interest earned on the clean-up funds. "That mine makes a lot more than $100 million a year," Forba said. "It's expensive but there's been a lot earned from that pit and there will be a lot in the future." He said future technologies could devise better and cheaper ways to treat the toxic water. "I guess I would call it a success," he said of the clean-up. "No, it's not a natural lake sitting there, it's not filled in, but it's contained, it doesn't pose a significant risk to human health and the environment." -------- ACTIVISTS St. Patrick's Four Closing Arguments by Peter De Mott, Danny Burns, Clare & Teresa Grady Published on Monday, September 26, 2005 by CommonDreams.org http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0926-29.htm On St. Patrick’s Day 2003, two days before the US military invasion of Iraq began, four peace activists, all parents and members of the Ithaca Catholic Worker movement, in an act of non-violent civil disobedience, entered their local military recruiting station, knelt, said a prayer for peace and then carefully poured a small amount of their blood on recruiting center posters, walls and flag to symbolize the violence of war and the sanctity of life. This past week (Sept 19-23) Peter DeMott, Danny Burns, Clare and Teresa Grady (sisters) have been on trial in Federal Court in Binghamton NY, facing charges of "conspiracy to impede an officer of the United States by threat, intimidation and force" and other lesser charges for their actions. They face up to 6 years in federal prison and $250,000 fines each if convicted. A previous trial in State court on charges of criminal mischief and trespassing resulted in a hung jury, with nine of twelve jurors favoring acquittal. This case is the first Federal conspiracy trial of anti-war protesters since the Vietnam War, and represents a chilling effort by the Administration to repress non-violent civil dissent in this country. The jury began deliberations on Friday Sept 23; a verdict is expected sometime this week. Peter De Mott, Closing Statement, Friday, September 23, 2005 We, all four of us, want to thank you jurors who are the conscience of the community. We trust you to use your heads and also your hearts. We also trust you to read between the lines. Before we began our testimonies we raised our hands and swore to "tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." You all know that again and again we have told you in PART of our concerns about our government's actions and behaviors that have moved us to in turn take the lawful actions which we did in December of 2002 and in March of 2003. The United States went to war influenced by the lies, forgeries and deceptions put forth by the Bush Administration to justify the war. You, the jury, are now being asked by the prosecutor to render a verdict in this case based on half-truths and falsehoods. You also know that our explanations were often interrupted, and I am sorry that we have not been able to tell you the whole truth that prompted us to act as we did. I wish we could have explained more to you about our understanding regarding the constitution and international law and how those beliefs informed, shaped and guided us in the actions that we took. The prosecution wants to portray us as people who have no regard for law. Meanwhile roughly two thousand of our military personnel have been killed and over a hundred thousand Iraqis. The national treasury has been robbed of over $260 billion to wage this war, while the infrastructure of our cities continues to erode as we saw so devastatingly in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. I would submit to you that the prosecutor, Mr. Lovric, has failed to prove us guilty. He has failed to show that we used "force, intimidation or threat to impede an officer of the United States in the performance of his duties" or in any other way. We certainly had a specific intent when we went to the recruiting station but it was not, most emphatically not, the government's version. Our intent in protesting was to warn young recruits, the recruiters themselves and the broader community that the war about to ensue would claim the lives of tens of thousands. We knew that the war could not be waged without a wholesale waste of blood, of human life, of valuable resources. We knew that the war would contaminate the environment with fallout from depleted uranium munitions and would poison our own troops even as it annihilated the Iraqis. We knew that the war on Iraq, just like all modern wars, would murder mothers and their children, the elderly and other noncombatants in the greatest numbers. Sadly, and you know this, the warning we, and millions of others around the world tried to give did not prevent the war. But the predictions that frightened us, that were described by all codefendants, have come to pass. You do not have to believe what we believe in order to find that the government has not proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt. The government claims that we conspired in one way or another to damage government property and officials. But there is certainly reasonable doubt about whether what the government says we did, was, in fact, WHAT we did. Protesting rather than conspiring. Causing a mess rather than damaging property. Being friendly, as Sergeant Rachon Montgomery testified to and non-threatening rather than intimidating. These are all reasonable, sensible conclusions compelled by the evidence and consistent with our legal innocence. In sum and substance, this trial is about the government's attempt to stop peaceful protest against the war on Iraq, to silence dissent and our voices on this issue. WE ASK YOU TO DO THE RIGHT THING! WE ASK YOU TO DO JUSTICE! WE ASK YOU TO SAY "NO!" TO DEATH AND WAR! WE ASK YOU TO SAY "YES!" TO LIFE! Thank You! Danny Burns, Closing Statement, Friday, September 23, 2005 Members of the jury, We have come before you in the last few days and tried to share with you about ourselves and our reasons for going to the recruiting center and pouring our own blood. There is a lot we wanted to tell you, but we weren’t allowed to. We are peaceful, nonviolent people who went to the recruiting center because we did not want to see our troops blood spilled for a war that was wrong and based on lies. As I shared earlier in the trial, one of the things that has brought me here is my recovery from alcohol addiction. I am hopeful that just as I have been able, with the help of community, family and higher power, to recover from addiction, that together we can all help our country recover from addiction to war and violence. I don’t know you, but I imagine that each of you is working, in the ways that are right for you, for what is right in your communities and in our world. I believe that there are many ways to work for a better world. As you go into deliberations, I am asking you to trust that going to the recruiting center to plead for the lives of our young troops was the right way for me to work for justice in our country. We admit that the four of us met together and planned to go the recruiting center and pour our own blood. We don’t deny that there was a mess, that some posters had to be replaced. We don’t deny that Sgt. Montgomery was inconvenienced. We submit that causing a mess and inconvenience to try to prevent a war that is wrong and has taken the lives of one thousand eight hundred and ninety five US service people and one hundred thousand Iraqi people, is justified. We live in a great nation. There are many people in our history we can be very proud of: like local juries who refused to convict people for aiding escaping slaves, like Susan B Anthony who was arrested in Rochester for voting when women were not allowed to vote, working people who risked their lives so that we could have weekends and a forty hour work week. Ours is a country with a government "for the people, of the people, by the people". That is a great gift to us, but it is also a great responsibility that you and I and all citizens have. For our troops who have been killed in Iraq For our country’s future For our young children who we hope and pray will never be called to fight in an illegal, unjust and unnecessary war such as this one I ask you to use your conscience, your heart, and the law to return a verdict of not guilty on all four counts. Teresa Grady, Closing Statement, Friday, September 23, 2005 (Note: Teresa’s statement was written in outline form. Teresa spoke extemporaneously using the outline as a guide and filling in details that were not written down. The following is a reconstruction based on her outline and on notes taken while she addressed the jury. This is not a transcript and may contain some inaccuracies, though we have tried to represent her thoughts and words as accurately as possible.) Men and Women of the jury, We don’t feel that the Prosecution has proven the violent overtone to our actions. The charges do not embody our philosophy – which has a long history in the country and in the world – of nonviolence. Our government, on the other hand, has a long history of violence and of suppressing non-violent dissent. You have a very difficult task in front of you today. And I am full of hope. I was reminded this morning of Peter’s gentleness – Whenever our family gets together – and you can see how we can talk - and its always Peter who brings us back to center, back to the gospel and our focus – to love one another. And that love is in every one of our hearts, and that is what gives me hope. Our nation has been censoring news and information about the war – they haven’t allowed us to see pictures of the injured or of the damage the war has caused or even the flag draped coffins of the beautiful soldiers who have lost their lives. This same government has been censoring the information we’ve been able to discuss with you in this courtroom. They have limited the information we can tell you on our understanding of international law that is the justification for our actions. In this courtroom, they have censored the images and information about this war. They have censored images of the victims. They have even censored information on Law! What kind of a government are we living under? Our government spends 200 billion dollars on a war based on lies while claiming the lives of the innocent. You tell me – what recourse do we have to stop it, to stop this perversity before another life is claimed or another penny spent! We know the economic cost of war while our cities, towns, and nations crumble. People are over-worked in order to pay their taxes; the war tax. Our children and their children are bound to pay back the debt of this war. New Orleans is our taste of what it must be like in Baghdad. We are hopeful because in spite of this great evil that seems to cover or shadow us, I believe in the spirit of goodness in all human beings. When truth is spoken, goodness resonates in the human heart. We have not been allowed to speak the truth, the whole truth, but our spirits are buoyed in that this censorship is an example of the fear our government has to hide the truth, and how they are desperately clinging to keep a footing. But the fact that they are censoring the truth of the face of the victims of war, including our beautiful young service people; that they are censoring international law, suggests to me that they too believe in goodness resonating in the in the human heart. This admonition or confession gives me great hope that we’re not off the mark, but rather we must be more steadfast in speaking truth so as to compel the goodness in others. Miraslov [the prosecutor] would like you to believe that we are alone, or part of a small cult. If this were true, then why has he objected to the use of international law? Our government is censoring the people. Why were we allowed to show you the pictures of the bloodied cutouts of soldiers from the recruiting center, but not the pictures of the Iraqi children buried in the rubble of their own home? Both of which were there the day of the alleged offense. What are they afraid of? I would like to preface that while I speak about the prosecution, and the representative here is Miraslav, know that his office represents a government that has repeatedly lied to its people, stolen money from our children, grandchildren, from the generations to come, in order to brutally maim, torture and kill our brothers and sisters in another land for their oil. Know that deceit is the name of the game. We have overdrawn on our national budget. Any farmer could tell you that this is bad planning. While they threatened us with contempt, we are joyous, because we know we have spoken the truth. They cannot dismantle our integrity. Miraslov would like you to think that we are arrogant and that we somehow feel that we are above the law. Our first law that we abide by is: To love one another, as He loved us!! Thou shalt not kill. And then the laws which may not be named that give us our legal ground, justifications, have been stripped from us once again to censor, for they don’t want you, the conscience of our community to resonate with the truth in order for goodness to take place. I invite you to be the conscience of our community. Bill Quigley (speaking as assisting lawyer for Clare Grady), Closing Statement, Friday, September 23, 2005 10 KEYS to FREEDOM or 10 ways to help you find these four people innocent: Being a juror is tough – I was on regular jury duty for a month and grand jury for another month – spent most of the time waiting around doing nothing – really boring. But now FINALLY comes the fun part – YOU are in charge! The judge is going to give you about 50 pages of instructions about how you are to decide this case – some of it is very vague and hard to understand – in fact the judge and the lawyers have been arguing about much of it for days. I want to be clear that you do not have to agree with these four folks in order to find them not guilty. You can even think they are nuts and still find them not guilty. Individual freedom is at stake – what you do in this case will send out waves throughout the entire community – maybe even the entire country – so I know you will be a good citizen, and whether you like these folks and their beliefs or think they are peaceniks and do not like them, I know you will be very, very careful with individual freedom. You certainly have a gut feeling whether you are going to want to vote these folks guilty or not guilty right now. For those of you who are leaning towards not guilty, Here though are the top 10 keys to unlock this case and give these people back their freedom. These are 10 keys why you should find these folks innocent – any one will work as key for their freedom but I am giving you 10 so you can take your pick. ONE: START WITH "THE PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE" AND "BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT" They start out innocent. Fundamental part of our system of justice – until you are sure "beyond a reasonable doubt" that they are guilty, you have to find them not guilty. If you are not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that every single element of every single crime has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt, then you must vote them not guilty for those crimes. If you are not sure beyond a reasonable doubt that they are guilty of every single element of every single crime, then you must vote them not guilty. TWO: THERE WAS NO CRIMINAL INTENT. The judge is going to tell you that the good faith of the defendants is a defense to these charges: "If you find that the defendant did not act with criminal intent, but instead acted in the good faith belief that he (or she) was doing nothing wrong, then that is a defense to the charge in this case…" The burden of establishing a lack of good faith and criminal intent rests on the prosecution…WHICH MUST PROVE IT BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT. What the heck does all this about criminal intent mean? These folks all have jobs, all have kids; they are obviously sincere and passionate about their beliefs. Any doubt that they are TOTALLY COMMITTED TO NONVIOLENCE or would lie about it? No way. Look at the priests and others who came up here and testified about their character – compassionate, caring, integrity, truthful, honest, loved, honored, …. You know I am from New Orleans. I want to tell you two stories that will illustrate criminal intent. When the electricity went off and the phones went down and the water started rising, my wife and I were still in New Orleans – she is a nurse and we were helping in one of the hospitals. During the bad times, some people broke into stores and took big screen TVs. We call them looters because they had criminal intent. Also during the storm, all communications went down because of electrical problems and cell phone towers also went down. The police could not communicate with the mayor and the mayor with the governor and them all with the FEMA etc. so the chief of police and several of his officers broke into an Office Depot and took out servers for computers, fax machines, cords, etc. From the outside you might say these are both the same types of acts, but they are not. One of them was larceny and one was not. One has criminal intent and the other does not. One of those acts was taken for the common good. One of these was trying to help people. It is important whether the equipment the police took actually worked or not? No, it is their intent that matters. So, reason number two is that the defendants did not have CRIMINAL INTENT. And the prosecutor, who has the burden of proof clearly has not proved a lack of good faith and the presence of criminal intent by these people beyond a reasonable doubt. The judge will tell you - If you have reasonable doubt about whether their intent was criminal or not, if you think they might have been in good faith, you must vote them not guilty. THREE: TAKE A CAREFUL LOOK AT ALL 50 PAGES OF INSTRUCTIONS You will find many, many ways to find them all innocent if you look carefully at ALL the charging documents: You must look very carefully at the indictment of these people – it will be in the 50 pages – look at it very, very carefully. Careful reading of the charges will show you many, many places where the prosecutor has not proven every element beyond a reasonable doubt. Look carefully at the overt acts. Look carefully at the statute. In the first paragraph, the judge tells you that no one part of his instructions are more important than any other. If you look very carefully, there are things in there that will make you vote to set these people free. FOUR: THE POWER OF ONE JUROR It only takes one juror to stop these people from being convicted. Remember when the judge was asking you questions about becoming a juror, he asked you if you were able to make up your own mind and not be swayed by the crowd. To hang tough with your beliefs if you sincerely believe you are right. Listen to everyone else and deliberate but vote your own conscience. Your decision has to be unanimous. You should discuss and deliberate as the judge tells you, but you will also hear about the importance of following your conscience – the judge will tell you that you are not to "do violence to your own individual judgment." So hang tough! FIVE: NO FORCE INTIMIDATION OR THREAT Force intimidation or threat – two of the counts of conspiracy demand that you find these folks acted with "force intimidation or threat" The evidence shows they said prayers before they went in; said the rosary while they were still in; no way at all for force intimidation or threat – you must vote not guilty on that. Even Sgt. Montgomery said "they are friendly people." There is no evidence, certainly not evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, that these folks used force intimidation or threat against anyone at any time. SIX: COMMON SENSE & UNANSWERED QUESTIONS Look at prosecutor’s case for the unanswered questions and use your common sense. The judge is going to tell you "you are permitted to draw from facts that you find to have been proven such reasonable inferences as seem justified in light of your experience, reason and common sense." Why would the prosecutor bring up things that happened 20+ years ago if they thought they had a strong case? Mr. Lovric is just doing his job, but think about the government he represents. Why do you think the government is assigning FBI agents to a case like this? Why is the government still prosecuting this case almost three years after it happened? Why did the government make a federal case out of a mess that could be cleaned up with ammonia and a mop? Why all the questions about who drew the blood? Why try to keep talking motive and not intent? Use your common sense when you answer these questions. SEVEN: ENTRY FOR UNLAWFUL PURPOSE? First of all, is there any doubt in your mind that these folks went into the recruiting center in order to try to SAVE LIVES and to TRY TO STOP THE WAR ON IRAQ? You know what the war has caused, was trying to stop it an unlawful purpose? Apart from the Iraq War, Remember the law officers said they unlocked the door and opened it to let the Grady sisters back in? Why would they unlock the door and let them in if they were not allowed in? Or coming for an unlawful purpose? Or if the officers were fearful? EIGHT: CONSPIRACY CHARGE There are pages and pages of instructions about the elements of the charge of conspiracy. But look closely and carefully at a couple of things and you will see that the conspiracy charge is really much weaker than it looks like. First, look at overt act number 5. The government says that these four folks "caused damage to property owned by the United States AND by an officer of the United States." If you look at overt act five slowly and carefully you must ask: has the government proven beyond a reasonable doubt that number one: there was damage at all (was the floor damaged or was a mess made?) Number two - Was property damaged that was owned by the US and an officer of the United States? Was there proof of this ownership beyond a reasonable doubt? Was Sgt Montgomery injured by these folks? You saw his demeanor in court. He said these were friendly people. Was his property injured? No evidence at all that Sgt Montgomery’s property was injured. None. Nothing was proven that was injured that belonged to Sgt. Montgomery – much less beyond a reasonable doubt. But then, the prosecutor will say – they do not have to prove all the overt acts – they do not have to prove all the elements in the indictment – Was Sgt. Montgomery interfered with in his official duties? He said he was late for shopping. Officer Massey testified that recruiters are trained how to deal with "peaceniks" in recruiting school, and that most of their work takes place outside. Why is the government making a federal case out of this and still prosecuting these folks years afterwards? NINE: INJURING AND DAMAGING GOVERNMENT PROPERTY: Is there proof beyond a reasonable doubt whose property was damaged? Is damaged the same as making a mess? Did the people here do this for an unlawful purpose, or is there evidence that they did this for a lawful purpose? TEN: CONSCIENCE The court is going to advise you to honor and use and follow your conscience. You know what is going on here. It is no secret. Everyone knows what is going on here. I ask you to use your common sense and your conscience. The prosecutor says this is a simple case – I think freedom loving people call can agree with him. This is a simple case of government overkill; this is a simple case of the abuse of government power; this is a simple case of the government trying to take a simple case of non-violent protest and make a "federal case" out of it. The government is calling these four people arrogant and unlawful and dangerous. These four people could have stayed home and watched shock and awe on TV. They could have said this is somebody else’s problem. They had jobs and kids and school and church – just like the rest of us – but they were peacemakers. What does the bible say? Blessed are the peacemakers. But they took a risk. A risk to try to do something dramatic to try to stop the war in Iraq. The government is calling these four people arrogant and unlawful and dangerous. This is the same government that has forced us to accept the Patriot Act. Who else have the people in charge called arrogant and unlawful and dangerous? How about the people who built this country and refused to pay taxes to King George? I seem to remember a famous tea party protest? How about the people who signed the Declaration of Independence? Women who voted when it was prohibited – what do you think they called them? What about the people who sat in at lunch counters or refused to move in busses? Many of the most famous people in the history of our country were called arrogant and unlawful and dangerous people to some, because they acted for justice when everyone did not approve – much less the prosecutors and the government. The judge is going to tell you to follow your conscience. You know what is going on. Use any or all of these ten keys that this case gives you. Follow your conscience, as these people have, and set these people free! Tell the government - "NO!" and set these people free! Stand with the proudest traditions of American justice, and set these people free! Clare Grady: Some thoughts after a week of trial (not presented to the jury). Friday, September 23, 2005 From Where We Stand… Depending on where one stands, one will see things differently From where we stand we see the killing of 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians as an unspeakable crime. Violating the Supreme Laws of our Land From where we stand we see the lives of the 1,895 US service men and women Who have lost their lives in this war And the thousands more, who have been injured body and soul Also an unspeakable crime From where we stand we see our nation robbed of it's desperately needed resources To care or our People, to provide Health Care, a Living Wage, Good Education, and a solid infrastructure. From where we stand We see a 260 Billion Dollar grand theft, A crime that will be paid for by our children and our children's children (We remember the words of Martin Luther King "A Nation that spends more money on War than on social uplift, is approaching spiritual death) From where we stand we see the arrogance of the government leading our country to War Knowing that it was based on Lies in utter disregard for the Law, the real crime From where we stand we see the truth about all of the above, and the laws that criminalize them All being kept out of this courtroom A travesty of Justice We ask all fellow citizens (especially the press and all in positions of power) Where do you stand? What do you see? And what are you going to do about it? For more information and to be updated when the verdict comes in visit www.stpatricksfour.org ---- PROTESTING THE WAR September 26, 2005 (PBS) http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/july-dec05/protests_9-26.html Two days after an estimated 100,000 antiwar demonstrators gathered in Washington, D.C., hundreds rallied in front of the White House Monday. Dozens were arrested, including Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq who has become a mouthpiece for the antiwar movement. Three guests discuss the antiwar movement. ---- Military Families Join Hundreds of Thousands of Anti-War Protesters Rallying in Washington Monday, September 26th, 2005 Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/26/1433252 The anti-war rally and march on Saturday drew hundreds of military families and veterans. We hear two speakers: Cindy Sheehan, whose son died in Iraq last year, and Anne Roesler, from Military Families Speak Out. [includes rush transcript] Between100,000 and 300,0000 people took to the streets of Washington D.C. on Saturday to protest the ongoing war and occupation of Iraq. It was the largest anti-war protest in the nation's capital since the invasion and the first in a decade that federal officials allowed to go past the White House. The day began with a rally and march and ended with 11 hours of rock, rap, folk music and speeches which lasted until early Sunday morning. Protests were also held in other U.S. cities and around the world including London, Rome, Toronto and San Francisco. The D.C. march drew veteran anti-war protestors and those who had never before attended a protest. It also drew more than 250 military families, hundreds of veterans, and even a few active-duty Army soldiers just home from overseas. We go now to some of the speeches from Saturday's march. We begin with Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey died in Iraq last year. Last month she helped invigorate the anti-war movement by staging a month-long vigil outside President Bush's estate in Crawford Texas. She spoke shortly before the march began on Saturday. * Cindy Sheehan, Gold Star Families for Peace * Anne Roesler, Military Families Speak Out RUSH TRANSCRIPT AMY GOODMAN: We go now to some of the speeches from Saturday's march. We begin with Cindy Sheehan. CINDY SHEEHAN: I can't believe it. Everybody is coming up to me and saying, “Thank you for being here.” Thank you for being here! If it wasn't for the thousands and thousands of people that came to Camp Casey, if it wasn't for the millions that supported us, I would still be sitting in that ditch. But you guys got me out of the ditch. You got us to our nation's capital. And we mean business, George Bush. And we're going to Congress, and we're going to ask them how many more of other people's children are you willing to sacrifice for the lies? And we're – I'm almost done – and we're going to say shame on you – shame on you for giving him the authority to invade Iraq. And we're going to say not one person should have died, not one more should die. Can you scream that to the White House? Not one more! Not one more! AUDIENCE: Not one more! Not one more! CINDY SHEEHAN: Not one more! Not one more! AUDIENCE: Not one more! CINDY SHEEHAN: Thank you. I love you. AMY GOODMAN: That was Cindy Sheehan, mother of Casey Sheehan, who was killed in Baghdad, Sadr City, on April 4, 2004, speaking in Washington, D.C. Anne Roesler is another of the women who spoke. She is part of Bring Them Home Now!, a member of Military Families Speak Out. ANNE ROESLER: My son is in the 82nd Airborne. He's a Staff Sergeant, currently serving his third deployment to Iraq. He’s been in the war zone for over 500 days, and we're still counting. Unlike those who sent our loved ones over, who get to lay and sleep in comfort in their beds at night, my son is sleeping in the sand. I lay awake at night waiting for a call from my son because I haven't heard from him since he deployed the end of August. I lay awake praying to God that I don't get a knock on my front door telling me that he's no longer walking among the living. Chaos is reigning in Iraq. My son says that every single time he goes back, the chaos is worse. He fired more rounds and killed more Iraqis in the second deployment than he did in the entire first year that he was there during the invasion, and he doesn't want the job. He'd love to be able to give his two-week notice. He and I were here about a year ago, when there were many fewer of you out here, and I'm so glad to see so many of you here today. We went to the Vietnam War Memorial to honor the fallen, and as he looked at the wall and read the names, I began to cry, and he put his arm around me, and he said, “Mom, I wonder how many names will be on our memorial.” It's so time to bring our troops home. Many, many of them don't want to be there, and they are desperate to come home, and they want us to speak out! They cannot speak out because when they wear the uniform, their voices are silenced. My son has asked me, “Where is the media? Where are the people? Don't they care about us?” Our government is not going to bring them home anytime soon. It's up to us to take our country back! It's up to us to bring them home! It's up to us to make sure they're taken care of when they come home! And it's up to us to never, ever allow our government to send our loved ones to war based on lies again! So, let's take to the streets, let's show the administration that they are criminals, that this war is illegal, that it is unjust, that it is immoral, that it is racist, and let's bring our troops home! Thank you! AMY GOODMAN: Anne Roesler of Military Families Speak Out. Her son is in the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq. ---- Actor Jessica Lange Speaks Out at Anti-War Protest in DC Monday, September 26th, 2005 Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/26/1433255 Jessica Lange speaks before the crowd of protesters gathered to demonstrate against the war in Iraq in the nation's capital. [includes rush transcript] Actor Jessica Lange was among the celebrities who spoke out against the war at Saturday's demonstration in Washington D.C. She responded to a statement President Bush made last Thursday about the anti-war movement. He said "I recognize their good intentions, however I think their position is wrong. Withdrawing our troops would make our world more dangerous." * Jessica Lange, Actor RUSH TRANSCRIPT AMY GOODMAN: Actor Jessica Lange also addressed the crowd. She began by responding to a statement President Bush made last Thursday about the anti-war movement. He said, quote, “I recognize their good intentions; however, I think their position is wrong. Withdrawing our troops would make our world more dangerous.” This is actor, Jessica Lange. JESSICA LANGE: There have been twice as many terrorist attacks in the three years since 9/11 than in the three years preceding 9/11. All their reasons for waging war on Iraq have been proven to be manipulation of facts, untruths and lies, lies, and more lies. And then he dares accuse us of being guilty of wrong thinking, a man who traffics in deadly lies, the front man for an administration who came into office with the intention of taking out Saddam and becoming an occupying force in Iraq, members of the Project for the New American Century, who promote an ideology of U.S. domination through the use of force, who have imposed their politics of scorch and burn on the American people and made us complicit against our will in their regime of shame. And who are these men? Who are these men? Let's talk for a minute about these masters of war, these same men that are sending our sons and our daughters, our brothers and sisters, our mothers and fathers to fight an undeclared and unconstitutional and unwinnable war for them. Let's talk about their service records. Karl Rove did not serve. Paul Wolfowitz did not serve. Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Elliott Abrams, Newt Gingrich did not serve. Jeb Bush did not serve. The list goes on and on. And we know George W. did not really serve. And yet they expect the ultimate sacrifice from us. More than 1900 American soldiers dead, tens of thousands – a very low estimate – tens of thousand Iraqi deaths, mostly civilian, and in modern warfare, civilian meaning mostly women and children. They say there is no way to withdraw now. The truth is, they never intend to withdraw. What they planned was a continuing military presence in the Middle East, control over the region, control over the oil. They had their eyes on the prize, the master plan. And what they want of the American people, to remain in the dark, and to keep the American people unaware of the bloodshed, the torture and the devastation. And that is why there are never any official – why there is not an – there is an official ban, Pentagon ban on photographing the dead or the flag-draped coffins arriving home. They are determined not to repeat the same – as they see, the same policy mistakes that were made during the Vietnam War. Not one military funeral has been attended by George Bush or his cabinet. This disregard for human life only reinforces the knowledge that this man has no heart. So, I read the names in the paper. That's all we can do. If you look in your local paper there is the little column that lists the names of the dead, and I say them out loud, and I read the towns where they come from. And I know who they – I know the names, their ages. And Bush continues to say that we must follow through with this mission to give their lives and deaths meaning. Could there be any more terrible cynicism than that? In truth, what we owe the dead is an end to the killing. So, for all of us Americans, the majority now, who don't share this administration's scorched earth brand of politics, who don't share their vision of a new America and their policies of shame, we must remain vigilant, and we will not be deterred, because what it comes down to is a question of conscience. And that question is deeply patriotic. And we must hold them accountable and make sure words like “peace” and “freedom” and “compassion” retain their original and essential meaning and not become taglines used by them to justify more atrocities, more killings. When I hear his empty words with phrases like “armies of compassion” or “culture of responsibility,” I understand how deep their mendacity runs. They are a lie, and they call us wrong. But I think we can be comforted because I believe that these monstrous men and the women who condone and support them are finally on their way out. That in their chosen isolation, they are diminished and defeated men, because they do not embody the American spirit or encompass the American heart, and they do not represent the will of the people. So we must remain steadfast in our knowledge that they are wrong and we are right, and we must remain hopeful that for our children and our children's children, that we are not a warring nation, but we will embrace and practice true compassion and honor the ideals of peace and freedom, and we will not give up. Peace! AMY GOODMAN: Actor, Jessica Lange, at this weekend's major march on Washington. ---- Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark Calls For Impeachment of President Bush Monday, September 26th, 2005 Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/26/1434200 Clark, who launched the website votetoimpeach.org, accused President Bush of high crimes for misleading the nation over the war and for helping to overthrow Jean Bertrand-Aristide, the democratically-elected president of Haiti. [includes rush transcript] * Ramsey Clark, RUSH TRANSCRIPT AMY GOODMAN: We continue with the voices of dissent. This is the former U.S. Attorney General, Ramsey Clark. RAMSEY CLARK: The Nuremberg judgment calls the war of aggression the supreme international crime. It's the first crime against peace. There can be no war crime until there's war. It leads to all of the crimes against humanity. It is a supreme international crime. And George Bush's “Shock and Awe,” a synonym for terrorism -- isn't it? “Shock and Awe” -- was a war of aggression. No rational person can believe that Iraq was any threat under any circumstances, even if it was developing weapons of mass destruction, to the United States of America. And we know it. And the whole assault was built on deliberate lies, not misinformation, not poor intelligence. They knew damn well what they were doing. They wanted to do it, and they did it. And every moment of this invasion, which takes the lives of Iraqi people every day, is an illegal occupation. And we as Americans have the highest responsibility because we live here. This is our country. We love it. We want to take it back. We want to end militarism in this country and end aggression and end the occupation in Iraq now! We are spending more on arms than every other country in the world. We have got to slash that 90%. There will be no peace until we do. We destroy Iraq again because we say falsely they are developing weapons of mass destruction. We got more than the rest of the world combined. We are developing three new generations of nuclear weapons in the face of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and all of the other laws of the world. And they will be used because they are tactical weapons. You can take out ten discrete blocks in Fallujah this time. You don't have to send marines in to get killed. That's what Bush is about. What more arrogant statement had we heard from any president of the United States at any time than President Bush's statement about Haiti? “Aristide has to go.” The President of the United States elected by a 5-4 vote of the Supreme Court, with a minority of the popular vote, says that the most popular and beloved president in the hemisphere, with the largest electoral majority, serving as the president of the Republic of Haiti, the only republic in the history of the world that liberated itself as slaves from French colonialism, and he dares to say, “Aristide has to go”? I say, Bush has to go! Aristide has to come back! Aristide would be a better president of the United States by far. He's a gentle, loving man. He never hurt a soul. He loves the people. He lives in poverty. Fallujah -- Fallujah is the Guernica of our time. The city has been destroyed, thousands killed in the eyes of the world. Abu Ghraib, it shows the heart of American respect for human dignity, doesn’t it? You torture them. Then you say, ‘Oh, it's a few strays.” And then you continue to do the same thing. There's no greater symbol on earth for contempt for the idea of human rights and human dignity than Guantanamo. I've got to go, so let me say this: There is one clear answer to this problem immediately. You don't have to wait three years and four months. You don't even have to wait to the next congressional elections. It's impeachment! AMY GOODMAN: Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General, speaking at the massive anti-war rally in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. ---- Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) on the Iraq War and Hurricane Katrina Monday, September 26th, 2005 Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/26/1434206 Cynthia McKinney opened the pre-march rally critiquing President Bush for his response to Hurricane Katrina and for the ongoing occupation of Iraq. [includes rush transcript] Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) RUSH TRANSCRIPT AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to Democratic Congress member, Cynthia McKinney from Georgia. CYNTHIA MCKINNEY: A cruel wind blows across America, starting in Texas and Montana and sweeping across America's heartland. It settled here in Washington, D.C. And despite our presence today, it continues to buffer, to buffet and batter the American people. This cruel wind blew disenfranchisement into Florida and Ohio. It blew hard-heartedness into the capital, division across our land and wretchedness in high places. The American people have been forced to endure fraud in the elections of 2000 and 2004, criminal neglect on September 11th, a war started on deliberately faked evidence, the outing of a C.I.A. agent to cover up the truth, and now criminal incompetence in providing our security. When hurricane survivors had lost everything, it was there for all America to see. Sybaritic men wrapped in self-righteousness worked to save their jobs instead of the people, as dead bodies lay strewn about the New Orleans Superdome. Military recruiters blew into to Houston's Astrodome to reap the harvest. This ill wind that engulfs our country is also global in its impact. It dipped into the Caribbean, hitting Haiti and Cuba. It reached into Latin America to slap Venezuela. It swept death, greed, and destruction across Africa into Eastern Congo, and it breeds occupation onto the peoples of Iraq and Palestine. But just as sure as an ill wind now blows, it doesn't have to be so. The people united can stop wars. We can stop injustice, and we can stop indifference. The people united can tear down the mightiest walls of oppression. These ill winds have brought us high crimes and more than misdemeanors. But they have also brought us together, one answer, united for peace and justice. Let's stay together because we have to get rid of these ill winds and breathe fresh breath into a new jetstream of life. AMY GOODMAN: Georgia Congress member Cynthia McKinney speaking at the major anti-war protest this weekend. ---- Louisiana Native at Anti-War Protest: “Do Not Allow the Rebuilding of Lives in the Gulf Coast to Be Another Profit” For Halliburton Monday, September 26th, 2005 Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/26/1434217 Colette Pichon Battle speaks at the massive anti-war protest in D.C. Battle is from Slidell, Louisiana and makes the connection between the response to Hurricane Katrina and the reconstruction process, and the war in Iraq. [includes rush transcript] Colette Pichon Battle speaks out against the unfair policies of the rebuilding process in Louisiana that work against natives of the communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina. She calls for more aid and support in rebuilding Louisiana. * Colette Pichon Battle, the Louisiana Network. RUSH TRANSCRIPT AMY GOODMAN: Throughout the day Saturday, speakers made the connection between the response to Hurricane Katrina and the war in Iraq. Colette Pichon Battle of Louisiana Network was one of them. COLETTE PICHON BATTLE: My name is Colette Pichon Battle, and I am here representing Slidell, Louisiana and the Louisiana Network based here in D.C. I was asked to speak with you about the effect of Katrina on the residents of the Gulf Coast. I'm certain that I'm supposed to mention that my family has lost everything. I'm sure that I'm supposed to mention that my neighborhood, one of the last true Creole enclaves of the state of Louisiana, has been scattered to the winds of Katrina. Speaking of devastation, maybe what you would expect to hear from a Louisiana native today, but that's not my message. My message to you, in the midst of all of this loss and in the shadow of fault and blame is that I'm angry. I'm angry that it took a storm of this magnitude to open the eyes of all those who would laugh and academically rebut the assertion of continued racial inequality. There are those who would suggest that people like being poor, that people wanted to stay in the path of the hurricane. We can look to the media and the hue of those who are accused of looting versus those who were accused of commandeering to see there are tangible injustices in this society today. There was no mention of those people using guns to signal to helicopters that they needed rescue. There was no mention that people stealing mattresses were doing so for the matriarchs of their family who were lying on Interstate 10 for four days with no food or water. I'm angry at the suggestion that citizens of the Gulf Coast would be wise never to return to the only home they have known or that the city of New Orleans, with its rich culture, unique way of life, should not be rebuilt for the very people who made it so great in the first place. For every politician who asserts this, I point to San Francisco. I point to Wall Street. I point to the Pentagon. All targets of some type of disaster, but all worth rebuilding time and time again. Where are the cries? Where are the cries to never give up when the city of New Orleans is involved? The hospitality, the architecture, the culture and the uniqueness. We are the prized jewels of this country, and we know it. Everyone loves the South. Everyone needs to help rebuild the South. I'm angry that contractors are not being required to hire those displaced by the storm to help rebuild the very cities that they have been evacuated from. The government on all levels cannot afford to miss that this type of involvement will instill the very pride and ownership that was taken from people of color long ago on those auction blocks in the French Quarter. I'm angry that the people of this country still choose not to acknowledge that social injustice happens on a daily basis in daily actions of everyone who lives here. But most of all, I'm angry that my family, my friends, my neighbors, after three weeks and two hurricanes, still have to wonder, when is this country going to look at us at human beings. The people of the Gulf Coast should no longer be referred to as those people. We are your people. We are citizens of this country. We need your support, and we need your help, and we deserve that. On behalf of those who have lost everything, the Pichon family in Slidell, Louisiana, would like to say to you and to the President of the United States, we need action today. I'm hopeful that today we will choose action instead of indifference. I implore you to care enough about inequality in this country, rather than turn your head away from the injustices not just in the Gulf Coast, but in Appalachia, in D.C. and southeast. Mr. President, I respectfully request that this is time to reprioritize. Do not allow the rebuilding of lives and communities in the Gulf Coast to be another profit for your friends at Halliburton and any of the other contractors. Do not forget, Mr. President, that your role, is to serve at the pleasure of the citizens of this country. Katrina was a test of the emergency system in this country. We have failed. We have work to do. Mr. President, rebuild the Gulf Coast. Thank you. AMY GOODMAN: Colette Pichon Battle of Louisiana Network, speaking at the major anti-war rally in Washington, D.C. ---- Dozens of Peace Activists Arrested During Protest at Pentagon Monday, September 26th, 2005 Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/26/1434233 We get a breaking report from peace activist Frida Berrigan who is at the Pentagon, where she has just been arrested along with roughly 40 others while demonstrating. [includes rush transcript] * Frida Berrigan, Arms Trade Resource Center, World Policy Institute RUSH TRANSCRIPT AMY GOODMAN: We wrap up today’s broadcast inside the Pentagon, where scores of people have just been arrested protesting the war in Iraq. We turn now to peace activist, Frida Berrigan, who is there. What’s happening? FRIDA BERRIGAN: Forty of us have been arrested for shutting down two entrances to the Pentagon this morning. And we’ve been arrested and charged, and brought signs that said, “War is terrorism,” “War is terrorism with a bigger budget,” and pictures of the victims, both the U.S. soldiers and the Iraqi civilians. And so effective in shutting down the Pentagon for, I’d say, more than an hour. AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you for being with us, Frida Berrigan. We’ll follow up tomorrow. Forty protesters arrested. Frida Berrigan, speaking to us from inside the Pentagon.