NucNews - December 2, 2005 -------- NUCLEAR -------- business Cameco buys nuclear fuel producer for $108M Last Updated Fri, 02 Dec 2005 16:14:23 EST CBC News http://www.cbc.ca/story/business/national/2005/12/02/cameco-051202.html?ref=rss Uranium producer Cameco Corp. said Friday it is buying Zircatec Precision Industries, whose main business is making nuclear fuel bundles, for roughly $108 million in cash. Based in Port Hope, Ont., Zircatec sells its fuel bundles to companies that generate electricity from Candu nuclear reactors. The deal, which is expected to close in early February, is forecast to moderately boost Cameco's earnings and cash flow in 2006, the company said. "This agreement will provide us the opportunity to participate in one more step in the nuclear fuel cycle consistent with our plans to grow in the nuclear energy business," said Jerry Grandey, Cameco's president and CEO. Cameco's Port Hope conversion facility provides all the uranium products that Zircatec uses to produce fuel bundles. Zircatec also produces zirconium tubing, which is used in the fuel bundles, and makes other parts used in the Candu reactors, including titanium alloy tubing. Based in Saskatoon, Cameco (TSX:CCO) is the world's largest producer of uranium. Cameco shares fell 92 cents, ending the week at $66.23 on the TSX. -------- china China warning on uranium Andrew Trounson December 02, 2005 The Australian http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17431566%255E643,00.html CHINA'S experience of massive iron ore price hikes in the past year would make it wary of where it sourced resources - including uranium - to feed its industrial boom, the country's Australian ambassador warned the mining industry yesterday. Madame Fu Ying told Australian miners that Australia needed to show it could be a reliable supplier of uranium if it wanted to capitalise on an expansion of China's nuclear power capacity. Addressing a packed audience of 570 mining industry figures at the Melbourne Mining Club, Madame Fu said China was still feeling the pain from being forced to swallow huge hikes in Australian iron ore and coal prices, and was now more wary of where it sourced the massive supplies of raw materials it needed to feed its fast-paced industrialisation. While the federal Government is actively promoting an expansion of uranium mining, the industry is weighed on by political differences with resource-rich Western Australia and Queensland maintaining bans on uranium mining. Earlier this year Canberra was forced to flex its federal powers to stop a ban in the Northern Territory. Madame Fu said China needed to take account of the "political environment" within supplier countries. "We don't want this trade to be interrupted by other factors." Madame Fu said China needed to ensure that its sources of raw materials were reliable. But also in a clear message to the many Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton mining executives in the audience, she said China also wanted its suppliers to be reasonable on price demands. In response to a question about the potential for China to take Australian uranium, Madame Fu said China wanted reliable suppliers. "The iron ore price rise in China has become such a painful experience that China has become very nervous about depending (on other countries and mines)," she said. While she noted that other countries were approaching China to supply uranium, there was no doubt China was keen on Australian uranium. Chinese companies took a close look at buying WMC's Olympic Dam mine in South Australia, a resource that alone accounts for one-third of the world's known uranium reserves. The mine was acquired by BHP Billiton as part of its takeover of WMC. As China ramps up its power capacity it is aiming to double the proportion sourced from nuclear energy to 4 per cent by 2010. While it has enough uranium resources to support its nuclear weapons program, Madame Fu said China would need to import uranium to meet its power demands. Before any uranium can be sold to China, the two countries need to complete talks on a safeguards agreement that would ensure Australian uranium is used only for peaceful purposes. Madame Fu added to the increasing rhetoric accompanying the current iron ore and coal price talks in Japan and Asia, claiming that miners should tone down their price demands, given falling steel prices. She complained that this year's 71.5 per cent hike in annual iron ore prices had put enormous pressure on the country's steel industry, with some smaller companies facing bankruptcy. "We are hoping the resource-producing companies will notice that factor and ease their pressure on driving prices for the iron ore." But miners Rio and BHP are arguing for further price rises, citing tight iron ore supplies and continued high spot prices. They are also keen to secure increases to underwrite the billions of dollars they are investing in expanding their production in Western Australia's Pilbara. Madame Fu said China was seeking to be more efficient in its use of raw materials. But miners' faith in China's voracious demand will have been strengthened on hearing that China is aiming to increase per capita GDP to $US1600 by 2010 from $US800 in 2000. Madame Fu also noted that China was aiming to increase housing space for its 1.3 billion people by one square metre per person per year. -------- depleted uranium Illegal nuclear waste shipment blocked in France Friday, 2 December 2005, 2:21 pm Scoop (NZ) Press Release: Greenpeace http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0512/S00059.htm International — In a daring 2AM action, twenty Greenpeace activists have blocked the loading of illegal nuclear waste in France. A Russian freighter, the Kapitan Kuroptche, was preparing to transport more than 450 tons of radioactive uranium waste to Russia when the activists blocked cranes on the ship and the pier. The waste originated from the Pierlatte uranium enrichment plant in the Rhone Valley. It's part of a thirty-year-old practice of dumping nuclear wastes produced in Europe in Russia, where federal law prohibits the import of foreign waste. We're just putting it there for now: honest! France claims the waste is going to Russia for reprocessing -- the process by which plutonium is separated from spent fuel -- but in fact only a small portion is treated. In reality, it's simply being put out of sight, out of mind, with no long-term solution for what to do with it on the horizon. Greenpeace has filed a case in the Moscow district court against the Russian government nuclear export company, Tecksnabexport. The nuclear industry would prefer these shipments happened in secret, as they underscore a key reason why nuclear fuel is not a viable energy solution, and why nuclear power is not a solution to climate change. Vulnerable to attack, dangerously shipped But in addition to being illegal, the shipments are also highly dangerous. Shipments between west European ports are regularly transitting through the North Sea, Skagarak, the Baltic and the Gulf of Finland before arriving at St Petersburg. The shipments are made on general Russian-owned cargo vessels rather than purpose-built ships, despite known hazards and risks. The transportation route goes through major cities such as St Petersburg (5 million population) and Tomsk (0.5 million) and passes the coasts of Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Finland. An accidental release or terrorist attack could be devastating. A new report from Greenpeace, "Europe's Radioactive Secret", details the illegal nuclear waste trade between Europe's nuclear industry and the Russian Federation. The nuclear wastes concerned are of two types: contaminated uranium resulting from reprocessing at the Cogema/Areva facilities at la Hague, Normandy; and depleted uranium (DU) from nuclear fuel enrichment at facilities in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. These facilities support the day-to-day operation of Europe's 135 nuclear reactors. The containers used to transport the uranium waste do not meet current International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) standards and pose a serious risk during the thousands of kilometres journey to the Russian dump sites, where they are illegally stored or disposed. A large percentage of the waste is in the form of hexafluoride crystals which can react violently to water leading to dispersal of toxic gas, inhalation of which can be fatal. The world urgently needs to shift its energy supply to clean, safe, renewable energy. Delegates meeting in Montreal to discuss the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol need to remember that nuclear power is not an answer. ---- Police Oust Anti-Nuclear Activists From French Port REUTERS FRANCE: December 2, 2005 http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/33792/story.htm PARIS - Police removed anti-nuclear protesters who had climbed onto a dockyard crane on Thursday to prevent a Russian ship from loading what they called dangerous nuclear waste at the northwestern French port of Le Havre. The environmental group Greenpeace said 20 of its supporters -- 17 French nationals and 3 Swiss -- were taken in for questioning after the protest, which lasted more than 12 hours. "The export of uranium waste is an immense scandal. Thousands of tonnes leave every year by sea and across Russia, to be abandoned in Russia in sites which are among the most polluted in the planet," Greenpeace said. The French nuclear energy firm Areva, responsible for the nuclear site from which the material came, dismissed Greenpeace's concerns that the cargo was unsafe for transport. "It's a normal operation," said Areva spokesman Charles Hufnagel. He said the cargo contained depleted uranium which was being sent to Russia for enrichment to make nuclear fuel. Depleted uranium was not highly radioactive and posed no risks, he said. The vessel Kapitan Kuroptev is due to take the cargo to the Russian port of St Petersburg. Le Havre port authorities declined comment. ---- Greenpeace activists arrested in France Friday, December 2, 2005 (Le Havre) (AP) http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?slug=Greenpeace+activists+held&id=81980 French police on Thursday forcibly removed 20 Greenpeace protesters, who had strapped themselves to cranes in the northern French port of Le Havre, to block the shipment of depleted uranium to Russia. The demonstrators - 17 French and three Swiss - were arrested and taken to police headquarters. They were blocking the loading of 87 containers containing 1,044 tonnes of depleted uranium on board the Russian freighter Kapitan Kuroptev, headed for Saint Petersburg. "The export of uranium waste is a huge scandal. Millions of tonnes are shipped by sea and through Russia every year, in order to be abandoned in Russia in sites that are some of the most polluted on the planet," Greenpeace official Frederic Marillier said in a statement. Accusation denied Nuclear group Areva, which chartered the shipment, said Greenpeace's accusation that it was shipping nuclear waste was unfounded. "There is no nuclear waste on board the Russian ship, rather depleted uranium which must be enriched before it can be converted into nuclear fuel," the company said in a statement. "This is a standard and very public industrial operation, carried out in agreement with the French and international authorities." ---- Area Soldiers Want Answers After Claims Of Radiation Contamination In Iraq Dec 2, 2005 NY1 News- Dean Meminger http://ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?&aid=38814 Soldiers from New York City continue to put pressure on the U.S. military after they say they were contaminated with radiation while fighting in Iraq. NY1's Dean Meminger has their story. More elected officials are getting in line to help soldiers in their battle against their own military. Senator Charles Schumer is now trying to help soldiers who say they were contaminated with radioactive dust while in Iraq. “They acquire potential illness through no fault of their own, and the Army tries to stonewall them. That's not the American way,” Schumer said this week. Several members of the National Guard’s 442nd Military Police Company say they feel betrayed by the Army. After serving in the war, they say they are now contaminated with depleted uranium. DU is a slightly radioactive heavy metal left over in the process of creating nuclear fuel and used in tank armor and artillery. But when it's hit or explodes, soldiers can get wounded by radioactive shrapnel or breathe in radioactive particles. These soldiers say they breathed in a lot of DU because of where the set up camp in Iraq. “We stayed in areas that were actually bombed out already, like abandoned buildings,” says Sgt. Agustin Matos. “We basically took shelter anywhere that we could find shelter from the sun or sandstorms.” Many of the soldiers are members of the city's Police, Fire and Correction departments. The men say they never heard of depleted uranium, and were not told about it by the military. “There were supposed to be procedures in place,” said Sgt. Herbert Reed. “We were supposed to be shown films and we were supposed to be given a certain mask to wear so that possibly we could prevent inhaling particles of depleted uranium, and none of that was done.” “We would go and say, ‘This hurts and that hurts,’ or, ‘We're feeling this or that,’ and they would say, ‘Oh, it’s psychosomatic - it's in your head,” said Sgt. Jerry Ogeda. The soldiers say they've had no choice but to go public with their situation. They obtained independent examinations, and out of nine soldiers tested, four say they have DU contamination. The soldiers say military officials have told them not to be concerned about DU. Frightened about their situation, the soldiers did research on the Internet and said they found plenty of reasons to be concerned. Dr. Eric Braverman of the Path Foundation agrees. He has written about the effects of depleted uranium exposure. “Studies suggest that you get fatigue, headache, sexual dysfunction – like impotence - depression, anxiety, confusion, and it basically makes you feel that you are burned out and depressed,” said Dr. Braverman. “The good news is that there may be some antidotes to these symptoms.” These men say the military has now agreed to test all soldiers who think they may be contaminated with depleted uranium. This week the soldiers started supplying urine samples to be tested. They hope the military performs those tests correctly. Results should be back within a month. ---- Congressman Joins Fight To Help Soldiers Contaminated With Radiation In Iraq Dec 2, 2005 NY1 News - Dean Meminger http://ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?&aid=51080 Some veterans of the war in Iraq fear their exposure to radiation has endangered their health, and the health of their children. It's a story NY1’s Dean Meminger has reported on before, and he filed an update Monday. Eleven-month-old Victoria Claudette Matthew is a beautiful sight in pink. But if you look closely you'll see she has a serious problem. Victoria was born with only half of her right hand, which has two fingers fused together. “My little girl, she has problems creeping, she has problems holding her bottle, she has problems - who knows, down the road, is she going to be able to ride a bicycle?" says Iraq War veteran Gerard Matthew. Matthew says he believes his daughter was born with a deformed hand because he was exposed to depleted uranium while serving in Iraq two years ago. DU is a slightly radioactive heavy metal left over in the process of creating nuclear fuel. The military uses it in missiles and tanks to make them stronger. But when it's hit or explodes, soldiers can get wounded by radioactive shrapnel or breathe in radioactive particles. Nine local soldiers came forward a year ago saying private doctors confirmed they had high levels of DU, but the military has said the levels are safe, which angers the veterans because they are constantly sick. “We’ve got erectile dysfunction, we’ve got serious swelling in our face and our hands, some of us can’t even get up in the morning,” says Matthew. “My thyroid is enlarged, and I’ve lost 35 pounds in an average of two to three weeks,” says fellow Iraq War veteran Herbert Reed. Now Congressman Joseph Crowley is stepping up to help the soldiers. He is pushing for better testing methods for DU, along with health coverage for soldiers who have side effects. He had those provisions inserted in the massive defense authorization bill which is scheduled for a vote in the House of Representative this week. “I hope that it is not the next Agent Orange,” says Rep. Crowley. “But we must learn from our past mistakes, take them seriously, investigate it, and treat those affected by it." Meanwhile, Victoria Matthew's mom says she's very upset with the treatment her family is receiving. "DU can be transferred to your offspring,” says Janice Camacho. “Right now she’s too young to determine if she has DU in her system, but God forbid if she does, I think the Pentagon owes me and my family a lot of answers." The veterans say they want to force the military to test soldiers for DU before they go to war so that when they're tested after combat there can be a real comparison of the levels. -------- europe Lithuania: Brazauskas discusses possibility of building new nuclear power station with "Eesti Energia" - newspaper Dec 2, 2005 (LETA) http://www.leta2000.com/eng/news.asp?NewsID=2005120213071900E1BAD2E5290DCB39 TALLINN - Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas, who, along with the other two Baltic prime ministers, met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Tallinn on Thursday, paid a surprise visit to the headquarters of Estonia’s energy giant "Eesti Energia", confirming that the two countries are still interested in building a new nuclear power station together, as the Estonian newspaper "Postimees" reports. “We agreed that in the near future, we will sign a joint protocol of intent, based on which we will launch studies to build a nuclear power station,” said "Eesti Energia" board member Lembit Vali. "Eesti Energia’s" new board chairman Sandor Liive will fly to Vilnius on Friday to agree on the technical details with his Lithuanian counterpart. This means that the time of doubt in the Baltic states' energy industry is over and the long discussed nuclear power plant project will get under way. Brazauskas confirmed that nuclear energy was the main topic of the meeting. “The energy systems of our countries separately are small, our development requires cooperation,” he said. “Infrastructure, city and people exist in Ignalina and are ready to start building a new nuclear power plant.” “The size and capacity of the new power plant has to be researched and the public opinion has to be studied also,” Vali said. The new nuclear power plant in Ignalina would be completed in 8-9 years. “The Polish have said that they would like to participate, the Latvians said already a year ago that they are ready to join,” Vali said. “The location is clear, since infrastructure, employees and science potential exist in Ignalina, there are no choices here,” he added. Liive confirmed that the nuclear power plant project does not mean that oil shale based energy industry development would be halted. “The nuclear power plant and oil shale energy industry support each other,” Liive said. Brazauskas said yesterday also that Lithuania is not planning to privatize Lithuanian power grids or any other part of the Lithuanian energy system. “Privatization is not an option,” he said. -------- india EU backs India to join talks on breakthrough nuclear reactor Fri Dec 2, 7:57 AM ET (AFP) http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051202/sc_afp/iterscienceresearcheuindiatalks_051202125720 BRUSSELS - The European Commission voiced support for India's participation in talks a multibillion-dollar experimental nuclear reactor, along with six partner countries backing the so-called ITER project. The next session of negotiations on ITER -- planned by the European Union, the United States, Russia, Japan, South Korea and China -- will be held in South Korea next Tuesday, the EU's executive arm noted. "The European Commission has today officially informed the Indian authorities that it supports the participation of India in the ITER negotiations," the commission said in a statement. "India's participation should now be discussed with the other international parties, US, China, South Korea, Russia and Japan as part of the ongoing negotiations of the international agreement that will set up ITER," it said. The six ITER partners agreed in June to build the main ITER facility in Cadarache, southern France, after Japan withdrew its bid to host the 10-billion-euro (12-billion-dollar), 30-year project. Following years of wrangling between Japan and the EU, Japan was given the 20 percent of staff posts including the director general's job in exchange for dropping its proposal to build the reactor in northern Aomori prefecture. ---- 'Indo-Russia relationship based on consensus' Amitabha Roychowdhury in Moscow | December 02, 2005 India Gazette http://story.indiagazette.com/p.x/ct/9/id/e5cef363f8bee79e/cid/701ee96610c884a6/ Observing that there was no significant sector in India that has not been benefited from Russia, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday night said the bilateral strategic relationship was based on political consensus in both the countries despite the transformations underway. "Our strategic relationship is based on political consensus in both countries. Despite the historic transformations underway in both countries, the essence of our partnership has not been diluted," Dr Singh said in his speech at the banquet hosted in his honour by Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said there was no 'significant sector of our national endeavour in which we have not been benefited from Russia. Today, as before, Russia is a valued strategic partner. Our relationship has adapted very successfully and productively to current requirements'. "But what we will do together in partnership draws on the legacy of cooperating for mutual benefit," Singh said, adding the sectors of cooperation has now expanded. Recalling that India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had laid the foundation of an 'abiding friendship' based on mutual trust and confidence 50 years ago, he said 'it is fitting to recall the crucial assistance we received from Russia in India's emergence as a country with a fully developed industrial base'. "I am convinced that we will find even greater convergence in our efforts as we move forward. I have no hesitation in saying that communication between our two great nations has never been so clear and lively," Singh said. He said the two nations were 'united in our support for a multi-polar world and in our resolve to root out the menace of international terrorism'. The prime minister also referred to the different areas of Indo-Russian partnership including trade, investment, joint R&D to take full advantage of the global opportunities available, besides working together in multilateral fora in pursuit of common objectives. -------- iran Iran's nuclear lies Dec 2, 2005 Persian Journal Kenneth R Timmerman http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_11243.shtml IAEA has no authority to determine whether or not a country has a nuclear weapons programme. That is up to the UN Security Council. The IAEA's job is to determine whether a nation has violated its safeguards agreement, and El Baradei has made it abundantly clear that Iran has Mohammad El Baradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is pressing the agency's board of governors to make one last effort to find a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear ambitions before sending the case to the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions. A decision to refer Iran to the Security Council could come as early as November 24, when the IAEA's board meets to discuss "new information" discovered by inspectors on the ground. Thanks to the IAEA's inspectors, we now have a fairly detailed picture of Iran?s nuclear archipelago - at least those facilities that the Iranian government has been forced to open. We know that Iran has discovered, mined, and milled natural uranium, the basic building block of any enrichment programme, without telling the IAEA. We know that Iran built a uranium conversion facility in Isfahan to convert uranium yellowcake into uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6), the feedstock for uranium enrichment, without the required prior notifications to the IAEA. We also know that Iran built an underground uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, hardened it against missile attack, and erected dummy buildings on the surface to conceal it from overhead surveillance. The authorities agreed to open this facility to the IAEA only after its existence was confirmed by commercial satellite imagery. Before the inspectors arrived, they appear to have swept the underground halls of whatever equipment was installed. Once fully operational, these facilities will give Iran mastery of the nuclear fuel cycle. For eighteen years, Iran's government concealed these activities from the IAEA, in clear violation of its safeguards agreement. For this reason alone, the IAEA's board must refer Iran to the Security Council for further actions, as required by the agency's charter. Non-nuclear nations that sign the IAEA's charter, as Iran has, pledge to abandon all efforts to develop nuclear weapons. In exchange, they are given access to nuclear technologies. But that pledge requires complete and transparent cooperation with the IAEA. Instead, Iran has been playing cheat and retreat. "With Iran, we realised that mastery of the fuel cycle makes you a virtual nuclear weapons state," a top aide to El Baradei told me. "That was a wake-up call for all of us." But a wake-up call that allows the IAEA's board to go back to sleep is useless. For two and a half years, the European Union has made every effort to get Iran to cooperate fully with the IAEA and come clean about its nuclear activities - to no avail. When the IAEA announced it wanted to inspect a suspected enrichment cascade within the Revolutionary Guards complex at Lavizan-Shian, Iran's government stalled for months until it could raze the site. When it asked to visit a suspect laboratory in the Parchin defence production plant, the Iranians stalled. When they finally allowed a small team in, they limited their movement, in violation of Iran's commitments. El Baradei has stated that the IAEA has found "no evidence" of a weapons programme in Iran - a statement that Iranian leaders have since cited as proof of their peaceful intentions. But the IAEA has no authority to determine whether or not a country has a nuclear weapons programme. That is up to the UN Security Council. The IAEA's job is to determine whether a nation has violated its safeguards agreement, and El Baradei has made it abundantly clear that Iran has. Understanding the intentions of Iran's leaders is not as difficult or as ambiguous as some believe. Eighteen years of concealment constitutes a powerful track record. So do Iranian leaders? own statements. For example, in 1986, then-president Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave a pep talk at the headquarters of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran. "Our nation has always been threatened from outside," he said. "The least we can do to face this danger is to let our enemies know that we can defend ourselves." In 1988, Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani - the supposed "moderate" candidate in Iran's recent presidential election - spelled out what that meant in an address to the Revolutionary Guards Corps. "We should fully equip ourselves both in the offensive and defensive use of chemical, bacteriological, and radiological weapons," urging the audience to "make use of the opportunity and perform this task." At a Jerusalem Day rally at Tehran University in December 2001, he uttered one of the regime's most sinister threats. "The use of an atomic bomb against Israel would destroy Israel completely, while [the same] against the world of Islam would only cause some damage." Iran's regime has only grown bolder since then. Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi declared in June 2004 that Iran "won't accept any new obligations," and must "be recognised by the international community as a member of the nuclear club." In March 2005, Rafsanjani reiterated Iran's refusal to dismantle its nuclear fuel cycle facilities, as the EU and the IAEA had demanded, insisting that "we can't stop our nuclear programme and won't stop it." In these circumstances, the risk entailed by doing nothing far outweighs the costs of referring Iran to the Security Council. Indeed, Iran may already be enriching uranium secretly. If it used the centrifuges that it purchased from Pakistan's nuclear impresario AQ Khan, it could have enough fissile material to produce 20 bombs. With Iran continuing to shelter top Al Qaeda leaders, this raises an even graver threat: that terrorists get hold of nuclear weapons. The dangers of allowing Iran to go nuclear ought to be obvious. Even to El Baradei. Kenneth R Timmerman, author of 'Countdown to Crisis: the Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran', is president of the Middle East Data Project -------- japan Nuclear-Powered Ship to Be Based in Japan By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer Friday, December 2, 2005, (AP) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/12/02/national/w144857S82.DTL (12-02) 14:48 PST WASHINGTON -- The Navy announced Friday that the USS George Washington will become the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to be stationed in Japan, replacing the diesel-powered USS Kitty Hawk in 2008. Although American troops have been based in Japan continuously since the end of World War II, the Japanese public had long opposed a U.S. nuclear presence because of concerns about possible radiation leaks and the memory of the U.S. nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that brought the war to an end 60 years ago. The Navy had announced in October that the U.S. and Japanese governments reached agreement to allow the stationing of a nuclear-power carrier to replace the Kitty Hawk, but it had not identified the carrier until Friday. The Navy said the George Washington will move from its current home port at Norfolk, Va., to Yokosuka, Japan, in 2008. It currently is undergoing maintenance and upgrades in preparation for the move. "This rotation is part of the Navy's long-range effort to routinely replace older ships assigned to the Navy's forward deployed naval forces with newer, more capable platforms," the Navy said in a statement. It said the George Washington would be operating in "the unpredictable security environment in the western Pacific." Nuclear-powered warships have visited Japanese ports more than 1,200 times since 1964. The Navy said the United States has provided firm commitments to Japanese government regarding the safe use of Japanese ports by the nuclear powered warships, and it pledged to observe strictly all safety precautions and procedures. The George Washington was commissioned on July 4, 1992. It returned from its most recent deployment in July 2004. The Kitty Hawk is the oldest of 12 carriers in the Navy. It was commissioned in 1961 and has been stationed in Japan since 1998. It is due to be retired in 2008. The Navy air wing assigned to the Kitty Hawk in Japan will remain there and operate with the George Washington, the Navy said. -------- korea N. Korea ready to scrap nuclear plans for better ties: envoy Fri Dec 2, 6:52 AM ET (Reuters) http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051202/ts_nm/korea_north_envoy_dc_1 SEOUL - North Korea is ready to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs if it can better its relations with the United States, Japan and South Korea, China's envoy to Seoul was quoted as saying on Friday. Chinese Ambassador Ning Fukui said in a meeting with a key South Korean lawmaker that building trust between Pyongyang and Washington was essential for advancing six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programs. "Ambassador Ning said he thinks North Korea has the intention to dismantle its nuclear program," the main opposition Grand National Party said in a statement. "However, he expressed the opinion that North Korea would want three key things -- improving ties with the United States, Japan and South Korea -- to be resolved in order to dismantle its nuclear program," Ning told Park Geun-hye, the leader of the Grand National Party, the statement said. Chinese embassy officials were not immediately available for comment. In September, North Korea agreed at six party-talks to scrap its atomic ambitions in exchange for economic aid, security assurances and greater diplomatic recognition. North Korea almost scuttled the agreement by asking for a civilian nuclear reactor up front before it even considers dismantling its nuclear programs. Washington and others said that was not a part of the deal. Pyongyang frequently says it was compelled to pursue atomic weapons because of what it sees as Washington's hostile position toward it. U.S. officials have frequently stated Washington has no intention to attack the North. No date has been set for the next round of talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States. Sources have said they expect the next round to be held in late December or January. -------- mideast Gulf calls for nuclear-free zone Al-Attiyah wants direct Nato pressure to eliminate WMDs AFP - Friday 02 December 2005, 19:46 Makka Time, 16:46 GMT http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FCA866D5-7986-431D-8785-A0B05519520D.htm The head of the Gulf Co-operation Council has called on Nato to press for the elimination of nuclear arms in Gulf region so that it does not become a "sandwich" between Israel and Iran. Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Attiyah, the GCC secretary-general, said on Friday: "I call on NATO to exercise direct pressure to eliminate WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) from our region, without exception." Attiyah, who was speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Qatar on Nato's role in Gulf regional security, said: "We do not want our region to be sandwiched by arms here and arms there." While Israel strongly denies that it already has a nuclear arsenal, it is widely believed to have one. Iranian power Iran, which is pressing ahead with a campaign of civil nuclear development, is suspected by many countries of using that programme as a cover for developing atomic weapons. Asked if he was reassured by Tehran's insistence that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only, Attiyah said: "We hope so, because that is exactly what we want ... a secure and non-nuclear zone." But he said that "Israel was the first to introduce these types of arms into the region, which has led other states to seek to imitate it". He expressed concern about a cycle of action and reaction that could lead to a spread of atomic weapons throughout the region. ---- Gulf presses NATO for nuclear-free zone Fri Dec 2, 1:07 PM ET (AFP) http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051202/wl_mideast_afp/mideastgccnatonuclear DOHA - The head of the Gulf Cooperation Council called on NATO to press for the elimination of nuclear arms in Gulf region so that it does not become a "sandwich" between Israel and Iran. "I call on NATO to exercise direct pressure to eliminate WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) from our region, without exception," said Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Attiyah, GCC secretary general. Attiyah, who was speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Qatar on NATO's role in Gulf regional security, said "we do not want our region to be sandwiched by arms here and arms there." While Israel strongly denies that it already has a nuclear arsenal, it is widely believed to have one. Iran, which is pressing ahead with a campaign of civil nuclear development, is suspected by many countries of using that program as a cover for developing atomic weapons. Tehran strongly denies those claims. Attiyah said Iran's nuclear program "has become worrisome for the region and a fundamental concern for all the countries of the world... but we also ask that Israel's arsenal be controlled." Asked if he was reassured by Tehran's insistence that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, he said: "We hope so, because that is exactly what we want ... a secure and non-nuclear zone." But he said that "Israel was the first to introduce these types of arms into the region, which has led other states to seek to imitate it." He expressed concern about a cycle of action and reaction that could lead to a spread of atomic weapons throughout the region. -------- missile defense Israel tests missile system Shaul Mofaz believes that Israel is in Iran's sights AP - Friday 02 December 2005, 19:24 Makka Time, 16:24 GMT http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FCE9085A-B32A-4B38-8F1A-D955D33A06E2.htm Israel has carried out a successful test of its Arrow missile defence system, intercepting and destroying a missile similar to Iran's long-range Shahab-3. Shaul Mofaz, the Israeli defence minister, said that in light of Iran's threats against Israel and efforts to develop non-conventional weapons, Israel needs an effective shield. "The state of Israel, which is a clear target of each of these missiles and of the production stations of Iran's non-conventional weapons, reserves the right to have other capabilities to prevent this threat," he said. The Shahab-3 can be equipped with nuclear warheads, and Tehran has said the missile could reach Israel and various US military bases in the Middle East. Iranian ambitions Last month, the European Union accused Iran of having documents that show how to make nuclear warheads, and joined the US in warning Tehran that it could face referral to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions. State-owned Israel Aircraft Industries and US-based Boeing Co began developing the Arrow system after Iraq fired 39 Scud missiles at Israel during the 1991 Gulf war. The test on Friday was carried out at an air force base in central Israel. It was the 14th test of the system, and the first trial since a failed test-firing last year. Israel considers Iran to be its biggest threat, and does not believe Tehran's assertion that its nuclear programme is peaceful. Israeli concerns were heightened recently after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged that Israel be "wiped off the map". Diplomacy first On Thursday, Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, said he was confident that all diplomatic efforts to defuse Iran's nuclear programme would be exhausted before military action is taken, but he also said that military capabilities do exist. Asked if any country was considering a strike against Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons, Sharon said: "I am sure that before anyone goes to take such steps, all attempts will be made to pressure Iran to stop all this activity." Although Israel is preparing for the possibility that Iran will acquire nuclear weapons, it will not lead the fight against the country's nuclear ambitions, he said. -------- russia Russia to test fire new submarine-based ballistic missile MOSCOW (AFP) Dec 02, 2005 http://www.spacewar.com/2005/051202154250.46szd1qn.html Russia will this month test fire a new ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear payload up to 8,000 kilometresmiles) from a submarine, a top scientist with the programme said Friday. "A new test firing of the Bulava-M missile should be carried out this month. These tests will continue next year," Yuri Solomonov, chief missile designer at the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology, was quoted by the Interfax-AVN military news agency as saying. The Bulava-M would be launched from a "sea platform", Solomonov said, without specifying further. Interfax-AVN quoted an unnamed official saying the test would take place December 10. The missile is intended for firing from submarines and is part of Russia's efforts to upgrade its submarine fleet. Solomonov said the Bulava-M was capable of carrying at least 10 nuclear warheads. It is reported to be capable of taking evasive measures to avoid interception -- among a range of defensive features. Its development has repeatedly been delayed however. Solomonov said Friday it was unlikely to be put into service in 2007 as previously planned. "It all depends on the funding for the tests. Currently, the financing is such that there is little chance the missile can be put into service by the Russian navy in 2007," he said. Russia last Tuesday test fired a Topol (RS-12M) missile, a version of a Soviet-built weapon in service for 20 years. It was fired from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northwest Russia and hit its target on the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia's Far East, officials said. -------- ukraine Surprise Sanctuary in Chernobyl The nuclear disaster at Chernobyl displaced thousands of people and created a surprising sanctuary for wildlife. By Elizabeth Katt-Reinders, Friday, December 02, 2005 Earthwatch Radio http://ewradio.org/program.aspx?ProgramID=4140 The Chernobyl nuclear reactor in the former Soviet Union ruptured almost 20 years ago, and thousands of people evacuated and never returned. Radiation levels around Chernobyl remain high, but wildlife seem to be thriving. Scientists say that in the absence of people, the region around Chernobyl turned into something of a nature reserve, and animals are taking full advantage of it. Mikhail Balonov is an expert in radiation safety at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria. He worked on a major assessment of the Chernobyl disaster that was published in September. The report says more than 100,000 people moved away from Chernobyl after the accident in 1986. The factories and farms in the area were shut down, and Balonov says animals seem to be quite happy with this new situation. "When people moved from that area, the number of happy animals increased, not decreased." The UN report says exposure to high levels of radiation has killed about 50 people. Most of them were rescue workers and they died shortly after the accident. Balonov says radiation also killed a lot of plants and animals immediately after the accident. But he says the animals recovered within a couple of years. Elk, deer, rabbits and wolves are among the animals that now thrive on the landscape around Chernobyl. Radiation levels are still high within 30 kilometers of the reactor site, but apparently they aren't high enough to kill most animals. Balonov says it's not that the animals are immune to radiation. It's simply that most wild animals don't live long enough to develop cancer as a result of exposure to it. Script for Friday, December 02, 2005 Additional Information: Report from the IAEA titled Chernobyl: The True Scale of the Accident -- 20 Years Later a UN Report Provides Definitive Answers to Repair Lives http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Focus/Chernobyl/index.shtml "Chernobyl Legacy" report as a PDF file http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Focus/Chernobyl/pdfs/05-28601_Chernobyl.pdf -------- u.s. nuc weapons U.S. Command Declares Global Strike Capability By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire Friday, December 2, 2005 http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2005_12_2.html#FB378486 WASHINGTON — The U.S. Strategic Command announced yesterday it had achieved an operational capability for rapidly striking targets around the globe using nuclear or conventional weapons, after last month testing its capacity for nuclear war against a fictional country believed to represent North Korea (see GSN, Oct. 21). In a press release yesterday, STRATCOM said a new Joint Functional Component Command for Space and Global Strike on Nov. 18 “met requirements necessary to declare an initial operational capability.” The requirements were met, it said, “following a rigorous test of integrated planning and operational execution capabilities during Exercise Global Lightning.” The annual Global Lightning exercise last month tested U.S. strategic warfare capabilities, including the so-called CONPLAN 8022 mission for a global strike, according to publicly available military documents. CONPLAN 8022 is “a new strike plan that includes [a] pre-emptive nuclear strike against weapons of mass destruction facilities anywhere in the world,” said Hans Kristensen, a consultant for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Kristensen first published the STRATCOM press release on his Web site, nukestrat.com. Military analyst William Arkin, in a column on the Washington Post Web site in October, wrote that the classified exercise involved the response to a radiological “dirty bomb” attack on Alabama by the fictional country Purple or allied terrorists. “In the exercise, Purple is a Northeast Asian nation thinly veiled as North Korea,” according to Arkin. Maj. Jeff Jones, STRATCOM spokesman, said today that the exercise incorporated various scenarios and added, “Everything is fictional that we put in the exercise.” Global Lightning employed command and control personnel, according to the STRATCOM release. Global strike attacks could be launched from U.S. long-range bombers, nuclear submarines or land-based ballistic missiles, according to the STRATCOM Web site. The new command was created Aug. 9 in an attempt to integrate broad elements of U.S. military power into global strike plans and operations. That, according to an Arkin commentary in the Washington Post in May, could include anything from electronic jamming to penetrating computer networks, to commando operations, to the use of a nuclear earth penetrator. CONPLAN 8022, he wrote, is intended to address two scenarios using such capabilities: preventing a suspected imminent nuclear attack from a small state, and attacking an adversary’s suspected WMD infrastructure. STRATCOM Commander Gen. James Cartwright said at an opening ceremony that the new command would help the country convey a “new kind of deterrence.” According to the STRATCOM release, “The command’s performance during Global Lightning demonstrated preparedness to execute its mission of providing integrated space and global strike capabilities to deter and dissuade aggressors and when directed, defeat adversaries through decisive joint global effects in support of STRATCOM missions.” According to Arkin’s article in May, CONPLAN 8022 was completed in 2003, “putting in place for the first time a pre-emptive and offensive strike capability against Iran and North Korea.” STRATCOM’s readiness for global strike was certified to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and President George W. Bush in January 2004, Arkin reported. -------- u.s. nuc facilities NUCLEAR POWER: Congress Tells DOE to Take Fresh Look at Recycling Spent Reactor Fuel Eli Kintisch Science 2 December 2005: Vol. 310. no. 5753, p. 1406 http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/310/5753/1406?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=nuclear&searchid=1133731584792_7915&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&issue=5753 The United States is laying plans that could lead to recycling commercial nuclear waste into fuel for the first time in almost 30 years. But critics worry that such a boost for nuclear power could undermine global efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.The Department of Energy's (DOE's) new budget, signed by President George W. Bush last month, contains $50 million toward a goal of beginning construction on an engineering-scale reprocessing plant by 2010. Supporters say that recycling fuel could not only save time and money but also ease a mounting nuclear waste problem. Opponents dispute each of those points, adding that the technology needed is not yet at hand and that the United States, by recycling waste, would be sending the wrong signal to the rest of the world.Researchers have explored reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods since the dawn of the nuclear age. U.S. government officials pushed recycling commercial fuel in the 1960s when uranium was thought to be scarce and plutonium was considered a good fuel. Separating out the plutonium and uranium from other fissionable material also would reduce quantities of certain types of highly radioactive nuclear waste, thus in theory increasing the storage potential at the yet-to-be-built Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada. "The pursuit of [safe] recycling technologies . must be considered not just a worthwhile but a necessary goal," DOE Secretary Samuel Bodman said earlier this month. But plutonium is also used in nuclear weapons, and critics say that producing more of it increases the likelihood that some will get into the wrong hands. The United Kingdom, France, and Japan use an aqueous method to recover uranium and plutonium from spent fuel rods. That technique, called PUREX, involves dissolving the rods with acid and chemically separating the two fuels. Japanese scientists have found that the approach is not economically viable, and the French experience has been mixed. Supporters also say reprocessing could forestall construction of an expensive second storage facility if, as projected, Yucca runs out of space within a decade--assuming the facility overcomes legal barriers to open. With the growing interest in nuclear energy as an alternative to greenhouse gas-emitting technologies, scientists have developed advanced reprocessing techniques aimed at solving the waste issue without adding to the proliferation threat. One experimental approach, touted by scientists at DOE's Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, is to use aqueous methods similar to PUREX with extra chemical steps to keep plutonium mixed with uranium and to retain nasty fission products that make the product too radioactive to steal. Another method, called pyroprocessing, employs electrochemistry to create a metal fuel that could include a fission product called cerium-144, which remains highly radioactive for 2 years. The fuel, which would be hot and therefore tough for thieves to handle, could theoretically be fed immediately into an adjacent reactor to provide power, say advocates. Argonne deputy associate lab director Phillip Finck says that radiation monitors and tight security could make both recycling methods proliferation-resistant. But Princeton University physicist Frank von Hippel and others dispute the advantages. Most U.S. spent fuel is about 20 years old, he points out, making the nonproliferation advantages of cerium in pyroprocessing "irrelevant for the spent fuel we have." Monitoring techniques to keep track of plutonium in a complex facility are woefully inadequate, says Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Moreover, said Representative Edward Markey (D-MA) during a House debate in May, the current ban on reprocessing nuclear fuel "gives us the high moral ground as we look at the North Koreans and Iranians to tell them not to do it." In 1977, President Jimmy Carter halted federal support for commercial recycling after India used civilian reprocessing to obtain nuclear weapons. Experts say the technology is likely to remain prohibitively expensive. A 1996 National Research Council study found that recycling existing U.S. spent fuel rods could cost up to $100 billion; building the fast reactors to burn recycled fuel obtained by pyroprocessing or by advanced methods would be a major element of that cost. A 2003 study by researchers at Harvard University and the University of Maryland found that reprocessing uranium using current industrial methods would be economical only if the cost of obtaining uranium were to increase by a factor of 10. Geologists have only recently begun to look for new sources, but former Argonne reprocessing specialist Milt Levenson says the price could soon rise if demand increases--although he says there are too many factors at play to make an economic argument for or against reprocessing. Reprocessing could cut storage costs by keeping very-long-lasting isotopes in the fuel cycle, say supporters, allowing DOE to store the fission products with less long-term heat more compactly within Yucca. The Yucca repository is designed to store spent fuel rods in dry casks for 10,000 years. Opponents of reprocessing would prefer that U.S. utilities continue to follow that course--and that Congress expand Yucca only after exploring aboveground storage for fuel rods. Research on advanced recycling should continue, they add, but not at the risk of undermining diplomatic efforts to stop reprocessing abroad. If recycling methods show promise down the road, they say, spent fuel could be retrieved from Yucca and tapped for power. "We don't need to do it now. We don't have the technical knowledge to do it now," says physics Nobelist Burt Richter, a member of an American Physical Society technical committee that in May called for a cautious approach. But growing energy demands require more nuclear plants, say supporters, and the waste problem needs reprocessing. "The federal government does a lot that isn't economical," says Representative Judy Biggert (R-IL), whose district includes Argonne, "often because doing so is in the best interests of the nation for other reasons." By giving DOE its marching orders, Congress has revived the debate over exactly what those interests are. -------- MILITARY -------- arms Iran and Russia in $1bn arms deal Report: Moscow and Tehran have already signed the contract Reuters - Friday 02 December 2005, 19:19 Makka Time, 16:19 GMT http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4A6081AE-5FE9-4E60-81CF-7F60C53B64E7.htm Russia plans to sell more than $1 billion worth of surface-to-air missiles and other defence hardware to Iran, media reports say. Moscow is already at odds with the West over its nuclear ties with Tehran but has sought to use its good relations with Iran to be recognised as a key mediator between the West and the Islamic Republic. On Friday The Vedomosti business daily cited military sources as saying Iran that would buy 29 TOR-M1 systems designed to bring down aircraft and guided missiles at low altitudes. The paper, calling it the biggest sale of Russian defence hardware to Iran for about five years, said Moscow and Tehran had already signed the contract. Interfax news agency separately quoted a source as saying that the deal, which would also include modernising Iran's air force and supplying some patrol boats, was worth more than $1 billion. Strained relations The move, likely to irritate Israel and the United States, could strain Moscow's efforts to broker a deal between Iran and European negotiators aimed at breaking a deadlock over Tehran's nuclear programme. Israel in particular is nervous about Iran's military potential after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in October that Israel should be "wiped off the map" - comments condemned by Russia at the time. Russia's Defence Ministry declined to comment on the deal. Officials at Rosoboronexport, Russia's state defence supplier, were not available for comment. Western countries suspect Iran of seeking nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian atomic programme, which Tehran denies, saying it wants only to generate electricity. Russia has helped Iran build its first nuclear reactor and is preparing to commission it next year. Some in the West fear that Iran could use Russian know-how to make weapons. No restrictions The defence industry source told Interfax that there were no international restrictions on selling weapons to Iran. "Russia has long positioned itself as a major peace broker between Iran and the West - and all of a sudden they are throwing this bombshell" "Moreover, practically all the weapons that Russia is delivering to Iran in the coming years are defensive rather than offensive in character," the source said. One Western diplomat who monitors dealings between Russia and Iran said news of the deal was alarming and would further increase tensions. "Russia has long positioned itself as a major peace broker between Iran and the West - and all of a sudden they are throwing this bombshell. It just does not make any sense," said the diplomat, who asked to remain anonymous. ---- U.S. checking reports of Russian missile deal 12/2/2005 Associated Press http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-12-02-iran-missiles_x.htm WASHINGTON (AP) — A report that Russia struck a deal to provide Iran with surface-to-air missiles would be a source of concern if confirmed, the Bush administration said Friday. A Russian newspaper reported Friday the two countries signed a deal for 29 Tor M-1 missiles. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said: "We are at this point evaluating these reports" and that he could not validate them. A senior administration official, who declined to be named, said he did not know if the report was true but that any arms sale to Iran is a source of concern. The official declined to say whether Russia had advised the United States of any negotiations with Iran. The United States and Russia are supporting efforts by the European Union to persuade Iran to halt development of nuclear weapons in exchange for economic incentives, such as trade opportunities. Russia, which has a long and lucrative relationship with Iran, has offered to try to resolve a key dispute by offering to enrich uranium for an Iranian civilian nuclear energy program as a safeguard against Iran using enrichment for weapons purposes. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said Wednesday that the Bush administration had not endorsed the Russian proposal and that "we continue to take a hard line" on Iran's not controlling a process that could produce nuclear weapons. Burns said sidetracked negotiations between Iran and Britain, France and Germany probably would be resumed in early January. According to the Russian Vedomosti business daily, Russia and Iran signed an agreement for Russia to provide Tor M-1 missiles originally manufactured on orders from Greece. The newspaper cited an unidentified manager at a military-industrial enterprise. -------- balkans Kosovo Roma to quit toxic UN camp French peacekeepers have begun clearing the ruins of Roma homes Friday, 2 December 2005 (BBC) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4493256.stm Hundreds of Roma (Gypsy) people who have spent six years in a makeshift Kosovan camp contaminated with lead are to be relocated and built new homes. The 560 Roma have lived next to an old lead smelter in Mitrovica since the Nato bombing campaign in 1999. Sweden is to donate 320,000 euros (£216,000) to help the Roma, with a similar sum donated by Germany. Officials now hope to move the Roma to a new camp by the end of the year. They will remain there until work has finished on rebuilding their original homes in the region around Mitrovica during 2006. The Roma were driven out of their homes in nearby Mahalla at the end of the 1999 conflict by ethnic Albanians who viewed them as collaborators with the Serbs. Medical 'emergency' "These people were driven away from their houses and have been living on waste ground for the last six years and no-one really cares about them," Per Byman, Sweden's humanitarian director, told the BBC News website. Work is due to begin next week on temporary homes at a former French military base, Mr Byman said. The aim is to move the Roma away from the lead smelter, which they blame for a series of health problems, especially among children. "Children are being born dysfunctional, with limbs missing and so on," Mr Byman said. "Now we hope their quality of life can be improved." Once they have moved, the Roma will have access to hot water, electricity, job training and medical assistance. Levels of lead poisoning among Roma in camps at Zitkovac, Kablare and Cesmin Luq are currently classed as an "acute medical emergency" by US medical authorities. -------- landmines US Troops Remove Landmines in Philippine South REUTERS PHILIPPINES: December 2, 2005 http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/33785/story.htm MANILA - US troops on a humanitarian mission on a southwestern Philippine island helped local soldiers clear a minefield left by fleeing Islamic militants with links to al Qaeda, a Philippine military official said on Thursday. Hundreds of Philippine soldiers have been fighting about 150 Abu Sayyaf rebels and rogue members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) on Jolo Island since Nov. 11. At least six soldiers have been killed and 33 wounded. Nearly 40 rebels have been killed in sporadic gunbattles around two towns, the army said. "We requested the technical assistance of the US soldiers to locate and detonate crude landmines in Patikul town," said an army colonel, who declined to be named. "They were not involved in any fighting against the rebels." About 200 US soldiers have been stationed in the southern Philippines since early 2002, advising and training local units in counter-terrorism tactics against four Muslim rebel groups and communist guerrillas. -------- nato Pakistan Says Won't Extend NATO's Quake Mission REUTERS PAKISTAN: December 2, 2005 http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/33796/story.htm ISLAMABAD - NATO troops involved in earthquake relief efforts can go home after their mission ends in February, Pakistan said on Thursday. The Western alliance sent around 1,000 medics, engineers and helicopter support crews following the Oct. 8 disaster, which killed more than 73,000 people in the mountains of northern Pakistan. The mission was given an initial 90-day mandate. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said no exact date had been fixed for the withdrawal of NATO troops, but Pakistan was not seeking any extension of their stay. "Yes, we are sticking to our plans (for withdrawal)," she said. NATO's ambassador to Pakistan Carsten Fauboll met Pakistani Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan and discussed plans for the withdrawal of NATO's troops. "The foreign secretary assured that the government of Pakistan would extend all cooperation to facilitate the NATO preparations to carry out withdrawal in accordance with the stipulated period," the foreign ministry said in a statement. While plans are already being drawn up for the withdrawal, expected to begin sometime in late January, the NATO contingent was due to expand further on Friday with the arrival of Italian engineers, bringing heavy equipment, NATO sources said. Islamist opposition politicians have been trying to stir controversy about the troops, saying NATO was seeking to establish a long-term presence, and its forces were only interested in hunting Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda cohorts. A NATO air-bridge from Germany and Turkey to Pakistan has been a crucial factor in delivering food and shelter. NATO engineers are clearing roads, while medics have established field hospitals in stricken areas. President Pervez Musharraf this week defended his decision to accept foreign military help to deal with the humanitarian crisis, saying Pakistan lacked resources to handle the disaster on its own. -------- POLICE / PRISONERS / COURTS / JUSTICE -------- death penalty 1,000th Capital Punishment Death Reached in North Carolina Friday, December 2nd, 2005 Headlines Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/12/02/1451216 In North Carolina, a man who killed his estranged wife and father-in-law became the 1,000th person to be executed since the nation resumed capital punishment in 1977. Kenneth Lee Boyd, 57, was killed by lethal injection early Friday morning. Hours before, North Carolina Governor Mike Easly had rejected a last-minute request for clemency. Around 150 anti-death penalty demonstrators gathered outside the prison. Police said at least 18 were arrested for trespassing. -------- drug war Dutch politicians back plan to regulate marijuana farms 12/2/2005 (AP) http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-12-02-dutchmarijuana_x.htm AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — A broad coalition of political parties unveiled a pilot program Friday to regulate marijuana farming on the model of tobacco, which opponents say would be tantamount to legalizing growing the drug. Under the test program, to be conducted in the southern city of Maastricht, existing health and safety standards will apply to growers, but they would no longer be the target of police raids or prosecution. Coffee shops permitted to sell marijuana would be required to provide consumers with information about the health hazards of smoking — similar to tobacco companies — and the chemical content of the marijuana. The shops would also have to say where they bought the marijuana they sell, which proponents say will deter growers from operating dangerous underground greenhouses. Under current Dutch policy, marijuana and hashish are illegal but police don't prosecute for possession of less than one ounce. Authorities also look the other way regarding the open sale of cannabis in designated coffee shops. But commercial growing is outlawed, giving rise to a contradictory system in which shop owners have no legal way to purchase their best-selling product. Dutch mayors along the country's borders have lobbied hardest for the change, which they say would make it more difficult for German and Belgian drug tourists to smuggle large quantities of marijuana out of the country. "It will be possible to trace where cannabis is grown, and where it's sold," said conservative lawmaker Frans Weekers. Opponents, however, have argued that regulation could open the door to outright legalization of marijuana in a country that already has some of Europe's most lenient drug laws. Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende and his ruling Christian Democrat Party said regulating marijuana cultivation would set the Netherlands another step apart from the rest of the continent. "This experiment would be at odds with Dutch law, and there's a legal problem" internationally, as well, Balkenende said. The Justice Ministry has ordered an investigation into whether the plan would violate international law. The findings are expected within several days. Weekers said, however, that the current policy is "leading to increasing problems." "There comes a moment when you say, 'Now we have to take the next step,'" he said. "If this pilot program works, and we can show to everyone that it's an improvement, then you have a good argument to take to foreign governments." The coalition of parties gave Balkenende until Dec. 14 to implement the testing program, after which lawmakers said they will introduce a bill in parliament to do it. They said about two-thirds of parliament members support the plan. -------- homeland security / national intelligence Bag searches in NYC subway ruled constitutional 12/2/2005 (AP) http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-12-02-searches-nyc_x.htm NEW YORK — A federal judge Friday upheld the police department's practice of randomly searching subway riders' bags, saying the intrusion on people's privacy is minimal while the threat of a terrorist bombing is "real and substantial." Police tightened security in the nation's largest subway system in July after the deadly terrorist attacks in London's underground. "The risk of a terrorist bombing of New York City's subway system is real and substantial," U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman said. The New York Civil Liberties Union had challenged the searches, arguing that riders were being subjected to a pointless and unprecedented invasion of their privacy. The judge cited the testimony of police officials who said the search policy might cause terrorists to choose a different target. "Because the threat of terrorism is great and the consequences of unpreparedness may be catastrophic, it would seem foolish not to rely upon those qualified persons in the best position to know," Berman said. Gail Donoghue, a city lawyer, called the searches a "life-and-death" necessity and said the city should not wait for a specific threat or an attack to crack down. "That kind of complacency is a very dangerous thing," she said. "The threat is immediate. It is real and of extreme concern to those who run the counterterrorism in this city." During the trial, Deputy Police Commissioner David Cohen said the searches keep terrorists guessing. "Unpredictability is the enemy of terrorists and the ally of those trying to prevent an attack," said Cohen, who joined the police department after a three-decade career at the CIA analyzing the threat of terrorism. -------- POLITICS -------- investigations Congressman says Pentagon auditors found Halliburton paid $130 million for 'unsupported' charges 12/02/2005 @ 11:16 am Filed by RAW STORY http://rawstory.com/admin/dbscripts/printstory.php?story=1536 Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee has disclosed that Halliburton received $130 million for charges that the Pentagon's own auditors had found to be "unsupported," RAW STORY has learned. Waxman disclosed the information in a letter to Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), the Republican chairman of the Government Reform Committee, in which he called on Rep. Davis to convene hearings. Waxman's letter follows, slightly abbreviated. # The Honorable Tom Davis Chairman Committee on Government Reform U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Mr. Chairman: I am writing to request a hearing on the decision by the Army Corps of Engineers to pay Halliburton $130 million in cost reimbursements, profits, and bonuses for billings that Defense Department auditors determined to be unreasonable and unsupported. The Committee should also insist that the Corps of Engineers provide the award fee documentation for Halliburton's contract that we requested in April. The payments in question were made under the no-bid Restore Iraqi Oil (RIO) contract, which Halliburton was awarded in March 2003. Under the contract, the Defense Department issued ten task orders to Halliburton for oil-related work in Iraq, including the importation of fuel and the repair of oil facilities. Halliburton charged over $2.5 billion for this work, which is now complete. Because RIO is a cost-plus contract, Halliburton is reimbursed for its costs and then receives additional profits and bonuses. The profits are based on a negotiated estimate of the contract costs, known as a "definitization." Under the RIO contract, Halliburton receives 2% of the definitized costs as an automatic base fee and up to 5% of the definitized costs as an additional award fee bonus. Based on considerations such as cost control and performance, a government award fee board or official determines what percentage bonus, if any, Halliburton should receive under each task order. Recently, without any announcement, the Corps of Engineers posted on its website the definitized value of six RIO task orders and the amount of Halliburton's fees and bonuses under each of these task orders. The posted information reveals that the Corps of Engineers appears to have ignored auditor findings in three ways: by reimbursing Halliburton for costs determined to be unreasonable or unsupported, by permitting Halliburton to collect profits on these challenged costs, and by giving Halliburton unwarranted bonuses. Pentagon auditors identified $169 million in excessive and unsubstantiated costs under the six task orders. The auditors found Halliburton's fuel importation and other costs to be unreasonably high and determined that Halliburton's cost proposals were "not acceptable for negotiation of a fair and reasonable price." As a result, the auditors recommended that Halliburton not be reimbursed for these costs and not receive profits on them. It now appears, however, that the Corps rejected the auditor findings and paid Halliburton for $124 million of the challenged costs. Although between 60% and 70% of costs challenged by Pentagon auditors are typically sustained, the Corps sustained only 27% of the challenged costs in this case. The Administration has offered no explanation for this decision to pay three-quarters of Halliburton's challenged costs. Moreover, because RIO is a cost-plus contract, the decision to pay Halliburton for these challenged costs increased the company's profits by millions of dollars. Under the RIO contract, Halliburton received a larger base fee because the pool of definitized costs is larger. In this case, Halliburton was paid $2.5 million in base fee profits for billings that Pentagon auditors challenged. Compounding these egregious payments, it appears that the Corps also gave Halliburton million-dollar bonuses for overbilling the taxpayers. Two factors determine the size of Halliburton's award-fee bonus: the percentage of the award fee provided to Halliburton and the value of the definitized task orders. In this case, both appear to be inflated, with Halliburton receiving bonus awards of up to 3.4% on the challenged costs being reimbursed. In fact, given Halliburton's track record of overcharging the government, the entire $38 million in bonuses awarded to Halliburton under the six task orders is questionable. The decisions by the Corps of Engineers seem inexplicable. For many months, Pentagon auditors have criticized Halliburton's cost estimation systems as "inadequate" and its fuel charges as "unreasonable." Our Committee should require the Corps to explain why it decided to reimburse Halliburton for challenged costs, to permit Halliburton to collect profits on challenged costs, and to give Halliburton large bonuses as a reward. With reimbursement and fee decisions still pending on four other RIO task orders, it is important that we receive prompt answers. Background On March 8, 2003, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded Halliburton subsidiary KBR a no-bid monopoly contract to restore and operate Iraq's oil infrastructure. The contract was awarded in secret, and other qualified companies, like Bechtel, which did most of the oilfield work after the first Gulf War, were precluded from bidding.[1] Halliburton received the contract because it had previously been awarded a task order to prepare a contingency plan for Iraq's oil sector. The Government Accountability Office later investigated the award of the contingency contract and concluded that it was not "in accordance with legal requirements" because "preparation of the contingency support plan for this mission was beyond the scope of the contract."[2] GAO added that the work "should have been awarded using competitive procedures."[3] Halliburton charged approximately $2.5 billion under the RIO contract, which had a potential value of $7 billion.[4] The Corps of Engineers issued ten different task orders under the RIO contract. Work has now concluded on all ten task orders. Halliburton's work was split generally between oil infrastructure projects and fuel importation tasks: Task Orders 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 related to various oil infrastructure projects, while Task Orders 5, 7, 8, 9, and 10 involved the importation of fuel from Kuwait, Turkey, and Jordan. The majority of Halliburton's charges under this contract were for fuel importation and distribution. Halliburton charged approximately $1.5 billion for fuel work and $1 billion for infrastructure work.[5] There were two sources of funding for this work: approximately $875 million came from U.S. taxpayer funds and $1.64 billion came from Iraqi oil proceeds and other funds in the U.S.-controlled Development Fund for Iraq.[6] RIO is a "cost-plus" contract, meaning that Halliburton is reimbursed for its costs and then receives additional profits and bonuses. The profits are based on a negotiated estimate of the contract costs. The process by which the government and Halliburton agree on a cost estimate for each task order is called "definitization." Under the RIO contract, Halliburton receives 2% of the definitized costs as an automatic base fee and up to an additional 5% of the definitized costs as an optional award fee bonus. A government award fee board or award fee determination official considers factors such as cost control and performance to determine what bonus percentage between 0% and 5% Halliburton should receive under each task order.[7] Audit Findings Rep. John Dingell and I began to raise questions about Halliburton's RIO contract immediately after the contract was awarded in March 2003.[8] In a series of letters, we expressed concern about the exorbitant prices of Halliburton's fuel imports from Kuwait. We reported that Halliburton appeared to be charging twice as much as it should have for fuel imports,[9] and we cited independent experts who characterized Halliburton's charges as "highway robbery" and "outrageously high."[10] Our concerns about Halliburton's inflated costs were validated by Pentagon auditors. In December 2003, the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) announced at a press conference that it had completed a preliminary draft audit of Halliburton's fuel importation work. DCAA auditors found that Halliburton had overcharged the U.S. government by as much as $61 million for gasoline imported from Kuwait into Iraq.[11] This audit was preliminary, however, and covered only the period until September 30, 2003. In 2004 and 2005, DCAA completed final audits of each of the ten task orders. In this series of audits, DCAA identified $219 million in "questioned" costs under the entire RIO contract.[12] DCAA determined that all of these costs were unreasonably high. DCAA also identified $60 million in "unsupported" charges under the RIO contract.[13] DCAA auditors found unreasonable costs for Kuwaiti fuel under all of Halliburton's fuel importation task orders. The auditors criticized Halliburton for failing to negotiate better pricing for the fuel and transportation costs, concluding that Halliburton failed to provide "adequate documentation to demonstrate the reasonableness of the Kuwait fuel prices over the life of the purchase orders."[14] The auditors also repeatedly criticized Halliburton for making unnecessary retroactive payments to its Turkish fuel subcontractors. DCAA noted that Halliburton had negotiated "fixed-unit-rate" and "firm-fixed-price" subcontracts with various Turkish subcontractors to import fuel into Iraq. During the term of these subcontracts, the market price of the fuel increased. DCAA reported that the Turkish companies asked Halliburton "to increase the unit price of the fuel to compensate for losses due to market increases."[15] According to DCAA, Halliburton "agreed to pay the higher prices retroactively."[16] DCAA concluded: "We do not believe it was appropriate to retroactively adjust the fuel unit prices of KBR's fixed-unit-rate and firm-fixed-price subcontracts when there are no provisions in the subcontracts to do so."[17] All the DCAA audits reported that Halliburton's proposals were "not acceptable for negotiation of a fair and reasonable price."[18] DCAA found that Halliburton's cost and pricing submissions were "not adequate" because "proposed" costs "exceed recorded costs," because Halliburton's proposals "did not contain data to support the reasonableness of the negotiated purchase orders," and because they were not prepared "in accordance with applicable Cost Accounting Standards and appropriate provisions of FAR," the Federal Acquisition Regulation.[19] Moreover, DCAA criticized Halliburton for producing inadequate cost estimates for definitization. On December 31, 2003, DCAA issued a "Flash Report," alerting various Defense Department agencies about "significant deficiencies" in Halliburton's cost estimating system.[20] According to the auditors, these deficiencies "could adversely affect the organization's ability to propose subcontract costs in a manner consistent with applicable government contract laws and regulations."[21] On August 4, 2004, DCAA found Halliburton's "estimating system to be inadequate for providing verifiable, supportable, and documented cost estimates that are acceptable for negotiating a fair and reasonable price."[22] I released a report in July 2004 with additional information about Halliburton's inflated gasoline charges. This report compared the price charged by Halliburton to import gasoline from Kuwait to Iraq with the costs incurred by the Pentagon's fuel importation office, the Defense Energy Support Center (DESC), to perform the same task. Because DESC assumed Halliburton's fuel importation responsibilities on April 1, 2004, a direct "apples-to-apples" price comparison could be made. The report found that Halliburton charged more to purchase fuel than DESC, three times as much to transport the fuel into Iraq, and 40 times as much to cover its fees and markups.[23] On April 15, 2005, the Committee requested award fee determinations and related documents for a number of Iraq contracts.[24] After meeting with Committee staff, the Defense Department provided the requested information for 20 contracts.[25] However, the Department still has not provided the requested compensation documentation for the RIO contract. Halliburton's Reimbursements, Profits, and Bonuses On November 3, 2005, without any announcement, the Corps of Engineers posted on its website the definitized value of six RIO task orders and the amount of Halliburton's base and award fees under each of these task orders.[26] Information was posted for Task Orders 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7. Together, these task orders are worth over $1.5 billion, or about 60% of the total value of the RIO contract.[27] Information for Task Orders 3, 8, 9, and 10 was not posted. For these six task orders, DCAA had identified $169 million in questioned and unsupported costs.[28] The auditors recommended that Halliburton not be reimbursed for or receive profits on these costs. The posted information reveals that the Corps of Engineers appears to have ignored the findings of the Defense Department's own auditors. According to the information from the Corps, the agency reimbursed Halliburton for unreasonably high costs challenged by auditors, allowed Halliburton to collect profits on these challenged costs, and even gave Halliburton a substantial bonus. Instead of disallowing the costs challenged by DCAA, the Corps largely ignored the Pentagon auditors and reimbursed Halliburton for $124 million in questioned or unsupported costs.[29] This represents 73% of the $169 million in costs challenged by the auditors under these task orders. These figures are shown in Table A. Historically, between 60% and 70% of DCAA's challenged costs have been sustained. But in this case, the Corps sustained only 27% of the challenged costs. On Task Order 7, one of the large fuel importation task orders, the Corps upheld just 8% of the costs challenged by auditors. In addition to reimbursing Halliburton for challenged costs, the Corps also allowed Halliburton to profit from the challenged costs. Because Halliburton's pool of definitized costs includes $124 million in challenged costs, Halliburton's 2% base fee is larger than it should be. The company will automatically receive $2.5 million in profits for costs Pentagon auditors found to be unreasonably high or unsubstantiated. Finally, the Corps gave Halliburton a large bonus for the costs challenged by the Department's auditors. For each task order, Halliburton's award fee bonus depends on two determinations: the percentage bonus awarded to Halliburton and the definitized value of each task order. Under the RIO contract, the Halliburton can receive a bonus fee of up to 5% of the definitized value of a task order. The bonus percentage selected by the award fee board or determination official is multiplied by the definitized value to produce the final bonus award. Ironically, Halliburton received some of its highest bonuses for projects with the most inflated costs. On the two fuel importation task orders, Task Orders 5 and 7, the company was given an award fee of 3% despite repeated auditor findings of unreasonable charges for Kuwaiti fuel and improper overpayments to Turkish subcontractors. In fact, although Halliburton's fuel costs were deemed unreasonable by DCAA and have been the subject of widespread criticism, over $36 million of the $38 million bonus awarded to Halliburton are for these fuel task orders. In total, Halliburton received reimbursements worth $124 million, base-fee profits worth $2.5 million, and bonuses worth $3.4 million for the specific charges challenged by DCAA. Given that Halliburton's entitlement to any bonuses could be called into question by its pattern of unreasonable billings, the company's entire bonus of $38 million for the six task orders is also suspect. Conclusion The Administration has consistently asserted that cost-plus contracts protect the taxpayer because the government can use the prospect of raising or lowering award fees to encourage "effective control of costs" by the contractor.[30] Clearly this has not occurred with the RIO contract. Rather than relying on the findings of its own auditors, the Pentagon reimbursed Halliburton for $124 million in costs that the auditors determined to be excessive or unsupported. And rather than holding Halliburton accountable for squandering taxpayer and Iraqi funds, the Administration rewarded Halliburton with large bonuses and special treatment. The Committee on Government Reform has held no full Committee hearings on Iraq this Congress. In light of the mounting reconstruction problems in Iraq and the questions raised in this letter, the Committee should initiate a series of hearings into contracting in Iraq, starting with a hearing to investigate the federal payments to Halliburton. In order to adequately prepare for these hearings, we should also insist that the Pentagon produce the detailed RIO compensation determination documents previously requested by the Committee. We cannot allow the Administration to waste additional taxpayer dollars paying Halliburton's inflated costs and undeserved profits on the remaining four RIO task orders. Sincerely, Henry A. Waxman -------- ACTIVISTS Police Oust Anti-Nuclear Activists From French Port REUTERS FRANCE: December 2, 2005 http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/33792/story.htm PARIS - Police removed anti-nuclear protesters who had climbed onto a dockyard crane on Thursday to prevent a Russian ship from loading what they called dangerous nuclear waste at the northwestern French port of Le Havre. The environmental group Greenpeace said 20 of its supporters -- 17 French nationals and 3 Swiss -- were taken in for questioning after the protest, which lasted more than 12 hours. "The export of uranium waste is an immense scandal. Thousands of tonnes leave every year by sea and across Russia, to be abandoned in Russia in sites which are among the most polluted in the planet," Greenpeace said. The French nuclear energy firm Areva, responsible for the nuclear site from which the material came, dismissed Greenpeace's concerns that the cargo was unsafe for transport. "It's a normal operation," said Areva spokesman Charles Hufnagel. He said the cargo contained depleted uranium which was being sent to Russia for enrichment to make nuclear fuel. Depleted uranium was not highly radioactive and posed no risks, he said. The vessel Kapitan Kuroptev is due to take the cargo to the Russian port of St Petersburg. Le Havre port authorities declined comment. ---- Taking on torture: Vermonter arrested while protesting U.S. military school By Shay Totten | Vermont Guardian December 2, 2005 http://www.vermontguardian.com/commentary/122005/WHINSECProtest.shtml BURLINGTON — For years, Burlington filmmaker and activist Robin Lloyd has traveled throughout Latin America, observing firsthand the death and destruction left behind by U.S.-bred military policies promoting counterinsurgencies. More recently, she has been traveling the world as part of Code Pink, is on the national board of the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom, and continues to work as a filmmaker and publisher of Toward Freedom, a progressive-minded, international public affairs website. On Nov. 20, she took her longstanding opposition to U.S. policies of torture and became one of 40 people arrested at an annual protest against the U.S. Army’s Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC). She expects to serve at least three months in a federal prison as a result and pay a fine of up to $5,000. The school is more commonly known by its former moniker, the School of the Americas (SOA), and is located at Fort Benning in Columbus, GA. Each year, thousands of protesters gather at its gates. More than 15,000 people were at the Nov. 20 protest, according to protest organizers, making it one of the largest gatherings. After “a rough night” in a local county jail, Lloyd posted bail, but will return on Jan. 30 for a court hearing on a federal charge of trespassing. Lloyd, who is 67, is no stranger to civil disobedience. She was part of the legendary Winooski 44 arrested in 1984 for a sit-in at the office of U.S. Sen. Robert Stafford over U.S. involvement in Central America, and the Republican senator’s own votes. At their trial, protesters invoked the so-called “necessity defense”; in other words, they were forced to take illegal actions to stop a greater injustice. This defense, along with invoking elements of international law, was used justify their actions. Chittenden County District Court Judge Frank Mahady agreed with their reasoning and, in a decision still hailed today in some legal circles, acquitted the group. While Lloyd says she may use the necessity defense again, she doesn’t believe that the federal judge in Georgia will be as understanding as his Vermont counterpart was two decades ago. Her arrest also means she won’t be able to travel early next year to the World Social Forum, to be held in Venezuela, an annual gathering she had been looking forward to attending. Lloyd was the only Vermonter arrested this year. Several years ago, thousands of protesters were detained, and then later released, after they crossed onto the school’s property. “I had gone down just once before, when 4,000 of us walked into the zone with our crosses … and they stopped us and put us all in buses and drove us somewhere and let us out,” Lloyd recalled of her previous protest at the school. “They didn’t fingerprint us or anything.” Since 9/11, however, Lloyd said the school has beefed up its security around the annual protest, and prosecutors have doled out harsher punishments. “They had three fences, but you could still climb under the fence and that’s what people did. We were hoping that 500 people would cross over, and we could overwhelm them.” Lloyd said the growing U.S. public debate about the use of torture by the military helped to bring in additional protesters this year to the SOA. Lloyd was arrested while attempting to issue a warrant for citizen’s arrest to Colonel Gilberto R. Perez, director of WHINSEC. The warrant cited the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: “[N]o one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Lloyd claimed that Perez is harboring known human rights abusers, and should be held accountable. The SOA has been located at Fort Benning since 1984, when it was kicked out of Panama because of its strong connections to military coups and torture, protesters say. More than 60,000 soldiers from throughout Latin America have graduated from the SOA, many of them responsible for some of the worst atrocities in Latin America since the school’s inception in 1946. The list includes the massacre of over 900 civilians in El Mozote, El Salvador, in 1981, and numerous massacres in Colombia this year. “The people who come to this school are knighted with impunity,” Lloyd said. “They know that no one is going to bring them to account in their countries. This is the grandfather of developing the policy of counterinsurgency, which means setting up these paramilitary groups and slaughtering innocent civilians.” -------- --------