NucNews July 19, 2006 -------- NUCLEAR -------- business India's top atomic centre in search of commercial benefits Chennai, July 19, 2006 (IANS) http://www.bihartimes.com/news06/marchall/19july03.html From making radio-imaging cheaper to helping in diagnosis of neurological disorders, India's premier atomic research centre has taken on diverse roles as it seeks to exploit its commercial potential in its 50th year of operation. With the increase in grants for research and development, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) at Trombay, near Mumbai, hopes its two-dozen super specialty centres across the country will be able to effectively use its scientific research pool in the commercial sector. "In the US, the non-power application of nuclear energy is more of a money earner," BARC director S. Banerjee, who is also member of India's Atomic Energy Commission, told IANS at a celebration function at Kalpakkam, near here. BARC has set up a medical cyclotron at the Radiation Medical and Clinical Research Centre at the Tata Memorial Cancer Research Hospital in Mumbai to make radio-imaging cheaper. With millions of people receiving radiation therapy in India every year, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) is looking for private partners for commercial manufacture of the cobalt unit, named Bhabhatron (after India's pioneering atomic energy scientist Homi Bhabha) that BARC patented in 2005. "The Bhabhatron machine can provide state-of-the-art treatment in rural areas at low cost." At least 1,000 such machines are needed in the country for the treatment of cancer, Banerjee said. Moreover, its export potential to developing countries is huge. "If there are 300 cobalt radiation units in the country, 299 of them have been imported", Banerjee said. BARC radioisotopes are also being used for diagnosis of cardiac and neurological disorders and diseases of thyroid, lung, heart and kidney and sterilize medical disposable products. Plants have been set up in Bangalore, Delhi, Jodhpur and Kolkata to produce radioisotopes. The Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre at Kolkata and the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology at Indore support food preservation, radiation processing of materials, curing adhesives and paints, colouring diamonds and making reactor-used water non-hazardous. Gamma scanning helps detect cracks in metals and leaks in buried pipelines. As many as 1,000 BARC designed industrial radiographic cameras are in use today. BARC tracers are used for silt movement studies in harbours and to map ground water. A major study of how sewage goes into the sea was done recently in Mumbai. BARC's nuclear agriculture programme and desalination technology are also in high demand. BARC's Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) in Hyderabad, set up in the early '70s, makes different kinds of seamless alloy tubes, a technology that is sought after for next generation reactors. This expertise is at present sold only to the Indian Navy, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and other defence organisations. Kamini, a 30-KW reactor at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research at Kalpakkam, is a pioneer in thorium research. A 100-KW High Temperature Reactor is being developed to provide electricity in remote places with the use of a special Thorium-Uranium-233 system that reduces the storage time of long-life radioactive wastes, yet another path-breaking technology. Last year, BARC was sanctioned over Rs. 12 billion ($260 million) to spend on developing technology and DAE is hoping its super specialty centres will turn it into a profit-making organization. -------- china Go easy, says French scientist NT Bureau Kalpakkam, July 19, 2006 http://www.newstodaynet.com/19jul/rf14.htm Georges Vendryes, executive vice-president, French Atomic Energy Commission, has cautioned the Department of Atomic Energy 'to move forward with utmost circumspection, to take no risks, not be in a hurry and not try to beat Olympic records in the mega jump from 13 MWe Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) to 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR), which is under construction at Kalpakkam'. Addressing a function to mark 20 years of successful operation of FBTR at Kalpakkam near Chennai yesterday, Vendryes said, 'the jump from FBTR to PFBR is a bold one. I have no doubt about India's capability in taking up this daring challenge considering the experience of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) in building and operating the FBTR. 'If everything goes well, you will be acclaimed as a world champion in FBRs in a decade or so,' he said. Vendryes said the India-French collaboration in building the FBTR did not materialise following a peaceful nuclear explosion in 1974 and the stopping of supply of highly enriched uranium fuel. But the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre boldly decided to go for mixed uranium-plutonium carbide fuel for the FBTR and achieved a remarkable feat in fabricating it without outside help. Pranab Mukherjee, Union Defence Minister, speaking on the occasion, said the production of nuclear power from PFBR by 2010 would mark the beginning of an era of fast reactors in the country, which would propel India to a world leadership position in this area in the near future. He said the reprocessing technology of fast reactor fuel was complex and demanding, so much so that it has been mastered by only a few countries in the world. 'India's success in this crucial pursuit gives us confidence that we will be able to extract plutonium and uranium from the irradiated fuel coming out of PFBR. This technology will enable us to leverage our limited indigenous uranium resources manifold,' Mukherjee said. The current indigenous uranium resources were capable of generating 10,000 MW in Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR). Plutonium, extracted by reprocessing irradiated PHWR fuel, would in turn be able to generate more than five lakh MWe through fast breeders and associated, closed fuel cycles, he added. Mukherjee said India's collaboration with France as well as other countries would be enhanced in the coming years and would lead to mutual strengthening of the FBR programme internationally. Prithviraj Chavan, Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, said India was among the few countries, which had mastered the complex technology of FBRs involving the twin challenges - liquid sodium and plutonium. Speaking at the function, Anil Kakodkar, chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, said 'the Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) technology holds the key to energy independence of our country in the context of our huge energy needs to support the growing economy and a respectable quality of life of our vast population.' 'Twenty years of successful operation of FBTR have enabled us to master the FBR technology in all its aspects. In fact some aspects like its unique carbide fuel core and its successful reprocessing after irradiation to a very huge level of burn- up has put India in the forefront of this technology,' Kakodkar noted. 'Our work with FBTR has given us the confidence to launch the construction of our first commercial prototype - the 500 MW Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR),' he said. Welcoming the gathering, Baldev Raj, director, IGCAR, said he was confident that India would emerge as a world leader in this technology by 2020 if not earlier. ---- Nuke Deal: Debating the pros and cons By: Indrajeet Rai Zee News, July 19, 2006 http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/print_articles.asp?rep=2&aid=277689&sid=ZNS As India readies to receive world’s most high profile guest, there is a backdoor frenzy to put a slew of agreements in place. Undoubtedly, the Indo-US nuke deal is pitted as the most contentious and vital. Seldom have so many deals been made contingent on a single deal in world history. Not only are bilateral deals between India and America a hostage to it but India’s bilateral nuclear deal with France and other nuclear supplying countries would also treat it like benchmark. Much has been written about the nuclear cooperation deal signed between India and USA during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to America in July 2005. Some analysts, mostly from the non-proliferation lobby in the US, have seen it as a catalyst for abetting proliferation of nuclear weapons. While analysts in India have accused the Indian government of succumbing to American pressures, which want to curb India’s nuclear weapon possessing capabilities, thereby curtailing proliferation and forfeiting its nuclear independence carefully crafted over the years. How can it be possible? How can the same agreement work in both ways, to curb India’s nuclear weapon making capabilities and also trigger nuclear weapon proliferation? How can a deal be a sellout to both the parties? Well, both the arguments have some basis. The truth, however, lies somewhere in between. Let us examine how. The Deal: Some basics As per the Joint Statement announced on July 18, 2005, President Bush said he would “work to achieve full civil nuclear energy cooperation with India” and “would also seek agreement from Congress to adjust US laws and policies”. On India’s part, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conveyed that India “would take on the same responsibilities and practices and acquire the same benefits and advantages as other leading countries with advanced nuclear technology, such as the United States”. As per the Joint Statement, “These responsibilities and practices consist of: # Identifying and separating civil and nuclear facilities and programmes in a phased manner and filing a declaration regarding its civilian facilities with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). · # Taking a decision to voluntarily place its civil nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards. · # Continuing India’s unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing, and · # Working with the United States for the conclusion of a Multilateral Fissile Material Cut Off Treaty. Arguments Against # The deal is likely to abet the nuclear weapon capabilities of India. For, if civil and military facilities are separated, the supply of international nuclear fuel will free its existing facilities, designated as military facilities, to produce plutonium and enriched plutonium exclusively for weapons’ purpose. # The deal might provoke other nuclear weapon states like China to enter into the same kind of agreement with other implicit nuclear nations like Pakistan. In fact, Pakistan President Musharraf, during his recent visit to China, has argued for a Pakistan-China nuclear deal along the same lines. # India has still not signed the NPT treaty. But it will enjoy all the privileges available to declared nuclear powers under the NPT regime. In the eyes of American non-proliferation lobby the nuclear deal is an American sellout to India. · # Arguments against the deal in India have centred around three main points. First and foremost, the proposed separation of nuclear facilities into civil and military is costly and difficult or rather impractical due to the Indian nuclear programme being unified since the very beginning. Secondly, the deal will impact India’s ability to produce requisite fissile material as all new nuclear facilities will be civilian in nature and under the supervision of IAEA. Third, nuclear power is costly in nature and an emerging county like India can ill afford it. It is a luxury that only the developed world can enjoy and India should not count on it in its energy security calculus. Last but not the least, the deal is asymmetrical in nature since it is all about American promises and Indian commitments. · # Finally, the deal does not remove the discriminatory nature of the present nuclear regime which India has been fighting all along. Why should India place all its “existing and future civilian nuclear facilities under IAEA supervision” when other nuclear powers are not compelled to do so? In terms of statistics, out of the 915 facilities under IAEA safeguards worldwide, only 11 are in the five NPT nuclear powers. Thus, India will continue to be a part of the discriminatory non-proliferation regime. Arguments For # First, to answer the proliferation charge, the present deal is a win-win situation for the non-proliferation regime since it brings India into the nuclear mainstream. All the past policies to bring India into NPT regime had failed. Then why not give the deal a chance? India, despite being a declared nuclear power, has an impeccable non-proliferation record that needs to be trusted and rewarded rather than questioned and punished. As India’s Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said, “If India’s past record and current policies are not recognised, and worse still, if it is to be graded with those whose record in this respect is more than suspect, then our nonproliferation objectives may enjoy the comfort of noble intentions but not the efficacy of tactical action.” # Second, India is a fast growing economy that is looking for all the energy resources that it can get hold of, howsoever costly they may be. True, the nuclear establishment has failed to meet its commitment of producing 2,700 megawatts of electricity from nuclear plants by 1980-81. It is roughly producing the same committed amount about thirty-five years later that constitutes three percent of India’s energy supply. The denial of nuclear fuel due to provisions of the NPT regime has been precisely the reason behind the Indian nuclear establishment’s dismal performance. History has given us the chance and we must seize it. If international nuclear fuel is available, the cost of producing electricity will also come down and will be within the affordable range. # Third, there is nothing in the deal that asks India not to pursue its three-phase nuclear power programme. In fact, it further adds to the process. India can continue to pursue its fast-breeder reactor programme independently. # Fourth, India will get access to all the facilities and technologies available to declared nuclear powers in the NPT regime without signing the treaty. · # Fifth, India has not given any commitment to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which even US and China have signed, though both are yet to ratify it. The only commitment that India has given is that of negotiating a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty with the US. · # Sixth, India is not under any obligation to not produce fissile material and can continue to do so as long as it needs, to meet its declared policy of developing credible minimum nuclear deterrence. · # Seventh, there is no provision in the deal that asks India to place its indigenously developed nuclear reactors under IAEA supervision. The deal is applicable only in the case of existing and future nuclear reactors that will be using international nuclear fuel. Technically, India can build up as many indigenous nuclear reactors as it wants for its security purposes. · # Finally, to quote the Indian Prime Minister, “It will be an autonomous Indian decision as to what is ‘civilian’ and what is ‘military’. Nobody outside will tell us what is ‘civilian’ and what is ‘military’.” We have no reason to distrust the words of our Prime Minister. On balance, the India-US nuclear deal as proposed is the much-needed recipe to regenerate our nuclear establishment that is stifling under present international regulations. If the status quo is allowed to prevail, our ambitious plan for nuclear power will not only remain a pipedream but even the status quo will become unsustainable as Indian nuclear fuel sources are limited and of inferior quality that make it more costly. Of course, there are a few conditions, which may be strict in nature, that have to be adhered to. But isn’t politics all about interest articulation, aggregation and mediation? The Indian government will be doing the same if it will be closing the nuclear deal with the USA in the coming week. -------- depleted uranium Huntington wants depleted uranium testing extended Peggy Vlerebome Madison IN Courier Staff Writer 7/19/2006 http://www.madisoncourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=253&ArticleID=31163&TM=54285.98 Five years of collecting data on depleted uranium would not be nearly long enough before the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission decides whether to allow the Army to decommission Jefferson Proving Ground, Mayor Al Huntington said in a letter Tuesday to the federal agency. “Protection against airborne and surface water migration of potential hazardous chemicals must be assured by expanding the testing period to a minimum of 25 years and expanding the JPG DU testing area with more monitoring wells to the west and southwest,” Huntington wrote. “This concern for human safety is supported by a study at Northern Arizona University which finds that depleted uranium can cause genetic mutations.” His letter was read by city official Betsey Vonderheide at a listening session conducted in Madison by a three-member panel of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, which is part of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The three-member panel was in Madison primarily for a conference today with attorneys from the NRC staff, the Army and Save the Valley environmental organization to talk about issues Save the Valley has raised in challenging the Army’s request to be given five years to collect data before it seeks decommissioning of JPG. Munitions containing depleted uranium were tested at JPG between 1984 and 1994. The conference today was at City Hall and was open to the public to observe but not participate. The panel will be back in Madison for a public hearing on whichever issues are approved for consideration. The date has not been set. Eighteen people attended the half-hour listening session at the Madison-Jefferson County Public Library. At least half of them are involved in the issue, representing Save the Valley, the Army, the NRC staff and the contractors who work for the Army doing monitoring and studies. The Army had to have an NRC license in order to use depleted uranium at the testing site. Depleted uranium is left over after uranium is processed such as for nuclear power plant fuel. Depleted uranium is radioactive and toxic, and the study Huntington referred to said that DU also can alter DNA. Only two other people spoke at the listening session. They were Joel Wientke, representing the Hoosier Environmental Council, and Joe Robb, refuge manager at the Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge. Wientke said there are a lot of unanswered questions about the Army’s plans at JPG. Robb said it is good a lot of information is being gathered, because the more data there is, the better decisions can be made. Huntington’s letter also said the Army “must guarantee sufficient appropriations to fund all aspects of the DU liability.” Otherwise, he wrote, problems “ will become the financial burden” of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. The listening session was more informal than the NRC panel is accustomed to. Chairman Alan Rosenthal said he and panel members Paul Abramson and Richard F. Cole were in shirtsleeves in deference to the extreme heat. Ordinarily, he said, they wear suits — “ usually dark suits,” he added with a laugh — and ties. -------- korea North Korea Launches Wartime Alert by Staff Writers Seoul (AFP) Jul 19, 2006 http://www.spacewar.com/reports/North_Korea_Launches_Wartime_Alert_999.html North Korea has launched a wartime alert, putting its armed forces and nationals in a state of a war mobilization, an unconfirmed news report said here Wednesday. Kim Jong-Il, head of the communist country, issued an order to that effect hours before the United Nations Security Council unanimously condemned North Korea's missile tests last week, said the Joongang daily, quoting an unnamed government source. Government officials were unable to be reached for confirmation early Wednesday. North Korean soldiers on leave were told to return to their barracks, camouflage nettings were being draped on military vehicles and weapons, and people were prohibited from entering the countryside, the source said. The alert was not issued publicly but spread quietly through military and civilian emergency networks, the daily said. North Korea announced a war mobilization in 1993 at the height of a stand-off with the United States over its nuclear weapons programme. South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun was due to hold a cabinet meeting later Wednesday to discuss security in the aftermath of the UN resolution. The cabinet meeting was arranged before the report of the wartime alert. The resolution, the first UN action against North Korea since 1993, requires nations to prevent the shipment of equipment and technology for the North's missile or weapons of mass destruction programmes. But the isolated communist state rejected what it called the "brigandish" resolution and vowed to bolster its defences, saying the situation had deteriorated due to the hostile policy of the United States. ---- North Korea Scraps North-South Family Reunions by Staff Writers Seoul (AFP) Jul 19, 2006 http://www.spacewar.com/reports/North_Korea_Scraps_North_South_Family_Reunions_999.html North Korea said Wednesday it would scrap cross-border family reunions on the divided peninsula, accusing Seoul of siding with its Western allies in the standoff over Pyongyang's missile launches. The North's Red Cross chief, Jang Jae-On, slammed South Korea for "abusing the humanitarian issue for meeting its sinister purpose to serve the outsiders." "Our side is, therefore, of the view that it has become impossible to hold any discussion related to humanitarian issues, to say nothing of arranging any reunion between separated families and relatives between the two sides," he said in a letter to South Korea. At inter-Korean ministerial talks last week, South Korea urged the defiant communist country to give an assurance that it would stop firing off any more missiles and return to six-party talks on its nuclear weapons program. But North Korea refused to budge, insisting Washington should first remove financial sanctions imposed on it for alleged money laundering and counterfeiting. In response, South Korea, the biggest donor to the impoverished North, refused to discuss further humanitarian aid until a breakthrough is made in the missile and nuclear issues. North Korean delegates issued an angry statement warning of "disastrous" consequences for inter-Korean ties. The peninsula was divided politically in 1948, a split that was cemented by the 1950-53 war. The two nations have yet to sign a peace treaty following the end of the conflict. The two Koreas decided at a landmark summit in 2000 to start more systematic reunions for relatives separated by the war. Since then more than 13,600 Koreans have taken part in the reunions. The last such meeting took place on June 19 at North Korea's Mount Kumgang resort. The North's Red Cross chief said South Korea had laid "a stumbling block" to inter-Korean reconciliation. "This is an act of treachery little short of sacrificing the humanitarian work between fellow countrymen to serve the US and Japan keen on applying sanctions against (North Korea) with bitterness toward it," he said. Therefore, it is impossible to arrange a special video meeting of separated families marking Korea's liberation from Japan's colonial rule on August 15 and to construct a reunion center at the Kumgang resort, he said. -------- latinamerica U.S.-Origin Nuclear Fuel Returned from Argentina NNSA program removes highly enriched uranium from Argentine nuclear reactor U.S. Department of State 19 July 2006 http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m=July&x=20060719144611adynned8.585757e-02&chanlid=wha Washington -- Argentina's National Atomic Energy Commission and the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) have removed more than 3 kilograms of U.S.-origin highly enriched uranium from an Argentine nuclear research reactor and returned it to the United States, the NNSA says. The return of the uranium fuel, contained in 24 fuel assemblies, represents the first of three steps in an agreement to remove or dispose of all highly enriched uranium originating from the United States still in Argentina, the NNSA said in a press release July 19. The next step will be to convert the Argentine research reactor from using highly enriched uranium (HEU), which can be used to produce nuclear weapons, to low-enriched uranium fuel. The final step will be to return spent HEU fuel from the reactor to the United States. The United States and Argentina have been cooperating over the past year in several nonproliferation activities, according to the NNSA release. NNSA Administrator Linton Brooks applauded "the leadership role that Argentina is taking to minimize and … eliminate the use of [highly enriched uranium] in civil nuclear purposes." He added that the endeavor "is part of NNSA's broad global effort to reduce the risk of terrorists acquiring nuclear material." (See related article.) The NNSA, an agency in the U.S. Department of Energy, works closely with the international community to remove or dispose of excess and vulnerable stockpiles of nuclear material to reduce the risk of terrorists acquiring it for use as a weapon of mass destruction. The HEU removal operation was conducted under NNSA's Global Threat Reduction Initiative. For further information about U.S. nonproliferation efforts, see Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. Additional information about the NNSA’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative is available on the NNSA Web site. (Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov) -------- missile defense US to deploy missile interceptors at Japan base Wed Jul 19, 2006 (Reuters) http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2006-07-20T011737Z_01_T334636_RTRUKOC_0_US-KOREA-NORTH-JAPAN-USA.xml TOKYO - The United States will start deploying missile interceptors at a key air force base in Japan from this summer, as part of efforts with Tokyo to deal with the threat of North Korea's missile arsenal, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. The U.S. military will install Patriot Advanced Capability-3 surface-to-air interceptors at its Kadena Air Base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa from September and plans to make them partly operational by the end of the year, the ministry said. They will be fully operational by the end of March, a ministry official added. The deployment of the PAC-3s at Kadena -- the largest U.S. air base in the Asia-Pacific -- would be the first at a U.S. facility in Japan. Japanese officials said while the system was meant to protect the country from North Korea's missiles -- which include hundreds of Rodong missiles that can hit all of Japan -- the timing of the deployment, soon after Pyongyang's test-firing of seven missiles earlier this month, was a coincidence. Japan and the United States had agreed in May to deploy the PAC-3s at U.S. military facilities in Japan as soon as possible, as part of a realignment of U.S. forces in Japan. The PAC-3s are the U.S. military's state-of-the-art missile interceptors and are designed to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles at their terminal phase, shortly before they reach their targets, by firing interceptor missiles at them. But military analysts say the system can cover an area within a radius of up to 10 km, and Japanese officials said the PAC-3s at Kadena will only be able to cover parts of Okinawa. Separately, Japan plans to equip its own military, the Self-Defence Forces, with PAC-3s, and is set to deploy the first such system at an air base just north of Tokyo by the end of March, officials said. As part of U.S.-Japan cooperation on missile defense, the U.S. Navy will deploy Shiloh, a cruiser equipped with the Aegis missile tracking and engaging system, at one of its bases in Japan, the officials added. -------- u.s. nuc facilities -------- nevada New Opening Date for Yucca Mountain Waste Dump Is 2017 July 19, 2006 — By Erica Werner, Associated Press http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=10892 WASHINGTON — The Energy Department has a new opening date for the long-delayed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Nevada: March 31, 2017. That's 19 years late. But it's the first concrete timeline the department has produced in some time. The Energy Department planned to announce the schedule at a congressional hearing Wednesday but shared it with congressional offices Tuesday. Several of them made it public. Under the schedule, the department would submit its license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on June 30, 2008, get authorization to begin construction on Sept. 30, 2011, complete construction on March 30, 2016 and begin accepting nuclear waste on March 31, 2017. The dates correspond to general goals department officials have shared recently with lawmakers. "Our work will continue to be based on sound science .... The program now has reachable, definable target dates that will allow us to open Yucca Mountain as the nation's repository for spent nuclear fuel," Energy Department spokesman Craig Stevens said in a statement. "This is an ambitious schedule, but it's nice to actually see a schedule. This is the most detailed schedule on Yucca Mountain that I have seen in recent memory," said Senate Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M. But Domenici, who last month released a proposal for interim nuclear waste storage at federal sites across the country, said his plan still would be needed because the government is years past its 1998 deadline to begin accepting spent fuel from nuclear reactors. Yucca Mountain is planned as the first national repository for nuclear waste and is meant to hold at least 77,000 tons of the material for thousands of years. The dump site is in the desert 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The project has been delayed repeatedly by lawsuits, funding shortfalls, evidence that government scientists flouted quality control standards -- requiring their work to be redone -- and other problems. Currently there are more than 50,000 tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste waiting at nuclear power plants in 31 states. The government is obligated by contract to take the waste off the utilities' hands but has not done so because it has no place to put it. "This timetable is a rosy scenario painted to please those desperate to see Yucca Mountain open for business," said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., who along with the rest of Nevada's congressional delegation strongly opposes the dump. "The proposed nuclear garbage dump at Yucca Mountain still faces serious obstacles before it can be licensed, including additional legal challenges from the state of Nevada." ---- Timetable for Yucca Mountain Has Nuclear Waste Arriving in 2017 WASHINGTON, DC, July 19, 2006 (ENS) http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2006/2006-07-19-09.asp#anchor1 The U.S. Energy Department now says the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Nevada could be open to accept high-level radioactive waste at the end of March 2017. If constructed, Yucca Mountain would be the first high-level nuclear waste geologic repository in the United States. Under the schedule, announced today by Ward Sproat, director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, the department would submit its license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on June 30, 2008 and get authorization to begin construction on Sept. 30, 2011. Testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's energy and air quality subcommittee, Sproat said construction could be completed on March 30, 2016 and Yucca Mountain could begin accepting nuclear waste on March 31, 2017. Yucca Mountain, located at the edge of the Nevada Test site, is 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Approved by president George W. Bush and Congress in 2002, the repository is intended to contain at least 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel and waste from Defense Department weapons factories for thousands of years. The high-level waste is now sited at power plants and other facilities in 31 states. The Energy Department is legally obligated to permanently dispose of the waste and the federal government has been collecting money from nuclear power plant operators for years to fund permanent storage, but the repository has run into many hurdles. Nevada Congresswoman Shelley Berkley, who opposes Yucca Mountain as all Nevada elected officials do, says the proposed facility lacks an approved radiation standard that will protect human health and the environment. "The Bush administration and its Republican allies in Congress will not rest until they turn Nevada into a nuclear garbage dump," Berkley said today. "They have wasted billions of dollars on this flawed flight of fancy that poses an unacceptable risk to Nevada families and our environment. While the White House may have ordered a ‘mission accomplished’ banner to go along with this new timetable, nothing will erase the long list of failures hanging over the Yucca Mountain Project.” She points to seismic and volcanic activity at the site, legal challenges by the state of Nevada, and nationwide opposition to waste shipments which could release radioactive contamination in the event of an accident or terrorist attack. Rather than allow waste to be dumped in Nevada, the state Congressional delegation supports legislation that would require waste to be kept on-site at nuclear plants in dry cask storage, where it can safely remain for the next 100 years. The Yucca Mountain Task Force (YMTF) calls the timetable, "a sober step in the right direction toward meeting the Federal Government’s longstanding commitment to U.S. electricity consumers and utilities, who have invested $28 billion in this program including interest." The Task Force includes the Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition, U.S. Transport Council, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Prairie Island Community Council, Decommissioning Plant Coalition, and other organizations that collectively represent state regulatory authorities, nuclear utilities, and businesses with principal operations throughout the United States. The Task Force said today, "The DOE’s plan to centralize management of spent fuel and high-level waste at one national facility in less than 11 years clearly stands in stark contrast to the Senate Appropriations plan to store this material at up to 31 sites for 25 years at the expense of ratepayers in 41 states." The Task Force is urging rapid enactment of the pending Nuclear Fuel Management and Disposal Act, particularly funding reform. "We encourage a continued dialog and focus on this legislation - and the tremendous costs and implications of inaction - in the balance of this Congress." Sproat told the subcommittee that one of his basic objectives is to "Address the impasse and growing government liability associated with unmet contractual obligations to move spent fuel from nuclear plant sites." Sproat said independent, external assessments will be conducted on the draft license application, several key engineering processes, and the quality assurance programs at DOE, the primary Yucca Mountain contractor, and several national laboratories. Requests for proposals will be issued within the next few weeks seeking qualified experts to conduct these assessments. ---- Doubts raised over nuclear waste plan By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer Wed Jul 19, 2006 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060719/ap_on_go_ot/yucca_mountain_2 WASHINGTON - The new head of the government's Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump has doubts about a Senate plan for temporary storage of highly radioactive nuclear waste pending completion of Yucca. "I'm not saying it can't be done but it's going to be a challenge," Edward F. "Ward" Sproat, director of the Energy Department's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, told reporters Wednesday. Sproat, a former nuclear industry executive, also said that if Yucca Mountain opens in Nevada in 2017 — a new completion date announced this week — there may be no need for interim storage anyway. "The timeframes needed to design, license and probably litigate a centralized or several centralized storage facilities" could likely stretch to 2017, Sproat said. Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is supposed to be the first national repository for nuclear waste. It's meant to hold 77,000 tons of the material for thousands of years. But a series of problems including lawsuits and funding shortfalls have delayed the project, and more than 50,000 tons of nuclear waste is now piling up at nuclear power plants in 31 states, with nowhere to go. The government is facing mounting legal liability because it was contractually obligated to begin storing the material starting in 1998. That's led some in Congress to push for interim storage sites. The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a plan by Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., that would allow the government to store nuclear waste for up to 25 years at federal sites across the country that could open five or six years from now. Domenici said Tuesday that even with the new 2017 deadline his plan still is needed, because "we must do something now to meet this obligation." While questioning the interim storage plan, Sproat said the mounting liability to utilities — estimated to reach $7 billion by 2017 — needed to be addressed. Some utilities already have filed lawsuits — and won favorable rulings in the courts — claiming the government owes them millions of dollars for failing to take their waste. While in the private sector Sproat was the lead negotiator in a nuclear waste settlement that Exelon Corp. reached with the Energy Department in 2004. He said he wanted to renew discussions with utilities on settlement agreements that might limit the government's liability. Sproat also said that the Energy Department will not be able to achieve the new March 31, 2017, deadline to open Yucca unless Congress approves a package of legislative reforms that would increase the waste storage capacity at Yucca, ensure a steady funding stream and make other changes. -------- us nuc waste Doubts Raised Over Nuclear Waste Plan July 19, 2006 The Associated Press By ERICA WERNER http://www.topix.net/content/ap/3200291063112616521930934463323104759295?threadid=GMGBHCG5E2P3L8NB The new head of the government's Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump has doubts about a Senate plan for temporary storage of highly radioactive nuclear waste pending completion of Yucca. 'I'm not saying it can't be done but it's going to be a challenge,' Edward F. 'Ward' Sproat, director of the Energy Department's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, told reporters Wednesday. Sproat, a former nuclear industry executive, also said that if Yucca Mountain opens in Nevada in 2017 _ a new completion date announced this week _ there may be no need for interim storage anyway. 'The timeframes needed to design, license and probably litigate a centralized or several centralized storage facilities' could likely stretch to 2017, Sproat said. Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is supposed to be the first national repository for nuclear waste. It's meant to hold 77,000 tons of the material for thousands of years. But a series of problems including lawsuits and funding shortfalls have delayed the project, and more than 50,000 tons of nuclear waste is now piling up at nuclear power plants in 31 states, with nowhere to go. The government is facing mounting legal liability because it was contractually obligated to begin storing the material starting in 1998. That's led some in Congress to push for interim storage sites. The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a plan by Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., that would allow the government to store nuclear waste for up to 25 years at federal sites across the country that could open five or six years from now. Domenici said Tuesday that even with the new 2017 deadline his plan still is needed, because 'we must do something now to meet this obligation.' While questioning the interim storage plan, Sproat said the mounting liability to utilities _ estimated to reach $7 billion by 2017 _ needed to be addressed. Some utilities already have filed lawsuits _ and won favorable rulings in the courts _ claiming the government owes them millions of dollars for failing to take their waste. While in the private sector Sproat was the lead negotiator in a nuclear waste settlement that Exelon Corp. reached with the Energy Department in 2004. He said he wanted to renew discussions with utilities on settlement agreements that might limit the government's liability. Sproat also said that the Energy Department will not be able to achieve the new March 31, 2017, deadline to open Yucca unless Congress approves a package of legislative reforms that would increase the waste storage capacity at Yucca, ensure a steady funding stream and make other changes. -------- MILITARY -------- israel / palestine United States to Israel: you have one more week to blast Hizbullah Bush 'gave green light' for limited attack, say Israeli and UK sources Ewen MacAskill, Simon Tisdall and Patrick Wintour Wednesday July 19, 2006 The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1823817,00.html The US is giving Israel a window of a week to inflict maximum damage on Hizbullah before weighing in behind international calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon, according to British, European and Israeli sources. The Bush administration, backed by Britain, has blocked efforts for an immediate halt to the fighting initiated at the UN security council, the G8 summit in St Petersburg and the European foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels. "It's clear the Americans have given the Israelis the green light. They [the Israeli attacks] will be allowed to go on longer, perhaps for another week," a senior European official said yesterday. Diplomatic sources said there was a clear time limit, partly dictated by fears that a prolonged conflict could spin out of control. US strategy in allowing Israel this freedom for a limited period has several objectives, one of which is delivering a slap to Iran and Syria, who Washington claims are directing Hizbullah and Hamas militants from behind the scenes. George Bush last night said that he suspected Syria was trying to reassert its influence in Lebanon. Speaking in Washington, he said: "It's in our interest for Syria to stay out of Lebanon and for this government in Lebanon to succeed and survive. The root cause of the problem is Hizbullah and that problem needs to be addressed." Tony Blair yesterday swung behind the US position that Israel need not end the bombing until Hizbullah hands over captured prisoners and ends its rocket attacks. During a Commons statement, he resisted backbench demands that he call for a ceasefire. Echoing the US position, he told MPs: "Of course we all want violence to stop and stop immediately, but we recognise the only realistic way to achieve such a ceasefire is to address the underlying reasons why this violence has broken out." He also indicated it might take many months to agree the terms of a UN stabilisation force on the Lebanese border. After Mr Blair spoke, British officials privately acknowledged the US had given Israel a green light to continue bombing Lebanon until it believes Hizbullah's infrastructure has been destroyed. Washington's hands-off approach was underlined yesterday when it was confirmed that Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, is delaying a visit to the region until she has met a special UN team. She is expected in the region on Friday, according to Dan Gillerman, Israel's ambassador to the UN. The US is publicly denying any role in setting a timeframe for Israeli strikes. When asked whether the US was holding back diplomatically, Tony Snow, the White House's press spokesman, said yesterday: "No, no; the insinuation there is that there is active military planning, collaboration or collusion, between the United States and Israel - and there isn't ... the US has been in the lead of the diplomatic efforts, issuing repeated calls for restrain,t but at the same time putting together an international consensus. You've got to remember who was responsible for this: Hizbullah ... It would be misleading to say the United States hasn't been engaged. We've been deeply engaged." Steven Cook, a specialist in US-Middle East policy at the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations, said: "It's abundantly clear [that US policy is] to give the Israelis the opportunity to strike a blow at Hizbullah ... "They have global reach, and prior to 9/11 they killed more Americans than any other group. But the Israelis are overplaying their hand." Israel is already laying the ground for negotiations. "We are beginning a diplomatic process alongside the military operation that will continue," said Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister, yesterday. "The diplomatic process is not meant to shorten the window of time of the army's operation, but rather is meant to be an extension of it and to prevent a need for future military operations," she added. Moshe Kaplinsky, Israel's deputy army chief, said the offensive could end within a few weeks, adding that Israel needed time to complete "clear goals". Israeli officials said fighting could begin to wind down after the weekend, if Hizbullah stops firing rockets. A peace formula is also beginning to emerge: it includes an understanding on a future prisoner exchange, a deployment of the Lebanese army up to the Israeli border, a Hizbullah pullback, and the beefing up of an international monitoring force. For the first time, Ms Livni suggested Israel might accept such a force on a temporary basis. There were signs of differences of emphasis between the Foreign Office and Downing Street over the conflict. Kim Howells, a Foreign Office minister, explicitly called for the US to rein in Israel. "I very much hope the Americans will be putting pressure on the Israelis to stop as quickly as possible." he told the BBC. "We understand the pressure the Israeli government is under, but we call on them to look very carefully at the pressure ordinary people are under in southern Lebanon and other parts of Lebanon too ... We want to stop this as quickly as possible". Israeli airstrikes killed 31 yesterday, including a family of nine in Aitaroun. More than 230 civilians in Lebanon have been killed in the past week. An Israeli man was killed by a Hizbullah rocket in Nahariya in northern Israel, bringing the total of Israeli civilian deaths to 13. The army said 50 missiles were fired yesterday at northern Israel, injuring at least 14 people. Flashpoints · 31 Lebanese killed in Israeli air raids. Nine members of one family were killed and four wounded in a strike on their house in the village of Aitaroun. Five were killed in other strikes in the south and two in the Bekaa Valley. An attack on a Lebanese army barracks east of Beirut killed 11 soldiers and wounded 30. A truck carrying medical supplies was hit and its driver killed on the Beirut-Damascus highway. Hizbullah says one of its fighters was killed. · One man killed as he was walking to a bomb shelter in Nahariya, northern Israel. The army said Hizbullah fired 50 missiles, hitting the port and railway depot at Haifa, as well as the towns of Safed, Acre and Kiryat Shmona. · Hundreds evacuated from Beirut in helicopters and boats. HMS Gloucester arrives to start evacuation of Britons. The Orient Queen, a cruise ship capable of carrying 750, sets out from Cyprus, escorted by a US destroyer. ---- U.S. OKs Israel Continuing Attack For Another Week Wednesday, July 19th, 2006 Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/19/1345246 The Bush administration has openly rejected calls for a ceasefire. The New York Times reports that U.S. and Israeli officials have agreed the bombings will continue for another week. Condoleeza Rice Rejects Calls for Immediate Ceasefire On Tuesday Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice rejected an immediate ceasefire and said one could only occur once certain conditions are met. During a joint news conference in Washington, she openly disagreed about the issue with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu al-Gheit. * Ahmad Abu al-Gheit: A cease-fire is imperative and we have to keep working to reach that objective. It is imperative. We have to bring it to an end as soon as possible. Thank you." * Reporter: "Cease-fire now?" * Condoleeza Rice: "We all agree that it should happen as soon as possible, when conditions are conducive to do so." Secretary of State Rice is expected to head to the Middle East within the next week but no official plans have been announced. According to the Wall Street Journal her mission will not be to arrange for a ceasefire but to “build support for the effective crippling of Hezbollah." Bush: “The Root Cause of the Problem is Hezbollah” President Bush defended Israel’s attacks and placed the blame on Syria. * President Bush: “Everybody abhors the loss of innocent life. On the other hand, what we recognize is that the root cause of the problem is Hezbollah. And that problem must be addressed. And it can be addressed internationally by making it clear to Syria that they've got to stop their support to Hezbollah. Syria's trying to get back into Lebanon, it looks like to me.” Bush: Tragic Situations Sometimes Required To Bring Clarity President Bush said the world cannot allow Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel to continue. * President Bush: "Sometimes it requires tragic situations to help bring clarity in the international community. And it is now clear for all to see that there are terrorist elements who want to destroy our democratic friends and allies, and the world must work to prevent them from doing so." U.S. Senate Unanimously Votes to Back Israel On Capitol Hill, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution endorsing Israel's military attack and condemning Hezbollah as well as Iran and Syria. The House is expected to approve a similar resolution. Last night Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman declared "today, we are all Israelis” during a speech to the organization Christians United for Israel. Bolton: No More Equivalence Between Casualties in Lebanon & Israel At the United Nations, US Ambassador John Bolton said there was no moral equivalence between the civilian casualties from the Israeli raids in Lebanon and those killed in Israel from what he called "malicious terrorist acts". He maintained that Israel has only been acting in self defense. U.S. Criticized For Being Too Slow To Evacuate Citizens The Bush administration is coming under increasing criticism for being too slow to evacuate U.S. citizens stranded in Lebanon. Thousands of Europeans have been evacuated but only a few hundred Americans have been able to leave. A total of 25,000 U.S. citizens are believed to be in Lebanon. Israeli Troops Kill Nine Palestinians In Gaza and West Bank In Gaza, Israel troops re-entered the area early morning. In actions today, Israeli troops killed nine Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Around 100 Palestinians have been killed since late June. * Nabil Abu Rudeineh, senior aide to Mahmoud Abbas: "To find a way in order to stop the Israeli escalation on the ground, this is the main topic, this is what we are looking for, apart from the humanitarian crisis which the Palestinians suffering. We hope that United Nations will continue their efforts to stop this escalation, this Israeli military escalation and to help and support the Palestinian people facing the difficulties and the hardship of the situation" Death Toll in Lebanon Reaches 300 The Israeli attack on Lebanon has entered its second week. Early this morning Israeli air strikes killed at least 54 civilians in a series of raids in southern Lebanon. Another 37 people were killed on Tuesday. The death toll now stands at about 300, nearly all Lebanese civilians. Over the past week Israel has attacked more than 100 villages, towns and cities across the country. Israeli Ground Troops Inside Lebanon Fight With Hezbollah Early this morning Israeli ground troops crossed back into Lebanon to carry out attacks near the southern border. The Israeli government has yet to rule out staging a massive ground invasion. For the first time, Israeli soldiers exchanged heavy fire with Hezbollah fighters inside Lebanon. Israeli tanks have also re-entered Gaza. Israel Bombs Milk, Pharmaceutical Factories, Aid Convoys, Church The humanitarian crisis in Lebanon continues to worsen. At least 500,000 people have been displaced from their homes. Scores of roads and bridges have been hit making it hard to transport food or humanitarian aid. Recent Israeli strikes have targeted the country’s largest milk factory, a major food factory and two pharmaceutical plants. Earlier bombs hit water processing plants, power plants and grain silos. On Tuesday a convoy of two trucks carrying medical supplies donated by the United Arab Emirates was hit. The trucks were destroyed and both drivers died. The Israeli military has denied targeting the factories or aid trucks. Two ambulances were also bombed on Tuesday. They were carrying Lebanese soldiers who were injured in an Israeli attack on their base that had killed eleven soldiers. A Greek Orthodox Church also suffered a direct hit. Inside the church were civilians who had taken refuge. At least 10 people were injured. Lebanon PM Accuses Israel of Committing Massacres Lebanon’s Prime Minister Fuad Siniora accused Israel of committing massacres against Lebanese civilians and working to destroy everything that allows the country to stay alive. Another Lebanese cabinet minister accused Israel of waging a war to inflict famine in Lebanon. The Beirut Bar Association has begun discussing plans to file a complaint with the United Nations against Israel for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. Hezbollah Continues Missile Attacks On Israel Lebanon’s Prime Minister Siniora called on the militant group Hezbollah to free the two Israeli soldiers it captured last week. On Tuesday Hezbollah continued to fire missiles into Northern Israel. One person was killed and several others were injured. Human Rights Watch accused Hezbollah of violating international law by firing the missiles at civilians. Hezbollah rocket attacks have killed twenty-five Israelis including 13 civilians. Human Rights Watch also called for an investigation into Israel’s attacks in Lebanon ---- Where Are Bush's Critics Now? by Patrick J. Buchanan Antiwar.com July 19, 2006 http://www.antiwar.com/pat/?articleid=9328 When Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert unleashed his navy and air force on Lebanon, accusing that tiny nation of an "act of war," the last pillar of Bush's Middle East policy collapsed. First came capitulation on the Bush Doctrine, as Pyongyang and Tehran defied Bush's dictum: The world's worst regimes will not be allowed to acquire the world's worst weapons. Then came suspension of the democracy crusade as Islamic militants exploited free elections to advance to power and office in Egypt, Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, Iraq, and Iran. Now Israel's rampage against a defenseless Lebanon – smashing airport runways, fuel tanks, power plants, gas stations, lighthouses, bridges, roads, and the occasional refugee convoy – has exposed Bush's folly in subcontracting U.S. policy out to Tel Aviv, thus making Israel the custodian of our reputation and interests in the Middle East. The Lebanon that Israel, with Bush's blessing, is smashing up has a pro-American government, heretofore considered a shining example of his democracy crusade. Yet, asked in St. Petersburg if he would urge Israel to use restraint in its air strikes, Bush sounded less like the leader of the Free World than some bellicose city councilman from Brooklyn Heights. What Israel is up to was described by its Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz when he threatened to "turn back the clock in Lebanon 20 years." Olmert seized upon Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers to unleash the IDF in a pre-planned attack to make the Lebanese people suffer until the Lebanese government disarms Hezbollah, a task the Israeli army could not accomplish in 18 years of occupation. Israel is doing the same to the Palestinians. To punish these people for the crime of electing Hamas, Olmert imposed an economic blockade of Gaza and the West Bank and withheld the $50 million in monthly tax and customs receipts due the Palestinians. Then, Israel instructed the United States to terminate all aid to the Palestinian Authority, though Bush himself had called for the elections and for the participation of Hamas. Our Crawford cowboy meekly complied. The predictable result: Fatah and Hamas fell to fratricidal fighting, and Hamas militants began launching Qassam rockets over the fence from Gaza into Israel. Hamas then tunneled into Israel, killed two soldiers, captured one, took him back into Gaza, and demanded a prisoner exchange. Israel's response was to abduct half of the Palestinian cabinet and parliament and blow up a $50 million U.S.-insured power plant. That cut off electricity for half a million Palestinians. Their food spoiled, their water could not be purified, and their families sweltered in the summer heat of the Gaza desert. One family of seven was wiped out on a beach by what the IDF assures us was an errant artillery shell. Let it be said: Israel has a right to defend herself, a right to counterattack against Hezbollah and Hamas, a right to clean out bases from which Katyusha or Qassam rockets are being fired, and a right to occupy land from which attacks are mounted on her people. But what Israel is doing is imposing deliberate suffering on civilians, collective punishment on innocent people, to force them to do something they are powerless to do: disarm the gunmen among them. Such a policy violates international law and comports neither with our values nor our interests. It is un-American and un-Christian. But where are the Christians? Why is Pope Benedict virtually alone among Christian leaders to have spoken out against what is being done to Lebanese Christians and Muslims? When al-Qaeda captured two U.S. soldiers and barbarically butchered them, the U.S. Army did not smash power plants across the Sunni Triangle. Why then is Bush not only silent but openly supportive when Israelis do this? Democrats attack Bush for crimes of which he is not guilty, including Haditha and Abu Ghraib. Why are they, too, silent when Israel pursues a conscious policy of collective punishment of innocent peoples? Britain's diplomatic goal in two world wars was to bring the naive cousins in, to "pull their chestnuts out of the fire." Israel and her paid and pro-bono agents here appear determined to expand the Iraq war into Syria and Iran, and have America fight and finish all of Israel's enemies. That Tel Aviv is maneuvering us to fight its wars is understandable. That Americans are ignorant of, or complicit in this, is deplorable. Already, Bush is ranting about Syria being behind the Hezbollah capture of the Israeli soldiers. But where is the proof? Who is whispering in his ear? The same people who told him Iraq was maybe months away from an atom bomb, that an invasion would be a "cakewalk," that he would be Churchill, that U.S. troops would be greeted with candy and flowers, that democracy would break out across the region, that Palestinians and Israelis would then sit down and make peace? How much must America pay for the education of this man? -------- nato Four Nations Face Barriers as They Seek Bids to Join NATO By NICHOLAS WOOD New York Times, July 19, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/19/world/europe/19nato.html http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/sf/nyt7_19_06_6.htm DUBROVNIK, Croatia — Just four months before NATO leaders meet for the first time in two years, four aspiring members of the alliance are encountering resistance. Croatia, Macedonia, Albania and Georgia all hope to get a possible timetable for membership when NATO leaders meet in November, in Latvia. But strong differences are emerging within the alliance over how fast and far it should enlarge. Croatia is widely regarded as the favorite to gain membership by 2008. It organized a meeting here on July 11 of officials from the four countries hoping for admission and from NATO, the United States and Europe. Ukraine, whose membership has been promoted by the United States, was also invited, although its government is in disarray awaiting completion of a governing coalition. The United States wants NATO to grow. But Daniel Fried, the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, who attended the conference, noted a lack of enthusiasm among European members. “I think the enlargement fatigue that has affected the European Union has to some degree spilled over to NATO,” he said. American backing for Ukraine and Georgia has concerned some European countries and Canada. They worry about the alliance’s capacity to absorb states in the Balkans, let alone those so far away. Russia also strongly opposes membership for the two former Soviet states. Georgia hopes to be granted an initial step toward NATO membership at the Latvia summit talks, but its president, Mikheil Saakashvili, said NATO had yet to clarify its own role in a rapidly changing world. “We don’t have a clear perspective from Western European countries,” Mr. Saakashvili said. “Securing energy resources and ensuring stability in the Middle East are considerations that the alliance has yet to wake up to.” “In order to live up to these strategic challenges, we need a vision,” he said. The governments of Croatia, Macedonia and Albania had hoped the November meeting would lead to invitations to join, but the NATO secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said this month that that would not happen until 2008. The European Union is caught up in its own enlargement process. Romania and Bulgaria are expected to join next year, and most of the 25 European Union members — 19 of which are also NATO members — have said that expanding the military alliance at the same time will be too stressful. “We understand the debate,” said Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, Croatia’s foreign minister. But, he said, “we don’t want to be the victim of a discussion on absorption capacity.” During the years in which the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia collapsed and terrorists attacked the United States and Europe, NATO has sought to transform itself from a cold-war bloc intended to deal with a conventional war in Europe to a more flexible alliance able to deploy units wherever needed on short notice. The alliance was involved in the Balkans throughout the last decade, and it is assuming a greater role in Afghanistan. With the possibility of Georgia’s membership, the United States appears to envisage an alliance that plays a strategic role in the Caucasus, one that would serve Western interests in the competition for oil and gas resources, and provide a foothold close to the Middle East, participants at the meeting here said. But they said many Western states, notably Germany, France and Canada, were reluctant to let the boundaries of the alliance extend that far. Further, Georgia’s borders are still disputed (by secessionists South Ossetia and Abkhazia), and its neighbors, Azerbaijan and Armenia, are still officially at war. Bert Koenders, a member of the Dutch Parliament and vice president of NATO’s parliamentary assembly, said some NATO allies believed that the United States was trying to expand the alliance too quickly, for the sake of its own agenda. “The Americans are obviously dominating the scene — I think it’s counterproductive,” said Mr. Koenders, who nonetheless supports admitting Georgia. -------- prisoners of war Americans Want to End Secret Prisons July 19, 2006 Angus Reid Global Scan : Polls & Research http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/12590 Many adults in the United States express disappointment with the way their government is relying on the practice of extraordinary rendition, according to a poll by Knowledge Networks for the Program on International Policy Attitudes. 57 per cent of respondents think the U.S. should not secretly send terrorism suspects to other countries that are known to use torture. In November 2005, the Washington Post reported on the existence of secret U.S. prisons for purported terrorism suspects located in Eastern Europe. U.S. president George W. Bush declared, "Anything we do to (protect the American people), any activity we conduct, is within the law. We do not torture." The Bush administration has neither confirmed nor denied the report. The reports of the so-called "black sites" have caused diplomatic tension in Europe, as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is believed to have covertly transported detainees by private charter between locations, in a possible violation of a country’s airspace. Earlier this month, acting assistant attorney general Steve Bradbury discussed the situation at a Senate hearing, saying, "We do not transfer individuals to countries where we believe it is more likely than not that they will be tortured. That’s a treaty obligation we have and a policy we apply on a worldwide basis today. Rendition itself covers a wide range of activities, many of them quite legitimate and traditionally used by countries all over the world, to bring people to justice." Yesterday, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee expressed "grave concerns" over seven topics related to the U.S. human rights record, including the "detention, rendition and torture of non-citizens." British law professor Nigel Rodley declared, "If some other state abducted U.S. citizens, for example those plotting to overthrow the regime in that other state, would the U.S. consider that state could hold them secretly anywhere on the planet for months or years on end?" Polling Data Do you think the U.S. should or should not permit U.S. military and intelligence agencies to secretly send terrorism suspects to other countries that are known to use torture? Should 37% Should not 57% No answer 6% Source: Knowledge Networks / Program on International Policy Attitudes Methodology: Online interviews with 1,059 American adults, conducted from Jun. 27 to Jul. 2, 2006. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent. -------- POLICE / PRISONERS / COURTS / JUSTICE Council To Vote On Crime Emergency Plan Citizens Reportedly Want Neighborhood Cameras July 19, 2006 NBC4 http://www.nbc4.com/news/9539980/detail.html# WASHINGTON -- The D.C. City Council is expected to vote today on the emergency crime plan supported by Mayor Anthony Williams. The D.C. Council interrupted its summer recess Tuesday to tackle the city's recent increase in violent crime. The plan includes adding neighborhood surveillance cameras, pushing the city's curfew from midnight back to 10 p.m. and adding more police overtime. "I'm going to tell you, each and every citizen I talked to said get cameras in our community," said council member Linda Cropp. D.C. Council members said they are alarmed at the recent crime spike, and pressed for a tough and immediate response from the mayor and police chief. They asked for crime fighting cameras and more police. "First thing, first thing everyone wants to know why there are not more police one the streets. Second thing, why are there not cameras in our neighborhoods," said council member Jack Evans. Mayor Anthony Williams and his top aides insisted that they are doing more and urged the council to pass legislation on Wednesday to allow cameras, pay more police overtime and lower the juvenile curfew, among other crime fighting tactics. "Here is the bottom line -- we have to takes steps immediately to ensure that what's occurred over the past 30 days goes no further," said Williams. Officials said that in the first 12 days of July there were 12 homicides, 126 robberies and 123 assaults with deadly weapons. Chief Ramsey declared a crime emergency to redeploy officers quickly, but some council members complained that some officers aren't focused on fighting crime. "Our desire are to see more police officers on the street -- not riding around in cars with their windows rolled up and their air conditioners on," council member Carol Schwartz. "An overwhelming majority of our force are fine officers, but we have a lot that are not ready for prime time, and we never fire them," said council member David Catania. News4's Tom Sherwood reported that Ramsey at one point threw up his hands at the criticism, but said he is working to make all officers responsive to crime in the city. Take Survey Click Here! http://www.nbc4.com/news/9539980/detail.html# -------- homeland security / national intelligence Homeland Security Department Is Accused of Credit Card Misuse By ERIC LIPTON July 19, 2006 New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/19/washington/19cards.html http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/sf/nyt7_19_06_5.htm WASHINGTON, July 18 — Flat-bottomed rescue boats at double the retail price, $68,500 worth of unused dog booties, hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of computers that somehow disappeared and a $227 beer brewing kit. These are just a few of the questionable purchases that Congressional auditors have found by digging through half a year of credit card records from the Homeland Security Department, including records for the months immediately after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year. The audit, by the Government Accountability Office, which is due to be released Wednesday, concluded that the credit card misuse could probably have been avoided had the department completed a long-planned rulebook for its more than 9,000 employees who spent $420 million last year using government-issued credit cards. Instead, “due to a lack of leadership” at the department, the draft manual has never been finished, creating accounting weaknesses that “leave D.H.S. highly vulnerable to fraudulent, improper and abusive activity,” the audit says. The result is that in the five months examined, the investigators found that 45 percent of purchases did not have appropriate preauthorization by supervisors and that 63 percent did not include documentation stating whether the goods or services had been received. Congressional leaders, who requested the investigation, said they were once again disappointed at the lack of oversight of taxpayer dollars at the Homeland Security Department, which has already been blamed for up to $2 billion of waste and fraud related to the hurricanes last year. “It seems no matter where we look at Homeland Security, we find a pattern of waste, fraud and abuse,” said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine and the chairwoman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. One employee of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is part of the department, spent $7,790 on a 63-inch plasma monitor, which sat for six months, unused, in its original carton. Another FEMA employee spent $68,442 on the 2,000 dog boots, which were intended to protect the paws of search dogs on rescue operations; the boots ended up in a FEMA warehouse and have not been used. A Coast Guard cardholder bought the beer brewing kit, which officials explained was “a quality product for official parties attended by cadets, dignitaries and other guests,” but which the auditors called “abusive and questionable.” The small flat-bottomed boats, the audit said, were bought from a Texas company for a total of $208,000. That was about twice the retail rate for the boats, which were supposed to be used in the rescue and recovery effort in New Orleans. Auditors also found that officials from Customs and Border Protection spent $2,492 on rain jackets for use at a firing range, even though the firing range is usually closed when it rains. And Secret Service officers spent $7,000 on iPods, which the agency explained were intended to serve as data storage devices, an explanation the auditors found unconvincing. Russ Knocke, a spokesman for the department, said it would soon be issuing credit card rules, which he agreed were needed to avoid some of the problems. “We are still a young department, a little over three years old,” Mr. Knocke said, adding that the total value of the purchases questioned by the auditors represented only a tiny share of the amount charged on the government cards. He also said that the department had found many of the more than 100 computers bought with the credit cards that investigators said had disappeared. “More resources have been spent on investigating these anomalies than the amount of resources actually lost,” he said. -------- ENERGY -------- alternative energy Britain's Solar Boat a Scientific Advance July 19, 2006 — By Laura-Claire Corson, Associated Press http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=10897 LONDON — It is slow and travels only a short distance, but builders of the Serpentine Solar Shuttle say it's the most advanced passenger ferry on British waters. Britain's biggest solar-powered boat debuted Tuesday on a lake in London's Hyde Park, opening what its developers hope is a door to the future of solar-powered transportation. The Serpentine Solar Shuttle -- powered entirely by the sun -- cruises at 5 mph and carries 42 passengers. Beginning Saturday, operators will offer one-way tickets for the half-mile cruise at $2.75, per child and $5.50 for adults. "This is the most technologically advanced shuttle in the world right now," said designer Christoph Behling, who also designed the world's largest solar boat in Hamburg, Germany. "It is made of entirely stainless steel which means it never gets old. It will pave the way for future boats and trains and other means of transportation," Behling said. The 48-foot-long shuttle has 27 solar panels on its roof, and the energy generated by the sun is enough to keep the boat running. Its maximum journey distance is 82 miles. Almost no pollutants are given off during the trip because the shuttle has two silent engines -- meaning there are no carbon emissions and it is also charged fully by the sun. Even on those dark, rainy days everyone associates with London, Behling said there will be enough sun to keep the ship running. It is expected the boat will save nearly 5,000 pounds of carbon-dioxide per year, compared with a diesel boat of a similar size, according to Gavin Gomes, a spokesman for Sputnik Communications, a London-based energy company. When the ferry is idle, surplus electricity generated by the solar panels will be fed back into the national transmission network. The Serpentine Solar Shuttle cost $421,000 to build -- 20 percent more than a diesel boat of a comparable size, Behling said. He is now working on a 300-passenger solar-powered ferry to run on the Thames, and hopes it could be ready in 2008. A 60-passenger solar-powered train for London's Battersea Park is also in the works. ---- Toyota Considers US Effort for Alternative Fuels Story by John Crawley REUTERS US: July 19, 2006 http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/37326/newsDate/19-Jul-2006/story.htm WASHINGTON - Toyota Motor Co., a pioneer in the development of popular gas-electric hybrid vehicles, is considering a US investment in cars that run on ethanol and other alternative fuels, the automaker's North American president said on Tuesday. Jim Press' disclosure introduces new competitive pressure on Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Daimler/Chrysler's North American Chrysler unit, all of which have lost market share to Toyota and other foreign rivals partly capitalizing on American's appetite for more fuel efficient vehicles. "We're already developing vehicles that can operate in ethanol-rich Brazil and we're optimistic that we can offer similar vehicles to American consumers," Press said. Ford, GM and Chrysler have recently expanded their interest in crop-based alternatives, or flexible fuels. These include a product more widely sold that is made with 85 percent ethanol. The Detroit-based automakers pledged commitments to blended fuels and have asked Congress for tax breaks and other help to retool plants and broaden consumer access to those products. Press did not elaborate on Toyota's plans for flexible fuels but noted that international auto companies have been behind the industry's overall growth. While Toyota plans to explore alternative fuels, it is also boosting its signature hybrid technology that led to the development of the top-selling Prius. Press said Toyota would pursue a plug-in hybrid model, currently an experimental design that can be charged through a standard electrical outlet. Toyota believes the overall hybrid platform will be a centerpiece of engine design for years and will support a range of fuels. "Hybrid technology can be teamed with every other promising technology to make it even more efficient and fuel stingy, whether its high-tech gas engines, clean diesels, bio-diesel, ethanol, plug-in hybrids or hydrogen fuel cells," Press said. Interest in hybrids has accelerated as gas prices soar but vehicles with gas-electric engines are still a fraction of the overall US market. Gasoline use accounts for about 40 percent of US daily oil demand, government figures show. Ford has rolled back its commitment to build 250,000 hybrids a year by 2010. Ford is unconvinced hybrids are the answer for reducing US dependence on foreign oil, improving the environment, and winning enough customers to make the technology a viable business option. Separately, Press said Toyota is always open to alliances and that any three-way deal between GM, Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. would create competitive pressures that would make Toyota stronger. Under pressure to reverse declining market share and invigorate the company's massive restructuring, GM's chief executive met last week with the head of both Renault and Nissan to review a possible alliance. Toyota and GM already jointly operate a plant in California, but Press said there have been no talks about expanding their ties. -------- OTHER -------- environment Study Finds Beaches Sicken 1.5 Million in California July 19, 2006 — By Associated Press http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=10899 LOS ANGELES — As many as 1.5 million people are sickened by bacterial pollution on Southern California beaches each year, resulting in millions of dollars in public health care costs, a new study has found. The study prepared by researchers at the University of California-Los Angeles and Stanford University is believed to be the first to examine illnesses at a large swath of the nation's most popular beaches. Previous studies have linked health problems to contamination at individual beaches. "This helps us understand (the) risks and identify beaches where cleanup can yield the most benefit," said Linwood Pendleton, an environmental economist at UCLA and an author of the study. The study, posted Monday on the Web site of the journal Environmental Science and Technology, covers 100 miles of shoreline in Los Angeles and Orange counties, which is visited by an estimated 80 million people annually. The study found that between 627,800 and 1,479,200 "excess" cases of gastrointestinal illness occur at the beaches each year. That is beyond the number that would normally be expected. Gastrointestinal illness is most commonly associated with swimming in contaminated water and causes such symptoms as stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting. The study did not examine the prevalence of other illnesses associated with polluted water, including eye, ear and nose infections. Healthcare costs for illnesses related to beach bacteria range from an estimated $21 million to $414 million annually, depending on the method of reporting used, researchers found. Those estimates include direct losses, including missed work, medical treatment costs and doctor visits. The study focused on 28 beaches during 2000. Researchers used bacteria measurements from surf, considered beach attendance estimates and extrapolated the health effects using two computer models -- one favored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the other by the World Health Organization. Pendleton said the wide range in health and costs estimates existed because one method relies more on precise controls to account for illnesses and environmental conditions and less on self-reporting. The study is expected to be published Aug. 15. Among other findings: -- Beaches at Doheny, Malibu, Marina del Rey, Cabrillo and Las Tunas had the worst water quality, while Newport, Hermosa, Abalone Cove, Manhattan, Torrance and Bolsa Chica had the best. -- The three beaches with the lowest incidence of gastrointestinal illness were San Clemente's city beach, Nichols Canyon and Las Tunas, largely due to a smaller number of visitors. -- Cleaning up storm water runoff, the chief cause of dirty ocean water in Southern California, would prevent 394,000 to 804,000 gastrointestinal cases and save $13 million to $28 million in annual health costs in Los Angeles County. The state has spent an estimated $51 million on 66 projects in the past six years under its Clean Beaches Initiative, said Bill Rukeyser, spokesman for the state Water Resources Control Board. -------- ACTIVISTS Fighting in Lebanon produces its first conscientious objector By Lily Galili, Haaretz Correspondent 19/07/2006 http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/740241.html The Lebanon 2006 war has produced its first conscientious objector - Staff Sergeant Itzik Shabbat, a 28-year-old TV producer. He refused to comply with an emergency order (Tsav 8) to report Tuesday for reserve duty in the territories in order to free forces in the standing army for the war in Lebanon. Shabbat, a resident of Sderot, had not yet decided Tuesday night whether he would go to his reserve unit Wednesday and announce there that he was refusing to do reserve duty or whether he would not report at all and be considered absent. "I know people will attack me and ask how could I not take part in this war when Qassams are falling on my hometown and Katyushas on the towns in the north," he told Haaretz. "In my opinion, only this type of opposition that I've chosen will put an end to the madness that is going on now and will shatter the false feeling that the entire home front supports this unnecessary war that is based on deceptive considerations." He added: "Someone has to be the first to break the silence and it will be me. It is a shame that my order was signed by another Sderot resident, Defense Minister Amir Peretz." Shabbat says he has already informed his commander and other officers in the unit of his intentions and he is prepared to pay the price. In the past Shabbat, considered an outstanding commander, also refused to serve in the territories and sat in prison for 28 days. He was one of the signatories to the petition of the refusal movement, Courage to Refuse. However he says that his present decision is not connected with the need to relieve a unit in the territories but rather with his opposition to the war in Lebanon. The larger Yesh Gvul movement started by opposing the 1982 Lebanon war and only later the territories, too. ---- New records on UCSC protests show deeper spying conspiracy By ROGER SIDEMAN SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL STAFF WRITER July 19, 2006 http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/July/19/local/stories/05local.htm New details emerged Tuesday about the government intelligence-gathering at UC Santa Cruz that prompted anti-war protesters there to be designated as a "credible threat" in a secret Defense Department database. Documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union reveal that information gathered at an April 5, 2005, protest at UCSC was provided to the Pentagon by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the agency formed after 9/11 to monitor terror-related activities. The agency also provided the Defense Department information about similar anti-war activities at UC Berkeley, according to the documents released to the ACLU under the Freedom of Information Act. "This sheds some light on how information was passed on," said Mark Schlosberg, an ACLU policy director in San Francisco. The government threat database was met with criticism when MSNBC reported in December that the Pentagon had spied on military-related protests around the country. Despite the newly released documents, questions remain about how university protesters came to the attention of the federal government. The documents do not disclose who sent Homeland Security information detailing the April 2005 protests, only that it came by e-mail. It is also unknown whether anyone from the government was at the protest. Also, two newly released Defense Department bulletins, dating from April 2, 2005 and April 20, 2005, state that information was provided "to alert commanders and staff to potential terrorist activity or apprise them of other force protection issues." The bulletins indicate that the Defense Department briefed and coordinated with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in San Francisco about campus demonstrations, Schlosberg said. Homeland Security's role of passing information on to the Pentagon was not previously known, and it raises questions among critics about how the government views members of campus groups who march against the military's "don't ask, don't tell" recruitment policy regarding homosexuals. Schlosberg said there may be a blurring of the line between terrorism and protest activity protected under the First Amendment. "Homeland Security was created to protect the American people from terrorists — not monitor political dissent on college campuses," he said. The Department of Homeland Security did return calls for comment. According to its Web site, one policy guiding the agency's six-pointed agenda is to "enhance information sharing with our partners." U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, who criticized the government when the campus spying was made public, called the new information "extremely disturbing." "Homeland Security should be our port in the storm, the department we can count on to secure us during times of need," he said. "Instead, we find out it's just another covert operation of the intelligence community. How can we ever trust it again?" The ACLU's Northern California chapter filed suit in March on behalf of UCSC Students Against War and a similar group at Berkeley. The lawsuit asked the Department of Defense to expedite the release of documents under FOIA. To date, more than 150 pages dating back to 1982 have been released. They consist mostly of documents and memos outlining the rules and procedures for gathering intelligence on activities the Pentagon might consider threatening to the U.S. military or its personnel. In January, former UC Santa Cruz Chancellor Denice Denton got wind of the "threat" listing. Denton, who committed suicide June 24, asked political leaders including Farr for help. In February, the Department of Defense told the university it deleted mention of the protest from its database. Contact Roger Sideman at rsideman@santacruzsentinel.com. ---- Protests Across U.S. and Around the World Call for End to Israel Bombardment of Lebanon Wednesday, July 19th, 2006 Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/19/1346204 Protests were held around the world yesterday in response to Israel's assault on Lebanon and Palestine. From San Francisco to Cairo, Montreal to Rome, tens of thousands took to the streets to call for an end to Israeli aggression in the Middle East. We go to Dearborn, Michigan to speak with the publisher of "The Arab American" newspaper. [includes rush transcript] Protests were held around the world yesterday in response to Israel's assault on Lebanon and Palestine. From San Francisco to Cairo, Montreal to Rome, tens of thousands took to the streets to call for an end to Israeli aggression in the Middle East. On Tuesday, hundreds gathered across the street from the Israeli Mission in New York City. Protesters demanded an end to U.S support of Israel's attacks and freedom for all Palestinian prisoners. Some of the speakers directly criticized New York Senator Hillary Clinton for her remarks at a rally on Monday in support of Israel. * Sen. Hillary Clinton (D - NY), speaking on July 17, 2006. * Jane Toby, protester speaking on July 18, 2006. * Maymanah Farhat, protester speaking on July 18, 2006. Another large protest took place on Tuesday in Dearborn Michigan -- the city home to the largest number of Arab-Americans in the United States. Nearly 10,000 people marched through the center of the city to demand that the United States pressure Israel to halt attacks in Lebanon and Gaza. One of the organizers of yesterday's protest joins us today from Michigan - Osama Siblani is the publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Dearborn-based weekly bilingual newspaper, "The Arab American." * Osama Siblani, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Dearborn-based weekly bilingual newspaper, "The Arab American." He helped found the Arab American Political Action Committee in Dearborn and the Congress of Arab American Organizations. RUSH TRANSCRIPT AMY GOODMAN: Here's what Hillary Clinton had to say. SEN. HILLARY CLINTON: We will support her efforts to send a message to Hamas, Hezbollah, to the Syrians, to the Iranians, to all who seek death and domination instead of life and freedom, that we will not permit this to happen, and we will take whatever steps are necessary. AMY GOODMAN: Democracy Now! producer Yoruba Richen spoke to some of the protesters who came out yesterday in New York. This is Jane Toby, who came from upstate New York to take part in the protest. JANE TOBY: I’m Jewish. And I’m here because I feel that the Jewish community needs to talk out, to speak out against the crimes that the U.S. government and the Israeli government is perpetrating against the people in Palestine, committing genocide in Gaza and killing people in Lebanon. AMY GOODMAN: The New York protest brought together Orthodox Jews, Palestinians and other American activists. Many Lebanese Americans also attended in support of family members still in Lebanon. This is Maymanah Farhat, also speaking at the protest in New York. MAYMANAH FARHAT: I was born in this country, but my father was born in Southern Lebanon. And I’ve been going to Southern Lebanon every year for the past 12 years. YORUBA RICHEN: What are you hearing from family members there? MAYMANAH FARHAT: The situation is completely out of control. I have several aunts and my grandmother, that are trapped in separate villages throughout Southern Lebanon. They can't leave because the bridges have been completely blown up, so there's no exit out of the villages. They're afraid of food running out within the next week, because the populations of each village are anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 people, and they have maybe like four grocery stores for the whole village. My cousin was living in Dahiya, which is the southern suburb of Beirut that's been bombarded so much. She was able to escape yesterday, thank God. When she escaped, she looked and saw that the majority of Dahiya was completely leveled. AMY GOODMAN: Another large protest took place Tuesday in Dearborn, Michigan. When we come back from our break, we'll talk to the editor and publisher of The Arab American news, one of the organizers of the protests. Stay with us. [break] AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to another large protest that took place Tuesday, this, in Dearborn, Michigan, the city home to the largest Arab American population in the United States. Nearly 10,000 people marched through the center of the city to demand U.S. pressure Israel to halt the attacks on Lebanon and Gaza. One of the organizers joins us now from Michigan. Osama Siblani is publisher and editor-in-chief of the Dearborn-based weekly bilingual newspaper, The Arab American. He helped found the Arab American Political Action Committee in Dearborn and the Congress of Arab American Organizations. We welcome you to Democracy Now!, Osama Siblani. OSAMA SIBLANI: Good morning. AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you with us. You are Lebanese? OSAMA SIBLANI: Yes. AMY GOODMAN: What word do you have from your family? OSAMA SIBLANI: Well, I talked to my family yesterday. They are fine. I’m concerned about my family, but I’m concerned about the Lebanese people in general, as much as I’m concerned about my family. I tell you, frankly, I called my family to ask them about the situation in Lebanon, more than I called them to ask about themselves. AMY GOODMAN: Well, what do you understand right now is happening on the ground? OSAMA SIBLANI: Well, you know, I heard your interview with Robert Fisk. I think he described it pretty eloquently, what's happening. On a massive scale, there are massacres being committed against civilians in villages in the south. He talked about Marwaheen massacre. There are others in Tyre that happened yesterday, that totally killed an entire family, a bomb that landed on their home by the Israeli military forces. Israelis are just raping Lebanon right now and destroying its infrastructure. Robert Fisk alluded to all these things. What I wanted to talk more is about what the United States has been doing in order to encourage the Israelis, rather than discouraging them from going on and destroying Lebanon and killing innocent civilians. The President’s remark is, you know, is in my opinion -- we reject it. And it is unfortunate that the President of the United States makes such a statement, when he says that, you know, it's going to take sometimes the loss of innocent life in order to bring the issues to the forefront. I mean, you know, this is what Osama bin Laden will do, will say, killing 3,000 Americans in order to bring his issues to the forefront. Killing innocent civilians is justified by the President of the United States, the leader of the only superpower of the world? This is disgusting. It is disgusting. This is nuts, his approach. AMY GOODMAN: Osama Siblani, I wanted to read to you from the Guardian newspaper on this issue of U.S. policy. The piece reads today, “The U.S. is giving Israel a window of a week to inflict maximum damage on Hezbollah before weighing in behind international calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon, according to British, European and Israeli sources. The Bush administration, backed by Britain, has blocked efforts for an immediate halt to the fighting initiated at the U.N. Security Council, the G8 summit in St. Petersburg, and the European foreign ministers meeting in Brussels. U.S. strategy, in allowing Israel this freedom for a limited period, has several objectives, one of which is to deliver a slap to Iran and Syria, who Washington claims are directing Hezbollah and Hamas militants from behind the scenes.” Your response? OSAMA SIBLANI: Well, this is the incompetence of the U.S. administration, in particular the Bush administration. We have seen this incompetence in several places. Katrina is one. Iraq, massive, massive incompetence. This is the peak of incompetence. Now again, we're seeing it in Lebanon, you know, giving another week to destroy Hezbollah. Hezbollah is getting stronger in Lebanon, because every time you kill innocent people, by Israeli American-made bombs, people will be angry at Israel, at America. They will not be angry at Hezbollah. Hezbollah has not been affected in here. The Lebanese people are being killed indiscriminately by bombs from Israel, and therefore they are supporting Hezbollah, because Hezbollah is retaliating, trying to protect the country. And they have to get it into their head that this is not helping the situation. This just shows one more time, that we have a president who is incompetent, led by another incompetent prime minister in Israel. And we are leading the world into a disaster. AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to ask you about Arab American reaction. Over a hundred Arab American leaders from around the country are traveling to Washington today to meet with congressional leaders and State Department officials. The Lebanese American Congress members -- Nick Rahall of West Virginia; Darrell Issa, Republican from California; Ray LaHood, Republican from Illinois; Charles Boustany, Republican from Louisiana -- will host a town hall forum with Arab American community leaders. During the afternoon, the delegation will meet with the State Department and also address the issue of Arab Americans being evacuated from Lebanon. Are you going to be going to this? OSAMA SIBLANI: No, I am not. I am going to be talking to our people here, trying to mobilize them, trying to organize them, trying to get our voices heard by the American public. I have already given up on the Congress of the United States. It's an occupied Israeli territory. You know, we have 435 -- another incompetent Congress, that is rubber stamping what that administration is doing when it comes to Israel. I think we're committing suicide, as far as the U.S. in the region. Here, we have a policy, the United States, the Bush administration has a policy, the declared policy. It says that we want to go out and gain the hearts and minds of Arabs and Muslims around the world. Is this how you gain the hearts and minds of Arabs and Muslims, by giving the Israelis an open invitation and support, total support, to go and kill innocent people and destroy the infrastructure of a country? This is not the way you gain the hearts and minds of Arabs and Muslims. And whether Democrats or Republican, they are committed to the help of the Israelis. They've been bought. Their soul has been bought. And therefore, talking to them is useless. Useless. We have to talk to the American people. We have to start talking directly to the American public and showing them the way to become a greater nation. AMY GOODMAN: Osama Siblani, you say the Congress is an occupied Israeli territory. Noam Chomsky says it's not so much the U.S. serving Israel’s purposes, as Israel serving U.S. purposes. OSAMA SIBLANI: Well, what is the U.S. service in here and the purpose in destroying Lebanon? I don't understand. I mean, this is making Syria stronger. This is making Iran stronger. Look, we went to war in Iraq in order to strengthen Iran. You know, Iraq stood against the Iranians. And in Afghanistan, we went out to take Taliban that were standing against Iran. We are making Iran stronger in the region. It is our own policy that's making Iran stronger. And I tell you, this is a failing policy. This is a policy that is going to pay dividends, negative dividends to the American people in the long run. When they come and attack us again, I don't want to hear, “Why do they hate us?” It's very obvious why. Look at what's happening today and what we're doing today to the world, to the Arab world and to the Muslim world. And then, the answer of why they hate us is very obvious. AMY GOODMAN: Osama Siblani, I want to thank you very much for being with us, publisher and editor-in-chief of the Dearborn-based weekly, bilingual newspaper, The Arab American.