NucNews August 11, 2006 -------- NUCLEAR -------- accidents and safety Japanese nuclear power plant releases radioactive steam Associated Press, August 11, 2006 http://www.ktre.com/Global/story.asp?S=5269090 TOKYO Japanese officials say there's no danger after what's described as a negligible amount of radioactive steam was released from a nuclear plant. The plant's operator became aware of the problem after air samples detected something amiss. The boiler that was leaking the steam is now shut, but that happened five days after the air samples were taken. The plant is about 150 miles northeast of Tokyo. -------- business Entergy gets help for new US nuclear power plants Fri Aug 11, 2006 (Reuters) http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-08-11T155517Z_01_N11194822_RTRIDST_0_UTILITIES-ENTERGY-NUCLEAR.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna HOUSTON, Aug 11 - Entergy Corp.'s (ETR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) nuclear subsidiary has selected Burns and Roe Enterprises Inc., to assist with technical and project management issues related to development of new nuclear power plants. New Orleans-based Entergy is on track to receive the first early site permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in early 2007 to qualify the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station in Mississippi as an acceptable site for a new nuclear unit, the company said in a release. U.S. power companies are studying the need for more than a dozen new reactors in the country after a 30-year suspension of new-plant activity following an accident at the Three Mile Island plant in 1979. Randy Hutchinson, senior vice president of Entergy Nuclear's business development unit, said Burns and Roe will assist Entergy's staff with engineering tasks, equipment selection, procurement, vendor oversight, construction and risk management as the company evaluates the benefits of building new reactors. The Grand Gulf site has also been selected by NuStart Energy Development LLC, a consortium of 12 nuclear companies, as one of two sites to be submitted in filings for a combined construction and operating license. NuStart expects to file that application in 2007 as a test of the NRC's new licensing program. Entergy could then assume that permit from NuStart if a decision is made to build at Grand Gulf. Entergy is also preparing to file a combined construction and operating license in 2008 for a proposed reactor to be built adjacent to its River Bend nuclear station in Louisiana, the company said. Once it completes its purchase of the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan, Entergy will own 11 reactors, making it the second-largest U.S. nuclear operator behind Exelon Corp. Entergy also manages one reactor. -------- canada Nuclear waste stored in trailers PAM DOUGLAS, Friday, August 11th, 2006 Brampton, Canada, Guardian http://www.northpeel.com/br/news/story/3629797p-4196417c.html A citizen's group dropped a nuclear waste bombshell at city council last week, telling councillors that tractor trailers sitting on a local company's property contain radioactive waste. People Against Radioactive Contamination (PARC) made the revelation. A spokesperson for the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has confirmed that 25 tractor-trailers outside Mississauga Metals & Alloys (MM&A) on Sun Pac Boulevard contain "radioactive processing waste", although they would not reveal how much of it is in the trailers. "The trailers contain radioactive processing wastes," according to CNSC spokesperson Sunni Locatelli. "The exact inventory of nuclear substances or materials in the trailers is considered prescribed information and as such is not publicly available." She also said using the trailers as storage for the waste meets CNSC regulations. "In its current state, the mildly radioactive contaminated materials are not combustible," Locatelli said. "In their current location, the materials stored in the trailers on the property pose no health hazard to workers or the general public." CNSC officials have also said that MM&A has resumed "conventional" metal recycling operations on site. CNSC officials inspected the site July 17 and confirmed that MM&A is working to meet the requirements of the order that shut down the entire plant in June over fire hazard concerns. One of the requirements to allow resumption of recycling of non-nuclear contaminated metal was to remove nuclear material from the building and secure it on site, and that has been done by storing the waste in the trailers, according to CNSC officials. A security guard is on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week. PARC, formerly the Citizens for a Nuclear Free Peel, raised alarm about how much waste is on site, how long it has been piling up, and who would be responsible for cleaning it up if MM&A closes its operations, goes bankrupt or suffers a major incident. MM&A has been importing radioactive-contaminated metal since 1998. The company's business is to "recycle" that metal, extracting the radioactivity so the metal can be re-used. The byproduct-- radioactive processing waste-can be returned to the source, or sent to a nuclear waste facility, according to the CNSC, the licencing agency for the nuclear portion of the business. "Their licence allows them to possess it (radioactive waste)," said Aurele Gervais. PARC spokesman Jaipaul Massey-Singh asked city councillors to immediately enforce the outside storage bylaw violations at the site, noting the city has already started going that route. He also raised concern about the possibility of radioactive waste being discharged into the sanitary sewer system, saying a regional bylaw allows that to happen. However, Region of Peel Director Mark Schiller said regional officials believe PARC is misinterpreting the region's bylaw governing discharges into sanitary sewers. The region is reviewing its wording and will respond to city council on the issue, he said. PARC brought an expert to Brampton from Montreal last week to tell councillors about concerns surrounding zirconium, the handling of radioactive materials and radioactive waste. Dr. Gordon Edwards told councillors, as far as he can see, MM&A's proposal to put an incinerator on site to burn material contaminated with low levels of radiation is an "experiment". "It's the first time this type of incinerator has been proposed in a community. Why is this being done in a community with a sizable population around it?" he asked. It's the same question being asked by Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell. "It's not been hard in the City of Brampton to rally around this issue as a frightening concern," Fennell said. "What is really going on there and how can we get rid of it? We have dedicated two staff members to work on this issue." She told PARC city staff is "fully focused on the questions that you have asked." "We are going to work together to solve this problem. I wish we didn't have this challenge," she said. MM&A's CNSC licence expires on Sept. 30, and PARC and the city are calling for a public hearing before it is renewed. CNSC officials say a licence renewal is reviewed and issued by a CNSC designated officer, but comments from the public are welcome. Despite PARC's concern that MM&A does not have an export licence to get rid of unwanted contaminated material, CNSC's Locatelli said MM&A currently has two export licences authorizing them to return to a supplier radioactive contaminated scrap metal that has not been processed, and miscellaneous contaminated waste (waste containers, plastic, wood) to the original suppliers of the contaminated scrap metal. In June, the CNSC shut down MM&A after an inspection uncovered "numerous" fire code violations and inadequate environmental and human health protections. Two recent fires at the plant sparked the inspection. The company has temporarily put on hold its environmental assessment for expansion and an incinerator to burn low-level radioactive waste. -------- europe Poles oppose US missile base in country Friday, August 11, 2006 News International, Pakistan http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=19397 WARSAW: More than six in ten Poles are opposed to a US anti-missile defence system being established in Poland, according to a survey published on Thursday by the Rzeczpospolita daily. The study found that 63 per cent of Poles are against such a project, 23 per cent are in favour, while 14 per cent do not have an opinion. The survey was carried out by the GfK Polonia polling agency and questioned 983 people August 4 to 6. Rzeczpospolita reported that Washington wanted any missile base built in Poland to be subject to US rather than local law. Poland has recently voiced doubts over hosting an American missile system. “We’re not absolutely forced to accept this offer if we judge that it’s not advantageous for us,” Polish deputy Defence Minister Stanislaw Koziej told the Dziennik daily at the end Koziej added. The Pentagon said in May that the United States was consulting European allies about deploying missile defences in Europe to thwart any Middle Eastern ballistic missile threat. The New York Times has reported that the US administration’s proposal calls for installing 10 missile interceptors at a European site by 2011, at an estimated cost of 1.6 billion dollars, to protect Europe and the United States against missile attacks by Iran. The paper said a recommendation on a European site was expected to be made this summer. A senior US defence official told AFP last year the European site could be very similar to the US site in Fort Greely, Alaska where half a dozen ground-based missiles are positioned to intercept potential long-range missile attacks from North Korea. -------- iran Nuclear row boosts Iranian president Simon Tisdall in Tehran Friday August 11, 2006 The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldbriefing/story/0,,1842653,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=1 The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Photograph: Elizabeth Dalziel/AP Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is preparing to confront the US and United Nations security council over Iran's nuclear activities partly to distract attention from the country's worsening economic problems, sources in Tehran have said. Iran's hardline government said it would respond by August 22 to a western compromise package designed to defuse the dispute over its nuclear activities. But diplomatic sources said that while expressing readiness to continue negotiations, Mr Ahmadinejad was opposing concessions on the issue, which has become key to maintaining his support following his disputed election victory one year ago. "People say it's Ahmadinejad who's the problem," a western diplomat said on Friday. "Even the Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) favours some kind of deal. But this is Ahmadinejad's flagship issue. People like the way he has stood up to the Americans and he isn't going to throw that away." Leila, a Tehran resident who, like other interviewees, asked not to be identified, said: "If the US had not made such a big thing of the nuclear issue Ahmadinejad would have been in big trouble by now. He could have been overthrown. He's achieved nothing in the past year. The economy is very bad. Everyone is poor." Ali, a graduate in part-time employment, said it was very difficult for young people to find good jobs in a country where two-thirds of the 70 million population are under 30. "Ahmadinejad promised to do all sorts of things. But he hasn't done anything. He promised to share out the oil revenue. Look at the price of oil now! Where's all that money going? There's no economic management in this country. It's inefficient. It's corrupt," Ali said. "Ahmadinejad loves all the international attention. He's making the most of the nuclear issue to distract attention from the failures of the economy." A recent Zogby International/Reader's Digest poll, conducted by telephone from outside Iran, found strong public support for the government's position that Iran has an "inalienable right" to develop nuclear power for peaceful purposes. Sixty-seven percent also agreed with Mr Ahmadinejad that the state of Israel should not exist, with only 9% disagreeing. But 41% of respondents said making the economy more efficient was more important than nuclear capabilities or regional issues, with 27% disagreeing. The economy is coming under increasing public scrutiny despite official controls on newspapers and restricted access to the internet. An estimated 80% of all economic activity is under direct government control or managed through cooperatives known as bonyads, often dominated by well-connected clerics. In contrast, 80% of the population works in the private sector. Critics say US sanctions, which have discouraged foreign investment and technology transfers, cannot be wholly blamed for Iran's economic backwardness. There are also complaints that taxpayers' money allegedly being sent to Hizbullah in Lebanon would be better spent at home. Particular concern is focusing on oil-rich Iran's lack of refining capacity. It has a petrol shortfall of 30m litres a day, which is made up by expensive imports. Critics also note its failure to keep up with IT and e-commerce developments. A recent UN report ranked Iran 98th in the world in e-government. The finance minister, Davood Danesh-Jafari, promised this week that privatisations ordered by Ayatollah Khamenei in 2004 would be speeded up. "We need to change the status quo," he said. One plan is to offer discounted shares in the bigger state companies to the 8 million most needy Iranians, in line with Mr Ahmadinejad's redistributive "Islamic socialism". But the idea has hit trouble because few poor people have cash to spare to buy even discounted shares and the companies are usually making a loss. "Since the privatisation process ... failed to produce the desired results, one question that arises is how the present administration intends to move forward in containing the role of the state," said a daring commentary published by Iran Daily. "Mr Ahmadinejad and his aides have pledged to deliver and improve the quality of life of the millions who voted them to office. With oil revenue at its highest in almost three decades ... the nation hopes the economy will turn around without delay." -------- japan Japan appeals court order favouring atomic bomb survivors TOKYO (AFP) Aug 11, 2006 http://www.spacewar.com/2006/060811103622.bpw2c54j.html The Japanese government Friday appealed a court ruling ordering it to be more flexible in support of survivors of the Hiroshima atomic bombing, just five days after the anniversary of the attack. The Hiroshima District Court last week said that 41 plaintiffs, aged from 62 to 94, deserved to be considered survivors, which would pave the way for them to receive Japan's generous benefits for their illnesses. The court ruled that the plaintiffs' ailments, which include cancer and cataracts, were due to the atomic bombing and said the government had been too rigid. But the Japanese health ministry said it filed an appeal to the Hiroshima High Court to review that decision, contending the judgment was not compatible with the government's understanding of medical illnesses suffered from the bombing. The government had refused to recognize the plaintiffs as Hiroshima bombing survivors because they did not meet official criteria. In many cases, the plaintiffs were judged not to have been close enough to the bomb's hypocenter. "I'm very disappointed and angry. I resent it very much," a plaintiff said in a televised press conference. "I will continue fighting so the appeal would be retracted," he said. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi attended ceremonies this week in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki to mark the US atomic bombings which killed some 210,000 people at the end of World War II. -------- u.s. nuc facilities -------- california PG&E to shut centers Bill Lascher, Staff Writer 8/11/06 Pacific Coast Business Times http://www.pacbiztimes.com/index.cfm?go2=articles/wk_081106c Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has asked the California Public Utilities Commission to allow it to close all of its customer service centers in favor of neighborhood bill payment centers and remote customer service via the telephone and Internet. The realignment is one of the proposals the San Francisco-based utility is seeking commission approval for in its 2007 General Rate Case. PG&E just finished its testimony on the rate case, and the commission is now hearing testimony from other interested parties. It is expected to rule in December. If approved, the GRC, as it is known, also calls for $2 billion in annual spending by PG&E over the next five years to improve its infrastructure throughout California. The spending will allow the utility to improve equipment that is, on average, 40 to 50 years old. Overall, PG&E is seeking base revenue increases that would raise electricity rates by 3.9 percent in 2007. PG&E supplies electricity to North Santa Barbara County and all of San Luis Obispo County, a region defined by the company as the Los Padres division. “We’re making a significant investment,” spokeswoman Sharon Gavin said. One of the biggest investments PG&E will put into the Los Padres area will be for upgrading infrastructure at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant near San Luis Obispo. That plant generates nearly 2,200 megawatts of electricity, which is roughly one third of the utility’s entire generating capacity. According to Gavin, the plant’s storage generators must be replaced and a dry-cast storage facility must be built to keep the plant running. With opposition tying up plans to build a spent-fuel storage facility at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, Diablo Canyon must keep its radioactive waste on-site and it is expected to reach capacity by 2010 or 2011. A dry-cast storage facility allows it to increase capacity. The company has also proposed in its rate case to close its customer service centers, including one in San Luis Obispo County. In exchange, PG&E wants to open 15 neighborhood payment centers throughout the Los Padres division. These centers would be counters in grocery stores staffed by individuals who are not PG&E employees. Gavin said the company views the centers as a way to give customers convenience, allowing them to pay their bills at a local site while they buy groceries. Gavin said the company is asking for the change because only 9 percent of customer payments and 6 percent of non-payment transactions occur at the company-operated customer service centers. “Most people are actually contacting us through the 1-800 number or the Web site,” Gavin said. PG&E plans to use part of its $2 billion infrastructure budget to build new transmission switching stations. In Los Padres, the company spends about $5 million each year to trim trees that could interfere with power lines and another $5 million to patrol, inspect, and maintain both overground and underground electric lines. Despite the infrastructure’s age, PG&E has not experienced the same widespread outages that have been seen in Southern California Edison’s territory throughout Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. The system does not use the same paper insulated lead piping used by Edison, and it has long had automatic reclosures in place that allow it to shut down circuits affected by outages immediately, thus limiting the spread of power failures. “As far as aging infrastructure goes our major problems is probably our poles,” Gavin said. Part of the work done to inspect the utility’s system will be done to repair and replacing aging utility poles. Because of the somewhat rural nature of the Los Padres division, it is not cost effective for the company to bury power lines. Other measures the company has taken to ensure transmission reliability is an outage review team that meets every two weeks to respond to outages, and automated switching stations that help the company respond to failures in a territory where some circuits are difficult to reach because of the terrain. “We’re able to identify a problem quickly, which helps us restore a problem,” Gavin said. “It also minimizes the scope of an outage because we can narrow it down to as small an area as possible by rerouting power.” -------- illinois Clinton nuclear power taking extra precautions By EDITH BRADY-LUNNY - Friday, August 11, 2006 Illinois Herald & Review http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2006/08/12/news/local_news/1016979.txt CLINTON - The elevated terrorist alert put in place by international events Thursday did not involve nuclear plants, but officials at the Clinton Power Station put additional security measures in place as a precaution. Bruce Paulsen, spokesman for AmerGen, owners of the Clinton nuclear plant, did not disclose specific details of the measures, citing security concerns. "We have been in contact with federal, state and local authorities. We've made sure everyone is aware of the situation and reviewed their procedures," Paulsen said. Among the federal agencies working with nuclear power plant operators was the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "There are no specific credible threats regarding nuclear plants. We have notified all plants to make sure they are aware of the threat level, and we are in close contact with the Department of Homeland Security," said Jan Strasma, NRC Region III public affairs officer in Chicago. Fred Zacher, DeWitt County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency coordinator, said he learned of the elevated terror threat when his pager went off this morning. State emergency management officials notified Zacher of the alert. The county emergency office did not have contact with power plant officials, Zacher said. Illinois has 11 nuclear reactors in six cities. Edith Brady-Lunny can be reached at eblunny@mchsi.com. -------- new york Anti-terror safeguards in place at Indian Point By GREG CLARY gclary@lohud.com THE JOURNAL NEWS August 11, 2006 http://www.nyjournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060811/UPDATE/608110426 BUCHANAN — Indian Point doesn't need to bolster its security as a result of the latest London-based terrorist plot, largely because of steps taken after September 11, officials say. The nuclear plant has been on "heightened alert" since the attacks five years ago and security personnel over the last two days are carefully screening for possible explosives carried in liquid form. "We're not throwing up a bunch of barriers — but only because we already have them in place," said Jim Steets, a spokesman for Entergy Nuclear Northeast, which owns Indian Point. "Our security officers are mindful of the potential for an explosive to be carried in liquid form. Their vigilance has certainly been raised." Federal nuclear regulators said today that they immediately notified the operators of the nation's 103 working reactors after word of the London terrorist activity was confirmed yesterday. A federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman said the security provisions already in place at Indian Point were adequate. Reach Greg Clary at gclary@lohud.com or 914-696-8566. -------- pennsylvania Temp Storage Site for Spent Nukes By The Associated Press Friday, August 11, 2006 http://www.whp580.com/cc-common/mainheadlines2.html?feed=118645&article=626300 (York - AP) Pennsylvania would have to create a temporary storage site for spent nuclear fuel under a provision attached to a Senate water and energy appropriations bill. But Governor Ed Rendell says he will oppose the requirement. A spokeswoman says Pennsylvanians are more sensitive to nuclear issues because of the Three Mile Island accident. -------- south carolina Graham wants new plant built Graham wants MOX construction to begin by year's end The Associated Press Fri, Aug. 11, 2006 http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/local/15249304.htm AIKEN - U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham says he hopes construction of a mixed-oxide plant at the Savannah River Site begins before the end of the year, even though future funding for the project remains unclear. "The need for MOX is greater today than the day we awarded the project," said Graham, R-S.C. Construction of a MOX plant at the former nuclear weapons complex near Aiken and across the river from Augusta, Ga., has been held up because of complications with a corresponding Russian facility. Under an agreement with Russia, the United States plans to blend 34 tons of U.S. plutonium no longer needed for warheads with depleted uranium so it can be used in a commercial power reactor and can't be used in a bomb. Russia also had planned to build a conversion plant for 34 tons of its excess plutonium, but it has recently decided to use alternate technology. "History will judge us poorly if we let this moment pass," Graham said. Funding issues still must be worked out for the next fiscal year. The U.S. House didn't allocate any money for the MOX program, but the Senate funded the facility. -------- MILITARY -------- arms Cluster bombs add to terror By CESAR CHELALA Friday, Aug. 11, 2006 Japan Times http://search.japantimes.co.jp/member/member.html?appURL=eo20060811a1.html NEW YORK -- As if the ruthless air attacks on Lebanese civilians weren't enough, Israel has been using illegal cluster munitions in populated areas of that country. Human Rights Watch researchers working on the ground in Lebanon have confirmed that an attack with cluster bombs was carried out on the village of Blida on July 19, killing one and wounding at least 12 civilians, including seven children. This is not the first time that Israel has used these weapons in Lebanon. They were used in 1978 and in the 1980s, although the United States had placed restrictions and a moratorium on their use out of concern for civilian casualties. According to Human Rights Watch, the use of these munitions in populated civilian areas may violate international humanitarian law. What makes them particularly lethal is that they consist of a container that breaks open in midair and disperses smaller submunitions. These weapons are designed to explode on impact, just before impact and immediately after impact, saturating an area with flying shards of steel. They generally have a higher explosive charge than antipersonnel land mines. The failure rate for cluster weapons is between 5 and 30 percent. Failure to explode on impact doesn't mean they are harmless. On the contrary, they may explode with the slightest touch by a child or other innocent passerby. What makes them even more dangerous is that they become more unstable with each passing year, according to bomb disposal experts working in Laos. Currently, no treaty specifically regulates cluster munitions, although Additional Protocol I of 1977 to the Geneva Conventions includes some internationally accepted legal standards to assess the problems they cause. While the inevitability of some civilian deaths is recognized, the protocol says that states cannot legally target civilians or engage in indiscriminate attacks. Cluster munitions have the potential to be indiscriminate because they cannot be precisely targeted. In that regard, Article 51(4)(b) specifically prohibits attacks that "employ a method or means of combat which cannot be directed at a specific military objective." Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, states that "Cluster munitions are unacceptably inaccurate and unreliable weapons when used around civilians, and should never be used in populated areas." Human Right Watch researchers were able to document cluster munitions among the arsenal of Israel Defense Forces stationed on the Israeli-Lebanese border. They include the M483A1 Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions, supplied by the U.S. As artillery shells, they have a 14 percent failure rate. Unexploded ordnance endangers civilians later. Lebanese security forces have denounced Israel's use of cluster munitions in its attacks not only on Blida but also on other Lebanese border villages, including attacks earlier this year around the contested Shebaa Farms area. Because of the high proportion of civilians that have been killed or injured by these weapons, many organizations such as the Red Cross, the Cluster Munition Coalition and the United Nations oppose their use. An international consensus is building against them. Last February, Belgium became the first country to ban cluster munitions, and Norway announced a moratorium on the same in June. At present, more states are calling for a new international instrument to deal with them, since it is felt that existing humanitarian law is not sufficient to respond to the issues associated with cluster munitions. In a recent report entitled "Fatal Strikes: Israel's Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon," Human Rights Watch states: "By consistently failing to distinguish between combatants and civilians, Israel has violated one of the most fundamental tenets of the laws of war: the duty to carry out attacks only on military targets. The extent of the pattern and the seriousness of the consequences indicate the commission of war crimes." The use of cluster munitions only adds a note of desperation in this conflict. Israel should accept widely recognized norms of civilized behavior, even in times of war, and renounce the use of these dangerous weapons. Cesar Chelala, M.D., Ph.D., is an international public health consultant and a winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights. -------- britain Britain Names Suspects in Alleged Airline Bomb Plot; British Muslims Skeptical, Fear Backlash Friday, August 11th, 2006 http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/11/1343252 Britain has named 19 of the 24 people arrested yesterday on suspicion of plotting to blow up passenger jets flying to the United States and has frozen their assets. We go to Britain to look why many British Muslims are skeptical of the plot and fear a backlash on their communities. [includes rush transcript] Britain has named 19 of the 24 people arrested yesterday on suspicion of plotting to blow up passenger jets flying to the United States and has frozen their assets. Police said the plan was to take liquid explosives disguised as drinks on up to 10 planes with detonators hidden in electronic devices. All of those arrested are British citizens, aged seventeen to thirty-five, and lived in areas of east London, High Wycombe and Birmingham. Most are believed to be of Pakistani descent. One of the suspects was said to be a young mother, though Scotland Yard has not officially confirmed this. British authorities say that they have been investigating the group for "about a year." Under new anti-terror laws, police have up to twenty-eight days to question the suspects before deciding whether to charge or release them. Pakistan said it played a role in thwarting the suspected plot. A senior Pakistani government official said that two British nationals arrested in Pakistan last week provided key information. While British authorities said all the main figures had been caught, ABC News quoted unnamed U.S. officials as saying five suspects were still on the loose. Authorities said the airlines to be targeted were United, American and Continental, bound for New York, Washington and California. Hours after news of the arrests broke, President Bush spoke about the alleged plot. * President Bush: "The recent arrests that our fellow citizens are now learning about are a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation." The suspected plot sparked chaos at Britain's airports at the height of the summer holiday season with hundreds of flights canceled as airlines imposed strict security measures. Armed police have been deployed in many airports and passengers are no longer allowed to take their hand luggage into the cabin. * Milan Rai, co-founder of the groups Justice Not Vengeance and Voices in the Wilderness. His latest book is "7/7: The London Bombings, Islam and the Iraq War." * Salma Yaqoob, head of the Birmingham Stop the War Coalition and a founder and vice-chair of RESPECT The Unity Coalition in England. This year she won a seat on the city council in Birmingham and became the first elected hijab-wearing councilor in the city. RUSH TRANSCRIPT AMY GOODMAN: Hours after news of the arrests broke, President Bush spoke about the alleged plot. PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: The recent arrests that our fellow citizens are now learning about are a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom. AMY GOODMAN: The suspects’ plot sparked chaos at Britain's airports at the height of the summer holiday season, with hundreds of flights canceled as airlines imposed strict security measures. Armed police have been deployed in many airports, and passengers are no longer allowed to take their hand luggage into the plane. Salma Yaqoob is joining us now on the line from Britain. She is the head of the Birmingham Stop the War Coalition, founder of RESPECT The Unity Coalition in England. This year, she won a seat on the Birmingham City Council and became the first elected hijab-wearing councilor in the city. We’re also joined by Milan Rai, co-founder of the groups Justice Not Vengeance and Voices in the Wilderness. His latest book is called 7/7: The London Bombings, Islam and the Iraq War. We welcome you both to Democracy Now! MILAN RAI: Thank you. SALMA YAQOOB: Thank you. AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you both with us, and I know, Salma, you’re on the road with a cell phone, so we appreciate you pulling over to the side to talk with us. Let’s begin with you, Milan. If you could talk about the climate in Britain right now and the response to what the British government says was a plot -- they say they have arrested about two dozen people. It looks like they’re of Pakistani descent. They're British citizens. MILAN RAI: I think that there is a bit of hesitancy, even in the mainstream media, in mainstream political opinion, because of the massive blunders, which there have been with British intelligence. So, the Forest Gate incident two months ago, when 200 armed police dressed in chemical and biological warfare suits raided a house in East London and shot one of the men inside it, only to discovery that there wasn’t anything there and no terrorism-related charges were laid on anyone connected to that house. So there’s a real sense of hesitancy about fully accepting what the government is saying. However, obviously, as details emerge, then that will change. I think that there is a certain stiff upper lip attitude in Britain, which is partly to do with the way in which Britain has dealt with the long-running IRA campaign, which was running up until a few years ago, and so that has kind of conditioned people's response to these kinds of incidents also. JUAN GONZALEZ: And, Salma Yaqoob, some of those arrested were from Birmingham, and the names have been released by the British government today. Any of those names familiar to you at all? Or what’s the reaction in Birmingham? SALMA YAQOOB: No, none of the names are familiar to me personally. But the reaction in Birmingham is one of shock, you know, people gearing up for their holidays, and this has just come out of the blue for many people; and also a real feeling of cynicism, as well, as Milan pointed out, because there have been so many blunders. I mean, he mentioned the Forest Gate incident, which was a recent one. We've had the ricin plot, which in the end turned out not to be a ricin plot. Manchester football stadium, we were told, there was a huge terrorist plot there. Then it turned out there wasn't anything. The Brazilian young man was shot last year, and we were told at that time, “No, we’re 100% confident we’ve got a terrorist here.” And so, because of this, there’s a major caution in the general public in accepting what is going on, and also because the timing of this, with Prime Minister Blair coming under so much pressure. Just last weekend, we had 100,000 people demonstrating against his support for Israel and America with what’s happening in Lebanon at the moment. And so, people are a bit skeptical. And people are saying, “You know, we don't know whether these men are innocent or not. They may well be guilty, but why are we hearing about these arrests before even charges have been made upon them? And why don’t we find out at the end of a process, at the end of a trial, when all the evidence is there, and then let’s bring this out in the public?” JUAN GONZALEZ: You mentioned some of these other alleged plots. Maybe some Americans here are not familiar with some of them. The Manchester club plot, I think there were about ten people originally arrested on that. Can you talk a little bit about that and what happened? SALMA YAQOOB: Well, basically we had the headline news that people going to this football match, which obviously people love going to -- you know, it’s our national sport -- that there was a terror plot and that people would be blown up. And yet, it then emerged later on that there was no such plot. We heard about ricin, you know, this dangerous element, biological warfare in our streets, and after a trial actually emerged that the evidence just did not stand up, and the men were released. But the fear, the panic, the feeling of being under siege, of course, that you don’t erase, and we do have a climate of fear. Just last night, we’ve had a mosque attacked in Chester using flammable liquid. And so we’re already seeing the backlash start. And this is also what people here fear, with our different communities here, that whole communities come under that suspicion, whole communities come under demonization. So people are saying, “We want to see hard, cold facts.” Already, we’re seeing the politicization of this information. We have President Bush coming out, saying, “See? We told you so. It’s all about Islamofascists.” You can see how the judicial process itself becomes corrupted, and one has to question who is gaining by the use of this information at this stage in an investigation. AMY GOODMAN: Milan Rai, what about this use of the term -- and we're seeing it here more and more in the United States -- of “Islamofascists”? MILAN RAI: Well, I think that here in Britain, and I guess in the U.S., as well, there has been a bit of a split personality as far as the government's attitude towards the Muslim community is concerned, where on the one hand there's lots of warm words, there’s lots of ennobling of particular favored leaders within the Muslim community and so on, and on the other hand, there’s a way of speaking about Muslims, and also there’s a way of treating Muslims through the police and intelligence operations and so on, which merely increase alienation, and, in fact, that was explicitly stated by the most senior Muslim police officer in Britain, who said the way that counterterrorism is being pursued is deepening alienation. “Islamofascism” is a kind of handy term for demonizing one particular strand of the militant forms of Islamic -- violent forms of Islamic fundamentalism. And what the Bush administration has always been trying do is it’s always been trying to draw on the moral legitimacy of the Second World War and trying to refer to the Axis powers and trying to raise what they are doing to the level of the fight against fascism and Nazism in the Second World War. And it’s nothing of the kind. Al-Qaeda is not a single unitary military-style organization. It’s a network of networks. It’s a loose association of people who are inspired by Osama bin Laden and what he calls for, but who are not commanded by him or any small leadership group around him. And I think we're seeing even now in the mainstream media cautionary words from within the security and intelligence services, saying we don't know whether this has any connection to Osama bin Laden and the core al-Qaeda leadership. This may be completely unconnected, just as the 7th of July attacks appear to have been very nearly completely unconnected to the al-Qaeda leadership and only connected by the passing of a video statement to the al-Qaeda leadership without them having any command over the operation. JUAN GONZALEZ: And Milan, in England, as here in the United States, there have been many people picked up and detained on suspicion of connection to or involvement with terrorism. Could you talk a little bit about the numbers there in Britain and how many have actually been successfully prosecuted? MILAN RAI: I don't have those figures at hand, to be honest. There is something of a dispute going on between the police and Muslim leaders about exactly how many of those detentions under counter-terror powers have led to any charges being proffered or any kind of terrorist-related prosecutions of any kind. The overall profile of it is exactly the same as we saw with the Irish community with the Prevention of Terrorism Act during the 1970s and ’80s, where we had a huge arrest rate and a very tiny prosecution rate, in terms of actually taking forward terrorism-related charges. And all of this harassment, which is what it amounts to, is contributing towards alienation, and that’s something that the government itself has acknowledged, as we know, through the leaked “Young Muslims and Extremism” report, which came out just a few days after the 7th of July attacks. And that report also said that the primary motive creating alienation amongst young Muslims and a drive towards extremism was British foreign policy and the way that it affected Muslims around the world. AMY GOODMAN: The fact that raids -- I don't know if they’re still going on, but have been through the last day in Wickham Place, where some of those from the 7/7 bombings last year, the train bombings happened. Milan? MILAN RAI: Well, three of the bombers were from a suburb of Leeds, and one of them was from the high Wickham sort of area. So what we're hearing now is that several -- most of these people who have been arrested are British-born. What we're hearing is that most of them come out of the Pakistani community. What we’re hearing is that quite a few of them are middle class and well-educated and so on, which is, if it turns out to be well-founded and if turns out these people actually have anything to do with a terrorist plot, which we don't know right now, but if all of that is the case, then that would fit in with pretty much the global picture of the kind of people who are involved in this kind of a thing, which is, it is better-educated people, it is people who have possibly a stake in society, possibly could have a better kind of a life than the average Muslim in the world or Muslim in any Western country, and it’s some of those kinds of people who feel apparently drawn to, in their eyes, defend Muslims around the world from Western assault. And when we look at what British suicide bombers have said in the past, and we know about ones before the 7th of July, as well -- the pair who struck in Israel; Richard Reid, the shoe bomber; and so on -- when we look at what they say, what they keep saying over and over again is that they conceive of their actions as a form of self-defense by the global Muslim community against Western foreign policy and its brutal impact. That's how they see it. That doesn't mean it’s justified, but that means that if we want to reduce their motivation to carry out these attacks, then we have to do something about these foreign policies, which are objected to by the majority of people in Britain and the United States, Muslim and non-Muslim. JUAN GONZALEZ: And Salma Yaqoob, you are an elected city councilor, recently won the election in Birmingham, but you’re also at the same time an antiwar activist. How are this alleged plot and these arrests, do you think, going to affect the antiwar movement and how are you counseling Muslims in Birmingham now to react to this situation? SALMA YAQOOB: Well, as far as a response, obviously we have to be dignified and just in our response. The fact is our country is under a great terror threat now. We can see the political reasons for that. I mean, the Security Services themselves said that with Britain's involvement in Afghanistan, in Iraq, that our country would be more at risk. This isn’t about religion. It’s about people taking what they call revenge. Their logic is, if you use violence, we can also use violence. We’re seeing it around the world. So what people in the antiwar movement have been saying from the beginning is, “Address the root causes.” This is not appeasement. This is saying, if you really want to stop terrorism, stop this state terrorism. We have a double standard. We have states with an army of airplanes -- already what we’re seeing in Lebanon, for example, is 30,000 sorties a day. 1,000 civilians have already been killed, and yet we're not hearing the talk about state terrorism at all. We’re hearing about Hezbollah. Yes, Hezbollah also has a role to play in this, but they all say that we're defending our country against an invasion. Lebanon did not invade Israel. That’s the fact. When we hear these kind of discourses in an unequal way, some people then become very enraged, and they don't address that politically. In the antiwar movement, what we're saying is we want to do things peacefully. We want to address things politically, and that's why people are frustrated with their own leaders, with Prime Minister Blair, saying, “We can't talk peace. We can't talk politics. If you are determined to use bombs and violence yourself, you are then helping to instigate a cycle of violence, and innocent people will bear the brunt of that.” AMY GOODMAN: Salma Yaqoob and Milan Rai, I want to thank you both very much for joining us. Salma Yaqoob is head of the Birmingham Stop the War Coalition, founder and vice-chair of the RESPECT The Unity Coalition in England, the political party, and is a city councilor in Birmingham. Milan Rai, co-founder of the group Justice Not Vengeance, and is author of the book, 7/7: The London Bombings, Islam and the Iraq War. -------- israel / palestine Israel signals acceptance of cease-fire deal Updated 8/11/2006 (AP) http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-08-11-mideast_x.htm JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has accepted an emerging Mideast cease-fire deal and informed the United States of his decision, Israeli officials said Friday. Olmert will recommend that his government approve the deal in its Sunday meeting, said Gideon Meir, a senior official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry. The Israeli offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon will continue at least until Sunday's Cabinet vote, said an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue with reporters. The day's tumultuous events began with a decision by Olmert, after consultations with his defense minister, to send troops deeper into Hezbollah territory — even as U.N. Security Council negotiations neared an end. Still, that order was coupled with signals from Israel that it could halt the offensive if a cease-fire arrangement meets its demands, particularly for a strong multinational force. "There is no question whatsoever that the military operation can be stopped at any time," Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisen told CNN. She said the wider offensive had not yet begun, contradicting earlier claims by Israeli officials that it was already underway. Several hours later, France and the United States reached agreement on a final draft resolution, to be put to a vote later Friday. The draft would authorize the deployment of 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers in south Lebanon to support the Lebanese army's movement into the region "as Israel withdraws." UNITED NATIONS: France, USA craft resolution The draft would ask the U.N. force to monitor a full cessation of hostilities and help Lebanese forces gain full control over an area that had been controlled by Hezbollah. The draft said the U.N. force could respond by "forceful means" to efforts to prevent it from carrying out its mandate. The final version fell short of Israel's demand that the force be deployed under the U.N. Charter's Chapter 7, which would authorize troops to use force. Lebanon opposes that because of its fears such a mandate would make the peacekeepers look like occupiers. Israeli officials said a small, weak U.N. force in south Lebanon is a deal breaker. Israel worries such a force will not be able to prevent Hezbollah guerrillas from resuming attacks on Israel. However, Israel TV's Channel 10 quoted an Olmert aide as saying the final draft was "good for Israel," and an individual close to the government said there was a "good chance" Israel would accept it. A decision on the offensive could come later, said the individual, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the high-stakes deliberations. The fighting, which began July 12 after Hezbollah guerrillas crossed into Israel and seized two Israeli soldiers, has killed more than 800 people — including at least 732 Lebanese and 122 Israelis. After nightfall Friday, there were signs of troop movement on the Israel-Lebanon border. Battle-ready soldiers carrying heavy backpacks marched near the frontier as tanks assembled nearby. In south Lebanon, there were no reports of increased troop activity. More than 10,000 Israeli troops are fighting Hezbollah guerrillas in south Lebanon. In the new phase, Israeli forces will push toward Lebanon's Litani River, some 18 miles from the Israel-Lebanon border, trying to capture more than twice as much territory as they hold now. Olmert has faced growing criticism at home for the army's inability to halt the rocket barrages on Israel; Hezbollah has fired more than 3,500 rockets in the monthlong war. Polls also indicated his high approval rating was slipping. Commentators have suggested Olmert's political career was at stake, and that he might even be forced to step down. Many Israelis believe defeating Hezbollah is essential for their country's long-term security. Olmert's decision to expand the war came as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other senior diplomats scrambled Friday to adopt a cease-fire resolution. "We're working for a vote today," Rice said, after learning of the dramatic announcement from Jerusalem. She then called Olmert, to hear from him whether there was still room for negotiations. In Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes pounded south Beirut and border crossings to Syria, and ground fighting picked up intensity in the south of the country. In the Bekaa Valley, an Israeli drone attacked a convoy of more than 100 vehicles fleeing the occupied town of Marjayoun, killing at least one man and wounding others. An Israeli drone fired at a convoy fleeing attacks in southern Lebanon, killing at least one man and wounding other people, witnesses and hospital officials said. The state-run National News Agency said at least four people were killed. The convoy of more than 100 civilian vehicles as well as vehicles carrying a detachment of 350 Lebanese soldiers and police was hit near the town of Chtaura in the Bekaa Valley. Hospital officials in the town of Job Jannine said they received 25 casualties from the attack; it was not immediately clear how many were fatalities. Security officials in the Bekaa said at least nine rockets were fired on the convoy. Two U.N. peacekeeping armored vehicles led the convoy out of the Israeli-occupied town of Marjayoun; it was not know if they were still with the convoy at the time of the attack. Associated Press photographer Lutfallah Daher was with the convoy. He said he saw one dead man and many other people wounded. Israeli planes dropped leaflets over parts of Beirut, saying Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah is "cheating" the Lebanese and hiding the number of losses among the militiamen. The paper included the names of about 90 fighters Israel said were killed. Israel has imposed a virtual lockdown on traffic across southern Lebanon and key northern routes, seeking to cut off weapons and aid shipments to Hezbollah. The attack on the Abboudiyeh border crossing apparently reflected Israeli fears that Hezbollah was still being supplied via Syria — which is Hezbollah's main sponsor along with Iran. At least 12 people were killed in the attack on the bridge, spanning the northern border, security officials said. That left the northern coastal road as the only official border crossing to Syria open for those trying to flee Lebanon. Two other Lebanese civilians were killed elsewhere, officials said. At the same time, Israeli forces were still locked in relentless clashes with guerrillas along the southern border. Hezbollah said it killed or wounded 15 Israeli soldiers near the border village of Aita al-Shaab. It also said Israeli forces suffered casualties near the southern village of Rachaf. Israel did not immediately release information on battlefield losses. Hezbollah said four of its fighters had been killed, but did not say when or where. The guerrilla group's Al-Manar TV said Hezbollah fighters hit an Israeli gunboat off Tyre in southern Lebanon, but the Israeli military denied it. More than 800 people in Lebanon and Israel have died since fighting erupted — 732 on the Lebanese side and 122 on the Israeli side. In other developments: • Poll results in Israel showed pessimism about the military action. A survey in the Yediot Aharonot newspaper showed 37% of the 500 people questioned believed Israel would cripple Hezbollah, compared with 40% in a previous survey. Seventeen percent thought Israel would lose the war and Hezbollah would return to south Lebanon, up from 13% earlier. The poll also showed Olmert's approval rating fell to 66% from 73%. It had a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points. • The spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Ronald Huguenin, said Israel refused to let a Greek ship carrying humanitarian aid and food dock in either Tyre or Sidon. • In Geneva, the U.N. Human Rights Council condemned Israel for "massive bombardment of Lebanese civilian populations" and other "systematic" human rights violations, and decided to send a commission of inquiry to investigate. European countries, Japan and Canada voted against the resolution, primarily because it lacked balance in failing to name the Hezbollah militia. The United States, which is an observer, has no vote on the 47-member council. Israeli Ambassador Itzhak Levanon said the discussions were one-sided, referring only to civilian losses in Lebanon while ignoring deadly Hezbollah missile attacks on northern Israel. -------- us Broadcast Exclusive...AWOL Army Sgt. On the Run for a Year Speaks Out for the First Time Friday, August 11th, 2006 Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/11/1343256 In a Democracy Now! broadcast exclusive, we speak with Sgt. Ricky Clousing, an Army interrogator who served in Iraq from December 2004 until April 2005. He became a war resister after witnessing how the war was being fought. Within months after returning home, he went AWOL and remained in hiding for a year. We speak with Sgt. Clousing just hours before he plans to go to Fort Lewis to turn himself in to military officials. [includes rush transcript] The Pentagon is now estimating that as many as 40,000 troops have deserted the U.S. Armed Forces over the past six years. Many have refused to fight in Iraq. Today, we are joined by an Army sergeant, who chose to serve in Iraq as an army interrogator with the 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg. But he became a war resister after witnessing how the war was being fought. His name is Sgt. Ricky Clousing. He is a 24-year-old from Sumner, Washington. He served in Iraq from December 2004 until April 2005. Within months after returning home, he went AWOL. In June 2005, Sgt. Clousing sneaked out of Fort Bragg in the middle of the night. He left behind a quote from Martin Luther King. It read, "Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" But conscience asks the question, "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but because conscience tells one it is right." Today Sgt. Ricky Clousing plans to go to Fort Lewis to turn himself in to military officials. But first he joins us live from Seattle. * Sgt. Ricky Clousing, Iraq combat vet and U.S. Army Interrogator. Related Link: The Seattle Draft and Military Couseling Center's website dedicated to Sgt. Ricky Clousing RUSH TRANSCRIPT AMY GOODMAN: Today, Sgt. Ricky Clousing plans to go to Fort Lewis in Washington to turn himself in to military officials. But first, in this first national live broadcast after going AWOL, he joins us in a studio in Seattle. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Sgt. Ricky Clousing. SGT. RICKY CLOUSING: Thank you. AMY GOODMAN: It’s very good to have you with us. Why did you go AWOL? SGT. RICKY CLOUSING: I chose to leave after experiencing the brutalities of war in this war in Iraq, and it was a process that I considered long and hard upon my return to Fort Bragg. Those two-and-a-half months of my integration back into the military and back into society really questioned and really forced me to reevaluate my beliefs and my own personal feelings and convictions, politically and spiritually, about my involvement in the war in Iraq and also the organization of the military in general. JUAN GONZALEZ: Could you talk to us about some of your specific experiences while you were there? My understanding is you actually witnessed some killings of innocent civilians that really affected you deeply? SGT. RICKY CLOUSING: Yes, I was assigned to a tactical infantry unit, which meant basically that I was out on patrols with infantry units. The particular incident you’re referring to, I was in Mosul on a convoy en route, and we stopped to assist another convoy that had been struck by an IED. And during that time, I was ordered to pull rear security on the convoy, where I proceeded to go behind the rear Humvee and guard the road, basically to ensure that nobody turned down and posed a threat to U.S. forces assisting soldiers in their personal crisis, what was going on with the IED. As I was doing that, I had seen a vehicle turn down our road going approximately 15 miles an hour. I saw directly in the window. It was a young boy, or a young man, I should say, and as soon as he saw U.S. troops, he was terrified, took his hands off the wheel. It was evident that he was scared that U.S. troops were there, weapons drawn. He didn't know what was going on. He was making an effort to brake the vehicle and to turn around immediately, when a soldier in the turret of the Humvee behind me proceeded to open up fire and fired four to five rounds inside of the vehicle. I went over to the vehicle with a medic and broke the window out and dragged the civilian into the road, which is common to provide first aid upon injured civilians, and even insurgents, but I look downed at him as the medic was performing first aid. And the situation, obviously, was really -- I was in shock. I didn't know what was going on. It was really fast. But as I looked down in the eyes of the boy, I could tell that he was just scared. He was frightened. And I don't speak Arabic, and obviously there was no words exchanged, but I could look into his eyes and see that he was confused and hurt and didn't know what was going on. You know, I could sense that from the soul he was crying out, you know, “Why is this happening to me? What’s going on? What did I do? I was turning my car around.” I spoke with the leaders afterwards and told them that basically they needed to instruct their soldiers to assess and analyze a situation properly, as the proper procedures were neglected. The escalation of force by waving of the arms and firing a warning shot and then proceeding to try to disengage the vehicle by shooting the tires, and then actually if the vehicle doesn't stop and it poses a threat still, you're authorized to engage into the vehicle and engage the civilian. All of those procedures were ignored, and it was directly -- basically the civilian was fired on immediately. And I thought that this Iraqi died innocently, and I was really disturbed by it, really shook my foundation of why I thought we were there. And I had skepticism before, but that particular incident, along with some other ones, really just made me second guess what we were doing there and what really is happening. AMY GOODMAN: Did you raise it with your superiors? SGT. RICKY CLOUSING: I did raise it to the superiors that were in charge of the convoy. I did. AMY GOODMAN: And what did they say? SGT. RICKY CLOUSING: I brought it up to them. And it was hard for me to do that, because I was never deployed before, because I wasn't an infantry soldier. I was a military intelligence soldier attached to these infantry guys. But when I did, I spoke what I felt I needed to say and bring up issues that needed to be questioned and concern. And when I did, I was really shot down by the superiors, basically that I didn't know how convoy operations worked, and I had never been deployed before and I didn’t understand that this happens and that that’s just something that’s a reality of war, and that I apparently didn't know what I was talking about. JUAN GONZALEZ: And how prevalent, in your experience, were these kinds of incidents of innocent civilians being needlessly killed? SGT. RICKY CLOUSING: I, myself, only witnessed this particular incident where an innocent civilian was killed, although because I was an interrogator, my security clearance granted me access to the S-2 room, which is the intelligence briefing room. It’s where they have all the intelligence updates. There is a board called the daily intelligence summary, and that holds information on how many times in our area of operation that soldiers have received small arms fire, how many IEDs have gone off and also the number of local nationals or noncombatant Iraqi civilians that are killed. And as I said, I only saw this personally one time, but the number of innocent Iraqis killed on the bleeder board, or on the intelligence board, definitely climbed the whole time I was in Iraq. The number never -- it gradually increased day by day that we were there in the sector. AMY GOODMAN: It’s called the “bleeder board”? SGT. RICKY CLOUSING: It’s an intelligence summary board, basically of all the updates in the area of operation that we conduct in, all of the significant events. AMY GOODMAN: Sgt. Ricky Clousing, can you go back to the beginning and tell us when and why you joined the military, the Army? SGT. RICKY CLOUSING: I joined in 2002. I was actually taking some time off school, and I was doing some mission work in Thailand in an orphanage. And I ended up coming back from that trip and not knowing whether to pursue school or not. So I moved to Europe to live with my father for a little while, and I was there for about four months, backpacking around. I was traveling, and I encountered soldiers coming back from Afghanistan, which was fairly after 9/11, fairly short after that. And I really just started considering the possibility of serving in the military in this new era of these all new ideas that had been thrown out there. So I started contemplating. I went and spoke with a recruiter, and the job title that seemed appealing to me was an interrogator, partly because of the nature of the job and also because of the possibility to learn a foreign language and just the new experiences that I would have. JUAN GONZALEZ: And when you decided to go AWOL, could you take us through some of your thoughts then, and why you decided you had to do this? SGT. RICKY CLOUSING: Well, as I said, the particular incident that I saw definitely disturbed me. There’s a number of other incidents that happened that really added to my confusion and my conflict of conscience, you could say. And it really -- although some might call these incidents isolated, and even in the media, you watch on the news the events that happened in Haditha, you read about the 14-year-old girl that was raped and killed by soldiers or even the abuses of Abu Ghraib. Every month or every couple months, there is always a headline issue, it seems to be, that there’s some sort of abuse of power that’s going on in Iraq. But what’s not really covered by the media and what really isn’t spoken about are the daily injustices that happened. And my experiences over there were daily injustices, which included that innocent civilian that was killed, but as I said, there was also a number of other incidents where I -- to sum it up, I really saw the physical, psychological and emotional harassment of civilians. The abuse of power that goes on in Iraq each day really was just not -- I believe should not be tolerated. And these events aren’t covered by the media. So those events that I witnessed and I was exposed to really forced me to second guess my ability to perform daily functions as a soldier, to train my soldiers that I was in charge of and to be trained. I was basically kind of -- I felt stuck in my situation, where I really felt like -- as I got home, I really dug into information leading up to the war in Iraq and also through foreign policy in general, and I just really was -- I felt stuck, that I’m in an organization right now that I’m discovering, based on my experiences and the knowledge that I’m reading, that I really do not believe that I can honorably serve and be a part of at this time, so -- AMY GOODMAN: Sergeant Clousing, we have to break for 60 seconds. We’re going to come back. We want to talk to you about that process that night when you left Fort Bragg and also what you’ve done over this past year. It has been difficult. You’ve gone AWOL. Today, you’ll be holding a news conference in Washington State and turning yourself in. We would like to talk about that, as well. We are talking to Sgt. Ricky Clousing, speaking out nationally for the first time. Today, he will turn himself in in Fort Lewis. Stay with us. [break] AMY GOODMAN: Our guest in Seattle today is speaking out nationally for the first time. His name is Sergeant Ricky Clousing, served as an army interrogator in Iraq from December 2004 to April 2005. This is more than a year later. Ricky Clousing, what did you do the night you left Fort Bragg, and did others there know that you were leaving, placing that quote of Dr. Martin Luther King, leaving it behind you and walking out of the base? SGT. RICKY CLOUSING: Well, I didn't actually plan a day that I was going to depart from my unit. Like I mentioned a little bit before, it was a process of when I integrated back home of my feelings really intensifying over time, and it intensified to the point in June, where I really felt like the only decision that I had in obeying my conscience and living honorably was to separate myself from the military in that way. So nobody else in my unit knew that I was going to be leaving. It wasn't -- I didn't talk to anybody about it. I basically -- I knew this was a time I had to move and I had to separate myself. So, as you mentioned, I left a note on my door explaining my feelings, which my unit was well aware of. My superiors already understood my conflict, and I left a quote by Martin Luther King, which you read earlier, which I feel kind of explained in a summary of how I felt in the whole matter. JUAN GONZALEZ: What about your fellow soldiers? Did any of them share your frustration and your disillusionment with what was going on there, or were you pretty much a loner on this issue? SGT. RICKY CLOUSING: When I was in Iraq, I was primarily attached to infantry units, so I was around a different mentality of soldiers. When I returned home and spoke to some of the people that I had trained with and stuff in my intelligence unit, there's definitely, even among the infantry soldiers, there was absolutely a feeling of confusion, a feeling of questioning whether or not we're actually in Iraq for the reasons we were told, because men and women are dying each day, you know. Even these infantry guys are losing their friends each day in roadside bombs, losing their friends in gunfire attacks, and absolutely, the -- I mean, people are wondering, “Why am I here? I mean, I was sent here for a reason.” And people still, soldiers in particular, they definitely feel this question of “What is really going on?” It’s not so much spoken about on a big platform, because it’s kind of like this inner question that I had before I went to Iraq, as well. It’s just that the experiences that I had really kind of forced me to deal with these questions on the forefront, kind of like compelled me to answer them. AMY GOODMAN: Sergeant Clousing, last November we interviewed a former U.S. Army interrogator specialist. His name is Tony Lagouranis. He, too, served in Iraq. He was at Abu Ghraib beginning in April 2004. He was in other places, as well, began to speak out about what he witnessed there. During the interview, he talked about the methods of interrogation he used. TONY LAGOURANIS: We were using dogs in the Mosul detention facility, which was at the Mosul airport. We would put the prisoner in a shipping container. We would keep him up all night with music and strobe lights, stress positions. And then, we would bring in dogs, and the prisoner was blindfolded, so he didn't really understand what was going on, but we had the dog controlled. He was being held by a military police dog handler on a leash, and the dog was muzzled so he couldn't hurt the prisoner. That was the only time I ever saw dogs used in Iraq. AMY GOODMAN: Did the prisoner know that there was a muzzle on the dog? TONY LAGOURANIS: No, because he was blindfolded, so the dog would be barking and jumping on the prisoner, and the prisoner wouldn't really understand what was going on. AMY GOODMAN: What did you think of this practice that you were engaging in? TONY LAGOURANIS: Well, I knew that we were really walking the line, and I was going through the interrogation rules of engagement that was given to me by the unit that we were working with up there, trying to figure out what was legal, what wasn't legal. And according to this interrogation rules of engagement, that was legal. So when they ordered me to do it, I had to do it. And, you know, as far as whether, you know, I thought it was a good interrogation practice, I didn't think so at all, actually. It didn't -- we never produced any intelligence. AMY GOODMAN: Former Army interrogator, Tony Lagouranis, talking about his experiences. You, too, were in Mosul, Sgt. Ricky Clousing, as well as Baghdad. Did you have experiences like this, you, too, an Army interrogator? SGT. RICKY CLOUSING: I actually was never exposed to the mistreatment of prisoners. It could have been because of the differences between the specific unit I was working with. There’s two separate possibilities basically for an interrogator. You’re basically assigned to a strategic unit, which are -- a lot of those units are -- they’re basically not attached to infantry units. They're not an infantry support unit. Those are the interrogators that were at Abu Ghraib. Those are the interrogators that are at Guantanamo Bay and a lot of the larger interrogation facilities. Those are strategic unit interrogators. It just happened to be, primarily because of my airborne qualification, that I was stationed with the 82nd Airborne, which happens to be a tactical infantry unit. So, because of that, my interrogation experiences were tactical questioning out in the city after raids, after searches and whatnot, but also in the interrogation facilities. But during my time in the interrogation facility, I never witnessed, like I said, mistreatment of prisoners. My unit back at Fort Bragg was very adamant and was very particular about the treatment and the proper handling of prisoners. But, however, I did hear stories from other interrogators in Iraq that things went on. I heard stories from Abu Ghraib and other detention facilities of methods used, and using dogs is one of them, using some of the interrogation practices now that are deemed inhumane, I guess. I've heard of stories like that. The common idea in a lot of the mentality in the military is “out of sight, out of mind,” and that definitely prevails in that instance with interrogations being held in Iraq. JUAN GONZALEZ: Sergeant, next Thursday U.S. Army First Lieutenant Ehren Watada is going to face a pretrial hearing for refusing to deploy to Iraq. Two months ago, he became the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse deployment. This is an excerpt of a video recording he issued at the time, explaining why he's refusing to fight. EHREN WATADA: The war in Iraq violates our democratic system of checks and balances. It usurps international treaties and conventions that, by virtue of the Constitution, become American law. The wholesale slaughter and mistreatment of Iraqis is not only a terrible moral injustice, but it is a contradiction to the Army's own law of land warfare. My participation would make me party to war crimes. Normally, those in the military have allowed others to speak for them and act on their behalf. I believe that time has come to an end. AMY GOODMAN: First Lieutenant Ehren Watada, he's in Washington State. Suzanne Swift, who also went AWOL and was confined to the Fort Lewis base, from Eugene in Washington. Also, James Yee, the chaplain who was arrested from Guantanamo, comes from Olympia, Washington. And now, you today, here in Seattle, you're going to Fort Lewis. Can you talk about the atmosphere in Washington State? Why do you think there are so many of you? Or are we just hearing people going public in Washington State? After all, we hear there are tens of thousands of people who have left the military, according to the Pentagon's figures. SGT. RICKY CLOUSING: I think that there is definitely a wide amount of people that feel the same feelings I have, the same questions that Lieutenant Watada had, as many -- just like a lot of other war resisters that are standing up. Going public is something that is basically an individual choice that has to be made that -- I know other soldiers who have left AWOL and other soldiers who even would like to leave AWOL. I don't think it’s necessarily that the Northwest is particular to those people. It does so happen to be that Suzanne Swift is from the Northwest, I myself am from the Northwest. Lieutenant Watada is from Hawaii. He's stationed here in the Northwest. But I would definitely say that there is a progressive idea of involvement and of collective consciousness here about questioning politics and questioning what’s going on in Iraq, which really needs to involve our whole society. I think that that's the kind of the lack of civil responsibility, I maybe could say, that people in this nation have kind of stepped back from and not understood that not only are soldiers really responsible for, you know, certain situations they find themselves in in Iraq, I think as a whole our society really needs to step back and realize what's going on in Iraq and that we are directly and indirectly responsible for the injustices happening over there, whether you're military or not. If you're a civilian and you don't speak out against what’s going on and don't make an attempt to understand it and then do something about it, I think we all share that same responsibility. So, like I say, going public is one way I chose that I felt like I wanted to share my experiences in Iraq and shed light on a window of reality that I think has kind of been absent from the media, which is, like I said, the daily abuse of power that goes without accountability. JUAN GONZALEZ: Let me ask you, you have been in hiding now for over a year. Could you talk about that experience? Were you aware of any attempts by the Army to track you down or to detain you? What’s been the reaction of your family and your friends to your situation? SGT. RICKY CLOUSING: I’ve been very grateful that my family has been very supportive of me. They've loved on me this whole time I've been gone. They've been really supportive of me. My friends, as well. I’ve had friends in different parts of the country that are standing by me. Even friends that don't necessarily agree with my politics of my decision, they still know that I’m a person of conviction and they still support my decision. The last year has been obviously an interesting year, where I was really trying to piece together a lot of ideas, where as a 24 year-old man trying to recalculate my world view and my perception of not only the military, but of our government and my association in it and my involvement and my responsibilities -- these are all questions that I've pondered and thought about the last year -- I spent a lot of the year in reflection and a lot of it really trying to just be centered and, yeah, like I said, come to grips with a lot of these questions and answers. AMY GOODMAN: Sgt. Clousing, today you're going to hold a news conference. And then, well, tell us how the day will proceed. You're turning yourself in after a year. SGT. RICKY CLOUSING: Yes, there's a news conference planned today at 9:00 Pacific time, where it’s actually in coordination with the Vets for Peace conference with the Iraq Veterans Against the War. I'm going to be kind of speaking out not only for myself, but also just in support of the war resisters. But that's going to happen at 9:00 Pacific time for approximately an hour, and then at the conclusion, as you mentioned, I’m going to drive down to Fort Lewis and surrender myself to military custody. AMY GOODMAN: And what will happen to you then? SGT. RICKY CLOUSING: It’s basically dependent upon the military's reaction of what will happen. I can't -- I don't know what to expect, or I can't make speculations at this time. I have no idea. JUAN GONZALEZ: I'd like to ask you, during the year that you have been in hiding, obviously you've had a chance to see news coverage on the 6:00 news or in the newspapers here in this country of the war in Iraq and the reported death tolls now of a hundred people a day being killed. What do you think, given your experience, what are the American people missing in what they're getting from the reporting from our own media here about the war? SGT. RICKY CLOUSING: As I mentioned before, I really think there’s just an indifference, and also really these incidences that keep being thrown into the media -- they are these huge, tragic events -- seem to be discovered. I mean, they're not brought up by media, and they're not brought into the light of the population because of a moral issue: is this right? They're not questioning the basis of the war in general. They're just saying, this event was discovered so we have the responsibility to report that to our people. AMY GOODMAN: Haditha, Mahmoudiya, did these surprise you? SGT. RICKY CLOUSING: They actually didn't. I mean, my experience, especially working with infantry soldiers and seeing their reaction in circumstances that they're put in, it didn't surprise me, because I think that these events that you're talking about and the experiences that I saw are basically a larger picture of the daily devastation in Iraq and a symptom of the dehumanization of the Iraqi people and the dehumanization that happens as a soldier, naturally, of being able to take another person's life for whatever reason. It's just these are just symptoms of the larger problem that really America has neglected to face in the last three years and that need to be talked about. They need to be brought up in the media, these daily -- like you mentioned, the hundred people that are dying a day in Iraq, these issues need to be brought up. The mistreatment of prisoners, the mistreatment of civilians, whether or not they are detained or not, these are all -- AMY GOODMAN: Sgt. Clousing, we just have ten seconds, but you are now turning yourself in. Are you willing to go to jail for going AWOL, absent without leave? SGT. RICKY CLOUSING: I knew when I made my decision that there would be consequences, and I felt like I needed to be true to my conscience, so whatever the result is, I feel at peace, and I feel calm and collected that this is destiny and that I am standing up for what I really believe in. AMY GOODMAN: Sgt. Ricky Clousing, I want to thank you for joining us. We will certainly follow this case in a Monday report to our listeners and viewers about what has taken place, speaking to us from Seattle, turning himself in at the base at Fort Lewis. -------- ENERGY -------- alternative energy GM to Show Off Fuel Cell-Powered Car August 11, 2006 — By Associated Press http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=11042 TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — General Motors Corp. has achieved a milestone in its quest to bring a hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicle to market, announcing that it now has a drivable version of its Sequel concept car. The Sequel, which looks like a shrunken minivan and has a range of 300 miles, will be shown to reporters next month in California, GM Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said Thursday during a speech at the Center for Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City. But production and sale of the Sequel is a long way off. Wagoner wouldn't give a time estimate for when the public could buy one. "That's rocket science when you get in that car," he said. "This is the most sophisticated product, technologically advanced product, I think we've ever made in the history of GM." Nearly all automakers are testing hydrogen-powered vehicles, with some in use by government workers. The testing has received support from a 5-year, $1.2 billion hydrogen initiative first announced by President Bush in his 2003 State of the Union address. The pollution-free technology holds the potential of zero emissions and a sustainable source of energy produced when hydrogen and oxygen are mixed. Experts say they could begin arriving in showrooms by 2020, or perhaps earlier. But many obstacles exist including the high cost, relatively short range and a lack of fueling stations. -------- ACTIVISTS Antiwar Camp in Israel Comes Out of Bunker The decision to expand the ground offensive galvanizes a dormant, wary peace movement. By Laura King Los Angeles Times Staff Writer August 11, 2006 http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/fairenough/latimes339.html TEL AVIV — A month into the war in Lebanon, Israel's long-quiescent peace movement is suddenly issuing a ringing call to arms. Isolated and beset by infighting in the first weeks of the conflict, the still-small peace camp was spurred into action by the Israeli government's authorization this week of a broader ground invasion in Lebanon. Faced with the prospect of a bloody, drawn-out conflict, mainstream peace groups that had refrained from criticizing the war effort are urging a diplomatic resolution to what has already proven to be a costly and complicated battle with the Shiite Muslim militia Hezbollah. On Thursday, organizers of an antiwar rally in Tel Aviv for the first time brought in what are regarded in this bookish country as big guns: a trio of Israel's best-known authors. The three — Amos Oz, David Grossman and A.B. Yehoshua — have all spoken out strongly against past conflicts and wield considerable moral authority here. "The use of more force now is not in Israel's best interests," Oz told reporters before the rally in front of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. "The time has come to resolve this through diplomatic means." Though it drew only several thousand people, the rally had a much different tone than protests organized previously by far-left groups. Absent this time were strident denunciations of the government and the army. Instead, the protesters waved blue-and-white Israeli flags as they shouted, "Negotiate now!" According to polls, the war retains the broad backing of the Israeli public despite, or perhaps because of, growing sentiment that the battle against Hezbollah has thus far been a losing one. And up until now, the antiwar movement had been mainly the province of what are generally considered to be splinter groups: Arab parties, communists and anarchists. Yael Dayan, the daughter of iconic general and politician Moshe Dayan and a doyenne of the Israeli peace movement, found that out the hard way last week when she tried to address a Tel Aviv antiwar rally organized by a far-left coalition. Stepping up to the microphone, Dayan — an imposing, deep-voiced woman who bears a striking resemblance to her famous father — told the crowd it was important to support Israel's troops even while opposing the war. Her listeners responded by hurling invective and debris, with some shouting that Israeli soldiers were baby-killers. Dayan was forced to relinquish the microphone and leave the stage. "At that juncture, people who were protesting against this conflict simply did not want to hear the message that the war was a just one, at least initially," said Dayan, a former lawmaker who is now the deputy mayor of Tel Aviv. "Even if we have the common ground of believing that now is the time to stop." The encounter, while extreme, was emblematic of sensitivities among Israelis who want to speak out against the war without appearing unpatriotic at what is felt to be a time of grave national crisis. A survey released this week by Tel Aviv University suggested that with rockets raining down on the country's north and troops dying in numbers not seen since the last Lebanon war, most people believed it was crucial to support the government's war aims. "An issue which is not in consensus is the right of protest," wrote the survey's authors, Ephraim Yaar and Tamar Hermann, noting that the public was evenly split over whether this was an appropriate time to speak out against the war. The conflict is a fresh reminder that in Israel, the lines between left and right, between hawk and dove, have always been blurred. Past peace agreements have almost always been forged by battle-hardened ex-generals. Prominent peaceniks make a point of doing their army reserve duty, believing it gives them greater moral authority to speak out against a given conflict. And some of those who identify with Israel's dovish left say that circumstances change, and actions must be altered accordingly. Yosef Sendik, a captain in the army reserve, spent three months in jail because he refused to serve in the West Bank at the height of the Palestinian uprising, or intifada. That decision, he said, was due to his strong belief that Palestinians' rights were not being respected. But he says he would go willingly to Lebanon if called. "Like it says in the Bible, there is a time for peace and a time for war," Sendik said. "This is a war of our survival — I believe that." Similar soul-searching has taken place within the venerable Peace Now movement, founded during the first Lebanon war. The group's secretary-general, Yaariv Oppenheimer, said he believed in the war's first weeks that Israel was correct and justified in striking hard at Hezbollah after the group staged a cross-border raid last month that captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others. But Oppenheimer said he had deep qualms about the wide-ranging ground offensive authorized by Israel's "security Cabinet" on Wednesday. While pressing ahead with fighting close to the border, the army held off Thursday on a deeper push into Lebanon, with policymakers saying there was a window, albeit a narrow one, during which mediation efforts should be given a chance. The sometime role reversals that have taken place in the course of the conflict were satirized this week in the Haaretz newspaper, which ran editorial cartoons on facing pages depicting different views of the war. In one caricature, a balding, ponytailed Peace Now adherent declares: "It won't end until we wipe Beirut off the map!" In the other, a religiously devout Jewish settler, someone whom stereotype would place in the right-wing camp, tells a friend: "It won't end until we talk." Uri Avnery, a snowy-haired veteran peace activist, said he believed that from this point on, the antiwar movement would gain momentum, as speaking out against a prolonged conflict becomes more socially acceptable. "For now, we don't reflect the thinking of the overall public," he said. "But when you see 100 people at a rally one week, and 1,000 the next, and 10,000 the next, you can see the direction in which things are moving. This has to end." ---- Sheehan treated for dehydration in Texas Posted 8/11/2006 (AP) http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-08-11-peace-mom_x.htm WACO, Texas — Anti-war demonstrator Cindy Sheehan was hospitalized Friday evening for dehydration and exhaustion after fasting for more than a month and protesting earlier this week in 100-degree weather, friends and relatives said. Sheehan was listed in stable condition at Providence Health Center in Waco. Brenda Mauk, a nursing supervisor, declined to release additional information. Sheehan was hospitalized after friends picked her up Friday afternoon at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where she arrived after spending several days in Seattle at the Veterans for Peace Convention, said friend Tiffany Burns. Sheehan, who has been on a liquid diet as part of the nationwide "Troops Home Fast" hunger strike, had been treated and released from a Seattle emergency room Thursday night. On doctors orders, she ate for the first time in about 37 days, Burns said. Sheehan was to spend Friday night in the Waco hospital but planned to attend some war protest activities Saturday at the 5-acre lot she bought last month in Crawford, President Bush's adopted hometown, about 20 miles from Waco. Sheehan kicked off her summer war protest Sunday, the one-year anniversary of her first anti-war demonstration in Crawford that attracted more than 10,000 people over 26 days. "She's in good spirits, but she's sad she can't be at Camp Casey," Burns told The Associated Press, referring to the campsite named for her soldier son Casey who was killed in Iraq in 2004. ---- Creating Peace at Lockheed Martin in Bonny Doon on Nagasaki Day by ~Bradley ( bradley [at] riseup.net ) Friday Aug 11th, 2006 4:27 AM http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/08/11/18296139.php On August 9th, Nagasaki Day, 11 civilian weapons inspectors drove up Empire Grade Road and marched the last 1/2 mile to the gates of Lockheed Martin where the public road ends. The Santa Cruz Weapons Inspection Team (SCWIT) led the march marking the annihilation and devastation delivered to the people, animals and plants of Nagasaki, Japan, targeted on August 9th, 1945, by nuclear bombs far less powerful than the ones Lockheed Martin presently manufactures. The nonviolent action included the delivery of a letter from the people of Santa Cruz to Tom and Chip of Lockheed Martin suggesting they produce peaceful technologies instead of weapons like the Trident II (D5), Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBM) armed with nuclear warheads. Paper flowers with messages to Lockheed were attached to the fence, a "peace bush" was planted and anti-nuclear songs were sung outside the gates of Lockheed Martin, the world's largest weapons contractor. Protest at Lockheed Martin in Bonny Doon http://indybay.org/newsitems/2006/07/26/18291759.php From the first nuclear bombs that the U.S. dropped on Japan in 1945 to the deadly "depleted" uranium it deployed in both Iraq wars, to the earth-penetrating "bunker busters" it projects detonating in Iran, the US has forged a multibillion dollar business out of nuclear weapons technology. The largest and most profitable designer, manufacturer, and merchant of those weapons is Lockheed Martin, which operates a 4,400 acre facility at the end of Empire Grade in Santa Cruz. The Bonny Doon-based Lockheed Martin facility manufactures and tests Contained Detonating Fuses (CDFs) for the deadliest weapon ever made - the Trident II D5 nuclear submarine missile. Why Local Activists are Turning their Attention to Lockheed Martin in Bonny Doon http://santacruz.indymedia.org/newswire/display/10275/index.php A newly-formed coalition in Santa Cruz is turning its attention to Lockheed Martin, which has a 4000 acre facility in Bonny Doon. Lockheed Martin (L-M) is the world's largest weapons contractor. It invents and develops high-tech war-fighting weapons, markets them to the Pentagon and to Congress, and sells them around the world on the open market. It pollutes the earth, both in the production of weapons and in their use in war. It has been convicted and fined for criminal violations of US law. And yet it has much more say about our government's policies than do ordinary citizens. Lockheed Martin buys access to our government representatives, largely with money it has made from selling weapons to our government, weapons that are both subsidized and paid for with our tax dollars. Profiteering from War. Lockheed Martin in Bonny Doon Says No to Water Testing http://indybay.org/newsitems/2006/08/10/18296105.php Santa Cruz Weapons Inspection Team (SCWIT) http://scwit.org Community Concerned about Lockheed Martin (CCALM, pronounced "calm") is a group of Central California Coast residents who have joined together to obtain information about the risks and hazards posed by the Lockheed Martin weapons facility, which occupies a 4,400 acre site at the end of Empire Grade Road in Bonny Doon, in Santa Cruz County. http://www.ccalm.org Lockheed Corporation From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lockheed Corporation (originally Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company) was an American aerospace company originally founded in 1912 which merged with Martin Marietta in 1995 to form Lockheed Martin. Origins The Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company was established in 1912 by the brothers Allan and Malcolm Loughead. This company was renamed the Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company and located in Santa Barbara, California. In 1926, following the failure of Loughead, Allan Loughead formed the Lockheed Aircraft Company (the spelling was changed to match its phonetic pronunciation) in Hollywood, California. In 1929 Lockheed sold out to Detroit Aircraft. The Great Depression ruined the aircraft market, and Detroit Aircraft went bankrupt. A group of investors headed by brothers Robert and Courtland Gross bought the company out of receivership in 1932. The syndicate bought the company for a mere $40,000. Ironically, Allan Loughead himself had planned to bid for his own company, but had raised "only" $50,000, which he felt was too small a sum for a serious bid. In 1934, Robert E. Gross was named chairman of the new company, the Lockheed Corporation, which was headquartered at the airport in Burbank, California. The company remained there for many years before moving to Calabasas, California. The first successful construction that was built in any number (141 aircraft) was the «Vega» been known for its use to several first- and record setting flights by, amongst others Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post and Hubert Wilkins In the 1930s, Lockheed spent $139,400 to develop the L-10 Electra, a small twin-engine transport. The company sold 40 in the first year of production. Amelia Earheart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, flew this plane on their failed attempt to circumnavigate the world in 1937. The Electra also formed the basis for the Hudson bomber, which was supplied to both the British Royal Air Force and the United States military before and during World War II. Its primary role was submarine hunting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Corporation Lockheed Martin From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a leading aerospace manufacturer and advanced technology company formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, a community in Montgomery County, Maryland, and employs 135,000 people worldwide. Robert J. Stevens is the current Chairman, President, and CEO. Lockheed Martin is the world's largest defense contractor (by defense revenue).[1] As of 2005, 95% of Lockheed Martin's revenues came from the U.S. Department of Defense, other U.S. federal government agencies, and foreign military customers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin Lockheed Martin Space Systems From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lockheed Martin Space Systems is one of the 5 major business divisions of Lockheed Martin. From a rich history of major companies Lockheed Martin has brought them together to offer design, integration, and production of: * space launch vehicles * satellites for commercial and military space * and missile offense/defense systems History RCA Astro Electronics, a division of RCA was formed in the late 1950s and went on to become one of the leading manufacturers of satellites and related systems. RCA Astro Electronics was based in East Windsor, New Jersey. When General Electric purchased RCA in 1986 Astro Electronics was renamed GE Astro Space. This was sold to Martin Marietta in 1993 and became part of Lockheed Martin in 1995 following that company's merger with the Lockheed Corporation. In 1995 Lockheed Martin announced the closure of the New Jersey facility and the relocation of operations to Sunnyvale, California. The New Jersey facility finished the orders it had and closed in 1998. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is now based in Denver, but still does considerable operations from Sunnyvale. Also located near Sunnyvale is the ATC (Advanced Technology Center), which is located in Palo Alto. The Sunnyvale facility employs over 8,000 in over 40 buildings. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_Space_Systems Trident missile From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Trident missile, named after the trident, is an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) which is armed with nuclear warheads and is launched from submarines (SSBNs), making it a SLBM. The Trident was built in two variants: the I (C4) UGM-96A and II (D5) UGM-133A. The C4 and D5 designations put the missiles within the "family" that started in 1960 with Polaris (A1, A2 and A3) and continued with the 1971 Poseidon (C3). Both Trident versions are three-stage, solid-propellant, inertially guided missiles whose range is increased by an aerospike, a telescoping outward extension that halves frontal drag. The Trident is carried by fourteen active US navy Ohio class submarines and, with British warheads, four Royal Navy Vanguard class submarines. The launch from the submarine occurs below the ocean surface. The missiles are ejected from their tubes by gas pressure created by a "gas generator", a solid-fuel rocket motor attached to the bottom of the missile tube which heats a pool of water creating steam. After the missile leaves the tube and rises through the water over the submarine, the first stage motor ignites, the aerospike extends, and the boost stage begins. Ideally, the missile is "sheathed" in gas bubbles for its entire time in the water, so liquid never touches its fuselage. Within about two minutes, after the third stage motor fires, the missile is traveling faster than 20,000 ft/s (6,000 m/s). Trident I (C4) was deployed in 1979 and phased out in the 1990s and early 2000s. Trident II (D5) was deployed in 1990, and was planned to be in service for the thirty year life of the submarines, until 2027. However, a decision was taken in 2002 to extend the life of the submarines and the D5 missiles to forty-five years. This requires a D5 Life Extension (D5LE) Program, which is currently ongoing. The main aim is to replace obsolete components at minimal cost, while maintaining the demonstrated performance of the existing missiles. In 2006, The UK Government said that it would maintain the UK's independent nuclear deterrent, although it still had to decide exactly how. It is expected to join in fully with the D5LE program for the missiles and have its own program for extending the Vanguard class submarines' lives and maintaining the UK's own warheads. Trident II (D5) UGM-133A The second variant of the Trident is more sophisticated and can carry a heavier payload. It is accurate enough to be a first strike weapon. All three stages of the Trident II are made of graphite epoxy, making the missile much lighter. The Trident II was the original missile on the British Vanguard and later Ohio SSBNs. Conventional Trident The Pentagon developed the Conventional Trident Modification program in 2006 to diversify its strategic options. The US $503 million program would have converted existing Trident II missiles (presumably those scheduled for decommissioning of their warheads) into conventional weapons. It offered the promise of accurate conventional strikes with little warning and flight time. The primary drawback would have been establishing sufficient warning systems so that other nuclear countries would not mistake it for a nuclear launch. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trident_missile Lockheed Martin: World's Largest Weapons Manufacturer http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/corporate/dd/lm.html Trident II D-5 Fleet Ballistic Missile http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/slbm/d-5.htm SANTA CRUZ: Dismantling the Bomb and Constructing Peace Commemorating the Nuclear Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, August 6 and 9, 1945 http://indybay.org/newsitems/2006/08/09/18295695.php BAY AREA: Protests Mark 61st Anniversaries of Atomic Bombings International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples Protest at Bechtel HQ http://indybay.org/newsitems/2006/07/11/18287138.php IMC-US: Communities Re-Connect the Dots of the Nuclear Age http://indymedia.us/en/2006/08/18604.shtml GLOBAL: The 61st Hiroshima Day http://www.indymedia.org/en/2006/08/844430.shtml