NucNews August 31, 2006 -------- NUCLEAR -------- business Fluor bids for British Nuclear Group Thu Aug 31, 2006 By Tom Bergin (Reuters) http://go.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=1433029§ion=finance&src=rss/uk/businessNews LONDON - U.S. engineering and construction firm Fluor Corp. has bid up to 400 million pounds for state-owned British Nuclear Group (BNG) as record oil prices and international moves to cut CO2 emissions boost interest in nuclear energy. Fluor sent a letter to British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. (BNFL), the holding company that controls BNG, earlier this week, offering 250 million to 400 million pounds for BNG, BNFL spokesman Philip Dewhurst said on Thursday. Fluor confirmed the offer in a statement but not the price, which BNFL said varied depending on conditions attached to business contracts BNG holds. BNG's core business is the clean-up of sites formerly occupied by nuclear power stations and waste recycling facilities. BNG is also involved in waste reprocessing and reactor decommissioning. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, a government agency, is BNG's principal customer. The government wants to privatise BNG, and BNFL has hired investment bank Rothschild to organise a sale, Dewhurst said. The sale is planned for completion by the middle of next year. BNG could be sold in one lot or broken up and sold in parts. One industry source said the government may prefer a breakup as it could see this as a way to encourage competition in the British decommissioning industry, currently dominated by BNG. However, Fluor hopes to buy all of BNG. "Fluor's offer recognises that BNG as a whole is worth far more than its individual parts," Fluor said in its statement. Dewhurst said BNFL had not had the opportunity to discuss Fluor's letter with its shareholder, the government, yet and so declined to comment on whether the offer was sufficient. Britain's ageing fleet of nuclear power stations is set to provide a boon to the clean-up industry. Twenty sites are due for decommissioning in the coming five years, creating a $2 billion (1.05 billion pounds) a year business, Dewhurst said. The government-commissioned Energy Review in early July should also guarantee the industry's long-term future. The Review gave the green light for a new generation of nuclear reactors, arguing that nuclear power had an important role to play in reducing carbon dioxide emissions and ensuring energy supply. The Times newspaper earlier reported that Fluor's offer was partly aimed at heading off a possible bid from a U.S. rival, privately-owned Bechtel. The Times said Bechtel had advised the Department of Trade and Industry on strategy for introducing competition into nuclear decommissioning and so was precluded from bidding for major decommissioning contracts for at least three years. (Additonal reporting by Mark McSherry in New York) -------- depleted uranium WEAPONS USED, TARGETS HIT, BOMBING INTENSITY IN LEBANON BY THE ISRAELI MILITARY, by Leuren Moret, US Nuclear Weapons Lab Whistleblower 2006-08-31 UN Observer http://www.unobserver.com/layout5.php?id=2571&blz=1 Here are two maps of Lebanon indicating the amount of munitions used on targets, and what parts of the infrastructure were destroyed in Lebanon, by Israeli military attacks:http://maps.samidoun.org . These are from an Italian journalist, Liliana Bourgana, who sent them to me – the maps are official Lebanese government data. You can go to the Lebanese government website listed on the maps for updates. The journalist will be interviewing me regarding the weapons that were used. This information is from my own observations in news coverage I saw on Italian TV and the BBC while I was in Italy July 4-July 18, and from Major Doug Rokke who was in charge of the Depleted Uranium cleanup team in the Gulf after GW I: - cluster bombs - depleted uranium bombs - including an order during the war, by Israel from the US, for 100 more GBU-28 5000 lb. Depleted uranium warhead bombs [Note: I was in Italy July 4-18 and saw depleted uranium bombs on Italian news and the BBC. Israeli military planes bombed Beirut, the airport and southern Lebanon with DU] – depleted uranium 105mm and 120mm tank rounds [Info from Major Doug Rokke which he saw in the news] - missiles (probably DU) - white phosphorous weapons - Baccilus globigii – bioweapon which makes people throw up violently but does not kill. [Note: a military source said this was determined from color coding on the weapons] This was used in southern Lebanon and reported that it suddenly caused people to get sick. - Reports from MDs treating the wounded describing new kinds of wounds never seen before which may be laser weapons. The US has them (classified) on the ABRAMS tanks. There were certainly Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) used by Israel because shrunken bodies and other types of indicators were reported by Lebanese MDs, http://tinyurl.com/eqtpd descriptions exactly like wounds etc. reported in Baghdad at the airport in 2003 and since: http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=1031 - Toxic chemicals - Lebanese MDs working with the dead and wounded reported horrific new types of wounds and causes of death. In every war new weapons are tested and old weapons are dumped. I will continue to do interviews regarding the illegal use of depleted uranium weaponry, a radioactive poison gas weapon, which has now polluted the entire global atmosphere and has been measured in the British atmosphere within 7-9 days of its use on the battlefields of Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Afghanistan: Yes it travels... very rapidly at relatively low altitude in the troposphere, and is carried by westerlies, trade winds, convection cells, and air currents, not to mention the sand and dust storms which are characteristic of arid regions. We are now in a global diabetes epidemic since 1991 as a result of global contamination from depleted uranium. India now has 39 million diabetics and expects 50 million by 2010 (in third world countries 80% is undiagnosed.) The US Centers for Disease Control reported in 1980 that there were 5.7 million diagnosed cases of diabetes. That number increased by 1 million in a decade, by 1990, to 6.7 million. Between 1990 and 2002 the number increased to 13.5 million, with the largest increase of 2 million in a single year between 1996-97. That is an 18% increase from 1980 to 1990 and a 136% increase from 1980 to 2002, the last year numbers are available. 1996-97 was the period Clinton did heavy grid and carpet bombing... now we know it was with massive amounts of depleted uranium dirty bombs. This huge increase in diabetes is consistent with Japanese reported public health increases in diabetes and cancer mortality, as well as other radiation related illnesses, also increases in India, and the UK. This planet is enveloped in depleted uranium radioactive poison dust, and with all the other problems, it is causing the greatest mass extinction in 65 million years since the dinosaurs went extinct. Scientists predict that 50% of the worlds species will be extinct within 100 years. Infertility in humans is an increasing problem now, with only 15% of sperm in men globally which is normal. It used to be 80% was normal. Britain and the US... and now Israel... have turned this planet into the Auschwitz radioactive poison gas chamber and we are all sitting in it increasing our body burden of radiation with every breath we take. There is no escape... I received an email "Thank god Bush finally nuked Israel... all we have to do is sit and wait now." As bad as this sounds, the reality is that it is not a joke. Israel has been contaminated from French atmospheric testing in the Sahara, Dimona (their own nuke program), depleted uranium used in Iraq/Yugoslavia/Afghanistan and now... Lebanon. This will contaminate the entire Mediterranean, Europe, and beyond... wherever the winds take it, to be rained and snowed out in our back yards. Leuren Moret is a geoscientist and international radiation specialist. By mapping disease she has been able to expose the full impact of radiation exposure on the global community from atmospheric testing, nuclear power plants and depleted uranium weapons. By using geoscience as a tool to understanding radiation, she has established the link between the impact of radiation on the health of the environment and global public health. Recommended Videos: "Connecting the Dots: 911 Four Years Later, From the A-Bomb to Depleted Uranium and Beyond" Leuren Moret http://www.art101.com/radiation/index.html Leuren Moret's GLOBAL RADIATION COVERUP SERIES: "Atmospheric Testing, Nuclear Power Plants, Depleted Uranium" http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3626298989248030643 Leuren Moret's GLOBAL RADIATION COVERUP SERIES: "Global Diabetes Epidemic Caused by Depleted Uranium" http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7451332617120640846 Please also see: Bill for depleted uranium screening passes California Senate by Rebecca S. Bender, 8/25/2006 Eureka, CA, Reporter http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=14280 "THE QUEEN'S DEATH STAR" http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2006/DU-Europe-Moret26feb06.htm "Depleted Uranium is WMD" http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0809-33.htm -------- iran No Concrete Proof Iran Nuclear Program Is Military by Staff Writers Vienna (AFP) Aug 31, 2006 http://www.spacewar.com/reports/No_Concrete_Proof_Iran_Nuclear_Program_Is_Military_999.html UN nuclear inspectors have found no "concrete proof" that Iran's nuclear program is of a military nature, a senior official close to the UN nuclear agency said Thursday. "Inspectors have not uncovered any concrete proof that Iran's nuclear program is of a military nature," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. The official said this conclusion came as inspectors from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were investigating "additional questions about the scope and nature of Iran's nuclear program" as part of an ongoing investigation since February 2003. These questions have involved Iran's work with sophisticated P2 centrifuges to enrich uranium and blueprints Iran possesses to make nuclear weapons parts. Iran has not been forthcoming in answering these questions. "There is a standstill with regard to the resolution of outstanding issues which would clarify the peaceful nature of Iran's program," the official said. -------- u.s. nuc weapons U.S. conducts non-nuclear experiment at Nevada Test Site ASSOCIATED PRESS, August 31, 2006 http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2006/aug/31/083110552.html LAS VEGAS (AP) - Government scientists conducted an underground non-nuclear experiment at the Nevada desert proving ground, the National Nuclear Security Administration said. The so-called subcritical test, dubbed Unicorn, was conducted Wednesday at the Nevada Test Site by scientists from the government's Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, according to a statement from the NNSA in North Las Vegas. No radioactivity was released and no damage was reported in the experiment, conducted in a vault some 600 feet below the surface of the 1,375-square-mile federal reservation, NNSA spokesman Kevin Rohrer said Thursday. It was the 23rd subcritical experiment since 1997 at the test site, 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Subcritical tests involve the detonation of explosives around radioactive material, but are designed not to reach critical mass necessary for a self-sustaining nuclear reaction. Federal officials call subcritical experiments essential to maintaining the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Anti-nuclear groups criticize the experiments as contrary to the spirit of the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty on nuclear arms. The U.S. has observed a moratorium on full-scale nuclear testing since 1992, but has not ratified the treaty. The test site hosted 928 full-scale nuclear tests involving 1,021 nuclear detonations from 1951 to 1992. On the Net: National Nuclear Security Administration: http://www.nv.doe.gov ---- US carries out subcritical nuclear test -Kyodo Thursday, August 31, 2006 Australia Broadcasting http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct=us/0-0&fp=44f6952f0e5316c2&ei=_zb2RND2HZ3YwgGemdG5BQ&url=http%3A//www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1728616.htm&cid=1109122636 The United States says it has carried out a subcritical nuclear experiment successfully at an underground test site in Nevada - the 23rd such test since 1997. The test came amid intensifying US-led international efforts to press North Korea and Iran to abandon their nuclear programs. It was the 10th test under the administration of President George W Bush, despite persistent criticism by anti-nuclear groups. The previous test was conducted on February 23. Many activists and experts argue that the tests undermine the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty on nuclear weapons and that the Bush administration is carrying them out to use them to boost its efforts to develop new nuclear arms. The US Government maintains the subcritical tests do not violate the treaty because they do not involve a nuclear chain reaction and are necessary to ensure the safety of nuclear stockpiles. It also insists they are fully consistent with nuclear test moratorium it has maintained since 1992. "The Los Alamos National Laboratory conducted the experiment to gather scientific data that provides crucial information to maintain the safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear weapons without having to conduct underground nuclear tests," the department's National Nuclear Security Administration said in a statement. The administration said the subcritical tests do not involve nuclear explosion because they are designed to "examine the behaviour of plutonium as it is strongly shocked by forces produced by chemical high explosives". "No critical mass is formed and no self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction can occur," it said. -------- u.s. nuc facilities -------- california PG&E to appeal Diablo ruling The San Luis Obispo Tribune By David Sneed August 31, 2006 http://www.topix.net/content/kri/2811885927344725339423262952951120049820?threadid=6FL0C6C6G1DHDSSS PG&E believes that the (appeals) court erred in its decision and the U.S. Supreme Court should have an opportunity to correct it Pacific Gas and Electric Co. plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a ruling that requires federal regulators to analyze the effects of a terrorist attack on an above-ground, radioactive-waste-storage facility now under construction at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. The utility and the chairman of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced Wednesday the challenge of a lower court ruling. At a briefing in Washington, D.C., NRC Chairman Dale Klein said PG&E has opted to take the case to the Supreme Court, rather than appeal it back to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Jeff Lewis, Diablo Canyon spokesman, confirmed the utility's intention to appeal to the Supreme Court. 'PG&E believes that the (appeals) court erred in its decision and the U.S. Supreme Court should have an opportunity to correct it,' he said. An appeal to the Supreme Court will give the Diablo Canyon case greater national significance. Legal experts have said the appeals court ruling is already causing government agencies to reconsider the amount of public involvement they allow in defending against terrorist attacks. The Supreme Court has given PG&E until Sept. 29 to file the appeal. Details of the appeal will not be made public until it is filed, Lewis said. Justice Anthony Kennedy rules on motions related to the 9th Circuit, said Diane Curran, attorney for the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, the group that originated the lawsuit. The anti-nuclear group argues that PG&E's dry-cask storage for highly radioactive spent reactor fuel needs more scrutiny because it could be vulnerable to terrorists. Those casks, made out of concrete and steel, would be mounted above ground on a hillside behind the power plant. In the past, the NRC and PG&E have argued that federal law does not require such an environmental review because the possibility of a terrorist attack is too speculative. NRC spokesman David McIntyre said his agency will not join PG&E in the lawsuit. 'We will most likely file an amicus brief in support of it,' he said. Crews at Diablo Canyon are constructing thick concrete pads upon which the large dry-cask cylinders loaded with used reactor fuel assemblies will be mounted. The legal wrangling does not stop work on the project, Lewis said. Mothers for Peace sued the NRC in federal court over its refusal to examine the potential environmental impacts of a terrorist attack on the storage facility. The Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled in favor of the group and has directed the agency to go back and do the analysis. PG&E is running out of room to store used fuel rods in its two waste storage pools. The federal repository for such spent fuel, Yucca Mountain in Nevada, is nowhere near ready for shipments. So PG&E has come up with the dry-cask method as an interim way to store the used fuel. -------- florida FPL says tritium detected in reactor pond 08/31/2006 (AP) http://www2.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/MI28211/ http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_243200643.html PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Florida Power and Light officials say they have found a radioactive element in one of their reactor ponds. FPL told federal regulators it found tritium in a pond at its St. Lucie nuclear reactor. The company says the pond is not part of any drinking water source, and the tritium poses no risk to employees or the public. Company officials say they think they've found the source of the tritium and stopped it. They say the amount of tritium was nothing more than a few drips. St. Lucie is among 65 U.S. plant sites to report a tritium leak. Tritium is a naturally occurring form of hydrogen that is also produced in commercial nuclear reactors and used to illuminate exit signs and wristwatches. In large quantities, it can increase the risk of cancer. -------- MILITARY -------- britain Public 'not told of real risk to troops in Afghanistan' By Graeme Wilson (Filed: 31/08/2006) UK Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/31/nreid31.xml John Reid failed to give the public enough warning of the dangers British troops would face in Afghanistan, a senior Ministry of Defence official claimed yesterday. In an unusually candid assessment, the official conceded that the former Defence Secretary had "insufficiently communicated" the risks soldiers would face in the lawless Helmand Province. A total of 14 British troops have been killed in recent months in a series of violent clashes with heavily-armed Taliban fighters and foreign extremists. The scale of the opposition has led to angry claims that ministers downplayed the dangers when British forces were deployed to Afghanistan. On a trip to Kabul earlier this year, Mr Reid — who was defence secretary at the time — said he would be "perfectly happy to leave in three years' time without firing a shot because our job is to protect reconstruction". But a senior MoD official admitted yesterday that ministers had failed to tell the public how hazardous the operation would be. Speaking at a Whitehall briefing yesterday, he said one of Mr Reid's key objectives was "preparing people for the difficult times ahead". He added: "It probably was insufficiently communicated." A senior Foreign Office official confirmed that the danger facing British troops was well understood before they were sent into Afghanistan. "We knew we would face some pretty stern opposition. . . we were going to have a tough mission. We were going there with our eyes wide open," he said. Nick Harvey, the Liberal Democrat defence spokesman, said: "Ministers must explain this apparent failure to give full information to Parliament and the public on the dangers of the mission." -------- chemical weapons Generations later, U.S. destroys its mustard gas Thu Aug 31, 2006 By Adam Tanner DESERET CHEMICAL DEPOT, Utah (Reuters) http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=13350293&src=rss/domesticNews As Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan laid waste to Europe and Asia in World War II, the United States ramped up production of mustard gas to respond to any chemical attack. The Allies never used the weapons that inflicted so much suffering during World War I, but America kept them throughout the Cold War as a deterrent. "Thank goodness it wasn't used actively during World War II," said Col. Frederick Pellissier, custodian of the aging stockpile as the commander of the Deseret Chemical Depot. "It served its purpose as a deterrent." Only this month has the United States started to destroy the deadly mustard gas now outlawed by international treaty. The Army facility incinerates it at the well-guarded desert complex, which was home to 45 percent of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile before destruction began a decade ago. Eight other U.S. sites stored chemical weapons and are also destroying bombs, missiles, mines and other chemical munitions. At Deseret, 60 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, the weapons are buried below truncated pyramid-shaped mounds. Much of the round-the-clock process of removing explosive fuses, draining and then incinerating liquid chemical agents is automated. But workers in fully enclosed protective chemical suits regularly enter potentially deadly areas to repair, update and clean. On a recent day, Rod Hollum, 51, and Nick Crosby, 27, donned masks, a backpack with an eight-minute back-up air supply and a white, vinyl suit fully sealed against the air but linked to outside oxygen. WILD THINGS The costume recalls the white animal suit worn by the character Max in Maurice Sendak's children's story, "Where the Wild Things Are," except the men look out through large, transparent vinyl windows. "You're encapsulated inside," said Marc McLaws, a worker who helped Hollum and Crosby suit up. "Some people get claustrophobic," he added. "Heat stress is a problem. You're constantly sweating. You can lose six or seven pounds over the two hours." Before the two enter the area of potential exposure, they receive a briefing. "We either stirred something up, you guys did cleaning, or there is something," the briefer said about a hose leaking mustard agent. "Be extremely careful." In Deseret's decade of chemical destruction, only one man was exposed to a small amount of chemical agent in 2002, said medical director Gary Matravers. He suffered blurred vision but was back at work the next day. "This is a safe environment; now if we had an explosion, that would be different," he said. About 1,500 people, all but two civilians, work here. Being completely sealed in vinyl poses other risks. Half a year ago, one suited worker suffered a heart attack. "We had to cut him out," said McLaws, who said tearing through the single-use, $275 suit took three minutes. "It was a good result though: he lived." BEHIND SCHEDULE The United States, which had the second largest chemical stockpile after Russia, is moving far more cautiously in destroying them than envisioned in a treaty that entered into force in 1997. The pact set a 2007 deadline, but earlier this year Washington asked for an extension until 2012. "If everything had processed as quickly as we expected, we'd probably be finished right now," Pellissier said. "If it becomes a safety issue for either the workforce or the public, I'm less concerned about the treaty requirements." Within three days of opening in 1996, the plant closed for checks after a nerve gas leak, and any whiff of danger since then has delayed the processing. "We would have gone faster but for the controls, the oversight conditions," said Thaddeus Ryba, the disposal site project manager. "It has extended the process." Also, "conditions of munitions and the agents weren't what the Army thought it was," he continued. "Things don't come apart as easily." Since starting the process in August 1996, the facility has already destroyed VX and other highly toxic nerve agents. It did not destroy any chemical weapons for 14 months ending in August as it revamped to process mustard gas. One problem is the presence of mercury in some of the mustard gas, which is closely monitored. "We're very concerned," said Dianne Nielson, executive director of Utah's Department of Environmental Quality. "We are concerned in the context that we are watchful ... making sure they follow through and manage the destruction." The Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah complains of safety shortcomings and says incineration is not as safe as the chemical process of neutralization. "There hasn't been a culture of safety at the chemical weapons facility," said the group's director, Vanessa Pierce. Ryba counters that only a very small amount of dioxins emerge from the facility's exhaust stacks. "I'm a government bureaucrat, but I wouldn't put my family at risk," he said. -------- iraq Army for Hire Two new books on the global market for armed force. Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006 By Nathan Hodge Slate.com http://www.slate.com/id/2148608/ A piece of popular wisdom passed around by contractors working in Iraq says, "You know you've been in Baghdad too long when hearing Afrikaans at the pool is normal." That observation speaks to the outsize presence of South Africans in Iraq's wartime contracting boom. Security costs have soaked up a massive chunk of Iraq reconstruction funds, and former South African soldiers and police, often veterans of the country's apartheid-era border wars, have found their skills in high demand. Exact numbers are hard to come by, but an estimated 2,000 to 4,000 South African expatriates are in Iraq, a sizeable number of whom work as armed guards. Several South African-based or -dominated security companies such as Reed, Safenet, and Omega Risk Solutions are registered with the Iraqi ministry of the interior. But that bubble may soon burst. The South African parliament is pressing ahead with new legislation, the Prohibition of Mercenary Activity Bill, which would tighten oversight of South African citizens and residents who work in war zones. The repercussions are already being felt. Erinys, a U.K.-based security firm that does work for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, pre-emptively dropped over 100 South Africans from its payroll; other companies are waiting see how sweeping the final law may be. (Aid groups are also concerned that the bill might restrict South Africans from performing humanitarian work in other countries.) Iraq is only one reason for the new law. The official summary of the anti-mercenary bill also states another rationale: the involvement of a number of South African citizens in an alleged plot to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea. For most U.S. newspaper readers, the Equatorial Guinea "coup plot" may spark only the faintest glimmer of recognition, but it caused a media furor in the United Kingdom, in large part because it involved Margaret Thatcher's son. The story in brief: In March 2004, Zimbabwean authorities detained a planeload of men from South Africa. The men claimed they were on their way to guard a mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but the government of Equatorial Guinea soon after announced that they were involved in a coup attempt against President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo; several more men supposedly connected to the plot were arrested in Equatorial Guinea. The Wonga CoupIt all came down to control of Equatorial Guinea's oil. In his well-researched new book, The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs and a Ruthless Determination To Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa, Economist correspondent Adam Roberts describes how the purported plotters of "assisted regime change" in Equatorial Guinea stood to win control of one of the richest patches of oil and gas in Africa. Simon Mann, the alleged leader of the coup attempt, is still cooling his heels in a Harare prison. Roberts traces Mann's ties to Executive Outcomes, a corporate army based in South Africa that won a reputation in the mid-1990s for security work in war-torn (and resource-rich) places like Angola and Sierra Leone. Mann, as Roberts describes him, "was as likely to wear a crumpled business suit and rimless spectacles as camouflage or chest webbing. He was an early example of a new sort of mercenary, the type as familiar with company law, bank transfers and investor agreements as with the workings of a Browning pistol." Educated at Eton and Sandhurst and heir to a brewing fortune, Mann seemed perfectly cast for the role of white mischief in Africa. (After his detention in Zimbabwe, he appealed to his backers to come through with a "splodge of wonga," English schoolboy slang for a bundle of cash.) His story was also one of colossal arrogance. In Roberts' account, Mann led plotters to believe that they could combine an arms buy in Zimbabwe, a newly acquired Boeing 727, and an exiled politician to depose Equatorial Guinea's president—and make a splodge of wonga in the process. The Wonga Coup makes for a sorry epilogue to the story of Executive Outcomes, once the model of the successful mercenary firm. One only wishes that Roberts was able to delve more fully into the consequences for the foot-soldiers recruited for the job, mostly black veterans of South Africa's fearsome 32 Battalion. Licensed to KillPost-colonial soldiers of fortune are now making way for a new kind of corporate warrior. In his book, Licensed To Kill: Hired Guns in the War on Terror, writer and adventurer Robert Young Pelton offers a fascinating and fast-paced look at the post- 9/11 world of private military contractors. Licensed To Kill takes Pelton from the Afghan-Pakistan border, where private companies are part of a shadow war against al-Qaida, to a Dallas trade show, where a new breed of contractors—employees of companies like DynCorp, Triple Canopy, and Blackwater—swap war stories and look for their next jobs. But the most pulse-quickening passages in Licensed To Kill describe the work of security contractors in Iraq. Pelton spent a month on the road with Blackwater's Mamba team, ferrying passengers on the Baghdad airport road during a time of constant insurgent attack. What emerges is a unique glimpse into the culture and management of a secretive firm. Before Sept. 11, 2001, Blackwater was an obscure target-manufacturing company that ran a shooting range on the edge of the Great Dismal Swamp; founder Erik Prince, an ex-Navy SEAL, ran the company more out of passion than for profit. Within a few years, Prince has not only turned the company into a major player in the private-security world but has also created an effective brand. Today, in addition to its work in Iraq and Afghanistan, Blackwater runs training operations in Azerbaijan, is planning a jungle-training facility in the Philippines, and operates its own fleet of aircraft. Licensed To Kill is a glimpse of the industry's future. Blackwater has already advertised its ability to raise a brigade-sized force, ready to deploy anywhere on a moment's notice. In theory, such a force could be used to protect relief work in Darfur—but it would also cross a line from defensive security into overt combat operations. That's an important distinction. In Iraq, the strictly defensive role of private security companies protects their status as noncombatants (in U.S. Central Command's definition). Employing a private firm to take out the Janjaweed may present a tempting option, but it raises a host of questions about legality and accountability. Under whose mandate would those private soldiers operate? Would they enjoy the same kind of blanket immunity from local law that U.S. proconsul Paul Bremer gave contractors in Iraq when he issued Order 17? One of the most common criticisms leveled at the private security industry is a lack of transparency. Blackwater, in fact, has made a concerted public relations effort of late, opening its gates to selected members of the press; other companies have invited reporters to ride along with them. More troubling is the tendency of the government—in industry parlance, the "client"—to use private companies to shield policies from public scrutiny and create additional layers of secrecy. When contractors are killed in Iraq, the Department of Defense issues no casualty announcement; likewise, when contractors take lives, the incidents are rarely publicized. A federal judge recently rejected a Freedom of Information Act request by the Los Angeles Times seeking to identify the names of private security firms involved in serious shooting incidents in Iraq, on the grounds that the disclosure might tip off insurgents. The Army had released a number of such reports to the newspaper but blacked out the names of companies involved. And then there was the precedent of Order 17. As Pelton observes, "Order 17 established a virtually nonexistent standard of accountability for security contractors in Iraq that has persisted, though the specific legal grounds may have since shifted." It's important to add here that Pelton writes admiringly of contractors who perform their jobs with professionalism and restraint. But he worries that "if a particularly negligent or intentional attack on civilians was publicly exposed, it is unclear what legal avenues would be used to hold the perpetrators accountable." On Aug. 16, a federal judge overturned a jury verdict against Custer Battles, a security company accused of defrauding the government on Iraq reconstruction work. While the judge found there was sufficient evidence that the company submitted inflated invoices to the Coalition Provisional Authority, he also concluded the CPA was not a U.S. government entity. As a consequence of this ruling—and myriad other decisions made by U.S. officials—we may never know the full scope of the private sector's involvement in the war on terror. -------- landmines Israel leaves behind 100,000 unexploded bombs Web posted at: 8/31/2006 Qatar Peninsula Source ::: Agencies http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Gulf%2C+Middle+East+%26+Africa&month=August2006&file=World_News2006083125541.xml united nations • Cluster bombs dropped by Israel on southern Lebanon in the conflict with Hezbollah are still threatening civilians, a top UN official said yesterday, calling Israel “completely immoral” for using the weapons in residential areas. UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland said some of the bombs fired by Israeli forces in the last days of the war were made in the United States and urged Washington to talk to the Jewish state to stem the flow of the deadly arms. “I hope the US will talk to the Israelis on that,” Egeland told a news conference. “It’s an outrage that we have 100,000 unexploded bombs among where children, women, civilians, shop keepers and farmers are now going to tread.” Egeland criticized Israel for firing nearly all of the cluster bombs during the last three days of its month-long war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah. “What’s shocking and completely immoral is that 90 percent of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict, when we knew there would be a resolution and an end of this,” Egeland said. He said the UN Mine Action Coordination Center had assessed “nearly 85 per cent of bombed areas in south Lebanon” and identified “359 separate cluster bomb strike locations that are contaminated with as many 100,000 unexploded bomblets.” Cluster bombs burst into bomblets and spread out near the ground. While some aim to destroy tanks, others are designed to kill or maim humans over a wide area. Those that fail to explode might resemble a soda can while others look like dusty rocks. Each bomblet packs enough force to rip off a leg or kill a child, and international law bans the use of such weapons in civilian areas. -------- ENERGY -------- alternative energy Beijing Wind Farm Tender Highlights System Faults Story by Nao Nakanishi and Niu Shuping REUTERS CHINA: August 31, 2006 http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/37901/story.htm HONG KONG/BEIJING - Only state-owned Chinese companies took part in Beijing's tender this month to build wind farms, highlighting shortfalls in the country's controversial investment plan to promote clean energy sources. Industry officials said no independent private companies or foreign firms were among 26 firms that had placed bids for the tender, known as the fourth concession project involving three large wind farms with total capacity of 700 megawatts. "Right now, the Chinese wind energy market is not normal," Shi Pengfei from the China Wind Energy Association told Reuters. "It's not a game for private or foreign companies. It's only for state-owned enterprises, which do not have to worry about making losses," said the vice-president of the association. Many industry officials have criticised Beijing's concession system, which has awarded large wind farm projects to those offering the lowest power prices. As a result, major utilities have rushed to offer bare-bone investment plans, regardless of a project's quality or viability, potentially leaving China with large wind farms that sit idle or need constant repair, they say. In the latest tender for three farms in Hebei and Inner Mongolia, known for its rich wind resources, bidders offered power tariffs of between 0.4-0.6 yuan per kilowatt hour -- prices many regard as too low to obtain financing for the projects. Still, state-owned enterprises are keen to win the concession projects, even if they will have difficulty making them pay off, because Beijing is expected to introduce clean energy quotas for each utility in future, they said. In addition, such projects would improve their image, particularly when Beijing is encouraging clean power for China that now derives 70 percent of its energy from dirty coal. MID-PRICES, FEED-IN TARIFFS? To promote alternatives to coal despite China's soaring energy demand, Beijing has plans to expand the installed wind capacity to 5 gigawatts by 2010, up from 1.3 gigawatts at the end of 2005. By comparison, Germany, the world's largest wind power producer, had 18.4 gigawatts of installed capacity then. Beijing is unlikely to award contracts in the latest tender before October, due to the large number of the bidders, the scale of each projects and various types of turbines involved, the officials said. A lot of bargaining is expected among the state-owned companies. Officials also said Beijing might choose from those offering mid-level bids, instead of the cheapest bids, recognising that the most competitive bidders may not be able to deliver, as happened with some past winners. "There are rumours saying that actually they are going to get better prices," said one official at one of the world's top turbine manufacturers based in Beijing. "Hopefully that's true ... The prices in previous concession projects have been extremely low." "After the results are announced, we will know the government's intention for future development," said the association's Shi. "If they choose the middle price, people may see it as an improvement," he added. Many industry officials, including Shi, hope Beijing will gradually phase out the bidding system to introduce a feed-in tariff system, which guarantees fixed prices for wind electricity for a certain period to help investors map out business plans. "We always hope there will be more transparency and certainties in the future for wind tariffs," said Ka Keung Chan from CLP Holdings Ltd., Hong Kong's largest electricity generator that is building wind farms in China. "(But) we need to give them some time," added Chan, managing director for CLP Renewables department. -------- ACTIVISTS Green Protesters Target UK's Biggest Power Plant REUTERS UK: August 31, 2006 http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/37898/story.htm LONDON - Security has been stepped up at Britain's biggest power station, the Drax plant in northern England, ahead of a planned protest by environmental campaigners, a spokeswomen for the plant said on Wednesday. Drax Power, which generates about seven percent of the UK's electricity, has hired extra security staff and police have been drafted into the area as campaigners plan to invade the site on Thursday and force the station to shut down. "We have appropriate security on site, our plan is for business as usual (on Thursday)," the spokeswoman said. "If we had to shut down the plant, this could destabilise the grid and cause localised blackouts," the spokeswoman said. Coal-fired Drax, at Selby in Yorkshire, is the UK's biggest single industrial emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse linked to global warming and climate change. Drax's carbon dioxide emissions in 2005, at 20.8 million tonnes, were higher than Sweden's 19.3 million tonnes. Britain's energy regulator Ofgem said it was aware of events at Drax. "We are monitoring the situation," a spokesman said. Green group Camp for Climate Action, has said it plans to invade the Drax site despite an injunction taken out by Drax banning people from entering its grounds. Camp for Climate Action could not be reached for comment.