------- Index of Articles
NUCLEAR
Duratek Promises Turnaround
Pakistan Plans Crackdown on Weapons
Demo leader targets missile-defense plan
Senate arms chair vows fight over missile system
U.S. Sounds Out Russia on Defense
Russian Reiterates Stand in Favor of ABM Pact
Bush Rehearses His Pitch for Missile Defense
Russia Defense Minister Denies Blast
Dr.: Early test went unfunded
DOE lawyers may delay whistle-blower lawsuit
Day - By - Day Look at Bush Trip Abroad
Defense chiefs get exempted from rule
MILITARY
Liberia Asks UN to Lift Arms Embargo
Lawyer Says Menem Can Keep Mum on Arms Charges
Honduras Accuses Nicaragua on Base
US, Mexico to Study Drug Trafficking
Saddam Expecting Military Response
Israeli Shells Kill 3 Palestinians
Saudi Crown Prince warns of Middle East war
OTHER
Solar Energy, Agriculture and World Peace
Power building
Swiss Firm Gives U.N. $1 Million to Fight AIDS
Court Victory for Iranian Groups
ACTIVISTS
Sisters Sentenced to Prison 6 months:
-------- NUCLEAR
-------- business
Duratek Promises Turnaround
By Sabrina Jones
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 9, 2001; Page E02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A43260-2001Jun8?language=printer
Duratek Inc. executives assured investors yesterday that the radioactive waste disposal firm will turn a profit later this year after it corrects problems in its commercial waste-processing operations.
The Columbia-based company said at its annual shareholders meeting that it has hired new managers, instituted better performance reviews of management and made system improvements after the commercial processing unit, which includes waste-disposal plants in Memphis and Oak Ridge, Tenn., suffered financially in last year's fourth quarter. Last month, Duratek reported that it lost $1.6 million in the first quarter.
"We're not at all happy about the fourth quarter," Duratek President Robert E. Prince told the audience at the company's headquarters. He said the company's stock price and credibility took a beating after delays late last year in the start-up of several new waste-processing programs. Three steam generators from nuclear power plants that Duratek was contracted to dispose of arrived late at the company's Memphis plant. A company subcontractor is six months behind schedule in removing contaminated materials from the generators.
"We will get this unit restored to profitability," Prince said. Last month, the company said it expects to earn $6 million to $7 million (32 cents to 37 cents per share) in 2001.
Joseph S. Lizor Jr. of Edgemere, Md., started buying Duratek shares five years ago but said yesterday that he hasn't seen much of a return, nor a substantial rise in stock price, despite company predictions.
"What's the advantage of being a stockholder in this company?" Lizor asked rhetorically. "I've never seen the stock go up. Wall Street must not listen to you."
John Wenner of Newfoundland, Pa., who owns nearly 20,000 shares, was more forgiving.
"They got spread a little thin," Wenner, 51, said of the firm's rapid growth. "Someone dropped a ball down there [in Tennessee]. The plant was highly profitable in the past."
-------- india / pakistan
Pakistan Plans Crackdown on Weapons
New York Times
June 9, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 2:56 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Pakistan-Weapons.html
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistan said Saturday it plans a crackdown on illegal weapons in Afghan refugee camps, part of an effort to stem religious and political violence.
Pakistan's military-led government will give residents until June 20 to hand over illegal arms without fear of prosecution, then will launch raids, said Interior Secretary Tasneem Noorani.
More than 2 million Afghan refugees live in Pakistan. Their camps in most major cities and towns are considered a key source of weapons for Pakistani extremist religious and ethnic groups.
The government says 8,000 to 9,000 people are slain every year in crime and political and religious violence. Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in October 1999, vowed to end the violence.
Last year the government banned the public display of weapons and stopped issuing new arms licenses.
The crackdown on the camps is part of a nationwide effort, and Noorani said Afghan refugees dealing in illegal weapons will be treated like any other criminal group.
He said the government would enlist the help of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia. ``The authorities will first try to persuade them to give up weapons with the help of Afghan elders and the Taliban,'' he said. ``After June 20, we will launch operations to seize their weapons.''
Afghanistan's ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Salam Zaeef, was informed on Saturday, Noorani said, adding, ``They have assured us of their cooperation.''
Afghan refugees poured into Pakistan during the 1980s, when Afghan Islamic insurgents were fighting the former Soviet Union, which invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to help a communist regime.
Pakistan was the staging arena for the insurgents, who were supplied with billions of dollars worth of weapons by the United States and its Western allies.
After the withdrawal of Soviet troops and the collapse of the Afghan communist regime, the insurgents turned to fighting among themselves and gave weapons to Pakistani Islamic groups.
-------- missile defense
Demo leader targets missile-defense plan
HE PROMISES TO BLOCK ANY UNTESTED SYSTEM
BY JONATHAN S. LANDAY
June 9, 2001,
San Jose Mercury News Washington Bureau
http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/nation/docs/defense09.htm
WASHINGTON -- The new Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Friday that he would fight any bid by the Bush administration to build a ballistic missile-defense system that was not fully tested and proved to work.
Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, in his first interview since becoming chairman this week, told the Mercury News Washington Bureau he would use his power over the Pentagon budget to ``try to stop the funding'' for a premature missile-defense system that he argued could be ``very dangerous, very destabilizing'' because it could heighten tension with China and Russia.
His comments were the strongest indication yet of the problems the Senate's shift to Democratic control create for President Bush's plan to speed up the deployment of interceptors that could destroy a limited number of warheads fired at the United States.
Levin can propose his own military budget, instead of the administration's, for the committee's consideration. He said he plans hearings on the administration's missile defense proposals, a move that could help build political opposition.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Thursday indicated that the administration intended to begin deploying a national missile defense before it is fully tested. ``I don't know a single advanced research and development project in the history of mankind that didn't suffer a series of failures,'' Rumsfeld told reporters in Brussels, Belgium, after meeting with NATO defense ministers.
Even if a missile defense does not work properly, it would make an adversary think twice before launching a missile at the United States, Rumsfeld has argued.
Levin disagreed about its deterrence value.
``I don't think scarecrows scare birds. I haven't seen that work very well even with birds. I don't think they work very well with countries,'' he said.
Many experts doubt a national missile-defense system will work. Two tests have failed to destroy target warheads in outer space; a third test was classified as an accidental hit. Further trials have been repeatedly delayed.
Levin favors ``robust'' research and development of missile defenses. But before building a national missile shield, ``we should first have a system which has been tested. We should have a system which is operationally effective. You should know the cost. You should at least consider the negative consequences,'' he said.
Levin said he would try to deny any requests for money to begin deploying a system that was not sufficiently tested, or for missile defense tests banned by the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which prohibits Moscow and Washington from building national missile shields. Rumsfeld on Thursday said the administration had concluded that tests that might violate the treaty would be necessary.
The ABM Treaty, regarded as the bedrock of international arms control, is intended to deny either side the advantage of being able to launch a devastating nuclear strike on the other without risking massive retaliation.
-----
Senate arms chair vows fight over missile system
Saturday, June 9, 2001
By Jonathan S. Landay
INQUIRER WASHINGTON BUREAU
http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001/06/09/national/DEFENSE09.htm
WASHINGTON - The new Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said yesterday that he would fight any bid by the Bush administration to build a ballistic missile-defense system that was not fully tested and proved to work.
Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, in his first interview since becoming chairman this week, said he would use his power over the Pentagon budget to "try to stop the funding" for a premature missile-defense system that he argued could be "very dangerous, very destabilizing" because it could heighten tension with China and Russia.
His comments were the strongest indication yet of the problems the Senate's shift to Democratic control creates for President Bush's plan to speed up the deployment of interceptors that could destroy a limited number of warheads fired at the United States.
Levin can propose his own military budget, instead of the administration's, for the committee's consideration. He also said he planned hearings on the administration's missile-defense proposals, a move that could help build political opposition.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Thursday indicated that the administration intended to begin deploying a national missile defense before it was fully tested.
"I don't know a single advanced research and development project in the history of mankind that didn't suffer a series of failures," Rumsfeld told reporters in Brussels, Belgium, after meeting with NATO defense ministers. "You end up learning something by trying it."
Even if a missile defense does not work properly, it would make an adversary think twice before launching a missile at the United States, Rumsfeld has argued.
Levin disagreed about its deterrence value.
"I don't think scarecrows scare birds," he said. "I haven't seen that work very well even with birds. I don't think they work very well with countries."
Many experts doubt a national missile-defense system would work. Two tests have failed to destroy target warheads in outer space; a third test was classified as an accidental hit. Further trials have been repeatedly delayed. Advocates counter that missile defenses can be built, given enough money and resolve.
Bush wants to combine a national missile-defense system with so-called theater missile defenses, which would protect American and allied troops abroad.
Levin favors "robust" research and development of missile defenses. But before building a national missile shield, he said, "we should first have a system which has been tested. We should have a system which is operationally effective. You should know the cost. You should at least consider the negative consequences."
Levin said he would try to deny any requests for money to begin deploying a system that was not sufficiently tested, or for missile-defense tests banned by the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which prohibits Moscow and Washington from building national missile shields. Rumsfeld on Thursday said the administration had concluded that tests that might violate the treaty would be necessary.
Levin said such tests should not be conducted before Russia agreed to rewrite the ABM Treaty to allow limited national missile defenses, or negotiated an arrangement with the United States that preserved the treaty's goals.
The ABM Treaty, regarded as the bedrock of international arms control, is intended to deny either side the advantage of being able to launch a devastating nuclear strike on the other without risking massive retaliation.
Bush has said he wants to jettison the treaty and replace it with a framework that preserves nuclear stability with Russia. He has not yet spelled out any details of such a framework. He also has proposed that the United States greatly reduce its nuclear arsenal.
Levin accused Bush of not fully considering the consequences of junking the ABM Treaty and deploying an unproved national missile-defense system.
He said the intelligence community and Joint Chiefs of Staff thought terrorist attacks, such as the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, were far more of a threat than a missile attack on the United States. Levin said more money to fight terrorism was one of his priorities.
Jonathan Landay's e-mail address is jlanday@krwashington.com.
----
U.S. Sounds Out Russia on Defense
New York Times
June 9, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Missile-Defense.html?searchpv=aponline
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a warmup to President Bush's European trip, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other top administration officials are sounding out Russia and the allies on a framework for going ahead with a U.S. anti-missile shield.
It would set the stage for the highly controversial and expensive program, while also providing for deep cuts in U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons.
Bush is due to face skepticism about his pet project when he meets with leaders of the NATO nations in Brussels, Belgium, next week and then with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Slovenia next weekend.
The White House does not expect an accord to emerge. In fact, the president has not decided what kind of a missile defense to construct.
However, he would like to ease European and allied objections by emphasizing an inclination to cut U.S. nuclear weapons at the same time.
Rumsfeld, in his meetings with allied defense ministers and then with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, stressed the danger of attack as a reason for building a shield, an administration official said Friday.
It was a positive presentation, in line with those made by other top U.S. officials to the allies and Russia since early May, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Ivanov said in Brussels, however, that the threat was ``entirely hypothetical'' and that there are plenty of other threats.
His comments indicated that while Moscow is willing to discuss the issue, it remains opposed to lifting legal restraints on defenses against long-range attack.
Missile defense is expected to be one of the main focuses of Bush's trip to Europe beginning Monday evening. It includes a meeting June 13 in Brussels of presidents and prime ministers from all 19 NATO countries as well as Bush's first face-to-face meeting with Putin on June 16.
In Iowa on Friday, Bush said he wants to persuade Russia as well as missile defense critics in Congress that ``it's time to think differently about defense.''
``Russia is no longer our enemy, and therefore we shouldn't be locked into a Cold War mentality that says we keep the peace by blowing each other up. In my attitude, that's old, that's tired, that's stale,'' he said.
``Our United States and our allies ought to develop the capacity to address the true threats of the 21st century. The true threats are biological and informational warfare. The true threats are the fact that some rogue nations who can't stand America, our allies or our freedoms or our successes will try to point a missile at us, and we must have the capacity to shoot that missile down.''
----
Russian Reiterates Stand in Favor of ABM Pact
New York Times
June 9, 2001
By JAMES DAO
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/09/world/09RUMS.html?searchpv=nytToday
BRUSSELS, June 8 - The Russian defense minister said today that although his government agreed with Washington that the United States and Russia faced new military threats, it continued to view the Antiballistic Missile Treaty as the foundation for modern arms control and sees no reason to amend it, as American officials have urged.
"Russia's position on the ABM treaty is unchanged," Defense Minister Sergei B. Ivanov told reporters after meetings with his NATO counterparts, including Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. "So we would like to understand exactly what is intended to replace this existing system, for better or worse, to ensure strategic stability for the future."
Mr. Ivanov's remarks on shared threats, including "unstable nations" armed with nuclear-tipped missiles, were viewed by American officials as an expression of openness to altering the ABM treaty of 1972, which the Americans view as an obstacle to building a missile shield. Mr. Ivanov said he would visit Washington this year at Mr. Rumsfeld's request to continue the talks.
"We do have an understanding between us that there are not only more threats facing us now in the 21st century, but they are multifaceted, much more so than they were in the past," he said after meeting Mr. Rumsfeld. "We have a very good mutual understanding on this point."
Mr. Rumsfeld called the meeting "very productive," but declined to provide details. "The interests of the Russian people and the people of the United States are very much the same, and it is to have a stable world, a peaceful world," he said.
President Bush is scheduled to discuss missile defense and the ABM treaty with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin next week in Slovenia. Mr. Bush may offer inducements to win cooperation in scrapping or amending the treaty, including military aid and joint antimissile exercises, administration officials have said.
For all the expressions of common concerns, the Russian view of the nuclear threat differs significantly from the American view, a point that Mr. Ivanov underscored.
The Bush administration wants to build a missile shield to defend against ballistic missiles fired from places like North Korea or Iraq. But the ABM treaty expressly prohibits such a system.
Russia, on the other hand, is worried about nations along its southern border that might obtain short-range missile technology. Under the ABM treaty, Russia is allowed to develop a certain system designed to defend against the slower shorter-range weapons.
----
Bush Rehearses His Pitch for Missile Defense
By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 9, 2001; Page A02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A42008-2001Jun8?language=printer
DALLAS CENTER, Iowa, June 8 -- President Bush touted missile defense today as a sensible successor to a Cold War doctrine "that says we keep the peace by blowing each other up."
Rehearsing the pitch he plans to make in Europe next week, the president offered a justification for his proposal to build a missile defense system, saying U.S. allies need to think differently about combating "the true threats of the 21st century."
"The true threats are the fact that some rogue nations who can't stand America -- or our allies, or our freedoms, or our successes -- will try to point a missile at us, and we must have the capacity to shoot that missile down," Bush said.
Despite increasingly vocal objections from Democrats and countries in Europe and Asia, the administration is stepping up efforts to put in place a limited missile defense system before the end of Bush's term.
The Pentagon said yesterday that it hopes to conduct a missile defense test by the end of July, the first since Bush took office. The test would take place one year after the last one, which ended in failure, leading President Bill Clinton to defer a deployment decision.
The test is to include the same components as a year ago -- a mock warhead and decoy balloon to be launched from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, and a prototype interceptor with a "kill vehicle" to be launched 4,300 miles away, from the Marshall Islands. Last July, and in a test the previous January, the missile missed the mock warhead.
Visiting a cattle farm here that was an early stop on his presidential campaign, Bush had planned to spend today hailing the benefits of the tax cut measure he signed on Thursday. But he also devoted some of his remarks to missile defense, underscoring the urgent need to make a stronger case for it on the eve of his one-week trip to Europe, which will begin Monday.
The administration sent emissaries around the world to describe the missile defense plan last month, and they were met with a barrage of objections from Russia and Western Europe that missile defense would not work and could provoke a new arms race.
Reflecting the Democratic opposition in Congress, Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) criticized Bush's missile defense plan today with some of his harshest language yet, declaring that "every aspect of the debate and the consideration given this whole program is troubling to me."
"We have said all along that to commit the billions, the tens of billions of dollars to deployment, to a system that we don't know works just seems to be backwards to most of us," the new majority leader said.
Bush has not said what combination of air, land, sea or space components would make up his missile shield, and he has not said how much it would cost. Looking ahead to his departure for his first presidential trip outside North America, Bush said he "can't wait to describe to the people of Europe and the leaders of Europe how important it is that freedom-loving people think differently about how to keep the peace."
"Russia's no longer our enemy and, therefore, we shouldn't be locked into a Cold War mentality that says we keep the peace by blowing each other up," he said.
Bush began his speech by calling the tax cut "the beginning of a lot of reform that's going to take place."
"I'm excited about what's coming down the pike," Bush said, mentioning his determination to improve education standards and to raise military pay and morale. The trip was his third to Iowa since taking office, as he works to deter a Republican nomination challenge in a state that he lost to Vice President Al Gore by 4,000 votes.
Later, in Omaha, Bush threw out the first pitch at the NCAA men's College World Series. It was a perfect strike -- the catcher barely moved his mitt -- and Bush seemed pleased with himself. When one of the players praised his form, Bush said he had "put a little zip on it."
-------- russia
Russia Defense Minister Denies Blast
New York Times
June 9, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Russia-Missile-Fire.html?searchpv=aponline
MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov denied Saturday that there was an explosion at a military base near Moscow where a fire destroyed several costly rockets.
``No explosion took place,'' Ivanov told reporters a day after the incident. He said one of its main causes was fire. Nobody was hurt and there was no damage to the environment, he said, adding, ``Only the hardware was damaged.''
Col. Vyacheslav Sedov said Friday that a short circuit set the engine of an S-300 surface-to-air missile ablaze, and that it took firefighters hours to put out the fire caused by burning missile fuel. The missile's conventional warhead did not go off, he said.
RTR state television quoted witnesses who heard what sounded like an explosion and saw black smoke rising over the base near the village of Zakharovo, 20 miles southeast of Moscow.
The Russian air force said the incident occurred during inspections of the missile launching system, the Interfax news agency reported. It said 12 missiles were destroyed in the fire.
The S-300 is one of Russia's most modern weapons, capable of shooting down aircraft and incoming missiles at ranges of up to 120 miles. Russia has aggressively marketed the S-300 and has sold it to several nations.
-------- u.s. nuc facilities
-------- colorado
Dr.: Early test went unfunded
Lack of industry push killed promising screen for beryllium sensitivity
By Sue Lindsay,
Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer,
June 9, 2001
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0%2C1299%2CDRMN_15_627383%2C00.html
A physician testified Friday that he was on the verge of developing a reliable screening test for beryllium sensitivity in the early '70s, but industry showed no interest in funding his research.
Dr. Sharad Deodhar testified in the Jefferson County trial of a lawsuit against beryllium supplier Brush Wellman Inc. of Cleveland by four workers now suffering a debilitating chronic lung disease. The workers are among more than 50 workers at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant who sued Brush Wellman over devastating lung disease blamed on breathing beryllium dust.
Deodhar said he developed a test in 1973 that showed that the white cells in some people reacted to beryllium, indicating a likelihood that they would later develop chronic beryllium disease if exposed to even very small amounts.
The test, however, needed to be perfected because it showed some false positives and 30 percent of persons with beryllium disease tested negative.
"We felt it should be developed as a screening test," Deodhar said. "We felt the major push should have come from industry but it didn't happen."
Deodhar's work eventually ceased and the test wasn't perfected for years, after others took up the research. The test is now used to screen workers susceptible to developing beryllium disease.
In other testimony, jurors were read the deposition of former Brush safety and environmental control manager Philip Wilson, who said he believed the government standard for beryllium exposure was safe for all workers. Wilson worked for Brush from 1965 to 1989.
He said he didn't know about workers, including office workers with minimal exposure to beryllium, who had gotten sick from levels well below the government standard.
"I thought the AEC (Atomic Energy Commission) standard was a safe standard and had a safety factor built into it," he said. "My understanding was that the standard protected."
The trial, expected to last five more weeks, resumes Monday.
-------- kentucky
DOE lawyers may delay whistle-blower lawsuit
They want time to review a Justice probe into allegations that Lockheed Martin, ex-operator of the Paducah plant, falsified records to earn bonuses.
By Bill Bartleman bbartleman@paducahsun.com,
June 09, 2001
Paducah Sun
From: magnu96196@aol.com
Another delay is likely in the whistle-blower lawsuit filed two years ago by three Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant workers claiming a former operator falsified records in order to receive tens of millions of dollars in performance bonuses from the U.S. Department of Energy. The delay is expected because DOE attorneys in Washington want more time to review the results of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into allegations that Lockheed Martin, which operated the plant from the early 1980s until 1997, falsified environmental records in order to earn bonuses.
DOE attorneys received the information late last month and were asked to review the findings and make recommend whether the government should become a plaintiff in the suit.
DOJ attorneys who ran the investigation have reportedly found evidence to support the allegations and have recommended to their superiors in Washington that the government become a plaintiff.
DOE's views and recommendations are wanted before the office of Attorney General John Ashcroft makes the decision.
Sources familiar with the case say DOE's initial reaction was to convince Justice not to intervene. However, DOE's formal response won't come until after the facts are reviewed by officials in Washington.
At stake is the potential that Lockheed Martin could be ordered to return millions of dollars to the government. The "whistle-blowers" who initiated the suit would receive up to 25 percent of the amount refunded.
Government attorneys already have received five extensions of the deadline for deciding whether to intervene. The current deadline is Wednesday. A spokesman in the U.S. attorney's office in Louisville said a motion would be filed in the case on Monday. He would not disclose the content of the motion, which will have to be approved by U.S. District Judge Joseph McKinley.
Another reason for a possible delay is that negotiations are continuing between government attorneys and Lockheed Martin in an effort to resolve the dispute without further litigation. The possibility of an out-of-court settlement was mentioned in two previous requests for delays.
-------- us nuc politics
Day - By - Day Look at Bush Trip Abroad
New York Times
June 9, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Bush-Day-by-Day.html
A day-by-day look at President Bush's plans during his five-nation European trip:
MONDAY: Leaves Washington in the evening after discussing the trip and his global warming concerns during a public White House session.
TUESDAY: Arrives in Madrid, Spain. Meets King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia at Zarzuela Palace and, later, Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. Conducts news conference and greets U.S. embassy staff, holding up Spain as an example of NATO's strength.
WEDNESDAY: Leaves Spain and travels to Brussels, Belgium, for NATO summit. Bush administration's missile defense plan and NATO expansion top the agenda. Conducts news conference and meets King Albert and Queen Paola of Belgium.
THURSDAY: Meets Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt of Belgium and leaves for Goteborg, Sweden, and the European Union summit. Bush's rejection of an international global warming treaty will be a major issue, along with several trade disputes. Conducts news conference and meets Swedish leaders. Dines with European leaders.
FRIDAY: Leaves Sweden for Warsaw, Poland. Meets Polish leaders, conducts a news conference, attends a wreath-laying ceremony and delivers major address on the future of U.S.-European ties. Poland was picked because it is a new NATO member. Attends state dinner.
SATURDAY: Leaves Poland for Ljubljana, Slovenia, where he meets Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time. Russia's objections to U.S. missile defense plans will be discussed, along with nuclear proliferation and other issues. Returns to Washington.
----------
Defense chiefs get exempted from rule
Conflict-of-interest waived for former execs
Patrick J. Sloyan,
Newsday Saturday, June 9, 2001
San Francisco Chronicle
Feedback http://www.sfgate.com/select.feedback.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2001/06/09/MN115342.DTL
Washington -- Former defense company executives who now head the Navy and Air Force will be exempted from a federal law that prohibits them from dealing with their former employers for one year, according to aides to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
The aides said waivers of the federal conflict-of-interest statute will be issued for Navy Secretary Gordon England, who served as General Dynamics Corp.'s executive vice president, and Air Force Secretary James Roche, who was president of a Northrop-Grumman Corp. division that equips the service's B-2 Spirit stealth bombers and the new fighter-bomber, the F-22 Raptor.
England and Roche will have a major say in U.S. weapons purchases from General Dynamics and Northrop-Grumman, as well as in the companies' defense research. The two contractors already get a combined $8 billion a year in Pentagon contracts.
During their confirmation hearings, the nominees pledged to expand ship, aircraft and weapon programs that would benefit the two defense firms as well as employment in some of the states of members of the Senate's Armed Services Committee.
Federal conflict-of-interest law calls for a "cooling off" period of one year for all new federal workers regarding contracts and other actions affecting previous employers. Fines, dismissal and other penalties could be imposed for federal employees who violate the law.
Initially, Rumsfeld's aides said that England and Roche would not need a waiver from the law because it would not apply to them. In response to repeated questions, however, the aides said waivers would be necessary. Otherwise, the civilian leaders would be forced to recuse themselves from major Navy and Air Force programs, thus crippling their policy directions.
The law allows a waiver to be granted only if the defense secretary finds an exemption is "in the best interest of the United States."
A Rumsfeld spokeswoman, Air Force Lt. Col. Willete Carter, said the waivers will be part of the divestiture of defense industry investments required by the Senate Armed Services Committee. Both England and Roche are multimillionaires from salary and stock options from their companies.
President Bush's nomination of former defense contractors to key Pentagon jobs has dismayed some career employees of the Defense Department who contend daily with substandard weapons and cost overruns by the defense industry.
The Bush administration is considering tapping a Lockheed-Martin Corp. vice president, Albert Smith, as chief of acquisitions for the controversial missile defense program. Smith's company currently gets $19 billion a year from the Pentagon and is a leader in space technology.
Last week, Bush named two other defense industry executives to Pentagon jobs. They are Michael Wynne, to be deputy undersecretary for acquisitions, and George Williams, to be assistant secretary of the Army for acquisitions. Wynne worked for General Dynamics and Lockheed-Martin before heading a software business that had Pentagon contracts. Williams was president of the Alabama defense contractor Colsa Corp.
-------- MILITARY
-------- africa
Liberia Asks UN to Lift Arms Embargo
JUNE 09, 04:37 EST
Associated Press
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=AFRICA&STORYID=APIS7CGU0G00
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Liberia has asked the U.N. Security Council to temporarily lift an arms embargo so it can defend itself against attacks by armed groups from Guinea and Sierra Leone.
In a letter to the council circulated Friday, Liberian President Charles Taylor accused the governments of Guinea and Sierra Leone of violating a regional non-aggression pact by continuing to support Liberian dissidents.
Fighting along the borders of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea broke out late last year and has intensified since April.
Guinea accuses Liberia of backing rebels from Sierra Leone and Guinean dissidents in launching raids against its territory. Liberia counters that the Guinean army is backing Liberian rebels fighting government forces in northern Liberia, and accuses the Sierra Leone and British governments of militarily supporting the dissidents.
In March, the Security Council approved an arms embargo and other sanctions on Liberia to get Taylor's government to stop the military and financial support that has allowed Sierra Leone's rebels to wage their decade-long war against the government. The arms embargo took effect immediately, replacing a ban that was never officially lifted after Liberia's 1989-96 civil war.
A diamond embargo and travel restrictions on senior Liberian officials took effect in May because the council determined that Liberia had not ended all support for the Revolutionary United Front rebels in Sierra Leone.
In his letter, Taylor accused Guinea and Sierra Leone of violating a call by the Security Council for the three countries ``to prevent armed invididuals and groups from using their territory to prepare and commit attacks on neighboring countries.''
He said the arms embargo ``has impaired Liberia's capacity to defend itself against external armed aggression.''
In view of the attacks, he asked the council to ``grant a limited waiver of the arms embargo to permit the government of Liberia to import essential military supplies for the sole purpose of its self-defense.''
There was no immediate reaction from the council, but some Western diplomats said it was highly unlikely that council members would grant such a waiver.
-------- arms sales
Lawyer Says Menem Can Keep Mum on Arms Charges
New York Times
June 9, 2001
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-arms-ar.html
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) - Former Argentine President Carlos Menem, accused of masterminding the illegal sale of arms to Croatia and Ecuador in the 1990s, has no obligation to respond to the charges, his lawyer said on Saturday.
Menem, whose 1989-99 administration implemented economic reforms but was plagued by corruption scandals, was placed under house arrest on Thursday.
Menem, 70, and former aides deny charges that they sold rifles, cannons, shells and gunpowder to Croatia in 1991 and 1993, when the warring Balkan state was under a U.N. arms embargo, and to Ecuador in 1995 during a border war with Peru in which Argentina was supposed to be a peace mediator.
``The best defense in cases as grave as this is silence. No one is obliged to testify and that does not create the presumption of responsibility. An accused must be proven guilty,'' said Oscar Roger, one of the lawyers on Menem's defense team.
Because of his age, Menem by law was put under house arrest rather than in jail and he chose a friend's mansion in an upscale Buenos Aires suburb to hole up with his new wife, Cecilia Bolocco, a Chilean former Miss Universe half his age.
``I spoke with him by phone and I understand that he is becoming accustomed to his new lifestyle,'' Roger told local radio.
A survey taken the day of his arrest found 77.4 percent of respondents agreed Menem should be held during the investigation, according to results published in Saturday's Clarin, the Spanish-speaking world's largest circulation daily.
The former president and three former ministers acknowledge signing authorizations for weapons shipments to Venezuela and Panama, which had no armed forces, but deny any knowledge of how the arms found their way to countries at war.
They blame the state arms factory and an Argentine arms dealer who has fled to South Africa to avoid prosecution.
-------- central america
Honduras Accuses Nicaragua on Base
New York Times
June 9, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Honduras-Nicaragua.html
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) -- In the latest conflict between the two Central American countries, Honduras has accused Nicaragua of illegally constructing a naval base close to their shared border.
A string of disputes has prompted the Organization of American States to send observers to the two countries next month to prevent armed confrontations.
Honduran armed forces Gen. Daniel Lopez said Nicaragua's alleged construction of the naval base in the Miskito islands violates accords the two countries signed in March prohibiting military installations near the borders.
Nicaraguan Defense Secretary Jose Adan Guerra said the charge was preposterous. He said the March accords determine that no bases can exist within 20 miles of the countries' borders, and that the islands are ``a lot more than (20 miles) away from the maritime border.''
Guerra said the latest confrontation is to blame for the postponement of a summit of Central American presidents that had been scheduled to begin Tuesday.
Guerra told reporters in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua on Saturday that Honduras unilaterally postponed the meeting after accusing Nicaragua of constructing the naval base.
But Honduran Foreign Secretary Roberto Flores said several countries agreed jointly to postpone the meeting, which will deal with border issues between Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. He said a new date would be determined Friday.
Relations between Nicaragua and Honduras have been tense since November 1999, when Honduras ratified a 13-year-old treaty with Colombia recognizing Colombian sovereignty over the San Andres archipelago in the Caribbean.
Nicaragua, which also claims the archipelago, ended commercial relations with Honduras and imposed a 35 percent tax on Honduran imports in response. The dispute is now before an international court.
-------- drug war
US, Mexico to Study Drug Trafficking
JUNE 09, 21:34 EST
By JULIE WATSON
Associated Press Writer
http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=CSA&STORYID=APIS7CHCT200
TAMPICO, Mexico (AP) - Governors from both sides of the Mexico-U.S. border have agreed to study drug trafficking as a health issue and not a crime.
On Friday, the last day of the 19th annual Border Governors Conference in the Gulf of Mexico port of Tampico, officials announced they would form a commission of scholars from the 10 U.S. and Mexican states along the border to study drug smuggling from a public health perspective. Mexican governors proposed the idea, which was praised by New Mexico Gov. Gary E. Johnson.
The conference includes California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas in the United States and Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Sonora and Tamaulipas in Mexico. California Gov. Gray Davis dropped out at the last moment to deal with his state's energy crisis.
Johnson, a two-term Republican, supports the legalization of marijuana. A former drug user himself, he believes drug use is a health problem, not a crime, and is pushing for state legislation to that effect.
He believes ending the prohibition on drugs would reduce violence, corruption and many other problems in the border region.
Chihuahua Gov. Patricio Martinez said he would support legalization of certain drugs to dilute the power of criminal groups that benefit from the black market.
``This should be studied, analyzed and looked at to see what the people want and what are the effects from a different perspective that considers not only their prohibition but also in given time their approval for medicinal purposes or for rehabilitation or for other reasons,'' Martinez said. ``We need to study all aspects of drug use, especially marijuana.''
-------- iraq
Saddam Expecting Military Response
New York Times
June 9, 2001
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iraq-UN.html
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Iraq's rejection of a U.S.-backed British proposal to overhaul U.N. sanctions is expected to lead to a military confrontation, President Saddam Hussein said Saturday.
Saddam did not mention who the confrontation would be with, but in remarks delivered at a Cabinet session, it was clear he was referring to the United States and Britain.
``We are approaching a new confrontation ... We must be prepared for it,'' Saddam said. His remarks were broadcast by state-run television.
``It is necessary to let our people know the details ... the whole truth,'' added Saddam. ``Then when the confrontation occurs, we will be victorious because ... the battle is a battle of national independence.''
Saddam's remarks came less than a week after Iraq halted most of its oil exports, stopping the flow Monday to all but his neighbors, including Turkey and Jordan.
The indefinite halt was meant to protest a U.N. Security Council decision to extend by one month instead of the usual six months the oil-for-food program under which Iraq can sell its oil.
The shorter renewal is meant to give council members time to study a British plan to alter the U.N. sanctions imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.
The proposal, dubbed ``smart sanctions'' by its supporters, would allow civilian goods to flow freely into Iraq. Goods that appear on a U.N. list of items that could be used for military purposes would be prohibited.
Saddam called the proposal a ``new plot (that) is part of the tough battle we are facing.''
``They want to break the morale of the Iraqis and colonize (Iraq) with new means ... by controlling its resources and by preventing Iraq from developing itself,'' Saddam said. ``The enemies change the names of the plot from sanctions to smart sanctions then to arms control.''
Saddam said that if the aim of the United States and Britain is to prevent Iraq from obtaining weapons, then ``why don't they issue a resolution banning countries from exporting weapons to Iraq.''
``Then the issue will be over. ... Then they could punish any country that violates this resolution,'' Saddam added.
U.S. and British warplanes have been patrolling no-fly zones in the north and south of Iraq since the Gulf War, which ended in February 1991 with the end of Iraq's occupation of Kuwait.
Iraq does not recognize the no-fly zones and has been challenging allied aircraft since December 1998. The allies say their planes never target civilians, but Iraq reports that strikes have killed some 300 people and injured more than 800.
-------- israel
Israeli Shells Kill 3 Palestinians
By Dina Kraft
Associated Press Writer
Saturday, June 9, 2001; 8:14 p.m. EDT
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010609/aponline201440_000.htm
JERUSALEM -- Israeli tank shells killed three Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip Saturday, as Israelis and Palestinians prepared their responses to a U.S. document seeking an end to eight months of violence.
According to Palestinian hospital officials, the three women died from shrapnel wounds. The three, all from the same family, were Bedouin and lived in a camp near the isolated Jewish settlement of Netzarim.
The dead were identified as Nessra Malaha, 65, Salimia Malaha, 65, and her niece Hikmet Malaha, 25. They were the first deaths in violent attacks since Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat declared a cease fire June 2.
Three others suffered moderate wounds, doctors said.
The army said the tank fire was prompted by Palestinian shooting on an army post near the settlement.
In a bid to calm tensions, the Americans have presented a document that reportedly calls on Palestinians to rein in militants and Israel to pull back its forces in hopes of ending more than eight months of fighting.
The Americans would not say what CIA chief George Tenet said at Friday's meeting with Israeli and Palestinian security officials, but Israel radio said it had obtained details of a security document he presented.
Among its main points reportedly is a call for the Palestinians to make sweeping arrests of militants and crack down on anti-Israeli attacks. It said Israel would be called on to halt attacks on Palestinian targets and to withdraw forces from West Bank and Gaza Strip positions that it returned to since fighting in September.
Officials from both sides refused to comment on the report. But Palestinian Cabinet minister Nabil Shaath confirmed it included security matters detailed in a report issued last month by a commission led by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell.
That coincides with some of what the Israel radio report said was in the document, such as withdrawing forces and arresting militants. Arafat has cracked down on militants before, but Israel maintains the Palestinian Authority quickly releases them.
Hassan Yusef, a spokesman for the Hamas militant group, said Palestinians are united in their uprising and reject "arrests without a legal reason." The Americans, he said, are working only in Israel's interest.
Other terms reported by Israel radio included: a resumption of joint security patrols, a Palestinian commitment to confiscate mortars and missiles from militants, and an agreement to exchange information on suspected militants.
Shaath criticized the radio report as a "a mish mash of text and interpretation - of text and hallucination."
Tenet, who was in Egypt on Saturday briefing President Hosni Mubarak, told the two sides he wants their responses by Sunday, Palestinian officials said.
Palestinian negotiators met with U.S. Mideast envoy William Burns on a schedule for implementing Mitchell commission recommendations. In the meeting the Palestinians suggested an international panel be established to monitor the implementation of the report.
Burns met later Saturday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer.
The stepped-up American mediation comes as a wave of international representatives converge in the region.
European Union officials are here, and U.N. General Secretary Kofi Annan is scheduled to arrive next week. Arafat met with U.N. Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, who said afterward that he was hopeful progress would be made, "but we have always to keep in mind that the situation is very difficult."
The Palestinians would continue to meet with Burns, Palestinian parliamentary speaker Ahmed Qureia said, despite growing frustration with continued Israeli travel restrictions and curfews placed on West Bank and Gaza Strip towns in response to a June 1 bombing outside a Tel Aviv disco that killed 21 people, including the bomber.
Israel has eased the restrictions somewhat in the past week, allowing some food, fuel and raw goods into the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but most Palestinians remain confined to their villages.
A cease-fire has diminished the overall level of violence, though daily clashes continue.
Palestinian mortar fire struck a building and agricultural areas of two settlements Saturday in the southern Gaza Strip, according to the Israeli army spokesman's office. Residents reported a Thai worker was slightly injured, the spokesman's office said.
Israeli forces fired three tanks shells toward a Palestinian police post in the central Gaza Strip. The army said forces were responding to fire from the Palestinian position towards a nearby army outpost. There was no immediate report of injuries.
Fighting since Sept. 28 has killed 484 people on the Palestinian side and 108 on the Israeli side.
----
Saudi Crown Prince warns of Middle East war
UK - This is London,
June 9, 2001
http://www.thisislondon.com/dynamic/news/story.html?in_review_id=398775&in_review_text_id=346059
Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah has warned of the prospect of a Middle East war, accusing Israel of raising Middle East bloodshed to "unacceptable" levels.
Abdullah told German magazine Der Spiegel that the region is "sitting on a powder keg" that could "explode at any time".
He added that such a war "would not only affect Israelis and Arabs but many parts of the world" but did not elaborate any further.
Abdullah, who ended a three-day official visit to Germany on Friday, blamed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for eight months of violence that has left 484 Palestinians and 108 Israelis dead.
He told the magazine: "The bloodshed is reaching levels we can no longer accept. The Israeli war machine takes aim daily at unarmed people who are at the most throwing stones."
Abdullah said Palestinian attacks against Israelis were "a sign of desperation and frustration", and that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat could only stop his people's revolt if Israel ends the "cancerous growth of settlements in Palestinian areas".
Abdullah, who met Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder during his stay in Berlin, encouraged the European Union to mediate in the Middle East and said Germany should not be restrained by historic traumas.
"The crimes of the Nazis against the Jews must not serve as an excuse for accepting crimes against the Palestinians," he told the magazine.
-------- OTHER
-------- alternative energy
Solar Energy, Agriculture and World Peace
"Solar PV generated power could provide 10,000 times more energy than the world currently uses" - 'Solar Century'
June 2001
www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex/Documents/solarworldpeace.htm
It is of course a complete absurdity that California, a place that is abundantly bathed in sunlight, should ever be forced to endure an energy crisis. It is hugely ironic that as the summer solar radiation intensifies and the air conditioning systems cut in the Californian energy crisis deepens. The radiation of the sun has been allowed to become an energy problem when in fact it offers an energy solution. But as Albert Einstein once penetratingly observed: "Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them."
An important aspect of global economic sustainability is the ability to live off environmental income rather than environmental capital. The earth ultimately has only one continual source of environmental income - that which comes from the sun. This abundant natural resource can be harnessed directly through solar technology (thermal or photovoltaic - "PV") or indirectly through plants. Plants convert solar energy through well known processes of natural law into vegetative matter.
Fortunately the time has come when the central role of the sun in providing mankind with its environmental and economic security is being established. For the purpose of the removal of world poverty and the neutralisation of the negative social and environmental effects of globalisation the "Global Country of World Peace" project has now been created.
At the centre of this humanitarian project reside the pivotal roles of solar energy and Vedic Agriculture. It is no coincidence that the emblem chosen for this unique project for the 21st Century should be a symbol of the life giving energy of the sun.
NATURAL LAW PARTY WESSEX nlpwessex@bigfoot.com www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex
Flag of "Global Country of World Peace"
Solar PV facts http://www.solarcentury.co.uk/content.jsp?sectno=0&subno=5
Solar PV generated power could provide 10,000 times more energy than the world currently uses.
If we covered a small fraction of the Sahara desert with PV, we could generate all the world's electricity requirements.
If you install a solar PV tiled roof, you could prevent over 34 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions during its lifetime.
Today all TV and communication satellites are powered by PV. In the heavens there is no mains power, but the earth receives a continuous power input from the sun of 200 x 1015 Watts - that&rsquos 200 followed by 15 zeros! An unimaginably huge amount of energy which completely dwarfs the capabilities of fossil fuels or nuclear fission&hellip.and its clean and free.
Two billion people on earth have no electricity. Typically their energy comes from candles, kerosene and batteries. Often these monthly costs are greater than the cost of a solar mortgage to pay for a quality solar home system.
Many buildings use cladding materials which cost £1000 per square metre. The bronze façade to the new Westminster parliament office complex cost over £7000 per square metre. By contrast, solar PV cladding - which can look every bit as attractive as marble or bronze - costs as little as £500 per square metre. It would also have provided clean and indeed free power for the building. PV provides power when you need it, where you need it. Caravaners, campers, backpackers, climbers and outdoor enthusiasts can now have solar PV power packs that fit in a rucksack, provide power for laptops, GPS devices, music, light at night, and a charging point for mobile phones.
-------- energy
Power building
Seattle Times Company
Editorials & Opinion :
Saturday, June 09, 2001
Letters to the editor
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis/web/vortex/display?slug=satlets09&date=20010609
Nuclear's not so clean when entire cycle is considered
Editor, The Times:
President Bush has renewed the debate about nuclear power by making it a vital component of his energy plan. The Bush/Cheney team proclaims nuclear power is clean because it does not produce any greenhouse gases.
While such a claim might be accurate if applied to only the operation of the nuclear reactor, the Bush administration's claim borders on deceit when the entire nuclear fuel cycle is considered.
The whole truth is that large amounts of greenhouse gases are released by the generation of electricity required to operate the plant that enriches the uranium before the fuel can be used in the reactors. The United States has one enrichment plant in Paducah, Ky., deep in the heart of coal country. Most of the 3,040 megawatts used in the Paducah enrichment facility is generated by coal-fired plants. To generate 3,000 megawatts requires the equivalent of three nuclear power plants the size of WNP 2 at Hanford.
Nuclear power is not a clean source of energy. - Jim Thomas, Seattle
We need it now
We have seen how price caps worked in California and the only conservation you will get that will amount to anything will be when the power companies shut off a grid. Brazil is in a similar situation right now; if you don't conserve 20 percent, they shut off your power for six days. That's how you really conserve.
The only real solution to an energy shortage is to produce more energy.
So how can that be accomplished and keep everybody happy. It can't - if the nuclear power opponents are right and nuclear energy is too costly and too dangerous; if the hydro-electric opponents are right and we must breach the dams to save the salmon; if the fossil fuel opponents are right and that type of generation is too dirty and we wreck the ozone. That leaves solar and wind.
Solar is about 30 times more expensive than nuclear and takes 15 square miles to produce 1,000 megawatts of power. That is about the power of one Columbia River dam. Wind is about three times more expensive than nuclear and takes about 90 square miles. So to be realistic, we need a little extra power now; we must gear up the sources we have online, such as Bush has suggested with his energy policy.
Seattle is going to add another half million people in the next 10 years. That is three Bellevues. Where is it going to get the power and water? If it's handled like light rail, it will still be debated 10 years from now. Somebody should start thinking about that. - Howard Simpson, Ocean Shores
-------- health
Swiss Firm Gives U.N. $1 Million to Fight AIDS
By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 9, 2001; Page A15
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A42761-2001Jun8?language=printer
U.N. officials struggling to increase international efforts to combat the AIDS pandemic breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when the world's fourth-largest financial institution, the Credit Suisse Group, became the first private corporation to contribute money to a new global fund proposed by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Credit Suisse said it would give $1 million to the fund through its Winterthur insurance subsidiary. In a statement, Winterthur said it would also be involved in AIDS prevention and information campaigns.
Annan wants to increase international funding to combat AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, currently at an annual $1.8 billion, to between $7 billion and $10 billion a year. To reach that total, he has called on developed-world governments, private foundations and corporations to step up their bilateral programs and to contribute at least $1 billion to the new fund.
So far, the United States has pledged $200 million and France has promised $127 million over the next three years. But none of the major foundations has offered to contribute to the fund, and, until yesterday, there had been no corporate contributions.
Gro Harlem Brundtland, director general of the World Health Organization, said the Credit Suisse contribution proved "the private sector is now beginning to mobilize its support" for an initiative that "makes good economic sense."
Annan hopes to have the fund up and running by the end of this year, with the bulk of new funds going to combat AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, home to 70 percent of an estimated 36 million people worldwide who are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes the disease.
Although institutions with a stake in solving the AIDS crisis agree that substantially more money is needed, they are far from agreeing on how to spend it. It is still a largely theoretical question until the funds are available, but the decibel level of the debate has risen noticeably with the approach of a U.N. General Assembly special session on HIV/AIDS scheduled to begin June 25.
The crux of the debate is whether the world should focus virtually all of its resources on preventing the spread of the disease in Africa -- as the Bush administration and others have argued -- or should, as AIDS activists and humanitarian groups say, also devote a significant part of any new money to expensive treatment for those who already have the disease.
Three U.S.-based AIDS activist organizations, led by the Health GAP Coalition, sharply criticized the Bush administration's top foreign aid official yesterday for what they described as "ignorant and racist" remarks on the subject. Andrew S. Natsios, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, told the Boston Globe this week that Africans were incapable of following complicated, multi-drug AIDS treatment, which requires taking different pills at specified times of day, because many of them "don't know what Western time is."
"Many people in Africa have never seen a clock or a watch their entire lives," Natsios, who spent a number of years involved in aid work in Africa, was quoted as saying. ". . . They know morning, they know evening, they know the darkness at night."
-------- terrorism
Court Victory for Iranian Groups
Saturday, June 9, 2001; Page A12
Washington Post
http://washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A43229-2001Jun8?language=printer
A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that the State Department must give two Iranian resistance groups an opportunity to defend themselves against being classified as terrorist organizations, saying the groups have a right to be "meaningfully heard."
The ruling was a victory for the National Council of Resistance of Iran and the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran. Both groups deny wrongdoing and allege they had been branded as terrorists based on a mostly secret record with no chance to present evidence to the contrary.
The three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals found that the groups had a constitutional right to due process. It ordered the State Department to give them a chance to review any non-classified evidence used against them and a chance to respond. Pending a timely review, their designations as terrorist organizations will stand.
State Department officials declined comment, saying they were reviewing the decision.
A 1996 law freezes the assets of designated terrorist groups in the United States, makes it a crime for Americans to provide them with money and denies U.S. visas to members.
-- Bill Miller
-------- activists
Sisters Sentenced to Prison 6 months:
Dorothy Hennessey, 88, turns down a lenient sentence for her protest of a military training center
Date: 06/09/2001
From: kurttm@earthlink.net
Published on Friday, May 25, 2001
Dubuque (Iowa) Telegraph Herald,
by Mary Rae Bragg
COLUMBUS, Ga. - Peace activists Dorothy and Gwen Hennessey each will serve six months in prison for their non-violent protest last November at the U.S. Army Infantry Center in Fort Benning, Ga.
On Wednesday, Magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth, of Columbus' U.S. District Court, attempted to sentence Dorothy Hennessey, a sister of the Order of St. Francis in Dubuque, to six month's house arrest at the Dubuque motherhouse where she resides, but she refused.
I'd rather not be singled out. If you wouldn't mind, I would just as soon have the same (sentence) as the others
Dorothy Hennesey School of the Americas Watch
see also: * Sisters Sentenced to Prison 5/25/01
* Judge Sentences School of the Americas Protesters to 6-Months in Prison 5/24/01
* Elderly Iowa Protester Prepares for Prison 5/20/01
* Fort Benning School Braces for Protesters 11/19/00
At 88, Hennessey is the oldest of 26 people on trial this week for protesting the presence of the School of the Americas at the Army base.
"I appreciate and I understand," the sprightly Franciscan told Faircloth, as he explained the conditions of a house arrest to her, "but I'd rather not be singled out. If you wouldn't mind, I would just as soon have the same (sentence) as the others."
Honoring her wishes, Faircloth gave her the maximum prison time prescribed by law, and some seven hours later, handed down the same sentence to her sister, Gwen, 68, who also is a member of the Order of St. Francis in Dubuque.
The sentencing of the so-called SOA 26 took nearly 11 hours, ending just before 8 p.m. EST.
Gwen Hennessey and other protesters expressed hope while their trials took place Tuesday that Faircloth would give them at most three months in prison, but after a lengthy opening explanation of his legal responsibilities Wednesday morning, he proceeded to sentence most of them to the maximum imprisonment.
He also imposed fines ranging from $150 to $3,000, but did not fine 13 of the protesters, including the Hennesseys. The maximum fine allowable by law is $5,000.
Eight of the women sentenced to prison, including the Hennesseys, told Faircloth they want to be able to serve their sentences at a minimum-security facility for women in Pekin, Ill. Faircloth said he would make that recommendation.
The 24 protesters who were given prison sentences were required to post $250 bonds, except for three men who chose to surrender immediately to federal marshals. The bonds are repayable when they report to serve their sentences. They were told to expect to receive their notices to report for imprisonment in six to eight weeks.
If that timeline holds true, it will provide Gwen Hennessey enough time to join in the June 23 celebration of her 50th year as a Franciscan. As with another woman who asked for a stipulation that she not be required to report until after her mother's 100th birthday, Faircloth told Hennessey he was hopeful she would still be free for her jubilee celebration, but he would not stipulate it.
As he pronounced the accused guilty one by one, Faircloth went over facts of their lives that they had presented to him during their trials Tuesday, then offered them an opportunity to make unlimited comments before he passed sentence. A number of them thanked Faircloth for his considerate manner and allowing them time to express their opposition to the School of the Americas, recently renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.
The only breaks in court decorum came the three times one of the accused surrendered on site and was led out of the court by a federal marshal. On those occasions, those protesters remaining behind and their supporters in the courtroom stood silently and extended their hands in blessing over their departing friend.
During the trial, the protesters spoke passionately and often of their opposition to the School of the Americas, and the institute that has replaced it. All took great pains to let Faircloth know their conviction that the school serves as a training ground for Latin American militarists who use their schooling to terrorize and murder civilians in their own counties.
The American government maintains the school promotes democratic values and principles and spreads goodwill between the U.S. and Latin America.
When it came time to sentence the 26 for re-entering Fort Benning to protest the school's presence after previously being barred from the place, Faircloth told them he understood, "You have come into court to continue this demonstration."
"We also have a duty to promote respect for the law," Faircloth said, explaining his view, "and it's my duty to enforce it."
By the time court was finally adjourned for the day, there were reports from Fort Benning that nine people were being held there for taking part in early evening protests against the School of the Americas. Leaders of SOA Watch, the group responsible for organizing protests against the school, said they expected more protest activity at Fort Benning before the night was over.
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