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NUCLEAR
Iraqi missile scientist in Iran
Iran insists nuclear drive not grounds for UN action
U.S., Europe at Odds Over Iran's Nuclear Policy
EU backs Iran on nuclear issue
Europe Proposes Weak IAEA Iran Resolution - Diplomats
Iran's nuclear program "threatens existence of Israel": Mossad chief
N Korea 'to accept US terms for nuclear deal'
N. Korea gets stern nuclear warning
Rumsfeld Offers South Korea Assurances on Deterrence
U.S., Japan Agree to Pressure N. Korea
Too loose nukes?
Last-minute glitches in Nevada nuclear-waste burial plan
EPA Plan Would Ease Rules on Nuke Waste
Bishops Should Have Been Bolder on Nuke Ban
Hollinger examines Perle investments
MILITARY
Afghan constitution seen as flawed
Afghan disarmament moves to troubled southeast
Okinawans Ask Rumsfeld to Thin Out Troops
CIA Says Experts See 'Darker Bioweapons Future'
Germ Detection System Active in 31 Cities
FEDERAL CONTRACTS
EU agency aims to boost bloc's military muscle
Major Developments Concerning Iraq
US agrees to international control of its troops in Iraq
Lessons of 1920 revolt lost on Bremer
U.S. Forces Kill Six in Raid of Hussein's Hometown
Hussein, on Tape Sent to Arab TV, Said to Urge War
Shiites Impatient For Vote in Iraq Mistrust Greets New U.S. Plan
American Copter In Collision Was Chasing Gunman
Israel sends aid to Istanbul after synagogue blast
Israelis Raid Gaza Camp
Turkey Probes Qaeda Claims in Suicide Blasts
Turkey Says Foreign Terrorists May Be Behind Suicide Blasts
Al Qaeda Claims Attacks in Turkey
NATO head calls for multi-ethnic Kosovo
U.S. warns Pakistan
Al Qaeda Affiliate Training Indonesians On Philippine Island
Blair to press Bush over fate of detainees
The Military Space Service: Why It's Time Has Come
Adviser Did Not Violate Ethics Rules, Pentagon Says
Military robots bound for state
Army Changes Helicopter Routes in Iraq
POLICE / PRISONERS / COURTS / JUSTICE
Court to Rule on 'Enemy Combatant' Label
Gov't. Orders Airlines to Inspect Cargo
Sen. Panel Eyes Justice Dept. Leak Probe
ENERGY AND OTHER
Abraham outlines plans for hydrogen fuel, Canadian oil
Industry to reap billions from energy legislation
Energy Tax Breaks Would Go to Industries
14 States File Suit in Attempt to Block New E.P.A. Rules
Rain Flushes Toilets in Robert Redford Building
Funding Bill Gets Clause on Embryo Patents
Environment Plays Role in Bowel Problems
Health Experts Fear Reemergence of SARS Virus
ACTIVISTS
Protests Planned for Bush's U.K. Visit
Protests Loom In London for Visit by Bush
Pope Condemns Violence in Middle East
-------- NUCLEAR
-------- iran
Iraqi missile scientist in Iran
November 17, 2003
By Dafna Linzer
ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20031116-111211-3995r.htm
The Iraqi scientist who headed Saddam Hussein's long-range missile program has fled to neighboring Iran, a country identified as a state sponsor of terrorism with a successful missile program and nuclear ambitions, U.S. officers involved in the weapons hunt say.
Modher Sadeq-Saba al-Tamimi's departure comes as top weapons makers from Saddam's deposed regime find themselves eight months out of work but with skills that could be valuable to militaries or terrorist organizations in neighboring countries. U.S. officials have said some are already in Syria and Jordan.
U.N. inspectors spoke with Mr. Modher in Baghdad a week before the U.S.-led war began March 19. Two U.S. weapons investigators say they believe he crossed the Iraq-Iran border on foot at least two months after U.S. forces took Baghdad.
Mr. Modher is not on the list of the 52 most-wanted Iraqis whose faces grace a deck of playing cards, but U.S. officials have been eager to talk to scientists who may know anything about Saddam's efforts to develop proscribed weapons.
Mr. Modher's activities in Iran are unknown and may explain why his disappearance hasn't been disclosed publicly. The CIA declined to discuss its efforts with Iraqi scientists or identify individuals.
Thought to be in his mid-50s, the Czech-educated scientist specialized in missile engines. He met numerous times with U.N. inspectors during the 1990s and earlier this year when he argued that the al Samoud missile system under his command wasn't in violation of a U.N. range limit.
The inspectors determined otherwise when tests showed it could fly more than 93 miles. They quickly began destroying the Iraqi stock, much to his frustration.
"Dr. Modher was declared by Iraq to have been one of the principal figures in their missile programs," said Ewen Buchanan, spokesman for the U.N. inspectors.
In the late 1980s, Mr. Modher headed up the Iraqi military's Project 1728, part of an effort to produce engines for longer-range missiles.
He was the protege and favored colleague of Iraqi Lt. Gen. Hussein Kamel, Saddam's right-hand man and son-in-law who briefly defected to Jordan in 1995. There, Gen. Kamel told U.N. inspectors during interrogations about his work and Mr. Modher's efforts to build a missile powerful enough to strike most major European cities.
According to the interrogation transcripts, Gen. Kamel said Mr. Modher and a nuclear physicist named Mahdi Obeidi both took work and documents from their offices. U.N. inspectors investigated the claim but found nothing.
In July, Mr. Obeidi gave the CIA a stack of papers and a piece of equipment that had been buried in his back yard for 12 years. In return, he has become the only Iraqi scientist allowed to move to the United States since the beginning of the U.S. occupation.
Other than Mr. Obeidi, who is living along the East Coast with his family, another scientist known to have left the country is Jaffar al-Jaffer, who founded Iraq's nuclear program in the 1980s. He is in the United Arab Emirates, where U.S. troops are stationed, and has been questioned by U.S. and British intelligence officials.
Mr. Modher traveled to Germany in 1987 to buy high-tech equipment through H&H Metalform, a company whose senior officers were tried later in Germany and found guilty of violating the country's export-control laws, U.N. inspectors said.
The equipment enabled Iraq to make components for Scud missiles similar to the ones they fired at Israel and Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf war.
When that conflict ended, Iraq faced U.N. sanctions forbidding it from purchasing any new weapons-making equipment.
But four years later, Mr. Modher was caught by U.N. inspectors when he inquired about Russian-made gyroscopes from a Palestinian middleman. At the time, Tariq Aziz, Iraq's deputy prime minister, told U.N. inspectors that Mr. Modher had acted on his own and would be punished for breaking sanctions.
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Iran insists nuclear drive not grounds for UN action
BRUSSELS (AFP)
Nov 17, 2003
http://www.spacewar.com/2003/031117161606.8xriqupv.html
Iran's top security official Monday defied US pressure by insisting there was "no justification" for reporting the Islamic republic to the UN Security Council over its nuclear programme.
The comments by Hassan Rowhani, made after talks with EU foreign ministers, came ahead of a crucial meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Thursday to rule on Iranian compliance with the UN agency.
"There is no justification, no reason to refer Iran's peaceful nuclear programme to the UNSC," Rowhani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council who is charged with the nuclear dossier, told reporters.
"We have no concerns whatsoever" that the IAEA might refer Iran to the Security Council, Rowhani added after meeting the foreign ministers of Britain and France and a senior German official in Brussels.
An IAEA report last week said that Iran has violated international nuclear safeguards but that there is so far no evidence it is trying to make an atomic bomb.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Iran had been "honest" in its nuclear dealings with the international community, and that he expected the IAEA to stop short of calling for the Security Council to rebuke the country.
The United States accuses Tehran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons and wants the issue to go to the Security Council, in a process that could lead to punitive sanctions.
The EU, which favours "constructive engagement" with Iran, has taken a softer line on the issue after the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany clinched a deal in Tehran last month for Iran to open up its nuclear sites to snap inspections by the IAEA.
In other key concessions, Iran pledged to the EU trio to come clean on its past nuclear activities and to suspend the enrichment of uranium.
After his talks with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, Rowhani said "Iran is committed to the agreement reached in Tehran".
EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten said after separate talks with the Iranian official: "Our expectation is that they will fulfill those obligations."
Rowhani said he underlined in his talks with the EU officials "the danger posed by Israel's weapons of mass destruction".
"We called on Europe to work with us to turn the Middle East into a zone free of weapons of mass destruction," he said, adding they also discussed regional issues including "Iraq and the potential for cooperation in Iraq."
Solana said of Iran: "They have been honest. Let's see if they continue all the way to the end.
"We still have some hurdles to pass, but we have passed some very important ones," he told reporters.
The resolution by the IAEA's board of governors on Thursday "will not be a report to the UN. That's my hope", the Spanish official added.
Led by Britain, France and Germany, most members of the 35-nation IAEA board oppose taking the issue to the Security Council as they want to reward Iran for cooperating with the atomic agency, diplomats say.
But Israel for one is seriously worried about Iran's nuclear programme, with the chief of the Mossad intelligence agency warning Monday that it represents "the biggest threat to Israel's existence since its creation" in....
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U.S., Europe at Odds Over Iran's Nuclear Policy
November 17, 2003
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-iran-nuclear.html
VIENNA (Reuters) - Europe and the United States were at odds on Monday over how to deal with Iran's nuclear program, as Israel's intelligence chief said it posed a threat to the very survival of the Jewish state.
The European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said in Brussels that Iran had been honest so far over its nuclear program and he hoped it would not be reported to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.
But the United States disputed Solana's conclusion on the program, which Washington says is designed to make nuclear weapons -- a charge Tehran strongly denies, saying its nuclear policy is entirely peaceful and devoted to generating power.
In Washington ahead of a trip to Europe, Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed surprise at Solana's comment, saying: ``I wouldn't have gone quite as far.''
Powell, due to meet EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Tuesday, reiterated the State Department's stand that a leaked report from the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which said Iran was not developing nuclear arms was impossible to believe.
With time running out before a Board of Governors' meeting of the Vienna-based IAEA on Thursday, France, Britain and Germany have circulated a draft resolution for the board which does not meet U.S. demands, diplomats said.
Iran has been under pressure from the IAEA to explain its nuclear policy and explain traces of enriched uranium on some equipment. Oil- and gas-rich Tehran says its nuclear program is for power generation but the United States is skeptical.
Washington wants the IAEA to declare Iran in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and escalate the issue by reporting Tehran to the Security Council for possible sanctions.
A diplomat from one IAEA board member state told Reuters the Security Council was not mentioned in the draft by the European trio. Nor was non-compliance, violation or breaches of the NPT.
``None of those words is used. It's very weak,'' he said. That is unlikely to satisfy Washington.
POWELL SAYS NUCLEAR WEAPONS THE AIM
Powell said after meeting German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in Washington: ``The Iranians have provided us a great deal of information. It confirms what the United States has been saying for some time...that the Iranian nuclear program was for more than just the production of power, that it had an intent to produce a nuclear weapon.''
In Jerusalem, Mossad intelligence chief Meir Dagan warned Israeli legislators that the Iranian program threatened Israel's very existence, a parliament official said.
Our assessment is that the Iranians will continue to develop their nuclear weapons program, which for the first time poses a threat to the existence of the state of Israel, the official reported him as saying.
Dagan added that the tens of billions of dollars he said had been put into the nuclear program had no justification unless Tehran planned to arm itself and Iran had also developed a long-range surface-to-surface missile system.
In 1981, Israel launched a lightning air strike and destroyed neighboring Iraq's French-built Osirak nuclear reactor's core, saying Saddam Hussein was trying to develop nuclear weapons.
Israel is widely believed by security analysts to have dozens of nuclear warheads. It refuses to confirm possessing nuclear weapons but is not a signatory to the NPT.
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EU backs Iran on nuclear issue
Monday 17 November 2003
Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/596A3351-AE5F-4166-837B-903D7A7D8529.htm
The European Union's top diplomat has said Iran should not be hauled before the UN Security Council for hiding sensitive aspects of its nuclear programme, as demanded by the US.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Iran had been "honest" in its nuclear dealings with the international community.
Solana, speaking ahead of talks in Brussels with Iran's top national security official Hassan Rowhani, said he expected the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to stop short of calling for the Security Council to rebuke the Islamic republic.
Rowhani said after meeting foreign ministers of Britain and France, and a senior Germany official, in Brussels that "there is no justification, no reason to refer Iran's peaceful nuclear programme" to the Security Council.
US accusation
The United States accuses Tehran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons and wants the issue to go to the Security Council.
But most members, led by Britain, France and Germany, of the 35-nation IAEA board of governors meeting on Thursday oppose this. They want to reward Tehran for cooperating with the atomic agency, diplomats said.
In Moscow, Russia's Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said international sanctions against Iran would be "unacceptable," as Tehran had been open about its nuclear programme.
IAEA chief Muhammad ElBaradei said in a recent report that while Iran had violated international safeguards by hiding nuclear activities that included making plutonium and enriched uranium, there was so far no evidence it was trying to make a nuclear bomb.
"The Americans may think no (IAEA board) resolution is better than a weak one for fear of weakening" the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which authorises the IAEA to enforce international nuclear safeguards, a Western diplomat said.
Counter-resolution
Another diplomat said the US was holding off on offering a counter-resolution to one being prepared by Britain, France and Germany since it does not think it has a consensus for its position.
The foreign ministers of Britain and France on a visit to Tehran on 21 October secured key concessions, including Iran's full disclosure of its past nuclear activities, a pledge to accept tougher inspections and a suspension of the enrichment of uranium.
Diplomats, as well as Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, said a deal was struck in Tehran that Iran would be rewarded for cooperation by being spared a citation for non-compliance before the Security Council.
The Iranian ambassador, Ali Akbar Salehi, has warned that an IAEA non-compliance finding would "escalate the issue into an international crisis."
----
Europe Proposes Weak IAEA Iran Resolution - Diplomats
November 17, 2003
REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-iran-nuclear-resolution.html
VIENNA (Reuters) - Europe and the United States were still at odds on Monday over what to do about Iran's secret nuclear program, said diplomats familiar with the wording of a new U.N. resolution drafted by France, Britain and Germany.
With time running out before a meeting on Thursday at the U.N. nuclear agency, the trio have circulated a draft resolution for the IAEA's Board of Governors which does not meet U.S. demands that Tehran be declared in breach of arms control pacts.
The United States wants to declare Iran in violation of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and report it to the U.N. Security Council.
``The Security Council is not mentioned,'' a diplomat from an IAEA board member state familiar with the draft told Reuters. ``Neither is non-compliance, violation, or breaches. None of those words is used. It's very weak.''
Diplomats said the draft resolution only criticizes Iran for ``failures'' to inform the U.N. watchdog, which they said was much weaker than the terms breach, violation or non-compliance.
The United States was one of the countries on the IAEA board that saw the text, diplomats said, though Washington's reaction was not immediately available.
The administration of President Bush accuses Iran of using its civilian nuclear power program as a front for a secret weapons program. Tehran vehemently denies this.
Diplomats said the United States might be willing to forgo the immediate reporting of Iran to the Security Council, but was unlikely to compromise on the issue of whether to formally acknowledge what it says are Iran's clear NPT violations.
``From what I understand about the U.S. position, anything that does not recognize Iran's breaches would be difficult to accept,'' one Western diplomat told Reuters in Vienna.
Despite U.S. opposition, diplomats said the majority of the board would favor a resolution that did not send Iran to the council and avoided harsh criticism of the Islamic republic.
SOLANA: ``IRAN HAS BEEN HONEST''
The draft was circulated among a small group of diplomats on the 35-nation IAEA board after the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, met Iran's Supreme National Security Council head, Hassan Rohani, in Brussels.
Solana said he expected Iran to stick to an October 21 agreement the French, German and British foreign ministers made with Iran under which Tehran would allow tougher, snap IAEA inspections and suspend its uranium enrichment program.
``They (the Iranians) have been honest. Let's see if they continue this all the way to the end,'' he told reporters before he met with Rohani.
Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed surprise at Solana's expression of trust in Tehran. The IAEA itself has said the jury was still out about whether Iran has been telling the truth about the peaceful nature of its nuclear program.
``I wouldn't have gone quite as far,'' Powell said of Solana's remark.
``The Iranians have provided us a great deal of information. It confirms what the United States has been saying for some time ... that the Iranian nuclear development program was for more than just the production of power, that it had an intent to producing a nuclear weapon,'' Powell added after a meeting with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.
-------- israel
Iran's nuclear program "threatens existence of Israel": Mossad chief
JERUSALEM (AFP)
Nov 17, 2003
http://www.spacewar.com/2003/031117155608.6720u0sh.html
Iran's nuclear program poses the biggest threat to Israel's existence since the country's creation more than five decades ago, the chief of the Mossad overseas intelligence agency warned MPs on Monday.
In a rare appearance before the Knesset's foreign affairs and defence committee, Meir Dagan said Iran was now close to the "point of no return" in developing nuclear arms.
The program was "the biggest threat to Israel's existence since its creation" in 1948, he was quoted as saying.
The warning comes just three days before the United Nation's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is to decide whether to haul the Islamic republic before the UN Security Council for hiding sensitive aspects of its nuclear programme.
Dagan also said that Israel had discovered in the last three months that Iran was close to finishing construction of a uranium enrichment plant in the central Kachan area which could eventually give it the capacity to build around a dozen nuclear bombs.
Iranian President Mohammed Khatami announced last February that a nuclear power plant would be built in Kachan after the discovery of a uranium mine in the region.
During a visit to Washington last week, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz also warned that Iran would reach a "point of no return" in its nuclear program within a year unless there were concerted efforts to stop it.
"Concentrated efforts are needed to delay, to stop or to prevent the Iranian nuclear program," he said in a speech.
The IAEA released a report last week accusing Iran of conducting two decades of covert nuclear activities, including plutonium manufacture, although it said there was no evidence as yet that it was trying to build a nuclear bomb.
The Security Council could slap punishing sanctions on Iran, but US hopes of this dimmed on Monday with Europe's top diplomat, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, saying Iran had been "honest" in its nuclear dealings with the international community and did not deserve such action.
Since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, Israel has come to regard the Islamic fundamentalist administration in Tehran as its number one enemy.
Iran's former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, now a top advisor to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was quoted as saying last week that the mere existence of Israel is contrary to Tehran's national interests.
Iran refuses to recognise Israel and top officials frequently call for the destruction of the Jewish state. But Tehran denies giving material support to Palestinian militants who have waged a bloody campaign for the past three years against Israeli military occupation in their territories.
During a major military parade on September 22, the Islamic republic showed off six of its Shahab-3 missiles which were decorated with anti-Israeli and anti-US slogans, including one saying Israel should be "wiped off the map".
Israel has warned that the new ballistic missile represents a threat to the whole of the Middle East.
Israel, like the United States, accuses Iran of using a civil atomic energy program as a cover to develop nuclear weapons. It also accuses Iran of giving support to the Lebanese-based militia Hezbollah and Syria.
Israel's army chief of staff General Moshe Yaalon warned at the weekend that more action could be directed against Syria if it "ignores the message" of last month's air strike near Damascus aimed at an alleged Palestinian militant training facility.
He accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime of allowing Hezbollah to launch attacks against Israel from neighbouring Lebanon.
-------- korea
N Korea 'to accept US terms for nuclear deal'
By Richard Spencer in Beijing
17/11/2003
UK Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/11/17/wkor17.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/11/17/ixworld.html
North Korea's dictatorship yesterday said it was prepared to abandon its nuclear weapons programme, a further hint that a deal is on the cards in its year-long stand-off with the United States.
A foreign ministry spokesman in Pyongyang said it was "willing to realistically abandon nuclear development" when the "US hostile policy toward North Korea is removed".
The comments are part of the growing evidence that the Korean leader Kim Jong-il is looking favourably on American proposals for agreement that would include written assurances from Washington and North Korea's four neighbours promising not to attack it.
The proposal is likely to be discussed at a third round of talks in Beijing next month involving all six countries - North Korea and the United States, along with China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.
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N. Korea gets stern nuclear warning
November 17, 2003
(UPI)
http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20031117-115127-1152r.htm
SEOUL, South Korea, Nov. 17 -- North Korea was given a stern warning about its nuclear program Monday by the United States and South Korea, the Kyodo news agency reported.
South Korean Defense Minister Cho Young Kil and visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made the call in a joint statement issued at the end of the annual bilateral Security Consultative Meeting.
"They emphasized that North Korea's continued development of weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles, along with the danger of exporting those weapons and technologies, are causes of significant concern for the alliance and the international community," the statement said.
North Korea said Sunday it was willing to give up its nuclear program if the U.S. drops its "hostile policy," while considering President George Bush's offer of "written assurances of nonaggression" instead of a nonaggression treaty as was demanded by Pyongyang.
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Rumsfeld Offers South Korea Assurances on Deterrence
November 17, 2003
By THOM SHANKER
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/17/international/17CND-RUMSFE.html
SEOUL, Nov. 17 - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld spent today translating the Pentagon's new language of transformation into terms of reassurance for a key Asian ally, saying that efforts to reorganize American forces in South Korea would not diminish America's commitment or capability to deter aggression by the North.
Mr. Rumsfeld and his South Korean counterpart, Cho Yung Kil, issued a statement endorsing plans to relocate all American troops from their positions standing guard between Seoul and the demilitarized zone along the border with North Korea, first consolidating them in camps north of Seoul before basing them south of the capital.
Pentagon planners say the relocation is not a retreat from American responsibilities, but will give United States forces an advantage in surviving and responding to a North Korean attack.
"We are making excellent progress," Mr. Rumsfeld told President Roh Moo Hyun at the start of an afternoon meeting with the South Korean leader in a room adorned with a painting of Yi Dynasty military maneuvers.
But the talks were not without disappointment. The two sides failed to reach agreement on plans to relocate the approximately 8,000 American troops based at the Yongsan military garrison in central Seoul, occupying hundreds of acres of valuable real estate.
A senior Defense Department official said that during the closed-door talks, the South Korean president demonstrated a keen understanding of the new American security strategy and demonstrated a willingness to move ahead with the realignment of United States forces on the peninsula.
The daylong discussions focused on the relocation of American forces, the official said. But the issue of possible American troop reductions - which Bush Administration officials and diplomats in Washington say has greatly worried President Roh and his government - was not raised by either side.
The Pentagon is reviewing its worldwide military "footprint" - the location and size of its bases and the numbers of troops deployed overseas - to incorporate dramatic improvements in the ability to gather intelligence information on an adversary's positions, precisely aim weapons and rapidly field fighting forces.
Mr. Rumsfeld stressed that changes to the American military footprint would be a "product of the closest consultations with our key allies." Of the American-South Korean military alliance, he said, "Neither of our governments would do anything that would in any way weaken the deterrent and the capability to defend."
Pentagon officials say a reduction in the 37,000 American troops in South Korea would be a logical, even likely, outcome of the effort to reorganize forces here, but no decisions have been made.
"It is not numbers of things," Mr. Rumsfeld said at a news conference. "It is capability to impose lethal power, where needed, when needed, with the greatest flexibility and with the greatest agility."
The location of American military forces in South Korea was frozen in place 50 years ago with the truce that ended the Korean War without a formal peace treaty. A marker of that unfinished business was on display today as Mr. Rumsfeld reviewed an honor guard of troops dressed in modern and traditional Korean uniforms at the National War Museum. A giant banner, several stories high, was draped on a wall to declare, "The Korean War, It Has Not Ended."
The joint communiqué said both sides had "agreed that North Korea continues to pose a global threat to our common interests." The statement also called on North Korea "to completely, verifiably and irreversibly dismantle its nuclear weapons programs and to cease the testing, development, deployment and export of weapons of mass destruction, missiles and related technologies."
In a sign of the high priority given the talks, Mr. Rumsfeld was joined by a team of four-star American officers: Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Adm. Thomas B. Fargo, the top officer of the military's Pacific Command, based in Hawaii; and Gen. Leon J. LaPorte, commander of United States Forces in Korea.
Pentagon officials said that Mr. Rumsfeld used his visit to announce to the South Korean leadership that General LaPorte would be nominated for a one-year extension of his tour, to 2005, in order to assure a steady march forward on realigning American forces.
Describing his mission, General LaPorte said in an interview, "We're enhancing capability, not lessening commitment."
Officials said that the earliest date for American forces to relocate south of Seoul was 2006, which should give sufficient time for the South Korean military to organize, train and equip forces to take over the mission along the demilitarized zone.
Mr. Cho, the South Korean defense minister, said his nation's forces already were capable of assuming most of the critical missions along the border with its northern neighbor.
But he cautioned that "it would be somewhat quick or premature to implement this transfer immediately." The South Korean military, he said, was not yet prepared for duties in the Joint Security Area of the demilitarized zone nor take command of "counterfire" missions against North Korea's massive arsenal of artillery and battlefield-range rockets.
During his visit, Mr. Rumsfeld was repeatedly asked by South Korean correspondents whether he was disappointed at news reports that the Seoul government would volunteer only 3,000 more troops to Iraq, and that they would be dispatched with orders to carry out humanitarian, and not combat, missions.
"It's up to the South Korean government to make those judgments," Mr. Rumsfeld said. A senior Pentagon official said South Korean officials had stated that no final decision was made on the numbers or mission of the troops to be sent to Iraq.
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U.S., Japan Agree to Pressure N. Korea
November 17, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Japan-US-Koreas.html
TOKYO (AP) -- A senior U.S. envoy and Japan's defense chief agreed to using ``dialogue and pressure'' to persuade North Korea to abandon its suspected nuclear weapons development, officials said Tuesday.
The meeting came as Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly wrapped up the Tokyo leg of a three-nation Asia tour to coordinate policy ahead of multilateral talks expected next month on the North Korean nuclear dispute.
Kelly and Defense Chief Shigeru Ishiba agreed to continue using ``dialogue and pressure'' to resolve the yearlong nuclear crisis, Ishiba told reporters following the meeting.
``Resolving the matter diplomatically and peacefully does not mean accepting everything (North Korea) says,'' Ishiba said. ``If it tries to benefit from nuclear weapons, weapons of mass destruction, missiles or threats...that is not acceptable,'' Ishiba said.
The question of how to defuse the crisis over North Korea's suspected development of nuclear weapons without compromising Japan's defense was a focus of Kelly's earlier talks with Japanese officials.
Japan was shaken when North Korea test-fired a missile over its territory in 1998 and has been moving ahead with plans for a U.S.-developed missile shield.
Kelly and his Japanese counterpart on Monday discussed the possibility of Washington offering written security assurances to North Korea in exchange for a full dismantling of its nuclear program. North Korea has made further negotiations contingent upon such a pact.
But the prospect of the United States offering such assurances to North Korea has raised some concern in Japan that the U.S.-Japan security alliance could be compromised, leaving this country more vulnerable to a threat from the communist nation.
Washington has assured Tokyo it would not make any arrangements with any other country that would undermine their mutual security pact.
Kelly reiterated Washington's position on the matter in the morning meeting, a Defense Agency spokesman said.
Following his meetings Monday, Kelly said the two sides were hopeful that a new round of negotiations with North Korea could be held next month.
-------- russia
Too loose nukes?
November 17, 2003
WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20031116-111215-5109r.htm
Efforts to secure rusting, insecure Soviet-era radioactive material got a boost recently, when Congress fully funded the administration's request for the Nunn-Lugar non-proliferation program. The House had intended to cut $29 million from the administration's funding request, but the Senate prevailed, securing the full $451 million.
When this figure is combined with Department of Energy's global non-proliferation initiatives and modest spending by the State Department, the United States will contribute a total of about $10 billion over ten years to the Global Partnership, which has a $20 billion non-proliferation fund. Washington has contributed about $1 billion annually to non-proliferation efforts in the past, but funding was only committed in short-term increments. America's 10-year commitment will allow experts to form long-term plans. Other G-8 countries have pledged to match the United States' 10-year funding, with Russia committing $2 billion.
This is welcome news. Still, non-proliferation experts describe a worrisome global scenario for nuclear security. Although constructive steps are being taken to secure reactors and weapons sites with fissile material, the program's success relies to some degree on good luck.
According to the Strengthening the Global Partnership report, which was compiled by 21 research institutes in 16 European, Asian and North American countries, only 17 percent of Russia's 600 tons of nuclear material and 10 percent of its 20,000 warheads are in facilities which have had comprehensive security upgrades.
The situation in former Soviet states outside of Russia is even more worrisome. Research reactors in Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Belarus are considered very insecure. Terrorists would have to successfully raid multiple sites to get the necessary 25 pounds of highly enriched uranium to make a suitcase bomb. But less is needed for a dirty bomb, which would combine conventional explosives with uranium. The effectiveness of a dirty bomb would depend on a wide range of factors, including weather. But the psychological impact of such an attack would be intense, and the necessary clean-up would likely be very expensive.
Also worrisome is how easily transportable uranium is. Fuel rods thrown in the back of a pick-up truck would pose no real danger to its transporters. And though some border posts in the former Soviet Union have nuclear detection devices, there are numerous potential exit routes for smugglers. In Abkhazia, a breakaway province of Georgia which has been in effect run by separatists since 1993, up to 2 pounds of highly enriched uranium from an abandoned facility has disappeared without a trace.
The outlook on global non-proliferation efforts is mixed. The United States, along with partners such as Norway, has made concerted efforts. These efforts are racing against cagey enemies who appear to have opportunities for considerable mischief, if not mass destruction.
-------- u.s. nuc facilities
-------- nevada
Last-minute glitches in Nevada nuclear-waste burial plan
ASSOCIATED PRESS
November 17, 2003
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2003/nov/17/111710892.html
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - By 2010, if the U.S. Energy Department gets its way, an underground burial site for the nation's spent nuclear reactor fuel will open for business thousands of feet beneath the Nevada desert.
But chemists' new findings raise questions about the dump at Yucca Mountain, just northwest of Las Vegas, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday. The findings come at a very bad time, only 13 months before the agency plans to ask for federal nuclear regulators' approval to build the site.
During the past year, two DOE-funded scientific teams discovered that the buried fuel rods could experience unexpected chemical changes. Those changes could alter present estimates of how fast the buried fuel rods would disintegrate, leaking poisonous plutonium, neptunium, iodine and other radionuclides into the surrounding terrain and groundwater.
On the one hand, the chemists' findings might be good news for advocates of the Yucca Mountain burial site.
Their research suggests that as the super-hot fuel rods radioactively decay and are exposed to dripping groundwater, the resulting chemical interactions would breed odd forms of uranium minerals. Like miniature cages, these minerals would tend to lock bits of plutonium and neptunium in the minerals' crystalline atomic lattices. Hence, the disintegrating nuclear fuel probably wouldn't escape very far into the groundwater.
What troubles the chemists is that they've made their discoveries so late in the game. DOE has been funding research into the chemical behavior of buried fuel rods for decades, yet the chemists made their discoveries only during the past year.
"What I find amazing in this story is that the Yucca Mountain story had gone this far without (anyone previously) finding out that these (chemical events occur)," said one co-writer of the article, geology Professor Peter Burns of the University of Notre Dame. "I wouldn't have thought you'd want big surprises before (you seek) your licensing application."
The main discovery came in two main steps. Last year, Edgar Buck and Bruce McNamara at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a DOE lab in Richland, Wash., discovered in lab tests that a type of uranium mineral called studtite forms from decaying reactor fuel in a pool of water.
In Friday's issue of Science, scientists at UC Davis and Notre Dame University report that the interaction of radioactivity and groundwater would form a type of studtite called uranyl peroxide. The crystalline atomic structures of uranyl peroxides would tend to trap long-lived, dangerous radioactivity decay products such as plutonium and neptunium.
Burns and his team have "exposed quite a hole in our understanding of (buried) spent fuel. In that sense, it's a very important piece of work," Buck said.
Their findings don't surprise Bob Loux, director of the state of Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects, which has fought for years against the Yucca Mountain dump. On Jan. 14, the state plans to argue against the repository on legal and environmental grounds in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.
"The uncertainties that are involved in the Yucca Mountain assessment are so large that literally neither DOE nor anyone else knows what's going to occur underground if waste is stored there," Loux said. Despite DOE's plan to cover the spent fuel with titanium to keep out groundwater, "our experts think no metal will last underground more than 400 or 500 years. Titanium goes away in 50 to 60 years because of fluoride in the water."
DOE officials have reacted respectfully to the chemists' findings. Still, the officials are sticking to their schedule: They expect no delay in applying for the license in December 2004, as presently planned.
The chemists "have done a good job" and their work is "an interesting addition to what is known already about the behavior of spent fuel in a system that has (ground)water available to it," said Abe Van Luik, a physical chemist who is senior policy adviser for performance assessment at DOE's Las Vegas office.
Van Luik is confident that the new findings don't undermine the DOE's theoretical models for the behavior of buried spent fuel. At worst, the discoveries indicate that radionuclides would escape even more slowly than presently projected, he said.
Besides Burns, the Science article's other authors are Karrie-Ann Hughes Kubatko, also of Notre Dame, and Katheryn Helean and Alexandra Navrotsky, both of UC Davis.
-------- us nuc waste
EPA Plan Would Ease Rules on Nuke Waste
November 17, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Radioactive-Waste.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration is considering allowing low-level radioactive waste to be dumped at toxic waste sites and other facilities that currently aren't permitted to receive it.
The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to issue a notice Tuesday seeking public comments on the proposal.
The notice, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, asks the public to weigh in on whether certain levels of radioactive waste can be stored in landfills or hazardous material disposal sites.
Nuclear power companies can dispose of low-level radioactive waste at a handful of sites around the country, and about 20 sites can dispose of hazardous material.
The EPA notice says a rule change could simplify the process for getting rid of hazardous and radioactive waste for nuclear power companies and others that generate it.
``The need to comply with two separate regulatory systems, each of which is targeted to a different component of the waste, creates a certain regulatory and economic burden on mixed waste generators,'' the EPA states in its notice.
Companies have stored a lot of waste instead of disposing of it because of the burden of getting rid of it properly, the notice says.
Environmentalists criticized the new proposal.
``They can save a lot of money if their waste doesn't have to go to a facility designed to safely contain it,'' said Daniel Hirsch, president of the Committee to Bridge the Gap, a Los Angeles-based nuclear watchdog group.
Environmentalists urged new EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt, the former governor of Utah, not to make the changes.
``EPA's proposal, within days of Gov. Leavitt's confirmation as the new EPA chief, to deregulate radioactive wastes, is a deeply troubling assault on the environment,'' said Diane D'Arrigo, nuclear waste project director for the Washington-based Nuclear Information and Resource Service.
EPA spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman said the agency will consider public comments before taking further action.
The notice focuses on commercial nuclear waste but asks for input on whether the Energy Department should also loosen its rules governing the disposal of radioactive waste from weapons plants.
On the Net:
EPA:
http://www.epa.gov/
-------- us politics
Bishops Should Have Been Bolder on Nuke Ban
By Bob Keeler
Newsday
November 17, 2003
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpkee173545804nov17,0,5944187.story
It's too bad that the nation's Catholic bishops just can't seem to get the press to pay attention to anything but sex.
That's partly due to the nature of today's journalism, too prone to opt for the sexy over the merely substantive. It's partly the fault of the bishops, who haven't the vaguest idea how to maneuver past that tendency, and who assured major coverage of the sexual-abuse scandal by handling it so badly.
Last week's meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington was a perfect example. One of the major documents was a statement on agriculture that called, among other things, for the United States to reduce farm subsidies here that are hurting farmers in the developing world. This document was a long time in the making and right on target. But it had all the impact of a snowflake landing in the Atlantic. Instead, the headlines were about sex: a document on contraception that doesn't even exist yet, a document on gay marriage, and still more stories about the abuse scandal.
The bishops did run a seminar to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the watershed 1983 pastoral letter, "The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response." For a Sunday afternoon, it drew a good crowd of bishops. But I wish they'd done more than just talk about it, especially now, when the Bush administration wants to build bunker-busters, tactical nuclear weapons that make the use of nukes more likely.
The 1983 letter clearly condemned the use of nuclear weapons. But, thanks to some heavy lobbying by the Reagan administration and the work of key conservative prelates in the drafting process, it did not ban the possession of nuclear weapons as a deterrent. It gave a "strictly conditioned moral acceptance of nuclear deterrence," but only as an interim step on the way to nuclear disarmament.
In a 1993 update, "The Harvest of Justice Is Sown in Peace," the bishops made important points about arms control and placed new emphasis on nonviolence. But they didn't revoke their acceptance of deterrence. Later in the '90s, the bishops worked with retired military officers and leaders of other religious denominations on a statement about nuclear disarmament, but they didn't change their stand on deterrence.
This year, the bishops chose not to issue a major new peace document on the anniversary of the 1983 letter. "The decision not to do a major update was made a year ago," said Gerard F. Powers, director of the bishops' Office of International Justice and Peace. "At the time, we were involved in trying to prevent a war in Iraq." The bishops have spoken out against the Bush bunker-busters, but they still haven't dropped the big moral bomb: a complete rejection of nuclear deterrence.
Actually, U.S. doctrine has moved beyond deterrence to something worse: compellence. "It's basically using what force you have to force your will on your so-called adversaries and telling them either you do this or else," said Francis A. Boyle, author of "The Criminality of Nuclear Deterrence," and a law professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. That includes possible first use of nukes.
"On the whole, we're in far more danger than we were in 20 years ago," said Charles Sheehan-Miles, executive director of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute in Washington. And this administration is adding to the danger.
"Our nation's actions in Iraq and its ongoing doctrine of pre-emptive war against potential threats may well prove to be the fertilizer that fuels a new nuclear arms race, as non-nuclear nations decide that nuclear weapons offer their only hope of survival against the U.S. military machine," Nancy Small wrote recently in America, the Jesuit magazine.
Though the bishops' rationale for not acting now has some merit, I still regret that they didn't move more boldly on nuclear weapons. They can't totally put the sexual-abuse scandal behind them, because there's too much work left to be done. But they can act courageously on other issues, to remind people that, despite all their bungling on sexual abuse, the Catholic bishops have taken brave, Gospel-inspired stands on issues such as Third World debt and immigration. On nuclear weapons, they have one more step to take. I wish they had taken it.
----
Hollinger examines Perle investments
Newspaper publisher probes corporate-governance practices
By Stephanie Kirchgaessner
FINANCIAL TIMES
Nov. 17, 2003
http://www.msnbc.com/news/994612.asp
Hollinger International is examining investments that were made by Richard Perle, a director on the publisher's board and prominent defense advisor, on behalf of the company.
THE INVESTIGATION IS part of a wider internal probe at the publisher of the Daily Telegraph and Chicago Sun-Times into some of the company's corporate governance practices, including the payment of nearly $300 million in management fees to Conrad Black, chief executive and chairman, and his deputies. Hollinger CEO Black to retire
That probe, which is being lead by former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Richard Breeden, is wide-ranging and involves close scrutiny of so-called "related-party transactions," or deals in which members of Hollinger's board or executives personally benefited from deals the publisher agreed with other companies.
One transaction that caught the attention of some Hollinger investors was a $2.5 million investment earlier this year in Trireme Partners, a venture-capital company in which Mr. Perle, an independent director, is a managing partner.
Mr. Perle has also played a prominent role in the late 1990's and early 2000 in directing investments in other companies through Hollinger Digital, Hollinger's investment arm.
Under review is a $14 million investment the company made under Mr. Perle's direction through Hillman Capital, a venture-capital group controlled by Gerald Hillman - who has since become a partner at Trireme and is a member of the U.S. Defense Policy Board, as was Mr. Perle.
The $14 million investment contributed to a fund used by Hillman Capital to acquire - with another private equity group - more than 70 per cent of Cambridge Display Technology, a U.K.-based technology group that holds a patent in light-emitting polymers, in 1999.
Early investors in CDT included Lord Young, a former business adviser to former U.K. prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
Mr. Perle has been criticized in the past over perceived conflicts of interest in his business dealings.
Mr. Perle resigned as chairman of the Defense Policy Board earlier this year after he was criticized for having a $750,000 contract with Global Crossing, the bankrupt telecoms group. Global Crossing was at the time seeking to overcome Defense Department objections on its sale to Hutchison Whampoa, a Chinese-controlled company.
Paul Healy, head of investor relations at Hollinger, refused to comment. Mr. Perle and Mr. Hillman were unavailable for comment.
-------- MILITARY
-------- afghanistan
Afghan constitution seen as flawed
November 17, 2003
(UPI)
http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20031117-124601-9718r.htm
KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov. 17 -- Just 2-weeks-old, Afghanistan's draft constitution is being criticized by advocates for women and religious freedom, EurAsiaNet reported Monday.
The document describes Afghanistan as an "independent, unitary and indivisible state," but in an explicitly religious context. The constitution asserts Islam as the state religion and bans any law "contrary to the sacred religion."
While it does stipulate "followers of other religions are free to perform their religious ceremonies within the limits of the provisions of law," advocates say it leaves room for suppression of speech and crimes against women.
Fundamentalists argue an Islamic state has to impose limits on women's freedom, based on a strict reading of the Koran, yet the Afghan draft constitution requires that women comprise at least one-sixth of the legislature's upper house.
The draft constitution does hedge against some fundamentalist tendencies, however, declaring punishment for crimes must not transfer from one party to another, prohibits torture and allows accused parties to hire lawyers.
----
Afghan disarmament moves to troubled southeast
GARDEZ, Afghanistan (AFP)
Nov 17, 2003
http://www.spacewar.com/2003/031117162631.s86ssuvp.html
Some 600 Afghan militiamen lined up Monday with a variety of heavy weapons in a field in the southeastern town of Gardez as a programme to disarm some 100,000 former fighters moved to troubled southeast Afghanistan.
Around 595 men would be officially disarmed with a further 60-70 in the following day or so, said Jim Ocitti, spokesman for the Afghanistan's New Beginnings Programme which is overseeing the internationally-supported scheme to disarm, demobilise and reintegrate (DDR) former fighters.
Under the pilot scheme launched last month in the northern city of Kunduz, around 1,000 militiamen were to be disarmed in four key centres before the main programme funded by Japan gets under way next year.
Defence Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim flew in by helicopter to address the militiamen, who stood in front of an assortment of heavy and light weapons against a backdrop of the freshly snow-covered mountains surrounding Gardez, 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Kabul.
In a message read out by Japanese military attache Colonel Riyoto Ando, ambassador Kinichi Komano praised the men for having the courage to lay down their guns and hailed the action as an "important development for peace."
"After the history of battles and war in Afghanistan, it is no easy decision to give up one's weapon," he said.
"Dear soldiers, now the time has come to lay down your weapons and start a new life, a life without guns," the ambassador said in his message.
"You have proven to the world that this country is now changing from war to peace."
While a comparatively small number of men were being disarmed, the ambassador said it was still an important step for Afghanistan.
"It may be a small step today in Gardez but it's surely a great step forward for this country," he said.
Disarming the militiamen is one of the priorities of President Hamid Karzai's government in an effort to improve security outside Kabul.
While only around 700 men rather than 1,000 would be disarmed this week in Gardez, an official said local military units had not produced the men they claimed to have.
"A thousand was our limit for the pilot phase but rather than expanding the region that we were targeting and taking in more and more units, we've just kept to our target region and they haven't produced the soldiers that on paper they said they had," Stephen Romilly, mobile disarmament unit team manager.
"This is only the pilot phase and we are coming back to disarm the other divisions and corps that are down here," he told AFP.
While a lot of weapons, including tanks and dozens of artillery pieces were lined up in the field, Romilly said many were basically scrap and had not been accepted for the scheme.
Under the DDR scheme, surrendering a working rifle such as an AK-47 counts for one man disarmed, while mortars can be counted for a crew of three and up to 100mm guns which have a crew of seven.
Militiamen being disarmed said they wanted peace and to get a job.
"Now the fighting is over and everybody should give up their weapons. We need peace and we don't want fighting against anyone," said Akbar Khan, 25, who spent eight years as a soldier.
"The fighting cannot bring anything and the fighting destroyed Kabul, as you can see from the ruins. We need peace," he said, leaning against an anti-aircraft gun.
"We're now waiting for the government or for the UN to give up jobs, any jobs," he said. "I'd like to improve our country."
Under the scheme, former combatants hand over their weapons and are given a certificate that they have disarmed and are given training for their new civilian life.
While most are destined for civilian life, others will join the nascent Afghan National Army.
-------- asia
Okinawans Ask Rumsfeld to Thin Out Troops
By THOM SHANKER
November 17, 2003
NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/17/international/asia/17RUMS.html?ei=1&en=59d48a8ae63e43c5&ex=1070040766&pagewanted=print&position=
AHA, Okinawa, Nov. 16 - The governor of Okinawa petitioned Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Sunday to reduce or relocate American military bases on this strategic Japanese island, and urged removing large numbers of American marines to reduce crime here.
In an unusual act of very public diplomacy, the Okinawa government decided that the entire meeting between Mr. Rumsfeld and Gov. Keiichi Inamine would be opened to Japanese and foreign news organizations, assuring that his plea would receive a wide airing. Mr. Rumsfeld's other sessions with Japanese leaders during his two-day visit were held in private.
The defense secretary listened to the governor's list of complaints and challenged a number of the assertions, in particular on noise pollution, the level of military training conducted here and the Navy's impact on marine wildlife.
After nearly 40 minutes, Mr. Rumsfeld indicated that it was time to end the discussion. "We've listened," he said politely but firmly. He told his host that American military commanders worldwide "try to assure they can minimize the impact of their presence."
The Pentagon is deep into a review of the American military's global bases, including those here, but Mr. Rumsfeld told the island's local leadership that he was not yet prepared to make final decisions.
In his petition to Mr. Rumsfeld, the Okinawa governor wrote that "incidents and accidents caused by U.S. military personnel, and environmental problems stemming from the bases, have created enormous impacts on people's lives, while the facilities became the outstanding hindrance to urban development and economic promotion."
The people of Okinawa, Mr. Inamine said, "have been shouldering the excessive burden of U.S. bases over long years."
American military officials say there are about 58,500 Americans in the armed services in all of Japan; about 14,000 of them are with the Seventh Fleet, and are often at sea.
But the governor noted that Okinawa is home to the bulk of American forces in Japan. American military officials said about 28,890 American troops, some 17,600 of them marines, were based on the island.
The Okinawa petition contends that 5,157 crimes were committed between 1972 and last December by American troops, the Pentagon's civilian employees working here or their dependents. Of those, 533 were "heinous crimes such as murder, robbery and sexual assault," the Okinawa government said.
The petition urges the "relocation of training and exercises by U.S. Marine Corps to the sites other than Okinawa, as well as force reduction of U.S. forces stationed on Okinawa." It also advocates "reducing and consolidating the U.S.-occupied facilities and areas."
It asks the American military to take steps to prevent aircraft accidents and calls for the "thorough discipline and education of personnel" to prevent crime. It also asked the Navy to ban low-frequency sonar in waters off Japan.
Mr. Rumsfeld said research into the effects of the sonar has shown "little if any impact on marine mammals," and he countered that the amount of military training on Okinawa and the noise levels "have declined rather than increased." He underlined the strategic location of Okinawa - it is in easy striking distance of North Korea and China - and said that because of the American-Japanese military alliance, "this part of the world has seen peace."
Mr. Rumsfeld's delegation was given a copy of the Okinawa petition in advance, and a senior Pentagon official noted that Mr. Inamine's presentation to the defense secretary was less strident than language he used in recent news articles.
Okinawa was the scene of one of the worst battles of World War II, and was administered by the American military until 1972, when it reverted to Japanese rule.
The status of American forces on Okinawa is determined by a treaty between the United States and Japan. Although Japanese defense officials enthusiastically support the American military presence on Okinawa, the government in Tokyo is cognizant of the popular support for Mr. Inamine here.
After spending the day on Okinawa, Mr. Rumsfeld flew to Seoul on Sunday night for talks that will also include questions concerning American forces in South Korea.
-------- biological weapons
CIA Says Experts See 'Darker Bioweapons Future'
Story by Tabassum Zakaria
REUTERS USA:
November 17, 2003
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/22858/newsDate/17-Nov-2003/story.htm
WASHINGTON - A panel of outside experts told the CIA that advances in technology due to genomic research could produce the worst known diseases and the "most frightening" biological weapons, a CIA report said last week.
"The effects of some of these engineered biological agents could be worse than any disease known to man," the panel told the CIA.
The unclassified two-page CIA report dated Nov. 3, 2003, and titled "The Darker Bioweapons Future," was posted on the Federation of American Scientists Web site at http:/www.fas.org/irp/cia/product/bw1103.pdf.
It summed up a January workshop of a panel of non-government science experts who discussed with the CIA the potential threat from new biological weapons.
Growth in biotechnology and a knowledge explosion due to the genomic revolution which provided an understanding of genes and how they work could be used in unpredictable ways, the panel warned.
"The same science that may cure some of our worst diseases could be used to create the world's most frightening weapons," the report said.
In the next decade or beyond, some of the unconventional pathogens that could arise included binary biological warfare agents that only become effective when two components are combined, such as a mild pathogen and its antidote, the panel of experts said.
There could be development of "designer" biological warfare agents created to be antibiotic-resistant or evade an immune response, weaponized gene therapy vectors that cause permanent change in the victim's genetic makeup, or a "stealth" virus which could lie dormant inside the victim for an extended period before being triggered, the report said.
STEALTH VIRUS ATTACK
One panelist gave as an example the possibility of a stealth virus attack that could cripple a large portion of people in their forties with severe arthritis, leaving a country with massive health and economic problems.
"The resulting diversity of new BW (biological warfare) agents could enable such a broad range of attack scenarios that it would be virtually impossible to anticipate and defend against," the report said. "As a result, there could be a considerable lag time in developing effective biodefense measures."
Traditional intelligence methods for monitoring development of weapons of mass destruction "could prove inadequate" in dealing with the threat from advanced biological weapons, the report said.
Detecting the development of novel bioengineered pathogens will increasingly depend on human intelligence and require a closer working relationship between the intelligence and biological sciences community, the report said.
One panelist proposed that the bioscience community help government by acting as a "living sensor web" at international conferences, in university labs and through informal networks, to identify and alert about new technical advances with weaponization potential, the report said.
"The quality of intelligence can only improve from the rough and tumble of peer review and outside input," said Steven Aftergood, director of the government secrecy project at the Federation of American Scientists.
"In the past, CIA has been completely insular, they have been unwilling to engage with outside experts," he said, "and so this is a welcome departure from that norm."
----
Germ Detection System Active in 31 Cities
Story by Deborah Charles
REUTERS USA:
November 17, 2003
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/22863/newsDate/17-Nov-2003/story.htm
WASHINGTON - The U.S. government has set up a $60 million network to help detect a biological attack in 31 cities across the country, Homeland Security officials said last week.
The BioWatch system collects air samples at about a dozen sites in each of the cities. The samples are then checked for potentially deadly diseases that could be used in a biological attack.
The goal of BioWatch, located mostly in major urban areas such as Washington, New York City and Houston, is to discover if any bacteria or viruses have been released into the air as part of a biological attack. If so, the department would then mobilize public health and law enforcement officials.
Officials said the system will only identify germs once they are already in the air.
"By the time you get a hit (positive result), people could have already been infected," said Parney Albright, assistant secretary for science and technology at the Department of Homeland Security.
But detection will allow officials to identify the germ and dispense drugs to treat the disease, possibly before any symptoms appear among those infected.
"The sensitivity (of the system) is sufficient to detect attacks that would kill lots of people," Albright said.
"But this will not protect us from every possible attack," he added. He said BioWatch would not have been much use in trying to detect the deadly anthrax sent in letters mailed to politicians and the news media in 2001.
Since it was launched, BioWatch has analyzed more than half a million samples with one positive result - in Houston last month when the air sensors detected fragments of tularemia.
Although tularemia is considered a potentially dangerous biological weapon in part because it is highly infectious, it occurs naturally - as was the case in Houston - and is commonly found in animals such as rabbits.
LABOR INTENSIVE SYSTEM
Air samples are collected at least once a day and taken to special laboratories where technicians extract DNA samples to do genetic testing for a number of diseases.
The tests are specific for each germ that is viewed by the government as a likely biowarfare or terrorism agent. Officials would not say what bugs they screen for, saying only that it was less than a dozen. Experts have said they could include the germs that cause anthrax, tularemia, smallpox, plague, botulism and hemorrhagic fever.
Officials said the system covers half the U.S. population, but some experts have questioned the amount of air that is tested. They say sensors need to correctly positioned to accurately detect an attack.
The program costs about $2 million per year per city, much of which is spent in labor costs, Albright said.
BioWatch is funded by Homeland Security, and has been operating since early 2003, when officials grew worried about the threat of biological attack in light of the war in Iraq.
The department set up BioWatch sensors at many of the Environmental Protection Agency's air quality monitoring stations. The laboratory analysis is done in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
-------- business
FEDERAL CONTRACTS
States News Service
Monday, November 17, 2003
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50137-2003Nov16?language=printer
T.A. Consulting Inc. of Virginia Beach won a share of a contract valued at up to $600 million from the Bureau of the Public Debt for operational support services.
Quantell Inc. of McHenry, Md., won a share of a contract valued at up to $600 million from the Bureau of the Public Debt for operational support services.
Anteon International Corp. of Fairfax won a contract with an estimated value of $125.6 million over 12 years from the Navy Program Executive Office for Aircraft Carriers to provide program management, technology insertion, systems analysis, logistics support, warfare systems analysis and strategic studies in support of all carrier programs.
Anteon International Corp. of Fairfax won a contract valued at up to $107 million from the Navy Fleet Technical Support Center Atlantic for engineering and technical support services for Antisubmarine Warfare and Mine Warfare systems.
P.A. Government Services Inc. of Washington won a contract valued at up to $100 million from the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Service for environmental services.
Sodexho Inc. of Gaithersburg won a $71.7 million contract modification from the Marine Corps to provide food services to the Marine Corps and manage and operate mess halls.
Sodexho Inc. of Gaithersburg won a $68 million contract modification from the Marine Corps to provide food services to the Marine Corps and manage and operate mess halls.
Sigal Construction Corp. of Washington won a $38.69 million contract from the General Services Administration's Public Buildings Service for building services.
Arrowhead Global Solutions Inc. of McLean won a contract valued at up to $30.68 million over 10 years from the Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization for transponder services for the Federal Aviation Administration's Alaska National Airspace System Interfacility Communications System.
BAE Systems Applied Technologies Inc. of Rockville won a $21.47 million contract modification from the Naval Sea Systems Command to provide standard missile program system integration agent engineering for in-service weapon systems and deliver MK 14 weapons direction system upgrades.
Digital System Resources Inc. of Fairfax won an $11 million contract modification from the Naval Sea Systems Command for additional engineering under a Small Business Innovative Research Phase III effort to analyze legacy systems and provide analysis and plans for insertion of new technologies and capabilities.
Proxtronics Inc. of Springfield won a $10.76 million contract from NASA for environmental services.
SRA International Inc. of Fairfax won a contract with an estimated value of $7.5 million over four years from the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Service to provide enterprise systems management services.
Lear Siegler Services Inc. of Gaithersburg won a $7.48 million delivery order from the Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command for equipment inspection, maintenance, upgrade of tactical and power generation equipment, medical assets and related soldier support equipment.
Lear Siegler Services Inc. of Gaithersburg won a $7.48 million contract from the Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command for support services.
Forte Systems Inc. of Alexandria won a contract valued at up to $2.5 million from the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Service for management, organizational and business improvement services.
CDM Group Inc. of Chevy Chase won a contract valued at up to $2.25 million from the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Service for management, organizational and business improvement services.
FocalPoint Consulting Group of Potomac won a contract valued at up to $2 million from the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Service for management, organizational and business improvement services.
Advanetrix Inc. of Woodbridge won a contract valued at $1.3 million from the Defense Department to support the Joint Collaborative Environment Communications Support Study for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Litton Systems' Poly-Scientific Division of Blacksburg, Va., won a $1.07 million contract from the Army Aviation and Missile Command for electrical contract brushes and electrodes.
Shambaugh Leadership Group of McLean won a contract valued at up to $750,000 from the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Service for management, organizational and business improvement services.
Johnson Controls Inc. of Sparks, Md., won a contract valued at up to $693,992 from the National Institutes of Health for the operation, maintenance and repair of the electrical, heating and cooling systems.
Unicor/Federal Prison Industries of Washington won a $595,780 contract from the Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command for miscellaneous vehicular components.
DynCorp Vaccine Co. LLC of Frederick won a $570,527 contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for development, testing and evaluation of a live attenuated vaccine candidate.
Pragmatics Inc. of McLean won a $435,105 contract from the Defense Information Systems Agency to investigate and demonstrate a cost-effective method of monitoring and managing commercial satellite communication links.
American Waste Industries of Norfolk won a $320,894 contract from the Veterans Affairs Department's Medical Center for disposal of medical waste.
Futron Inc. of Springfield won a $302,000 contract from the Bureau of Prisons Southeast Regional Office for bar screening services.
1st Choice Staffing Agency of Silver Spring won a contract valued at up to $200,000 from the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Service for management, organizational and business improvement services.
AT&T Government Solutions of Vienna won a $170,000 contract from the Naval Surface Warfare Center to provide skilled program management and engineering personnel to support two classes of Navy submarines. Including options, the contract is valued at up to $850,000.
Tektron Micro Electronics Inc. of Hanover, Md., won a contract valued at up to $125,000 from the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Service for law enforcement and security equipment.
Paradiso Enterprises' B.J. Enterprises of Waynesboro, Va., won a contract valued at up to $125,000 over five years for maintenance and repair shop equipment, automotive and cleaning equipment with related environmental equipment.
Management and Financial Services Group LLC operating as MFSG of Annapolis won a contract valued at up to $125,000 from the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Service for management, organizational and business improvement services.
Bahia 21 of Rockville won a contract valued at up to $125,000 from the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Service for law enforcement and security equipment.
Mail-Well Graphics of Cambridge, Md., won a $119,809 contract from the Government Printing Office for publishing services.
Dimensions International Inc. of Alexandria won an $81,210 contract from the Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command for research-and-development services.
Unicor/Federal Prison Industries of Washington won a $77,684 contract from the Army Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command for miscellaneous electric power and distribution equipment.
These contracts were awarded by the federal government to companies in Maryland, Virginia and the District. For more information, contact States News Service at 202-628-3100, ext. 266.
-------- europe
EU agency aims to boost bloc's military muscle
BRUSSELS (AFP)
Nov 17, 2003
http://www.spacewar.com/2003/031117173816.um9n1mpu.html
http://www.spacewar.com/2003/031117165538.y1hylsy3.html
The European Union agreed Monday to set up a new defence agency next year to streamline and boost the bloc's military muscle, denying it will in any way compete with NATO despite some US concerns.
The agency, which will be headed by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, should be in place by next summer, said Italian Defence Minister Antonio Martino after the decision was agreed, coincidentally on the eve of a visit to Brussels by US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Martino, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, pointed out that Europe's defence spending is currently half that of the US, but its defence capacity is only 10 percent of America's.
"If European defence is to become a reality, then each (EU) country has to try to avoid the duplication that has bedevilled us up until now," he said.
The arms agency was proposed as part of a draft EU constitution agreed in June, which is now the basis of the constitutional talks being held between EU governments.
It would notably coordinate purchasing and drum up contributions from member states. The agency would be managed by the secretariat of the EU council of ministers, with EU defence ministers sitting on its board.
Specifically the EU ministers agreed to launch work on the financial, legal and administrative aspects of the agency, which Solana wants to be up and running by summer 2004.
"As future head of the defence agency, .. I will do my best to give (it) a strong profile in terms of efficiency, competence and results of its work," he said.
Solana, a former NATO secretary general, pointed out that the EU has made great strides in boosting and flexing its military might in recent months.
These include a landmark accord with NATO giving it access to the Alliance's resources, as well as launching unprecedented EU missions in Macedonia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
But some of Europe's military ambitions have also raised concerns in Washington -- notably plans by a so-called gang of four, France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg, to an autonomous military command HQ outside Brussels.
French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie insisted the plans were not aimed at competing with NATO. "It will not be against NATO," she said in interview with the daily La Libre Belgique "It will support NATO."
The Italian minister also sought to allay US concerns.
"America wants Europe to do something for its defence. Europe should take a step forward and take part of the burden of its defence from the United States," he told reporters.
"You should not think of the agency as something in competition .. to NATO," he added, while declining to confirm specifically whether the gang of four's plans are still being discussed by their other EU colleagues.
British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon meanwhile said that the EU agency should avoid protectionism in defence contracts -- in contrast to a US law agreed this month requiring Washington to "buy American."
The US Congress last week approved a 401 billion dollar defence bill for the 2004 fiscal year that requires the government to buy 50 percent of its military supplies from US contractors.
"As a European defence minister, I recognise that Congress have taken this particular decision but it's not one that I particularly approve of," Hoon said.
-------- iraq
Major Developments Concerning Iraq
November 17, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq-Developments.html
Major developments concerning Iraq on Monday:
-- In a show of force backed by tanks and mortars, U.S. forces assaulted dozens of suspected guerrilla hideouts in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown, killing six alleged insurgents and capturing others.
-- A U.S. patrol opened fire on a group of people in Baghdad's gun market, killing three, after the soldiers apparently mistook the gunfire of customers testing weapons for an attack, a witness and an Iraqi police officer said. Four people were wounded.
-- Troops mounted their biggest-ever hunt for weapons and explosives in a middle-class Baghdad area, angering residents who said their small arms were needed to protect themselves from criminals.
-- Two U.S. soldiers were killed in separate incidents near the town of Balad, 45 miles north of Baghdad. One soldier died and two were wounded when insurgents fired on their patrol. Another died when a convoy was struck by a roadside bomb.
-- The CIA said the latest audio message purportedly from Saddam cannot be authenticated. The quality of the recording is too poor for the agency's technical analysts to reach any conclusions, a CIA spokesman said. The audio message was broadcast Sunday.
-- Soldiers in Ramadi, a city west of Baghdad, arrested Kazim Mohammed Faris, an organizer of the Fedayeen guerrillas responsible for bomb attacks and ambushes on U.S. forces, the military said.
-- An Italian official, Marco Calamai, resigned from the U.S.-led administration running Iraq, saying it is mismanaging reconstruction, out of touch with Iraqis and only fueling their anger.
-- France's foreign minister, in a published interview, said the U.S. plan to cede power in Iraq by summer moves too slowly, and urged occupation forces to have a provisional government in place by the end of 2003.
-- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the Iraqi Governing Council and the U.S.-led coalition want the United Nations to play an important role in speeding the hand over of power to a provisional government in Iraq.
-- U.S. Army helicopters in Iraq are flying faster and lower, hugging the ground in an effort to avoid hostile fire after a series of deadly downings and crashes, a U.S. general said.
-- Iraq's national power authority will need several days to fix major breakages on the national grid and restore electricity to the Iraqi capital, officials said.
-- The Iranian government denied that a top Iraqi scientist who headed Saddam's long-range missile program has fled to Iran. The Associated Press reported Dr. Modher Sadeq-Saba al-Tamimi had fled Iraq to Iran, quoting U.S. officials close to the hunt for weapons of mass destruction.
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US agrees to international control of its troops in Iraq
By Leonard Doyle and Stephen Castle in Brussels
17 November 2003
UK Independent
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=464488
The United States accepts that to avoid humiliating failure in Iraq it needs to bring its forces quickly under international control and speed the handover of power, Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief, has said. Decisions along these lines will be made in the "coming days", Mr Solana told The Independent.
The comments, signalling a major policy shift by the US, precede President George Bush's state visit this week to London, during which he and Tony Blair will discuss an exit strategy for forces in Iraq.
Mr Solana underlined the change of mood in Washington, saying: "Everybody has moved, including the United States, because the United States has a real problem and when you have a real problem you need help." There is a "growing consensus" that the transfer of power has to be accelerated, he said. "How fast can it be done? I would say the faster the better."
He added: "The forces will have to be there under aa different chapeau. The more the international community is incorporated under the international organisations [the better]. That is the lesson I think everyone is learning. Our American friends are learning that. We will see in the coming days decisions along these lines."
The Bush administration spelt out over the weekend its new plans for the faster transfer of power from Americans to the Iraqis, with a transitional government now scheduled to take over from the end of June. Before, US officials had said that Iraqi leaders should write a constitution first, then hold elections.
As the EU's foreign policy representative, Mr Solana has been playing a significant, behind-the-scenes role. Until now, the US had resisted putting the allied forces under international auspices, although there is growing support in Washington for a Nato role.
Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, arrives in Brussels tonight for talks with EU ministers, which he will combine with a meeting with the retiring Nato secretary general, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen. Diplomats say that Mr Powell is expected to "test the water" about the involvement of the transatlantic alliance in Iraq. The litany of setbacks, growing US casualties and the recent killing of 18 Italian servicemen has brought intense domestic and international pressure on the Bush administration to give the occupying force more legitimacy.
Eager to counter this domestic unease, the American military sought to advertise their latest crack-down. They declared that they had fired a satellite-guided missile at what they said was an insurgents' training camp west of Kirkuk.
But there was more grim news on Saturday with the collision of two Black Hawk helicopters after one was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. Seventeen American soldiers died, the worst single loss of life in one incident since President Bush ordered the US-led invasion.
He insisted yesterday that the US would not "cut and run". In an interview with Breakfast with Frost on BBC1, the President said the United States would not spend "years and years" in Iraq. But he rejected as "not a fair comment" claims that the US was unprepared for winning peace. Mounting violence in Iraq was "nothing more than a power grab". He added: "There are some foreign fighters, mujahedin types or al-Qa'ida, or al-Qa'ida affiliates involved, as well."
America's chief post-war administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, also suggested that US-led forces would remain on a different basis. "Our presence here will change from an occupation to an invited presence," he said. "I'm sure the Iraqi government is going to want to have coalition forces here for its own security for some time.
There have been no specifics yet about how the international community would control the mainly American and British forces in Iraq. Nato remains the only strong possibility because it would provide international credibility while leaving control with a military organisation which Washington dominates.
Nato has already proved its willingness to act outside its traditional sphere of operations by taking a role in Afghanistan. But to allow it to deploy in Iraq would mean getting the approval of all 19 Nato allies including France, Germany and Belgium, all staunch opponents of the war. They would need to be satisfiedthat the UN had been given a sufficient role in the political control of Iraq. Diplomats say that the US and Britain will need to be certain that no one will block an Iraq mission before they make a request.
With the US-led occupation likely to be declared over the next year, Mr Bremer said that work would start on a constitutional settlement. "We'll have a bill of rights. We'll recognise equality for all citizens. We'll recognise an independent judiciary. We'll talk about a federal government," he said.
Mr Bremer explained that the Americans would work with the Iraqi Governing Council in writing the interim constitution. There would also be a side agreement dealing with security and the presence of American and coalition forces in Iraq, he said.
Al-Qa'ida claimed responsibility for the bombings of two Istanbul synagogues which killed at least 23 people and vowed further attacks, the London-based Arab newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi said yesterday.
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Lessons of 1920 revolt lost on Bremer
By Charles Clover
November 17 2003
Financial Times
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1066565924981
The argument between Arnold Wilson, the British civil commissioner in Baghdad from 1918-1920, and his more famous deputy, the author Gertrude Bell, shook the British colonial establishment for a time. But if the lessons were soon forgotten, they were destined to be repeated 83 years later.
Right up to the end of the bloody 1920 revolt against British rule that claimed the lives of 500 British soldiers, Mr Wilson had insisted that the answer to the "Mesopotamian question" was direct rule in Baghdad by a British high commissioner.
Ms Bell, more presciently, had thought since a year earlier that the answer was to choose an Arab head of state. "I pray the people at home may be rightly guided and realise that the only chance here is to recognise political ambitions from the first, not to try and squeeze the Arabs into our mould and have our hands forced in a year - who knows - perhaps less," she wrote to a friend in January 1920. She would prove all too correct. Mr Wilson stepped down and, in 1921, the British were forced to grant Iraq nominal independence under a provisional government headed by King Faisal I.
The lessons of British rule have eerily repeated themselves since the US-led invasion of Iraq last March. After a seven-month military occupation costing more than 200 soldiers' lives (including non-combat deaths), the US-led coalition has been forced to give up ambitious plans for indefinite direct rule and promise a formal end to the state of military occupation by next June.
After a hurried visit to Washington last week, Paul Bremer, the US chief administrator in Iraq, returned to Baghdad on Friday and met members of the Iraqi Governing Council. They, in turn, issued a statement on Saturday outlining the coming transformation: by the end of next June, the Governing Council and Mr Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority would be dissolved, following the election of an interim government by a transitional assembly of appointed notables.
CPA officials say they are taking these steps because of their disappointment with the delays in writing a new constitution. Under Mr Bremer's original plan, independence would come only after the approval of a constitution and elections.
But it is also clear that US officials have their eye on the worsening guerrilla war, combined with President George W. Bush's desire to show tangible progress on an "exit strategy" from Iraq by next year's US election.
The new strategy seems designed just as much for American voters as Iraqis themselves. But some Iraqi politicians doubt the new steps will end the violence. "The Iraqi street will reject this because they see through it. They only will accept a political solution which the people choose," said Jassem Al Essawi, spokesman for radical Islamist preacher Ahmed al-Kubaisi, whom the US has banned from Iraq.
Iraqi guerrilla fighters have not made their demands clear but appear to want not only the withdrawal of US forces but the eradication of all vestiges of the US occupation. They would probably turn their guns on a weak interim government just as they have the Governing Council and Iraqi police.
The US administration will not withdraw American troops from Iraq after the formal end of the occupation next June, and the Governing Council has made it clear that it will invite US forces to stay.
"People and groups will now start planning for the departure by the Amer-icans," Mr Essawi said without elaborating.
The US must carefully manage the transition - albeit at arm's length - to avoid losing control or creating the perception that the process is rigged. Losing control of the process would mean the possibility of a radical Islamist government coming to power in Baghdad, or civil strife similar to that which plunged Lebanon into turmoil in the 1980s following the US exit.
But if the US is seen to be manipulating the process for the benefit of a few Iraqi exile groups favoured by the Pentagon, rapid disillusionment would also follow.
Perhaps the most profound lesson of the 1920 revolt, according to Ms Bell, was that all plans have a habit of changing. "No one, not even H.M.G. [His Majesty's Government] would have thought of giving the Arabs such a free hand as we shall now give them - as a result of rebellion!" she wrote in 1920. Gertrude Bell quotations from Desert Queen by Janet Wallach, 1996
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U.S. Forces Kill Six in Raid of Hussein's Hometown
November 17, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq.html?hp
TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) -- In a show of force backed by tanks and mortars, U.S. forces assaulted dozens of suspected guerrilla positions in Saddam Hussein's hometown before dawn Monday, killing six alleged insurgents and capturing others, officials said.
U.S. forces fired a satellite-guided missile carrying a 500-pound warhead at a suspected insurgent sanctuary 10 miles south of Tikrit -- the second use in as many days of the powerful weapon amid a U.S. drive to intimidate the resistance.
In Baghdad, troops mounted their biggest-ever hunt for weapons and explosives in a middle-class Baghdad area, angering residents who said their small arms were needed to protect themselves in the crime-plagued capital.
The military also announced that soldiers in the city of Ramadi west of Baghdad arrested an organizer of the Fedayeen guerrillas responsible for bomb attacks and ambushes on U.S. forces. The suspect, Kazim Mohammed Faris, was a ``high value target,'' a military statement said.
Faced with a deteriorating security situation, the military in past days has reacted with massive show of force in central and northern Iraq. At the same time, the U.S.-led coalition has bowed to demands from Iraqi politicians and agreed to speed the transfer of power.
The new formula, announced Saturday by the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, calls for a provisional, sovereign government to be established by June. However, France's foreign minister said in an interview published Monday in the French daily Le Croix that the plan still moves too slowly. Dominique de Villepin urged the Americans to have a provisional government in place by the end of 2003.
In Tikrit, U.S. forces carried out more than 38 attacks from Sunday night to early Monday, destroying 15 suspected safehouses, three training camps and 14 mortar firing points, said Lt. Col. William MacDonald, a spokesman of the 4th Infantry Division.
Six suspected Saddam loyalists were killed and 21 arrested, he said.
``Clearly, we're sending the message that we do have the ability to run operations across a wide area,'' said MacDonald. ``We have overwhelming combat power that we will utilize in order to go after groups and individuals who have been conducting anti-coalition activities.''
In Samara, three Iraqis who fired on American soldiers were killed in an ensuing clash Sunday night. In Muqdadiyah, two Iraqis fired a rocket-propelled grenade on U.S. soldiers on combat patrol aboard a Bradley fighting vehicle. The soldiers returned fire and killed the two, Macdonald said.
While troops have been targeting suspected insurgent targets, U.S. forces have also carried out dozens of raids aimed at apprehending suspects and seizing weapons and bomb-making materials.
One such ``cordon-and-search'' raid early Monday in Baghdad's middle-class Azamiyah district netted 21 suspects along with 30 Kalashnikov AK-47 automatic rifles, about a dozen shotguns and 10 handguns. Most suspects had violated a coalition rule allowing only one weapon -- a single AK-47 -- per house.
Some 2,000 troops of the 1st Armored Division -- backed by tanks, armored vehicles and low-flying helicopters took part in the nighttime raid, sealing off a 20-block area and searching every single building inside it.
Residents of the neighborhood next to the Tigris River were furious over the sweep. They said those arrested included men who had revolvers or bird guns that could not have presented a serious threat to the security of the occupying forces.
``Of course everybody has weapons,'' said Samir al-Hadith, an engineer who works in Saudi Arabia and had returned to Baghdad to check on his home. ``There are so many thieves nowadays. we have to defend our families.''
``Under Saddam Hussein there was much more security and we could own guns,'' he said.
Zuheir Ali, 26, was detained after troops found a snub-nose .38 Smith & Wesson revolver in his house along with an AK-47. They left the automatic rifle but confiscated the handgun.
``I don't understand this, we're not criminals, we only want to defend our homes from looters,'' Ali said.
Journalists accompanying the troops during the bitterly cold night were offered hot tea by several of the residents.
``But no tea for the soldiers,'' said Lamya Shaheen Ahmed who stood on the sidewalk with her mother and two sisters after troops had gone through their house.
In Tikrit, hundreds of U.S. troops in tanks and assault vehicles marched through the crowded downtown area Monday in a show of force intended to deliver a stern warning.
``They need to understand that it's more than just Humvees that will be used against the resistance and we will crush the resistance,'' said Lt. Col. Steven Russell, a battalion commander in the 4th Infantry Division.
Tikrit, about 120 miles north of Baghdad, is part of a region north and west of Baghdad dominated by Sunni Muslims and regarded as a hotbed of anti-American sentiment.
Meanwhile, a tape purportedly made by Saddam Hussein urged the rebels to escalate attacks against the occupation and ``agents brought by foreign armies'' -- an apparent reference to Iraqis supporting the coalition.
The CIA said it would review the tape, aired on Al-Arabiya television, for its authenticity.
``The evil ones now find themselves in crisis and this is God's will for them,'' the speaker on the tape said.
The top U.S. administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer dismissed the message.
``This is a voice from the wilderness here. This is a man who's followed by a small band of murderers, and they have no vision for the future of Iraq,'' Bremer told NBC's ``Today'' Monday. Saddam ``is around and we need to capture him or kill him, but he has no future here.''
The last purported tape from Saddam was aired on Arab television Sept. 17. The CIA has been unable to authenticate that recording, saying the audio quality is too poor.
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Hussein, on Tape Sent to Arab TV, Said to Urge War
November 17, 2003
By SUSAN SACHS
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/17/international/middleeast/17IRAQ.html
MOSUL, Iraq, Nov. 16 - An Arab television station broadcast a new audiotape on Sunday that it said had been made by Saddam Hussein in which the speaker mixed invective against Israel, calls for holy war and curses on American and other foreign occupation troops in Iraq.
If the new tape broadcast by the station Al Arabiya in Dubai proves genuine, it would be the first message from Mr. Hussein to be aired in two months, revealing a belligerent conviction on his part that Iraqis want him back seven months after he fled ahead of American forces.
Here in the northern city of Mosul, where Mr. Hussein's Baath Party, now banned, had deep roots and former army generals were elected to run the city after the war, American military officials said they were still investigating whether ground fire contributed to the crash of two Black Hawk helicopters here on Saturday.
The crash killed 17 soldiers and wounded 5, all from the 101st Airborne Division, in the worst single-incident loss of American lives in Iraq since the beginning of the war. The military withdrew a statement that one soldier was missing. The police said there were no reports of civilian casualties on the ground.
In interviews on Sunday talk shows broadcast in the United States, the American administrator of Iraq, L. Paul Bremer III, maintained that the persistent attacks on occupation troops were limited in scale and effect.
"Ninety-five percent of these attacks on the coalition forces are taking place in a very small part of the country," he said on "Fox News Sunday," adding: "They are being conducted by a few thousand men, at most. And they pose no strategic threat to our operations here."
Attacks on American troops in Mosul have increased in recent weeks. Five soldiers were reported wounded when a roadside bomb exploded Sunday under their convoy near here.
American forces continued their new strategy of using heavier firepower on suspected guerrilla bases and aggressive roundups of weapons in Baghdad and other cities.
Troops backed by armored vehicles and helicopters sealed off a 20-block area in the capital while they searched cars and trucks, and explosions were heard later in the evening that military officials suggested were bombings of suspected insurgent hide-outs.
Also on Sunday, a spokesman for the Fourth Infantry Division said troops had fired a satellite-guided missile, containing a 500-pound warhead, at a suspected rebel training base near Kirkuk, in northern Iraq. The Army did not provide information on casualties from the strike.
In his televised interview on Sunday, Mr. Bremer sought to dispel any impression that the occupying powers would give up control over the political process as Iraqi leaders prepare for independence.
The Bush administration has agreed to an Iraqi demand for sovereignty before the country has a constitution and holds national elections.
The accord, announced on Saturday, promised independence by June provided that the Iraqi Governing Council adopts a set of basic governing principles, creates a national assembly and forms a provisional government. The drafting of a constitution and elections would take place later.
Mr. Bremer said the occupation authority would make sure that the governing principles, what he called an interim constitution, include guarantees of equality, an independent judiciary and other civil liberties similar to those in the Bill of Rights.
"They will be in the interim constitution because we are going to be involved in drafting it," he said in an interview with the ABC News program "This Week."
In the newest taped message, a voice that sounded like Mr. Hussein's condemned the Iraqi political leaders who have been working with Mr. Bremer, many of them former exiles who opposed Mr. Hussein for decades and supported the invasion that drove him from power in April.
The voice called for the killing of "those who are installed by foreign armies," a clear reference to the Iraqi leadership. He jeeringly called them insignificant figures who could not "walk in the streets of Baghdad or any other Iraqi city."
A number of people working in the interim government, from judges to police officers to a member of the Governing Council, have been assassinated in the last few months.
An editor at Al Arabiya, the station that broadcast the tape, told Reuters that someone had called and transmitted the recording over the telephone. The station put it on the air a few minutes later, the editor said.
The message appeared to have been recorded recently, since it referred to a trip by members of the Governing Council to neighboring countries that began on Sunday.
As have previous tapes from Mr. Hussein, the voice in latest recording railed against Britain and the United States and promised that they would be driven from Iraq in humiliation.
"They said, and they imagined and made the world imagine, they were going on a picnic, that they were going to destroy weapons of mass destruction as a cover for their crime of implanting Zionism in the Arab world," the speaker said.
He also called on Iraqis to return Mr. Hussein and his Baath Party to power, "the same individuals that people trusted for decades." In the seven months since the party's fall, Iraqis have killed hundreds of Baath officials in revenge for what they say were Mr. Hussein's mass executions and tyranny.
In Washington, President Bush dismissed the tape, which he said he had not yet heard, as "the same old stuff."
"It's propaganda," he said, "and we're not leaving until the job is done."
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Shiites Impatient For Vote in Iraq Mistrust Greets New U.S. Plan
By Anthony Shadid
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, November 17, 2003; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50007-2003Nov16?language=printer
BASRA, Iraq, Nov. 16 -- With a wispy beard and a gait weakened by age, Mohammed Baqir Nasseri, an influential cleric in Shiite-dominated southern Iraq, has lived the life of an enemy of Saddam Hussein. With other Shiite Muslim clerics, he was driven into exile in 1979 and wandered in Iraq's diaspora. Soon after, the turquoise-tiled Ahl Beit mosque he built was seized. His death sentence was commuted only by Hussein's fall as president.
But Nasseri's message today looks forward, rather than back.
"I believe absolutely in democracy," he said, sitting next to bookcases filled with volumes on jurisprudence, law and history. "Why are [U.S. officials] running away from elections? The people have a hunger for democracy, for the person who will represent them."
Nasseri's displeasure results from a decision announced this weekend by the United States and its allies to grant independence to a provisional but unelected government by next summer. Under the plan, elections for a constitutional convention will follow in March 2005 and a permanent government will follow by the end of that year.
Nasseri has given voice to the formidable challenge that will confront a two-year political transition in a region that is growing impatient and frustrated. His words mark the division among Shiites -- between former exiles and those who have remained in Iraq, between supporters of U.S. efforts and those suspicious of American intentions -- over how and when change will come.
Questions about the provisional government are already being raised. Some critics, like Nasseri, are skeptical whether it will relieve hardship in the long-neglected south. Activist clerics and the growing number of small but militant Shiite parties are increasingly demanding earlier elections that will in all likelihood deliver authority to Shiites, a community relentlessly repressed under Hussein and now anticipating the political power that, as the majority, it considers its destiny.
This struggle in southern Iraq is a window on change across the Middle East: How quickly can a country long repressed democratize? What is the relationship between Islam and power? What happens when religious activists are the biggest proponents of rapid democratic change? And how will the Bush administration respond to the ascent of Islamic forces that are hostile to U.S. policy?
"People are now suspicious about every action that delays an election," Nasseri said from his home in Nasiriyah, a city about 185 miles southeast of Baghdad. "The people's frustrations are going to grow. They're going to say they promised us elections. If they postponed it once, they can postpone it again. If they postponed it today, they can postpone it tomorrow."
Outside Nasseri's office, along a street where sewage ran in trash-strewn ditches, a gaggle of men in tribal dress and women in flowing black abayas stood at an iron gate waiting for him. They appeared agitated and desperate. "We were suffering in the days of Saddam and we're suffering now," one man muttered. They waited for help for hours, clutching small pieces of paper pleading for money from the cleric.
"The people are ready," Nasseri said.
Waiting for a Sign
Along the walls across from Sayyid Ali Abdel-Hakim Musawi's office in Basra are the graffiti of militant Islam. "Long live the Islamic Republic of Iran," one slogan read. "Iraq and Iran are one people, one nation, destroying colonialism and fighting the tyrant," another said. But inside his office was a message of tranquillity. Musawi preached patience.
"We don't care about the time period," he said. "We only want a constitution that serves us."
Musawi is a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most influential cleric in Iraq, whose opinions could determine the success or failure of the U.S.-charted transition. For clerics such as Musawi, Sistani's opinion on the new process will be critically important. "We will accept only Sistani's opinion, whatever the circumstances," Musawi said. "We are waiting to hear."
Since the fall of Baghdad on April 9, Sistani has advocated separation between government and Iraq's Shiite clergy, one of the few organized groups to weather Hussein's three decades of repression. But despite his reluctance to interfere in politics, the cleric has not been averse to delivering judgments with far-reaching political implications. In a religious ruling issued this summer and repeated several times since, he called for the election of a constitutional convention.
Sitting in his office, where tribal leaders had kissed his hand when he entered, Musawi, a cheerful, energetic man, rifled through stacks of petitions. Some were piled in manila folders, others in clear plastic sheaths. They listed thousands of signatures -- of doctors, lawyers, engineers, tribal sheiks and clergy -- insisting that Sistani's edict be obeyed. They were delivered to the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, whose Shiite members were loath to oppose Sistani's order and instead searched for an alternative.
The decision by the United States to endorse an elected constitutional convention marked a stunning victory for Sistani, perhaps the clearest sign yet of his power in postwar Iraq.
Adel Abdel-Mehdi, the director of the political bureau of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, one of the main Shiite parties, said that he met Sistani last Thursday and that the ayatollah "blessed" the new plan. But Sistani has yet to publicly declare his position. Some believe he may never formally endorse the process permitting it to go forward.
"Sometimes his silence is enough," said Amr Khuzai, a formerly exiled doctor and the representative in Basra of the Dawa party, an influential Islamic party whose leader sits on the Governing Council.
Sistani's tacit support for a transition that delays the election of a government would provide a windfall to those -- particularly among parties of former exiles -- who argue that Iraqis are not yet ready to take part in a democratic process, degraded as they were by decades of dictatorship that virtually obliterated all the institutions of civil society. Education is needed, they contend, as well as a familiarity with nascent democratic institutions. Only after a prolonged transition, the argument goes, will voters have the ability to make careful choices.
"They have to understand what the democratic process is," Khuzai said. "If you want to create the basis of a nation, you need time to prepare human beings who were destroyed by Saddam. You have to build step by step."
Others argue against elections on the grounds of logistics. It would take time for parties to build the capacity for campaigns. A national census -- a delicate topic in a country with myriad ethnic and sectarian divisions -- would be required for voting lists. Some contend other issues -- economic rehabilitation and restoring security -- are more pressing than elections.
"All of us wish we could hold elections now but, practically speaking, how can we hold elections that soon? It's not practical," Abdel-Mehdi said. "Everybody wants to be rich, but it's not easy to be rich."
In Search of Stability
Saad Jamal Karim stood in his grocery store in Amarah, a town along the Tigris River. Like others, he worried about borders that he said were open, permitting foreign fighters to enter Iraq. He worried that Hussein's loyalists were behind last week's bombing in Nasiriyah and that attacks could follow in Amarah. And he worried about an economy that he said was worse than it was before the war.
Patience, the 34-year-old Karim said, was not what he wanted.
"A government is the mother of stability," he said, closing his shop before sunset, when Muslims break their day-long fast during the month of Ramadan. "The Iraqi people should rule themselves by themselves. Even if he's Iraqi and he's not elected, it's not good."
As in much of Iraq, demands for a better economy and greater security resonate through the relentlessly flat landscape of the south, where the Tigris and Euphrates join in the Shatt al Arab. The bombing in Nasiriyah, which devastated the headquarters of the Italian military police, has reinforced that anxiety. In Basra, barriers of rocks, lumber and even bed frames have fallen like curtains across streets and government buildings. British and Italian soldiers in Amarah and Nasiriyah are busy filling barricades with sand along their installations, hoping to prevent the car bombings that have become a hallmark of anti-American fighters.
In Basra last week, witnesses said, a mob, on edge about shootings and bombings in the city over the past month, captured a man trying to plant explosives under a bridge. They almost beat him to death before British forces and Iraqi police intervened.
The Shiite south remains far more quiet than the north and west of Iraq, where a campaign against U.S. troops has escalated. People remain grateful to U.S. forces for toppling Hussein, and few call for a departure of U.S.-led troops, fearing chaos would ensue. But for many, living a lifetime of experience in less than a year, a permanent government is a code word for stability.
"It's getting worse, there's no protection," said Kadhim Abdel-Amir, whose soda kiosk was down the road from the site of the Nasiriyah bombing. "There's no government. Everybody barricades himself and takes care of himself."
Around the corner, Taher Feisal Jabr, a 49-year-old businessman, surveyed the damage to his house from the bombing -- shattered windows and broken doors. He complained that Iraq already had a provisional government. It doesn't need another, he said. He wanted elections under U.N. supervision, and a government that represented Iraq's interests -- not, he said, American interests.
"The Governing Council, where is the Governing Council? The Governing Council is in Baghdad. Can they do something the Americans refuse? They cannot. It belongs to the Americans. It needs to find a way to work for Iraqis," he said.
The question of credibility may haunt the political transition, a process that will require patience. Some advocates of elections, like Nasseri, have insisted that only an elected government can win confidence, overcoming suspicions it is serving interests other than Iraq's. Others see it as a way to bring finality -- even if symbolically -- to the tumult that has followed Hussein's fall.
"The people are looking for elections to secure their lives," said Mehdi Kadhem, who stood in Karim's store in Amarah. "If the constitution is the way to create stability, then we should have it tomorrow. We already have a provisional government."
Heavy Suspicions
Khaled Hassan Chiyad claims a following of dozens in his branch of a radical Shiite movement known as the Revenge of God. It is one of dozens that have sprung up in cities like Basra, Amarah and Nasiriyah. Their funding remains murky. They often take the law into their own hands. But they claim to speak for the street, giving voice to the frustrations of the poor and disenchanted.
"There must be elections," Chiyad said, sitting at his desk with a picture of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's spiritual leader.
It is an irony of the U.S. occupation that the Shiite groups most opposed to it are the biggest advocates of democratic elections. Their support is dismissed by the more mainstream Shiite groups, and their infrastructure pales before the organization of groups such as the Dawa party and the Supreme Council, whose leaders sit on the Governing Council. But the groups claim a popular voice.
Their ascent is one of the arguments made by U.S. officials and their allies against a hasty transition to an elected government.
"This maneuvering is an old practice of the Americans," said Aws Khafaji, the leader of a group in Nasiriyah loyal to Moqtada Sadr, a young cleric who enjoys support among poor Shiites in Baghdad, Basra, Amarah and Nasiriyah. "We should decide by the choice of the people. We should not decide by the choice of the Americans."
"America is the devil, and Islam has told us not to trust the devil," he added.
The divide over elections sometimes coincides with the line separating formerly exiled groups and activists who remained in Iraq under Hussein. Activists like Khafaji dismiss the credentials of the exiles, contending that their time abroad has divorced them from the needs and demands of Iraqis who remained. They suggest groups such as the Supreme Council are beholden to foreign powers and that a long transition is designed to give the exile parties time to build popular support that has so far been lacking.
"The people who were in exile don't understand Iraq," said Jabr Musawi, the 40-year-old leader of the Revenge of God movement in Amarah.
Jabr, dressed in black with a green scarf, said the Shiites represented the majority, and elections would guarantee the authority that derives from their status.
"Any delay is not in the interests of the Iraqi people. It is an attempt to delay them taking their rights," he said, sitting under portraits of Shiite leaders and the branch's most revered saints. "It is better for the Iraqi people to hurry toward elections."
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American Copter In Collision Was Chasing Gunman
Cause of Crash in Mosul Still Unclear
By Daniel Williams
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, November 17, 2003; Page A14
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A49565-2003Nov16?language=printer
MOSUL, Iraq, Nov. 16 -- The deadliest single incident for U.S. forces in Iraq began with a drive-by shooting at a bank.
Someone in a sedan had fired at the Industrial Bank in the Sinjar Gate neighborhood of Mosul early Saturday evening, according to accounts by U.S. officials and Iraqi witnesses. American troops were guarding the bank, and one soldier was wounded in the leg. Troops called in a roving, rapid-reaction UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter to pursue the attackers.
Then something went very wrong, U.S. military officials said Sunday. The quick-reaction chopper struck another Black Hawk, which was transporting troops between bases, and both crashed onto residential rooftops, erupted in flames and exploded. In all, 17 soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division died and five were wounded.
On Sunday, bodies were pulled from the wreckage and the metal fragments of the twisted aircraft were hauled by investigators to a nearby base for examination. The names of the victims were withheld pending notification of families.
In a separate incident Sunday, Five U.S. soldiers in Mosul were injured when a roadside bomb was detonated as their convoy passed, news services reported.
Military officials at the 101st Airborne headquarters here said they had not yet determined how Saturday's helicopter collision occurred. They have just begun interviewing survivors and reviewing tapes from an air base control tower. Maj. Trey Cate, the 101st Airborne spokesman, dismissed as speculation reports from soldiers on the scene that one of the helicopters had been struck by groundfire, possibly a rocket-propelled grenade.
"It could be lots of things," Cate said. "It was dark. The Black Hawks fly without lights. I wouldn't go out on a limb and say they were definitely shot down."
In the neighborhood of the crash site, there were as many versions of events as there were curious residents gazing at the wreckage being pulled off the rooftops by a crane. There were also divergent opinions about the presence of U.S. troops in the city.
"They were definitely shot down," said Sabhan Mahmoud, a truck driver from Sinjar Gate. "I am only sad because they fell on civilian houses. If it makes the Americans go home, I will be happy."
Like many people in Mosul, about 215 miles north of Baghdad, Mahmoud opposes the occupation for reasons of both self-interest and nationalism. "The Americans do not provide jobs. They cannot provide security. So why are they here?" he asked.
But not all of the residents of this working-class area were as critical of the U.S. occupation. "The Americans should stay for a while. If they leave, things will get much worse and maybe Saddam Hussein will come back," said Omar Younis, a parking lot attendant. "The helicopters were not shot down. There was no shooting at them."
Among the least hostile observers were the owners of the two houses damaged by the helicopters. The Black Hawk with the rapid-reaction force aboard smashed into the flat-roof, cinder-block home of Hashem Mohammed Hussein, a laborer. It was evening prayer time and he was kneeling toward Mecca when his two-story house shook and he heard a loud explosion. "I thought it was artillery," he said. "It never, ever entered my mind that a helicopter could crash on my roof. I only learned what it was when neighbors broke down the front gate and screamed, 'Hashem, there's a helicopter on your roof!' "
The blast tore a hole through the ceiling, smashing a low wall and charring a terrace. No one among the seven occupants of the house, including five children, was hurt. Flesh and pieces of uniform were scattered for dozens of yards around the back of the house.
About 300 yards east, toward the Tigris River, the one-story home of Habaa Abdul Mohsen, a student at Mosul University, was hit by the second copter. None of the dozen occupants was injured. The Black Hawk charred the roof, clotheslines and walls and burned fig trees and reeds in the garden. "I saw fire on the roof," Mohsen said. "When the helicopter landed it was already on fire. I saw a rotor stuck in the truck in the back. The electricity went out and we all ran from the house."
The owners of both of the houses said U.S. officers assured them they would be compensated for the damage, and both men were conciliatory. "If they leave, who knows what will happen?" Mohsen said. "They should stay, settle things and then leave."
Mosul has been the scene of increasing violence against U.S. forces and civilians who work for the occupation authorities. On Saturday morning, an interpreter for the U.S.-appointed mayor was shot and killed in his car while taking his 16-year-old son to school. The boy died of a gunshot wound to the head. It was the third ambush in three weeks of Iraqi civilians who have cooperated with the Americans in Mosul. A journalist who criticized Islamic militant groups was also gunned down.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, an Arabic-language satellite television outlet broadcast a message it said was recorded by Saddam Hussein, the deposed Iraqi president, in which he called collaborators "stray dogs."
The recorded voice called on Iraqis to take the path of holy war and resistance. Speaking of President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the speaker warned: "Iraq will rebel against their evil intentions to colonize it and to wield influence in it. The evil ones now find themselves in a crisis."
The speaker also urged Iraqis to attack "political agents brought by foreign armies." This was an apparent reference to the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council and other assemblies designed to usher Iraq toward a democratically elected government.
The Black Hawk crashes shed new light on the sometimes unorthodox duties of U.S. troops here and the dangers they face when forced to carry out mundane tasks that blunt the superiority of their training and equipment. The American bank guards were attached to the 101st Airborne, a division designed for rapid strikes and quick relay of forces to cut off enemy units. Static positioning is not the 101st Airborne's strength, and military officials say they are trying to turn over tasks such as guard duty and law enforcement to Iraqis.
The use of an attack helicopter for what is essentially a police job -- pursuing a gunman -- indicates how the high-tech, high-powered 101st Airborne has had to adapt to occupation duties. There are few squad cars among the Iraqi police force and they are rarely seen on the streets. The bank is between the two houses hit by the fallen choppers.
U.S. forces elsewhere are increasingly using technologically advanced weaponry to assault rudimentary suspected guerrilla hide-outs. Military officials said a satellite-guided missile was used to destroy a training camp near the northern city of Kirkuk. There was no explanation for the use of the sophisticated weapon. It was the second time the weapon had been deployed -- one was recently used to obliterate a house in a remote area near the Syrian border.
In Baghdad, air, mortar and artillery strikes continued during the fourth day of the new offensive against insurgents. Fighters either fired a mortar shell or set off a bomb near the U.S. civilian headquarters. There no injuries; the explosion left a small crater in the pavement.
-------- israel / palestine
Israel sends aid to Istanbul after synagogue blast
By Eric Silver in Jerusalem
17 November 2003
UK Independent
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=464470
Israel's Foreign Minister flew to Istanbul yesterday to deliver his government's condolences after an apparent twin suicide bombing that devastated two synagogues during Sabbath morning prayers, killing 23 people and wounding about 300.
The bombers are thought to have died in their vehicles, each packed with about a ton of explosives. Six of the dead and about 80 of the wounded were members of Turkey's Jewish minority. They included an 85-year-old woman and her eight-year-old granddaughter, as well as a Jewish woman and her Muslim husband. The rest were Muslim passers by.
Although a fringe Turkish group, the Islamic Great Eastern Raiders Front, claimed responsibility, both Turkish and Israeli intelligence analysts detected the more sophisticated hand of al-Qa'ida or other international terrorists. A 1986 attack, which killed 22 Jews in one of the synagogues hit on Saturday, was attributed to Palestinian Abu Nidal gunmen.
Israel yesterday sent teams of security experts and Turkish-speaking trauma specialists to work with their Turkish opposite numbers. Silvan Shalom, the Israeli Foreign Minister, said: "These attacks against prayers were cowardly attacks carried out by extremists who don't want to see countries that are sharing values of democracy, freedom and rule of law."
In Jerusalem, Ariel Sharon, Israel's Prime Minister, told a cabinet meeting: "We saw yesterday yet again that terrorism knows no bounds. Terrorism doesn't discriminate by religion or blood."
Jewish officials returned to Neveh Shalom, Istanbul's central synagogue, yesterday in mourning and defiance. About 400 worshippers were there on Saturday for a bar mitzvah, a Jewish boy's coming of age ceremony, when the bomb went off.
Lina Fiba, the 500-year-old community's executive vice-president, said: "We shall bind our wounds and go on. We want life to continue as before."
A 26-year-old voluntary security guard, who identified himself only as Moshe, rushed to the scene immediately after the Neveh Shalom bombing. "It was like an air raid," he said yesterday, "complete chaos. Most of the people in the road outside were dead. The air was thick with dust, which slowly covered the bodies."
The bomb blew a crater two metres deep in the road. Only the synagogue's bullet-proof doors prevented a much greater tragedy, Moshe added. Two security guards posted outside died instantly. Four others inside the building were among the wounded.
Two more guards were killed at the suburban Beth Israel synagogue, which was crowded with about 80 worshippers. A rear wall collapsed when the second bomb went off almost simultaneously with the first.
About 25,000 Jews live in Turkey, 20,000 of them in Istanbul. The Ottoman sultan Beyazit II welcomed their ancestors after they were expelled from Spain in 1492. They have flourished in business and the professions, keeping a low political profile.
Alon Liel, a former Israeli ambassador to Ankara, said yesterday that they felt "very comfortable, very safe" even after the election a year ago of Recep Erdogan's Islamist-leaning government. Mr Erdogan knew the Jews from his time as mayor of Istanbul, and continued to keep in touch with them.
• A French UN aid worker was shot dead in Ghazni, Afghanistan, yesterday when two men on a motorcycle opened fire on her car with a pistol. Bettina Goislard, 29, is the first UN worker to die in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban two years ago.
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Israelis Raid Gaza Camp
November 17, 2003
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/17/international/middleeast/17MIDE.html
JERUSALEM, Nov. 16 - Israeli forces raided a Palestinian refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip early on Sunday, killing one Palestinian and arresting a man the army held responsible for digging smuggling tunnels under the Egyptian border.
The Israeli Army said soldiers had surrounded the home of the smuggling suspect, Bassam Abu Libdeh, and then opened fire as he and two other men fled. The soldiers killed one man, who was unarmed, and wounded Mr. Abu Libdeh in the hand, the army said.
The Palestinian authorities said an 8-year-old boy had also been wounded, shot in the stomach, in the incident in the Rafah camp.
Israel accuses Mr. Abu Libdeh of digging tunnels from Gaza into Egypt, and then renting them to smugglers of arms and contraband.
-------- mideast
Turkey Probes Qaeda Claims in Suicide Blasts
November 17, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Turkey-Synagogue-Bombings.html
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) -- Turkish officials investigated claims that the al-Qaida terrorist network was responsible for the truck bombings that devastated two Istanbul synagogues and killed 24 people, the prime minister said early Monday.
Picking through the debris at one of the damaged synagogues, searchers Monday found the remains of an elderly Jewish worshipper, a doctor at the government health department said.
That raised the total death toll from Saturday's attacks to 24 from 23. But an earlier toll of Jews killed stood at six, because the Jewish community had already counted the woman as among the dead. The woman's granddaughter also was killed, her body found the day of the attacks.
A Turkish newspaper said the driver of one of the trucks was filmed by the security camera outside the Neve Shalom synagogues. But it quoted police officials as saying the driver's identity was still unclear. Hurriyet said the son of the truck's owner has been missing for two weeks.
On Sunday, two Arabic-language newspapers received separate statements claiming Osama bin Laden's group was responsible for the bombings, which Turkish officials said were likely the work of suicide bombers who detonated explosives in pickup trucks.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkish authorities were investigating the al-Qaida claims, and there was no way to independently confirm the authenticity of the claims.
``Our security teams, our intelligence services have to work to determine the extent of truth of the claims,'' Erdogan said.
Earlier, Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu said the attacks were likely carried out by someone with international links, and rejected earlier claims of responsibility by a tiny Turkish Islamic militant group, saying it did not have the capacity to launch the sophisticated attacks.
``It is very likely that there is an international connection. We are not ruling out any possibility, including al-Qaida involvement,'' he said. Aksu told AP the bombings appeared to be suicide attacks.
A Turkish intelligence official told The Associated Press that security forces had been expecting a suicide strike but said it was very difficult to prevent such an action. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity Monday, said one person was still being questioned in Istanbul over the synagogue blasts but that the person didn't appear to have ties with al-Qaida.
Turkish newspaper reports Monday said that four Turks who were questioned and released on Sunday included some who allegedly provided fake passports to three al-Qaida suspects captured in Turkey last year as they illegally entered from Iran.
Istanbul's governor, Muammer Guler, said Monday that more people had been detained in the attacks, according to private Turk NTV, but did not say when.
The Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades claimed Saturday's attacks in an e-mail to the London-based paper al-Quds al-Arabi, saying it had learned that Israeli intelligence agents were inside the synagogues.
It's not clear that the group exists, though it has been linked in the past to al-Qaida. A copy of its statement was obtained by The Associated Press.
The London-based weekly Al-Majalla also received an e-mailed responsibility claim that said al-Qaida carried out the Istanbul attacks, as well as the Nov. 12 car bomb attack outside the Italian police headquarters in Nasariyah, Iraq that killed 19 Italians and 14 other people.
The explosions, set off two minutes apart, devastated Neve Shalom, Istanbul's largest synagogue and symbolic center to the city's 25,000-member Jewish community, and the Beth Israel synagogue about three miles away.
All of the dead and most of the more than 300 wounded were in the Beth Israel attack. Sixty-six of the wounded remained hospitalized, with 10 in intensive care units, NTV said Monday.
Some analysts believe Saturday's attacks were meant to warn to Turkey's Islamic-rooted government against keeping close relations with Israel and the West. Turkey, a predominantly Muslim nation which has long had a secular regime, is an ally of Israel and the United States and is NATO's only Muslim member.
``Turkey is on the al-Qaida's hit list,'' said Sami Kohen, a commentator with Milliyet newspaper. ``In their eyes, Turkey is a country that has close ties to the West. It also is in close cooperation with Israel.''
Turkey's parliament agreed last month to let the government send troops to Iraq to relieve U.S. forces there, but retracted the offer in the face of strong Iraqi opposition.
Israeli intelligence and explosives experts worked with Turkish teams to investigate the bombings.
One of the e-mailed statements warned of further attacks and demanded that the United States release Arab prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. It also warned President Bush that attacks would be directed at the United States itself.
``There is more to come. By God the Jews of the world will regret that their (men) thought of invading the lands of Muslims,'' the statement said.
Associated Press writers Zeynep Alemdar and Selcan Hacaoglu contributed to this report from Ankara.
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Turkey Says Foreign Terrorists May Be Behind Suicide Blasts
November 17, 2003
By CRAIG S. SMITH
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/17/international/europe/17TURK.html?pagewanted=all&position=
ISTANBUL, Nov. 16 - An obscure terrorist group linked to Al Qaeda took responsibility on Sunday for the twin truck bombings at two synagogues that killed 23 people and wounded more than 300 here on Saturday. Turkish officials said they had evidence that suicide drivers had carried out the blasts.
The claim of responsibility was conveyed by Abdel Bari Atwan, the editor of Al-Quds al-Arabi, a London-based Arabic newspaper, in an interview with the Arabic satellite station Al Jazeera. Mr. Atwan said the terrorist group, known as the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, had made the claim by e-mail. The group has been linked with Al Qaeda in the past.
The group has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in Iraq in recent months, notably the Aug. 19 truck bombing of the United Nations' Baghdad headquarters and the Oct. 12 car bombing outside a Baghdad hotel used by the Iraqi Governing Council, according to Arabic-language news accounts monitored by the BBC. The group also has claimed responsibility for acts outside Iraq in which no clear evidence of a Qaeda link has been established, including the Aug. 5 bombing in Indonesia, and even the blackouts this summer in the United States and Britain.
While it was impossible Sunday night to confirm any role by the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades in the synagogue attacks, the speedy claim of responsibility by a non-Turkish group supported the contention by Turkish officials that the bombings were the work of foreign terrorists, possibly from Al Qaeda, rather than any homegrown organization.
"Our determination to fight terrorism in the international arena continues because this event has international links," the country's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Sunday. Government officials could not be reached for comment after the Jazeera report.
Earlier Sunday, government officials said the blasts appeared to be suicide attacks using identical Isuzu pickup trucks. According to Turkish television, security cameras at the Beth Israel synagogue in the city's Silsi district captured a truck slowing down in front of the synagogue and a policeman approaching to speed it along before it exploded. The policeman died in the blast.
The two trucks exploded about two minutes and three miles apart, shattering the fronts of the Neve Shalom synagogue, Istanbul's largest and the site of two previous attacks, and the Beth Israel synagogue.
Many people believe the attacks were meant as a warning to Turkey not to continue developing ties with Israel or to integrate further with the West. They worry that Turkey's role as a geopolitical bridge between East and West could draw more violence its way, threatening a economic recovery after decades of ruinous inflation and high unemployment.
"During the cold war threat of Soviet expansion, Germany was on the front line, but now Turkey is the contact point for a number of threats faced by the West," said Ilter Turan, professor of political science at Bilgi University in Istanbul.
Since its creation from the remains of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, Turkey has looked to the West for support in building a modern, secular society on a Western model. But it has also tried to maintain good relations with fellow Muslim countries. It is a member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It wants to join the European Union, and it was the first Muslim country to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, in 1949.
That position has put it at odds with both sides over the years, most recently with radical Islamic groups who blame it for abolishing the caliphate, or Islamic theocracy, that had existed in some form since the death of the Prophet Muhammad until 1924. Many of the world's most notorious Islamist groups, from the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, to tiny Ansar al-Islam in Iraq, from Hizb ut-Tahrir in Europe to the global Qaeda network have made restoration of the caliphate their goal.
Turkey's relations with Israel have exacerbated those tensions. The two countries' relations include military cooperation and the sharing of intelligence about radical Islamic groups operating in the region. The Israeli foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, arrived in Istanbul on Sunday to tour the blast sites and to show his country's solidarity with Turkey.
"It was a terrorist attack carried out by extremists who don't want to see countries share values of freedom, law, and values of friendship and cooperation," Mr. Shalom said. Israeli intelligence agencies are helping with the investigation.
Some people saw the attacks as a consequence of instability in Iraq. Most Turks opposed the American-led invasion largely because they feared that a war would spread violence throughout the region. As a result, the government resisted Washington's requests earlier this year to allow American troops to enter Iraq from Turkey, despite a huge financial incentive. Last month, Turkey offered to send troops to Iraq, then reversed the decision weeks later. "Whenever there is trouble in Iraq, it has some repercussions on Turkey," said Ismail Cem, a former foreign minister and the leader of the social-democratic New Turkey Party. "This is exactly what happened in previous gulf war."
Violence in Turkey flared after the Persian Gulf war in 1991, and terrorist incidents in the country have increased threefold since the American-led invasion of Iraq in March, Mr. Cem said.
Late Sunday, the scenes of both blasts were illuminated with eerie white light as cleanup crews removed twisted metal and investigators combed the wreckage. Members of Israel's disaster response group, known as ZAKA Rescue and Recovery, had arrived earlier to collect human remains. Sixty-six of the 303 people wounded remained hospitalized, though only a few were reported to be in critical condition.
Sabbath morning services were under way in both houses of worship as well as a bar mitzvah in one. Turkish news reports said, however, that most of the dead were Muslims killed in the narrow street outside the Beth Israel synagogue.
The Anatolian Agency, Turkey's state press service, reported that tissue retrieved from the truck used in one of the explosions belonged to someone of Arab ethnicity and that the bombs were made from a mixture of ammonium nitrate and oil. A director of the national police's criminal evidence office in Istanbul, however, said there had been no conclusive determinations made so far.
Political commentators said the bombings were unlikely to push the government back from cooperation with the West or to coerce the governing Justice and Development Party to return to its Islamist roots. The party was formed by former members of the conservative Islamic Virtue Party three years ago.
Mr. Turan said the governing party would probably distance itself further from conservative Islamic groups to assure a nervous population of its commitment to secular government.
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Al Qaeda Claims Attacks in Turkey
Statements Sent to Arabic News Media
By Molly Moore
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, November 17, 2003; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A48593-2003Nov16?language=printer
ISTANBUL, Nov. 16 -- Two London-based Arabic-language publications said Sunday that they had received separate statements asserting al Qaeda's responsibility for the suicide bombings near two Istanbul synagogues that killed 23 people and injured 303.
A group linked to al Qaeda, the Abu-Hafs al-Masri Brigades, said in an e-mail to the daily al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper that it conducted the bombings in Istanbul on Saturday and that al Qaeda planned attacks in other countries, including the United States.
"We tell the criminal Bush and his Arab and Western tails -- especially Britain, Italy, Australia and Japan -- that cars of death will not stop at Baghdad, Riyadh, Istanbul, Nasiriyah, Jakarta, etc, until you see them with your own eyes in the middle of the capital of this era's tyrant, America," the statement said.
The e-mail message said the two synagogues in the heart of Istanbul were targeted because al Qaeda associates believed agents of the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, were inside. The missive also cited Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories as a motive for attacks against Jews worldwide.
A second message, e-mailed to the London-based weekly al-Majalla, said al Qaeda carried out the Istanbul bombings as well as the Nov. 12 bombing of the headquarters of the Italian military police in Nasiriyah, Iraq, which killed 19 Italians and at least 12 Iraqis. The message bore the signature of Abu Mohammed Ablaj, who has been identified as an al Qaeda operative by U.S. officials.
Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Sunday night that he was aware of the claims, but told reporters in the Turkish capital, Ankara, that an investigation of the near-simultaneous suicide bombings was continuing. The authenticity of the messages could not be determined independently, though al-Quds al-Arabi has been a conduit for previous messages from al Qaeda.
Turkish officials have blamed "international organizations" for the attack, and the Turkish daily newspaper Sabah declared Sunday in a front-page headline "Al Qaeda hit us, too." A Western diplomat said Sunday that "indicators are that it's pretty likely" that al Qaeda was involved, but added that it "would be speculation" to make that claim without substantiated evidence.
In recent months, both Turkey and its Jewish population had received increased warnings of possible terrorist attacks, according to local Jewish leaders and foreign diplomats. Two months ago, the U.S. State Department stiffened a travel advisory warning Americans visiting Turkey of the potential for terrorist attacks.
Turkey, a secular Muslim nation, has stronger ties with the United States and Israel than any other Muslim nation. Many Turkish political analysts said those relations made Turkey a particularly vulnerable target for extremist Islamic organizations.
"We knew Turkey was a target," said Sami Kohen, a columnist for the daily Turkish newspaper Milliyet and a prominent member of the Jewish community. "It was known all through the Jewish community, and very strict security measures were taken. This is the kind of terrorism that can't be completely stopped."
Turkish police and health authorities said all but one of the 23 people who were killed had been identified. Officials said the unidentified body might be that of one of the bombers.
Deniz Sanporta, a spokeswoman for the office of Turkey's chief rabbi, said five of the 23 victims had been identified as Jews and the remaining casualties were Muslims. She said 60 Jews who had been inside the two synagogues were wounded but that the majority of the 303 wounded were Muslims who had been in the street or inside nearby shops and houses.
"We don't think this was targeting only the Jewish people," Sanporta said. "This was targeting all Turkish people. There were more Muslim dead than Jewish dead."
But the statement sent to al-Quds al-Arabi indicated the double suicide bombing had specifically targeted Jews.
The Abu-Hafs al-Masri Brigades, which previously claimed responsibility for the car bombing at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad last August in which 23 people died, said the Istanbul attack was its first strike against Jews in retaliation for Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories.
"The remaining operations are coming, God willing, and by God, Jews around the world will regret that their ancestors even thought about occupying the land of Muslims," the statement continued.
The group takes its name from Mohammed Atef, also known as Abu Hafs, a senior member of al Qaeda who was killed in Afghanistan in November 2001 during the U.S.-led military campaign.
Israel's foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, who toured the area around the Neve Shalom synagogue Sunday afternoon, said: "The message here is that we have a shared fate. We all suffer at the hands of the same extreme groups who wish to hurt anyone who adopts values of democracy, freedom, equality and the rule of law."
Turkish officials said Sunday that security cameras had recorded two Isuzu pickup trucks slowing near the two synagogues Saturday before their drivers detonated up to 800 pounds of compressed fuel oil, nitrate and ammonium sulfate inside containers hidden under packages of detergent.
Police officials told the Anatolian News Agency that two dismembered bodies had been found in the rubble with wire cables attached to them and that one had been matched with bits of flesh found on the steering wheel of one of the trucks.
"Both vehicles paused and exploded in front of the synagogues," said Turkey's foreign minister, Abdullah Gul. He said both drivers were believed to have detonated the explosives from inside the cabs of the pickup trucks.
The devastation caused by the powerful bomb blast outside Neve Shalom stunned even members of Israel's ZAKA rescue service, which responds to suicide bombings in Israel.
"We've seen many suicide attacks in Israel," Zelig Feiner told reporters after sifting through the blackened rubble covering the narrow street that fronts Neve Shalom. "But the amount of explosives and damage here is something we've never seen before."
In recent years Neve Shalom, Istanbul's largest synagogue, "was like a fortress," Kohen said. Visitors were subjected to electronic surveillance inside a bulletproof vestibule before entering the compound, he said.
Officials of the chief rabbi's office said the number of casualties inside the synagogues was limited because of the extraordinary security precautions designed to thwart potential attackers. She said several security guards and police officers assigned to protect the two synagogues were among the dead Saturday.
Researcher Yesim Borg contributed to this report.
-------- nato
NATO head calls for multi-ethnic Kosovo
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro (AFP)
Nov 17, 2003
http://www.spacewar.com/2003/031117174234.wcxb26tm.html
NATO chief George Robertson called on Kosovo's leaders Monday to remain committed to building a multi-ethnic society.
"The political leadership of Kosovo has got to stand firmly in favor of a multi-ethnic Kosovo," Robertson, the alliance's secretary general said, as he met ethnic Serb returnees in the village of Novo Selo, some 29 kilometersmiles) north of the capital, Pristina.
The village has seen several Serb families returning following increased efforts by the UN mission and local institutions to boost the return process.
"Milosevic wanted a single ethnic Kosovo and we are determined to create a multi-ethnic Kosovo. So those Kosovo Serbs that call this their home, they have the right to come back," Robertson said.
Only a few thousand ethnic Serbs have returned to Kosovo since 1999 when some 200,000 fled the province in fear of attacks by majority Albanians set on vengeance for years of repression from Belgrade.
This is Robertson's last trip to Kosovo as the head of NATO. He steps down from the post in December after having led the alliance since 1999.
He will be replaced on January 1 by Dutch Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
"I have spent five years now involved with Kosovo, whether it was in the campaign that stopped Milosevic or the air campaign and now as secretary general and today I paid a tribute to over a 150,000 NATO soldiers who have been through Kosovo in the last few years", he said.
Robertson is still to meet the head of the UN mission, Harri Holekri, and the province's locally elected leaders.
Albanian-dominated Kosovo has been under UN and NATO control since the end of a war between ethnic Albanian guerrillas and Serbian forces in June 1999.
-------- pakistan / india
U.S. warns Pakistan
November 17, 2003
WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/world/embassy.htm
The U.S. ambassador to Pakistan is alarmed by the rise of outlawed Islamic terrorist groups that are operating openly under new names, often with the same leaders.
"The groups pose a serious threat to Pakistan, to the region and to the United States," Ambassador Nancy Powell said in a recent speech before the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations.
She noted that Hafiz Saeed, founder of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, is now addressing rallies across the country as the leader of a new group, Jamaatul Dawa. He is up to his old habits of urging holy war against Indian forces in the disputed Kashmir region.
Jaish-e-Mohammad, one of the groups blamed for the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament, has been renamed Jamaat-ul Furqan, she said. Another banned group, Tehreek-i-Jafria, is now operating as Tehreek Islami.
The ambassador urged Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the war on terrorism, to "enhance" its efforts to stop these groups from infiltrating into the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir.
-------- philippines
Al Qaeda Affiliate Training Indonesians On Philippine Island
Persistence Startles Officials in Manila
By Alan Sipress and Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, November 17, 2003; Page A18
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A49680-2003Nov16?language=printer
COTABATO CITY, Philippines -- A regional terrorist network linked to al Qaeda has continued to train its militants in the southern Philippines, aided by local Muslim separatists, police and intelligence sources said.
The militants, all Indonesians, are training at a camp established three years ago and now operating under the protection of rebels from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, according to intelligence sources and a summary of the interrogation of Taufiq Rifqi, an Indonesian militant who was captured here last month.
Rifqi's testimony startled Philippine officials, who assumed they had deprived al Qaeda's Southeast Asian affiliate, Jemaah Islamiah, of its primary training ground three years ago when government soldiers overran its base. It also raises the stakes for peace talks aimed at ending the 31-year insurgency on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Diplomatic and security sources said a peace deal could close Mindanao as a vital center for the training and transit of foreign terrorists -- what a Western official in Manila called "a kind of Afghanistan east."
Within three weeks of Rifqi's arrest, police backed by military forces raided two safe houses that contained handwritten notes in Indonesian on making biological weapons, diagrams of amateur rockets, components for jury-rigging explosives and other documents and bomb-making materials.
The capture of Rifqi, who security officials said was Jemaah Islamiah's treasurer and logistics chief in the Philippines and arrived in Mindanao in 1998, was a wake-up call for the government, which had been "in denial about the existence of Jemaah Islamiah in Mindanao," a Philippine intelligence official said.
"We are open in saying that the Jemaah Islamiah is a major threat," Defense Secretary Eduardo R. Ermita said in an interview. "We know the Philippines is a good target for their activities."
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, Asian and Western intelligence officials have unearthed extensive details about the operations of al Qaeda's Southeast Asian affiliate. Under interrogation, suspects have described a geographic division of labor in which Indonesia serves as the primary theater for attacks -- two nightclubs on the resort island of Bali were bombed a year ago and the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, the capital, was hit in August. The Philippines was designated as the main training ground.
Until 1995, Southeast Asian terrorists were training in Muslim mujaheddin camps in Afghanistan, but Jemaah Islamiah's leaders decided to seek a location closer to home. Hundreds of militants, mainly Indonesians, slipped into the Philippines by fishing boat and other vessels through unregulated borders and trained at the main Moro Islamic Liberation Front camp. That site was destroyed by government troops during an offensive in mid-2000.
What officials did not know was that a new camp -- Jabal Qubah -- was set up almost immediately. Rifqi told interrogators that groups of 15 to 20 Indonesians have been attending 18-month training courses at the new site on the forested slopes of Mount Cararao in Maguindanao province, according to the interrogation summary and intelligence officials. There, in a few huts, Indonesian instructors have been teaching Indonesian recruits how to build bombs, fire weapons and read maps. Physical training and religious studies are part of the program.
The camp, several hours' walking distance from a Philippine rebel base, has operated under the protection of a rebel commander, identified by an intelligence official as Gordon Syaifullah. The training weapons were provided by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front forces, according to the interrogation. Jemaah Islamiah members in Indonesia financed the camp by transferring money through ATMs.
Including the instructors, about 30 militants -- all Indonesians -- have been training at the site, Rifqi told investigators.
"Our intelligence tells us because they know the military is on their trail, some may have left," said Ermita, the defense secretary. He added that about 20 Indonesian militants from several locations had fled the country in recent weeks, leaving about 30. Indonesian police agree that militants who trained in the Philippines have been returning to Indonesia.
Although security officials said they had learned of no specific attack planned for the Philippines, they were worried about the prospect of a bombing in the period from the current month of Ramadan through Christmas and New Year's. In December 2000, 22 people died in Manila in a series of blasts that police later attributed to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Jemaah Islamiah. Rifqi coordinated logistics for those attacks, a senior police official said.
Military commanders in Mindanao are planning a strike against the camp, security officials said. But senior Philippine officials, concerned that this could disrupt a four-month-old cease-fire with the rebels and undermine peace talks, have yet to approve the operation. Any offensive "should be surgical and not shotgun. There's something very important to protect here. That's the peace process," said a Philippine military official.
Rebel leaders deny that their forces are providing sanctuary to Jemaah Islamiah militants.
"These foreign terrorists are like worms and nobody likes to be infected by worms. We have nothing to do with it," Ghazali Jaafar, vice chairman for political affairs for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said in an interview here. He added, "How can we control every inch of land in Mindanao?"
More to the point, Philippine and Western officials say, is that the Front's leadership cannot control all its local commanders, some of whom maintain ties with Indonesian militants. The Front's chairman, Al Haj Murad, is struggling to consolidate his authority after replacing Hashim Salamat, who died after a heart attack in July, Philippine and Western officials said.
In fact, Murad had ordered his followers to evict all Jemaah Islamiah militants from the training camp, a Philippine intelligence official said. But Murad lacks the organizational and religious standing of Salamat, who was an Islamic scholar trained in Egypt, officials said.
Ermita, the defense secretary, said of the report that the rebels had disassociated themselves from the terrorists: "We take that with a grain of salt. It seems the local commander doesn't believe in negotiations and doesn't necessarily follow orders from Haji Murad."
Security officials point to mixed signals being sent by the rebels. They said a commander in Lanao del Sur province in Mindanao gave sanctuary to the fugitive Jemaah Islamiah bomb-making expert Fathur Rahman Ghozi after he escaped from a Manila prison in July. But security officials said that rebel sources also provided information to the government about Ghozi's whereabouts before he was tracked down and shot dead by security forces in Mindanao last month.
A Philippine intelligence official also confirmed that Riduan Isamuddin, known as Hambali, Jemaah Islamiah's operations chief arrested in Thailand in August, told his U.S. interrogators that he had sent money to a Moro Islamic Liberation Front contact a month earlier for an attack in the Philippines. But the intelligence official warned that Hambali might have been lying.
Ermita said the Philippine government was preparing to provide rebel leaders with a list of criminals and Indonesian terrorists believed to be in areas under their control. Under an agreement last year, the Front is required to "neutralize, interdict and isolate" so-called lawless elements.
Negotiators from both sides are awaiting a final round of exploratory discussions in Malaysia that would set the date and agenda for formal peace talks. Philippine officials would like to secure an agreement before presidential elections in May. As an incentive, the U.S. government has promised development aid for Mindanao if the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has disavowed terrorism, also ends its armed insurgency.
About 300 U.S. troops are in the southern Philippines training local forces in counterterrorism. The United States proposed earlier this year to send 3,000 troops to the area to help eliminate the Abu Sayyaf, a smaller Muslim militant group designated by the State Department as a foreign terrorist organization. But that plan stalled after opponents said it violated a constitutional ban on foreign combat troops on Philippine soil.
-------- prisoners of war
Blair to press Bush over fate of detainees
By Christopher Adams in London
Financial Times
November 17 2003
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1066565945756&p=1012571727102
Tony Blair, the UK prime minister, will use talks with President George W. Bush to try to resolve an impasse with the US over the fate of British detainees held at Guantanamo Bay.
After months of negotiations between officials that have made little headway, Mr Blair is anxious to settle the issue of the detainees' treatment and future trial.
Mr Bush, speaking ahead of his three-day visit to Britain, said that the nine "unlawful combatants" from the UK were being properly treated and he was working to arrive at a solution with which Mr Blair would be comfortable.
His remarks have stoked speculation that a deal on their proposed trial by military tribunal could be announced this week.
Lawyers arguing the prisoners will not receive a fair trial have been pressing for their repatriation to the UK. However, the US is unlikely to offer Britain any favours and Mr Bush appeared to rule out repatriation. "These were illegal noncombatants picked up off a battlefield. And they're being well treated, and they will go through a military tribunal at some point," he said.
Mr Bush is reluctant to offer big concessions because that would risk opening the doors to claims from other countries with detainees. Mr Blair is not enthusiastic about repatriation because of the legal complexities it entails.
If a deal were to be announced - and diplomats are not holding their breath - it could take the form of other concessions.
Mr Blair is keen that the British detainees should have access to a proper appeals process and one option under consideration is for US civilian courts to hear appeals from any verdicts passed by military commissions. In London, the attorney-general's office on Monday emphasised the trial process, saying the objective of the negotiations with the US was "to ensure that, if the [British] detainees are prosecuted, they are ensured a fair trial".
An official said the possibility of their return to the UK had been an option for many months, but that there had been no conclusion to the talks. Mr Blair had said in October he expected the issue to be resolved in the next few weeks.
So far, the only safeguards have been that the military tribunal would be open and the death penalty would not apply.
-------- space
The Military Space Service: Why It's Time Has Come
Mr. Gayl serves as a Civil Servant within the DoD. His personal views expressed below are intended to stimulate discussion, and do not represent formal positions of the Government.
by Franz J. Gayl
SpaceDaily
Nov 17, 2003
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/milspace-03zh.html
Washington - The future of U.S. supremacy in space is in jeopardy. New entrants to space exploration, rich in both intellectual capital and superpower ambitions, are pressing irresistibly forward. These include formidable past competitors, such as China and Russia, as well as India, Japan, Europe, and others.
If the stakes were only related to commercial advantage or national scientific pride these independent initiatives would be welcome in the spirit of peaceful globalization. Yet the taming of all land, sea, air, and undersea environments has invariably included their full exploitation for war.
Similarly, the seemingly relentless pursuit of technological advantage is an inherent drive in any willful, sovereign nation. It can therefore be assumed that the comprehensive militarization of space is inevitable. Though the human exploitation of space is still in its infancy, we are at risk of relinquishing our military space dominance to competitors at an early stage.
The Dilemma
The reasons for our National decline in space engagement are well known, and the case has often been made for reinvigorating U.S. military and civil space programs to correct the atrophy and prepare for future challenges. As a consequence of recommendations from the Commission to Assess National Security Space Management and Organization, the Air Force (AF) has been designated as the Executive Agent (EA) for National Security Space (NSS). This has served as a crucial initial step towards greater NSS unity of effort, leadership, and space advocacy. The results of implementation of the Space Commission's recommendations, with regards to Joint Space Cadre solidification and NSS martial identity, have been wholly successful to date. However, the dilemma for a single Service to simultaneously advocate and fund two environmentally disparate sets of technologies and warfighting responsibilities is becoming increasingly evident.
Space-enabled national security contributions are expensive, and threat-based NSS budget requirements will exert increasing pressure on the AF EA in response to increasing capabilities needs. At the same time, the AF determination to execute its traditional roles and missions - as well as modernize - will exert at least equal pressure on the same leadership. There is no doubt that AF leaders understand and appreciate the critical role of that our space supremacy plays in America's security. However, they also understand that when the President tasks a mission to a Combatant Commander he expects that AF weapons delivery on target and other traditional AF missions will be the first Service priority.
In consideration of traditional priorities there will understandably be less willingness to resource space capabilities that only indirectly contribute to the AF primary mission, especially when done at the expense of that primary mission. Nor will there be urgent concern for the warfighting opportunities and strategic advantages to be gained in space in the future that require long-term, robust investment in space, when those tangible benefits cannot be perceived now.
Therefore, while investment in continued space supremacy is in the nation's best interest, it is not, by itself, in the AF's best interest. The Department of the Air Force budget likely won't keep pace with the two distinctive sets of costly aerospace needs. As a result, the aggravation and competition between the air and space communities within the AF can be expected to become even more severe. Faced with what could amount to zero-sum-gain AF funding constraints, space is likely to suffer first.
This dilemma is not the fault of either AF aerospace community. Instead, it lies in a National Security Act and in Title 10 authorizations that are out-of-date. It is also understandable that an Aviation-oriented leadership might tend to appreciate and advance air capabilities over those required for space security. It would be folly to sacrifice the strategic and tactical qualities that maintain our U.S. Air Force as the world's most advanced and capable, but it would be as great a folly to lose or fail to reinforce our nation's tenuous hold on military space superiority. Considering the dilemma, a next step in NSS organization and management may be in order, namely the establishment of a separate, Title 10 empowered Space Service.
20th Century history provides some useful insights relevant to this issue . During the years immediately following the WWI Armistice, U.S. Army General William (Billy) Mitchell strongly advocated the establishment of an Air Force, separate from and outside of the Department of the Army. Military aviation was truly in its infancy at that time, and it was during WWI that General Mitchell had executed the first primitive versions of massed aerial bombardment. As a visionary, he accurately predicted the future potential of strategic air warfare that would become evident some two decades later. But any independent air force concept would have competed with the military tradition and resources of Army and Navy at the time, and his views met the strongest institutional resistance. He was chastised, and the U.S. missed an opportunity to comprehend and preemptively act on the direction that military technology and strategy were moving.
Innovations within Naval Aviation and unbridled American aircraft invention and industry allowed us to react to the strategic surprises of the Axis Powers that appeared later. But the victorious outcome was never guaranteed, and it is worth asking what could have been gained by the earlier establishment of an empowered Air Force. Perhaps the U.S. could have fielded a jet powered air superiority fighter of a technology vintage comparable to Messerschmidt 262 or a longer range and more survivable strategic bomber like the B29 much earlier. In the case of these and other opportunities, the war in all theaters could have been brought to an earlier conclusion once America entered WWII. Hindsight is always clearer, and General Mitchell's vision was finally vindicated in 1947 with the establishment of the Title 10 empowered USAF. In the years hence, the existence of a AF has been and remains crucial to our national security, but the lost opportunities prior to and during WWII could not be recovered.
A more recent and perhaps equally relevant example involved the accelerated establishment of the Department of Homeland Security. Admittedly, it was already a conceptual entity well on its way to debate and consideration prior to the Global War on Terrorism. However, if some semblance of its fully synchronized organizational functions had been in place years ago when it was first envisioned, perhaps the events preceding Sept 11, 2001 could have been interpreted, and the tragic results prevented. Again, like Billy Mitchell's vision of an Air Force, this assumption can only be made in hindsight, but historical examples and their relevance to current trends can provide us good templates to prepare for the future, in this case, the inevitability of space warfare. If history serves to guide our future preparedness, then NSS should now perhaps consider a military department to guard against surprise from any space-related event that places us at a strategic disadvantage
Objections
Space is merely an information medium, as space warfighting is restricted by past treaties (such as no orbital nukes) and current pressure from UN to ban all weapons in space.
This objection runs counter to current geopolitical movements and world events. As the gentlemanly regard for the United Nations and other treaties relating to space and other environmental realms continues to deteriorate, the self-imposed restraint of many nations evident during the Cold War will also dissolve. Furthermore, the loathing for the U.S. and its national security interests by morally unconstrained adversaries could cause these or newer treaties to be tools of deceit to hinder U.S. military space capabilities while proceeding with their own. The old Soviet Union's signing of the 1972 treaty banning biological weapons production and stockpiling, while covertly advancing their programs, comes to mind as an example. Similarly, the desire by those adversaries to maximize civilian casualties has become a favored asymmetric tactic against our nation and the few allies who feel morally constrained to employ precision. When combined with the world-wide proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), the ease of access to space by adversaries - potentially facilitated by the lower cost of competitor launch - will make space a preferred medium for weapons delivery platforms, frustrating U.S. defense efforts even further.
No competitor or adversary anywhere in the world is close to our level of sophistication in space capabilities.
Our comprehensive U.S. military space exploitation capabilities have been ramping down, while those of other nations have been ramping up. For example, our ability to cost-effectively place large payloads into orbit is steadily declining. Our Titan IV vehicles are nearing or have achieved total depletion. Our only heavy lift alternative in advance of the troubled EELV Program is the currently grounded and aging Shuttle fleet. At the same time Russian Proton, Chinese Long-March, and European Arianne lift capabilities are robust and relatively inexpensive, and they are becoming the most attractive means of orbiting larger commercial and military systems worldwide. We are also dependent on Russian engines for one of our own homegrown medium lift vehicles, namely Atlas. This represents loss of both a U.S. launch market and a critical sovereign national asset, one that cannot be easily rejuvenated.
There is no identifiable martial mission for a Space Service comparable to weapons employment from manned and unmanned platforms of the other traditional Services.
Senior Army leaders no doubt remained skeptical of the military cost-effectiveness of massed bombing even after Billy Mitchell assembled 200 primitive biplanes into a formation during the Meuse-Argonne campaign. Similarly, it is difficult to present a case for an unprovable future space capability to those who are only familiar with space as an information medium. However, the historical precedent of the U.S. Army Air Corps' transformation into the USAF should serve to increase that faith. As with aircraft, space access and other technologies will drive forward to gain any and all warfighting relevance, application and advantage from the space medium, quite independently of any nation's unilateral will to prevent it. Technological advancement and proliferation is no different from WMD proliferation as an expression of state and non-state potency and independent will. Space is an exposed U.S. flank, and an immediate Service martial mission exists for its defense. Offensive or defensive U.S. Space Service missions relating to space control, global strike, missile defense, transport, assault support, and other capabilities will necessarily follow.
The existence of a new, separate Service will require severe offsets from the other Services, and the total cost increase may not be politically acceptable.
The key proto-Space Service organizations and personnel positions are already in existence since the Space Commission, and would largely fulfill the initial Service resource needs. For example, positionally, the Under Secretary of the Air Force (USECAF) is a Space Service Secretary candidate, and the Commander of Air Force Space Command is a Service Chief candidate. Similarly, the AF Professional Space Community can immediately form the core of a Space Service. This core could be augmented with members of the civilian and military space cadres of the other Services by means of permanent inter-service transfers. In terms of creating new organizations with non-space compensation, the initial DoD impact would be modest. The National Aerospace Initiative (NAI) could immediately be programmatically empowered, absorbed (along with selected space resources and civilian cadres of the Service Labs), and renamed as the Service Science and Technology (S&T) organization. NAI is currently a space-related technology effort intended to coordinate and influence the activities of DoD, NASA, and Industry in the three pillar areas of High Speed/Hypersonics, Space Access and Space Technology. Following absorption of NAI, non-NASA space S&T would be solely 'owned' by the new Space Service, and not subject to S&T trade-space starvation of other NSS S&T stakeholders, such as the NAI is today. The AF Space and Missile Systems Center could be absorbed as the Service acquisition arm. The National Reconnaissance Office could likewise be absorbed as-is, along with its specialized functions and personnel mix.
The precise nature of the initial Service organization can be debated, and there are several alternatives that the Space Commission evaluated. An entirely separate Space Service model, the Department of the Navy model (i.e. an Air Force and a Space Corps/Force beneath a Secretary of Aerospace), and the SOCOM model all had distinctive advantages and disadvantages. But the evolved solution to the on-going dilemma must insure from the outset that the Service be Title 10 and Title 50 empowered, and that it have full Joint Chiefs of Staff and Joint Requirements Oversight Council membership. The Service would grow rationally in accordance with newly assigned roles and missions. It would submit its budget separately, and its requests would compete equally with those of the other Services and be balanced against all other national defense priorities.
Finally, as a reinvigorated NASA begins again to reach out to the moon and Mars, the Space Service would serve as a non-duplicative and fully complementary entity. The technologies developed in both distinctive mission areas would overwhelmingly crossover through such mechanisms as the NAI (or its S&T successor) without violating the sanctity of the exclusive military and scientific charters of each. It also would enable the successful transition from NASA demonstration to national security operationalization of space transportation and other pivotal capabilities.
The creation of a Space Service may drive other nations to militarize space in a way they had not intended to previously.
With or without U.S. prompting, capable competitors and adversaries will militarize space to their own advantage. However, it is the speed with which the U.S. can respond to the future national security challenges posed by space that will serve as its greatest psychological strength, so long as we allow the lead-time to do so. Potential military capabilities in space could serve to intimidate competitors to inaction rather than antagonize them to action. A prime example of this was the impact that the sincere dedication of U.S. resources to the Strategic Defense Initiative had on the Soviet Union. Instead of leading to a renewed arms race, the projected cost of responding to the U.S. intimidated the USSR into a position of negotiation, and relative inaction. Furthermore, others have recently relearned that when the U.S. puts its mind to reinvigorating national security it is a formidable and even dangerous opponent. That too can serve as effective NSS deterrence, but only if our space capabilities are real.
A Way Ahead
The Space Commission considered these issues as they relate to our relative loss of space dominance, and the possibility that the U.S. could experience a Pearl Harbor in space due to a lack of preparedness. The Final Report of the Commission made concrete recommendations that have led to great strides in the DoD and National Communities to unify a previously fragmented space community under the AF EA for NSS.
AF acting as EA certainly represents a significant improvement over the balkanized and unintentionally duplicative state of previous NSS affairs. In the person of the USECAF we have achieved unity of NSS efforts, singular Space Advocacy, and - most importantly - a single Milestone Decision Authority and oversight for NSS resources. The establishment of U.S. Strategic Command operationally complements the programmatic empowerment of the EA.
However, in the months and years since implementation, the new NSS organization and management has served as a revealing test of the capacity of the Department of the Air Force to balance traditional Air Force Title 10 responsibilities with those of space. The strain of two distinctive missions and technology identities, having equally distinctive investment strategies, beneath the same Service Chief and Secretariat is evident. In the past, AF-managed space programs were frequently mortgaged to finance terrestrial AF programs. Since the Space Commission, the invisibility of that practice has largely disappeared, so that any competition between air and space warfighting resource equity regimes presents an even starker contrast than before.
Recent discussions related to the NAI, as well as military interest in manned space flight serve as relevant examples of the cultural mutual exclusivity of air and space interests within AF. The favorable outcome of both topics was a tribute to the desire of some within AF to fully assume and execute the role of NSS EA as it was intended. At the same time, those and other examples of the larger AF space versus air cultural conflict forewarn that the incompatibility of space within AF will grow, with a need to establish a separate Space Service sooner rather than later. The Space Commissioners, Congress, and SECDEF had carefully considered the merits of other models before settling on AF EA assignment as an intermediate NSS solution. However, they did not dismiss the possibility that a further evolution to a Space Service, Force, or Corps, might be required for effective national defense in the future, and the time for such evolution appears to be now.
As a relevant example, in recent Congressional Testimony, the Marine Corps has presented a compelling emerging need to overcome the constraints of thick air travel and non-permissive airspace for responsive expeditionary transport and insertion. As an emerging Joint requirement, it recognizes that Marine, SOCOM, and other Joint Forces will require heretofore-unimaginable assault support speed, range, and altitude in order to achieve strategic surprise in the future. The link to space is clear. It also illustrates how the Corps' vision of inevitable future Joint requirements are largely predictable through the projection of current technical possibilities, just as it was for General Billy Mitchell almost a century before. This should encourage a revisitation of a National Security Act that does not reflect the impact emerging NSS technological opportunities will have on the nature of warfare.
Conclusion
The existing cultural dilemma is unfair to the Department of the Air Force, and will lead to the delay of our national preparations for the comprehensive role that space will play in the future of warfare. Unlike America's energetic recovery and entrance into WWII, strategic surprise in the realm of NSS could cause damage to our national security from which we cannot recover. We will be wise to learn history's lessons and take the initiative, while we still have the initiative. Establishment of a Space Service now is a sound preparation for an uncertain, yet imaginable future.
-------- spies \ spy agencies
Adviser Did Not Violate Ethics Rules, Pentagon Says
Associated Press
Monday, November 17, 2003
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49561-2003Nov16.html
The Pentagon's inspector general concluded that the former head of an influential civilian advisory group violated no ethics laws by representing companies that had major dealings with the Defense Department while he was the group's chairman.
Richard N. Perle came under scrutiny earlier this year for his business contacts while chairman of the Defense Policy Board, a bipartisan group that advises Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on policy issues. Perle resigned his chairmanship during the controversy in March, although he remains a member of the advisory board.
The IG's report, which was heavily edited to remove sensitive information, focused on Perle's business relationship with several companies, including Global Crossing Ltd. (now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection) and satellite maker Loral Space & Communications Ltd.
"Mr. Perle arguably represented Global Crossing and Loral in a particular matter which is pending in the department or agency of the government in which such employee is serving," the report says. But since Perle did not serve in his capacity as head of the advisory board for more than 60 days during the year, he did not run afoul of the ethics laws in question.
Pentagon investigators determined that Perle's work on behalf of the group amounted only to about eight days of the year.
Perle said the report confirmed that he did nothing wrong.
"I resigned the chairmanship confident that an investigation would show that there had been no wrongdoing," Perle said. "And so I'm very pleased that the inspector general has come to that conclusion."
The inspector general's findings were released by Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), who requested the inquiry, and were first reported Saturday in the New York Times.
Conyers said he will introduce legislation to fix what he called the "conflict-of-interest loopholes" identified in the report, such as the requirement of at least 60 days of service.
The inspector general also examined Perle's work on behalf of Goldman Sachs & Co. The Los Angeles Times reported that Perle briefed investors during a Goldman Sachs conference call early this year on ways to profit from conflicts in Iraq and North Korea. He had received a top-secret briefing on the crises weeks earlier.
The inspector general determined that Perle's contribution "consisted of general commentary on the world situation . . . and did not include information acquired by virtue of his position" on the board.
-------- us
Military robots bound for state
By MATTHEW VAN DUSEN
Casper Star-Tribune staff writer
Sunday, November 16, 2003
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2003/11/16/news/wyoming/3cfad4036b670af9fb875f0bcdb8bcea.txt
Casper, Wyoming - Wyoming's Camp Guernsey will be a test site for unmanned military robots by Department of Defense contractors that will likely bring defense spending to Wyoming businesses and the University of Wyoming, U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas said a press conference in Casper Saturday.
Standing in front of a small robot called MATILDA that comes complete with a grappling arm, Thomas said the project will be a "real asset for Wyoming, our National Guard, our National Guard Camp and the university."
The announcement came after the Department of Defense Joint Robotics Program completed a site survey last week.
Camp Guernsey, which is run by the Wyoming National Guard, will be one of six areas around the nation to test the military's robotics technology. Others will be in California, Alaska, Hawaii, Florida and Virginia.
Cliff Hudson, the director of joint robotics in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, said the site would be used in the first part of next year for experiments involving aerial and ground vehicles. In the first year, the project could bring in $400,000 to UW and increase over several years.
Projects on the site, however, will not be fully funded until fiscal year 2005.
Camp Guernsey was chosen because of its arid environment, high altitude, and because it is the only site of the six approved for air, land and sea testing, Thomas' Press Secretary Carrie Sloan said.
State Adjutant General Ed Wright said the move will not cost Wyoming anything since Camp Guernsey already has the infrastructure and 120 support staff at the facility.
"It's a great day for Camp Guernsey," Wright said.
He added the only impact on the town of Guernsey will be increased economic activity.
The University of Wyoming will work with the Department of Defense and its contractors to conduct research and help build better machines, William Gern, UW's vice president of the Office of Research said. Already, the Department of Defense has invested in UW professors' research into spider silk, batteries and coastal clouds, and the investment will likely increase.
The project could also bring money to local contractors that are doing research into sensor technology or anything else that has a military application.
Mike Cole, the associate program manager of small robotics at Mesa Associates of Madison, Ala., which builds MATILDA, said he has "exchanged business cards" with some Wyoming contractors he has met.
He added, "If Guernsey becomes a training center these guys have envisioned, I can see that Mesa would love to come to Wyoming."
Cole also demonstrated MATILDA, which can be used for dealing with explosives and mines and providing reconnaissance.
Among other plans for the site, Hudson said soldiers would work with the robots in simulations.
"We want to be relevant to the soldier on the battlefield," Hudson said.
The plans for Camp Guernsey are consistent with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's push to transform the military by developing new technologies, Hudson added.
----
Army Changes Helicopter Routes in Iraq
November 17, 2003
ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq-US-Helicopters.html
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- U.S. Army helicopters in Iraq are flying faster and lower, hugging the ground in an effort to avoid hostile fire after a series of deadly downings and crashes, a U.S. general said Monday.
Military officials have not determined the cause of Saturday's collision of two Black Hawk helicopters in Mosul, which killed 17 soldiers in the deadliest single incident since the Iraq war began March 20.
While some witnesses have attributed the crash to hostile fire, Brig. Gen. Mark Hertling of the 1st Armored Division, told reporters Monday that preliminary findings indicate the final report will be different from what has been presented so far.
However, hostile fire is suspected in three other crashes since Oct. 25. As a result, Hertling said, the military has altered its flight patterns over Iraq.
``Our helicopters fly different tactics,'' he said. ``They fly different routes. Every time they move somewhere, they will change the routes, they will fly lower and faster.''
Although the new tactics won't eliminate the risk to helicopters, they are expected to reduce their vulnerability by making it more difficult for insurgents to target helicopters with surface-to-air missiles or rocket-propelled grenades.
A high-flying craft can be seen from a longer distance, giving an attacker more time to target it. But a fast-moving plane skimming the terrain can only be seen at the last moment, so there's not enough time to fire with reasonable accuracy, even with a heat-seeking missile.
``Flying faster and hugging the ground is going to stop helicopters being shot down in numbers,'' said Charles Heyman, senior defense analyst for Janes Consultancy Group in London.
``You fly like you're flying an aerial motorcycle. You come out of nowhere and you are gone before anyone can reach for their weapon.''
For Iraqi civilians, the new flight patterns may mean more noise, Hertling said.
``But until we can improve and be sure that the security is improved, we're going to have to fly very low and very fast,'' Hertling said, adding that the military also is conducting searches of areas the fire is believed to be coming from.
Hertling brushed off speculation that insurgents are getting more sophisticated in targeting U.S. choppers with missiles.
``I think we've had a couple of incidents where it has been quite frankly luck,'' he said. ``An RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) launch against a helicopter. It's a big target and I think that's murder too.''
Hertling said the use of such weapons works against the Iraqi people by delaying the opening of airports to full commercial service.
There have been allegations that some of the helicopters that went to Iraq from National Guard units did not initially have the anti-missile defenses.
Following complaints from Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the Pentagon acknowledged that some helicopters from Guard units sent to Iraq between June and September lacked missile defenses but that all were upgraded by mid-September.
-------- POLICE / PRISONERS / COURTS / JUSTICE
-------- courts
Court to Rule on 'Enemy Combatant' Label
November 17, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Terror-Suspect.html
NEW YORK (AP) -- A federal appeals judge said Monday it would be ``a sea change'' in the Constitution to allow the Bush administration to designate a U.S. citizen suspected in an alleged dirty bomb plot as an enemy combatant.
In a critical showdown between the government and civil rights lawyers, two members of a three-judge federal panel seemed hesitant to embrace the government's reasoning for why Jose Padilla, 33, should be held indefinitely without access to a lawyer and without being charged.
Padilla, a Muslim, is accused of plotting with al-Qaida to detonate a ``dirty bomb,'' which uses conventional explosives to disperse radioactive materials. The former Chicago gang member was taken into custody in May 2002, and has spent most of the time since then in a naval brig in Charleston, S.C.
In the two-hour hearing before the appeals panel Monday, Deputy Solicitor General Paul D. Clement suggested that the urgency of the war against terrorism necessitated such moves.
``Al-Qaida made the battlefields the United States and they've given every indication they're trying to make the United States the battlefield again,'' he said.
The hearing marked the first time a U.S. government official has said a limited number of enemy combatants could eventually have access to an attorney. Clement told the judges that combatants such as Padilla -- a U.S. citizen being held on U.S. soil -- could get a lawyer once their value as intelligence sources has been exhausted.
But Judge Barrington D. Parker Jr. said he believed the power to designate a U.S. citizen as an enemy combatant rested with Congress, rather than the president.
Giving such power to the executive branch with only limited review by the courts, he said, would be ``a sea change in the constitutional life of this country and ... unprecedented in civilized society.''
Said Judge Rosemary S. Pooler, another member of the panel: ``If, in fact, the battlefield is the United States, I think Congress has to say that, and I don't think they have yet.'' Later, she added, ``As terrible as 9/11 was, it didn't repeal the Constitution.''
Specifically, the government was asking the court to overturn a finding by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Michael Mukasey that Padilla is entitled to meet with his lawyers and contest being designated as an enemy combatant.
Jenny Martinez, a Stanford Law School professor who argued on Padilla's behalf, said the government believed it could designate anyone, even a citizen, an enemy combatant at any time.
``This new power government is looking for is entirely unprecedented,'' she said.
The third judge on the panel, Richard C. Wesley, suggested the case shouldn't have been brought in Manhattan. ``This should be litigated in South Carolina,'' Wesley snapped.
The judges weren't expected to issue their ruling for weeks if not longer. While two of three judges expressed doubts about the government's arguments, they could still opt to refer the case to another court, as Wesley suggested.
Padilla was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare airport as he returned from Pakistan. The government said he had proposed to Abu Zubaydah, then al-Qaida's top terrorism coordinator, to steal radioactive material to detonate a dirty bomb in the United States.
Only two other people have been designated enemy combatants since the 2001 terrorist attacks: Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar who has been accused of being an al-Qaida sleeper agent, and Esam Hamdi, a Louisiana native captured during the fighting in Afghanistan.
On the Net:
http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov
-------- homeland security
Gov't. Orders Airlines to Inspect Cargo
November 17, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Cargo-Security.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government told cargo and passenger airlines on Monday that they must randomly inspect a certain amount of freight before it is loaded on planes as part of an effort to close security gaps.
Brian Turmail, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration, said the agency won't disclose publicly what percentage of cargo must be inspected because of security concerns.
Checks of air freight have been spotty, with some airlines conducting limited inspections and others doing little or nothing. Critics contend that leaves open the possibility terrorists could use packages to sneak explosives or even hijackers aboard planes. Turmail said the airlines will do the inspections under government supervision. The policy takes effect after Christmas.
TSA chief James Loy said in a written summary prepared for Congress that it's difficult to inspect all cargo because ``limitations of technology and infrastructure make such an undertaking impractical.''
Leon Lalaygian, a pilot who sits on the security committee of the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations, called the requirement a ``good initial move.''
UPS spokesman David Bolger said the company will review the government's instructions once it has received them.
The TSA also is requiring 15 foreign cargo airlines to file security plans with the federal government, describing their efforts to control access to freight and aircraft. U.S. airlines and non-U.S. passenger carriers already file such plans, Turmail said.
Earlier this month, the Homeland Security Department warned al-Qaida might be plotting to fly cargo planes from another country into such U.S. targets as nuclear plants, bridges or dams.
Some members of Congress have pressed for more stringent cargo protection, especially for freight carried aboard passenger planes. They say it is foolish to screen passengers and luggage in the cabin but not cargo in the hold.
Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said Monday that random inspections of unknown cargo on passenger planes ``provides only slightly more security to passengers than the security system in place before Sept. 11, 2001.''
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, welcomed the TSA's announcement but said more work needs to be done. ``We need a comprehensive system to better protect Americans from this potential Trojan horse,'' she said.
Criticism intensified in September when a New York shipping clerk packed himself in a crate and flew undetected to Dallas.
On the Net:
Transportation Security Administration: http://www.tsa.gov
-------- justice
Sen. Panel Eyes Justice Dept. Leak Probe
November 17, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Congress-Intelligence.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Intelligence Committee leaders plan to ask the Justice Department to investigate who leaked a top-secret Pentagon memo sent to the committee.
The Oct. 27 memo from Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith provided details of intelligence linking Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network and the toppled Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. Details of the memo were published in the Nov. 24 issue of The Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine.
Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said he expected to ask the Justice Department and the Pentagon to determine if the leak constituted a crime. If it did, a criminal investigation should be conducted, he said.
``That's highly classified material and an egregious leak of classified material,'' he told reporters.
He said committee staff drafted a letter to the Justice Department and but was waiting to consult with the panel's top Democrat, Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, before sending it.
A spokeswoman for Rockefeller, Wendy Morigi, said he would support sending the letter.
Roberts said he did not believe that the leak came from the committee.
The memo provided what the magazine described as a collection of old and new reports that Saddam had provided training, logistical and financial support for al-Qaida. It said the memo depicted ``a history of collaboration between two of America's most determined and dangerous enemies.''
A Pentagon statement Saturday said the memo did not include new information about al-Qaida's contacts with Iran. It said the memo provided details of intelligence reports Feith referred when testifying before the committee on July 10. It said the leak of classified material ``is deplorable and may be illegal.''
Committee Democrats have focused on Feith's office as they question whether the Bush administration distorted intelligence to make the case for war. The committee is examining prewar intelligence on Iraq's weapons programs and ties to terrorism. The panel's Republicans and Democrats have accused the other side of trying to manipulate the inquiry for political purposes.
The Justice Department has been investigating the leak of an undercover CIA officer's name to columnist Robert Novak in July. Novak said he got the information from two senior administration officials. The officer, Valerie Plame, is married to former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, who has said he believes his wife's identity was revealed to discredit his claims that the administration exaggerated Iraq's nuclear capabilities to make the case for war.
-------- ENERGY AND OTHER
-------- alternative energy
Abraham outlines plans for hydrogen fuel, Canadian oil
November 17, 2003
By James G. Lakely
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20031117-121118-3946r.htm
The Bush administration, which considers increasing domestic oil production as central to a national energy policy, is focusing on a plan to develop clean-burning hydrogen at home and encouraging Canada to develop untapped oil reserves.
The massive energy bill, which is expected to come up for a vote this week, will not include drilling for oil in a small portion of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, an option Mr. Bush had insisted be part of an energy program.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, in an exclusive interview Friday with reporters and editors of The Washington Times, said the administration has given up on drilling in ANWR, and will focus on hydrogen fuel-cell development and importing more oil from countries not in the Middle East.
"There are two possible routes toward a greater level of energy independence," Mr. Abraham said. "One, is that we develop an alternative fuel source, and hydrogen is our belief as to how we do that. Second, we don't become totally [oil] independent, but we shift a substantial amount of our [oil] trading relationships to Canada."
In a wide-ranging interview, Mr. Abraham said new reserves in Canada had been upgraded from "potential to proven reserves," and it would be a "good thing" if it "turns out that Canada can be a much bigger supplier" of oil to the United States.
In 1973, the United States imported 35 percent of its oil. Today, the United States imports 54 percent, and in 20 years, Mr. Abraham said, "if nothing changes, it will be 70 percent."
"We've really felt that the hydrogen initiative was the game-changing technology," said Mr. Abraham, who added that he expects hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles to reach "mass-market penetration" by 2020 if Congress "fully implements our programs."
President Bush proposed spending $1.2 billion over 10 years to help spur the change to a "hydrogen economy," which would involve building an infrastructure from the ground up to support vehicles and home generators that burn hydrogen.
Mr. Abraham said it has been difficult to establish credibility for the administration's alternative-fuel projects because critics harp on Mr. Bush's and Vice President Dick Cheney's former careers as oil executives.
"Before our energy plan was released, it was accused of being too production-oriented," Mr. Abraham said. "Once it was released, it was even more heavily so accused, though I don't think anybody could name three things in it that were production-oriented to this day.
"There were some, but it was treated as if it were 105 recommendations, each of which had the word 'ANWR' in them. I think our critics have been extraordinarily unwilling to even study what our plan is."
Mr. Abraham said the Bush plan is "balanced" and focuses on conservation and efficiency, developing more "international partners" to import oil and the development of new energy technology, but does not ignore the need for more domestic production.
"The hydrogen initiative is particularly interesting," Mr. Abraham said. "You have a president from [Texas], a state synonymous with oil production, and an energy secretary from [Michigan], a state synonymous with the internal-combustion engine, advocating something that transcends both."
The secretary said there "are just not enough oil reserves here" to solve the country's energy needs "even if we had very favorable changes in all policies, so you've got to find other places, and ideally, find other fuels."
Mr. Abraham also addressed concerns about the perception that the United States would profit from the sale of Iraqi oil once the newly liberated country ramps up production to prewar levels.
"We have made it clear that we will not tell the Iraqis what to do with their oil," Mr. Abraham said. "We did not get into this because of their oil reserves. And for that reason, among others, [the Energy Department] has not played a role, other than providing some technical experts in terms of infrastructure repair."
While some members of the provisional Iraqi Governing Council have hinted that they would favor awarding oil contracts to companies from countries such as the United States that have aided in the country's liberation - as opposed to countries such as France, Germany and Russia, which opposed it - Mr. Abraham said such concerns have never been considered by the administration.
"They will do what they decide to do, but they won't do it because we're telling them what to do and we're not going to get them to do that," Mr. Abraham said. "That's the point of view that maybe France or other countries have had because of their own economic interests, but that's not why we're there.
"It's never been and it's never going to be."
-------- energy
Industry to reap billions from energy legislation
November 17, 2003
ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.washtimes.com/business/20031116-111217-9911r.htm
Energy industries that have invested millions of dollars in lawmakers' campaigns would reap billions of dollars in tax breaks and potential new business from compromise Republican legislation.
President Bush took office promising to develop a new energy policy. Since then, energy-related businesses have contributed nearly $70 million to lawmakers and political parties, with about three-fourths of it going to Republicans, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission records by the Center for Responsive Politics.
The energy sector also gave an additional $67 million - $50 million of it to Republicans - during the 2000 election cycle, when Mr. Bush won the presidency and Republicans regained control of the Senate.
The House and Senate are expected to vote this week on the final compromise developed by Republican negotiators. The measure is designed to boost energy production, improve reliability of the electricity grids and make it easier for energy companies to develop oil and gas on federal land.
Energy interests have been "giving heavily to the Republicans for a long time, and this is what it's all about in the end. It looks like they got an energy bill that they wanted," said Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a bipartisan research group.
Environmental groups, which lobbied unsuccessfully for measures to cut energy use or promote cleaner renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power, made $2.3 million in political contributions during the past three years.
One of the biggest political contributors over the years has been Illinois-based Archer Daniels Midland, the largest producer of corn-based ethanol. The company was one of the biggest winners in the energy agreement, which doubles the use of ethanol as a gasoline additive to 5 billion gallons a year.
Since 1999, ADM has given $2.4 million in unregulated donations to political parties, $1.5 million to Republicans and $874,000 to Democrats. Such soft money donations were outlawed by campaign finance regulations that took effect last year.
The company also has contributed $371,450 directly to federal candidates since 1999, including more than $200,000 to Republicans.
The ethanol provision received bipartisan support among farm-state lawmakers. Two major proponents were Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, the lead Senate negotiator, and Minority Leader Tom Daschle, whose home state of South Dakota has nine ethanol plants.
Manufacturers of the gasoline additive MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether), which has been found to contaminate drinking water, also won big when congressional negotiators agreed to protect them from product liability lawsuits.
The bill also authorizes $1.75 billion over seven years in "transition" assistance to MTBE manufacturers, including oil companies and refiners, as they scale back production because of state bans on the product.
The bill would extend a Senate-proposed federal MTBE phaseout from four years to 10 years.
About three-fourths of the MTBE producers are based in Texas and Louisiana, and the liability protection was championed by three Republicans from those states: House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, Rep. Billy Tauzin of Louisiana, the lead House negotiator, and Rep. Joe L. Barton of Texas.
Major MTBE producers include Lyondell Petrochemicals of Houston, which has contributed $41,500 to federal candidates this year, including $10,000 to Mr. DeLay, $5,000 to Mr. Tauzin, $3,000 to Mr. Barton and $2,500 to Mr. Grassley.
Koch Industries of Wichita, Kan., another major MTBE manufacturer, has contributed $160,000 to federal candidates this year, including $5,000 to Mr. DeLay and $3,500 to Mr. Grassley; Valero Energy of San Antonio has given $139,000 to the congressional candidates, including $5,000 each to Mr. DeLay, Mr. Tauzin and Mr. Barton.
Large electric utilities got one of their long-standing priorities - repeal of the Depression-era Public Utility Holding Company Act, which restricts their activities.
They also fought off a federal effort to establish greater national control over the design and operation of transmission systems.
--------
Energy Tax Breaks Would Go to Industries
November 17, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Energy-Bill.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats failed to force any significant changes in a Republican-drafted energy bill Monday as a House-Senate conference sped toward approving the massive legislation and clear the way for final congressional approval, probably this week.
While Senate Democrats temporarily won concessions on a half-dozen issues, the changes were rejected by the GOP-dominated House negotiating team. House negotiators debated the measure late into the evening.
Among amendments turned back by the House after being offered by Senate negotiators was a provision to require electric utilities to produce 10 percent of their power from renewable fuels. The utility industry had fought the fuel use mandate.
Two-thirds of the $23 billion in tax breaks in the bill would go to the oil, gas and coal industries, prompting one Democrat to label it ``a hodgepodge of subsidies for the politically well-connected.''
Congressional estimates released Monday put the cost of the total package, the first overhaul of the nation's energy priorities in a decade, at $32 billion over 10 years, including about $9 billion for nontax measures and revenue losses.
GOP conference leaders said they were determined to complete the legislation Monday night so the House could take it up as early as Tuesday.
``This is a solid agreement,'' Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., declared as he opened the bipartisan conference designed to merge bills passed this year by the House and Senate.
He said the bill, which runs to 1,148 pages, was the product of delicate compromises between the House and Senate, and warned that to many changes could jeopardize the package.
``I don't think we can take a risk of undoing this,'' said Domenci.
Final details of the bill's tax section were completed during the weekend to end after closed negotiations on the bill over the last 2 1/2 months.
Among the bill's major provisions:
--Tax incentives total $14.5 billion for oil, natural gas and coal industries.
--More than $5.2 billion in tax credits and other tax benefits over 10 years for developing renewable energy sources, including tax breaks for corn-based ethanol.
--Doubled use of ethanol in gasoline, a boon to farmers and widely supported by both Republicans and Democrats.
--Federal rules and standards for high-voltage power lines to lessen the likelihood of cascading power failures like the one that produced last August's blackout from Michigan to New York and into Canada.
--A $1.8 billion research project to develop clean coal technology and tax benefits for a new generation of nuclear power plants to ensure diversity in energy sources for electricity production.
--Provisions to speed up permits and ease environmental rules to develop of oil and gas resources on federal land.
``We provide billions of dollars in dozens of ways to reduce our dependance on foreign oil,'' Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., chief of the House negotiators, said.
Democrats argued the legislation falls short of what is needed.
Rep. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said the bill lacks enough incentive to promote domestic production or foster energy conservation to reduce America's reliance on oil imports or guard against problems in the electricity industry that led to soaring power prices in the West two years ago or the blackout last August.
``The tax goodies go to huge energy conglomerates, and most subsidize things that the companies already are doing,'' complained Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., another of the conferees. He described the bill as ``a hodgepodge of subsidies for the politically well-connected.''
Republicans countered that the tax incentives and other provisions were a blueprint for diversifying the nation's energy sources and improve the reliability of electricity transmission systems.
Most of the tax incentives and other financial benefits -- loan guarantees, royalty relief or direct government spending -- would go to energy industries. Only about $1.5 billion in tax breaks over 10 years is earmarked for energy efficiency.
Among the measures with direct benefit to consumers would a tax credit of up to $4,000 for the purchase of hybrid gas-electric cars. The amount of the credit would depend on fuel savings and how much of the car's power would come from electricity. Hybrid cars such as Toyota's Prius now in showrooms could get credits of about $2,000 under the sliding scale
Other provisions would:
--Providing $1.1 billion to six states that have offshore oil and gas development to deal with coastal erosion. More than half of the money would go to Louisiana, a major oil and gas producer.
--Loan guarantees of up to $18 billion to carry natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to the Midwest.
--Tax credits for biodiesel fuel made from soybeans or restaurant grease.
On the Net:
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee: http://energy.senate.gov/legislation/energybill2003/energybill2003.c fm
-------- environment
14 States File Suit in Attempt to Block New E.P.A. Rules
November 17, 2003
New York Times
By TERENCE NEILAN
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/17/national/17CND-POLL.html?hp
A coalition of 14 states plus the District of Columbia filed papers in federal court today in an effort to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from introducing a new rule that the states say will seriously weaken the provisions of the Clean Air Act and send more pollution into the atmosphere.
Twelve states, led by New York, sued the E.P.A. on Oct. 27, arguing that the new regulations would lower air pollution protections and damage public health.
Today the same states, joined by California and Illinois, sought a court order blocking the new regulations, which are scheduled to be introduced on Dec. 26, in 12 states that do not administer these rules themselves. The 38 other states will have up to three years to decide whether to adopt the new rules.
The 14 states states that sued today want the new rule to be put on hold while the case is brought to trial to determine whether or not the regulations are legal. The new rule "violates the plain language of the Clean Air Act, conflicts with Congressional intent, and contradicts longstanding court rulings," the states said in a statement today.
"It is a sad day in America when a coalition of states must go to federal court to defend the Clean Air Act against the misguided actions of the federal agency created to protect the environment," the New York attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, said. "But in this matter, the E.P.A. is standing with polluters instead of with the people it is supposed to protect, and the states have no choice but to take this action."
The previous E.P.A. rules, known as New Source Review regulations, had generally required older coal-fired power plants and oil refineries to add new pollution controls if they were modernized in ways that increased harmful emissions.
But the revised standards create substantial exemptions for the industry and would halt investigations at more than 50 power plants owned by 10 different utilities, E.P.A. enforcement lawyers say.
Any modifications costing up to 20 percent of the replacement cost of the unit will be considered routine maintenance, and therefore exempt from pollution controls, Mr. Spitzer said in a statement on Oct. 27, "even if the plant modification results in much higher levels of air pollution."
Thirteen cases in which the E.P.A. had already determined that the law had been violated have been dropped, Mr. Spitzer says. He added that the states are seeking records for those cases and will file lawsuits if they are warranted.
An agency spokeswoman, Lisa Harrison, said last week that Mr. Spitzer "either already has, or has access to, all of the documents that he is referring to." Ms. Harrison has since left the agency. Her replacement, Natalie Gochnour, did not respond to a telephone call for comment on the case today.
"The Oct. 27 action and today's action are like a two-pronged approach to what from our perspective is the same problem," Mark Violette, a spokesman in Albany for Mr. Spitzer, said.
"We went into court on Oct. 27 and we said essentially this is illegal," Mr. Violette said. "We are suing the Bush administration and the E.P.A., and we will show in the course of a lawsuit, a trial, a) why this rule is injurious to the health of Americans and to the environment, and b) will show why the way the Bush administration did this is illegal."
Essentially, the request to the court today will be to block the rules from taking effect as scheduled, "while we are in the middle of a lawsuit about the legality of the rule itself," Mr. Violette said.
Today's action was filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
In addition to New York, California and Illinois, the states suing today are Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin. A number of local governments, including the city of New York and various Connecticut municipalities, have also joined the suit.
----
Rain Flushes Toilets in Robert Redford Building
Story by Dan Whitcomb
REUTERS USA:
November 17, 2003
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/22860/newsDate/17-Nov-2003/story.htm
SANTA MONICA - In the Robert Redford Building, toilets flush themselves with rainwater - except for the urinals, which use no water at all - the floors are made of bamboo and the carpets from hemp.
All of which help make it, the actor said during a dedication ceremony in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Monica on Thursday, one of the "greenest" buildings in America and a glimpse into the environmentally friendly future.
"This building to me is a model of our sustainable future," the Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker said as he cut an appropriately green ribbon on its terrace and the James Taylor song "Steamroller" played softly in the background.
Though the three-story, gray clapboard-style structure is largely unremarkable from the outside, Redford and the National Resource Defense Council activists who will work there call it a showcase of sustainable urban architecture.
The building's exterior appears to be wood but is made of a fiber and cement material. Much of the interior is lit with skylights and solar cells that provide about a fifth of its energy. Cool sea breezes augment the air conditioning and special towers draw off heat.
The structure uses about 60 percent less water than most buildings because it captures rainwater from the roof, showers and sinks and uses it to water the plants and flush the low-flow toilets. The urinals use a special cartridge to funnel away wastewater.
Inside, floors are made of bamboo because it is a fast-growing "wood substitute." The carpets are hemp - though not the kind that can be smoked. State-of-the-art fixtures consume less energy and some of the furniture was donated by the props department of the Warner Bros. film studio. The 15,000 square foot structure, originally built in 1917, was stripped down to its wooden skeleton and rebuilt as an example of urban renewal. It is completely free of formaldehyde and vinyl, and office machines that can emit fumes are confined to a room that vents to the outside.
Redford, a longtime environmental activist born and raised in Santa Monica, said the building symbolized a step forward for the conservation movement, which he said had been dealt setbacks by the Bush administration.
"We are now suffering through an administration that has, in a very calculating way, set out to undermine and destroy 30 years of hard work," he said.
"There's never been a time in my life when I've felt so challenged as a country, so challenged on the environment, as we are now."
-------- genetics
Funding Bill Gets Clause on Embryo Patents
Ban Inserted Into Appropriations Measure Stirs Political, Philosophical Debate
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 17, 2003; Page A04
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A49678-2003Nov16?language=printer
Legislative language quietly submitted Friday for incorporation into a huge appropriations bill could push Congress to abruptly confront this week the contentious question of whether the government should issue patents on human embryos or medical products that come from them.
As a result, what had been a simmering congressional debate over a seemingly arcane detail of patent law is poised to boil over into a political and philosophical battle.
Patents have long been allowed on gene-altered animals and human cells cultured in the laboratory. Until now, however, the legal landscape has been foggy on whether the tiny balls of cells that constitute the earliest stages of human development can be patented by scientists or companies that have manipulated them in novel ways.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has long said it will not issue a patent on a "human being." To do so, some argue, would violate the 13th Amendment prohibiting slavery. But the patent office has not addressed the issue of exactly when a developing embryo or fetus becomes a human being and whether its policy against patenting humans reaches back before birth.
Now that essential question, which has long been at the core of the abortion debate, is being raised in intellectual property law. At issue is the submission of Republican "clarifying language" for a Senate appropriations bill that would ban patents on human embryos, codifying a national policy for the first time. Senate leaders indicated they will push to complete action on the spending bill this week.
On one side of the emerging controversy are medical researchers and representatives of the biotechnology industry, who say conservatives are trying to carve out an overly broad ban on the patenting of potentially curative human cell lines and other embryo products as part of a larger agenda to give embryos full human rights. If that effort is successful, these scientists warn, companies will refuse to invest in what is widely believed to be one of the most promising avenues of medical research, and the field will wither.
On the other side are religious conservatives and some liberal anti-corporate advocates who contend that patenting cloned human embryos and related products is inherently unethical and would turn human life itself into just another commodity. "If patents on human embryos are allowed, then biotech companies will market babies with certain traits just like Perdue markets chicken or Ford markets sport-utility vehicles," Lori B. Andrews, a law professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, editorialized recently in the Chicago Tribune.
Both sides agree that the issue raises profound questions about when human life begins and how the products of life may be commercialized. Unexpectedly, and, some say, inappropriately, it now appears that those questions are to be dealt with by Congress for the first time in the relative obscurity of an appropriations bill for the Commerce, Justice and State departments.
Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) added the language to clarify wording in a controversial House-passed measure, his office said.
The House measure, which was introduced by Rep. David Joseph Weldon (R-Fla.) and passed by voice vote in July, would ban patents on "human organisms." Weldon has said the bill's aim is simply to ban the patenting of human embryos, fetuses and adults. But industry officials have expressed fears that the word "organisms" would ban patents not only on embryos but also on related processes and on products derived from embryos, including embryonic stem cells, which are believed to hold great potential for treating degenerative diseases.
Brownback's language seeks to make clear that the Weldon ban would not preclude patents on cell lines and other products. It reads in part: "Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect claims directed to or encompassing cells, tissues, organs, or other bodily components that are not themselves human organisms (including, but not limited to stem cells, stem cell lines, genes, and living or synthetic organs)."
His wording also states that unique processes devised by scientists to create these products would still be eligible for patents.
If Brownback's clarification survives Hill deliberations, it would mark the first time Congress had codified any aspect of the human patenting issue.
The question now facing the biotechnology industry is whether it can live with such a ban or whether, as conservatives have said, the industry's expressed fears about the Weldon bill were a smokescreen for its true goal: to keep open the option of patenting embryos.
Company representatives have largely sidestepped that question, though some, including Carl B. Feldbaum, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), have made statements suggesting they do not want to rule out the possibility of patents on certain human embryos or similar cellular creations that have been engineered to serve as sources of medicines or therapeutic stem cells.
Others have argued similarly that it would be wrong to completely close the door to such patents because it is too soon to know what kinds of acceptable goods may come from such research, including novel medicines or perhaps even healthier babies.
At a minimum, representatives of the biotechnology industry say, it would be wrong to rush through legislation dealing with such a complicated political, economic and ethical question.
"We would object to changes in patent law done through the appropriations process," said Michael J. Werner, vice president for bioethics at BIO. Werner emphasized that the industry remains opposed to patents on humans, but he declined to define what he meant by "human."
Werner said he had not seen Brownback's specific wording, but he expressed concerns that the language may intentionally or inadvertently encompass -- and hence stymie -- rapidly evolving technologies that involve the use of embryos or embryonic cells. A spokesman for BIO added that he anticipated a loud outcry from patient advocacy groups when word of the pending Hill action gets out.
But supporters of the Weldon and Brownback approach, including leaders from some religious organizations and antiabortion groups, say the patenting of human embryos would represent an offensive and unacceptable level of commodification of human life.
"The biotech industry has disseminated these imaginative and expansive claims about the Weldon amendment," said Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee. "I think this puts the spotlight on the real issue: The biotechnology industry is lobbying to keep the legal door open for patenting cloned or genetically modified human embryos to ensure the payment of royalties for each embryo created or sold under license. All of that is essential for making human embryo farms and fetus farms profitable."
Few scientists have ventured into the ethically treacherous terrain of creating genetically modified embryos -- though a few have reported doing simple cellular and genetic manipulations on embryos of the sort that could, under some interpretations of current law, be eligible for patents. But the history of patents on life forms makes it difficult to predict whether a scientist seeking such a patent might prevail. Although the patent office has generally been disinclined to grant such patents, the courts have leaned in favor. The one time the Supreme Court weighed in, in a 5 to 4 decision in 1980, it said patents could be issued on "anything under the sun made by the hand of man."
Since then, many life-form patents have been issued on everything from a mouse engineered to get breast cancer to human cell lines. In 1987, Donald J. Quigg, then commissioner of patents and trademarks, wrote in a memo: "A claim directed to or including within its scope a human being will not be considered to be patentable subject matter."
That, however, is as far as the office has gone, leaving room for confusion in the young but burgeoning field of human embryo research. Patent office officials have repeatedly asked Congress for legislative guidance.
President Bush has not addressed the patenting issue directly, and it is not clear how actively the White House will engage the new debate. Bush struggled for months to come up with a policy he announced two years ago that sought to balance the interest of federally funded researchers in having access to embryonic stem cells and opponents' desire to prevent such experiments.
-------- health
Environment Plays Role in Bowel Problems
REUTERS USA:
November 17, 2003
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/22864/newsDate/17-Nov-2003/story.htm
NEW YORK - Changing environmental factors seem to play a role in the development of two serious bowel problems-ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, new research suggests.
Classified as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), both conditions cause swelling and inflammation of the intestines. Abdominal cramps, weight loss, and bloody diarrhea are common symptoms. Although drugs are the first-line therapy, surgery is usually required for both problems.
In the new study, Dr. Subra Kugathasan, of the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and colleagues examined the rate of new cases of IBD occurring in children in Wisconsin over a two-year period.
As reported in the Journal of Pediatrics, the overall rate of IBD in children was about 7 cases per 100,000 children, according to the researchers. The rates of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis were about 4.5 and 2.5 cases per 100,000 children, respectively.
The average age of diagnosis Crohn's disease was 13.5 years, and for ulcerative colitis it was 11.8 years.
The IBD rates were similar among all ethnic groups, as well as among children from sparsely versus densely populated regions. Only 11 percent of the newly diagnosed IBD cases had close relatives with a history of the disease.
The lack of family history and the higher rate of Crohn's disease than ulcerative colitis suggest to the investigators that new environmental factors are involved.
Also, they point out, the incidence of IBD in children they documented is the highest ever reported.
"A parallel phenomenon is the dramatic increase in asthma during the same period in the West," Kugathasan and colleagues note. "The concomitant emergence of chronic inflammation in the lung and gut also supports the concept that changing environmental factors play a pivotal role in the increased frequency of these disorders in children."
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Health Experts Fear Reemergence of SARS Virus
Greatest Worries Are All the Unknowns, Including Whether Outbreak Could Mimic Spanish Flu That Killed Millions
By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 17, 2003; Page A10
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A49661-2003Nov16?language=printer
Nearly five months after they contained the SARS outbreak, health authorities are bracing for the possibility that the frightening lung infection could reemerge, sparking another deadly and disruptive global health emergency.
Because respiratory infections often come and go with the seasons, and because the first cases were detected a year ago in southern China, experts worry that the flu season just getting underway in the Northern Hemisphere will be accompanied by a resurgence of severe acute respiratory syndrome.
"We don't know whether SARS will return this year. It could. We don't have crystal balls, unfortunately," said John MacKenzie, an Australian microbiologist working as a consultant on SARS at the World Health Organization in Geneva. "So we have to be prepared."
A new outbreak could occur if the SARS virus is transmitted again from wild animals to people. It could also flare up if the pathogen has been spreading undetected among people in rural China or elsewhere. Or it could escape from one of the many laboratories where scientists are studying the virus, as occurred in Singapore, where a 27-year-old laboratory worker became infected in September.
Another possibility is that SARS will behave like Ebola, which erupts in periodic outbreaks and then disappears for long periods of time, only to strike again without warning.
But what worries health experts most is that SARS could mimic the devastating Spanish flu of 1918, which killed millions.
"If you want a really scary scenario, think about 1918. There was a small bump the year before, and then it disappeared. People breathed a sigh of relief. Then it came back the following year and 'wham!' " said Alfred Sommer, dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
If the disease reappears, many experts say, it remains unclear how well the world could defend against the virus, which sickened more than 8,000 people this year, killed 780 and staggered the economies of Toronto, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. Scientists have been racing to learn more about the virus since the outbreak ended July 5. But many important questions remain. Researchers still do not know, for example, which animals are the virus's main hiding place -- crucial information for preventing another species jump. And although they are studying promising treatments and vaccines, and the accuracy and reliability of diagnostic tests has improved somewhat, doctors would have to fight an epidemic without new weapons.
"Do we have a drug? No. Do we have a vaccine? No. And we don't have a good diagnostic test," said Klaus Stohr, a SARS expert at WHO. "So we'd have to rely on what worked last time."
Luckily, Stohr and others said, if the virus comes back in the same form it took earlier this year, and in a place that had experience with the disease, what worked last time would probably work again: rapidly identifying and isolating cases.
Aside from rare events involving "superspreaders," each sick person infected about three others, which is on the low end of the spectrum for respiratory diseases. Flu victims, for example, typically infect dozens of others. In addition, it is now clear that SARS-infected people spread the virus primarily about a week after they get sick, when they are usually very ill. That explains why most of the outbreaks during the epidemic occurred in hospitals, and helps minimize the spread of the virus in the general community.
"That's why SARS was brought under control relatively quickly with these simple public health measures," said Roy M. Anderson, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the Imperial College in London. "We were lucky last time around. I don't think people realize the degree to which luck played a role."
Infectious-disease experts also believe many hospital infections occurred while patients were having tubes inserted in their throats to help them breathe, and think they now know how to minimize that danger.
A new outbreak could be devastating, however, if it occurred in a part of the world that has a weak health system, such as many parts of Africa and Asia, or if it came back in a mutated form that spread more easily or killed more frequently.
Public health authorities are trying to be as well prepared as possible. Most experts agree that China learned its lesson from the first outbreak, when authorities kept the epidemic secret, allowing the virus to circumnavigate the globe. Beijing is now working closely with WHO and has an intensive surveillance system in southern China aimed at detecting any new cases early.
In the United States, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a detailed proposal last month for how hospitals and public health agencies should respond to various scenarios. The agency proposed a number of measures, including requiring every patient that comes into a hospital with respiratory symptoms to immediately don a surgical mask and be isolated.
The level of preparedness, however, varies significantly from hospital to hospital, and from community to community, many public health officials said. It remains unclear whether hospitals would have enough trained staff members, respirators and isolation rooms to cope with a large outbreak.
"Surge capacity could be a problem," said Larry J. Anderson of the CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases. "But I think we've come a long way. We've learned a lot about SARS and strategies to prevent spread."
WHO held meetings in Geneva last month to assess the state of scientific knowledge and public health preparedness. The agency called for tighter security at labs studying the virus to avoid a repeat of the Singapore accident. It also laid out criteria for evaluating potential therapies, including traditional Chinese remedies, in an outbreak.
Perhaps the most pressing decision was to organize an international network of laboratories that could validate test results. Authorities are deeply concerned that the flu and other respiratory infections that appear similar to SARS could set off false alarms that would quickly overwhelm hospitals and public health departments and cause economically devastating panics.
"The thing that I'm most concerned about at the moment is that we have no quality assurance," said WHO's MacKenzie. "How will we know if the test is a false positive or not?"
To try to minimize the number of false alarms, WHO is recommending that people with symptoms that look like SARS be tested routinely for the virus only if they are in countries where the disease occurred this spring.
But many experts said that because public health systems have been badly neglected for years, the world remains woefully ill-prepared to respond to any major new pandemics -- whether it be SARS, the next particularly virulent flu or some new menacing microbe.
"It's going to be a difficult winter in Toronto. I can't say I'm looking forward to it," said Allison McGeer, an infectious-disease expert at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto who was among the dozens of health care workers who contracted the disease. "But what I'm really worried about is that SARS will not be the catalyst that gets us to make a fundamental investment in our public health infrastructure. That's what's really scary."
-------- ACTIVISTS
Protests Planned for Bush's U.K. Visit
By JANE WARDELL
Associated Press Writer
Nov 17, 2003
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BRITAIN_BUSH_PROTESTS?SITE=DCTMS&SECTION=HOME
LONDON (AP) -- Children, peace activists, anarchists and at least one well-known American war veteran spent Monday planning protests against President Bush for his upcoming state visit.
The rallies scheduled during Bush's visit beginning Tuesday are expected to be loud, colorful and well-organized. One plans to pull down an effigy of Bush in central London's Trafalgar Square.
"This is the man who is in charge of the administration that's killed 8,000 Afghanis and 10,000 Iraqis," said Ghada Razuki of the Stop the War Coalition. "He is adding insult to injury by coming to our country, and he's going to find out that he's not welcome."
Ron Kovic, the disabled U.S. Vietnam veteran and anti-war campaigner whose life story was filmed as "Born on the Fourth of July," led a delegation to Prime Minister Tony Blair's office Monday to hand in a petition allegedly bearing more than 85,000 signatures asking that Bush's invitation be withdrawn.
"We're going to stop this war (in Iraq) and change both of our countries. We're going to change the world," Kovic said.
The coalition hopes 60,000 people will join Thursday's main anti-Bush march through London. More than 3,000 "Stop Bush" placards have been printed.
Several smaller rallies are planned throughout the country during Bush's stay, which ends Friday.
The president says he understands why people oppose war.
"I understand particularly when I go and hug the moms and dads and brothers and sisters and sons and daughters of those who died," Monday's edition of The Sun newspaper in London quoted him as saying.
"I can also see the consequences of not acting, of hoping for the best in the face of tyrannical killers."
The Stop the War Coalition organized a February anti-war rally in London that drew more than 1 million Britons.
"Our message to Bush is firstly, get your troops out, and secondly, if you think you can go into another country in the same way, think again," Razuki said.
Several other European anti-war groups - including France's Non a la Guerre (No to War), Italy's Ya Basta (Enough's Enough) and the Axis of Peace Coalition of France, Germany and Russia - will participate.
The rallies also are expected to attract hundreds of schoolchildren. Verity Marriott, 16, who is organizing student "strikes," called it truancy for a good cause.
Sir John Stevens, head of the Metropolitan Police in London, said security for Bush's visit is unprecedented. Stevens canceled holidays for London officers and the security bill for taxpayers is expected to top $4.7 million.
The protests feed on widespread unhappiness in Britain about the war and its aftermath, and low regard for Bush.
In a recent poll, 59 percent of respondents said America's standing in the world has diminished under Bush, while 60 percent disapproved of his performance in Iraq. Forty-seven percent said Bush did not seem capable of being president.
The Populus polling agency interviewed 964 adults by telephone between Nov. 7-9 for The Times survey. The margin of error was 3 percentage points.
On the Web:
Stop the War Coalition: http://www.stopwar.org.uk
Metropolitan Police: http://www.met.police.uk
--------
Protests Loom In London for Visit by Bush
Trip Was Intended to Showcase Success of the Alliance in Iraq
By Glenn Frankel
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, November 17, 2003; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A49922-2003Nov16?language=printer
LONDON -- When an aging cargo ship from Virginia loaded with toxic waste crawled into Newcastle's harbor in northeast England last week, Peter Brookes, editorial cartoonist for the Times of London, quickly saw an analogy. He drew President Bush's face on the bow, with a sign reading "Highly Toxic."
Bush doesn't arrive here until Tuesday evening, but his four-day state visit to Britain already has set off protests and criticism aimed at him and his geo-strategic partner and close friend: Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The trip, planned months ago, was supposed to be a celebration of the Anglo-American alliance following the anticipated triumph of U.S. and British forces in Iraq. Blair's aides had looked forward to what they called a "Baghdad bounce" in the polls that would restore their leader's popularity at home. Bush's aides had relished the chance for the president to present his vision of the war on terrorism on the world stage in the relatively friendly and secure environment of America's closest ally.
But the escalating violence in Iraq -- combined with a series of lingering disputes between the two governments and perceived slights from Washington -- has tarnished the glow. The trip has become an opportunity for antiwar protesters to stage three days of demonstrations. One protest leader, Lindsey German, called Bush "the most unwelcome guest this country has ever received." Critics across the political spectrum here are raising anew questions about Blair's close partnership with a conservative Republican administration.
"Unless Saddam Hussein arrives and gives himself up personally to the queen, I can't see any upside at all for Blair," said Peter Riddell, author of "Hug Them Close," a new book about American-British relations. "You'd have to go back to the Vietnam War to find a time when a presidential visit would have been so controversial."
Many Britons say Bush is taking advantage of his junior partner by coming here for photo ops with Blair and Queen Elizabeth, his official hostess for the visit, to help launch his reelection campaign. Some Democrats, among them Sidney Blumenthal, a former Clinton White House aide, have chided their counterparts in Blair's left-of-center Labor Party for bestowing political aid and comfort on a Republican president. But analysts warn that the visit could backfire on Bush.
"I think Americans will be surprised to see the extent of the antipathy toward Bush here," said James P. Rubin, a former assistant secretary of state in the Clinton administration who now teaches at the London School of Economics. "When they think of Britain they think Tony Blair, our stalwart ally, and they're probably not aware that in terms of public opinion Britain is not all that different from the rest of Europe."
Britain was America's closest ally before and during the Iraq conflict, thanks largely to Blair's personal commitment. But a large majority of Britons favored winning U.N. approval before launching military action. Although the public rallied behind British troops during the conflict, support for the war -- and for Blair -- has plummeted in the months since, especially among members of the ruling Labor Party.
Bush, labeled "the Toxic Texan" by critics here, has never been a popular figure in Britain. A poll last week for the antiwar Daily Mirror newspaper found that three of four Britons surveyed believed Bush's war on terrorism had made the world a more dangerous place. Things have gotten so bad that commentators noted the high number of compliments Bush paid Blair in a recent interview with British reporters -- Riddell counted 15 during the 40-minute session -- and warned that each one could further damage Blair's political standing.
On Sunday, Bush said he was not worried by the prospect of protests during his visit, the Reuters news agency reported from Washington. "No, not concerned at all," he said. "Glad to be going to a free country where people are allowed to protest."
Beginning with Harry Truman in 1952, Queen Elizabeth has met every one of the 11 U.S. presidents who have served during her reign. But the invitation to Bush is the first formal state visit ever for an American leader. It came about reportedly through the hard work of U.S. Ambassador William S. Farish, a Bush family friend and major Republican Party donor.
Farish has been all but invisible during his three years here, but maintains close ties to the royal family, due in part to a shared interest in horse racing and breeding -- the queen sends mares to Lane's End, his stud farm in Kentucky, and she reportedly has visited there four times. The trip was first broached 18 months ago, officials said, and final plans were cemented in the spring, just after U.S. and British forces rolled through Iraq.
"They probably thought it would be a victory lap," Rubin said.
Already, officials say, the trip has been a planning nightmare. Bush and his wife, Laura, are scheduled to spend the first two nights at Buckingham Palace in the heart of London, and the Secret Service has demanded that a large area be sealed off to protect the president from potential terrorists and from the 100,000 or so demonstrators expected to protest in the streets. About 250 armed Secret Service agents have been assigned to supplement Scotland Yard's extensive forces. But the queen reportedly vetoed, as too noisy, plans for a Black Hawk helicopter to hover over Buckingham Palace.
Polls indicate that many Britons resent the planned show of force, the potential disruption and the estimated $10 million bill for presidential security. But there is much deeper resentment stemming from the widespread sense that Blair has gotten little but grief from a relationship that, viewed from here, looks increasingly one-sided.
While insisting publicly that relations have never been better, British officials privately keep a laundry list of complaints about the Bush administration, beginning with Iraq itself -- both the run-up to the war and the aftermath. The British had pushed behind the scenes for more time for U.N. weapons inspectors to complete their task before taking military action, but say they were overruled by impatient hawks in the White House and Pentagon.
After the initial fighting ended, they proposed maintaining the Iraqi army, albeit under a different command structure, and pressed for a faster handover to local authorities. Most of all, they have complained that they are seldom consulted, much less heeded, by U.S. officials despite having 10,000 troops on the ground in southern Iraq.
There are other sources of tension, from the ongoing detention without charge or trial at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, of nine British nationals suspected of terrorism, to Washington's alarm over British involvement in the new European Union defense project and the Bush administration's effective abandonment of the "road map" diplomatic initiative in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Washington has also viewed critically a British-French-German effort to negotiate an end to Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program. Apprised of Europe's carrot-and-stick approach to Iran, Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton mockingly told a recent seminar here, "I don't do carrots."
In all of these areas, British officials complain they have gotten little or no support from Washington. "The feeling is that every time something really matters, Blair has to go and beg personally for it," said Bronwen Maddox, foreign affairs columnist for the Times. "There have been a lot of bruises this year."
Blair, as always, has put the most positive face on the Bush visit, insisting in a recent speech that "this is exactly the right time for him to come."
"The first thing you learn in politics is that those that protest the most or shout the loudest aren't necessarily entirely representative of the whole of opinion," he said in an interview last week. "Most people in this country, I believe, are immensely proud of the American alliance and support it."
The queen and the president have met before, most famously in 1991 during his father's administration when he made her smile by wearing cowboy boots stamped with "God Save the Queen" during her visit to the White House. U.S. and British officials are hoping his quirky charm, combined with his deeply held belief that he is protecting the world from rogue states and terrorism, will somehow capture hearts and minds here.
"The president cannot back down from this fight," said one U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "If you don't address the issue, then the argument goes by default to the other side. And this is still the best European capital, the best environment, to make the case."
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Pope Condemns Violence in Middle East
Associated Press
Monday, November 17, 2003
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50278-2003Nov16.html
VATICAN CITY, Nov. 16 -- In his traditional Sunday appearance in St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul II condemned violence in Iraq, Turkey and the Holy Land, and criticized Israel for building a wall to shut out Palestinians.
John Paul noted that many saw the security barrier as a new obstacle to Middle East peace. "In reality, the Holy Land doesn't need walls, but bridges," he told the crowd from his studio window.
The pope called for leaders on both sides of the conflict to "have the courage to restart dialogue and negotiations, thus freeing the path toward a Middle East reconciled in justice and peace."
"Once again, in these recent days, terrorism has committed its evil work, particularly in Iraq and Turkey," John Paul said.
He said he was praying for the families of the victims and for those caring for the injured. Respect for life must prevail over violence and hatred, he said.
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