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NUCLEAR
Einstein peer blasts Bush administration for its nuclear stance
Hydrogen Production Method Could Bolster Fuel Supplies
Physicist Martin Berger; Studied Radiation
Uranium cleanups may lean on weeds
Gulf War syndrome revisited
Pakistan's PM reiterates commitment to nuclear, missile plan
Iran 'has secret nuclear lab'
Iran vows not to give up demand for exempting 20 centrifuges
Iran apparently agrees to stop enrichment
MILITARY
Ivory Coast colonel says he saw French troops fire on crowd
Israel to purchase Indian copter in bilateral weapons deal
Relatives fear for forgotten war wounded
U.S. uses napalm gas in Fallujah - Witnesses
FALLUJAH NAPALMED
FARC said to call for attack on Bush
US building army base near Iran border
After Falluja, U.S. Troops Fight a New Battle
Marines Widen Their Net South of Baghdad
Scandal-shocked Israelis ask if the army has lost its way
Only Palestinian security forces should carry arms: Abbas
A Girl's Chilling Death in Gaza
Arafat family stirs pot of death conspiracies
US urges ban on antitank mines, but will shun Nairobi talks
Troops Hunting Al Qaeda Members Withdrawn
CIA Documents Show Bush Knew of 2002 Coup in Venezuela
White House Gets Involved In CIA, FBI Talent Search
Blue-ribbon panel to recommend UNSC reform
POLITICS
Hating America on Fox: An Open Letter to John Gibson
Neocons join the lynch mob for 'arrogant' Rumsfeld
Ukrainian Parliament Declares Vote Invalid
Comment: Michael Portillo:
OTHER
Quick update on Ashcroft v. Raich
Homeless Could Use More Reason To Give Thanks
In the Wide-Open Spaces, A Shelter for the Homeless
ACTIVISTS
Kuwaiti anti-war cleric sentenced
Focus: Talking about a revolution
Actress Vanessa Redgrave Helps to Launch Human Rights Party
-------- NUCLEAR
Einstein peer blasts Bush administration for its nuclear stance
posted by zogger
Sunday November 28, 2004
Technocrat.net
http://technocrat.net/article.pl?sid=04/11/28/239218
Physicist Joseph Rotblat in an interview gives his thoughts on "The Bomb", politics and why he doesn't like where things are going.
From the interview intro: "Joseph Rotblat has been a nuclear scientist since 1937, virtually the beginnings of nuclear science. A member of the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb, he resigned from the project, has been working since -- for more than 50 years -- on nuclear disarmament.
He is the last surviving signatory on the Russell-Einstein Manifesto, a document penned by Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein in 1955 and signed by 11 of the prominent nuclear scientists of the time. The Manifesto called attention to the danger of nuclear weapons eliminating the human race, and urged governments to wake up and find other solutions to conflict. The press release announcing the Manifesto was chaired by Dr. Rotblat.
In 1957 he co-founded Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, now an organization with national groups in over 50 countries dedicated to eliminating the nuclear threat and finding peaceful solutions to conflict. In 1995, Dr. Rotblat shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Pugwash. The interview that follows was conducted in his office at the London, England office of Pugwash, on October 25, 2004. " ...long Q and A interview at article link.
From the answer on why he thought the two great thinkers would author such a piece, part of his reply
" ....We felt that we must warn people, the governments. We had to tell them. People didn't realize the great danger. The manifesto tells them that if the human race is to survive, you must stop having wars."
Below is the Manifesto in its entirety:
" The Russell-Einstein Manifesto
Issued in London, 9 July 1955
IN the tragic situation which confronts humanity, we feel that scientists should assemble in conference to appraise the perils that have arisen as a result of the development of weapons of mass destruction, and to discuss a resolution in the spirit of the appended draft.
We are speaking on this occasion, not as members of this or that nation, continent, or creed, but as human beings, members of the species Man, whose continued existence is in doubt. The world is full of conflicts; and, overshadowing all minor conflicts, the titanic struggle between Communism and anti-Communism.
Almost everybody who is politically conscious has strong feelings about one or more of these issues; but we want you, if you can, to set aside such feelings and consider yourselves only as members of a biological species which has had a remarkable history, and whose disappearance none of us can desire.
We shall try to say no single word which should appeal to one group rather than to another. All, equally, are in peril, and, if the peril is understood, there is hope that they may collectively avert it.
We have to learn to think in a new way. We have to learn to ask ourselves, not what steps can be taken to give military victory to whatever group we prefer, for there no longer are such steps; the question we have to ask ourselves is: what steps can be taken to prevent a military contest of which the issue must be disastrous to all parties?
The general public, and even many men in positions of authority, have not realized what would be involved in a war with nuclear bombs. The general public still thinks in terms of the obliteration of cities. It is understood that the new bombs are more powerful than the old, and that, while one A-bomb could obliterate Hiroshima, one H-bomb could obliterate the largest cities, such as London, New York, and Moscow.
No doubt in an H-bomb war great cities would be obliterated. But this is one of the minor disasters that would have to be faced. If everybody in London, New York, and Moscow were exterminated, the world might, in the course of a few centuries, recover from the blow. But we now know, especially since the Bikini test, that nuclear bombs can gradually spread destruction over a very much wider area than had been supposed.
It is stated on very good authority that a bomb can now be manufactured which will be 2,500 times as powerful as that which destroyed Hiroshima. Such a bomb, if exploded near the ground or under water, sends radio-active particles into the upper air. They sink gradually and reach the surface of the earth in the form of a deadly dust or rain. It was this dust which infected the Japanese fishermen and their catch of fish. No one knows how widely such lethal radio-active particles might be diffused, but the best authorities are unanimous in saying that a war with H-bombs might possibly put an end to the human race. It is feared that if many H-bombs are used there will be universal death, sudden only for a minority, but for the majority a slow torture of disease and disintegration.
Many warnings have been uttered by eminent men of science and by authorities in military strategy. None of them will say that the worst results are certain. What they do say is that these results are possible, and no one can be sure that they will not be realized. We have not yet found that the views of experts on this question depend in any degree upon their politics or prejudices. They depend only, so far as our researches have revealed, upon the extent of the particular expert's knowledge. We have found that the men who know most are the most gloomy.
Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war? People will not face this alternative because it is so difficult to abolish war.
The abolition of war will demand distasteful limitations of national sovereignty. But what perhaps impedes understanding of the situation more than anything else is that the term "mankind" feels vague and abstract. People scarcely realize in imagination that the danger is to themselves and their children and their grandchildren, and not only to a dimly apprehended humanity. They can scarcely bring themselves to grasp that they, individually, and those whom they love are in imminent danger of perishing agonizingly. And so they hope that perhaps war may be allowed to continue provided modern weapons are prohibited.
This hope is illusory. Whatever agreements not to use H-bombs had been reached in time of peace, they would no longer be considered binding in time of war, and both sides would set to work to manufacture H-bombs as soon as war broke out, for, if one side manufactured the bombs and the other did not, the side that manufactured them would inevitably be victorious.
Although an agreement to renounce nuclear weapons as part of a general reduction of armaments would not afford an ultimate solution, it would serve certain important purposes. First, any agreement between East and West is to the good in so far as it tends to diminish tension. Second, the abolition of thermo-nuclear weapons, if each side believed that the other had carried it out sincerely, would lessen the fear of a sudden attack in the style of Pearl Harbour, which at present keeps both sides in a state of nervous apprehension. We should, therefore, welcome such an agreement though only as a first step.
Most of us are not neutral in feeling, but, as human beings, we have to remember that, if the issues between East and West are to be decided in any manner that can give any possible satisfaction to anybody, whether Communist or anti-Communist, whether Asian or European or American, whether White or Black, then these issues must not be decided by war. We should wish this to be understood, both in the East and in the West.
There lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge, and wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? We appeal as human beings to human beings: Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise; if you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal death.
Resolution:
WE invite this Congress, and through it the scientists of the world and the general public, to subscribe to the following resolution:
"In view of the fact that in any future world war nuclear weapons will certainly be employed, and that such weapons threaten the continued existence of mankind, we urge the governments of the world to realize, and to acknowledge publicly, that their purpose cannot be furthered by a world war, and we urge them, consequently, to find peaceful means for the settlement of all matters of dispute between them."
Max Born Percy W. Bridgman Albert Einstein Leopold Infeld Frederic Joliot-Curie Herman J. Muller Linus Pauling Cecil F. Powell Joseph Rotblat Bertrand Russell Hideki Yukawa "
--------
Hydrogen Production Method Could Bolster Fuel Supplies
By MATTHEW L. WALD
November 28, 2004
NY TIMES
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/28/politics/28hydrogen.html?pagewanted=print&position=
WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 - Researchers at a government nuclear laboratory and a ceramics company in Salt Lake City say they have found a way to produce pure hydrogen with far less energy than other methods, raising the possibility of using nuclear power to indirectly wean the transportation system from its dependence on oil.
The development would move the country closer to the Energy Department's goal of a "hydrogen economy," in which hydrogen would be created through a variety of means, and would be consumed by devices called fuel cells, to make electricity to run cars and for other purposes. Experts cite three big roadblocks to a hydrogen economy: manufacturing hydrogen cleanly and at low cost, finding a way to ship it and store it on the vehicles that use it, and reducing the astronomical price of fuel cells.
"This is a breakthrough in the first part," said J. Stephen Herring, a consulting engineer at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, which plans to announce the development on Monday with Cerametec Inc. of Salt Lake City.
The developers also said the hydrogen could be used by oil companies to stretch oil supplies even without solving the fuel cell and transportation problems.
Mr. Herring said the experimental work showed the "highest-known production rate of hydrogen by high-temperature electrolysis."
But the plan requires the building of a new kind of nuclear reactor, at a time when the United States is not even building conventional reactors. And the cost estimates are uncertain.
The heart of the plan is an improvement on the most convenient way to make hydrogen, which is to run electric current through water, splitting the H2O molecule into hydrogen and oxygen. This process, called electrolysis, now has a drawback: if the electricity comes from coal, which is the biggest source of power in this country, then the energy value of the ingredients - the amount of energy given off when the fuel is burned - is three and a half to four times larger than the energy value of the product. Also, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions increase when the additional coal is burned.
Hydrogen can also be made by mixing steam with natural gas and breaking apart both molecules, but the price of natural gas is rising rapidly.
The new method involves running electricity through water that has a very high temperature. As the water molecule breaks up, a ceramic sieve separates the oxygen from the hydrogen. The resulting hydrogen has about half the energy value of the energy put into the process, the developers say. Such losses may be acceptable, or even desirable, because hydrogen for a nuclear reactor can be substituted for oil, which is imported and expensive, and because the basic fuel, uranium, is plentiful.
The idea is to build a reactor that would heat the cooling medium in the nuclear core, in this case helium gas, to about 1,000 degrees Celsius, or more than 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. The existing generation of reactors, used exclusively for electric generation, use water for cooling and heat it to only about 300 degrees Celsius.
The hot gas would be used two ways. It would spin a turbine to make electricity, which could be run through the water being separated. And it would heat that water, to 800 degrees Celsius. But if electricity demand on the power grid ran extremely high, the hydrogen production could easily be shut down for a few hours, and all of the energy could be converted to electricity, designers say.
The goal is to create a reactor that could produce about 300 megawatts of electricity for the grid, enough to run about 300,000 window air-conditioners, or produce about 2.5 kilos of hydrogen per second. When burned, a kilo of hydrogen has about the same energy value as a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline. But fuel cells, which work without burning, get about twice as much work out of each unit of fuel. So if used in automotive fuel cells, the reactor might replace more than 400,000 gallons of gasoline per day.
The part of the plan that the laboratory and the ceramics company have tested is high-temperature electrolysis. There is only limited experience building high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, though, and no one in this country has ordered any kind of big reactor, even those of more conventional design, in 30 years, except for those whose construction was canceled before completion.
Another problem is that the United States has no infrastructure for shipping large volumes of hydrogen. Currently, most hydrogen is produced at the point where it is used, mostly in oil refineries. Hydrogen is used to draw the sulfur out of crude oil, and to break up hydrocarbon molecules that are too big for use in liquid fuel, and change the carbon-hydrogen ratio to one more favorable for vehicle fuel.
Mr. Herring suggested another use, however: recovering usable fuel from the Athabasca Tar Sands in Alberta, Canada. The reserves there may hold the largest oil deposits in the world, but extracting them and converting them into a gasoline substitute requires copious amounts of steam and hydrogen, both products of the reactor.
-------
Physicist Martin Berger; Studied Radiation
Washington Post
By Joe Holley
November 28, 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17030-2004Nov27.html
Martin J. Berger, 82, a physicist whose early work and calculations have become standard reference data for the radiologic sciences, died Nov. 6 of an intracranial hemorrhage as the result of a fall at a Bethesda gas station. A Bethesda resident, he had lived in the Washington area since 1952.
During his long career, Dr. Berger conducted research in mathematical physics on the penetration, diffusion and slowing of high-energy radiations through matter. His work in the 1950s focused on the development of gamma-ray transport theory and Monte Carlo calculations, a computer technique for arriving at an approximate solution to mathematical and physical problems. He also worked on charged-particle transport, with an emphasis on electrons and protons.
His findings not only provided basic radiation data but remain pertinent to modern medical radiation dosage research, including medical protocols and therapy planning.
Those findings had biomedical applications to nuclear medicine, cancer therapy and space science, fields in which scientists and engineers relied on his discoveries to build radiation shields for people and equipment on spacecraft. His work also was useful in the study of food preservation and sterilization.
Dr. Berger was born in Vienna. He was 16 when Germany annexed Austria in 1938. He was able to escape to England, where he spent 18 months living in a refugee camp for boys and with various English families, but never saw his parents again.
Helped by a Quaker family in the Philadelphia area, he immigrated to the United States in 1940 and became a U.S. citizen in 1944.
He didn't finish high school but was encouraged by an older cousin, a scientist, to study physics on his own. He took a University of Chicago entrance exam and was accepted.
After receiving his bachelor of science degree in physics, he served in the U.S. Army in the Aleutian Islands from 1944 to 1946. He returned to the University of Chicago after the war and studied physics, receiving a master of science degree in 1948 and a doctorate in 1951. His thesis work involved the scattering of fast charged particles. He also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in statistics in the early 1950s.
In 1952, he joined the staff of the National Bureau of Standards, now the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in the Radiation Theory Section. He became chief of the section in 1964. In 1978, he became the group leader of the Radiation Theory Group, a position he held until retiring in 1988.
From his retirement until his death, he continued to work on radiation transport problems under contracts with the National Institute of Standards and Technology and others.
He was considered the father of modern electron and proton Monte Carlo methods. He wrote more than 140 scientific applications, including the seminal 1963 monograph, "Monte Carlo Calculation of the Penetration and Diffusion of Fast Charged Particles." Monte Carlo techniques, using machine-generated random numbers, are a tool for answering questions that cannot be addressed easily by experimental investigations.
---------
Uranium cleanups may lean on weeds
The Denver Post
By Electa Draper
November 28, 2004
http://www.indystar.com/articles/4/198131-6584-010.html
Troublesome weed and symbol of the West's vast open desert, the tumbling tumbleweed captures more than imaginations -- it traps uranium.
The recently released work of a researcher at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology shows that a good crop of tumbleweeds, harvested before their windblown travels begin, could be an effective tool in absorbing toxic heavy metals from soil at inactive uranium mines and other contaminated areas. The EPA estimates that the western United States has as many as 12,000 inactive mines.
With Department of Defense funding, researcher Dana Ulmer-Scholle tested tumbleweeds at two New Mexico sites: an old mine near Grants and an unidentified military training facility. Such sites, contaminated by depleted uranium from spent armor-piercing munitions, are hard and costly to clean up the conventional way -- by removing, transporting, reburying and encasing tons of dirt.
The use of enough tumbleweeds could complete some projects in a decade or so, Ulmer-Scholle said.
It's long been known that some plants absorb metals they don't need, Ulmer-Scholle said. There are arsenic-loving ferns. Old-time prospectors learned to train their Geiger counters on junipers to find buried uranium lodes. And Ulmer-Scholle had hoped some native grasses also would be good at capturing uranium.
But nuisance tumbleweeds, both the somewhat spherical Russian thistle and the Christmas-tree-shaped kochia, absorb uranium at much greater rates.
Research continues. But the uranium-enriched plants likely would be harvested and burned. The uranium would be filtered out and disposed of in hazardous waste dumps.
------- depleted uranium
Gulf War syndrome revisited
Nov 28, 2004
axisoflogic.com
By Vicki Brower
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_13951.shtml
As troops returned home from the war in Iraq in late April, many wondered whether some would soon fall ill, as did thousands of those who fought in the first Gulf War (GWI) in 1991. During the past 12 years, nearly half of the 700,000 GWI veterans have sought treatment for a wide range of symptoms that many suspect were linked to exposure to depleted uranium, pesticides, vaccines, particulate matter and gases from burning oil wells, biological and chemical weapons, and the anti-nerve-gas drug pyridostigmine bromide (PB). About 29% of soldiers who were deployed are now considered to be disabled due to their wartime service, 23% are receiving disability benefits, and tens of thousands of the rest are still plagued by illness, but do not fall into these categories because of the lack of a clear-cut diagnosis.
For more than a decade, soldiers were told that no single cause, except stress, could explain complaints as diverse as headaches, dizziness, fatigue, bone and joint pain, memory loss, problems with sleep and concentration, muscle weakness, skin rashes and sores, and gastrointestinal problems. The US government cited statistics that showed that GWI veterans were not dying or being hospitalized at higher rates than other soldiers. However, it could not explain how stress could wreak such havoc on health, or why GWI veterans were being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at twice the rate of other groups. But new research is putting the stress diagnosis to rest and, after 12 years of desperation for the veterans, answers to the mystery surrounding GW syndrome are being found. This should lead not only to effective treatments, but also to more protection for soldiers and the general population against future military and terrorist attacks.
In June 2002, the 12-member Research Advisory Committee (RAC) on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses released an interim report that brought together studies pointing to several types of neurological damage in the afflicted veterans (http://www.va.gov/RAC-GWVI). In the following October, the US government's "The [US] government is finally realizing that the nature of war is changing, and that soldiers can be damaged by weapons other than bullets and bombs" Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) made a 180-degree turnaround by publicly acknowledging that strong evidence exists that many GWI veterans are suffering from brain damage caused by different combinations of exposure to toxins. Deputy Secretary Leo Mackay Jr admitted in an address to the RAC that, in the past, the US government had "a tin ear, cold heart and a closed mind" about toxic chemical exposure and drug-chemical interactions as possible causes of GW syndrome. "The [US] government is finally realizing that the nature of war is changing, and that soldiers can be damaged by weapons other than bullets and bombs," said Steve Robinson, Executive Director of the National Gulf War Resource Center (NGWRC; Silver Spring, MD, USA; http://www.ngwrc.org), a veterans' health advocacy group that was founded in 1995. According to this organization, incidences of illness in forward-deployed GWI units are higher than those in non-deployed units; 42% of those who entered Iraq and Kuwait are ill, as compared with 31% who served on land in support areas, and 21% who served on ships. Length of service, as well as location, is also significant, with longer tours correlating to more symptoms.
Along with earlier studies, evidence from research funded by the US Department of Defense (DoD) and published in the British Medical Journal (K. Ismail et al., 325, 576; 2002), was, said Mackay, undeniable. The study was conducted at three London hospitals and followed 12,000 disabled British veterans from the Bosnian and Gulf wars. The authors had previously hypothesized that a psychological condition, similar to stress, was the cause of GW syndrome, but the new study found that "post-traumatic stress disorder is not higher in Gulf veterans than in other veterans." Under the weight of this evidence, the DVA pledged to double the budget for research into the illness to an annual US $20 million. Another reason for the US government's about-turn is the recognition that the biological and chemical agents that the soldiers encountered in the desert in 1991 are the ones that terrorists are threatening to use against the general population, suggested Robinson. ...the biological and chemical agents that the soldiers encountered in the desert in 1991 are the ones that terrorists are threatening to use against the general population...
The Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses (OSAGWI) was formed in 1997, but "it spent almost $250 million until 2002 without publishing any med-ical research report or offering a single treatment program for ill GW veterans," Robinson observed. Indeed, in 1997, the General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigatory arm of US Congress, reported that some researchers thought that they would not receive funding for research into the syndrome because of the DoD's position, and that it would be useless to try. Of the research that has been performed, much of the groundbreaking work was started about eight years ago by Robert Haley of Southwestern Texas Medical School (Dallas, TX, USA), formerly at the Centers for Disease Control (Atlanta, GA, USA). Initially, Haley was funded by the Texan millionaire Ross Perot. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Haley and others showed evidence of neuronal loss in the basal ganglia and brainstems of ill soldiers, and this research is summarized in the RAC Interim Report. "Veterans with cognitive problems show neuronal loss in the basal ganglia; those with muscle and joint problems show loss in the brain stem," it states. ...all three [GW] syndromes were strongly associated with exposure to acetylcholinesterase (AChE)-inhibiting organophosphates or carbamates
In 1997, Haley reported that there are three primary syndromes in GWI veterans: syndrome 1 (impaired cognition) includes distractibility, forgetfulness, depression and daytime somnolence; syndrome 2 (confusion-ataxia) is characterized by more profound reduced intellectual processing, confusion, frequent disorientation and episodes of vertigo; syndrome 3 (central pain) is characterized by chronic somatic pain and parethesias of the extremities. Notably, Haley reported that all three syndromes were strongly associated with exposure to acetylcholinesterase (AchE)-inhibiting organophosphates or carbamates. Syndrome 1 correlates to organophosphate pesticides in flea collars; syndrome 2 correlates to apparent low-level nerve agent exposure and advanced side-effects of PB; and syndrome 3 is also associated with exposure to PB and high concentrations of DEET insect repellant. Hans Kang, of the Central Veterans Affairs Office, surveyed 20,000 samples from deployed and non-deployed veterans from the GWI era and found three syndromes closely resembling those identified by Haley. He concluded that syndrome 2 was found only in the deployed GWI population and that these patients were most likely to be unemployed due to their symptoms. Research at the Hebrew University (Jerusalem, Israel) led by Hermona Soreq, PhD, has shown that AChE-inhibitors induce the long-term production of a variant form of an enzyme that is associated with animals that have electrophysiological hyperactivity, impaired working memory, hypersensitivity to head injury and weakened muscles. Earlier work by her group showed that PB crosses the blood-brain barrier more easily in stressed animals.
Other key findings from the affected veterans include an increased cold sensory threshold, abnormal audiovestibular tests that reflect subtle damage to brainstem reflex pathways and abnormal autonomic nervous system function, which is shown by an atypical heart rate during sleep. This could also explain the common complaints of poor sleep, morning fatigue, chronic pathogen-free diarrhoea and an increase in cholecystitis. Soldiers with syndrome 2, who had more brain cell damage in the left basal ganglia, had higher levels of brain dopamine production, a finding that is compatible with the upregulation of dopamine receptors after damage to dopaminergic pathways in basal ganglia.
Haley and others also found a genetic component to GW syndrome. Compared with a control sample, 26 affected veterans had much lower levels of the enzymes paraoxonase (PON1) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), which are responsible for inactivating organophosphates, and the levels were particularly low in those with syndrome 2. Mutation of the PON1 gene is also associated with the development of Parkinson's disease (I. Kondo & M. Yamamoto, Brain Research, 806, 271-273; 1998). Interestingly, sheep-dippers in the UK that had fatigue-cognitive-pain syndromes that are similar to GW syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome, had the same gene variant (N. Cherry et al., Lancet, 359, 763-764; 2002). Japanese researchers have cited the same PON1 genotype in Asians as a possible explanation for the high impact of the low-level sarin exposures in the 1995 terrorist attack on the Tokyo subway. All these risk factors-exposures to environmental toxins, genetics, low-level nerve agents, depleted uranium, stress, medical countermeasures to bio- and chemical weapons, and combinations thereof-are also relevant to domestic terrorism preparedness, the report notes.
As in the Vietnam War, GWI was marked by poor record-keeping of toxic exposures, and much of what was available mysteriously disappeared, said Robinson. Veterans who became ill after contact with Agent Orange in Vietnam struggled for years to get the US government to acknowledge that contact had occurred and had a corresponding direct and negative effect on their health. A recent study stated that two million more gallons of Agent Orange and other defoliants had been sprayed over Vietnam than earlier estimates suggested (J.M. Stellman et al., Nature, 422, 681-687; 2003). GWI veterans face similar systematic cover-ups of exposures to chemical weapons and other toxins, according to congressman Chris Shays and others. In addition to records being destroyed, soldiers who were given vaccinations and prophylactic PB were not always told what they were taking. The US government's position was that toxic exposures could not be verified because sensors in the field were "unreliable." One source said that when marines crossed Iraqi minefields to reach Kuwait during GWI, they were exposed to poisonous gas. But with no accurate records, it was impossible to say that GWI veterans were ill because of the war-time exposures, the government said. Only time will tell whether veterans of the second Gulf War will suffer the same illnesses as those from the first
In 1997, the government finally admitted that soldiers were exposed to poisonous gas when they bombed the Khamisiyah chemical depot during GWI. The estimated numbers of those exposed started at 100, then rose to 10,000, then 15, 000, and finally reached 100,000. Last year, before Michael Kilpatrick was moved from leading the OSAGWI to run the public relations campaign for the second GW, he said that any modelling to determine the exposure and dose rates of poisonous gas at Khamisiyah or elsewhere was "a wild-ass guess"-and indicated that the real number could be much higher than 100,000. Veterans who served at Khamisiyah and Al Jubayl (another chemical depot that was destroyed) are 37% more likely to have one or more service-connected conditions than other veterans, according to the NGWRC.
Despite efforts to cover up the facts, the NGWRC maintains that more than 250,000 GWI veterans received the drug PB, which was under investigation at the time, and which the Pentagon now admits it cannot rule out as a possible cause of GW syndrome. Eight thousand servicemen received the botulinum toxoid vaccine, 150,000 received the now-controversial anthrax vaccine, and 436,000 either entered or lived for months in areas contaminated by more than 315 tons of toxic waste, possibly containing trace amounts of highly radioactive plutonium and neptunium, without awareness, protective gear or medical evaluations. Hundreds of thousands lived outdoors near 700 burning oil-well fires for months without protection.
Whether soldiers during the recent war in Iraq were subject to the same or similar toxic exposures is an open question. Only time will tell whether veterans of the second Gulf War will suffer the same illnesses as those from the first. "If they do, the cause this time will not be a mystery," Robinson said. "Now, the only mystery connected to Gulf War syndrome is whether the Department of Defense will do what Congress told them to do." Here, he is referring to a 1998 US law that requires that soldiers receive comprehensive physical examinations, including blood tests, before and after deployment. Before the war began in March, the DoD declared that it had learned from its mistakes; the troops were being equipped with better environmental sensors and other testing apparatus, and better gas masks and suits. It also said that it would assess soldiers' health using brief questionnaires, before and after deployment. However, the protective equipment was substandard and, according to civilian health experts who testified in Congress on March 25, 2003, once-yearly blood tests for HIV do not fulfil the requirements for comprehensive examinations, which should include lab tests and X-rays immediately before and after deployment. Two days later, at the House Armed Services subcommittee, lawmakers noted that many soldiers did not even fill out the questionnaires, and Robinson said that those that did were likely to give answers that would allow them to be deployed and remain with their units. Twelve years after GWI, it seems that the military is making some of the same mistakes again. However, the DoD stated on April 29, 2003, that it would provide a more comprehensive, face-to-face examination for the returning soldiers. Calling it a "first step", Robinson and the NGWRC are still insisting that baseline data should have been collected. Soldiers who are fighting terrorism around the world should not experience the same system failures that GWI veterans continue to face, he added.
http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/embor/journal/v4/n6/full/embor874.html
-------- india / pakistan
Pakistan's PM reiterates commitment to nuclear, missile plan
The News International
November 28, 2004
http://jang.com.pk/thenews/nov2004-daily/28-11-2004/main/main4.htm
RAWALPNDI: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday reiterated commitment to country's nuclear and missile programme and said Pakistan would continue to play a positive role in international efforts aimed at non-proliferation.
The prime minister while attending a briefing here at the Strategic Plans Division, the Secretariat of the National Command Authority, said Pakistan's security was government's highest priority. "Pakistan believes in retaining minimum deterrence as a cornerstone of its national security policy."
Shaukat said Pakistan "as a responsible, declared and acknowledged nuclear power, will continue to play a positive role in international efforts aimed at non-proliferation". He also expressed full satisfaction over the effectiveness of Pakistan's nuclear command and control structures.
"They have ensured that while our nuclear assets are safe and secure, they continue to oversee force development as per our minimum deterrence needs," he added. During his visit to the Strategic Plans Division, the prime minister also attended a detailed briefing on many dimensions of Pakistan's nuclear programme. He said: "The structures, which have now matured since being in place for the last five years, were well conceived and elaborate." The briefing was also attended by Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Ehsan-ul-Haq and Vice-Chief of Army Staff Gen Ahsan Saleem Hayat.
-------- iran
Iran 'has secret nuclear lab'
The UK Times
Peter Conradi
November 28, 2004
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1378248,00.html
IRAN is working on a secret nuclear programme for military purposes despite its promise to halt all uranium enrichment activities, a German news magazine claimed yesterday.
Citing documents from an unnamed intelligence agency, Der Spiegel said Iran had set up a laboratory in a secret tunnel near a nuclear facility in Isfahan. This would be able to produce large amounts of uranium hexafluoride gas which could, in turn, be used to enrich uranium - a vital component for a nuclear bomb.
Orders to build the tunnel were given last month by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, the magazine said.
The claims emerged as Britain, France and Germany warned Iran last night it could face sanctions if it does not agree to freeze key parts of its nuclear programme by tomorrow.
The three have hitherto failed to back calls by America to refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council. Their patience appears to be running out, however, after Tehran last week tried to backtrack over a deal agreed in principle earlier this month.
Under the deal, brokered by Britain, France and Germany, Iran is obliged to accept a complete freeze on nuclear technology that could be used to make weapons-grade uranium. The United States has accused it of trying to develop a bomb.
Iran challenged the terms of the agreement during talks at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last week. It wants to be allowed to operate 20 centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium, for research purposes.
EU officials rejected this, fearing it could boost Iran's capabilities in a crucial area of nuclear weapons development.
Western countries had expected Iran to back down but despite attempts at mediation by Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, the talks were adjourned on Friday without agreement.
Kamal Kharrazi, the Iranian foreign minister, said yesterday that Iran was sticking to its demand for an exemption. "The centrifuges will work under IAEA supervision and will be for research purposes only," he said. The IAEA's board meets again tomorrow.
The administration of President George W Bush is wary of European attempts to broker a deal. In his most positive comments to date on the initiative, Bush praised Britain, France and Germany for their efforts - but said that any agreement would need to be monitored to ensure Iran was honouring the terms.
Iran's latest wriggling has compounded concerns that Tehran, which has repeatedly failed to come clean about its activities during a two-year IAEA investigation, is trying to find a way of continuing clandestinely with its nuclear programme.
Last week the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an opposition group, released details of another site in Laviza, a suburb in northeast Tehran, where it claims that laser enrichment of uranium is under way.
Additional reporting: Tom Walker
--------
Iran drops nuclear exemption demand
Kamal Kharazi: EU did not ban research involving centrifuges
Sunday 28 November 2004,
Aljazeerah
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F76FA29C-D9A5-4B32-B82A-C3AF0BC91353.htm
Iran has formally withdrawn its demand to exempt research and development of uranium enrichment technologies from a freeze of its enrichment programme, a Western diplomat said.
"The IAEA received a letter from Iran regarding the 20 centrifuges. It seems to cover all the elements and appears to be acceptable (to the EU)," the diplomat, who is close to the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters on Sunday.
Earlier, France, Britain and Germany warned Iran that if it did not reach a final agreement to freeze parts of its atomic programme by Monday, they would not block UN Security Council moves to impose sanctions against Tehran.
The United States, which has been pressing for Iran's case to be referred to the Security Council, accuses Tehran of wanting to build a nuclear bomb. Iran, though oil rich, says its programme is aimed solely at generating electricity.
Suspicions deepened
Washington has been pressing to refer Tehran to the Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions. But the EU has so far favoured a softer approach.
Last week, Iran promised the EU it would halt all activities related to uranium enrichment - a process that can create atomic fuel for power plants or weapons - in return for a EU pledge to neutralise the threat of economic sanctions.
The ink on the hard-won accord was barely dry, however, when Tehran demanded an exemption for 20 enrichment centrifuges for research.
European diplomats said this was impossible and could only deepen suspicions that Tehran had a secret arms programme.
'Not worried'
Iran on Sunday said the stand-off should be settled within the framework of the agency, but said being referred to the Security Council would not be "the end of the world".
"We are not worried about going to the Security Council, because it is not the end of the world," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.
"But we would prefer it be sorted out in the framework of the agency. There is no reason for it to go to the Security Council. We think the problems will be finally sorted out in the framework" of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Asefi added.
On Friday, Western diplomats said Iranian negotiators had agreed to drop the demand, paving the way for a comprehensive deal with the EU on an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolution that would make the voluntary freeze a binding commitment for Tehran.
But Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi appeared to revive the centrifuge demand on Saturday, telling reporters in Tehran the deal with the EU did not ban research and development involving centrifuges - the equipment used to enrich uranium.
"What we want is not against our previous agreement, it is a matter of research and development for which there is no prohibition," he said.
"We have submitted a letter to the IAEA informing them that we want to keep 20 centrifuge systems working. This would be under the supervision of the agency and is only used for helping research projects."
Demands
A European diplomat said Iran agreed to back down on the issue of the 20 centrifuges, but demanded in return the EU should cut a section out of the draft resolution calling for IAEA chief Muhammad al-Baradai to report to the IAEA board of governors if Tehran resumed any enrichment-related activity.
A Western diplomat said Iran also wanted language in the text guaranteeing Iran's right to enrich uranium.
The Europeans want the freeze, once implemented, to be transformed into a termination of Tehran's enrichment programme.
In exchange, the EU is prepared to offer Iran a package of political and economic incentives.
--------
Iran vows not to give up demand for exempting 20 centrifuges
The Associated Press
11/28/2004
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-11-28-iran-nukes_x.htm
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran toughened its position over its nuclear program Sunday, vowing to maintain its demand to exempt 20 centrifuges it says it wants for research despite international efforts to save a deal committing Tehran to freeze uranium enrichment and all related activities.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi also said Tehran was not worried about being referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.
"The issue of research and development is separate from discussions about suspension," Asefi told reporters Sunday. "We always had research and development in the past and we will continue that in the future. We will use the 20 centrifuges for research."
Iran insists using the 20 centrifuges purely for research is not prohibited by a Nov. 7 agreement worked out with Germany, France and Britain on behalf of the European Union to suspend all uranium enrichment and related activities. The European Union disagrees.
The dispute over Iran's interpretation of the deal stalled an International Atomic Energy Agency board meeting in Vienna, Austria, which was adjourned Friday until Monday.
That was meant to give time for the Iranian government to consider and approve a total freeze of the program - which can produce both low-grade nuclear fuel and weapons-grade material for the core of nuclear warheads - and for delegates to decide on further steps in policing Tehran's nuclear activities.
Asefi said Iran won't give up on its position on the centrifuges, even if time was running out for a final agreement.
"We are negotiating with Europeans to specify the way we are going to use the 20 centrifuges. ... What is important is the legitimate right of our country, and we won't give (that) up," he said.
EU delegates to the Vienna meeting said discussions continued Saturday by phone between British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Hassan Rowhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and his country's point man on nuclear matters. But they said the Europeans would not budge on insisting on a full freeze that included the centrifuges.
As the board awaited a formal Iranian response, France, Germany and Britain toned down language in a proposed Security Council resolution in an attempt to entice Tehran to sign on to full suspension. The confidential draft, made available to The Associated Press, weakened language on how any freeze would be monitored by the agency. It was said by Western diplomats to be unsatisfactory to the United States.
Still, refusal by Tehran to drop demands to exempt equipment from the enrichment suspension could prompt a much harsher resolution that could include the threat of U.N. Security Council action.
"We are not worried about referral to the U.N. Security Council," Asefi said. "But we prefer that negotiations be continued within the framework of the IAEA because otherwise the capabilities of the agency and Europe will be in doubt."
-----
Iran apparently agrees to stop enrichment
The Associated Press
11/28/2004
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-11-28-iran-uranium_x.htm
VIENNA (AP) - Backing down before a Monday deadline, Iran apparently has given up its demand to exempt some equipment from a deal freezing uranium enrichment programs that can make nuclear weapons, diplomats said Sunday.
Diplomats from the European Union and elsewhere said on condition of anonymity that the International Atomic Energy Agency received a letter from Iran containing a pledge not to test some centrifuges during the freeze it agreed to Nov. 7 during negotiations with Britain, France and Germany on behalf of the European Union.
The pledge appeared to resolve a dispute that threatened to escalate into possible referral of Iran to the U.N. Security Council for defying the IAEA board. The Security Council could then impose sanctions against Iran.
On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Tehran was maintaining a demand made Thursday at the start of the IAEA meeting to use the 20 centrifuges. The centrifuges spin gas into enriched uranium.
Tehran had insisted the Nov. 7 deal allowed it to use those centrifuges purely for research, but the EU disagreed.
The diplomats told The Associated Press on Sunday that the letter still needed close examination to determine what exactly the Iranians had agreed to.
Earlier Asefi had said Iran was not worried about being referred to the Security Council.
"What is important is the legitimate right of our country, and we won't give (that) up," he said.
Only if the Iranians agreed to totally suspend enrichment - including all use of the centrifuges - would the dispute be resolved, they said.
The Iranian promise came a day before the IAEA - the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency - was scheduled to reconvene in Vienna amid a building crisis on the issue of enrichment suspension. Iran's program can produce both low-grade nuclear fuel and weapons-grade material for the core of nuclear warheads.
Iran says its program is for generating electricity, but the United States insists Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons. President Bush called Iran part of an "axis of evil" with North Korea and prewar Iraq.
The IAEA meeting adjourned Friday with the intention of giving Tehran until Monday to approve a total freeze of its enrichment program. Delegates also were to decide on further steps in policing Tehran's nuclear activities.
France, Britain and Germany say a Nov. 7 deal they worked out with Iran includes all equipment as part of he freeze - but Tehran had insisted it had a right to run some centrifuges for research and development purposes.
Iranian officials had suggested the issue of using 20 centrifuges for research was not up for debate only hours before the revelations that they had apparently dropped their demands.
"Referral to the U.N. Security Council would not be the end of the world," Asefi said in Tehran earlier Sunday.
The Europeans say the deal committed Iran to full suspension of enrichment and all related activities - at least while the two sides discuss a pact meant to provide Iran with EU technical and economic aid and other concessions.
EU delegates to the Vienna meeting said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw spoke this weekend with Hassan Rowhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and his country's point man on nuclear matters, in an effort to resolve the dispute.
As the clock ticked down to Monday, EU officials and delegates spoke of the growing likelihood of tough action at the board meeting if Iran remained defiant - including the start of work on a harsh resolution that could include the threat of U.N. Security Council action.
Hinting at the possibility of such a draft, one of the EU delegates said Iran was "fully aware" of the consequences of not accepting a full freeze.
That would mean withdrawing a draft resolution written last week by Britain, France and Germany containing intentionally weak language on how any freeze would be monitored by the agency in an attempt to entice Tehran to sign on to total suspension.
That confidential draft, made available to the AP, authorized IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei to "pursue his investigations" into remaining suspicious aspects of Iran's nuclear activities over the past two decades.
-------- MILITARY
-------- africa
Ivory Coast colonel says he saw French troops fire on crowd
ABIDJAN (AFP)
Nov 28, 2004
http://www.spacewar.com/2004/041128205446.jwmj0bsv.html
A senior Ivory Coast police official said Sunday he saw French troops fire "directly" at unarmed demonstrators during an anti-French rally earlier this month.
Colonel Georges Guiai Bi Poin said he was in charge of about 60 gendarmes outside the Hotel Ivoire to prevent demonstrators from storming the building.
He told AFP: "French troops fired directly into the crowd. They opened fire on the orders of their chief Colonel D'Estremon. Without warning."
Guiai Bi Poin said he was at the French colonel's side in the hotel lobby throughout the night.
Almost three weeks after the incident it still remains unclear what exactly happened during the protest and how many people died and were wounded.
Ivorian authorities have said that 57 civilians were killed and that more than 2,200 people were wounded between November 6 and 10, including an unconfirmed number by French troops, but they never released a toll of the specific Hotel Ivoire incident which took place on November 9.
Followers of President Laurent Gbagbo accused French soldiers, including snipers hidden in the hotel, of firing on "Young Patriot" Gbagbo loyalists.
Until now, French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie has insisted that the victims, including an Ivorian gendarme, were killed in clashes between the Young Patriots and Ivory Coast police. The French military says only that shots were fired in the air as warning and "intimidation."
But Alliot-Marie told RTL radio Sunday, without specifically referring to the Hotel Ivoire incident, that some casualties may have been caused by French troops during the demonstrations.
"They were forced to shoot," she said. "They carried out warning shots and, in a few cases, were forced to make full use of their firearms. There was no way of avoiding it."
"There were doubtless a few victims; we don't know for certain because when things take place by night it is very difficult to know what is going on.
"There were also a great number of victims inside the crowds, killed by the crush and also from a number of stray bullets," she said. She insisted that French troops had shown admirable "self-control and restraint" in "abominable circumstances, faced with a crowd armed with Kalachnikov rifles and guns."
Guiai Bi Poin said the crowd at the Hotel Ivoire was yelling insults but was unarmed and did not shoot.
"Not one of my men fired a shot," he said. "There were no shots from the crowd. None of the demonstrators was armed -- not even with sticks, or knives or rocks."
He said that when he reported to the French commander on the day of the riot, he was told: "Colonel, my barbed wire has been crossed, and the crowd is getting excited. If they do not let us leave within 20 minutes, I am going to shoot."
The Ivorian officer said he negotiated with two or three of the protestors who refused to let the French troops return to their base, saying instead they should move to a nearby hotel.
He said there were "insults, and hostile slogans, but we had no interest in firing on the crowd. I hardly left Colonel D'Estremon's side at all. We co-managed the situation between us. I told him to wait -- that we had to go to the end in seeking a negotiated solution before giving orders to do anything else."
"Suddenly," said Guiai Bi Poin, "there was a movement on our left and my gendarmes were pushed violently by the crowd. They fell back a meter or two. D'Estremon then said to me, 'Colonel, the red line has been crossed. I am going to open fire. FIRE!'"
The officer said the French troops began shooting. "It was not a haphazard fusillade. It was carried out on the orders of their chief. And there was no warning."
"I saw his men firing directly at demonstrators less than 10 meters away. There was nothing equivocal. Everything was clear. The entire detachment was shooting, more than 30 soldiers."
Guiai Bi Poin said he yelled at the French officer to fire in the air, to aim higher, "He did this but some of his men did not obey and some continued to fire on the crowd. I saw lots of people falling, but I do not know how many victims there were."
-------- arms
Israel to purchase Indian copter in bilateral weapons deal
Haaretz
By Yossi Melman
November 28, 2004
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/506790.html
The Israel Aircraft Industry and the Defense establishment will purchase an Indian-made helicopter as part of a bilateral purchase agreement between the two countries.
The helicopter, called Dhruv, will be used for civilian purposes, mainly for transporting VIPs.
Under the bilateral weapon deal, the Indian government promised to purchase from Israel the airborne radar system Falcon.
The Israeli commitment in the agreement is estimated at dozens of millions of dollars. Israel also promised to operate and promote the Hindustan Aeronautics helicopter.
IAI pilots have already tested the helicopter and displayed it in an aviation fair in Chile.
IAI spokesman Doron Soslik said that talks were being held between the two sides over the deal and that all its terms are yet to be finalized.
The Dhruv broke in November the world record by flying at an altitude of around 8,000 meters in the Himalayan mountain ridge.
Israel is the second country to purchase the helicopter after Nepal.
-------- britain
Relatives fear for forgotten war wounded
Soldiers speak out as evidence points to high levels of mental and physical injuries in Iraq conflict
The Observer
Jason Burke
November 28, 2004
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1361319,00.html
Nearly 3,000 British soldiers have been evacuated from Iraq to Britain for medical reasons since the beginning of hostilities there last year, The Observer can reveal.
The news will raise concern that the true cost of the British involvement in the war is being hidden. British forces have so far suffered 74 fatalities, details of which are released by the Ministry of Defence. But, in contrast with the Americans, the number of British soldiers wounded on the battlefield is not made public. Modern medical techniques and the widespread use of body armour mean around six men are wounded for every one killed.
The total of troops 'medically evacuated' from the Gulf - 2,754 since 1 March last year - includes soldiers with serious injuries and severe psychological disorders. The latest figures from the MoD show that 461 soldiers deployed in Iraq have been treated for mental health problems, 50 of whom were diagnosed as suffering from serious post-traumatic stress disorders. At least 12 have lost one or more limbs and scores more have suffered permanent harm from traumatic brain injuries or wounds that damage organs or the spine.
Serving soldiers cannot talk to the press, but one seriously injured infantryman's father told The Observer that men such as his son, who had had much of one leg shot away, risked being 'forgotten'.
'No one is talking about those who have been disabled for life. War cripples healthy young men and we should remember that,' he said.
MoD figures reveal that more than 80 servicemen have been discharged from the forces for medical reasons since the start of the conflict. Many more are undergoing treatment within the army system, some with terrible injuries.
They include two infantrymen with the Black Watch battle group controversially deployed to assist in the US assault on Falluja. The men had their legs amputated after being caught in a suicide bomb attack last month. In one deployment during the summer a single unit, the 1st Battalion of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, sustained more than 110 casual ties in a six-month tour, around half from enemy action.
Trooper Andy Julien of the Queen's Royal Lancers was left with appalling injuries when his tank was hit by friendly fire in Basra last year. Both his legs were crushed and brain injuries left him blind. After a string of operations, Julien, 19, has regained some of his sight but still cannot walk properly.
'I could cry when I look at the photographs taken at his passing out parade. The son that my husband and I had then is not the son we have now,' Julien's mother said.
'Before this he was a fit, energetic, popular boy, who loved sport. He was always laughing, joking and happy, but now it's rare to get a smile out of him. If he hears about Iraq, he gets so upset he cries.'
Specialists say the conditions in Iraq make psychological injury a high risk. The knowledge that the war is controversial in Britain can undermine soldiers' faith in the justification of taking lives and low-intensity counter-insurgency operations can be more damaging than more conventional combat because the enemy is often indistinguishable from civilians.
There are concerns that the numbers of soldiers with mental health injuries will rise sharply over the coming years. 'We are seeing the tip of the iceberg,' said Toby Elliott, chief executive of Combat Stress, which has registered more than 500 new cases of post-traumatic stress disorder in the last year. 'Some people suffer for decades without seeking help.'
Elliott said his organisation was concerned that many servicemen suffering from post-traumatic stress would discharge themselves from the forces without their condition being spotted by the military. 'That means they leave without care and without anyone aware of their injury,' Elliott said.
Some casualties are taking legal action. One soldier who suffered serious injuries when a US tank transporter rammed her vehicle in Iraq is suing the American military. The £1.2 million claim made by Corporal Jane McLauchlan, 33 - along with two other soldiers from the Royal Military Police and an interpreter - is believed to be the first brought by coalition troops against the US Army since the invasion of Iraq.
McLauchlan, who is still in the army, suffered multiple skull fractures, a fractured neck, a punctured lung, a broken leg, ribs and pelvis and a damaged liver when she was thrown from the marked Land Rover in the crash on 7 May last year. 'She has gone from being a fully operational military policeman to being a clerk,' her lawyer said last week. Last year 1,669 servicemen were 'medically downgraded' like McLauchlan, 468 following battlefield injuries and 140 because of mental and behavioural disorders.
Jerome Church, director of the British Limbless Ex-Servicemen's Association (Blesma) said wounded soldiers received less attention today than previously. 'If someone was injured in Northern Ireland or the Falklands it was on the evening news. You at least had a press release,' he said. 'These days you don't hear about it. Iraq is not as dramatic as the Falklands. It is just a running sore.'
A spokesman for the MoD said: 'At the moment it is not meaningful to issue statistics [for wounded] because of the difficulty of classifying an injury.'
-------- chemical weapons
U.S. uses napalm gas in Fallujah - Witnesses
aljazeera.com
11/28/2004
http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/middle_east_full_story.asp?service_id=5875#
A 16 month-old Fallujah child cries while lying in a Baghdad hospital.
The U.S. military is secretly using banned napalm gas and other outlawed weapons against civilians in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, eyewitnesses reported.
Residents in Fallujah reported that innocent civilians have been killed by napalm attacks, a poisonous cocktail of polystyrene and jet fuel which makes the human body melt.
Since the U.S. offensive started in Fallujah earlier this month, there have been reports of "melted" bodies which proves that the napalm gas had been used.
"Poisonous gases have been used in Fallujah," 35-year-old Fallujah resident, Abu Hammad said. "They used everything -- tanks, artillery, infantry, and poisonous gas. Fallujah has been bombed to the ground." Hammad was living in the Julan district of Fallujah which witnessed some of the heaviest attacks.
Other residents of that area also said that banned weapons were used. Abu Sabah, said; "They used these weird bombs that put up smoke like a mushroom cloud... then small pieces fall from the air with long tails of smoke behind them."
He said that pieces of these strange bombs explode into large fires that burn the skin even when water is thrown on the burns.
Phosphorous arms and the napalm gas are known to have such effects. "People suffered so much from these," Abu Sabah said.
Fallujah "almost gone"
Kassem Mohammed Ahmed, who fled Fallujah last week, said that he witnessed many atrocities committed by U.S. troops in the shattered city. "I watched them roll over wounded people in the street with tanks," he said. "This happened so many times."
Another Fallujah resident Khalil (40) said that "Fallujah is suffering too much, it is almost gone now." He added that refugees are in a miserable situation now, "It's a disaster living here at this camp," Khalil said. "We are living like dogs and the kids do not have enough clothes."
In many refugee camps around Fallujah and Baghdad, people are living without enough food, clothing and shelter. Relief groups estimate that there are more than 15,000 refugee families in temporary shelters outside Fallujah.
Blair under fire over the use of napalm
On Saturday, Labor MPs have demanded that British Prime Minister confront the Commons over the use of the deadly gas in Fallujah.
Halifax Labor MP Alice Mahon said: "I am calling on Mr. Blair to make an emergency statement to the Commons to explain why this is happening. It begs the question: 'Did we know about this hideous weapon's use in Iraq?'"
Furious critics have also demanded that Blair threatens the U.S. to pullout British forces from Iraq unless the U.S. stops using the world's deadliest weapon.
The United Nations banned the use of the napalm gas against civilians in 1980 after pictures of a naked wounded girl in Vietnam shocked the world.
The United States, which didn't endorse the convention, is the only nation in the world still using the deadly weapon.
-----
FALLUJAH NAPALMED
US uses banned weapon ..but was Tony Blair told?
sundaymirror.co.uk
By Paul Gilfeather Political Editor
Nov 28 2004
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=14920109&method=full&siteid=106694&headline=fallujah-napalmed-name_page.html
US troops are secretly using outlawed napalm gas to wipe out remaining insurgents in and around Fallujah.
News that President George W. Bush has sanctioned the use of napalm, a deadly cocktail of polystyrene and jet fuel banned by the United Nations in 1980, will stun governments around the world.
And last night Tony Blair was dragged into the row as furious Labour MPs demanded he face the Commons over it. Reports claim that innocent civilians have died in napalm attacks, which turn victims into human fireballs as the gel bonds flames to flesh.
Outraged critics have also demanded that Mr Blair threatens to withdraw British troops from Iraq unless the US abandons one of the world's most reviled weapons. Halifax Labour MP Alice Mahon said: "I am calling on Mr Blair to make an emergency statement to the Commons to explain why this is happening. It begs the question: 'Did we know about this hideous weapon's use in Iraq?'"
Since the American assault on Fallujah there have been reports of "melted" corpses, which appeared to have napalm injuries.
Last August the US was forced to admit using the gas in Iraq.
A 1980 UN convention banned the use of napalm against civilians - after pictures of a naked girl victim fleeing in Vietnam shocked the world.
America, which didn't ratify the treaty, is the only country in the world still using the weapon.
-------- colombia
FARC said to call for attack on Bush
The Associated Press
11/28/2004
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-11-27-bush-plot_x.htm
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Colombia's main rebel group asked followers to mount an assassination attempt against President Bush during his visit to Colombia last week, Defense Minister Jorge Uribe said. There was no evidence Saturday that rebels even tried to organize such an attack.
Uribe told reporters late Friday that informants said the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, told followers to attack Bush during his four-hour visit in the seaside city of Cartagena last Monday, where he met with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. The defense minister, who is no relation to the president, said security forces were on full alert during the visit. About 15,000 Colombian troops and police, along with U.S. troops and Secret Service agents provided security. There was no indication Bush's life was ever in danger.
Uribe did not say where the informants had heard about the attack.
The Secret Service did not comment on security details, as is its policy.
"We have full confidence in the fine work of the Secret Service and their work with security officials on the ground when the President travels," White House spokesman Jim Morrell said Saturday.
The FARC has declared U.S. troops in Colombia military targets. The troops are training local forces and providing logistics and planning assistance for military operations against the rebels.
However, the rebels never publicly declared Bush a target during his first-ever visit as president to Colombia. Bush visited Colombia after attending a summit in Chile.
-------- iran
US building army base near Iran border
Daily Times
Nov 28, 2004
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_28-11-2004_pg1_7
KABUL: The US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan are working on a military base near the country's western border with Iran.
Locals told the Pajhwok news agency that US forces have been sketching and surveying the land for two months for a 300-hectare airbase in the desert area of Holang, in Ghorian district of Herat province, just 45 kilometres from the Iranian frontier.
Some military commentators believe the development could be linked to rising tensions between the United States and Iran, but the US military and the Afghan government say the base is being built for the Afghan National Army.
The Combined Forces' Command in Kabul confirmed that it is building the base, but strongly rejected the suggestion that it would be only for the coalition forces.
"The US government is building a military base in Ghorian in order to provide transportation facilities for the Afghan National Army," the press office told Pajhwok on Saturday. It declined to comment on whether the base might be seen as a threat by Iran, or how long it would take to complete the project.
The US Provincial Reconstruction Team in Herat said the base would be used for training Afghan National Army soldiers.
There has been no reaction from Iran so far. "We will express our view after contacting relevant authorities inside my country, who will assess this issue," Mohammad Ali Najafi, the Iranian consul in Herat, said.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence in Kabul said it was not aware of this issue. The presidential spokesman, Javid Ludin, commented: "The coalition forces have the permission to act against terrorism and for the peace and stability of Afghanistan, and to build a base for that purpose."
He added that no action will be taken without agreement from the government.
Some believe the construction of a base that close to the border could provoke Iranian opposition.
"Creation of a base in a place completely dominating Iranian airspace could provoke an argument from Iran," said Gen Nader Azemi, a commander of the ANA in Herat. But he praised the action as good for security in Herat, in addition to providing full control over the shared border of Afghanistan with Iran.
Local residents confirmed that the US military has been working on a base, with some of them supporting the plan, but others fear the US forces. nni
-------- iraq
After Falluja, U.S. Troops Fight a New Battle Just as Important, and Just as Tough
New York Times
By JOHN F. BURNS
November 28, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/28/international/middleeast/28desert.html?ex=1102598586&ei=1&en=cda81122226e212a
CAMP KALSU, Iraq, Nov. 27 - As American commanders turn their concentration toward the area of sullen towns and villages that straddle the southern approaches to Baghdad, they face a battle that is in many ways as crucial to their hopes as Falluja has been. And they enter a battleground where loyalties to Saddam Hussein and the burning enmity for America are at least as intense.
Without a major success here, the battle for Falluja, 50 miles to the northwest, could come to be seen as a Pyrrhic victory, one that reduced much of the city to rubble, cost more than 50 American combat deaths and prompted many insurgents to move on and regroup for yet more chapters in an ever-lengthening war.
The first days of the new campaign suggest it may outstrip Falluja in the demands it will make on American patience and tactical skills.
Once again, marines are leading the fight here, with the best of Iraq's American-trained troops alongside them. But in this area, known for its ceaseless rounds of suicide bombings and ambushes, there will be no knockout blows with tanks and bombs. Rather, as Marine commanders emphasized when 5,000 troops began the offensive this week, success will be built raid by raid, arrest by arrest, until the latticework of rebel cells in virtually every village and town is weakened and the will to sustain the insurgency is broken.
Commanders expect the main offensive to last another week. But nobody is talking about quick victories, rather of the new raids setting the scene for more later on.
A chart of suspected rebels that was developed over months by American intelligence officers and Iraqi undercover agents, laid out like a genealogical table, measures 10 feet by 4 feet. Unrolled in the command center at this Marine base in the desert southeast of the town of Iskandariya, it lists hundreds of rebel leaders, financiers and fighters, grouped together by family, by tribe and by past links in Mr. Hussein's military, political and intelligence apparatus.
"Every day, we have to stay the course," said Col. Ron Johnson, 48, a native of Duxbury, Mass., who commands the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, whose operational area covers parts of three Iraqi provinces with a combined population of 1.2 million. "We're in here for the long haul," he said.
Still, the mood among Marine officers is cautiously upbeat, and the belief, as put to reporters embedded for the offensive, is that the war here can still be won. The immediate objective is to deal a hard enough blow to the insurgents that plans can proceed for the election scheduled for Jan. 30. On its face, this area, the southernmost extension of the Sunni triangle, running about 60 miles south of Baghdad and about 80 miles across, with the Euphrates River to the west and the Tigris to the east, is about as unpromising a political terrain for those favoring elections as any region in Iraq.
About 60 percent of the population living here, in towns like Mahmudiya, Latifiya, Yusufiya, Iskandariya, Musayyib and Hilla, are Sunnis. The rest are Shiite, a group that accounts for about 60 percent of the Iraqi population and strongly favors the election as a way station to Shiite majority rule.
But the religious breakdown alone cannot explain the insurgency's intensity. Sunnis here were favored for decades by Mr. Hussein, who made the area immediately south of Baghdad into a strategic bedrock of his rule. Many of his Republican Guard units were based here and were locally recruited. Weapons research establishments were concentrated here, as were many of the country's main munitions plants.
The American-led invasion 18 months ago destroyed those privileges, and left many local people unemployed. The disbanding of the Mr. Hussein's army made things worse. The insurgency spread rapidly in the months after Mr. Hussein was toppled, feeding off the combination of idled military skills, huge stockpiles of weapons and ammunition, and Sunni resentment at the prospect of being politically usurped.
Early on in American military planning, commanders knew that a campaign to wrest Falluja from the insurgents would necessitate an offensive here, but limitations of logistics, air power and troops dictated the two offensives be staged sequentially. One disadvantage was that this gave the Falluja rebels a ready refuge, one that American generals sought to inhibit by asking Britain to move an 850-soldier battalion of the Black Watch north from Basra to a base just west of the Euphrates.
Marine intelligence officers estimate that 200 to 500 rebels from Falluja, many of them natives of the region south of Baghdad that is the focus of the new offensive, have come here in the past few weeks; some officers say those estimates are too low, as they also say official estimates of 1,200 insurgents killed in Falluja are too high.
Marine intelligence officers say there are 400 to 500 "core leaders" of the Sunni insurgency in the area, many of them former ranking members of Mr. Hussein's Baath Party or senior officers in his military. Although they describe the insurgency as heavily decentralized, they have identified two new political groups that knit together these rebel leaders, one of them known as the Return or Restoration Party. These men, they say, have made common cause in the insurgency with the numerous criminal gangs in the area, who also have much to lose in the new American push. The intelligence estimates say that insurgent attacks in the area are carried out by 2,000 to 6,000 rebels, many of them unemployed youths or criminals released from jail by Mr. Hussein before he was driven from power. In many cases, American officers say, captured men have told them that they were paid sums ranging from $20 to $200 to stage ambushes or plant explosives that are detonated by "part-time triggermen," many of them also paid.
If correct, the estimates make for a startling contrast with the American estimates a year ago, when commanders said they believed that there were no more than 5,000 insurgents across the whole of Iraq.
The havoc the rebels have wrought here emerges from the marines' tallies of recent attacks. In a little over a month, the insurgents have mounted 350 separate attacks, including 12 suicide car bombings and nearly 80 remotely detonated roadside bombs. Since midsummer, when the marines deployed into the area, they have lost 18 men. But by far the heaviest toll has been taken by Iraqi policemen and national guardsmen, of whom nearly 150 have been killed, many by bombs.
Attacks on the police have left barely 550 policemen at work across the entire region, a fraction of the number under Mr. Hussein, and many police stations abandoned.
Despite the attacks, Colonel Johnson said he believed the advantage in the war was moving the Americans' way. Rather than seeing the rising tempo of attacks as a sign of growing confidence among the rebels, he believes the insurgents have stepped up their aggression because they fear they are losing the war.
One reason for this, the colonel said, was the growing involvement of Iraqi troops in the fighting alongside the Americans, and the Iraqis' increasing confidence. "Time is not on the insurgents' side," Colonel Johnson said. "Each day, the Iraqi security forces are getting better and better."
Altogether, in the past four months, more than 600 men have been detained in raids across the area, many of them as a result of intelligence delivered by Iraqi troops and intelligence officers.
"I'll tell you, one I.S.F. who is loyal and effective is worth five marines," Colonel Johnson said, using the abbreviation for men in the Iraqi security forces. "They know exactly who these people running the insurgency are."
----
Marines Widen Their Net South of Baghdad
Troops Say Offensive Is Vastly Different From Urban Warfare in Fallujah
Washington Post
By Jackie Spinner
November 28, 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16794-2004Nov27.html
FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq, Nov. 27 -- Through the scattered towns and along the dangerous roads of an area that one commander described as "kind of like the worst place in the world," U.S. Marines, British soldiers and Iraqi security forces are waging an offensive they say is vastly different from the urban warfare waged elsewhere in Iraq in recent weeks.
Unlike the massive military push into the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, or similar assaults on Samarra or Mosul, the operation here in Babil province has involved few firefights. It consists mostly of gathering intelligence and launching raids on homes and suspected weapons caches. Insurgents here are not clustered in urban neighborhoods but scattered over wide areas of what many Iraqis call the "triangle of death."
"We have to go out and hunt them down," said Col. Ron Johnson, commander of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is conducting Operation Plymouth Rock, so called because it started around Thanksgiving.
Beginning on Tuesday, a combined force of more than 5,000 U.S., British and Iraqi troops has mounted raids in a region south of Baghdad that resulted in the detention of more than 130 people. Most recently, the troops have targeted the dusty town of Yusufiyah, where 856 projectiles were discovered, the U.S. military said.
Officers say those numbers do not reflect the actual scope of the operation. U.S. military officials estimate that they could be fighting as many as 6,000 insurgents in the region, most of them disgruntled and unemployed local residents. Among them are said to be former members of the Republican Guard, a key element of Saddam Hussein's disbanded Iraqi military.
Johnson said the strategic importance of northern Babil stems from its geographic location along major transportation arteries that link Baghdad with southern Iraq and also extend west to Fallujah and beyond. "It's a natural line of drift" for insurgents, he said.
"The problem is all roads lead to Latifiyah," Johnson said, referring to a town near the center of the region.
At least 32 Iraqi civilians have been killed in the region in recent months, executed at illegal checkpoints the insurgents have set up, Johnson said. "These are bad guys," he said. "They don't care who they kill."
In an office in Latifiyah that used to belong to the city's police chief, Ishmael Jubouri contended that the insurgents in Babil cared deeply about what they were doing.
Jubouri, a member of a prominent Sunni tribe from an area south of Baghdad, is the leader of the Islamic Army in Iraq, one of the armed groups that the Americans and their allies are trying to defeat. The walls of his office are adorned with portraits of rebels killed in fights with U.S. forces, and banners hung around the former police station call for a holy war against the Americans.
Jubouri said the Islamic Army, which has kidnapped and executed Iraqi security troops, had thousands of fighters trying to force foreign troops out of the country. "The members of the army believe in the language of weapons," he said.
The Islamic Army, he said, sent a contingent of its fighters to Fallujah but withdrew them about a week ago as U.S. and Iraqi forces reestablished control of the city.
"Fallujah was a mistake because it is not possible to fight in a city," he said. "We want to open more than one front in the same time to disrupt the U.S. forces and defeat them at once. The Latifiyah battle will be more successful than Fallujah because we learn from the mistakes done by our brothers there."
Jubouri said there were few foreigners among the Islamic Army fighters. "The Americans think that everyone who fights is foreign," he said. "In fact, everyone who fights is an Iraqi. We have Kurds, Arabs, Shiites and Sunnis."
Intelligence gathered by the Americans appeared to be consistent with Jubouri's claims.
Military officials here said they have seen an influx of fighters and weapons since the Fallujah offensive. Maj. Clint Nussberger, the intelligence officer for the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, said many of the insurgents were locals who went to Fallujah to fight and then came back. He estimated that between 200 and 500 such fighters returned to the area "with more skills than when they left."
Johnson said the U.S.-led force would take a methodical approach to wiping out the insurgency in north Babil.
Last month, a platoon of Marines and Iraqi National Guardsmen established a new police station in a government building on the southern edge of Latifiyah. Although they acknowledged that they did not control the town, U.S. military officials said they would ultimately take it back from the insurgents.
"I could take Latifiyah in an afternoon, but why am I going to kill innocent civilians?" Johnson said.
Many people in the town said they already feel like they are under attack. The city has no water or electricity, said residents, some of whom described the outages as a form of punishment by the Americans.
Insurgents, their faces covered with scarves and masks, had set up numerous checkpoints around the city where they questioned drivers about their background, religion and destination.
Schools and official buildings were closed last week, and witnesses said there were no signs of police or Iraqi National Guardsmen in the city.
Special correspondent Omar Fekeiki contributed to this report.
-------- israel / palestine
Scandal-shocked Israelis ask if the army has lost its way
JERUSALEM (AFP)
Nov 28, 2004
http://www.spacewar.com/2004/041128142507.sqbu3aur.html
Israel's once-unshakable faith in the morality of the army has been put to the test by a series of recent scandals, one of which saw a soldier empty his weapon into the body of a young Palestinian girl, who had been killed moments earlier on her way to school.
It has not been a particularly good couple of weeks for an army which proclaims itself to be "the most ethical army in the world".
Last week, a military court indicted an officer accused by his own soldiers of carrying out a "confirmed kill" -- pumping bullets into the body of a dead 13-year-old Palestinian school girl.
In the same week, the Israeli press published disturbing images of soldiers abusing the corpses of Palestinians, alongside another photo of soldiers forcing a Palestinian violinist to play for them at a checkpoint near the West Bank town of Nablus.
Following the shooting incident, the leading Israeli rights group B'Tselem demanded that General Moshe Yaalon, the army's chief of staff, stand down for what it denounced as a "a culture of impunity" over Palestinian civilian deaths.
Although Israeli troops had killed at least 1,369 unarmed Palestinian civilians since the start of the intifada over four years ago, only one soldier had been charged, B'Tselem said.
"The army has lost its way" read a headline in the right-wing Israeli daily, the Jerusalem Post.
"Can it be that Yaalon and his commanders' attitudes can be summed up as 'a little girl dead, another day at the office'?" questioned the editorial.
Mordechai Bar-On, an Israeli historian and former chief education officer in the army, has little doubt that the continuing Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory is corrupting the moral fibre of the army.
"All the security problems today are not vis-a-vis an army but vis-a-vis a civilian population, and when you're dealing with civilians, you are bound by the very situation, to witness a prolonged process of corruption in terms of behavioural values," Bar-On told AFP.
"The very fact that you occupy another nation will undoubtedly lead to such corruption. We see that now, not only in the behaviour of the soldiers towards Arabs, but also towards themselves, towards their officers and towards the army," he said.
"Senior officers should have absolutely no tolerance for clear abuses of values and be very stringent about punishing them in the most severe way."
But even among the top military, senior officers have been known to show supreme indifference to the suffering of those under occupation.
Two weeks ago, Dan Halutz, Yaalon's deputy and the former head of the airforce, was hauled over the coals by the Israeli supreme court for his blase attitude in the wake of the assassination of a top Hamas leader in Gaza City two years ago.
Seventeen Palestinians were killed and scores more injured after Halutz authorised the use of a one tonne bomb in a densely populated area.
The celebrated Israeli author Yoram Kaniuk said that the "humiliation" of the violin-playing Palestinian threw the justification of the state's very existence into doubt.
"Our entire existence in this Arab region was justified, and is still justified, by our suffering," he wrote in Sunday's Yediot Aharonot daily.
"We grew up with our strength, which stemmed from the injustice that had been done to us. If we allow Jewish soldiers to put an Arab violinist at a roadblock and laugh at him, we have succeeded in arriving at the lowest moral point possible."
-----
Only Palestinian security forces should carry arms: Abbas
CAIRO (AFP)
Nov 28, 2004
http://www.spacewar.com/2004/041128161745.6xzj53w1.html
Palestinian security forces should be the only group in the occupied territories allowed to carry weapons, Palestine Liberation Organisation chairman Mahmud Abbas said on Sunday.
"We want to control the Palestinian security scene so that we end the phenomenon of arms being carried around everywhere. This is the policy of the Palestinian government," he said.
Abbas, a former prime minister, was responding to a question over the Palestinian Authority's intention to collect arms belonging to the various Palestinian factions.
"We want a single authority, a single government and a single legitimate Palestinian armed force on the Palestinian scene," Abbas told a news conference at the Cairo headquarters of the Arab League.
Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei said the measure was not aimed at quelling the anti-Israeli resistance.
"The resistance will continue as long as the occupation exists, but the work of the resistance is determined by the Palestinian leadership and according to the conditions of each stage," Qorei said at the same news conference.
-----
A Girl's Chilling Death in Gaza
Israeli Army Concedes Failure in Initial Probe of Shooting
Washington Post
By Molly Moore
November 28, 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16886-2004Nov27_2.html
JERUSALEM -- On the morning of Oct. 5, Iman Hams, a slight girl of 13 wearing a school uniform and toting a backpack crammed with books, wandered past an Israeli military outpost on the Gaza Strip's southern border with Egypt.
The Israeli captain on duty alerted his troops to reports of a suspicious figure about 100 yards from the outpost. Soldiers fired into the air, according to radio transmissions, military court documents and witnesses.
"It's a little girl," a soldier watching from a nearby Israeli observation post cautioned over the military radio. "She's running defensively eastward. . . . A girl of about 10, she's behind the embankment, scared to death."
Four minutes later, Israeli troops opened fire on the girl with machine guns and rifles, the radio transmissions indicated. The captain walked to the spot where the girl "was lying down" and fired two bullets from his M-16 assault rifle into her head, according to an indictment against the officer. He started to walk away, but pivoted, set his rifle on automatic and emptied his magazine into the girl's prone body, the indictment alleged.
"This is Commander," the captain said into the radio when he was finished. "Whoever dares to move in the area, even if it's a 3-year-old -- you have to kill him. Over."
The girl's body was peppered with at least 20 bullets, including seven in her head, said Ali Mousa, a physician who is director of the Rafah hospital where her corpse was examined.
An investigation was undertaken, and the military's top commanders -- including the chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon -- said repeatedly that the captain had acted properly under the circumstances. But Israeli newspapers published graphic accounts by soldiers who said they witnessed the incident, and Israel's Channel 2 television aired recordings of the radio transmissions.
As a result, the company commander -- identified by the army only as Capt. R -- was indicted this past week on charges of misuse of a firearm, ordering subordinates to lie about the shooting and violation of military regulations. In addition, the military moved to reexamine the investigation, which Yaalon conceded had been "a grave failure" and which the indictment alleged was the subject of an attempted coverup.
The shooting of the schoolgirl added to a growing number of incidents that have spurred Israeli soldiers to speak out about abuses of Palestinians, despite pressure from superiors in the field and statements by senior military officials playing down such cases. Last week, after troops provided photographic evidence to an Israeli newspaper, the military opened an investigation into allegations that soldiers desecrated the bodies of Palestinians killed during army operations.
In a vitriolic meeting of the Israeli parliament's law committee this month, legislator Zahava Galon of the dovish Yahad party said, "The army sends across a message of disregard for human life" with such behavior.
Five days after the October incident, Yaalon told Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's cabinet that the girl likely had been used as a lure to draw soldiers from the outpost and into the range of Palestinian sniper fire. Yaalon told the cabinet that his investigation showed that the soldiers fired into the air, but when the girl continued walking and tossed her backpack aside, they shot at her, fearful that she might have a bomb.
Under questioning from a cabinet member, Yaalon denied press reports that the commander and other soldiers left the outpost to make sure the girl was dead. At the next cabinet meeting a week later, he went further, saying he believed the captain's account that he was responding to "gunfire aimed at him by firing a burst into the ground" and said the captain offered "a reasonable explanation considering the conditions of the location and the events."
But soldiers who witnessed the incident and told their stories to the Israeli news media eventually forced Yaalon to reverse his claims. Last week, Yaalon conceded that the army's investigation had been a failure, and he said he was "determined to deal with every incident of this type in order to root out every failure of values from the Israel Defense Forces."
"There is no logical reason for what he did," a soldier, who declined to be identified, told the daily newspaper Yedioth Aharonoth a few days after the incident. "Not for shooting the two bullets at her, and certainly not the burst afterward. This is the most sickening thing I have ever seen during my army service. It was desecration of a body. That is not what we are taught to do in the army. . . . The 13-year-old girl was already dead. Why did he fire that burst into her?"
Shmuel Shenfeld, one of the indicted officer's attorneys, said the captain opened fire because of "suspicion of a penetration by a terrorist" near the outpost. He added, "I believe he will be acquitted because he acted the way one has to act in order to neutralize a threat on his soldiers."
Shenfeld denied that the captain pumped bullets into the dead girl, saying he was firing in response to shooting from the direction of the nearby refugee camp.
The indictment issued against the captain alleged that he called several of his subordinate officers and soldiers into his office a week after the incident and "tried to convince" them that they "noticed shooting near the body of the deceased only," rather than shooting at the body. The indictment also accused the captain of asking his men to testify that he hit the body with the burst of fire "by mistake" as he was withdrawing from the area.
Shenfeld said that some soldiers in the unit were trying to frame his client.
The shooting occurred on the edge of the Rafah refugee camp in the far southwestern corner of the Gaza Strip near the Egyptian border -- the most dangerous combat zone in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The youngster, Iman Hams, dressed in the striped pinafore worn by girls who attend the U.N.-run schools in Gaza's refugee camps, was on her way to class just before 7 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, her 25-year-old brother, Ihab Hams, said in an interview. Her school is located on the edge of the refugee camp, a few hundred yards from the Rafiakh Jewish settlement to the north and an even shorter distance from an Israeli military border post to the west.
When the school called her family to report that she did not show up for classes and that a girl had been shot nearby, Ihab Hams said he raced to the scene to investigate.
"She was going to school like every day, and the soldiers started to shoot," Hams said he was told by a teacher at the school who witnessed the incident. "She was injured in her leg and became hysterical. She started to run. A teacher tried to stop her, but she didn't listen because she was so scared.
"Then they shot her," he said.
When he returned home, his father asked if Iman, one of nine children, was the girl being reported dead on the radio.
" 'No, she's okay,' " Ihab said his father replied. "I stood at the door and I felt so sad. My father asked me again. Then I told him, 'Iman has passed away.' "
Special correspondent Islam Abdulkarim in Gaza City and researcher Samuel Sockol contributed to this report.
-----
Arafat family stirs pot of death conspiracies
The Times
November 28, 2004
Uzi Mahnaimi, Ramallah, Sarah Baxter, New York and John Follain, Paris
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1378196,00.html
THE old lady comes to the grave at midnight, when there are just two Palestinian guards standing by the heap of flowers covering Yasser Arafat's tomb.
They know her as Um Abed, a widow from a nearby village. She used to visit Abu Ammar, as local people called the Palestinian leader, from time to time in his battered headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah. He would give her a little pocket money and help her to survive. Now she is alone and embittered.
Dressed in traditional black, her hair covered with a white shawl, she cries: "To hell with those who betrayed you, Abu Ammar! A curse on the murderers and their collaborators!" Um Abed does not need proof that the 75-year-old Arafat was murdered. She just knows; and while it would be easy to dismiss her views as the ravings of an old woman, her sentiments are shared by many Palestinian leaders.
Nasser al-Kidwa, Arafat's nephew, is the urbane and sophisticated Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations. He was at the Paris hospital where his uncle died and last week came away with a 558-page French medical report into Arafat's condition. As a commission of Palestinian doctors pores over its contents, al-Kidwa has already reached his own conclusion.
"He died of unnatural causes," he said in the UN delegates' lounge in New York last week. "If you insist on putting a grade on it, I would say there was a six out of 10 probability he was murdered."
Why, al-Kidwa wondered, were the Israeli officials evidently so confident that Arafat's illness was terminal when he left the West Bank for the last time after waving to supporters at the doorway to his helicopter?
Could the Israelis have plotted to kill him before the controversial withdrawal from Gaza devised by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister? Were they planning to divide and rule over a new generation of potentially feuding Palestinian leaders?
Al-Kidwa is adamant the truth will out. "This is the Middle East. The facts will leak out at some point in the future," he said. "You can't hide the news about President Arafat."
Ashraf al-Kurdi, Arafat's doctor for 20 years, believes suspicions are so entrenched that the Palestinian leader's body should be exhumed.
"It could be that he was poisoned. I was the last doctor who saw him alive and conscious before he flew to Paris and I'm calling for an investigation and autopsy."
Conspiracy theories are rife in the Middle East, where many take it for granted that Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, organised the September 11 terrorist attacks and warned Jews in the World Trade Center not to turn up for work that day.
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an early 20th-century anti-semitic forgery, are regarded by many Arabs as a true guide to Jewish plans to rule the world. The "blood libel" that Jews ritually murder children for unleavened Passover bread is readily repeated.
The West is by no means immune to such speculation: to this day theories abound that Diana, Princess Diana of Wales was murdered. Propaganda of a different kind about Arafat's death has been disseminated in the West, where some have claimed he was suffering from Aids contracted during homosexual romps with his bodyguards.
The rumour was circulated by David Frum, a former speechwriter for President George W Bush who coined the phrase "axis of evil".
Frum revived allegations in a 1987 book by a retired Romanian intelligence chief who claimed Arafat's room had been bugged while he roared "like a tiger" with his lovers.
Add to that the fact that Arafat had a low blood platelet count - common in people with damaged immune systems - and the Aids theory soon acquired the status of unofficial "fact", chewed over avidly by the Israeli and western media.
Al-Kidwa is angry that his uncle's reputation has been dragged through the mud. "This is garbage, frankly, for obvious reasons. It's just junk," he said. Yet with so many accusations flying, it seems no amount of medical science is going to settle the matter.
Arafat, like Diana, died in France, where privacy laws are so strict that revealing details of a patient's medical condition is a crime punishable by a fine and a one-year prison sentence. It is fertile territory for conspiracy theorists.
The French government has publicly ruled out poisoning as a cause of Arafat's death on November 11, but the secretive Percy military hospital, where he was tested and treated, has made no such statement.
There was considerable confusion about the Palestinian leader's condition from the moment he fell seriously ill. One of his top advisers, Bassam Abu Sharif, said he had seen Arafat "healthy and cheerful, very energetic" the week before his departure for Paris on October 29. "So what happened all of a sudden and at such speed?"
A confidant of Arafat claimed: "Just before he was loaded onto the Jordanian helicopter, he whispered, 'They got me this time'." Was Arafat, who had escaped numerous assassination attempts, referring to the Israelis? On arrival at the Percy hospital on the outskirts of Paris, Arafat was rushed to the haematology department suffering from abdominal pains, vomiting fits and diarrhoea. He was given a platelet transfusion and his condition improved enough for him to thank his doctors.
According to al-Kidwa: "In Paris for the first few days I got the feeling that he was getting better. He himself thought he was out of the woods." But on the night of November 3, Arafat suffered a brain haemorrhage and sank into a coma.
Only four people apart from al-Kidwa were allowed into the intensive care ward: Suha, Arafat's formidable 41-year-old wife, who had lived in lavish style in Paris for nearly four years; her close adviser, Pierre Rizk, the former head of the Lebanese intelligence service; Yusuf Abdullah, Arafat's bodyguard for 20 years; and a wealthy business friend of the dying leader. His nine-year-old daughter Zahwa was kept by Suha from seeing him on a life support machine.
There were confusing daily bulletins about his prospects of recovery. "He was given a lot of anaesthesia so that a host of tests could be conducted," said al-Kidwa. "It wasn't always clear where the anaesthesia stopped and the coma started. Sometimes officials didn't say everything, at the insistence of Madame Arafat, but they never lied."
On November 10, a Palestinian imam, Tayssir al-Tamimi, went to Arafat's beside. "God alleviate his suffering," the Muslim cleric said. As dawn broke, Arafat's death was announced.
In theory, the French medical dossier of his hospital stay should answer any questions. Suha was determined to keep it confidential and promptly boarded a flight to Tunis, but the French authorities decided that al-Kidwa was a close enough relative to merit his own copy.
Oddly enough, Arafat's nephew claims not to be interested in its contents. "I'm not going to read it, frankly, because it is just a detailed version of what we have already been told by doctors."
For him, the key findings are that the doctors failed to come up with a clear diagnosis of his uncle's illness and did not find any "known" poisons or toxins in his body. That leaves the "unknown": an endless field of possibilities for the conspiracy-minded.
"There is clearly a big question mark about the cause of death," al-Kidwah said. "The low platelets are the problem. The reason for them has never been found."
A poll undertaken by Nablus University showed that 80% of Palestinians believe Arafat was murdered. Their suspicions are not entirely irrational. Sharon was reported in the Israeli press to have told George W Bush in April that he was rescinding an earlier promise not to harm Arafat. "Shouldn't we leave his fate to the Almighty?" Bush suggested. Sharon is said to have replied knowingly: "Sometimes we have to help the Almighty."
The Israelis have found ways to poison their opponents before. In 1997 two burly "Canadian tourists" approached Khaled Mashaal, the head of Hamas's overseas operations, in Jordan and attacked him. A crowd closed in and they were captured.
Mashaal collapsed and nearly died of a heart attack later in hospital. Later he would remember that "one of the tourists sprayed something in my ear".
The "Canadians" were admitted to be members of Mossad. The late King Hussein of Jordan telephoned Benjamin Netanyahu, then the Israeli prime minister, and demanded an antidote that could be administered. A Mossad doctor eventually injected Mashaal.
It is no surprise that Mashaal was among the first to accuse the Israelis of murdering Arafat.
"A man the age of brother Abu Ammar may die a natural death, but all the circumstances which we have seen in the past two weeks and medical reports indicate that (he) was poisoned," he said.
When Arafat was flown to France, the medical file of Wadi Hadad, a Palestinian hijacker who died in a Berlin hospital in 1978 of a "severe blood disorder", was sent to the doctors in Paris so that they could examine it for possible similarities.
Only one French doctor who cared for Arafat has been willing to divulge some information. Speaking through an intermediary, he confirmed that Arafat had died of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), a blood disorder in which platelets are depleted and microscopic clots form all over the body. It causes widespread bleeding.
"We know Arafat had contracted DIC but we didn't manage to establish what caused it, even though we carried out all the tests France could offer - toxicological, biological, chemical," the doctor said.
The analysis ruled out leukaemia and other cancers, but left open the possibility of a viral or biological cause of illness. "We didn't get a result on the precise cause because we were racing against time and because we had to start from scratch. We asked for Arafat's previous medical records but nobody gave them to us."
Some Paris doctors have speculated that Arafat's blood disorder could have been caused by poisons such as ricin or snake venom, but for the medical establishment there is nothing peculiar about the old man's death.
"He was worn down by the life he led, physically and nervously. He fought constantly for his cause and to stay in power and wasn't too careful about taking medicine," one doctor said. The dawn-to-dusk fasting during the holy month of Ramadan almost certainly weakened him. For the first 11 days of the fast, he resisted pleas from his doctors to rest, eat and take his medication at regular intervals.
Some conspiracy theories take root because there is a tiny grain of truth in them. In Arafat's case, it is hard to resist the conclusion of his nephew that his confinement in Ramallah, under siege in a windowless, sunless headquarters, may have hastened his decline. "The Israelis have a clear responsibility for his death anyway," al-Kidwa said. "The place was under repeated attack."
In all good detective mysteries, the question is: who benefits? If Bush and Condoleezza Rice, his incoming secretary of state, are to be believed, Arafat's death presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Middle East peace and the prospect of a Palestinian state.
That is not necessarily good news for Sharon's hardline Israeli government, which may be pressured into making concessions beyond its wishes. But is al-Kidwa, with all his diplomatic and international contacts, hopeful there will be a peaceful settlement? "No, sadly," he said firmly.
-------- landmines
US urges ban on antitank mines, but will shun Nairobi talks
AFP
November 28, 2004
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/041127/1/3ovcf.html
The United States, stung by insurgent attacks in Iraq, has urged the international community to consider banning all sales of antitank and other heavy landmines, but ruled out its participation in an international conference on mines designed to hurt primarily people.
Members of the so-called Ottawa Convention will gather in Nairobi, Kenya, Sunday to review implementation of the 1997 accord that bans use, development, production, stockpiling and transfer of antipersonnel landmines.
As many as 143 nations have signed up to the accord, which took effect in March 1999.
But a group of 42 countries, led by the United States, Russia and China, have refused, citing the need to protect their troops in various theaters of deployment.
In a written statement released Friday, Deputy State Department Spokesman Adam Ereli gave no indication of change in the US approach and said US diplomats will not be attending the Nairobi gathering.
But he pointed out that important work still "remains to be done" to rid the world of the scourge of landmines that, according ban supporters, still kill and maim between 15,000 and 20,000 people around the world every year.
"Eliminating civilian landmine casualties requires a comprehensive approach addressing landmines of every type that remain hazardous after a conflict has ended, including the larger antivehicle landmines that are not covered by the Ottawa Convention," Ereli said.
He urged convention members to examine their use of non-self-destructing antivehicle mines and agree to negotiate, at the UN Conference on Disarmament, "a ban on the sale or export of all persistent mines, including antivehicle mines."
The proposal came after US defense officials have expressed their growing concern about the use of so-called improvised explosive devices by anti-American insurgents in Iraq.
US military experts have calculated that up to 60 percent of all attacks on US troops and Iraqi security forces in late 2003 began with the explosion of one or more such devices, which are often fashioned from unexploded antipersonnel or antitank mines taken from the old Iraqi arsenal.
Before the US-led March 2003 invasion of Iraq, this arsenal included an estimated 10 million such mines, according to GlobalSecurity.com, a local research organization.
US troops in Iraq travel primarily in Humvees and Bradley Fighting Vehicles, which could be vulnerable to devices handcrafted from antitank mines.
Ereli also urged conference participants to ban all non-detectable landmines, which he said "pose a particular hazard to deminers."
The US military is modernizing its landmine inventory, removing from it all non-self-destructing and non-detectable mines. This process is expected to be concluded by the end of 2010, officials said.
Earlier in the day, US Assistant Secretary of State Lincoln Bloomfield sought to assure members of the Ottawa Convention that they will find in the United States a "strong partner" in trying to prevent humanitarian tragedies caused by landmines.
But he reaffirmed the US decision to stay out of the convention because the Pentagon deems it necessary to have landmines at its disposal "either to save US forces in the field or to save allied forces or to save a population that we are protecting."
Meanwhile, an opinion poll unveiled in September by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations showed that 80 percent of Americans disagreed with this position and said the government should support the landmine banning treaty.
-------- pakistan / india
Troops Hunting Al Qaeda Members Withdrawn
Associated Press
November 28, 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16841-2004Nov27.html
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Nov. 27 -- The Pakistani army announced Saturday that it would withdraw hundreds of troops from a tense tribal region near Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden and his top deputy were believed to be hiding.
The withdrawals from the South Waziristan area come after several military operations by thousands of troops against bin Laden's al Qaeda organization and its supporters in recent months.
Although the tribal region is considered a possible hiding place for bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman Zawahiri, a senior Pakistani general said this month that no sign of bin Laden had been found.
Bin Laden, architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against the United States, has been on the run since U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan in October 2001, routing the Taliban rulers who harbored al Qaeda militants.
The army will remove checkpoints in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, Lt. Gen. Safdar Hussain said after meeting with tribal elders Friday.
Hussain said the moves were "in return for the support of tribesmen in operations against foreign miscreants." Some troops will remain in the area, he said.
"We have been assured by tribal elders that they will not allow miscreants to hide in areas under their control," Hussain said.
As many as 8,000 Pakistani troops were deployed in a three-pronged offensive in the eastern reaches of the rugged region this month. U.S. military forces remain largely on the Afghanistan side in hopes of capturing or killing al Qaeda operatives crossing the border.
-------- spies
CIA Documents Show Bush Knew of 2002 Coup in Venezuela
democracynow.org
November 29th, 2004
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/29/1448220
Newly released CIA documents show the Bush administration - at the very least - knew about the plot to overthrow Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez weeks before the April 2002 military coup. We speak with Peter Korbluh of the National Security Archive and we go to Caracas to speak with attorney Eva Golinger who obtained the documents. [Includes rush transcript] Newly released CIA documents show the Bush administration - at the very least - knew about the plot to overthrow Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez weeks before the April 2002 military coup and did nothing to stop it.
Until now the Bush administration has claimed it had no role in the failed coup and didn't know one was being planned.
The CIA documents, which were heavily censored before being released, were obtained by Venezuelan-American attorney, Eva Golinger. One of those documents, dated April 6, 2002, says explicitly "dissident military factions...are stepping up efforts to organize a coup against President Chavez, possibly as early as this month." The document adds the groups: " may bungle the attempt by moving too quickly."
A CIA spokeswoman told Newsday the agency played no role in the coup and was merely collecting information about political events in Venezuela for top U.S. officials.
Chavez supporters have long-criticized the U.S. for supporting the failed coup attempt in April 2002. Chavez was removed from power by a coalition of military officials and business leaders but returned to office two days later.
U.S.-Venezuela relations have turned sour ever since Chavez was elected president in 1998. As president, Chavez has condemned the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States.
Since then, more than $1 million in U.S. government money has been given to Venezuelan opposition groups for democracy-training programs under the auspices of the National Endowment for Democracy - a private agency funded entirely by the U.S. government.
- Eva Golinger, Venezuelan-American attorney based in New York. She runs the website venezuelafoia.info which has been using the Freedom Of Information Act to obtain more information on the connection between the U.S. government and the anti-Chavez opposition in Venezuela. She joins us from Caracas in Venezuela.
- Peter Kornbluh, a senior analyst at the National Security Archive, a public-interest documentation center in Washington. He is the author of "The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability."
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
EVA GOLINGER: The documents are obtained under the freedom of information act. I contacted the journalist in Washington and we were surprised actually to get these documents considering they were top secret and the request was submitted, we submitted it in November of last year. So they came fairly quickly. The most important point though, about these documents is the one you referred to, the April 6, senior executive intelligence brief that went to over 200 representatives of five different government agencies, the united states and what the documents, the document that particular one says not only that they were stepping up efforts to organize a coup against President Chavez, but they talk about level of detail in the reported plans and the fact that the plans targeted Chavez for arrest, along with 10 other senior officials, and that to provoke the action, meaning to provoke the coup, the plotters would try to exploit unrest stemming from an opposition march scheduled to take place a few days later and this was April 6, the coup happened April 11. On April 9 and 10 was when the opposition declared a general strike. On April 11 was one of the largest marches ever in Venezuela history and the largest that the opposition has led and that's precisely what happened was that during that march on April 11, violence struck out and basically, I mean what the evidence shows today here is that there were snipers set out in various points along the march route that just began firing and apparently, according to these documents, that was the plan. In fact, it was the plan in order to justify the coup and blame the violence on President Chavez, which is precisely what the opposition did. The importance of this is that this shows the U.S. government knew ahead of time. This was April 6, 2002. The coup was April 11, meaning the U.S. government knew on April 12 when Ari Fleischer and Phillip Reager of the State Department and Ari Fleischer of the White House came out and made statements saying that to the best of their knowledge, President Chavez provoked the violence and had subsequently resigned because of it. They had in their hands, they had received five days before, plans that showed that that is just what the opposition and military officers were going to do was to provoke that violence and take Chavez prisoner, and the fact that the U.S. government spokespeople came out and said that they had no other knowledge besides this version that Chavez was the one doing this is now contradicted by these top-secret documents that have been declassified by the C.I.A. so the United States Government has been caught in its own trap and even more interesting was last week Adam Morelli, the spokesperson for the State Department responded to these documents and he said that the U.S. government had warned president Chavez about a possible coup and assassination attempt before it happened. What's interesting about that is that the documents, the importance of them is not whether or not the U.S. government warned Chavez. We don't know that. President Chavez hasn't responded. He's currently on a trip around the world. But the importance is that they knew about the coup and they knew exactly how it was going to be played out and when it was played out to the T according to the documents they had, the plans they had, they then came out and said they knew nothing about it. And that's what's important here.
AMY GOODMAN: While we were in Spain this controversy continued there with the Venezuela Foreign Minister Martinos saying that the Spanish ambassador to Caracas was involved with the U.S. ambassador, with supporting the coup and Chavez himself said in Spain I have no doubt that's what happened. The Spanish ambassador was the only one together with the U.S. ambassador recognized the tyrant put in place via a blood bath and break with the institutional norm. Peter, the significance of this and do you believe that the US not only knew but was involved with the at the same timed coup?
PETER KORNBLUH: The documents don't really tell us whether the United States was directly involved. They tell us more or less exactly what Eva has just stated, that the U.S. Intelligence community, it's not actually clear whether it was the CIA or the Defense Intelligence Agency or other members of the Pentagon, had contacts with civilian and military sectors in Caracas and were getting a steady stream of reports on planning for this coup. We know that from the documents. We also know from the documents as Eva pointed out, that this information was, you know, not stopped at some low-level, mid-level desk in the state department or in the CIA, but actually distributed through a very interesting committee called the strategic warning committee headed by the CIA to almost, to the very highest levels of the U.S. government. The senior executive intelligence brief is one step below the presidential daily brief, which goes to the president and about 15 of his top advisers. But the senior executive brief goes to 200 of the, all the most important national security advisers. So this was distributed throughout the US government and certainly since we know that it was distributed, we know that there were meetings held about it, discussions on how to respond, how to perhaps prepare, etc., and as events played out, it is clear that the United States developed, the Bush administration had developed its response, who to blame, how to spin this, and how to support it. I suspect, and let me just say that these documents are incredibly important and perhaps the tip of an iceberg that Eve is starting to melt.
AMY GOODMAN: And finally, just very quickly before we move on to Iraq with our guests in Baghdad, in Chile, the government announcing it will give out monthly compensation to 28,000 Chileans who suffered human rights abuses under the Pinochet regime, Peter Kornbluh, you wrote a critical book. Its significance this latest move?
PETER KORNBLUH: Chile is going through a wrenching period where all attention of the nation is being paid to an incredibly detailed report on the torture of perhaps 35,000 people. 28,000 who may receive compensation. The president, president Lagos went on television last night, a major address announcing the release of this report, announcing this compensation. What he didn't denounce, however, is the key question on every victim's mind is who did this? When will they be identified and when will they be prosecuted? And that is still an outstanding question that no amount of compensation for the victims is going to address.
AMY GOODMAN: Well I want to thank you both for being with us, Peter Kornbluh of national security archives. His book is The Pinochet File and Eva, speaking to us from Caracas.
--------
White House Gets Involved In CIA, FBI Talent Search
washingtonpost
By Stephen Barr
November 28, 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17002-2004Nov27.html
It's official: The White House has joined the war for talent.
In recently released directives, President Bush has ordered the CIA and FBI to make dramatic changes in their intelligence programs.
He instructed the CIA to increase -- by 50 percent -- "the number of fully qualified, all-source analysts," the number of "fully qualified officers" in the clandestine service and the number of officers "tested and proficient in mission-critical languages." The CIA is directed to increase staffing "as soon as feasible."
Bush did not set numerical requirements for the FBI, but he gave it three months to create an "integrated intelligence cadre" of special agents, analysts, linguists and surveillance specialists. The president also directed the FBI to implement a recruitment and training program within 90 days that will "attract individuals with educational and professional backgrounds in intelligence, international relations, language, technology and relevant skills."
The White House usually avoids getting into this kind of personnel management, especially setting hiring goals, but these are unusual times.
Much of Bush's directive grows out of recommendations by the 9/11 commission and the political wrangling on Capitol Hill about how to restructure, and revamp budgets for, the intelligence community. The 9/11 commission found an array of shortfalls in staffing and expertise in key agencies during its investigation into the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center.
To be sure, Bush's directives ratify what has been underway inside the CIA and FBI for two years. For example, the FBI has added about 700 linguists with a top-secret clearance, and the CIA has reported a fivefold increase in Mideast specialists.
The FBI and CIA also acknowledge that they have a long way to go. Almost all national security agencies and the State Department took staffing and budget cuts during the 1990s as part of the post-Cold War drawdown. It takes time to build a pipeline that delivers highly skilled employees, such as Arabic speakers.
But it can be done.
That's the message in a recent report by the Foreign Affairs Council, a nonpartisan coalition of 11 organizations, which formed in 2000 to monitor management and leadership issues at the State Department.
The council, in an assessment of Colin L. Powell's term as secretary of state, found that his attention to management issues paid off. Calling Powell "an exemplary CEO," the council report said, "When he departs, he will leave the institution infinitely stronger than he found it."
When Powell arrived, the department was stretched thin -- too few people being asked to work with scant resources, including outdated computers.
In the summer of 2000, the council's report noted, about 1,400 Foreign Service officers -- a quarter of the diplomatic corps -- signed their names to an Internet petition protesting their working conditions. Four years later, 200 members of the Foreign Service and civil service had volunteered for 146 State Department jobs opening in Baghdad.
The turnaround in morale, the report said, can be attributed to Powell and his management team.
As part of Powell's Diplomatic Readiness Initiative, and in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the department worked with Congress to add about 2,000 employees. More than half have master's degrees; about 13 percent have law degrees.
The department has stepped up recruitment, spending about $1.2 million a year on marketing, the report said. The outreach effort was extended to more schools and to minority and professional associations. The report noted that the proportion of minority applicants hired has grown from 13 percent in 2000 to 19 percent in 2003.
Training in critical languages also has jumped, the report said. The number of employees in Arabic studies rose from about 120 in fiscal 2001 to almost 200 in fiscal 2004, the report said.
Thomas D. Boyatt, president of the council and a former ambassador, said Powell arrived at a critical time and created a "leadership culture" at all levels of the State Department. "We got someone who cared about the troops and knew how to manage large numbers just at the moment we needed him," Boyatt said.
What State has accomplished can be done at the CIA, FBI and other agencies, Boyatt said. Powell, he said, "has proved that."
E-mail: barrs@washpost.com
-------- un
Blue-ribbon panel to recommend UNSC reform
The News International
November 28, 2004
http://jang.com.pk/thenews/nov2004-daily/28-11-2004/world/w4.htm
UNITED NATIONS: A blue-ribbon committee was set to release a much-awaited report recommending the Security Council grow from 15 to 24 members, but with two proposed models for assigning the seats, diplomats told AFP.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan named the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change to study ways the body could better face today's world. Former Thai Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun chairs the 16-member panel, which is due to deliver its report on December 2. Annan wants to submit the reform proposals to the UN General Assembly for adoption in time for the 60th anniversary of the United Nations.
According to information supplied by several diplomats, the report recommends two models for reforming the Security Council, the principal UN decision-making body. The sources said the two models are based on a new distribution of the member countries into four geographic groups: Africa, Europe (Western and Eastern), the Americas (North and South) and Asia (including Australia and New Zealand).
As things stand, the 191 UN member nations are divided into five regions. The United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand form part of the "west" with Western Europe, while former Soviet-bloc countries are part of a different group. The two proposed models would chose six representatives from each group for the council, for a total of 24 members.
The current Security Council has 15 members, five of which are permanent, each with a veto over matters brought before the body: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. The other 10 rotating members are chosen by their geographic group for a non-renewable two-year period.
The first of two reform models would add three rotating members and six new permanent members, but without a veto. The second model would leave in place the permanent members and would add nine new rotating members.
However, eight of the nine countries, two per geographic group, would become "semi-permanent" members, serving four-year terms instead of the current two-year terms and the possibility of being re-elected for another four years.
According to UN diplomats, the panel's report only makes a series of proposals, without assigning of the new seats to any of the countries that could benefit. However, it is clear that in the first model, the six new permanent seats appear to be destined to Germany, Brazil, India and Japan, as well as two unnamed African countries.
The four named countries officially mounted in September a campaign to be included as a slate. Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria have also voiced their candidacy for permanent seats. Calls went out nearly a decade ago for broader representation on the Security Council, to include the larger developing countries and to give the permanent group better geographical balance. The question as to whether at the end of the day there will be a reform remains open.
"You could say that the panel failed to find an agreement," said one diplomat of the two-proposal report, on condition of anonymity. "The fact that the panel could not agree on one model shows that it didn't know how to move forward, but instead is playing back the ball to the member states."
-------- POLITICS
-------- propaganda wars
Hating America on Fox: An Open Letter to John Gibson
Press Action
By Rosemarie Jackowski
November 28, 2004
http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/jackowski11282004/
Dear Mr. Gibson:
The Fox News program of November 27, Hating America, which tried to explain why so many around the world hate the United States, failed to really answer that question. With all due respect, I need to remind you of the history of U.S. foreign policy...especially since WW2. The list of countries that we have bombed since then is too long to list here. They hate us because we bomb them. We exploit their natural resources. We terrorize them. We invade and occupy them. We trample on international law. We have an executive order that allows assassinations. We allow our xenophobic tendencies to disrespect their cultures.
We misuse the UN Security Council and use it as a tool against less powerful countries. We are the only nation to have ever used nuclear weapons against other people. We invade our neighbors. We have WMD's. We use cluster bombs, which have killed many children. We violently attempt to spread Radical Galloping Capitalism to countries, which prefer other more humanitarian systems. We fail to recognize the sovereignty of other nations. We have used napalm. We still use depleted uranium. We operate a training center to create terrorists at Fort Benning. We are a racist nation.
We have military bases in more than 100 countries around the world. How about doing an investigative report on how the U.S. got its base at Diego Garcia? That is one of the most under-reported news stories of the century. Imagine what most U.S. citizens would think, if they had that information.
I thank you for doing the program. It is a good start. Just recognizing the fact that so many around the world hate the U.S. is an achievement for Fox. This program should be Part One of a series that would take a serious look at U.S. foreign policy. Those who live in the U.S. should not be denied the information that so many in other countries have. If U.S. citizens became as well informed as those around the world, we too, would find that the policies of this government are not acceptable.
What is the reason that the media fails to accurately inform viewers? Maybe the reason is that there are too many newsreaders for the government, and virtually no real investigative journalists who are given any air time.
You, and others at Fox News, have an opportunity to become more than just newsreaders for the Pentagon. Just one good investigative journalist would make a big difference. Most of the information is already available. I suggest starting with the books by William Blum, former member of the U.S. State Department. I also suggest that you invite Mr. Blum for an on-air interview. Is there anyone at Fox who would be willing to engage someone, who is as knowledgeable and well informed as he is, in debate?
Again, I thank you for the program and end with a few suggestions. I request that in future news broadcasts you report the number of Iraqi civilians who have been killed. Also, I question your use of the word insurgents. Those who are fighting in defense of their homeland can hardly be referred to as insurgents. Please show the photographs of the children who have been killed by U.S. cluster bombs. Those photos should not be censored out of the U.S. media. To censor those photos is neither fair nor balanced.
Rosemarie Jackowski is an advocacy journalist living in Vermont. She can be reached at dissent@sover.net.
-------- us politics
Neocons join the lynch mob for 'arrogant' Rumsfeld
The Times
Sarah Baxter, New York
November 28, 2004
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1378195,00.html
THE American defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, should be sacked, according to a growing chorus of conservative commentators who want him replaced by a figure with wider appeal.
In a seemingly innocuous Thanksgiving message to readers last week, William Kristol, the neoconservative editor of The Weekly Standard magazine, slipped in a surprise demand for Rumsfeld's dismissal.
"What remains to be done is to announce new leadership for the department of defence," wrote Kristol. "This, surely, would be an important opportunity for a strong, Bush-doctrine-supporting outsider, someone who of course would be a team player, but someone who could also work with the military and broaden support for the president's policy."
Boiled down, this meant: almost anybody but Rumsfeld, whose performance has not always matched his swagger. His failure to install enough troops on the ground after last year's invasion of Iraq has upset American generals and alienated supporters of the war.
"I am allergic to Rumsfeld," said Ralph Peters, a former lieutenant-colonel and robust media champion of the war on terror. "We did a great thing in Iraq, but we did it very badly.
"He is an extremely talented man but he has the tragic flaw of hubris. His arrogance is unbearable. My friends in uniform just hate him."
The calls for Rumsfeld to be dismissed have intensified since the departure was announced of his cabinet rival, Colin Powell, the secretary of state. With the liberal-leaning Powell being the first to go, conservatives no longer see the need to hold back their opinions.
The defence secretary's job security has not been enhanced by allegations that he lobbied to scupper the intelligence bill in Congress last week against President George W Bush's wishes. Rumsfeld made little secret of his opposition to the bill's plan for the national intelligence director to be given sweeping powers over the $40 billion intelligence budget, 80% of which is currently controlled by the Pentagon.
Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney, who first worked with Rumsfeld in the 1970s, are known to feel loyal to the architect of the swift military victories in Afghanistan and - initially - in Iraq. There is a feeling that he deserves to remain in place until after the Iraqi elections in January.
Unlike Powell, Rumsfeld lacks an obvious replacement. Robert Novak, the right-wing pundit, believes Paul Wolfowitz, the neoconservative deputy defence secretary, is a "good possibility" who has been subjected to a "healthy dose of reality" about the limits of American power.
-------- voting
Ukrainian Parliament Declares Vote Invalid
Decisive Move Boosts Pressure to Hold New Presidential Election
Washington Post
By Peter Finn
November 28, 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16145-2004Nov27.html
KIEV, Ukraine, Nov. 27 -- The Ukrainian parliament declared the country's contested presidential vote invalid Saturday, ratcheting up the political and legal pressure for new elections that were increasingly seen as acceptable to supporters of the declared winner, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
The European Union also called for fresh elections. And in a significant hint that a compromise was emerging, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, which has been at odds with the United States and Western European nations over the election, said Moscow might look favorably on a new vote.
"We think the best, the ideal outcome would be elections," the Dutch foreign minister, Bernard Bot, told reporters in The Hague, speaking on behalf of the E.U. "If we are heading for elections, it should happen rather soon, before the end of the year."
In a resolution supported by 307 of 450 members, the parliament, or Supreme Rada, declared that the vote failed to "fully reflect the will of the people" and accused the government of a "massive violation of law." The parliament also expressed no confidence in the Central Elections Commission, which declared Yanukovych the winner over Viktor Yushchenko, the opposition candidate. Yushchenko has been calling for new elections.
The commission appeared to ignore laws that require it to wait seven days before certifying the election if there are complaints to be considered. The matter is now before the Supreme Court, which has blocked Yanukovych's inauguration.
"What we have today is a revolutionary situation," said Volodymyr Lytvyn, the speaker of parliament who previously had been considered a possible pro-government candidate to oppose Yushchenko. "In the current situation, the most realistic decision is to recognize the election as one that didn't take place because of the impossibility to define the winner."
Just a few days ago, Yushchenko could not muster enough parliamentary votes to challenge the election. But in another significant shift, members of the Communist Party, the key swing voting bloc in parliament, also supported the measure Saturday.
"Today's voting . . . indicates that there isn't a single legitimate body of power left in the country that would recognize that the election reflected the will of the people," said Pyotr Poroshenko, Yushchenko's deputy campaign manager. "The events in Independence Square have had an impact on the parliament."
For six days, tens of thousands of Yushchenko's supporters have massed in the capital to protest what they contend is electoral theft. The demonstrators shifted their location from Independence Square to the parliament building on Saturday as the debate unfolded.
The parliamentary motion is nonbinding but could have some legal standing after the Supreme Court decides whether the elections commission acted properly when it declared a winner, said Anton Buteiko, a lawyer and deputy chairman of the Ukrainian People's Party, the largest bloc in Yushchenko's coalition. The court decision is expected Monday.
Buteiko said Ukraine is heading into uncharted legal waters. If the Supreme Court rules against Yushchenko, the country could find itself in a constitutional stalemate, with the court and parliament at odds. But a court decision that the actions of the elections commission were illegal would clear the way for a new vote, Buteiko said.
With some of their supporters leaving the capital to return home to eastern Ukraine, members of Yanukovych's camp appear increasingly reconciled to new elections under new rules.
"The Yanukovych campaign is willing to consider new elections because we recognize our responsibility to improve the situation in Ukraine, but only if all decisions leading to new elections are legitimate and lawful," said Valery Konovalyuk, a member of parliament who is part of Yanukovych's campaign team. "We agree with the idea of holding new elections only if the Supreme Court will make the appropriate decision requiring them on Monday."
Other Yanukovych supporters tied the possibility of new elections to political reform that would shift some presidential powers to parliament, where they remain a potent force.
"If we approve political reform, we can vote for other resolutions," said Yuliy Yoffe, a member of parliament and Yanukovych supporter.
Yanukovych called and then canceled a news conference Saturday. He is expected to make an appearance Sunday morning in eastern Ukraine, his stronghold, his campaign office said.
Yushchenko has called for new elections on Dec. 12, a date that some observers believe is not practical given the need to change not only the Central Elections Commission, but also regional and local commissions where most of the alleged fraud took place. Parliament would also have to consider electoral reforms to prevent the kind of abuse of absentee ballots and mobile voting that election monitors said accounted for many of the violations around the country.
Mobile voting -- polling booths that move from place to place -- allows hospital patients and others who are unable to get to the polls to cast their ballots. Critics say that such mobility allows for ballot-stuffing.
Buteiko said a majority in parliament, including the Communists, are close to reaching an agreement on a new elections commission, with five members chosen by Yushchenko, five by Yanukovych and five by the speaker of the parliament.
Buteiko said the speaker would give the president the names of the people selected for the commission so that the president could formally nominate them, although he would have had no real role in choosing them. Members of parliament said they want a new commission in place by Dec. 1.
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Comment: Michael Portillo:
A sage king teaches us how to be Middle East wise men
The Times
November 28, 2004
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2088-1378213,00.html
At the risk of making racist generalisations, why is it that Europeans and Americans are so clumsy and unsubtle and appear to be such galumphing oafs in diplomacy? Last week the European Union looked foolish with its over-hasty claim to have a deal with Iran over uranium enrichment; Javier Solana, Europe's foreign affairs representative, seemed shifty because he could not decide whether he had or had not met Hamas, the anti-Israeli terror group; Jack Straw, our foreign secretary, and Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, appeared naive as they rushed to Ramallah to back Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, the West's preferred candidate in the Palestinian election. That has probably ruined his chances.
As I watched King Abdullah of Jordan deliver a speech in London last Monday, I tried to imagine how that highly intelligent man keeps his patience as his country reaps the baleful consequences of the West's ill-informed meddling in his region.
In public the king says many things that Tony Blair and George W Bush would love to hear. He talks of the "true Islam" characterised by "peace, moderation and progress". But cloaked in nuances that would go over western leaders' heads, he pleads for no interference in Jordan as it moves in its own way towards democracy.
Any attempt to impose a process from the outside would put in jeopardy "the sense of engagement" needed to produce success. He mentions that there is a crisis of faith in international justice and he might add that this stretches well beyond the Middle East.
The king defies our stereotype of Arab leaders. He speaks perfect English, eschews pomp and formality and uses the Autocue to deliver his speech with a professionalism that should make Bush envious. But beneath the silky exterior I sensed that the king must be in despair with America, which has shown little regard for Jordan's delicate position.
The kingdom has made peace with its neighbour Israel, but Jordanians identify strongly with Palestinians and their cause. Saudi Arabia, another neighbour, is involved in a struggle to the death with Al-Qaeda. Across a third border, Iraq has been invaded by the United States and Britain. Nonetheless, Jordan has close relations with the coalition powers while still trying to co-exist with next-door Syria, which Bush believes is part of the axis of evil. No wonder the Hashemite royal family has developed subtlety, not to say cunning.
Blair must often reflect on the troubles that have come his way for supporting Bush. His poll ratings have nose-dived. Perhaps he should spare a thought for the Jordanian ruler who has also shown loyalty to the White House but whose country is now surrounded by terror and war, its population driven from its pro-western outlook to an unprecedented level of anti-American fury.
While Blair faces metaphorical flak from his party and the media, Jordan is subjected to all the detritus of conflict: the flow of terrorists, gangsters, refugees and weapons across its territory. It is now concerned about the import of scrap metal from the Iraq war, some of it containing depleted uranium from coalition shells.
Shortly after arriving at the Pentagon as defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld abolished the US armed forces' peacekeeping school, miscalculating that Americans would not be called upon for such duties. The need to save face makes it impossible for his error to be reversed, but some American units have been sent to a peacekeeping school in Jordan.
The instructors there were shocked at the attitudes of the trainees. They were aggressive towards foreigners and inclined to humiliate citizens who they stopped to question on the street. Many soldiers could not understand that across the world human beings hold dignity dear; and they did not understand local taboos against, for example, touching women.
Americans sometimes ascribe their difficulties in Iraq to a gulf between cultures. In fact some of their behaviour would be as offensive in Chicago as in Baghdad. That may derive from military training or from xenophobia. Perhaps the shock of finding that the local population did not greet them with roses has devastated morale.
A recent article in Science magazine discussed why US soldiers tortured victims in Abu Ghraib prison. It said they came to see Iraqis as "interchangeable members" of a contemptible and alien group.
Rumsfeld's lack of preparedness for post-war Iraq evidently owed much to his overreliance on Ahmed Chalabi, who led opposition to Saddam Hussein while studying mathematics at Chicago and MIT. Accepting a single view of Iraq from Chalabi was another example of the West's innocence. The Bush administration now ostracises him.
Maybe influenced by Chalabi, the Americans who sketched Iraq's future thought they were being sophisticated in planning safeguards for the Sunni minority against the Shi'ite Muslims. Others in the region thought that concept misconceived because it underestimated the feelings that unite Iraqis.
Foreign ignorance has served to exacerbate divisions but fortunately not yet disastrously. Despite the insurrection, the Shi'ites and Sunnis have not resorted to civil war, suggesting that the Americans' emphasis on sectarianism was wrong.
-------- OTHER
-------- health
Quick update on Ashcroft v. Raich
and on:
Medical Board of California's Division of Medical Quality (DMQ) quarterly meeting held on 11/5/04 in San Diego.
From: Frank H. Lucido M.D. <drfrank@well.com>
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2004
Ashcroft v. Raich: This Monday morning, November 29, is the Supreme Court hearing of Ashcroft v Raich (my patient). I will be flying in to witness this historic case, as Angel is my patient, and a very courageous person. I am scheduled to be included in the press conference soon after. Check out the evening news Monday. At least Angel should be on. (gulp, maybe me... Hi Mom!) Of course, we don't expect a decision in this case for months.
MBC DMQ
Medical Board of California's Division of Medical Quality (DMQ) quarterly meeting was held on 11/5/04 in San Diego. This was my 7th consecutive time speaking during "public comment" period. (anybody can!)
I re-announced we had launched MedicalBoardWatch.com, and that I was and would be monitoring all cases of doctors being investigated for having recommended medical cannabis. My statement is found at: http://www.medboardwatch.com/mbc-November-05-04-statement.htm (This time the outgoing chair of the DMQ, Dr Ronald Wender, asked me to write down the MedicalBoardWatch.com url for him, so I think they are beginning to notice that they are being watched and reported on.)
More on this in next update...
peace and health, Dr. Frank MedicalBoardWatch.com http://www.medicalboardwatch.com/
More info below on the talking points of this case by Steph Sherer of ASA.
Also my intended brief statement for the press conference:
11/29/04 Good afternoon/morning. I am Dr. Frank Lucido. I have been practicing Family and general medicine for this past 25 years in Berkeley, California, and am a member in good standing of the medical staff of Alta Bates Medical Center.
I have been studying the clinical use of cannabis, which is the medical name for marijuana, for the past 8 years now, and find that it to be a SAFE AND EFFECTIVE MEDICINE for many seriously ill patients.
For the past four years, I have had the privilege of being Angel Raich's primary care physician, and have coordinated her care with numerous medical specialists.
Angel is a VERY ILL, AND A VERY COURAGEOUS WOMAN, for whom medicinal cannabis has the effect of relieving chronic pain, anorexia and nausea and its resulting weight loss and malnutrition, and other serious debilitating symptoms.
Angel HAS TRIED NUMEROUS REGULAR PHARMACEUTICAL TREATMENTS and they have failed. In fact, they have often have made her sicker, while medical cannabis has worked amazingly well for her. With medicinal cannabis, she has been able to care for her family, as a mother and wife, and pursue her patient advocacy work. Without medical cannabis, she would again become debilitated, and could very well die.
SICK PATIENTS SHOULD NOT LIVE IN FEAR of their own government arresting them for using a safe and effective medicine.
The federal government should not interfere with THE SACRED AND TRUSTED DOCTOR-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP.
MEDICAL PRACTICE SHOULD BE DETERMINED BY PRACTICING PHYSICIANS and the appropriate state authorities who license them; NOT by federal agents, who spread misinformation about this safe and effective medicine.
Below is from Steph Sherer of Americans for Safe Access
Hello Everyone,
As you all know Raich vs. Ashcroft will be heard by the Supreme Court on Monday. The national spotlight will turn once again to Medical Marijuana. The Raich legal team will be holding a press conference in DC followed by a teleconference. But many local reporters will be calling on medical marijuana advocates to ask them questions about how this case will impact your community.
We know that are opponents, the DEA, Walters, etc have worked very hard to have a unified message when speaking to the press. In this crucial time it is important that the public hear a unified message from our movement. I think the # 1 message that we want to get across before the decision comes down is:
"The movement for safe and legal access to medical marijuana has much to gain and little to lose from this case. The single most important thing to understand is that state and local laws on the books protecting medical cannabis patients and their doctors will continue to stand. If we win, it will be a major victory for medical cannabis patients and their doctors across the country. People who suffer from leukemia, cancer, multiple sclerosis and other life-threatening illnesses will not have to live in fear of being arrested by the federal government for taking the medicine they need to survive."
Here are some more talking points that the Raich team has put together. Let's show the DOJ that we are a strong unified movement and we know what this case means to our lives.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Steph Sherer
Ashcroft v. Raich Talking Points
This case, first and foremost, is about granting sick and dying patients the right to a medicine that has proven medical benefits supported by government studies and health care professionals.
People who suffer from leukemia, cancer, multiple sclerosis and other life-threatening illnesses should not have to live in fear of being arrested for taking the medicine they need to survive ö medicine their doctors are recommending for them.
An overwhelming majority of Americans agree with us. In fact, 80% of the Americans are in favor of patients having access to medical cannabis if that is what their doctors recommend, according to a recent TIME/CNN poll. This is not a divisive red state/blue state issue. In fact, four states with medical cannabis laws on the books are red: Colorado, Nevada, Montana and Alaska.
Overwhelming support for more common sense medical cannabis laws, most recently in Montana, Ann Arbor MI, and Columbia MO further point to growing public support for cannabis as legitimate medicine and the compassion most Americans have for severely ill people who rely on cannabis to alleviate their suffering.
Doctors, not the federal government, know whatās best for their patients. Who would you rather have overseeing your health? Your doctor or a federal agent from Washington, DC?
The federal government should not interfere between a patient and her doctorās decision to recommend the medicine that best treats the patientās illness.
Angelās doctors have tried regular pharmaceutical treatments and they have failed. In fact, they have made her sicker. Medical cannabis has worked. She can walk again, hug her children again, live her life again. If the federal government is allowed to interfere and stop her from getting the medical cannabis she needs, it is in effect condemning her to death.
Furthermore, there is strong legal precedent for the Supreme Court to decide that the federal government does not have the right to interfere if a state decides to allow doctors to recommend proven treatments for their patients. This is a federalism issue, and the federal government has no business poking its nose into it.
Combating terrorism and going after drug lords should be the priority of Department of Justice and the Attorney General ö not going after sick and dying patients whose only crime is seeking relief and treatment for their suffering.
Legal point: The federal government is trying to persecute Angel and Diane for violating interstate commerce laws. This is absolutely groundless. No money ever changed hands and the cannabis the two women used as medicine never crossed state lines. This is clearly a case where the feds are grasping at straws to wage a misguided war on the sick.
Federalism isnāt just for conservatives. This case is about enabling states to advance social policies beyond the reach of Congress that help extremely sick patients live with their illnesses.
-------- poverty
Homeless Could Use More Reason To Give Thanks
washingtonpost.com
By Courtland Milloy
November 28, 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17069-2004Nov27.html
The Federal City homeless shelter was a beehive of love on Thanksgiving day. More than 2,500 people were fed in the basement-turned-dining hall. All sorts of winter outfits were distributed from the shelter's clothing department, while medical attention was given to those who came to the infirmary.
A makeshift barbershop was set up in an alcove. Homeless men gathered there to help each other get spruced up for the special meals. A cold wind gusted outside. But inside, the atmosphere was comfortably warm and filled with the aroma of turkey dinners and fresh-baked cakes and pies.
Thank the volunteers, to be sure. They came by the carloads from near and far. Suzy Fields and Kathleen Thompson, for instance, were in from Texas to help put up Christmas decorations at the White House but found time to serve dinner at the shelter, at Second and D streets NW.
"Coming here helps put life in perspective, and helping others who are less fortunate makes you appreciate what you have," Thompson said.
Thank also Mitch Snyder, the man for whom the stretch of Second Street in front of the shelter is named.
Twenty years ago, in November 1984, Snyder ended a 51-day hunger strike that pressured the Reagan administration into renovating -- instead of closing -- the ramshackle building. At the time, about 800 homeless people were living there in unsafe and unsanitary conditions.
A $14 million renovation was completed in 1988. Four years later, Snyder committed suicide on the third floor, where he lived.
"I heard some rumors about him," a homeless man said while filling a bag with second helpings of turkey, ham, dressing, green beans, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, corn bread and biscuits. "I heard that he was a white guy who didn't mind hugging you even if you stank."
Close enough.
"Mitch was the kind of guy who'd walk up to a homeless person, hug him and say: 'I love you. Are you hungry? You want something to eat? You need a place to stay?' " recalled Melvin "Skip" Watkins, a graduate of Hampton University who is homeless and serves as interim executive director of the shelter. "The spirit of Mitch Snyder needs resurrecting."
Under D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D), the number of homeless shelters near downtown continues to shrink. A protest that started last week and ended Friday over the latest closing, of the Randall School shelter in Southwest, suggests that such a resurrection may be underway.
"What's ironic is that many of the people in our shelter are veterans," Watkins said. "Money to help the homeless is being cut, while more and more money is being spent on waging war, which only creates more homelessness -- here and abroad."
There is a montage on a wall in the shelter at Second and D streets NW that includes a photograph of Snyder and this quote: "Our goal is simple: the creation of adequate, accessible space, offered in an atmosphere of reasonable dignity, for every man, woman and child who needs and wants to get off the streets."
Also pictured is Carol Fennelly, Snyder's longtime companion, who continued his work after his death.
"The problem is that homelessness is no longer shocking; it's become an acceptable part of our sitcom culture," Fennelly, who runs a program that helps incarcerated fathers stay in touch with their children, told me recently. "When you cease being shocked by homelessness, you cease being able to fix it."
During the feast Thursday, you could hear the grateful murmurs of mealtime prayers, followed by the smacking of lips and the sweet moans of taste buds coming alive.
A few miles away, on the grounds of Luther Place Memorial Church -- near Thomas Circle NW, where Snyder's ashes were spread -- a homeless woman was curled up under a blanket.
Asked if she was okay, the woman poked out her head and smiled: "Yes, I'm fine. Thank you."
If Snyder had his way, there'd be a place at the table where she, too, could say grace -- along with all the others who are hungry and in need of shelter from the cold.
E-mail: milloyc@washpost.com
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In the Wide-Open Spaces, A Shelter for the Homeless
Plan for Rural Group Home Raises Neighbors' Concerns
Washington Post
By Fredrick Kunkle
November 28, 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17008-2004Nov27.html
The house sits atop a hill at the end of a long driveway, surrounded by fenced pasture and the rolling terrain of the Catoctin Mountains. Out back is a red and yellow barn. A trout stream flows nearby, and the quiet is punctuated only by the sound of birds concealed in the mist of a fall day.
It's an unusual site for a planned homeless shelter. It's also controversial.
Shelter opponents including Majid Afkhami, center, and William Harbaugh, left, Mary Cantwell, Barbara Spence, Lisa Cantwell and Shirley Harbaugh say their rural area is the wrong place for a homeless shelter. (Preston Keres -- The Washington Post)
To fight a growing homelessness problem in Frederick County, Hope Alive Inc. chose the farm in Sabillasville as the site for a group home for as many as 25 homeless women and children. The decision was partly a matter of dollars and cents, because real estate in the northwest corner of the county, a few miles from the Pennsylvania border, is less expensive than in the southern regions.
But in keeping with the Christian philosophy of its founder, Hope Alive's mission in Sabillasville is also based on a belief that the peaceful setting is just the place for troubled women to start new lives.
"Our whole purpose is to get them off the street," said Sue Oehmig, the group's founder and president.
The countryside that beckoned to Hope Alive is also what lured many of its neighbors. And many of them, represented by the Northwestern Frederick County Civic Association, have fought the shelter.
"I think it's a good idea, but I don't think it's the right area," said Irving C. Sheeler, who ran a business in Baltimore until his retirement and lives about five minutes from the proposed shelter. "We have quite a few people in this area who are opposed."
Sheeler, 75, said he worries that the shelter will depress his property values. He worries about noise. He also fears that the people who come to the shelter might bring drugs or other problems.
"You're going to be bringing in street-smart people, even though Ms. Oehmig says she's going to screen them properly," Sheeler said.
So far, opponents have been unsuccessful in blocking approval of the group home. Having lost at the Board of Appeals on Nov. 18, the civic association is contemplating taking action in the courts, spokesman Majid Afkhami said.
The need for new homeless shelters is clear. A recent survey by the Frederick Coalition for the Homeless found that the number of people living on the streets of Frederick or camping in the woods in the surrounding county has increased 24 percent since last year. Their numbers have shadowed the area's steady transformation from an agricultural region into a highly desirable exurb where affordable homes are in ever shorter supply.
"Poverty and homelessness in small, rural communities can be more invisible. It's not like the streets of D.C. or Baltimore, where people are sitting on grates," said Michael Spurrier, director of the city's Community Action Agency.
On a single day in February, the coalition survey found 244 adults and 72 children without homes, according to an October report. That compared with 194 adults and 57 children surveyed on a single day in May the previous year.
The 2004 report also says that 1,369 people, including children, took refuge in motels and shelters in Frederick County between July 2002 and June 2003. The number turned away because of a lack of beds was nearly twice that, at 2,469.
"It's definitely a growing problem in Frederick County," said Greg Galaida, executive director of Advocates for Homeless Families Inc., a nonprofit group located in Frederick. He cited a lack of affordable housing as the prime reason. These days, the median two-bedroom apartment rents for $1,260 a month, a sum that requires the head of a four-person household to earn about $23 an hour, he said.
With little affordable housing available, a health crisis, a broken-down car or the loss of a job is all it takes for some to lose their home, said James Upchurch, president of the Interfaith Housing Alliance in Frederick. What's even more disturbing, he said, is that a growing number of people in the shelters also work.
Shelter opponents including Majid Afkhami, center, and William Harbaugh, left, Mary Cantwell, Barbara Spence, Lisa Cantwell and Shirley Harbaugh say their rural area is the wrong place for a homeless shelter. (Preston Keres -- The Washington Post)
"One of the things people [in the shelters] were saying is, 'Can you wake me up tomorrow morning? Because I have to go to work,' " Upchurch said. "The problem here is not just the problem of street people."
The shortage touched Upchurch's life about a year ago when he found a young day laborer living in his tool shed.
"I said, 'I'm so embarrassed because I don't know where to tell you to go, and I'm the person who's supposed to help you,' " Upchurch recalled.
Having also witnessed the problems firsthand, Oehmig left her job as development officer at the Frederick Rescue Mission in summer 2002 to start Hope Alive from her home in Adamstown.
"I saw the need, and I saw God calling me to do something about it," Oehmig said. The organization now has about 16 volunteers on its board and about 40 volunteers from various denominations.
This year, Oehmig unveiled her organization's plans for the 13-acre site on Harbaugh Valley Road.
The house would be renovated to hold more people, and the barn would be converted into a support center. About a dozen employees would work there providing skills training and Christian teaching to help return each family to independence. The organization has raised $500,000 toward its goal of $2.5 million for the project, Oehmig said in an interview last week.
The idea of putting homeless people in a rural setting has raised eyebrows in the nonprofit community. The thinking among the advocates is that the homeless are best served close to schools, medical facilities, public transportation and other resources.
But several organizations that work on behalf of the homeless spoke in support of the plan. So did the Eyler Valley Citizens Association, and county planners urged approval.
About 28 people signed a petition against the shelter, and the disagreement sometimes has been bitter. Afkhami, of the Northwestern Frederick County Civic Association, said people have told shelter opponents that their souls risk eternal punishment, and someone spoke darkly of him as a "foreigner."
Afkhami, 53, said his opposition is simple: He moved to Sabillasville from Gaithersburg about 1 1/2 years ago to escape suburbia. Now it's following him.
The shelter's clients and employees could clog the roads, and the women's children could crowd classrooms. Sabillasville Elementary School, for example, is already at 93 percent capacity. He worries that angry husbands trying to confront their wives at the shelter could cause trouble. He worries that the home would damage the nearby trout stream.
And Afkhami said he distrusts Oehmig's ambitions. He fears that the shelter could house as many as 40 people, despite a condition imposed by county planners that limits the group home to no more than 25 women and children.
"Once they close those gates, none of us has any right to go in and see what's going on there," he said.
The opposition has taken Hope Alive by surprise. But it has not dissuaded Oehmig.
"It's very much that typical NIMBY issue," she said. "My tendency might be to be angry with them. But I've been praying for them. There are those who don't seem willing to open their hearts to people who are different than they are."
-------- ACTIVISTS
Kuwaiti anti-war cleric sentenced
Kuwait was the main launchpad for the US-led invasion of Iraq
Sunday 28 November 2004,
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/631AF714-B20C-4D9C-8CB2-28187637F892.htm
A Kuwaiti court has upheld a two-year suspended jail sentence of a leading religious scholar who publicly opposed the emirate's support for last year's US-led invasion of Iraq.
A judge confirmed the verdict against Hamid al-Ali on Sunday, according to his lawyer Usama al-Munawar.
"He rejected the appeal launched by the public prosecution which called for jailing my client," the lawyer added.
Al-Ali is the former secretary-general of the Salaf Movement and was originally sentenced on 19 June.
The appeals court supported another court order that al-Ali pay $3400 and maintain good conduct for two years after being accused of challenging the amir's constitutional rights, al-Munawar said.
It also backed a ruling that found al-Ali guilty of defaming Arab leaders by calling them "traitors" and "failures", and also of "insulting the [Kuwaiti] state's reputation".
Religious edict
Ali was additionally charged with calling for demonstrations and meetings without obtaining a licence.
Amir Jabir al-Ahmad al-Sabah (C) is a staunch ally of the US The charges were based on Ali's fatwa, or religious edict, which stated that "any backing by a Muslim country of foreign troops in attacking another Muslim state contravenes Islamic teachings".
The verdict is final unless the public prosecution appeals to the supreme court.
Several Islamic activists are still on trial on charges of carrying out attacks against US forces in Kuwait or for allegedly being associated with Usama bin Ladin's al-Qaida network.
Kuwait, which was invaded by Saddam's army in August 1990 and occupied for seven months, served as the main launchpad for last year's US-led war.
The invasion was overwhelmingly opposed by Muslim countries all over the world.
--------
Focus: Talking about a revolution
The UK Times
November 28, 2004
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1378260_1,00.html
For seven days thousands of young people have partied in the streets of Kiev, hoping to turn their country towards the West. It's an incredible display of people power, reports Mark Franchetti, but behind the scenes government forces are now massing
Draped in a blue pro-government flag and swigging from a vodka bottle to keep warm, Viktor Kolukh was in no mood to compromise yesterday. A hefty miner with thick, tattooed hands, he had travelled 600 miles by bus from Ukraine's heavily industrialised east with an unmistakable message for the opposition demonstrators on the streets of Kiev.
Cheered on by dozens of fellow miners gathered around a camp fire, Kolukh spat contemptuously on an orange opposition banner and trod it deep into the snow.
"We want to avoid violence but the situation is very tense. It could blow up any moment," said Kolukh, 34. "The opposition must accept that it lost the elections. We are patient but if the results are annulled and we are robbed of our victory, there will be blood on the streets."
While television cameras have focused on the carnival-like sea of hundreds of thousands of orange-clad protesters in the Ukrainian capital, the blue army of men like Kolukh has been steadily on the march, pouring in by bus and train from the east.
These mostly impoverished miners and industrial workers voted in Ukraine's disputed presidential election for Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian prime minister who is fighting to hold on to a victory widely condemned as rigged.
Some 20,000 cheered Yanukovych as he called on them to do all in their power to stop a constitutional coup - raising fears, as the standoff entered its seventh day, that the remarkably festive mood in this ancient city could turn violent, with repercussions far beyond Ukraine's borders.
Tomorrow, if it is not overtaken by events this weekend, the Ukrainian Supreme Court is due to hear evidence about the vote-rigging and decide whether the result should stand.
The opposition wants another election. Kolukh and his friends are ready to fight: "If the courts rule against Yanukovych we will not accept it. He won the elections and is our president. If he is not sworn in, anything could happen. We won't go home empty-handed."
Is he right? Or does Ukraine's destiny lie with Tatyana, a 29-year-old blue-eyed blonde draped in an orange poncho, who five days ago left her job as a hotel receptionist to take to the streets? "This is our chance to shape our future," she said. "We are not violent. We have been out for days without causing a single violent incident. We want to achieve our goals by peaceful means but we will stand firm to the end. It's a wonderful feeling. We are changing our country and turning our back on our authoritarian past."
In what is now being dubbed the Chestnut Revolution, because of Kiev's numerous chestnut trees, the number of young protesters in Independence Square grew yesterday, beating drums and dancing, waving orange flags as they surrounded the presidential palace and government buildings. Pretty young women smiled at heavily armed riot police and placed flowers in their shields and gun barrels.
EUROPE has seen nothing as joyous as Ukraine's popular revolt since 1989 when the fall of the Berlin Wall set pro-Moscow regimes toppling all across the old communist bloc. More than a decade on, Kiev is reliving the same romantic scenes, the same sense of history on the move as exuberant pro-western crowds brave heavy snow and bitter winds to defy the dead hand of the apparat.
Ukraine, however, is different. It is not an outlying colony of the Soviet bloc but an integral part of the Russian soul, its eastern region ruled from Moscow since the 17th century. Its relationship to Russia is roughly analogous with Scotland's to England. It has supplied Moscow with political leaders, soldiers, engineers, inventors, artists, writers - plus food, fuel, holiday homes for the Russian elite and a base for Moscow's nuclear submarine fleet, which Russia still uses.
Pulling in the other direction against this bond are memories of the abuse that Ukraine has suffered at Moscow's hands, particularly under communism. Stalin slaughtered its peasants when he collectivised their farms on Ukraine's famously rich "black soil", and reprisals after the second world war on those Ukrainians who had welcomed the conquering Germans as liberators, only to be reconquered by the Red Army, were brutal.
The most visible dividing line is the River Dnieper, which, running south through Kiev, bisects the country before emptying into the Black Sea. To the east, people are mainly Russian-speaking and Orthodox Christian, working in mining, traditional industries and the military. In the west, they are mainly Ukrainian speaking and Greek-Catholic, with a largely rural economy.
The current electoral dispute is not simply about fraud but about a deeper conflict over these complex historical, political and religious roots. It could be described as a clash of rival visions of Europe - if not of civilisations.
Ukraine has long reflected the continuous debate in Russia between Slavophiles and westernisers. Slavophiles in 19th-century Moscow and Kiev saw Russia as "the third Rome", chosen by God to rekindle the flame of true Christianity and conquer the world for the true faith. Westernisers saw Russia's - and Ukraine's - future as part of a democratic and secular Europe.
Yanukovych, who is campaigning for virtual reunification with Russia and Belarus to help President Vladimir Putin create a big Slavic power to counterbalance the European Union and America, represents the Slavophiles. The opposition presidential candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, represents the westernisers' dream of joining the EU and Nato.
As a result, Ukraine is work in progress, an accidental country looking for an identity. Sandwiched between Russia and four Nato members, it has become the vortex of a mini cold war over the past week as Moscow and Washington fight by proxy over its future. Russian interference has been blatant. America's has been more subtle, but money has been channelled to Ukrainian westernisers.
THE present confrontation was sparked off by Ukraine's third presidential election since it gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. After two five-year terms, Leonid Kuchma, the authoritarian president, is stepping down. The two men vying to replace him could not be more different from each other.
Yanukovych, a burly former governor from the eastern Ukraine who in his youth was convicted of robbery and assault, is close to the country's most powerful oligarchs - wealthy businessmen who made their fortunes in privatisation deals under Kuchma.
Yushchenko, married to an American citizen of Ukrainian descent, is a liberal-minded economist who favours freeing the Ukrainian economy of state controls.
Less than three months ago Yushchenko was a handsome, fit 50-year-old. But he was rushed for treatment in Vienna after falling ill with a mysterious disease that has left him horribly disfigured.
Yushchenko claimed that he had been poisoned in a secret operation sponsored by Russia's former KGB. The Ukrainian government denied any wrongdoing and claimed the extraordinary physical transformation was caused by "bad sushi".
Long before the result of last Sunday's election was announced, Yushchenko called his supporters onto the streets - where yesterday the demands for a rerun of the election grew relentlessly while the Ukrainian parliament met in emergency session.
There were ecstatic cheers from the multitude when parliament ruled by a large majority that the election was fraudulent and had failed to reflect the will of voters.
Last night, the crowds were still on the streets, determined to keep up the pressure in advance of the Supreme Court's verdict tomorrow.
The court is comparatively independent-minded, but the exact legal status of Yushchenko's appeal is in doubt. Ukrainian law does not provide for an all-encompassing appeal of national election results, only region-by-region appeals.
Some feared that the joyful street parties and open-air concerts could still turn into a bloodbath. Lurking in the background, phalanxes of stone-faced riot police and Ukrainian special forces in black body armour and helmets, brandishing machineguns and batons, stood guard silently around the presidential palace.
The key to the revolutions of 1989 was the compliance of the security forces in bowing to the wind of change. There has been little sign that today those same forces would be prepared to switch sides and join the opposition. But one woman student leader said confidently: "Of course the army or police won't fire on us. They have children our age. They would never harm us."
Additional reporting: Amir Taheri
--------
Actress Vanessa Redgrave Helps to Launch Human Rights Party
Associated Press
By Tim Elfrink
November 28, 2004
LONDON -- Actress Vanessa Redgrave, her brother and the father of a Guantanamo detainee on Saturday launched a new political party devoted to human rights.
The Peace and Progress Party says it will field candidates and endorse politicians with strong human rights records in the next general election.
Organizers discussed the party's platform and strategies at a conference that drew several hundred people.
"Our goal is to ring the alarm bells about the human rights abuses our government is sanctioning, and to act as a focus for people who want to stand up against them," said Vanessa Redgrave's brother, political activist Corin Redgrave.
Redgrave suggested four British prisoners at Guantanamo Bay could run as party candidates, as a means of protesting against their detention and the alleged human rights abuses at the prison on a U.S. naval base in Cuba.
"It could be one highly effective way of sending a message through the polls," Corin Redgrave said, recalling how the Irish nationalist cause was buoyed when the 1980s hunger-striking prisoner Bobby Sands was elected to Parliament.
Working for the release or fair trial of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay will be a focus for the group, said Azmat Begg, whose son, Moazzam Begg, is one of four Britons held at the prison in Guantanamo Bay.
"The mainstream political parties have shown no interest in the human rights abuses going at Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq," Begg said. "That's why a party based on human rights as its central issue is so vital."
Other speakers at Saturday's conference included Burns Weston, president of the University of Iowa Center for Human Rights, and prominent Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a vocal critic of Russia's military campaign against separatist rebels in Chechnya.
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