***************************************************************** 02/16/04 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 12.39 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 KR Washington: Running for cover on Iraq 2 Independent: Tutu tells Blair: Apologise for 'immoral' war 3 US: Boston Globe: Bush's nuclear insight 4 Hi Pakistan: Iraqi police arrest two Iraqis suspected of smuggling u 5 THE INDEPENDENT: Bremer pins hopes on UN as exit strategy from Iraq 6 AFP: Iran confirms it is researching use of new centrifuges 7 reuters: Iran denies hiding sensitive atomic designs* 8 Arirang TV: N Korea Denies Uranium Program 9 koreaherald: [EDITORIAL]Task after Buan * 10 Straits Times: N-talks will hinge on Pyongyang's stand 11 AU SMH: China's illicit liaisons alarm US 12 US: NYT: Half a Proliferation Program 13 US: LR: A Cynical Manipulation 14 Las Vegas SUN: U.N. Nuclear Official to Visit Libya 15 UK Telegraph: Pakistan demands nuclear papers 16 BBC: Nuclear rivals hold landmark talks 17 BBC: Rivals pursue 'cordial' dialogue 18 US: Las Vegas SUN Editorial: Allow time to analyze energy bill 19 Hi Paksitan: No evidence against UAE businessman 20 ittefaq: Nuclear terrorism on the horizon 21 Hi Pakistan: Nukes bad in every hand, even if it?s the US 22 Hi Pakistan: Dr Qadeer?s confession 23 Hi Pakistan: Malaysia being unfairly targeted over N-links?* 24 US: Asia Times: *Part 1 - Starting with a solid base* 25 IRIB News: Kharrazi hails nuclear fuel success * 26 LA Times: Losing Russia 27 Reuters: India, Pakistan Restart Talks After 2-Year Gap* 28 Hi Pakistan: The fantasy of democracy 29 Asahi Shimbun EDITORIAL: Nuclear nonproliferation 30 Hi Pakistan: Masterful diplomacy 31 Hi Pakistan: First day of bilateral talks satisfactory 32 Time: Questions persist over Malaysian involvement in Pakistan's nuc 33 AU Australian: New nuclear chief appointed 34 Straits Times: Disarming the nuclear Brahmins NUCLEAR REACTORS 35 AFP: Nuclear energy a must if Europe to fulfil Kyoto criteria - Spai 36 reuters: B.Energy restarts one Heysham reactor, second shut* NUCLEAR SAFETY 37 [DU-WATCH] Troops to be tested for war effects 38 US: [DU-WATCH] kucinich comes out against DU weapons 39 [DU-WATCH] UK: Another Cancer Cluster Found 40 Japan Times: Symposium to look at Bikini nuclear tests* 41 AGI: SOLDIERS DON'T USE URANIUM PROTECTION MASKS - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 42 Bellona: Trials shows 95% technetium cleansing rate in Sellafield di 43 AU ABC: Fed nuke waste plans too risky: NSW committee NUCLEAR WEAPONS US DEPT. OF ENERGY 44 Chillicothe Gazette: Boom Town (USEC & Piketon) 45 TriCityHerald: Pasadena, beware Fluor 46 ALBUQUERQUE Trib: Lab steps up to plate with isotope facility* 47 Oak Ridger: Y-12 chief: Plant not vulnerable to attack 48 Amarillo Net: dget seeks more for Pantex 49 Eurekalert: DOE Long Term Stewardship program is wishful thinking OTHER NUCLEAR 50 Google News Alert - nuclear ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 KR Washington: Running for cover on Iraq Posted on Mon, Feb. 16, 2004 *By Joseph Galloway* *Knight Ridder Newspapers* What a difference a year can make. If you don't believe it, ask Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. A year ago, testifying before Congress, Wolfowitz predicted that securing postwar Iraq would be an easier job than the United States and its allies faced in Bosnia or Afghanistan. After all, the deputy secretary said, there's no ethnic tension in Iraq. The immediate reaction of virtually everyone who knew even a little bit about Iraq and its long-simmering tensions, repression, bloodshed and just plain bad blood among Kurds and Turkomen in the north, Sunni Arabs in the middle and Shiite Muslims in the south was: Say what? Not since President Ford prematurely declared Soviet-dominated Poland a free country has a public official stuck his foot so deeply and so publicly in his mouth. Wolfowitz visited Iraq early this month, and at a meeting in the northern city of Kirkuk, he got a long, painful ear-pounding on the subject of tension and fear among the country's ethnic groups. The Sunni Arabs complained that they were being abused and mistreated by the Kurds. The Shia made it clear that the only thing that would satisfy them -- the long-oppressed majority in this nation of 25 million people -- was free and open elections, which they would, of course, win. Other Iraqis complained that local militias, who owe no loyalty to the central government, are intimidating and frightening people. Central Intelligence Agency officers in Baghdad Station have reported to the home office their own fears that Iraq is on a "glide path to civil war." The Department of Defense, which is to say Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, is skinning back the U.S. force in Iraq from 130,000-plus today to 105,000 by late spring, when the current round of troop rotations ends. However many soldiers and Marines we have in Iraq, they could end up in the cross fire of a civil war. Rumsfeld and his key aides, meanwhile, are running for cover. In one recent high-level meeting, Rumsfeld looked at Secretary of State Colin Powell and said, "Jerry [Ambassador Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civilian in Iraq] works for you, right?" Powell looked as if he'd been struck by lightning. Bremer and every other U.S. official in Iraq report directly to Rumsfeld and the Pentagon. Rumsfeld demanded and got complete authority over the military, over the civilian authority in charge of rebuilding the country, over the administration's $87 billion Iraq budget, over every line of every contract let. And suddenly he forgot that Bremer works for him? That same week, Wolfowitz and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage were summoned to a closed-door session of the Senate Armed Services Committee to discuss how the U.S. contracting system is working in Iraq. When Wolfowitz was asked a tough question about the controversies surrounding the U.S. contracting efforts in Iraq, he turned to Armitage and said: "You can answer that one, right, Rich?" Armitage answered by noting that the Department of Defense and the Office of the Secretary of Defense control every American contract let in Iraq, and that the State Department has authority over none of those contracts. "Iraq is now a contaminated environment, and Rumsfeld and his people want out," said one senior administration official. "They can't wait for July 1, when the CPA [Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority] turns into the U.S. Embassy and the whole mess they have made becomes Colin Powell's." The only question is whether Rumsfeld and Co. can keep the lid on all the boiling pots until they can pass the CPA and the whole nation-rebuilding buck to the State Department. The investigations and audits of Halliburton's and Halliburton subsidiaries' alleged contract overcharges, with their uncomfortable proximity to Vice President Dick Cheney, Halliburton's former chief, are just the tip of the iceberg. The real action, knowledgeable American officials say, is in local contracts that are being let under the authority of the ruling Iraqi Governing Council. U.S. officials say some less savory council members are demanding kickbacks on some contracts in hopes of investing the ill-gotten gains in buying or bending the selection of local and regional councils who will help choose a new government and bolstering their own distant hopes of holding onto power. /Joseph L. Galloway is senior military correspondent for Knight Ridder Newspapers. jgalloway@krwashington.com / ***************************************************************** 2 Independent: Tutu tells Blair: Apologise for 'immoral' war By Nigel Morris, Home Affairs Correspondent 16 February 2004 Archbishop Desmond Tutu will challenge Tony Blair and George Bush today to apologise for their pursuit of a counter-productive and "immoral" war in Iraq. In a scathing analysis of the background to the invasion, he will ridicule the "dangerously flawed" intelligence that Britain and the US used to justify a military action which has made the world a "great deal less safe". The intervention of the Nobel peace prize winner in the controversy over Iraq follows a series of deadly terrorist attacks in the country over the past week, including an armed raid on a police station on Saturday in which 22 people died. Delivering the Longford Lecture, sponsored by /The Independent/, the emeritus Archbishop of Cape Town will argue that the turmoil after the war proved it is an illusion to believe that "force and brutality" leads to greater security. "How wonderful if politicians could bring themselves to admit they are only fallible human creatures and not God and thus by definition can make mistakes. Unfortunately, they seem to think that such an admission is a sign of weakness. Weak and insecure people hardly ever say 'sorry'. "It is large-hearted and courageous people who are not diminished by saying: 'I made a mistake'. President Bush and Prime Minister Blair would recover considerable credibility and respect if they were able to say: 'Yes, we made a mistake'." The archbishop will link Mr Bush's support, when he was Governor of Texas, for capital punishment with a new philosophy behind the invasion of Iraq. He will say: "It may not be fanciful to see a connection between this and the belligerent militarist policies that have produced a novel and dangerous principle, that of pre-emption on the basis of intelligence reports that in one particular instance have been shown can be dangerously flawed and yet were the basis for the United States going to war, dragging a Britain that declared that intelligence reports showed Iraq to have the capacity to launch its weapons of mass destruction in a matter of minutes. "An immoral war was thus waged and the world is a great deal less safe place than before. There are many more who resent the powerful who can throw their weight about so callously and with so much impunity." The archbishop, who was awarded the Nobel prize in 1984, will suggest that the two leaders have operated a policy of "might is right - and to hell with the rule of international law". Sir Menzies Campbell, the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, said yesterday: "These comments from such a widely respected figure of independent mind emphasises the extent to which Britain's reputation and possibly influence have been affected by the military action against Iraq. "I doubt if President Bush or Mr Blair are going to apologise, but they should certainly reflect seriously upon the alienation of figures such as Desmond Tutu." A Downing Street spokeswoman said: "The Government's position on Iraq has been made clear. We will wait to see what the archbishop says and respond in due course." In his lecture the archbishop will draw on his experience in South Africa after the downfall of apartheid to argue that "retributive justice" ignores victims' needs and can be "cold and impersonal". He will instead champion the concept of "restorative justice" - in which offenders and victims are brought together - and point to South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which he headed, as an illustration of the idea being put into practice. Now 72, the archbishop is spending several weeks in Britain in his role as visiting professor in post-conflict studies at King's College, London. He will also take a swipe in his speech at the steady increase in the British prison population in recent years, arguing that harsher sentencing does not "stem the tide of recidivism". He will warn that sending first-time offenders to prison increases the prospect of them becoming repeat offenders, making harsh sentences "quite costly". 15 February 2004 22:21 © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd ***************************************************************** 3 Boston Globe: Bush's nuclear insight 2/16/2004 MOST OF the actions to thwart nuclear proliferation that President Bush proposed last week in a speech to the National Defense University will, if implemented, reduce the danger that nuclear weapons may come into the hands of states or terrorist groups that do not have them now. It is particularly encouraging that in his response to revelations about the network transferring nuclear designs and hardware from Pakistan to Iran, Libya, and North Korea, Bush appears to recognize -- however belatedly -- that US security requires greater cooperation with other countries and international organizations*.* Nevertheless, Bush's speech left some key questions unanswered. As with most worthwhile programs, good intentions have to be backed up by adequate funding. One of Bush's proposals is to expand the Nunn-Lugar Act of 1991 -- meant to pay for the dismantling of nuclear weapons and the employment of weapons scientists in the dissolved Soviet Union -- to other countries such as Libya. This could be an incentive for countries weighing the pros and cons of either seeking or relinquishing a nuclear weapons program. Bush, however, cut the funding for the current Nunn-Lugar program in the budget he recently submitted to Congress from $451 million to $409 million. Spending on this kind of farsighted defense measure may end up saving Americans billions of dollars and much future grief. Bush also offered a constructive suggestion for closing a gaping loophole in the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. He would make it much harder for signatories to acquire the fissile material for a nuclear weapon. They would have to accept tough new inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency before they could receive nuclear-related exports from the 40 nations in the Nuclear Suppliers' Group. Those 40 countries would also be prohibited from selling equipment for enriching uranium or processing plutonium to states that do not already possess such capabilities. Given Bush's doctrinal reluctance in the past to rely on international organizations and treaties to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction, his new willingness to strengthen the Non-Proliferation Treaty and support the IAEA represents an overdue conversion to pragmatic statecraft. In the same vein, Bush asked the UN Security Council to pass a "resolution requiring all states to criminalize proliferation, enact strict export controls, and secure all sensitive materials within their borders." Implicit in this request is a recognition that national security requires a high level of international cooperation. Cooperation to halt nuclear proliferation means that all states have to devalue nuclear weapons. So Bush should terminate his $3 billion program to develop small bunker-busting nuclear weapons. © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company. ***************************************************************** 4 Hi Pakistan: Iraqi police arrest two Iraqis suspected of smuggling uranium* February 17 2004 *MOSUL,* Iraq: Two Iraqis were arrested Thursday for carrying a barrel of material suspected to be uranium, a high-ranking police officer told AFP Sunday. "Iraqi police stopped two Iraqis at a checkpoint north of Mosul. They were carrying a huge quantity of uranium to northern Iraq," said General Hikmat Mahmud Mohamed of the Nineveh province's police department. One policeman was burned when he touched the barrel and was hospitalised, Mohamed said. "The two suspects have been transfered to the US forces who are leading the investigation," Mohamed said. Mohamed added the investigation was being conducted in secret. A US military spokesman said he had no immediate information on the incident. The US invasion of Iraq last spring was driven by Washington's fear that Saddam Hussein had or was close to obtaining weapons of mass destruction. But on January 28, the chief US arms inspector in Iraq, David Kay, virtually ruled out the possibility of finding any weapons of mass destruction. Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 5 THE INDEPENDENT: Bremer pins hopes on UN as exit strategy from Iraq By Justin Huggler in Baghdad 16 February 2004 As the violence continued in Iraq yesterday, the head of the American occupation administration admitted the US was waiting for the United Nations to find a way out of the impasse on handing over power to Iraqis. Speaking on two American talk shows, Paul Bremer admitted the US was now pinning its hopes on the UN, an organisation it had written off as irrelevant at the time of the invasion of Iraq. Rejected by the Americans and forced to flee Iraq last year after two bombings, the UN is suddenly back in the frame in Iraq. US hopes of getting at least partly out of the quagmire that Iraq has become and handing power to an Iraqi interim administration by President Bush's deadline of 30 June are looking more troubled than ever after Saturday's attack in Fallujah, in which insurgents stormed an Iraqi police station, killing at least 21, and an Iraqi army garrison. The US administration is desperate to get its troops out of harm's way before Mr Bush faces re-election in November. American plans to hand over political power to an interim Iraqi government also look to be in as much trouble. Mr Bremer said yesterday in interviews on ABC's /This Week/ and CNN's /Late Editions/ that the US may be about to ditch its plan to choose an interim Iraqi government with regional caucuses. Diplomats have already said the plan is dead in the water after it was rejected by the spiritual leader of Iraq's Shia majority, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Ayatollah Sistani is demanding direct elections, which the US claims there is not time to organise by June. Mr Bremer insisted that Mr Bush's deadline to hand over power still stood, though he could not say how an interim government would be chosen. He said the Americans were waiting for the recommendations of an UN mission recently sent to find a way out of the impasse, under Lakhdar Brahimi, a veteran Algerian diplomat. Mr Bremer said: "We're waiting to see what he [Mr Brahimi] says when he issues his report, hopefully in the next week or 10 days." He said the eventual solution "may be different from the caucus plan". Mr Brahimi said, after meeting Ayatollah Sistani, that he backed his demands for direct elections in principle, but his spokesman has said the UN mission accepts that direct elections are not possible before 30 June. Mr Bremer said yesterday that the US would accept bringing elections forward to the end of this year or January 2005 but there would be some form of handover by June. The attack in Fallujah has underlined how difficult it will be for the US to disengage from Iraq. The moment American troops are pulled back, as they were in Fallujah, the new Iraqi authorities set up by the US are likely to come under attack from insurgents - attacks they seem ill-equipped to withstand. It seems unlikely an Iraqi government that was not directly elected could survive long without US military protection. American uncertainty over who is behind the attacks surfaced yesterday when Mr Bremer said foreign militants were involved, as Iraqi police claimed. But American officials in Baghdad claimed foreign involvement was unlikely, and that the attacks looked more like the work of former members of Saddam Hussein's army. *Iraqi police have captured Muhammad Zimam Abd al-Razzaq al-Sadun, a senior member of Saddam's toppled Baath Party and number 41 on Washington's "most wanted" list. Iraq's Deputy Interior Minister, Ahmed Kadhim, said: "What is special about this operation is that the Iraqi police alone conducted it. It ... should be a source of joy for Iraqis because they now have police they can depend on." 15 February 2004 22:21 © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd ***************************************************************** 6 AFP: Iran confirms it is researching use of new centrifuges WAR.WIRE TEHRAN (AFP) Feb 16, 2004 A senior Iranian official has acknowledged Iran is working on an advanced uranium enrichment centrifuge, but denied that such second-generation equipment had already been produced, a press report said Monday. "That Iran is building a new generation of centrifuge is a lie. Iran is just conducting a preliminary study of the G2 centrifuge and has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency," Hossein Mussavian told the Hamshahri newspaper. The official is the secretary for international relations in Iran's powerful Supreme National Security Council, and close to the body's chief Hassan Rowhan -- who last year negotiated a deal with Britain, France and Germany for Iran to cooperate with the IAEA. Diplomats at the IAEA's headquarters in Vienna said last week that UN nuclear weapons inspectors in Iran had found blueprints for an advanced uranium enrichment centrifuge, the G2, that Tehran had failed to declare even as it was claiming to be providing full disclosure on its atomic energy program. Enriched uranium is used as fuel for nuclear reactors but can also be used for making atomic bombs. But the diplomats said the discovery was not a "smoking gun" that the IAEA could use to take Iran before the UN Security Council, where it could face sanctions. Nevertheless, the discovery has raised fresh alarms and has placed the Islamic republic -- accused by the United States of trying to develop nuclear weapons -- under further scrutiny ahead of the publication of a new IAEA report on Iran's controversial bid to generate atomic energy. The IAEA board had given Iran until last October 31 to reveal all details of its nuclear program. In addition, Iran had promised Europe's "big three" that it would suspend uranium enrichment, yet appears to be working within a narrow definition of that suspension. All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse . Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse . ***************************************************************** 7 reuters: Iran denies hiding sensitive atomic designs* / Mon February 16, 2004 07:21 AM ET / TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has not hidden from U.N. inspectors sensitive research on specialised equipment capable of producing material for nuclear bombs, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying on Monday. Diplomats told Reuters last week that International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had uncovered designs in Iran for "G2" uranium-enrichment centrifuges, fuelling renewed U.S. accusations that Iran was pursuing nuclear weapons. But Hossein Mousavian, head of foreign relations at Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said the G2 research was at an early stage and the IAEA had been informed about it. "Iran is carrying out very basic studies and research on G2 centrifuges and it has informed the agency about it," Mousavian told Hamshahri newspaper. "It is not something the agency has discovered, Iran has informed the agency about it... It's a sheer lie that Iran is manufacturing G2 centrifuges." IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei is expected to circulate two reports this week on U.N. inspections, one on Iran and the other on Libya which agreed in December to give up voluntarily its previously undeclared nuclear arms programme. Iran has consistently denied seeking to build nuclear weapons and agreed last October to allow snap inspections of its atomic facilities and to halt temporarily uranium enrichment. But diplomats say Iran has continued to purchase and assemble enrichment machinery, which could be used to make bomb material, and that there are striking parallels between the nuclear programmes of Tehran and Tripoli. Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi set off further alarm bells at the weekend by saying Iran was ready to export nuclear fuel. But Mousavian said Iran had not yet produced any atomic fuel from its centrifuges and was determined to build international confidence in its claim that its nuclear programme was geared entirely to producing electricity. "Making and using nuclear weapons contravenes Islamic laws and they have no place in Iran's defence strategy," he said. The discovery of G2 centrifuge designs in Iran led some arms experts to speculate that Iran may be have a secret enrichment facility apart from the one at Natanz in the centre of the country, which is being built to accommodate older G1 design centrifuges. But Mousavian said: "Iran does not have any enrichment facility centre other than Natanz and Natanz is under the full supervision of the IAEA." © Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 8 Arirang TV: N Korea Denies Uranium Program english.chosun.com Updated Feb.16,2004 14:24 KST North Korea is denying U.S. claims that it has the ability to produce nuclear weapons from enriched uranium. The Voice of Russia, a state radio company on Sunday quoted Japan's top negotiator to six-way nuclear talks Mitoji Yabunaka who returned from a four-day trip to Pyeongyang last week. In Seoul, South Korea's ambassador to the U.S. Han Sun-joo told Korea's MBC network that progress can still be made at the upcoming six-way nuclear talks later this month even if Pyeongyang does not admit to its uranium programs. He explained he does not expect the North to easily confess to its uranium enrichment programs but that the two Koreas, Japan, China, Russia and the U.S. will see progress if the uranium issue is discussed at the table. ***************************************************************** 9 koreaherald: [EDITORIAL]Task after Buan * February 15, 104 The government says it does not legally accept the result of the residents' vote in Buan County, North Jeolla Province, last week, in which 91 percent of those voting rejected building a nuclear waste storage facility on an offshore island in the county. Yet, it is apparent that the Wido project is virtually over after seven months of violence, agitation and ruptured communal harmony. People who live on Wido were not able to cast their ballots, as residents who support the project occupied the polling booth on the 2,700 acre (11 square kilometer) island Saturday. Pro-storage residents on the island, and the mainland part of the county, also opposed the vote, claiming that it was being imposed by anti-nuclear activists from outside their homeland. County Mayor Kim Jong-gyu, a native of Wido, has not totally abandoned his hope of establishing a storage facility and plans to hold a "legal" vote after the new Residents Vote Law takes effect in July. He, and many Wido residents, believe various government projects accompanying the storage facility, including a $250 million proton linear accelerator, will make the fishermen and farmers of the county richer. However, Mayor Kim himself should share much of the responsibility for the failure. With initial support of the residents of the island, the mayor hastily filed an application for the storage center without gathering public opinion in the county, let alone consent from the members of the county council. The minister of industry and resources at that time, Yun Jin-sik, helped bungle the project by prematurely making a commitment for cash compensation for the residents of Wido. As Prime Minister Goh Kun turned it down, anti-nuclear civic groups seized this as an opportunity to spur opposition to the government plan. Then there was the vicious circle of escalating demonstrations that invited suppression by force by thousands of police. After the bloody riots on Anmyon-do, the first candidate storage site for radioactive garbage from atomic power plants, a full 14 years have been wasted. A government notice was issued earlier this month to seek new applications from local autonomous governments offering land sites for a nuclear waste storage facility. It was specifically announced that the projected facility will hold medium and low level waste only and not spent fuel, which will be kept inside power plants until a reprocessing facility is established in the future. What happened in Buan over the past seven months will be recorded as a great victory for the environmental and anti-nuclear advocates of this country. These groups will put up new struggles over any new candidate locations for the nuclear waste facility and will possibly employ the same strategies and tactics they used in Buan. To cope with them, the authorities should take a totally different approach and adopt fresh initiatives. There should not be a second Kim Jong-gyu or a second Yun Jin-sik, who we now find failed to make cool calculations and acted with excessive zeal. To correctly identify public opinion, the balloting procedures under the Residents Vote Law should be followed meticulously by local authorities. Adequate public information is required to deter political agitation by outside elements. Environmental groups are advised to look back on the propriety of their activities calmly. They may wish to work toward eventually closing down nuclear power plants in this country, but they should at least recognize the need to build a permanent storage facility to accommodate nuclear waste material produced by existing power stations before it overflows the present temporary warehouses. 2004.02.17 ***************************************************************** 10 Straits Times: N-talks will hinge on Pyongyang's stand FEB 17, 2004 TUE How North Korea handles the six-way talks in Beijing next week will prove decisive in the negotiations, says US By Jason Leow BEIJING - Make or break, that depends on North Korea's handling of the second round of six-way talks in Beijing, to be held next week, a top US security official said yesterday. Mr John Bolton, Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security, also said that while there was no timetable for this round, the ultimate goal was still to achieve a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, which is also the aim of the other four participating countries - China, Japan, South Korea and Russia. 'As long as the five parties in the talks, and the rest of the world, believe that the Korean Peninsula ought to be free of nuclear weapons, that's going to be the common objective that we see,' he said at a press conference in Beijing. Earlier, Mr Bolton met Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is to chair the Feb 25 talks, and other Chinese officials to discuss issues such as the US missile defence programme, the European Union's arms embargo on China and the Taiwan issue. The US official suggested that China was on the same page with the United States on non-proliferation issues, but declined to comment on a Washington Post report on Sunday that US investigators had released weapons designs which proved China's long-suspected involvement in Pakistan's nuclear programme. The Post said the documents were found in Libya. Some included Chinese text, with step-by-step instructions for assembling an implosion-type nuclear bomb. 'We know we have weapons designs because we pulled them out. Beyond that, in terms of the reports of Chinese involvement, I really have no comments,' Mr Bolton said. China's Foreign Ministry declined The Straits Times' request for comments. On the upcoming talks, Mr Bolton appeared to defer to China, praising it for bringing North Korea back to the negotiating table and saying the US merely nudged Pyongyang forward by not setting preconditions. Officials will not say how long this round of talks will last, fearing differences may prolong the discussions. On Sunday, Mr Wang said he hoped all parties would 'display flexibility', 'narrow differences and increase consensus, and try to fix a concrete goal and direction' in solving the nuclear issue. Mr Bolton told reporters yesterday that the US bottom line remained the 'complete, verifiable and irreversible' dismantling of Pyongyang's nuclear arms programme. He also raised Libya as a positive example. In letting arms experts verify its dismantling of the nuclear programme, Libya proved it was serious in its commitment. He said: 'You can certainly contrast Libya's behaviour with the continuing behaviour of North Korea and Iran. 'I think the Libya case shows how one goes about giving up weapons of mass destruction and the critical conclusion that the Libyan government came to was that the pursuit of these weapons did not make them more secure. It made them less secure. 'And that's the conclusion that North Korea and Iran have to come to.' The Straits Times ***************************************************************** 11 AU SMH: China's illicit liaisons alarm US February 17, 2004 **by ***Charley Reese* Following President Bush's hour-long interview with NBC's Tim Russert, we can now state conclusively that President Bush deliberately misled the American people and continues to do so. Item: Bush claims he was acting on the best intelligence there was when he decided to go to war. Fact: The intelligence given to Bush was full of warnings, caveats, disagreements and doubts as to its reliability. All of this was expunged, and Bush and his crew stated as a dead certainty that Saddam Hussein had a large stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. The aluminum tubes, for example, were claimed by Bush to be necessary to make a nuclear weapon. The State Department intelligence people and the Energy Department intelligence people flatly disagreed. They also expressed disagreement about the prospects of Iraq developing a nuclear weapon. Even the CIA warned Bush that the report of Iraq's attempt to buy yellow cake from Niger was unreliable, but it went into the president's State of the Union speech anyway. Item: Bush repeated his claim that Iraq was in violation of Security Council resolutions. Fact: If indeed there are no weapons of mass destruction, as it now appears there are not, then Iraq had complied with U.N. resolutions. The Iraqis had been saying for years that there were no weapons of mass destruction, and they were just called liars by American administrations. Moreover, Israel is in violation of more than 60 U.N. resolutions. Thus, U.N. resolutions are hardly a cause of war. Item: Bush says that Saddam Hussein was a madman and that a madman "can't be contained." Fact: Saddam Hussein had been successfully contained since 1991. Since the first Gulf War, Saddam had not attacked anyone, fired any weapons at any of his neighbors or threatened to attack anyone. Item: Bush claimed that Iraq was a threat to its neighbors as well as to the United States and its friends (read Israel). Fact: All of the countries adjacent to Iraq said publicly during the buildup to war that they did not, I say again, did not consider Iraq a threat. Item: Bush keeps repeating that Saddam had used weapons of mass destruction. Fact: That was true. They were used in 1988 during the Iran-Iraq War and not since. One can easily say the same thing of the United States. We used weapons of mass destruction ? nukes during World War II and poison gases during World War I. Other facts Bush omits are that during the Iran-Iraq War, the United States was backing Saddam Hussein, and the U.S. intelligence agencies published a report exonerating Iraq from the gas attack that killed a village of Kurds. Item: Bush claims his administration has been "extraordinarily cooperative" with the commission examining the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Fact: There has been news story after news story about the Bush White House's extraordinary lack of cooperation and stonewalling. Bush, of course, admits to never reading any newspapers, so perhaps he is just disconnected from reality. One could go on and on. Bush does not seem to grasp that a policy of pre-emptive wars requires dead-on accurate intelligence. Despite all the errors in his so-called war on terrorism, Bush has not fired a single person. He absolutely refuses to hold himself or anybody in his administration accountable. Furthermore, he does not seem to grasp the enormous damage he has done to the image and credibility of the United States. Bush seems to exist in a deluded state of mind in which he imagines himself as Roosevelt or Churchill confronting global evil. That's a dangerous state of mind for a president. Compared with those two leaders, Bush is a mental and moral midget. /February 16, 2004/ ///Charley Reese has been a journalist for 49 years, reporting on everything from sports to politics. From 1969?71, he worked as a campaign staffer for gubernatorial, senatorial and congressional races in several states. He was an editor, assistant to the publisher, and columnist for the /Orlando Sentinel/ from 1971 to 2001. He now writes a syndicated column which is carried on LewRockwell.com. Reese served two years active duty in the U.S. Army as a tank gunner./ © 2004 by King Features Syndicate, Inc. *Charley Reese Archives * ***************************************************************** 14 Las Vegas SUN: U.N. Nuclear Official to Visit Libya Today: February 16, 2004 at 2:55:11 PST * ASSOCIATED PRESS VIENNA, Austria (AP) - The head of the U.N. atomic watchdog agency will go to Libya next week to check on the progress of work aimed at scrapping Tripoli's nuclear arms program, officials said Monday. Mohamed ElBaradei, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will visit next Monday and Tuesday, "to review progress in our work," said IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky. Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi volunteered to scrap all research into developing weapons of mass destruction in December, opening the way for the IAEA, along with U.S. and British experts, to supervise the dismantling of the country's nuclear weapons program. ElBaradei is expected to issue two reports this week on the progress of work in Libya and in Iran, which denies running a weapons program but has pledged to work with the IAEA to clear up suspicions about its nuclear ambitions. Both reports will be reviewed in early March by the IAEA's board of governors. All contents copyright 2004 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 15 UK Telegraph: Pakistan demands nuclear papers February 16, 2004 By Massoud Ansari LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH KARACHI, Pakistan ? The scientist behind a worldwide black market in nuclear technology is involved in high-stakes brinksmanship over his future, refusing to hand over reportedly incriminating documents demanded by Pakistani authorities. The documents and a tape-recorded statement, which are said to demonstrate that senior Pakistani army officials ? including President Pervez Musharraf ? were aware of Abdul Qadeer Khan's nuclear proliferation activities, are believed to have been smuggled out of the country for safekeeping by the scientist's daughter Dina. Pakistani intelligence officials said Mr. Khan first agreed to surrender the documents in return for a blanket pardon but has failed to do so. They believe his daughter is prepared to disclose their contents if legal action is brought against him by the country's military government. Mr. Khan, 68, a national hero in Pakistan, remained under house arrest in Islamabad over the weekend, and restrictions on his movement were being tightened. More than a week after Gen. Musharraf granted the scientist clemency after he confessed to selling nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea, he is still in legal limbo. Pakistani officials say he faces 24-hour surveillance for the rest of his life. The country's foreign office confirmed that the pardon granted to Mr. Khan was conditional. "It is not a blanket pardon. It relates only to his television confession," said Massoud Khan, a spokesman. The pardon was granted on the grounds that Mr. Khan "had cooperated with the investigation begun by the Pakistani government in November last year, and that he will continue to cooperate." It would not extend to any activities that may yet be revealed as the investigation into Mr. Khan's actions continues. The spokesman said that the scientist should accept that the security restrictions would continue "indefinitely." He added: "What we have ensured is that he and his network of associates would never again be able to operate. They have effectively been demobilized." Intelligence officers, however, said that the scientist remained resistant. "The government has been trying to retrieve the documents since Mr. Khan was offered a presidential pardon last week, but they are yet to receive them, even though he promised," one official said. The official said the government had originally decided to negotiate a deal with Mr. Khan only after it discovered that his daughter had left Pakistan with the potentially incriminating material. The scientist is said to claim that all the chiefs of army staff since 1977, including Gen. Musharraf, knew what he was doing and were aware of his actions. The discovery derailed plans to put the scientist and a number of his associates on trial over their role. Last month, three senior government officials, including the head of the ISI, Pakistan's intelligence agency, held long meetings with Mr. Khan in which they persuaded him to apologize unconditionally and surrender all the documents in return for a pardon. "The government's concern was genuine," said one intelligence official. "First, because they were unaware of the exact nature and details of these documents, and second, because of Dr. Khan's knowledge of all the secret nuclear dealings. "If his daughter reveals this secret information in retaliation, it could create manifold problems both for the country and its nuclear program," he said. "You have to look at ways to find a peaceful resolution of the outstanding disputes between the two countries," he told reporters in Islamabad. In Delhi, Indian Foreign Secretary Navtej Sarna said officials were focusing on working out a timetable and framework for discussions. "Some proposals were made in this regard," he told a news conference. India had decided to free eight Pakistani civilians, four of them boys, who had been detained after straying across the border, he said. *Kashmir violence* Meanwhile, in Indian-administered Kashmir, suspected separatist rebels - who are not observing the ceasefire - killed a local politician on Monday. Vajpayee (L) and Musharraf agreed to talks at a summit last month Ghulam Mohammad Dar, a member of the state's main governing party, and a police guard were shot dead near the summer capital, Srinagar. Tens of thousands of people have died since militants took up arms against Indian rule in 1989. BBC correspondents say observers believe India and Pakistan have come to the dialogue with a new recognition that the conflict in Kashmir cannot be won by military means. But they say no one expects any concrete results from these initial meetings. The talks on the first two days are being held between relatively junior officials. On Wednesday, the two sides' foreign secretaries will meet. Analysts say the Kashmir issue might be taken up then. Confidence-building measures in the nuclear field and security issues are also expected to be on the agenda. * Careful preparation * The Islamabad meetings are the culmination in a thaw which began last April. The decision to hold talks was announced when Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee met on the fringes of a regional summit in Islamabad last month. The leaders agreed the talks would focus on all contentious issues affecting bilateral ties. Such a "composite dialogue" was previously opposed by Pakistan, which had demanded Kashmir be tackled before other matters. Observers are cautiously optimistic, saying there has been a change in thinking on both sides since they last met in the Indian city of Agra three years ago. Those talks ended in failure, but this time the process is more methodical and not burdened by sky-high expectations of success, observers say. A number of confidence-building measures have been introduced over the past eight months, including a resumption of rail, air and bus links and a strengthening of diplomatic ties. At the weekend, India confirmed its cricketers would tour Pakistan in March - despite security concerns. ***************************************************************** 17 BBC: Rivals pursue 'cordial' dialogue Last Updated: Monday, 16 February, 2004, 22:39 GMT The first day of talks was described as "cordial and constructive" * Indian and Pakistani officials are preparing for a second day of meetings in their first formal talks for nearly three years. * Kashmir is high on the agenda in the three days of landmark discussions in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. Both sides said the first day of talks had been held in a "cordial and constructive" atmosphere. India is also expected on Tuesday to free eight Pakistani civilians held after straying across the border. Four of the eight are boys detained in the northern state of Punjab. The talks are designed to pave the way for full peace negotiations between the nuclear rivals. The two countries have fought two wars over Kashmir since independence in 1947, but a ceasefire is now in effect. *Timetable* Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said the two sides realised war was not an option. Some separatists have been protesting against the talks "You have to look at ways to find a peaceful resolution of the outstanding disputes between the two countries," he told reporters in Islamabad. In Delhi, Indian Foreign Secretary Navtej Sarna said officials were focusing on working out a timetable and framework for discussions. Meanwhile, in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, pro-independence activists blocked a main street for nearly two hours on Monday in protest against the talks. And in Indian-administered Kashmir, suspected separatist rebels - who are not observing the ceasefire - killed a local politician. Ghulam Mohammad Dar, a member of the state's main governing party, and a police guard were shot dead near the summer capital, Srinagar. Tens of thousands of people have died since militants took up arms against Indian rule in 1989. *Thaw* BBC correspondents say observers believe India and Pakistan have come to the dialogue with a new recognition that the conflict in Kashmir cannot be won by military means. The talks are being held between relatively junior officials, but on Wednesday the two sides' foreign secretaries will meet. Analysts say the Kashmir issue might be taken up then. The Islamabad meetings are the culmination of a thaw which began last April. The decision to hold talks was announced when Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee met on the fringes of a regional summit in Islamabad last month. A number of confidence-building measures have been introduced over the past eight months, including a resumption of rail, air and bus links and a strengthening of diplomatic ties. At the weekend, India confirmed its cricketers would tour Pakistan in March, despite security concerns. ***************************************************************** 18 Las Vegas SUN Editorial: Allow time to analyze energy bill Today: February 16, 2004 at 9:46:29 PST LAS VEGAS SUN In December we editorialized against the energy bill that had passed the House but had become stalled in the Senate. We encouraged the Senate to continue blocking this bill. It was bloated with subsidies for the nuclear power industry and traditional fossil fuel companies and it failed even to begin setting the country on a course toward making renewable energy sources a priority. We knew the bill was terribly flawed and upon reconsideration last week the Senate obviously agreed. In no time at all, the Senate chopped $17 billion out of the bill. And Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, agreed to put this new version on a fast track. But it wasn't just the money that bothered us in the original $31 billion bill. The new, $14 billion bill is not automatically superior just because it's cheaper. We also opposed the protections given to some companies in the energy industry. Taken out of the latest version of the bill was a provision that would have protected the makers of MTBE (a gasoline additive that was later determined a health risk) from lawsuits. This is encouraging, but time is needed to see if other provisions, beneficial to special interests, might have been slipped into the bill. It's not easy to digest $17 billion worth of cuts in a few days. The country needs time to analyze all of them because they included energy conservation measures that may have best been left intact. Nevertheless, Frist and Daschle are committed to taking the bill directly to the Senate floor, bypassing committees. The two will also try to limit amendments to the bill in their rush to begin debate by next week. But we believe they should hold on. This new bill was largely crafted behind closed doors. When the doors opened and the senators emerged with their new version, we were treated to generalized statements, such as this one from Daschle: "(The bill will be) a big step forward in our efforts to expand ethanol production." We generally agree that ethanol, made from corn, is worthy of serious consideration. Daschle, however, represents a corn-growing state. People need time to consider whether this policy is good for the country, or merely good for Daschle's standing back home. Even stripped down, the bill is weighted toward the gas, coal, oil and nuclear industries. Fossil fuels, whose reserves are limited, pollute our air and water and leave us dependent on unfriendly foreign countries. Nuclear power produces deadly waste the government plans to bury in Nevada at great risk to public health. The public has a right to participate in a lengthy debate on this new energy bill. The original bill was drafted in secret by Vice President Dick Cheney and his contacts in the large, established energy companies. It's bad enough that such secrecy characterizes the executive branch of the federal government. The legislative branch should not be following suit. It's no good for the Senate to stall on a bad bill if it's going to rush through a replacement bill that's equally bad. All contents copyright 2004 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 19 Hi Paksitan: No evidence against UAE businessman February 17 2004 *ABU* DHABI: The UAE Central Bank said on Sunday reports that a Dubai-based businessman helped Libya and Iran develop nuclear programmes were speculation, but that he would be investigated if proof emerged of illegal activities. Governor Central Bank Sultan Nasser al-Suweidi said that the United Arab Emirates would only launch a probe into the affairs of B S A Tahir, head of Dubai?s Gulf Technical Industries (GTI), if proof of wrongdoing came to light. Asked about reports of possible links between Tahir and the Iranian and Libyan atomic programmes, Suweidi told reporters: "This is speculation. If we find something real then we?ll investigate it financially, but these are news items. If and when the time arises we might investigate." US President George W Bush has described Tahir as a deputy to Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan. He said that Tahir was in Malaysia and an intelligence source there told Reuters that Tahir was under investigation, but was free to come and go. Speaking on the sidelines of a workshop on fighting money laundering, Suweidi said that several cases in the UAE had been transferred to the courts. He described cooperation with the US in fighting money laundering and terror funding as "excellent", and said that the UAE wanted a special unit to facilitate communication. "They (US officials) are helping us on a lot of issues and we are helping them whenever a case arises when UAE parties are involved," Suweidi said. Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 20 ittefaq: Nuclear terrorism on the horizon Ittefaq By Chandra Muzaffar Feb 16, 2004, 18:33 IN the last few weeks, two important countries in the Middle East have agreed to sign the Additional Protocol to the international nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which allows the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to make snap inspections. Iran was the first to announce its intention. Libya followed suit. Iran had, of course, maintained all along that it had no nuclear weapons. Its nuclear research programme was for peaceful purposes. It therefore had no fears of any form of international scrutiny of its nuclear sites. Libya's decision to abandon its efforts to obtain nuclear, chemical or biological weapons was more sudden. It was obviously the result of months of secret talks with United States and British officials. The US invasion and occupation of Iraq and the Libyan leadership's desire to adjust to the new realities in the Middle East must have weighed heavily upon its decision. It is significant that governments, the media and intellectuals in the Middle East have, by and large, welcomed the Iranian and Libyan decisions on nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. In fact, Egyptian and Syrian officials have called for a total ban of weapons of mass destruction throughout the Middle East. They have emphasised that this must include Israel -the only nation in the Middle East which is known to possess nuclear weapons, at least 200 nuclear warheads, according to various sources. Israel, incidentally, has refused to allow any international inspection of its nuclear arsenal. Tel Aviv's arrogant attitude on the nuclear question has always been a sore point with public opinion in the Middle East. Now that Libya and Iran have both come 'clean', and it has been proven that Saddam Hussein's Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction, the people of the Middle East are even more incensed with Israeli intransigence. Arab and Iranian media and political leaders even in pro-US states such as Tunisia and Bahrain are demanding that Washington force Israel to take immediate steps to eliminate its nuclear weapons. For while Washington has been insisting, with fanatical fervour, that Arab governments and Iran abandon any future plans they might have for acquiring nuclear weapons, it has not said a word against Israel's nuclear arsenal. On the contrary, since 1952 Washington has, clandestinely, aided and abetted Tel Aviv in developing its nuclear muscle. It is this blatant double standard-now more stark than ever before-which angers and infuriates ordinary men and women in the Middle East. Washington-Israel's ever faithful patron and protector-has chosen to ignore the feelings of the people of the Middle East on this matter. European governments and most other governments have also decided to keep quiet. It is only some civil society groups in Europe and Asia which have joined the people of the Middle East in demanding a nuclear weapons free Israel. Governments who have elected to remain silent or refuse to speak out against Israel are making a colossal mistake. They are giving the impression to the people of the Middle East that they do not care about double standards and selective targeting of states in the region. They are prepared to tolerate bias and unfairness. It is the sort of attitude which will deepen the already pervasive feeling of disenchantment among the people. This in turn will heighten their sense of despair and desolation which has reached its nadir. In the end, it will convince desperate Arabs and Iranians that the only solution lies in the violence preached and practiced by terror networks such as Al-Qaeda. And, indeed, in a situation where other states have given up their nuclear weapons plans and Israel is the only nuclear power in the Middle East, Al-Qaeda will be able to argue that it is the only group capable of providing protection to the people against the nuclear threat lurking in their vicinity. This it will do by acquiring nuclear weapons itself. To put it more bluntly, Al-Qaeda and other such non-state actors will be more tempted than ever before to intensify their efforts to acquire nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction for the purpose of defending the defenseless masses. And being non-state actors with a militant orientation, they will not be bound by the formal and informal rules of conduct that bind states. This is why the world should put pressure upon Israel to eliminate its nuclear weapons. Groups concerned about nuclear weapons, war and violence should mobilise international public opinion. Governments should do what they can to coax Washington and Tel Aviv to act. If the world allows the present situation in the Middle East to persist-if no attempt is made to check what is an obvious travesty of justice on the nuclear question-it will be just a matter of time before nuclear terrorism perpetrated by a non-state actor engulfs the whole planet in flames. © Copyright 2003 by The New Nation ***************************************************************** 21 Hi Pakistan: Nukes bad in every hand, even if it?s the US - By Rahimullah Yusufzai* February 17 2004 *PESHAWAR:* Mohammad ElBaradei, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has finally said something that needed to be said. This is what he said in a recent opinion article in the New York Times: "The world must drop the idea that nuclear weapons are fine in the hands of some countries and bad in the hands of others." The criticism is clearly directed at the US but ElBaradei, for obvious reasons, didn?t name the world?s lone superpower. Doing so could have cost him his high-profile, handsomely paid job. Elaborating his argument, he wrote in the same newspaper article: "We must abandon the unworkable notion that it is morally reprehensible for some countries to pursue weapons of mass destruction yet morally acceptable for others to rely on them for security ? and indeed to continue to refine their capacities and postulate plans for their use." It doesn?t require much imagination to conclude that it is the US that is seeking to refine its capacity to produce weapons of mass destruction and postulate plans for their use to enhance security. The US alone has plans to make mini-nukes. In fact, US planners toyed with the idea of using small nuclear bombs both in Afghanistan and Iraq against alleged terrorists. That shouldn?t surprise anyone because the US is the only country in the world?s history to have bombed another nation, in this case Japan, with an atomic bomb. Having done it once without facing any accountability, the US could use nuclear weapons again and justify it by blaming the victim as a rogue or terrorist state. As ElBaradei pointed out, nuclear weapons are destructive and, therefore, unacceptable. Weapons of mass destruction are bad in every hand, whether American, Russian, Pakistani, Indian, Iraqi or Israeli. The world should declare that possession of such weapons was immoral for every nation, including those claiming to be more civilized and democratic. President George W Bush?s "axis of evil" nations including Iran, Iraq and North Korea were faulted for pursuing weapons of mass destruction, and then sanctioned and condemned. It was selective morality because the US president made no mention of Israel, which too has vigorously pursued weapons of mass destruction. If Iran or Iraq were trying to develop nuclear weapons it was for no other reason but to bolster their defence against a nuclearised Israel. Curbs against Israeli nuclear programme would have assured both Iran and Iraq and enabled the international community to prevail upon them to abandon their nuclear ambitions. Nothing was done to stop Israel from acquiring and producing weapons of mass destruction. In fact, Israel was hailed for bombing Iraq?s nuclear assets. As a consequence, Iran and Iraq tried not only to outdo each other but also match Israel in their pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. In our part of the world, Pakistan might not have launched its costly nuclear programme had India refrained from producing an atomic bomb. The nuclear arms race between the two hostile neighbours that started in the 1970s has continued to this day, taking its toll in terms of lopsided spending on defence at the cost of the neglected social sectors. Like Pakistan, other nations also began spending precious resources on nuclear programmes out of fear of their powerful nuclearised neighbours. The perfect solution to the problem of the weapons of mass destruction would be to destroy every single weapon that has been manufactured in our unstable world. The world won?t become safer if Iraq?s non-existent weapons of mass destruction are found and destroyed. And the world would still be a dangerous place if Pakistan?s nuclear programme is rolled back, put under UN control or forced open to inspections by the IAEA experts. The world would still have to contend with the five original members of the nuclear club and the few gatecrashers. The US would never give up those weapons of mass destruction or allow other nations to overtake it by making better atomic bombs because that would threaten its global supremacy and challenge its superpower status. Other nuclear powers that have acquired weapons of mass destruction too would like to attain unchallenged power to bully smaller nations. In the process, the world would continue to suffer instability and, in the words of ElBaradei, face threats of nuclear destruction. Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 22 Hi Pakistan: Dr Qadeer?s confession - By Kamran Yousaf* February 17 2004 *Should* we take every development unfolding in the world whether it is Pakistan?s nuclear proliferation scandal or situation in Iraq as its face value? Should we believe our leaders? rhetoric in the name of national interest? Take the case of dramatic confession of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan on leaking Pakistan?s nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea, countries marked by US President Bush as ?axis of evil,? which has left many questions unanswered. It is not the western media alone, which continues to bash Pakistan, the layman in the country also sees all developments that led to the confession of a man, who has been revered as national hero for making the country an atomic power, with an element of suspicion. Most of the Pakistanis believe that Dr Khan was made a ?scapegoat? by military rulers to save their own skin. Dr Khan?s confessional statement itself has been vague, as it does not contain that what was actually passed on to Iran, North Korea and Libya? Centrifuge designs, blueprints or what? Nobody knows yet. The issue has become more complicated after Iran, North Korea and Libya stoutly rejected Dr Khan?s assertion that he had helped these countries? nuclear programmes. North Korea in its official reaction said, ?The United States is now hyping the story about the ?transfer of nuclear technology? to the DPRK by Pakistani scientist in a bid to make the DPRK?s ?enriched uranium programme? sound plausible.? Iran and Libya too in response to dramatic revelations by Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan about nuclear pilferage vehemently denied seeking help from disgraced Pakistani scientist.But, Pakistan has said it had launched the probe after receiving IAEA report based on documents handed over by Iran. So where does the truth lie if Iran, North Korea and Libya had not been helped by Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan? The answer can be found in (a) Bush Administration?s reaction on Pakistan?s nuclear proliferation (b) American CIA Director Gorge Tenet?s stunning disclosure of penetrating into Dr Khan?s network by US and British spies (c) Outright denials by Iran, Libya and North Korea on getting help from Dr Khan and the warning by North Korea that Dr Khan?s admission was part of the US ulterior motives to launch the invasion of Stalinist regime. The caution by North Korea, who has been accused of enriching uranium to make atomic bomb, does carry the logic.The soft line, contrary to US media, taken by Washington over decision of President General Pervez Musharraf to pardon Dr Qadeer Khan on peddling nuclear secrets to other states, was the result of broad understanding reached between the two countries on the issue. Is Gen Musharraf making another history by providing much-needed excuse to neo-cons sitting in Washington to invade North Korea and Iran? No state in the world perhaps has played a vital role to make United States from super power to hyper power of the world than Pakistan. If we recall history, it was Pakistan, that provided the essential support to the US to cut the former super power of the world?Russia?into pieces after communist regime launched invasion of Afghanistan. Then after September 11, 2001, Pakistan rescued the United States once again even putting its national security at stake.And now the great power of the world once more looking to a country, whose own history travels from crises to crises, to achieve its objective as part of the plan to extend its writ to the entire world. Despite the failure of United States to find the weapons of mass destruction, a core reason given by White House to invade Saddam Hussein?s Iraq, President Bush in his State of the Union address reiterated his policy of unilateralism. Covert and overt pressure exerted by Bush Administration forced Iran and Libya to surrender. However, the continued pressure by US has so far not ruffled North Korea, a country which is believed to have the capability to make atomic bomb. Now the United States needs hardcore evidence against North Korea and Iran that they are indulged in the enrichment of the uranium for the purpose of nuclear technology. Who knows the confessional statement by Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan taking full responsibility of leaking nuclear secrets to ?axis of evil? may be used by the United States as key evidence to launch another invasion. Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 23 Hi Pakistan: Malaysia being unfairly targeted over N-links?* February 17 2004 *KUALA* LUMPUR: A row over charges that Malaysia was a link in the nuclear weapons black market grew at the weekend, with the government protesting statements by US President George W. Bush and opposition parties calling for answers in parliament. Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Malaysia was being unfairly targeted because it was a Muslim country and lumped together with states such as Iran, Libya and North Korea. "What he (Bush) said was very misleading. We will write to the embassy soon to communicate our displeasure and our unhappiness," he said. "Malaysia is not even in that league of countries which have nuclear proliferation capabilities. It is totally uncalled for," he said. "We are very disappointed," he said. Malaysian opposition parties meanwhile challenged the government to present to parliament a clear and complete report on the allegations, which focus on a company owned by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi?s son Kamaluddin. The Democratic Action Party and the National Justice Party (Keadilan) of jailed former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim said if the allegations were completely untrue Malaysia should demand an apology from Washington. Syed Hamid said in a statement: "We regret that an ordinary business contract entered into by SCOPE (A Malaysian company named Scomi Precision Engineering), has been distorted, exaggerated and blown out of proportion." "We take exception that Malaysia has been deliberately singled out in the speech when President Bush had also clearly stated that other necessary parts were purchased through network operatives based in Europe, the Middle East and Africa." "Yet he failed to name those countries hosting them," Hamid added. Malaysia had always supported international efforts to prevent the illegal transfer of nuclear technology or the illegal production of materials, which could be abused for the clandestine development of weapons of mass destruction, he said. "The US seemed to have forgotten the cooperation extended by Kuala Lumpur in many areas, including in the fight against terrorism," Syed Hamid said. Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. No part ***************************************************************** 24 Asia Times: *Part 1 - Starting with a solid base* By David Isenberg Somewhere on the Yale University campus, Paul Michael Kennedy must be smiling. Remember Paul Kennedy? Back in 1987 the then relatively unknown history professor published the book /The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers/, and almost instantaneously introduced the expression "imperial overstretch" into popular discourse. Although it did not take long for right-wing commentators to attack him, saying that it was the Soviet, not the US empire that had overstretched, his basic point remains the same. As he wrote 10 years later in Atlantic Magazine: "The United States now runs the risk, so familiar to historians of the rise and fall of Great Powers, of what might be called 'imperial overstretch': that is to say, decision-makers in Washington must face the awkward and enduring fact that the total of the United States's global interests and obligations is nowadays far too large for the country to be able to defend them all simultaneously." Well, now talk of empire is back in vogue since the war in Iraq has focused the attention of the American public, normally caught up in the soma of reality television, to an unusual degree on the burdens and costs of empire. But while empire in all its imperial, multicolored, geopolitical hues may be an alluring sight, there is one thing to keep in mind. The process of creating and maintaining an empire, like making sausage or passing congressional legislation, is not a pretty process. In fact, it is costly, very costly, in terms of lives, money and liberty. It requires a large military establishment, which can consume a substantial, if not disproportionate amount of the national treasury. And it requires stationing and deploying forces around the world. *A base for every need* It is not easy being a global military power. It takes a lot of behind the scenes work to allow the F-15s and F-16s to fly over Iraq airspace, for the soldiers and Marines to deploy to Japan and South Korea, and to get the M-1 tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles and a myriad of other military equipment to the far-flung corners of the empire. Despite the rush to outsource federal programs, this is not yet a job that the Pentagon is willing to entrust to Federal Express or DHL. Even in the 21st century, with jet and space travel, the world is a large place. The division of the world into military fiefdoms, or what US military planners euphemistically call the Unified Command Plan, requires something very old-fashioned: a network of overseas military bases. True, the contours of the network change, waxing and waning over time. Many overseas US military bases overseas have closed since the end of the Cold War, and the number of US troops permanently stationed overseas has dropped by more than 250,000 since the Berlin Wall fell. But preparations to deploy American legions remain a primary Pentagon concern. In fact, a number of individuals who now are part of the Bush administration (including Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld) produced in the fall of 2000 a 90-page blueprint for transforming the US military and the nation's global role. The report, "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces, and Resources for a New Century" released by the Project for the New American Century, argued that the US should not only attain and maintain military dominance, but should also project it with a worldwide network of forward operating bases over and above the country's already extensive overseas deployments. That is why the Pentagon plans to dramatically change the shape of US military basing abroad. Unlike the Cold War era with its large permanent garrisons - like the over 200,000 troops that were kept in Germany - the fashion nowadays is for more temporary forward deployments to Spartan bases. While such plans were in the works before President George W Bush took office, September 11, 2001, did much to accelerate them. The goal is to create a web of far-flung, lean, forward-operating bases, maintained in peacetime only by small permanent support units, with fighting forces deployed from the US when necessary. To that end, a large reduction of the traditional US military presence in Europe is necessary. The Pentagon is quite open and candid about it. In a speech last December 3, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith said: "President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld likewise are thinking about the relatively distant future. In developing plans to realign our forces abroad they're not focused on the diplomatic issues of the moment but on the strategic requirements and opportunities of the coming decades. Let's be clear about what we are and what we're not aiming to achieve through transforming our global defense posture. "We are not aiming at retrenching it, curtailing US commitments, isolationism or unilateralism. On the contrary, our realignment plans are motivated by appreciation of the strategic value of defense alliances and partnerships with other states. We are aiming to increase our ability to fulfill our international commitments more effectively. We're aiming to ensure that our alliances are capable, affordable, sustainable and relevant in the future. We're not focused narrowly on force levels that are addressing force capabilities. We are not talking about fighting in place but moving to the fight. We are not talking only about basing, we're talking about the ability to move forces when and where needed. "In transforming the US global defense posture we want to make our forces more responsive, given the world's many strategic uncertainties. We want to benefit as much as possible from the strategic pre-positioning of equipment and support. We want to make better use of our capabilities by thinking of our forces globally rather than as simply regional assets. We want to be able to bring more combat capabilities to bear in less time that is, we want to have the ability to surge our forces to crisis spots from wherever those forces might be." Feith reiterated the point during a speech a week later in Romania. He said: "What we are interested in doing as we realign our global posture is taking advantage of the opportunity, with a much lighter footprint, to have the kinds of capabilities around the world that will allow us to react quickly with easily deployed forces, with lighter forces, to provide security and shore up our commitments around the world." Last year saw the removal of some US troops from Germany and the establishment of new bases in, as Rumsfeld phrased it, "New Europe", the new North Atlantic Treaty Organization members Romania and Bulgaria. Also it was reported that the 1st Armored Division, half the US Army's Europe combat force, traditionally based in Europe, would not return to its German bases. During the invasion of Iraq, air bases opened up for US use in Bulgaria's Sarajevo airfield, where refueling aircraft were based; the Bulgarian port of Burgas, the Romanian port Constanta and the Romanian military airfield of Mihail Kogalniceanu. US military plans also include huge ex-Warsaw Pact training ranges and other bases in Poland and Hungary. Thousands of American and British troops have been conducting exercises on the Drawsko Pomorskiy and Wedrzyn training areas since 1996, taking advantage of the lack of restrictions compared to Germany. Use of the Krzesiny airbase outside Poznan, Poland, is also anticipated. In January Poland's Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski announced that Poland had launched negotiations with Washington on hosting US military bases on its territory. The Taszar airbase in Hungary is also a possible candidate for an increased US presence, as it has supported US operations in the region since the US entry into Bosnia in 1995. During his recent Asian tour, General Richard Meyers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the US is likely to use the joint military training facility it is seeking to establish in northern Australia to pre-position equipment and material. The Air Force wants to return to the Cold War-era practice of basing fighter jets and other strike and support planes on Guam, the Pacific island that is in ready striking distance of the Korean peninsula, according to General William J Begert, commander of Pacific Air Forces. *An empire that spans the world* Despite this restructuring, the US military empire is still staggeringly large. The global "footprint" as it is called, conjuring up interesting images of just who and what the US treads on, spans the world. Currently Pentagon officials are in the final throes of crafting an updated National Military Strategy that is expected to acknowledge a need to redistribute US forces and revamp their chains of command throughout the globe. "Global sourcing", a term used to describe the distribution of US forces across the Earth, is also an issue to be addressed in the new national military strategy. The new posture is expected to carry with it a new lingo for bases, including "power projection hubs", main operating bases and more flexible and agile "forward operating sites". Under the plan, US troops, rather than inhabiting a small number of large garrisons, would rotate through dozens of small bases throughout the world on exercises, staying for only a few weeks or months at a time. Those bases could serve as launching points for military strikes to protect US interests or quickly strike out at terrorists. Part of this redistribution is what author Chalmers Johnson calls "Baseworld". Johnson writes: "It's not easy to assess the size or exact value of our empire of bases. Official records on these subjects are misleading, although instructive. According to the Defense Department's annual 'Base Structure Report' for fiscal year 2003, which itemizes foreign and domestic US military real estate, the Pentagon currently owns or rents 702 overseas bases in about 130 countries and has another 6,000 bases in the US and its territories. Pentagon bureaucrats calculate that it would require at least [US]$113.2 billion to replace just the foreign bases - surely far too low a figure, but still larger than the gross domestic product of most countries - and an estimated $592 billion to replace all of them. The military high command deploys to its overseas bases some 253,288 uniformed personnel, plus an equal number of dependents and Department of Defense civilian officials, and employs an additional 44,446 locally hired foreigners. The Pentagon claims that these bases contain 44,870 barracks, hangars, hospitals, and other buildings, which it owns, and that it leases 4,844 more. "These numbers, although staggeringly large, do not begin to cover all the actual bases that we occupy globally. The 2003 Base Status Report fails to mention, for instance, any garrisons in Kosovo - even though it is the site of the huge Camp Bondsteel, built in 1999 and maintained ever since by Kellogg, Brown & Root. The report similarly omits bases in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar and Uzbekistan, although the US military has established colossal base structures throughout the so-called arc of instability in the two-and-a-half years since September 11." Nor does it include new facilities being built. In Iraq engineers from the 1st Armored Division are midway through a $800 million project to build half a dozen camps for the incoming 1st Cavalry Division. The new outposts, dubbed enduring camps, will improve living quarters for soldiers and allow the military to return key infrastructure sites within the Iraqi capital to the emerging government. According to GlobalSecurity.org these include such places as Camps Anaconda, Dogwood and Falcon, just to name a few. The largest of the new camps, Camp Victory North, will be twice the size of Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo - currently one of the largest overseas posts built since the Vietnam War. Also bear in mind that the deployment of military forces abroad means negotiating complicated legal arrangements, euphemistically called Status of Forces agreements, so that US forces remain largely immune from host country laws. The United States has yet to begin serious negotiations with Iraqis on an agreement to guarantee that American troops in Iraq will remain immune from arrest and prosecution by local authorities once a new Baghdad government takes over in June. This was a way of life for 19th century imperialists, who, for example, carved out little extraterritorial enclaves all along the coast of China. This was certainly the case of the collapsed empire of the Soviet Union, whose military men led privileged lives elsewhere in the communist bloc. This is the peacetime way of life of the US military, whose forces abroad are largely shielded from local judgments. Increasingly, if the Bush administration has its way (thanks to bilateral agreements forced on other nations), American soldiers in wartime will be responsible to no other body, certainly not to the new International Criminal Court, for crimes of war or crimes against humanity. /*David Isenberg*, a senior analyst with the Washington-based British American Security Information Council (BASIC), has a wide background in arms control and national security issues./ *TOMORROW: Counting the cost in dollars and cents* (Copyright 2004 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com for information on our sales and syndication policies.) * Feb 13, 2004 * No material from Asia Times Online may be republished in any form without written permission. Copyright 2003, Asia Times Online, 4305 Far East Finance Centre, 16 Harcourt Rd, Central, Hong Kong ***************************************************************** 25 IRIB News: Kharrazi hails nuclear fuel success * * 2004/02/16* Tehran, Feb 16 - Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi hailed Sunday production of nuclear fuel by Iran as an 'important achievement' but stressed that it was 'strictly' intended for peaceful purposes. "This industry is strictly not for non-peaceful use and will be under the careful supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency," he told reporters here on his return from a Kuwait summit. The statements came shortly after Kharrazi announced that Iran has the capacity to produce nuclear fuel and offer it to international markets. "The Islamic Republic of Iran has made an important achievement in the area of nuclear fuel -- that is the technology of enrichment for meeting fuel requirements of domestic plants as well as for peaceful usage," Kharrazi said. "This is an industry which can both be used by our plants and supplied to the international markets," he added. The Iranian Foreign Minister also said, "we have taken a voluntary decision for confidence building and postponed (uranium) enrichment, but this does not mean that we will give up this industry, which is our national pride." Kharrazi, however, stressed Tehran's intention to 'act within the frameworks which are discussed with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) so that its supervision is fulfilled'. "At present, this idea has been floated in (IAEA Chief) Mr. Mohamed Elbaradei's remarks and plans to create an international framework so that those countries which have the capacity (to produce) nuclear fuel offer it to international markets," he said.< BR> "The Islamic Republic of Iran has also this capacity and regards it as legitimate. There in no legal problem about that and no one can deprive us of this natural, legal and legitimate right. "This indicates the Islamic Republic's capacity and readiness for cooperation within the international frameworks," Kharrazi added. The Iranian Foreign Minister dismissed US officials' statements including their intention to renew Washington's drive to report Tehran to the UN security council. "Americans want to influence the upcoming IAEA meeting, but we are ready to cooperate transparently and answer all questions and while the supervision are carried out carefully, there is no need for worries," he said. m/k *Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved By Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting News Network Sponsored By IRIB News Computer Center. E-Mail: Webmaster@IRIBNEWS.ir * ***************************************************************** 26 LA Times: Losing Russia February 15, 2004 To prevent a 'cold peace,' the West must retreat from Cold War policies By Charles William Maynes, Charles William Maynes is president of the Eurasia Foundation, which promotes political and economic reform in the former Soviet Union. He is the former editor of Foreign Policy. WASHINGTON ? It's hard to believe it was just last September when President Bush stood beside Russian President Vladimir V. Putin at Camp David and announced, "I respect President Putin's vision for Russia." Since then, things have turned decidedly sour. In recent telephone conversations with his Russian counterpart, the president has expressed his displeasure over Russian actions in Chechnya and the nation's "failure to pursue democratic reforms." The U.S. ambassador to Moscow complained publicly in December about Russia's "breach of values," saying that recent Russian actions "could limit possibilities of expansion of our cooperation." And when Secretary of State Colin L. Powell visited Russia last month, he wrote a front-page essay for Izvestia in which he prodded Moscow on its human rights record in Chechnya, for its increasing media controls and for the arrest of Yukos Oil Co.'s former chief executive, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. To understand why Russia and the United States are drifting apart again, it's crucial to understand just how differently Russians and Westerners view the 1990s. The West saw the decade as one of liberation and burgeoning democracy for Russia. Western observers felt that Russia was finally rejoining Europe politically and economically. But for Russians, it was a decade of disintegration and false promises. At the beginning of the 1990s, Russia was an uninspiring, drab and politically repressive place, but it had a strong middle class and functioning institutions. By the end of a decade, it was something close to a failed state. Russians were glad to be able to speak their minds, but they watched helplessly as crime and other social ills took hold and the economy became wildly unstable. Tens of millions of Russians found themselves impoverished, as the government could no longer pay pensions and factories could no longer meet payrolls because of the disruption of internal trade. "Price reforms" led to massive inflation and overnight wiped out family savings accounts. Even as they witnessed Russian suffering, most Western experts showed little concern for the pain inflicted and urged Russia to stay the capitalist course. The West held this position until the very day the financial dam finally burst in August 1998, when the Russian government devalued the ruble and suspended payment on most of its foreign debt. Many Russians now see that disastrous era as the consequence of pursuing Western-style democracy and following Western-proffered advice. By contrast, they associate the current era of growing prosperity with Putin's coming to power. To Russians, Putin's record of successes is impressive. Back wages and pensions are being paid. Growth is vigorous. Consumer goods are again being manufactured at home. Russia has paid off most of its foreign debt. And if high oil prices have been the single most significant factor in reversing Russia's fortunes, so what? Russians still credit Putin with the reversal, pointing to an impressive growth in domestic production and sound taxation policies that have also contributed to both growth and the restoration of health in public finances. Russians are pleased that their country is again a major player in foreign relations and that foreign leaders take Putin seriously in a way they never did his predecessor, Boris N. Yeltsin. Yet there is abundant cause for concern about many of Putin's actions. He shows no signs of modifying Russia's brutal suppression of Chechnya's Muslim population, which is particularly incendiary in the current international framework. He has clamped down on fragile media freedoms. He has continued to act imperiously against his immediate neighbors, which undercuts Russia's credibility with the rest of Europe. It is incumbent on the West to encourage Putin to alter his course, and the good news is there are concrete steps that can be taken. Russia's desire to be accepted as a Western power gives Western countries some leverage: That acceptance, and the closer economic and political ties that would follow, must be made contingent on Russia's continuing commitment to democratic reforms. The West must give Russia some incentives by spelling out more precisely how the rest of Europe is prepared to integrate Russia with its Western neighbors. Will the West admit Russia into NATO, as the Germans have suggested? If not, what positive security role will Europe permit a democratic Russia to play? The West must also continue to step back from Cold War policies that tip the debate in Russia against the Westernizers. For all the declarations in the West of the end of the Cold War, NATO forces still patrol the Russian coasts, as if waiting for an imminent war, and 95% of the U.S. nuclear arsenal ? which is still maintained at Cold War levels ? remains dedicated to the potential destruction of Russia. We, of course, claim these missiles are not targeting Russia, but the Russians know that they can be retargeted within minutes and that their only possible purpose would be to attack Russia. Proposed cuts in the numbers of nuclear weapons dedicated against Russia will not take place for a decade. The unwillingness of the West to scale back its nuclear arsenal from Cold War levels only reinforces hard-line Russian elements that insist that NATO, which is now proposing to establish bases in Eastern Europe, has aggressive intentions toward Russia. The U.S. should offer to remove at least 50% of its thousands of nuclear warheads, provided Moscow takes a reciprocal step. Such an offer would leave enough missiles to destroy every major city in both countries, but it would also convey to the Russian military a direction in the relationship that would encourage the more democratic voices in Moscow. Another area of collaboration with Russia should be working to provide greater security and a better economic future for the countries caught in the middle between an expanding EU and NATO on the one hand and a resurgent Russia on the other. At this point, it is by no means clear that Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus will ever be allowed to join the European Union. Cut off from any sizable market, many of these states could sink into deeper poverty and become pockets of instability and crime. Yet the U.S. and other Western countries resist any effort by Russia to organize an appropriate economic space east of the EU, and they denounce Russian investments in these countries. The U.S. and EU countries could work with Russia to craft something like the Hoover-Roosevelt Good Neighbor Policy, under which the largest state in the region would begin to treat its neighbors as partners rather than as subjects. To build and hold the democratic space that exists in Russia, Western leaders must constantly engage the Russian leadership while also offering support to those inside Russia who are struggling to build a civil society. Plans by the U.S. and Britain to curtail aid to these groups in the coming years should be reversed. We should not hesitate to speak honestly, but we must speak fairly. Care must be taken to apply the same standards to Russia that we apply to close allies that do not always meet the highest standards. Otherwise, our criticism will be dismissed. The West cannot allow the predictions of a "cold peace" or a new Cold War to become reality. Today neither Washington nor Moscow enjoys a surplus of friends in the world. Neither capital needs a new antagonist. Copyright 2004 Los Angeles Times ***************************************************************** 27 Reuters: India, Pakistan Restart Talks After 2-Year Gap* / Mon February 16, 2004 08:16 AM ET / (Page 1 of 2) By Simon Denyer and Sanjeev Miglani ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan began their first formal peace talks in more than two and a half years Monday, with the dispute over the mainly Muslim Himalayan region of Kashmir high on the agenda. Three days of talks between foreign ministry officials opened in what Pakistan called a "cordial atmosphere and constructive manner." They are seen as "talks about talks" and aim to set the agenda, structure and timeframe for the dialogue process. The talks will build on a groundbreaking meeting between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf last month, a year and a half after the two sides came to the brink of a fourth declared war. "Right now what you have is the political will of President Musharraf and Prime Minister Vajpayee behind these talks," Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said. "There is a new momentum. This momentum must be maintained," he told a news conference. "You should have a clear timeframe and a sustainable process. These talks have to be substantive, structured and sustained." In January, Musharraf and Vajpayee appeared to strike up a personal rapport and agreed to restart a peace process that had never really got off the ground in more than five decades since independence from Britain. Diplomats and analysts say this week's exchanges in Islamabad could provide clues about how open both sides are to addressing the disputes that have divided them, particularly over control of Kashmir. The two delegations were led by Jalil Abbas Jilani, the director-general for South Asia in Pakistan's Foreign Ministry, and Arun Singh, a joint secretary in India's External Affairs ministry. The teams will talk for a second day Tuesday to pave the way for a meeting Wednesday between foreign secretaries, the highest-ranking bureaucrats in the rival ministries. Hours before the talks began, Muslim militants shot dead a senior member of Kashmir's ruling party and a policeman in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, police said. EIGHT AREAS OF DISAGREEMENT *Continued ... ***************************************************************** 28 Hi Pakistan: The fantasy of democracy - By Robert Fisk* February 17 2004 *For* democracy, read fantasy. Iraq is getting so nasty for our great leaders these days that anything - and anyone - is going to be thrown to the dogs to save them. The BBC, the CIA, British intelligence - any journalist that dares to point out the lies that led us to war - get pelted with more lies. The moment we suggest that Iraq never was fertile soil for western democracy, we get accused of being racists. Do we think the Arabs are incapable of producing democracy, we are asked? Do we think they are subhuman? This kind of tosh comes from the same family of abuse as that which labels all and every criticism of Israel anti-Semitic. If we even remind the world that the cabal of neo-conservative, pro-Israeli proselytisers, Messers Perle, Wolfowitz, Feith, Kristol, et al, helped to propel President Bush and US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld into this war with grotesquely inaccurate prophecies of a new Middle East of democratic, pro-Israeli Arab states, we are told that we are racist even to mention their names. So let's just remember what the neo-cons were advocating back in the golden autumn of 2002 when Tony was squaring up with George to destroy the Hitler of Baghdad. They were going to re-shape the map of the Middle East and bring democracy to the region. The dictators would fall or come onside - thus the importance of persuading the world now that the preposterous Qadhafi is a "statesman" (thank you, Jack Straw) for giving up his own infantile nuclear ambitions - and democracy would blossom from the Nile to the Euphrates. The Arabs wanted democracy. They would seize it. We would be loved, welcomed, praised, embraced for bringing this much sought-after commodity to the region. Of course, the neo-cons got it wrong. The latest contribution to the defence of these men came from David Brooks in The New York Times. "In truth," he writes, "the people labelled 'neo-cons'... don't actually have much contact with one another... There have been hundreds of references, for example, to Richard Perle's insidious power over administration policy, but I've been told by senior administration officials that he has had no significant meetings with Bush or Cheney since they assumed office... All evidence suggests that Bush formed his conclusions independently." It's good of the "senior" officials to let us know this - let alone the unconsciously hilarious aside that Mr Bush reaches conclusions on his own. Brooks even tries to erase the word "neo-conservative" from the narrative of the Iraq war with the absurd line that "con is short for 'conservative' and neo is short for 'Jewish'". For now, the mere use of the phrase "neo-conservative" can be anti-Semitic: Brooks actually ends his article by announcing that "anti-Semitism is resurgent". If that's the best critics can be threatened with, then Messers Wolfowitz, Perle and the rest are on the run. They didn't say democracy would work. They didn't influence President Bush. They didn't have the power. They hardly talked to him. Neo-conservatives? Who? But it was the neo-cons who were, along with Israel itself, among the most fervent advocates of an Iraqi invasion. They had seized upon a devastating and all-too-true fact of life in most of the Middle East: that Arab states are largely squalid, corrupt, brutal dictatorships. No surprise there. We created most of these dictators. We kicked off with kings and princes and, if they didn't exercise sufficient control over the masses, then we supported a wretched bunch of generals and colonels, most of whom wore a variety of British military uniforms with eagles instead of crowns on their hat badges. Thus, King Farouq was supplanted, indirectly, by Colonel Nasser (and by General Sadat and Air Force General Mubarak), King Idris by Colonel Qadhafi - the British foreign office loved the young Qadhafi - and King Faisal's post-First World War monarchy in Iraq was replaced, eventually, by the Baath Party and Saddam Hussein. So we never wanted the Arabs to have democracy. When the Egyptians tried this in the 1930s and looked like booting out Farouq, the British clapped the opposition into prison. We westerners drew the borders of most of the Arab nations, created their states and propped up their obedient leaders - bombing them, of course, if they nationalized the Suez Canal, helped the IRA or invaded Kuwait. But the neo-cons and Mr Bush, and then, inevitably, Mr Blair, wanted them to have democracy. Now there are a lot of Arabs who would like a bit of this precious substance called democracy. Indeed, when they emigrate to the West and settle down with US or British or French or any other Western passport, they show the same aptitude as ourselves for "democracy". The Iraqis of Dearborn, Michigan, are like any other Americans, and they vote - largely Democrat - and play and work like any other freedom-loving US citizens. So there's nothing genetic about the Arab world's inability to seize democracy. The problem is not the people. The problem is the environment, the make-up of the patriarchal society and, most important of all, the artificial states which we created for them. They do not and cannot produce democracy. The dictators we paid and armed and stroked ruled by torture and by tribe. Faced with nations which they in many cases did not believe in, the Arab peoples had confidence only in their tribes. The kings were tribal - the Hashemites come from the north-east of what we now call Saudi Arabia - and the dictators were tribal. Saddam, as all the world is told repeatedly, was a Tikriti. And these ruthless men held power through a network of tribal and sectarian alliances. When we bashed into their country, of course we told the Iraqis we were going to give them democracy. They would have free elections. I remember the first time I realized how dishonest this promise was. It was when Paul Bremer, America's failed proconsul in Iraq, stopped talking about democracy and started referring to "representative government," which is not the same thing at all. That was when folk like Daniel Pipes, a right-wing cousin of those neo-cons we can no longer mention, started advocating not "democracy" for Iraq but a "democratically-minded autocrat". Bremer says there can be no elections before the June "handover" of "sovereignty" - in itself a lie because the "handover" will give the mythical "sovereignty" of Iraq to a group of Iraqis chosen by the Americans and the British. They will - prayers are now called for - later hold the democratic elections we falsely promised the Iraqi people and which the Iraqi Shias are now vociferously demanding. And even if these elections are ever held, most Iraqis will vote according to tribe and religion. That is how their political system has worked for almost a hundred years and that is how the American-selected "interim council" works today. And so here we go again. No weapons of mass destruction. No links between Saddam and September 11. No democracy. Blame the press. Blame the BBC. Blame the spooks. But don't blame Messers Bush and Blair. And don't blame the American neo-conservatives who helped to push the US into this disaster. They don't even exist. And if you say they did, you know what you're going to be called. -(c) The Independent Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 29 Asahi Shimbun EDITORIAL: Nuclear nonproliferation Profound discussions are needed to make world safer. North Korea, Iraq and Libya. These countries embarked on nuclear weapons development programs under the cover of peaceful uses of atomic energy by evading inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In trying to deal with this setback to the nuclear nonproliferation regime, U.S. President George W. Bush has proposed plugging loopholes that can lead to the proliferation of nuclear arms. This would be done by placing strict regulations on facilities capable of enriching uranium and extracting plutonium that can be used for nuclear weapons. There would be tighter rules on the transfer of such technology and increased inspections by the IAEA. The president also proposed tightening controls over nuclear-related exports and passing stiffer laws around the world to crack down on smuggling. His suggestion stems from a sense of crisis over the fact that nuclear-related technology and materials were handed to Iran and Libya from Pakistan through the black market. The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), which came into force in 1970, is the basis for preventing disorderly proliferation of nuclear weapons. But that didn't stop India and Pakistan, neither of which are parties to the nonproliferation accord, from conducting nuclear tests. Israel's possession of nuclear weapons is also an ``open secret.'' On top of that, there are loopholes in the treaty. The international community urgently needs to put the nonproliferation regime on the right track. Bush's proposal is meaningful in calling attention to the present situation, but it is fraught with difficulties and problems. Under his plan, nuclear fuels could continue to be exported to advanced countries that already have facilities for enriching uranium and extracting plutonium, but denied to those that hope to build such facilities in the future. These countries would be obliged to abandon these projects and rely on advanced countries to supply nuclear fuel. This means that, apart from the five original nuclear powers, no country will be allowed to have uranium and plutonium facilities except for those that are hardly likely to arm themselves with nuclear weapons, such as Japan and Germany. This represents a major turnaround in the traditional principle that every country belonging to the nuclear nonproliferation regime and willing to allow IAEA inspections can proceed with its nuclear development. The NPT was riddled with inequality from the outset: The five declared nuclear powers have been allowed to possess nuclear arsenals but other countries had to refrain from possessing nuclear weapons. Critics feared this inequality would induce countries to look for loopholes. The Bush administration wants to prevent possible rogue states from getting their hands on nuclear weapons. The United States does not have much persuasive power, however, when it presents a new proposal on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, given its policy of pre-emptive nuclear strikes and its refusal to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Some countries may resent the Bush proposal as the ``new dual standard.'' Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the IAEA, has come with his own proposal to correct the wrongs in the nonproliferation regime. He wants to put facilities capable of enriching uranium and extracting plutonium under international control. But some countries that are advanced in nuclear development and trying to press ahead with nuclear-fuel recycling projects of their own-and Japan in particular-are vehemently opposed to his plan. Where should we seek to find consensus in these matters in the international community? While harmonizing those plans is no easy task, it is hoped that profound discussion will be made at the United Nations and at meetings of the leaders of the eight industrialized powers. --The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 16(IHT/Asahi: February 17,2004) (02/17) ***************************************************************** 30 Hi Pakistan: Masterful diplomacy February 17 2004 - By Asghar Butt* *After* the leakage of the news that Indian?s nuclear scientist Dr Y.S.R Parshad had visited Iran a number of times to help the Iranians set up a nuclear plant, an Indian journalist known to a friend of mine sought an interview with his Foreign Minister, Mr Yaswant Sinha. The report of the interview was not carried by the Press because of the negative image it could have created abroad about Indian involvement in nuclear proliferation, but I got a copy of it from my friend. Some excerpts from it are reproduced below. Reporter: First of all I thank you sir about granting me an interview on such a sensitive matter as of nuclear proliferation and secondly, about the masterly way in which you have been conducting our foreign policy. I was greatly impressed with the way you conducted the Press briefing about Atal Jee?s meeting with President Musharraf in Islamabad. I still remember your cryptic style in stopping a reporter in his tracks who said that the two leaders? meeting had lasted for one hour and five minutes and you corrected him by saying. I did not say five minutes. That was simply beautiful. Y. Sinha: Thank you. I know how to handle the Press. You know, you give them an inch and they take a mile. The present company excepted, of course. Now about the matter of nuclear proliferation, I presume you are referring to the nuclear proliferation that Pakistani scientists have been doing and about which I had said that it was a matter of great concern to the international community and that it needed to be debated in IAEA so that countries like Pakistan can be made to act more responsibly. Reporter: I take it sir that having found Pakistan on the wrong foot, you wanted the international community to declare it a rogue state. Sinha: Now see, you too are trying to put words into my mouth. The words that I actually used were that the matter be resolved so that we have responsible behaviour from such countries. This is a far cry from what you quoted me as saying. Isn?t it a similar misquotation as that of Atal Jee?s meeting with President Musharraf. Reporter: I am sorry you look at it that way. I was not quoting your words I was just trying to draw an inference from them. Sinha: In diplomatic parlance you can?t do that. The inference from my words may be that Pakistan is not a responsible state, as for example India is, but the action to be taken against it is being left to the discretion of the international community. That is the art of the diplomacy. You should remember that we are trying to improve our relations with Pakistan. For us to be seen as a country which is throwing Pakistan to the wolves, is not likely to help our peace overtures. Obviously, however, if Pakistan is now stewing in its own juice, it is not our fault. What can we do! We can only offer our condolence. Poor Pakistan. So on and so forth. Reporter: I understand that perfectly and I concede that I don?t understand the art of diplomacy, but what I had actually come to enquire was of us too being dragged into this business of nuclear proliferation. Sinha: How can we be dragged into nuclear proliferation. From day one our nuclear programme has been for peaceful purposes. When we first tested a nuclear bomb back in the early seventies, it was called Smiling Buddha. Now can you imagine Buddha, smiling or not, going to war? And when questions were raised about the reason of this test we explained that it was intended to dig canals. Now can there be a more peaceful use of a bomb than that. Other countries made nuclear bombs, including two of our neighbours, to wage wars, but not us. With about a hundred or so nuclear bombs that we have made, we can dig thousands of canals. Reporter: Then why don?t we? Sinha: There is a minor hitch there. The scientists fear that the water flowing in them will be contaminated. They are still working on the ways of making such canal water suitable for human and animal consumption. Reporter: But the question is: Were the Iranians also interested in digging canals with atomic bombs that our scientist made repeated trips for to Iran. Sinha: I don?t want to be quoted on this but as a matter of general policy we keep our eyes and ears always open as far as Pakistan is concerned. When we came to know that Pakistan is doing something for Iran, we didn?t want to be left behind. So we sent our man over to do more for that country. We can?t let Pakistan play the Islamic card against us. That is why our relations with the two Islamic neighbours of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, are far better than those of Pakistan itself. Isn?t that masterful diplomacy. Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 31 Hi Pakistan: First day of bilateral talks satisfactory : Masood Khan (18:00 PST)* February 17 2004 *ISLAMABAD:* Pakistani Foreign Office Spokesman Masood Khan said on Monday that first phase of bilateral talks between Pakistan and India remained satisfactory wherein detailed modalities and timeframe for resumption of the composite dialogue was discussed. The talks on the first day of a three-day session were "held in a cordial atmosphere and constructive manner," Pakistan foreign office spokesman Masood Khan told a news briefing here. Joint Secretary of Indian Foreign Office, Jalil Abass Jilani, led Indian delegation in the composite dialogues held in Islamabad, according to a report. The meeting between joint secretary of the Indian external affairs ministry, Arun Kumar Singh, and director general for South Asia at the Pakistani foreign ministry, Jalil Abbas Jilani, lasted for nearly two hours who outlined an agenda for joint talks at the joint secretaries level, the official said. ?And, the process will also continue on Tuesday after which the dialogues at the secretaries level would begin?, said the Spokesman Masood Khan. He said that both sides discussed over to resolve all their outstanding problems including the thorny issue of Kashmir. Replying to a question, he outright denied of heart attack on Dr. Qbdul Qadeer Khan and added that he had no such life any problem. Mr. Khan said: ?He is just suffering from acute hypertension, high blood pressure, depression and sleeplessness.? Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 32 Time: Questions persist over Malaysian involvement in Pakistan's nuclear proliferation scandal BY SIMON ELEGANT AND MAGESWARY RAMAKHRISHNAN | KUALA LUMPUR ANDY WONG/AP How closely tied was Malaysia?s Scomi engineering group to Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan? Monday, Feb. 16, 2004 With general elections around the corner, it's no surprise that Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is eager to keep attention focused on positive news, such as his government's new anticorruption drive. But Kuala Lumpur is having trouble avoiding persistent questions about Malaysian involvement in the dealings of Abdul Qadeer Khan, the scientist pardoned two weeks ago in Pakistan for providing nuclear weapons technology to North Korea, Libya and Iran. Abdullah's government and Washington disagree sharply on the importance of the materials traced to Malaysia: 14 centrifuge components manufactured outside Kuala Lumpur by a subsidiary of publicly listed engineering group Scomi Berhad. In a speech last week, U.S. President George W. Bush called the parts?the last shipment of which was seized en route to Libya last October?"advanced." U.S. officials insist that the components?tubes made up of thousands of small pieces, according to a Scomi official?could only be used in a uranium-enrichment program. A Scomi spokeswoman insists that the company was told the parts were for the oil and gas industry. More intriguing are questions surrounding the role of a Sri Lankan named B.S.A. Tahir, who was named by Bush last week as Khan's deputy and chief financial officer. Tahir, who declined comment when contacted by TIME, reportedly acted as the middleman in the centrifuge deal, negotiating the $3.5 million manufacturing contract for the controversial parts with Scomi, which is controlled through a holding company by Prime Minister Abdullah's only son, Kamaluddin Abdullah. But Tahir, currently in Malaysia, appears to be more than a middleman. TIME has learned that Tahir's wife, Malaysian national Nazimah binte Syed Majid, was one of three equal shareholders (including Kamaluddin) in the holding company, Kaspuda Sendirian Berhad, when it went public early last year. Sources familiar with the deal say Nazimah subsequently sold her shares to the Premier's son. Bush said that Tahir is "the network's chief ... money launderer." In Malaysia, Tahir has a more glittering reputation: his 1998 wedding in Kuala Lumpur was attended by a /Who's Who/ of the city's élite. From the Feb. 23, 2004 issue of TIME Asia magazine Copyright © 2004 Time Inc. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 33 AU Australian: New nuclear chief appointed http://www.news.com.au> February 16, 2004 IAN Smith, deputy vice-chancellor of Otago University in New Zealand, has been appointed executive director of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation. Science Minister Peter McGauran said today that Dr Smith, an Australian, would replace Professor Helen Garnett. Dr Smith is a former head of the mining and metallurgical engineering department at the University of Queensland and was the general manager of Comalco's research centre. Mr McGauran said Dr Smith would bring a strong science and business background to Australia's only research organisation devoted solely to nuclear science and technology. /AAP/ ***************************************************************** 34 Straits Times: Disarming the nuclear Brahmins FEB 17, 2004 TUE *By SUNANDA K. DATTA-RAY FOR THE STRAITS TIMES* THE commendable raft of anti-proliferation measures that United States President George W. Bush announced in the wake of the Pakistani scandal would be more effective if the five nuclear Brahmins in the global caste system also demonstrated respect for their legal and moral obligation to disarm under Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The nuclear black market flourishes because rulers covet the bomb for political rather than military reasons. It looms large in their consciousness as a symbol of unity, determination and self-respect: the ultimate circus in lieu of bread. Given the jungle values of our civilisation, a nation with the power of annihilation is regarded as more important than one without it. Tragically, realpolitik does nothing to correct such perverse thinking. The very fact that the only permanent members of the United Nations Security Council are also the only acknowledged nuclear states, and that the US, with the deadliest arsenal of all, sets the global agenda, further identifies might with right in the eyes of many developing nations. They suspect the nuclear haves of using institutions and systems like the UN, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Nuclear Suppliers Group, Missile Technology Control Regime, dual-use technology restrictions, export controls and sophisticated monitoring to keep the have-nots in permanent deprivation. They also see India, Pakistan and Israel getting away with it. Scoldings and pleadings cannot wish away this evidence. What The New York Times called the 'elaborate charade' of the televised confession and pardon of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan's 'larger-than-life national hero', citing President Pervez Musharraf, strengthens scepticism. Pakistan's nuclear programme has been no secret since 1972 when former prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto famously vowed to eat grass to build the bomb. It was his response to defeat in the Bangladesh war. Addressing posterity from his death cell in 1979, Mr Bhutto made two significant points about his nuclear programme. He acknowledged Chinese assistance, claiming Pakistan's 1976 agreement with China as his 'greatest achievement and contribution to the survival of (his) people and nation'. And he vigorously defended an 'Islamic bomb' - 'We know that Israel and South Africa have full nuclear capability. The Christian, Jewish and Hindu civilisations have this capability. The communist powers also possess it. Only the Islamic civilisation was without it, but that position was about to change'. IAEA chief Mohamed El Baradei believes the controversy over Dr Khan is only the tip of the iceberg. Most of the facts were already well-known. There were early thefts of nuclear secrets from the Netherlands, Britain, Canada and the US. Iranian and Pakistani scientists (including Dr Khan) collaborated openly. *TEACH BY EXAMPLE * TRANSFERS of Chinese nuclear technology and equipment and Taiwanese interceptions of North Korean missile shipments have both been reported. So has Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's US$50 million (S$84 million) expenditure on the technology. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace claims that Pakistan obtained its first atomic weapon in 1986. But the Reagan and first Bush administrations suppressed the evidence collected by the US Central Intelligence Agency so long as Pakistan was needed to organise the Afghan mujahideen, including Osama bin Laden. It was only after the Soviets left Afghanistan that then president George Bush Senior refused in 1990 to certify that Pakistan did not possess a nuclear device, a condition for continued aid. Rogue states and terrorists cannot have failed to note this subordination of proliferation requirements to US strategic imperatives. Supporting Mr George W. Bush's call for stricter vigilance, Mr El Baradei now seeks a more objective effort to prevent proliferation. He wants a strengthened NPT, resumed negotiations on a Fissile Materials Control Treaty, enforcement of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and a road map for disarmament. Article VI of the NPT, which the International Court of Justice has upheld, already demands 'general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control' and calls on signatories 'to make progressive efforts to reduce nuclear weapons globally with the ultimate aim of eliminating those weapons'. In 1996, the UN's Group of 21 (developing countries) voted for an ad hoc committee on nuclear disarmament in terms of the original Geneva conference. It was shot down. It is time to revive that initiative. Example remains the best teacher. We need some salutary move by the Big Five to demonstrate that rogue states and terrorists alone are not expected to make the world a safer place for us all. *The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of South-east Asian Studies. The views expressed here are his own. * Straits Times ***************************************************************** 35 AFP: Nuclear energy a must if Europe to fulfil Kyoto criteria - Spain spacedaily.com MADRID (AFP) Feb 16, 2004 EU transport and energy commissioner Loyola de Palacio on Monday said Europe needed to use nuclear energy in order to fulfil its Kyoto treaty obligations, but stressed that recyclable energy sources should also be further developed. "Spain and Europe cannot dispense with nuclear energy if we wish to fulfil the Kyoto protocol," De Palacio said at the release of a Spanish "dictionary" of energy terms aimed at boosting awareness about climate change. The Kyoto Protocol requires industrialised signatory countries to cut emissions of greenhouse gases, the carbon-based pollution which results from burning fossil fuels and is blamed for driving global warming. De Palacio urged Europe to increase the use of renewable energy sources or risk adding to global warming. She also noted that "Spain is already above emission quotas" for its use of fossil fuels, despite bringing onstream a swathe of nuclear reactors in the past decade to generate some 30 percent of overall energy production. "We must face up to the situation -- not bury our heads in the sand like an ostrich." De Palacio pointed out that countries such as Finland and Japan have announced plans to extend their production of nuclear energy, while in neighbouring France nuclear energy is the primary source of electricity generation. Earlier this month, the environment ministers of France and Germany issued a joint appeal for Russia to ratify the Kyoto Protocol to enable the United Nations' agreement to come into force. In December Moscow signalled it wanted more concessions on the rules regulating foreign investments and clean technology. The United States walked away from the deal in 2001, dubbing it too costly. Kyoto requires wealthy industrialised countries to make an overall cut of 5.2 percent in emissions of carbon dioxide gases blamed for global warming by a target date of 2008 to 2012 as compared with the levels of 1990. Spain has made an individual commitment to a reduction of 15 percent. All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse TERRA.WIRE ***************************************************************** 36 reuters: B.Energy restarts one Heysham reactor, second shut* / Mon February 16, 2004 03:21 AM ET / LONDON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - British Energy has restarted one reactor at its 1,200 megawatt Heysham 1 nuclear power station in northwest England but a second reactor at the plant remained closed, according to data from the power market's balancing mechanism on Monday. Both reactors were shut at the end of October for repairs to cooling water pipes. The plant had been due to restart by mid-February. The balancing mechanism is managed by Elexon, a division of the National Grid © Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved. Email this Article ***************************************************************** 37 [DU-WATCH] Troops to be tested for war effects Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2004 23:30:57 -0600 (CST) Troops to be tested for war effects Sun 15 February, 2004 05:23 LONDON (Reuters) - Thousands of British troops who fought in Iraq are to undergo screening in the biggest ever study of the physical and psychological impact of war, the Observer says. The study, funded by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and carried out at London's Kings College, will examine various triggers for illnesses such as the use of anti-germ warfare vaccines, the effects of depleted uranium-tipped bullets and the impact of stress. "The immediate concerns are first, whether or not there will be a repeat of the kind of physical health problems experienced by Gulf One (1991 Gulf War) soldiers and, second, the increasing concerns about psychological issues," study leader Simon Wessely told the paper on Sunday. Many veterans of the 1991 war suffered a variety of illnesses after returning home that have been labelled Gulf War Syndrome, with experts struggling to produce an explanation. The study will track 16,000 troops over ten years who served in Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, the former Yugoslavia as well as Iraq, said the Observer. ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - Communicate instantly..."Ping" your friends today! Download Messenger Now http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/download/index.html [Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 38 [DU-WATCH] kucinich comes out against DU weapons Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2004 23:30:48 -0600 (CST) Well finally, a candidate who has officially recognised the dangers of DU, and wants to do something about it. Will any of the others i wonder make such a statement. I doubt it very much!! Davey (pandora du project) World Peace Initiative Kucinich for President, February 15, 2004 http://www.kucinich.us/issues/nuclear_weapons.php Part 1: Nuclear Weapons As President, Dennis Kucinich will work to achieve the following steps to promote world peace: 1. Leading the way toward the complete elimination of nuclear weapons from the earth. Kucinich's goal as president will be a steady movement toward complete nuclear disarmament. 2. Renouncing first-strike policy. Kucinich will set aside the Bush Administration's Nuclear Posture Review, which is a strategy for nuclear proliferation. He will assure the world community that the United States will not be the first to use nuclear weapons. 3. Cancellation of all U.S. nuclear weapons programs. Kucinich will work to put an end to the development of any new nuclear weapons, to the manufacture of any nuclear weapons, and to any plans to test nuclear weapons. 4. Stopping the use of all depleted uranium munitions. Kucinich will order an end to the United States' use of depleted uranium munitions. He will lead an international effort to recover depleted uranium. He will promote environmental remediation. He will develop a program to provide care and restitution for people suffering as a result of the United States' use of depleted uranium munitions, nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons production, nuclear testing, and uranium mining. 5. Banning all nuclear weapons testing by the United States. Kucinich will enact a new policy banning nuclear testing and will work to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. 6. Opening talks with all nuclear powers. Kucinich will begin new talks with Russia, China, Britain, France, India, Israel, and Pakistan to develop a plan aimed at the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. The first step will be to suspend all "readiness" levels of nuclear weapons systems, including those of the United States. 7. Encouraging participation in the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. Kucinich will encourage all nations to actively participate in the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, and will meet personally with the leaders of India, Israel, and Pakistan to request that they sign as non-nuclear weapons states. He will also meet personally with Kim Jong Il to encourage North Korea to re-join the community of nations through reaffirming its participation as a non-nuclear weapons state. 8. Discouraging nations from acquiring nuclear weapons. Kucinich will work with the nations of North Korea, Iran, Algeria, Sudan, Syria, and others to discourage the acquisition of nuclear weapons capability. 9. Reinstating the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and Canceling the Ballistic Missile Defense. Kucinich will work with Russian President Vladimir Putin to reinstate the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. The treaty prevents both the United States and Russia from developing nationwide ABM defense systems and limits employment of new ABM technologies. Consequently, the ballistic missile defense program will be cancelled. 10. Meeting all requirements of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. Kucinich will work to ensure that the United States leads the world again in fulfilling all requirements of the treaty. This means the United States must negotiate the complete elimination of its nuclear arsenal. 11. Committing to greatly expanding inspections. Kucinich will work with the 188 signatories of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty and the International Atomic Energy Agency to greatly expand the use of inspections in all nations. 12. Leading an international effort to bring terrorists to justice. Kucinich will cause the United States to participate in a cooperative world effort to track down terrorists who are seeking to acquire nuclear weapons capability. ---- Part II - Weapons and Non-Proliferation Kucinich for President, February 15, 2004 http://www.kucinich.us/issues/nuclearnp.php ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - Communicate instantly..."Ping" your friends today! Download Messenger Now http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/download/index.html [Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 39 [DU-WATCH] UK: Another Cancer Cluster Found Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2004 23:39:09 -0600 (CST) February 10, 2004 8:38 AM Low Level Radiation Campaign email briefing. Please forward to other campaigners TV researcher finds new cluster of childhood cancers and leukaemia far worse than Seascale Twenty years on from the Yorkshire TV programme "Windscale the Nuclear Laundry" in which James Cutler revealed the existence of the notorious cluster of childhood leukaemia at Seascale near Sellafield, a researcher from HTV has done the same thing for the radioactively contaminated Menai Strait, which lies between the island of Anglesey and north Wales. Like YTV, HTV has identified the children involved and has interviewed them and their parents in a documentary to be broadcast on the Welsh language channel S4C 10th February. These are real children, so it will be hard for the authorities to deny the data. The cluster is more severe than Seascale and its statistical strength is far greater. In the seaside town of Caernarfon leukaemia in the 0 - 14 year old age group is 28 times the UK national average (compared with Seascale's 12-fold excess). The excess risk is not confined to the town of Caernarfon. In the 34 wards surrounding the Menai Strait there were 6 cases of leukaemia 0-4 from 2000-2003, a Relative Risk (RR) of 7.8; between 1996 and 2003 there were 9 cases of brain and spinal cancer; RR = 5.4. The cancers include 3 cases of the rare eye cancer retinoblastoma on Anglesey. All are teenagers. In Conwy (another seaside town) there are two further cases, both under ten years old. Caernarfon has a further case, a child born in 1999 and diagnosed at age 3. Retinoblastoma has been associated with radioactivity since the Seascale cluster of leukaemia is accompanied by a 20-fold excess of retinoblastoma in children of Sellafield workers. The relative risks for retinoblastoma in the HTV research are uncertain because so far we only have one of the diagnosis dates, but a conservative calculation shows that excess risks for the area, compared with average rates, are between 5 and 15-times (this covers separate calculations for Anglesey and the whole of the county of Gwynedd). The statistical significance of all the results is high, so this is not a chance occurrence (for the detail see the report itself on www.llrc.org). This news blows to shreds any credibility COMARE (Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment) may have. COMARE was set up on the recommendation of the Black Committee which investigated the way in which the Seascale cluster was found. COMARE's deliberations have resulted in nothing but two decades of denial, hanging on the single flimsy premise that on "current knowledge" of the relationship between radiation and leukaemia, the level of dose local people were exposed should not have caused so many cases. Parents of young cancer patients in north Wales consistently comment that when they take their children to hospital they are surprised by the sheer numbers of children who come from the same areas. Workers at the Low Level Radiation Campaign were alerted by such anecdotes to look at data leaked to us by Wales Cancer Registry (WCR). We found anomalously high cancer rates along the Irish Sea coast, and inferred that radioactivity migrating onto the shore was the cause and that the dose/effect relationship cited by COMARE was simply wrong. COMARE has failed to conduct a proper investigation of our findings, fearing that to do so would increase our credibility and "open the door for others to lean on COMARE to recommend research." COMARE failed to ask the Welsh Cancer Intelligence Unit (WCISU - WCR's successor) how and why they wiped large numbers of cases off the WCR databases, in effect going back two decades to cure people. The whole sorry story is on www.llrc.org and there you can also download the report in which Dr Chris Busby has analysed the statistical status of what the HTV researcher found. You can even see the minutes of the COMARE meeting which listened to the Director of WCISU but not to us. LLRC is calling (not for the first time) for COMARE to be disbanded, as well as the other watchdog which was set up on Black's recommendation. This is SAHSU, the Small Area Health Statistics Unit; surely it would be best for public health problems such as Seascale to be found by official bodies routinely monitoring official data, rather than in embarrassing TV documentaries? Suffice it to say SAHSU has never found anything. When asked to investigate the concerns of local people they ignore the way radioactive discharges are unevenly distributed by prevailing winds and by local topography, rivers and tides. When challenged (as they were recently at Bradwell in Essex) to look more realistically at data on cancer around an area of contamination they apply the totally inappropriate technique of Bayesian Smoothing to smudge the data out so that nothing can be seen. Take away the Bayesian smudging and the truth speaks clear - radioactive mud blows onshore and kills people. This observation cannot be accounted for using the radiation protection standards advised by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). We have consistently looked at the dose/response relationship on the basis of low dose radiaiton effects (e.g. infant leukaemia post-Chernobyl) and found it to be in error by two orders of magnitude. Consider one example; on the basis of what COMARE and NRPB say, doses at Seascale are 300 times too small to have caused the leukaemia cluster, but nobody denies that the cluster is real. What caused it? Was it the radiation? We think so and we think ICRP's model is wrong in the very low dose end and for radioactivity when it gets into the body - this part of ICRP's modelling is, after all just guess work. Now, thanks to HTV, we have even more evidence that we are right. There are massive implications for all aspects of nuclear policy everywhere. One of those implications is that SAHSU and COMARE must go - they have stood out against scientific advance and the interests of the public for far too long. We will produce further briefings soon. Richard Bramhall Low Level Radiation Campaign bramhall@llrc.org The Knoll Montpellier Park Llandrindod Powys LD1 5LW U.K. +44 (0)1597 824771 [Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 40 Japan Times: Symposium to look at Bikini nuclear tests* Tuesday, February 17, 2004 A symposium to mark the 50th anniversary of a hydrogen bomb test at Bikini Atoll in the Marshal Islands will be held Saturday in Tokyo. Three researchers, including one from the Marshal Islands, will discuss the effects that 67 U.S. nuclear weapons tests conducted in the 1940s and 1950s still have on people and the environment as well as the compensation offered by Washington. These reports will be followed by a panel discussion led by Hiromitsu Toyosaki, a photo journalist who has frequently visited the islands, and Tetsuo Maeda, a professor at Tokyo International University who was a pioneer researcher in this field, and others. The symposium will be held from 1:30 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. in Nippon Seinenkan Hall, which is a seven-minute walk from Gaienmae Station on the Ginza subway line or a nine-minute walk from Sendagaya Station on the JR Sobu Line. Those who plan to attend should contact the organizer for reservations by e-mail at peace@ferris.ac.jp. The attendance fee is 500 yen. *The Japan Times: Feb. 17, 2004* (C) All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 41 AGI: SOLDIERS DON'T USE URANIUM PROTECTION MASKS - Chi Siamo Special service by AGI on behalf of the Italian Prime Minister's office ASSOC PRESIDENT (AGI) - Rome, Italy, Feb. 16 - Italian soldiers deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq do not wear protective masks that impede inhalation of depleted uranium dust, wrote Falco Accame, president of the Armed Forces Victims Association, in a letter to the Italian president. According to Accame, norms were issued by the United States in 1993 for the use of masks in order to "impede the inhalation of uranium oxide that deposits in the soil of areas bombarded by weapons containing depleted uranium, which can be carried by the wind." These norms are in effect for Italian forces since 1999. Accame also said that Italy has had "twenty deaths for suspected uranium contamination, and around 200 illnesses." (AGI) - 161848 FEB 04 COPYRIGHTS 2002-2003 AGI S.p.A. Invia questo articolo ***************************************************************** 42 Bellona: Trials shows 95% technetium cleansing rate in Sellafield discharges *LONDON - Testing of a new treatment process based on a chemical called tetraphenylphosphonium bromide, or TPP, launched last autumn is proved to be successful in limiting controversial discharges Technitium-99, or Tc-99, from Britains Sellafield nuclear facility. * Andrew Mayall from the Britain's Environment Agency was a good messenger. Hanne Bakke /Bellona Hanne Bakke , 2004-02-16 17:13 Last Friday the discharges of Tc-99, and possible cleansing methods, was discussed during a conference in Lonodn, organised by the Bellona Foundation, and Norwegian NGO Lofoten against Sellafield. The results of the TPP testing obtained thus far show that 95 percent of radioactive Tc-99 is cleansed from the facility?s discharges into the Irish Sea. A final decision on the long-term application of the TPP process will be made this spring. The definitive answer will come when the analyses of the test TPP treatments are completed in March or April, but signals from the Britain's Environment Agency, or EA, are solely positive. In Bellona?s opinion there is a reason to be very optimistic. The dumping of Tc-99, from Sellafield's nuclear reprocessing plant has caused frustration and outrage in Norway. The discharges in recent years have led to a dramatic increase of Tc-99 among Norwegian coastal sea products such as lobster and seaweed. Tc-99 has also been measured in the Barents Sea as far north as the Arctic island of Spitsbergen. Sellafield's liquid radioactive waste is stored in an onshore holding tank. Until last spring, the contents of the tank?which were cleansed of almost all toxic substances except for Tc-99?were being slowly dumped by portions into the Irish Sea three times a year, with the goal of emptying the tank completely by 2007. ?A Success so far--but still no Champaign? The high expectations for the experimental TPP treatment were founded on a presentation at the conference by Andrew Mayall, Sellafield Team Coordinator, who spoke of ?The Environment Agency's regulation of Tc-99 at Sellafield and an update on the TPP trial.? He catalogued the EA?s working sphere and Sellafield?s recent discharge history. Mayall has previously referred to early results of the TPP cleansing trial as ?promising.? Mayall said that TPP trials seemed to clean Tc-99 in a satisfactory way, and that they had not experienced any obstacles or failures during the processing. He referred to the cleansing level as ?significant,? but he also urged the supporters of the process to wait to uncork the Champaign until the final results of the testing come in March or April. ?We are reasonably sure that the conclusion will be that the cleansing of technetium-99 or the TPP process will be taken into use,? said an optimistic Frederic Hauge, the president of The Bellona Foundation. ?In 2003, the total discharge from Sellafield a level of 35TBq to 34TBq was released before the [dumping] moratorium was put into force. During the test period 34TBq are cleansed down to 1TBq. This means that the cleaning efficiency is 97.5 percent. This means that the total amount of Tc-99 which will be released form the tanks the coming years, will be reduced form an projected amount of 240 TBq to about 7 TBq,? Hauge said. Børge Brende, Norwegian Minister of Environment, was optimistic and glad that the TPP process seemed to be successful Hanne Bakke/Bellona Optimistic gathering This round table on Sellafield was characterized by more optimism than the previous April 2003 conference on Sellafield?something that Norwegian Minister of Environment Børge Brende pointed out in his speech. The conference began with a "Song from the North,? sung by Johs. Røde from Lofoten mot Sellafield. He told the participants about life in the far north, where summer can come and go over the course of a weekend. Børge Brende described the process of beginning start the cleansing trials and underscored that Friday?s meeting boasted significantly higher results did the April 2003 meeting. He said that the reason for the active Norwegian engagement in this matter was that the radioactive waste is quickly spread by currents to the Norwegian coast, and many values for Tc-99 were measured as far away from Sellafield as in the Barents Sea. ?This has impact on us [Norway] as a coastal nation and represents a big problem among others in the industry which harvest seaweed for the production of extracts to be used in cosmetic products and as admixture in food. This is today a NOK 1 billion, and is projected to be a 20 billion NOK industry. Brende reiterated that the argument in 1994 to begin the Tc-99-containing discharges from Sellafield was that Tc-99 would effectively dissolve in the sea water and that the environmental impact would be insignificant. But we see now that Tc-99 accumulates and we measure Becquerel levels in seaweed and lobsters nearing the permitted limits. This is very damaging for export industries because it naturally creates concern among customers about the purity of sea food products. ?When you live off the sea, you will not be especially happy if other countries dump their garbage into the sea to solve a problem,? Brende said. ?We do not know the long term consequences of this [either].? Frustration and bureaucracy Brende also described his frustration over the argument he met when the TPP method was proposed?namely that there was a danger of a leakage from an onshore repository in 5,000 or 50,000 years. Indeed, the on shore leakage, if measured against what is dumped into the sea would be less significant comparison. ?This argument struck me then as absurd,? Brende said. ?In addition, there was a forest for bureaucracy which blocked our road before we could move anywhere?and it was me who thought Norway was bureaucratic.? The minister also said that he was informed that the trial TPP cleansing had, so far, been a big success. ?We are very glad the trials went well. The decision [to continue with the TPP treatments] is to be made in March or April, which may mean we will never hear more about the discharges from Sellafield,? Brende said. ?But I cannot say that I am 100 percent sure. But we are on the right track and we shall reach the goal,? Asmund Kristoffersen from the Nordic Council: The cleaned Tc-99 waste should be stored on-land and not be dumped in the sea Hanne Bakke/Bellona ?We cannot take chances? Asmund Kristoffersen from Nordic Council gave the Nordic perspective on the Tc-99 discharge problem, and supported Brende?s point, saying the Nordic region cannot tolerate it any longer. The discharges from Sellafield were also on agenda at the last Nordic Council meeting in Reykjavik. ?We know too little about the impact of Tc-99 and therefore we can take no chances,? Kristoffersen said. ?We can today find traces of Tc-99 along the whole coast and up in the Barents Sea. We are also concerned about the effects the discharges have on the marine exports and on the coast communities especially. Our concern is shared with our Irish and Scottish colleagues and it is unacceptable that this continues.? Kristoffersen added: ?I hope that TPP process is successful and I am sure that this is the way to go.? But he also stated his concerns over possible discharges of toxic TPP material into the sea and said the material should be stored onshore. Information which was distributed at the conference though, shows that potential discharges of TPP from a cleansing program will be far beyond levels which are dangerous for the environment. Bellona?s Erik Martiniussen presented Bellona?s new report about Sellafield , which also takes up other environmental threats, besides Tc-99, related to the operation of Sellafield facility. Hanne Bakke High level radioactive liquid waste creates concern Bellona?s Erik Martiniussen presented Bellona?s new report about Sellafield . The Bellona report was released in English during the conference. ?Since Tc-99 was measured along the Norwegian coast the first time in 1996?which was a result of discharges from Sellafield?the need for information has been huge," Martiniussen said. "There has been a massive interest among the public for information about Sellafield, and the need for correct information is accordingly", he added. Bellona?s report describes the controversial 50-year history of the facility, its current status and future prospects. Besides the Tc-99 discharges, Bellona has identified what can be classified as two main challenges at the plant. These are what Bellona calls the cold war legacy, and the projected raise in alpha-emitting discharges. The cold war legacy can be identified as buildings and plants at the site, which has to be decommissioned. Among others, seven nuclear reactors and an old military reprocessing plant (B204). The storages of 80 tonnes of plutonium and 1500 cubic meter of highly active liquor (HAL) is also part of what Bellona has identified as a legacy that has to be cleaned up. "The common thing about the legacy is that it is technically possible to find practical solutions on these tasks, Martiniussen said. "But before we can do so, we have to face the challenges, and raise the necessary recourses," he added. The highly-active liquid waste is of particular concern, he said, and treatment of this waste should be of first priority, he stressed. The projected rise in alpha emitting discharges is a much more controversial issue, Martiniussen said. Predictions made by BNFL show a major increase in the discharges from the plant the coming years. "A projected rise in the discharges from the plant is unacceptable for Bellona. The discharges should decrease, not increase," Martiniussen said. Frederic Hauge, Bellona?s president, talked about the serious consequences the discharges from Sellafield have for the Norwegian fishing industry. Hanne Bakke/Bellona Feasible solutions ?Bellona?s role is to come to feasible solutions, and therefore it is always positive when we see that others also show willingness to come to feasible solutions,? the director of Bellona, Frederic Hauge, said at the end of the conference. Hauge expressed gratitude that BNFL, or British Nuclear Fuels?the company that runs Sellafield?and British authorities at last had listened to the concerns of people living in Norway and other Nordic countries, and started to clean out Tc-99 from the discharges. ?The fact that BNFL started to search for solutions for Tc-99 on its own initiative and had not waited for the authorities to oblige it to do so shows the responsibility,? Hauge said. He also used the occasion to praise the Norwegian politicians who had thrown their strong support behind the Sellafield issue. Aside from Brende, Jenny Johnsen (Liberal party), Søren Voie (Conservative party), Alf Ivar Samuelsen (Central party), Asmund Kristoffersen, Rolf Terje Klungeland (Labour) and Steinar Bastensen (Coastal party) all had invaluable contributions. In conclusion to his remarks, Hauge together with Lofoten mot Sellafield invited representatives from BNFL to Lofoten in April, when the full results of the cleansing where in, to go on a fishing trip and catch some clean fish. Publisher: Bellona Foundation , President: Frederic Hauge Information: info@bellona.no , Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** 43 AU ABC: Fed nuke waste plans too risky: NSW committee *Last Update:* Monday, February 16, 2004. 6:01 PM (ACDT) A New South Wales parliamentary committee has questioned whether a shipment of radioactive waste at Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear reactor can be safely transported to a proposed dump site in South Australia. There are 170 truckloads of waste now ready to be moved out. The findings of a joint New South Wales parliamentary report obtained by the ABC, says transporting radioactive waste is too risky and that plans for a radioactive waste dump in Australia should be abandoned. "There was particular concern in the Blue Mountains if it was to be transported over that road and there was a lot of concern from both authorities and individual councils that it did create an unnecessary risk," said Greens MP Ian Cohen, who was a member of the committee. "The feeling of the committee, the evidence that we heard, was that any waste produced should stay on site." James Courtney from Greenpeace says the spent fuel casts are vulnerable to terrorist attack. "It was recently that ANSTO stated that the casts were softer than those used by the United States and that a missile could penetrate them and the resulting radiation could affect large numbers of people," he said. The report also questioned the need for Australia to have a nuclear reactor. Nuclear plant under scrutiny While a NSW Parliamentary report falls short of demanding that construction of the new nuclear reactor at Sydney's Lucas Heights be stopped, it has questioned the need to even have one at all in Australia. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), ***************************************************************** 44 Chillicothe Gazette: Boom Town (USEC & Piketon) *Sunday, February 15, 2004* Piketon, region expecting strong economic impact from USEC enrichment facility; Creating a uranium plant By Story Daniel Prazer Photo Martin S. Lerman Jim Heibel, of Heibel J.F. Electric, and Dennis Martin, of DKM Construction, review plans for future work at the Piketon uranium enrichment plant. *Waverly addressing expected housing needs* Creating a uranium enrichment plant boom town DANIEL PRAZER Gazette Staff Writer As workers migrate to the area, fueled in large part by the construction of United States Enrichment Corp.'s next-generation uranium enrichment plant in Piketon, they'll need places to live. Anticipating this, the City of Waverly is hunkering down to come up with a plan to address zoning and subdivision regulations before any problems with the current laws arise. "We want to be ready for this, and we want it to be done right," said Nathan Davis, Waverly's community and economic development director. "We want a plan because, yes, things are kind of picking up now in this area, just compared to what we've had in the past, and we need to be ready for it so we don't have a bunch of hodgepodge development, and so we can make the best use of the property we have available." Davis is focusing his efforts this year on creating a comprehensive land-use plan that will address such issues as the city's shortage of usable land to expand its industry and the location of housing developments. Davis said Waverly's zoning laws were enacted in 1967 and need to be updated. Housing's already starting to get a shot in the arm. A 21-lot subdivision of single-family homes is slated to break ground this spring near Bristol Village, and if Congress approves funding for a connecting road from U.S. 23 to Ohio 220, it could open up another 350 acres for homes to be built. Several tracts of land are also being developed for housing near Piketon, said Jennifer Chandler, program coordinator for the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative. One on Pike Hill is about half finished since its inception in 1998, and another is planned near Big Beaver Creek Golf Course. Waverly, though, is taking some initial looks at annexing nearby property as the demand for growth creates the need for more land. Its focus won't be on developed areas. "We will be looking at that, and I think I'm of the opinion that really when it comes to Waverly, for annexations, we need to look at areas that we can annex that will give us the opportunity to develop new industry down the road," Davis said. (Prazer can be reached at 772-9364 or via e-mail at dprazer@nncongannett.com) Talk to anybody who handles money in southern Ohio, and they'll tell you good times are ahead. From laborers to small business owners, economic developers to politicos, the word on the street is upbeat following the Jan. 12 announcement that U.S. Enrichment Corp. would place its next-generation uranium enrichment facility in Piketon. With the arrival of the plant, $1.5 billion in construction and at least 500 permanent jobs will be pumped into the regional economy in the next decade. In construction alone, 300 to 400 jobs will be created when the American Centrifuge facility starts producing uranium by the end of the decade -- more if you include a waste-conversion facility on the site scheduled to break ground this summer and USEC's centrifuge test facility. Tally in the impact of a recently-announced Sun Coke factory in Scioto County and a Duke Energy facility in Lawrence County, and you come up with a total investment of $2.5 billion and 900 full-time jobs that could last generations and 500 construction jobs, said T.J. Justice, regional representative for Gov. Bob Taft's economic development office. "It's the type of jolt you don't see very often," Justice said. "If you look at the Appalachian region, I think there's 10 or so counties in this part of Appalachia I think are emerging economically. "I think it gives the average person a stronger sense of hope and belief that they live in an area that can and will grow. ... This is the type of announcement that gives the youth an opportunity to stay in the region." Money staying home Based on the 2000 census, only 65 percent of workers older than age 15 actually worked in Pike County. Of the 10,231 workers, 3,565 found work elsewhere, according to numbers released by the Census Bureau last July. And those who did live in Pike County didn't do so well. Residents earned a per-capita income of only slightly more than $16,000 versus the state average of $21,000 -- meaning nearly 19 percent of Pike Countians lived below the poverty line in 1999. But that may be about to change. The average wage at the American Centrifuge plant will be $49,920 before benefits, Justice said. With 500 people pulling in that kind of money, the cash is going to trickle down, creating 700 to 900 jobs in the service sectors of the economy -- restaurants, hotels, small businesses -- say Justice and Jennifer Chandler, program coordinator for the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative, an economic development group. And while Pike County may be the home of the plant, its influence reaches easily into surrounding counties, including Ross, said Marvin Jones, director of the Chillicothe Ross Chamber of Commerce. "Twenty-five to 30 percent of the former workers there lived in Ross County, and I think that will probably hold true with the new operation, so from that, I think it will have a good effect on our tax base and, again, also for other sectors of the economy," Jones said. So the money's going to be there. While that may not help the average Joe who has bills to pay by the end of this month, in the long term, a trickle-down effect will take place where the money made by wage-earners works its way through the economy, said Bob Foster, president of First National Bank and co-owner of the Jolly Pirate donut shop. The average Joe may get a chance to earn some of the first paychecks, Foster said. "Especially for the construction period, those workers will all be, I assume, within a 30-mile area," Foster said. "The permanent workers, I've imagined, in the last few years have been stretched out a bit. ... It's easier to drive a half-hour to work than it was 20 years ago." 'If you build it ...' The economic boost could mean the world to a fledgling company or a business looking for a smart move -- if a company knows for sure there will be residual income in an area, that's a strong draw to locate in the region. "More of them are going to look (in Pike County) because they're going to see the growth that's going to happen in the next four, five, six years, because in this economy, this is pretty rare," said Blaine Beekman, director of the Pike County Chamber of Commerce. "It's going to be increasing gradually over the next half-decade," he said. "It's going to be a continuous growth." When operations at the gaseous diffusion plant stopped in 2001, the region took a dramatic hit to its collective pocketbook. The announcement that it would get a new lease on life came at a time crucial to the local economy, Foster said. "It has only one way to go, and that's up," Foster said. "This economy here in southern Ohio has been horrible the last three years. I've not seen so many small businesses struggling in 30 years of banking." Foster is already hearing rumors of people formulating business plans, and he expects them to get into the full swing of the entrepreneurial process shortly. "They're not to the borrowing stage yet," he said. Rumors fly Beekman is also hearing murmurs of strip malls and housing developments. Smaller specialty retailers can only thrive in a place near potential customers, and those customers must have money to spend. Most find themselves positioned in malls in metropolitan areas, but the promise of a customer base may lure some to southern Ohio, he said. "Really, it's optimism or an optimistic look on an area that causes them to locate here," Beekman said. "Then you gather three or four of these -- smaller in terms of square footage -- then you get a strip mall going, and people are talking about those things." In the construction industry, more jobs means more work, and more work means more jobs, said Dennis Martin, owner of DKM Construction, a general contractor who works at the uranium plant. DKM works only with government contracts, and said the siting of the centrifuge in Piketon will certainly help his business. "We personally will add more craft people, union people on," Martin said. The demand for skilled workers will take him to Portsmouth and Columbus, to union halls to recruit skilled laborers, machine operators, carpenters, ironworkers, electricians. But the demand for jobs, at least with DKM, will be contingent upon the government's timetable. "It just depends on how much they let go at one time. Working for the government, they'll spend a little, then they'll dry up a little," Martin said. Jim Heibel is also optimistic, but guardedly so. Heibel is the general manager of Heibel J F Electric, Inc., an electrical subcontracting business owned by his wife. "If this all takes place, I think it'll be a great asset for the Pike County area," Heibel said. He's seen the ups an downs in business as a result of the plant, adding, "There hasn't been (work) in the last few years." Constructing a new future But he hopes times are changing. "From what I've heard, there will be a lot of preliminary-type work in existing buildings that hopefully we'll get a chance to bid on," Heibel said. Construction will just be the first wave. The centrifuge plant, Justice said, will be a boon to the tourism industry in the region as well. Not for gawkers hoping to peek over the fenceline, but for those with business with the plant, such as government officials, consultants or researchers. "In the case of this centrifuge facility, you will see a significant increase in the number of business people visiting the area for the purpose of assisting USEC," Justice said. "As all these people visit, they spend money." The direct result of all this is an injection of cash into the retail sector of the economy: Visitors buy gasoline, food and hotel rooms; residents can afford hobbies and recreation, creating a need for specialty shops and diversionary businesses. People can afford luxury items, and not only the select few that work at the plant. Any number of those spin-off jobs will be able to do well for themselves. "Any time there's more traffic on the highways, small business owners get a portion of it," Foster said. And people are already starting to feel it, if only in the mood. "Owning one business and being part-owner in another, you just sensed a big sigh of relief from customers regarding the announcement," said Bill Kelly, mayor of Waverly, who owns the local KFC franchise and co-owns Jolly Pirate Donuts. "I think a lot of the business owners feel we have dodged a bullet," he said. "We have a strong community, and we would have found ways to survive, but with the slow economy, it would have been tough." (Prazer can be reached at 772-9364 or via e-mail at dprazer@nncogannett.com) *Originally published Sunday, February 15, 2004* Copyright ©2004 Chillicothe Gazette. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 45 TriCityHerald: Pasadena, beware Fluor Tribune Reporter Ever wonder where Albuquerque Isotopes baseball players come from? Los Alamos National Laboratory has built a $23 million facility that sounds like it should make them - although it will just make their namesake. Scientists expect the National Isotope Production Facility to start operations in April or May. Products made there - such as rare isotopes with medical uses - could save hundreds or thousands of lives, said Gene Peterson, a lab scientist. "There are a wide variety of applications for isotopes - environmental science, materials science, homeland security and, of course, medicine," Peterson said. "What we'll do here is make isotopes that commercial companies don't make because it's not financially viable. Our isotopes will enable new research, new technology and new products." Different elements and isotopes emit a variety of types of radiation at varying speeds and decay rates. Individual isotopes are chosen for specific pieces of equipment - like devices that test geologic age of rocks or a medical scanner that looks for defects in the body - based on those radiation types, rates and speeds. Strontium 82, for example, is an isotope that few commercial companies make. It's used in detectors that help doctors better understand heart diseases, said Meiring Nortier, another lab scientist. "Those detectors are used on about 30,000 patients a year, and they help doctors plan what to do with a patient's heart," Nortier said. "It's very hard to get isotopes for those machines, though, because 30,000 patients a year isn't considered a lot compared with equipment for other disease analysis used on millions of patients a year." Another isotope, silicon 32, will help oceanographers better understand how oceans work and, in turn, how they influence global climate, Peterson said. "Today oceanographers use a more readily available isotope - silicon 30," Peterson said. "But the problem with that is the analysis has to be done on a large machine in a lab. Silicon 32 can be analyzed much faster with smaller equipment that can fit on a boat. It will make ocean science cruises much more effective." The facility will also make hard-to-find treatment isotopes that could spur new therapies for cancer and other diseases, the two scientists say. "We're already planning to work with New Mexico's universities," Peterson said. "We have ongoing collaborations with the University of New Mexico college of pharmacy and with the chemistry department at New Mexico State University." Of course, Los Alamos scientists can also order up a batch of custom isotopes for lab research on things such as genetics or nuclear weapons, Nortier said. Scientists make isotopes by shooting atoms at a target - a round metal disk smaller than a human hand. As the atoms hit the target, they cause nuclear reactions inside it, changing the metal into a radioactive isotope of itself. "Once we've done that, we recover the isotopes through a chemical process," Nortier said. "Then we can ship them out across the U.S. or internationally to whoever needs them." The facility costs between $2.5 million and $3 million a year to run, but the benefits of making a variety of rare isotopes is well worth it, the scientists say. Without it, getting rare isotopes is tricky. The only facilities that make them are overseas - and some of the isotopes decay so quickly that they are useless by the time they get to America, Nortier said. After the facility is up and running, the next step will be to figure out how to use it to make Albuquerque some fast-hitting baseball players, Peterson joked. "Well, we can't do that yet," he said. "But we'll see what we can do down the line." *WHAT IS AN ISOTOPE?* Consider players on a baseball team, such as the Albuquerque Isotopes. They wear the same uniform, but each plays a different position. A single element - such as strontium - is somewhat like a baseball team. Atoms of strontium come in a variety of forms - called isotopes - each of which behaves a little differently. If they were players on a baseball team, some strontium isotopes would fit into left field, watching the grass grow until a ball comes and hits them in the head. Others are much more active, like a pitcher throwing balls - or radiation - at a batter. Such radiation is used in medical detectors and treatments, and scientific equipment. Doctors and scientists look at the speed of the radiation and other properties to determine how old things are, whether cells are damaged or not. In medical treatments, the radiation is used to destroy bad cells. © The Albuquerque Tribune. ***************************************************************** 47 Oak Ridger: Y-12 chief: Plant not vulnerable to attack Story last updated at 12:01 p.m. on February 16, 2004 RUDDY: The recent shipment to Y-12 of critical materials related to Libya's nuclear weapons program speaks volumes in the government's confidence in Oak Ridge. By: *Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff* paul.parson@oakridger.com Oak Ridge's nuclear weapons plant is not vulnerable to a terrorist attack, according to the facility's manager. "Our security posture is set up with that kind of attack or incursion in mind," said Dennis Ruddy, president and general manager of BWXT Y-12, which runs the Y-12 National Security Complex for the National Nuclear Security Administration - the quasi-independent agency within the Department of Energy that oversees the nuclear weapons complex. In addition, Ruddy said Y-12 did not flunk a high-level security exercise, which was conducted in December by DOE's office of Security and Performance Assurance. ** Dennis Ruddy "To characterize any of the things that went on here as a failure is rather surprising to me," said Ruddy in a phone interview this morning. Last month, the Washington, D.C.-based Project On Government Oversight - a watchdog group - issued an alert to the national news media indicating that Y-12 could not adequately protect its supply of bomb-grade uranium in the event of a terrorist attack. POGO based its claims on unnamed government sources and the December review. While Ruddy maintains that Y-12 didn't bomb the security review, he said it did show areas for improvement. "There always are," said Ruddy, who declined to discuss the specifics of the review that looked at various areas of security. "Our security is built in a series of layers. Even if one of those layers is found to be vulnerable, it is often found that the other layers of security provide us with adequate protection," he said. Until this morning, officials with BWXT Y-12, including Ruddy, have declined to discuss POGO's claims with The Oak Ridger. During the interview, Ruddy said people should take POGO's claims with a "grain of salt," suggesting that the organization could've got its information from a person with "an ax to grind." When asked why BWXT Y-12 hasn't defended itself since POGO raised its claims, Ruddy said his normal reaction would most likely always be to "let the events speak for themselves." Case in point, according to Ruddy, is the recent shipment to Y-12 of critical materials related to Libya's nuclear weapons program and ballistic missile capabilities. Ruddy said the shipment speaks volumes in the government's confidence in the Oak Ridge plant. Y-12 has historically been viewed as a weapons producer, but the facility is also active in programs to help reduce the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The Oak Ridge plant is also the nation's principal storehouse for bomb-grade uranium. Hot on the heels of POGO's claims, DOE's Inspector General's Office issued a report stating that the results of a security test last summer at Y-12 were "tainted and unreliable." A reason, according to the report, was that "two participating protective force personnel were permitted to view the computer simulations of the four scenarios" before the test. Ruddy pointed out this morning that management at the weapons plant requested the exercise be reviewed by DOE's Inspector General. "That makes the situation in my mind look a lot less sinister," he said. In addition, the National Nuclear Security Administration announced in January that it would review "key management practices" at all of the federal weapons facilities it oversees within DOE. At the time the NNSA review was announced, it was also reported that between 200 to 250 keys turned up missing from Y-12 last year. Ruddy said this morning that he didn't know when Y-12 would participate in this review. The NNSA was supposed to begin the reviews this month. Based on feedback, Ruddy said Y-12's employees - from top to bottom - don't appear to be worried that security problems exist at the plant. He said the same is true with the community that surrounds Y-12. Ruddy said his company has been in contact with Oak Ridge Mayor David Bradshaw and the city's Chamber of Commerce about security issues. In addition, Y-12's Community Relations Council has been tackling the situation. Comprised of around 20 local community leaders and nearby neighbors, the council is charged with facilitating greater information exchange between BWXT Y-12 management and the community. Security problems at federal weapons facilities were the subject of a "60 Minutes" segment, which aired Sunday night on CBS. The majority of the issues reported on Y-12 have been previously covered by The Oak Ridger. ***************************************************************** 48 Amarillo Net: dget seeks more for Pantex Web-posted Monday, February 16, 2004 By Jim McBride jim.mcbride@amarillo.com "it was a shame that that people had to work the holidays. everybody seems to pity the poor employees at albertsons.well let us not forget the police that had to patrol the streets to keep your homes safe....or the firefighters that stood guard in case some drunk idiot set their christmas tree,or turkey fryer ablaze.or even the toot n' totum employees that made sure you had cold beer for the games." - /From The Bush administration has requested $471.6 million in fiscal year 2005 funding for National Nuclear Security Administration programs at the Pantex Plant, up more than $40 million from fiscal 2004 funding for NNSA weapons-related programs. Jack Klaus, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry, said Pantex's fiscal year 2004 funding totals $452.4 million, including $431.3 for weapons program-related funding and $21.3 million for environmental management funding. A major item in the administration's 2005 Pantex budget proposal is a $16.8 million increase in the safeguards and security budget. In its proposal, the administration said Pantex has developed a new plan to tackle new security requirements. "In fiscal year 2005, the Pantex Plant will enhance identified weapons for use by protective forces to intensify capability against terrorist threats," the request says. A complete breakdown of fiscal year 2005 environmental management funding was unavailable. The budget also includes a slight decrease in proposed funding for nuclear stockpile work, but contains funding increases for major infrastructure improvements at Pantex, according to a review of budget documents. According to the 2005 budget request, Pantex will begin two major design projects: an electrical distribution system upgrade and a gas main and distribution lines upgrade. Construction projects currently in design and scheduled for construction in fiscal year 2004 and 2005 include the Special Nuclear Material Component Requalification Facility, Building 12-44 Production Cells Upgrade and Building 12-64 upgrade. The administration's budget request also projects a small decrease in Pantex employment of about 100 jobs. Pantex officials referred the Globe-News to Energy Department headquarters for comments on budget specifics, but a phone call to headquarters was not returned. In a statement, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said the department's 2005 budget of $24.3 billion focuses on many programs. "Upon taking office, President Bush made a commitment to accelerate environmental cleanup, promote energy security and reduce the nation's dependence on imported energy, maintain the strength and viability of the nuclear weapons stockpile, and double the commitment to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction," Abraham said. "After three years of progress, this work is at a critical juncture which requires financial commitment." The budget now will go on to various committees for review before final approval in the House and Senate. amarillo.com ***************************************************************** 49 Eurekalert: DOE Long Term Stewardship program is wishful thinking Radioactive and toxic waste site plans are a recipe for disaster, says Rutgers sociologist eurekalert.org 16-Feb-2004* Contact: Joseph Blumberg blumberg@ur.rutgers.edu 732-932-7084 x652 Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey NEW BRUNSWICK/PISCATAWAY, N.J. ? Federal government plans for more than 100 radioactive and toxic waste sites are fantasy and wishful thinking, says world-renowned disaster expert Lee Clarke, associate professor of sociology at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. In a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Seattle Monday (Feb. 16), Clarke characterized the U.S. Department of Energy's Long Term Stewardship program as a hopeful projection of what experts and organizations want to happen in the future, while ignoring worst-case scenarios. "They seem to think worst cases aren't worth worrying about because they are unlikely," said Clarke. "I think that we are at great vulnerability for massive disasters." Clarke asserted that while the statistical likelihood for accidents may be low, the interdependence and population density in the United States makes our vulnerability increasingly high. Interdependence facilitated the rapid spread of the SARS virus, while the tragedy of 9-11 bears witness to the vulnerability of a concentrated population. The Department of Energy (DOE), Clarke says, fails to consider potential disasters for the public. He said the DOE is "redefining reality, twisting words and concepts to support political choices disguised as a technical and scientific ones." Clarke explained that the agency has admitted it is impossible to remove the contaminants from the sites within its purview. It has redefined 'acceptable risk' and now, with its Long Term Stewardship program in place, "it plans to walk away from these sites," he said. "The DOE's Long Term Stewardship program relies on engineering barriers to keep poisons away from people and institutional rules to keep people away from poisons," Clarke said. Both will inevitably fail, a conclusion that Clarke shares with the highly respected National Research Council. The DOE's approach to long-term stewardship is driven by hubris and arrogance, says Clarke, at a time when humility and safety are called for. Instead of thinking institutions can be perfect, Clarke thinks we should count on failure. ***************************************************************** 50 Google News Alert - nuclear Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2004 14:44:09 -0800 (PST) PRESIDENT Bush moves to stop spread of nuclear weapons Jakarta Post - Indonesia ... Many of the initiatives, if implemented, would increase the ability of the US and the international community to stem the spread of nuclear weapons. ... See all stories on this topic: DISARMING the nuclear Brahmins Straits Times - Singapore ... proliferation measures that United States President George W. Bush announced in the wake of the Pakistani scandal would be more effective if the five nuclear ... See all stories on this topic: PAKISTAN denies nuclear scientist had heart attack Straits Times - Singapore ISLAMABAD - Government officials yesterday denied reports that Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, the disgraced architect of Pakistan's nuclear programme, has had a heart ... See all stories on this topic: PAKISTAN in nuclear 'cover-up' row Financial Times (subscription) - London,England,UK ... disgraced "father of the Islamic bomb", have accused Islamabad of indulging in a cover-up to protect the Pakistani military from being tainted by the nuclear ... AP Exclusive: Head of Pakistan's nuclear program bought loyalty ... San Francisco Chronicle - San Francisco,CA,USA ... for anything from seminars to friends' weddings -- in a patronage scheme that allowed him to elude suspicion as head of the world's most successful nuclear ... See all stories on this topic: EU'S Patten says any European firms in nuclear scandals should ... EU Business - London,UK ... Patten's comments followed media reports quoting Pakistan's foreign minister, Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, as saying many European nations passed nuclear technology ... See all stories on this topic: QUESTIONS over nuclear safety as radioactive waste builds ABC Online - Australia HAMISH ROBERTSON: At Australia's only nuclear reactor in the suburbs of Sydney there are now 170 truckloads of radioactive waste now ready to be shipped out. ... See all stories on this topic: US urges NKorea to follow Libya's lead on nuclear issue Radio Australia - Australia The United States has called for North Korea to follow Libya's example and abandon its own nuclear program. Six-nation talks involving ... See all stories on this topic: EU expresses concern over proliferation of nuclear technology EU Business - London,UK The European Union said Monday it was worried about the proliferation of nuclear weapons technology by scientists from countries such as Pakistan and called ... See all stories on this topic: NUCLEAR fuel intended for sale, minister says Miami Herald - Miami,FL,USA TEHRAN, Iran - (AP) -- Iran intends to sell nuclear reactor fuel internationally, the foreign minister said Sunday -- a move that would require restarting its ... See all stories on this topic: This daily-once News Alert is brought to you by Google News (BETA)... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Remove this News Alert: http://www.google.com/newsalerts/remove?s=92d1672a1b037a07&hl=en Create another News Alert: http://www.google.com/newsalerts?hl=en Try Google News: http://news.google.com/ ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. 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