***************************************************************** 10/01/06 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 14.232 ***************************************************************** 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 US: [toeslist] White House in crisis over 'Iraq lies' claims 2 [southnews] Bush signs US sanctions bill targeting Iran's partners 3 The Iranian Nuclear Crisis: Sorting Fact from Fiction 4 * FLASH * U.S. backs down on UN sanctions for Iran * 5 IRNA: Review of nuclear talks in local press 6 AFP: New US sanctions bill targets Iran's partners 7 SF Chronicle: HOW AN ATTACK WOULD UNFOLD / A military assault on nuc 8 San Francisco Chronicle: How experts view a strike against Iran 9 US: SFC: TWO CENTS / Should U.S. consider attack on Iran to knock ou 10 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: IRI for new security strategy in ME 11 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Iran to abandon gas deal with Japan 12 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: US issues new sanctions against Iran 13 AFP: Iran wants 'large scale' uranium enrichment programme 14 AFP: Iran rejects short-term enrichment suspension 15 AFP: Bush approves sanctions targeting Iran's partners 16 US: AFP: Bush signs US sanctions bill targeting Iran's partners - 17 AFP: Iran crisis overshadows Israeli-Palestinian dispute as Rice vis 18 UPI: Iran vows to continue nuke energy program 19 US: Guardian Unlimited: President Signs Iran Sanctions Bill 20 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Set on Expanding Nuclear Program 21 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: China, South Korea hold intense diplomatic ta 22 Xinhua: DPRK: U.S. commits over 170 cases of aerial espionage in Sep 23 Guardian Unlimited: Koreas to Hold Military Talks This Week 24 US: ICH: Nuke Use In White House Plan 25 US: Las Vegas SUN: Brian Greenspun on a Day of Atonement for our lea 26 Sunday Herald: Two leaked reports, just one conclusion - the war on 27 US: Pahrump Valley Times: REGION MUST GIVE SERIOUS THOUGHT TO FUTURE 28 WorldNetDaily: Congressional duplicity NUCLEAR REACTORS 29 London Times: A new nuclear world - 30 US: Santa Fe New Mexican: Colorado: From nuclear plant to wildlife r 31 US: Las Vegas SUN: Hal Rothman registers disgust with underhanded ta 32 The Local: New problem delays nuclear reactor restart 33 Independent: Nuclear sell-off is an 'absolute shambles' says angry u 34 US: Gainesville Sun: Facing the growth in nuclear power | 35 IHT: Restart of Swedish nuclear reactor delayed after new malfunctio 36 US: Star-News: GE talks up nuclear energy | 37 US: The Daily News: New era in electricity 38 US: Indo-Asian News Service: Nuclear deal pushed to lame duck sessio 39 AFP: Swedish nuclear reactor restart delayed 40 AFP: US Senate leader accuses Democrats of stalling India nuclear de 41 US: AFP: US Senate leader accuses Democrats of stalling India nuclea NUCLEAR SECURITY 42 US: Hudson Valley News: House passes bill to increase security at nu 43 US: Guardian Unlimited: Ports Security Bill Passes in the House NUCLEAR SAFETY 44 The Australian: Brother names Rainbow Warrior agent 45 London Times: Royal link to Greenpeace bombing as probe begins - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 46 US: Bradenton Herald: Tallevast leaders call meeting on DEP ruling 47 Sunday Herald: Europes new dumping ground - 48 US: Independent: EPA to investigate mine site; 49 US: LA Daily News: Governor veto on perchlorate bill 50 US: Bennington Banner: State rules out water in sarcoidosis probe 51 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Facility CEO says planned site not 'dead' 52 News & Star: Sellafield nuclear disaster exercise planned for Tuesda PEACE 53 BBC: Anti-nuclear protest at US US DEPT. OF ENERGY 54 Rocky Mountain News: Flats ready to come off Superfund ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 [toeslist] White House in crisis over 'Iraq lies' claims Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2006 17:37:55 -0500 (CDT) X-Sender-Host-Name: chumbly.math.missouri.edu X-Spam-Class: HAM-VERY White House in crisis over 'Iraq lies' claims 01 October 2006 08:10 Click Here United States President George Bush was braced for one of the toughest fights of his political life on Saturday as a fierce row broke out over whether he has been misleading the American public over the worsening violence in Iraq. The crisis also rippled across the Atlantic with claims that the administration hid crucial Iraq intelligence from its British allies. Sparking the crisis was a series of leaks from a hard-hitting new book by political journalist Bob Woodward, one of the two Washington Post reporters who broke the Watergate scandal that engulfed the Nixon administration three decades ago. The author's first television interview on the Iraq book is due to be shown this evening on the CBS show 60 Minutes, and is expected to ignite a huge row over the conduct of the war. The book lifts the lid on an administration in crisis, claiming that Bush and his top officials have deliberately covered up the seriousness of the violence in the war-torn country. Woodward has so far been sympathetic to the Bush administration's decision to go to war in Iraq. In the TV interview Woodward accuses Bush of keeping the real situation in Iraq secret from the American public and playing down the true level of violence. "There's public [information] and there's private. But what did they do with the private? They stamp it secret. No one is supposed to know," he says. His book -- State of Denial -- is also understood to say Tony Blair was angry at discovering that Washington was keeping key intelligence on Iraq from Britain -- even classifying reports based partly on contributions from British operatives as off-limits. In some cases, British personnel flying US planes in Iraq were denied access to pilots' manuals, the book reportedly alleges. Downing Street denied to comment on Saturday night. Woodward's book says that insurgent attacks in Iraq are now running at a rate of about four an hour and that officials believe the situation will get worse next year. That allegation is particularly damaging to the administration, which has staked its reputation in mid-term Congressional elections on its ability to win the war. It also flies in the face of regular Republican claims that the situation in Iraq is improving. Woodward's book also provides a gripping insider's account of a White House deeply divided over Iraq. It shows that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has been at odds with Bush over the war and that former White House chief of staff Andy Card had backed the replacement of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld -- but was overruled. It portrays Bush as determined to stick it out even if his only supporters are whittled down to his wife and the White House dog. "I will not withdraw, even if Laura and Barney are the only ones supporting me," Woodward quotes Bush as having told top Republicans at a White House meeting. The book could not have come at a worse time for the Republican party. America is gearing up for vital elections and both parties are fighting on the issue of national security. That is usually a Republican strength, but Woodward's book will undermine the idea that the ruling party is best at prosecuting the war. Bush spokesperson Tony Snow has denied one key allegation -- that Rumsfeld no longer takes calls from Rice. "That is ridiculous,' Snow said. The White House has also insisted that the war in Iraq remains a vital part of the wider war on terror. In his weekly radio address, Bush said that fighting Islamic militants was part of winning the struggle against terrorists. He also slammed Democrats and others who used a leaked intelligence report last week -- which warned that invading Iraq had made America more prone to terrorist attack -- to score political points against Bush's Iraq policy. "Some in Washington have selectively quoted from this document to make the case that, by fighting the terrorists in Iraq, we are making our people less secure here at home. This argument buys into the enemy's propaganda." But it is now far from clear that such arguments are resonating with the American public. The Democrats, who once shied away from any debate on national security, have started to make it the central plank of their mid-term campaign. The party pulled no punches on Saturday in responding to Bush's radio speech by choosing the Democratic Congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth to give its official response. Duckworth is a helicopter pilot who lost both legs in Iraq and now is a candidate for a seat in Illinois. She vigorously attacked Republican attempts to paint her party as "cutting and running" from the war. "I believe the brave men and women who are serving in Iraq today, their families and the American people, deserve more than the same empty slogans and political name-calling," Duckworth said. -- Guardian Unlimited ) Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=285437&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/ ***************************************************************** 2 [southnews] Bush signs US sanctions bill targeting Iran's partners Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2006 12:31:47 -0500 (CDT) X-Sender-Host-Name: chumbly.math.missouri.edu X-Spam-Class: HAM-VERY US President George W. Bush has signed into law a set of sanctions targeting foreign countries that continue nuclear cooperation with Iran and sell it advanced weaponry. The White Houses earlier enthusiasm for military strikes if all else failed has cooled after warnings from the Pentagon and intelligence analysts that the risk to reward ratio of taking action was too high. At best 80% of the targets are mapped out and then only sketchily. The collateral damage to civilians could be considerable,according to the UK Sunday Times. Bush signs US sanctions bill targeting Iran's partners AFP Sunday October 1, 10:02 AM US President George W. Bush has signed into law a set of sanctions targeting foreign countries that continue nuclear cooperation with Iran and sell it advanced weaponry. The measure, passed by the Senate Saturday after clearing the House of Representatives a day earlier, came as Iran and the European Union are engaged in delicate negotiations designed to persuade Iran to halt its enrichment work and avoid a major international showdown. "I applaud Congress for demonstrating its bipartisan commitment to confronting the Iranian regime's repressive and destabilizing activities by passing the Iran Freedom Support Act," Bush said in a statement. "This legislation will codify US sanctions on Iran while providing my administration with flexibility to tailor those sanctions in appropriate circumstances and impose sanctions upon entities that aid the Iranian regime's development of nuclear weapons," he said. Mindful of the situation in Iraq, lawmakers warned that nothing in this document should be "construed as authorizing the use of force against Iran." "My administration is working on many fronts to address the challenges posed by the Iranian regime's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, support for terrorism, efforts to destabilize the Middle East and repression of the fundamental human rights of the citizens of Iran," Bush said. "We are engaged in intense diplomacy alongside our allies, and have also undertaken financial measures to counter the actions of the Iranian regime," he said. Although it does not name any countries, the measure is seen as a clear warning to Russia and China, two permanent members of the UN Security Council that have resisted calls for new international sanctions against Tehran in response to its refusal to halt uranium enrichment. Russia is involved in an 800-million-dollar project to help Iran build a nuclear power plant in Bushehr and sells it modern weaponry. China has been accused of supplying the Islamic republic with advanced missile technology. "This act also provides important new authority for the administration to block financial transactions related to Iran's weapons of mass destruction programs and encourages the administration to use all available leverage over Russia to gain Russian support for multilateral sanctions against Iran," said US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. Senator Norm Coleman said: "For the sake of our national security, the US must ensure that the sensitive nuclear technology that we share with partner countries does not fall into the hands of the Iranians. "The Iranians have demonstrated that they are deceitful, obstructionist and bent on destroying Israel and all of Western civilization. We know where this path is going to lead. Aiding Iran to become a nuclear power, even inadvertently, is unacceptable," he said. The Iran Freedom Support Act states that it should be the policy of the United States "not to bring into force an agreement for cooperation with the government of any country that is assisting the nuclear program of Iran or transferring advanced conventional weapons or missiles." The measure calls for this policy to remain in effect until Iran has suspended all enrichment-related activities and committed to verifiably and permanently refrain from such nuclear work in the future, or until the targeted country has severed ties with its Iranian partners. Under the measure, the US government may also award grants to pro-democracy radio and television stations that broadcast into Iran. "We have to increase our capability to mine resources and intelligence about Iran," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Saturday. "And one of the challenges is that we haven't been in the country for 26 years." ------------------------------------------------------- US may accept Iranian nuclear bomb Sarah Baxter, Washington The Sunday Times October 01, 2006 AMERICA is going to have to learn to live with a nuclear Iran, US intelligence analysts have concluded at a secret meeting near Washington. Senior operatives and outside experts from the intelligence community were almost unanimous in their view that little could be done to stop Iran acquiring the components for a nuclear bomb, The Sunday Times has learnt. Bombing Irans nuclear facilities was rejected on the grounds that the intelligence needed for successful air strikes was lacking. We only have an imperfect understanding of the extent and location of the Iranian programme, said one source with knowledge of the meeting. Even if we got the order to blow it up, we wouldnt know how to. The White Houses earlier enthusiasm for military strikes if all else failed has cooled after warnings from the Pentagon and intelligence analysts that the risk to reward ratio of taking action was too high. At best 80% of the targets are mapped out and then only sketchily. The collateral damage to civilians could be considerable, sources say. Unless you can be 100% effective and set the programme back by two decades, youll just get a short-term delay and you may not produce a result that is better than the current one, an intelligence analyst said. General John Abizaid, commander of US forces in the Middle East, has warned that striking Iran could cripple oil supplies, unleash a surrogate terrorist army and lead to missile attacks on Americas regional allies. The army is particularly concerned about Irans ability to destabilise an already chaotic Iraq. John Negroponte, director of national intelligence, has told President George W Bush that there is no rush to use force as Irans nuclear programme is beset with technical errors. He has been saying, Slow down, its not an immediate problem, said Patrick Clawson, an Iran expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, has staked her reputation on achieving a negotiated settlement with the help of the EU3 nations of Britain, France and Germany. President Bush is not going to take military action against the advice of the secretary of state, US generals and the director of national intelligence, Clawson said. British sources confirmed that the military option was receding. There are clear signs that the White House is keener on following a political approach, said a senior British source. Theres never been an appetite in the Pentagon for taking Iran on and the EU3 might get a deal that would bring the Iranians to the negotiating table in a reasonable fashion. Despite reports that the Iranians were willing to suspend their programme secretly, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has defiantly announced that Irans atomic work will not stop for a single day. Intelligence analysts concluded at last weeks meeting that there were no negotiating carrots or sticks, such as sanctions, capable of persuading Iran to halt its pursuit of nuclear know-how which it maintains is for peaceful energy purposes. The sobering view is that even if there is a deal, the Iranians would cheat, another source said. The conclusion is that America is going to have to live with the bomb unless theres some miracle, such as a major accident, a major defector or an orange revolution, the source added, referring to the peoples protests that brought reformers to power in Ukraine. None of these scenarios is considered likely. In a sign that a military option remains theoretically on the table, a group of minesweepers that could be used to clear any potential Iranian oil blockade of the Strait of Hormuz have been given prepare to deploy orders, which could see them leaving port for the Gulf as early as today. The biggest deterrent might come from the Israelis, not the Americans. Israeli defence sources are increasingly convinced that it will fall to them to stop a nuclear Iran. In their view Iran should not be allowed to get to the point of no return where it has the know-how to build a bomb. The Israelis are going to have to make a decision earlier than we do, Clawson said. Thats a real problem for us. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2383147,00.html The archives of South News can be found at http://southmovement.alphalink.com.au/southnews/ ***************************************************************** 3 The Iranian Nuclear Crisis: Sorting Fact from Fiction Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2006 18:07:48 -0500 (CDT) X-Sender-Host-Name: chumbly.math.missouri.edu X-Spam-Class: HAM-VERY What's Left October 1, 2006 The Iranian Nuclear Crisis: Sorting Fact from Fiction By Stephen Gowans Iran is being portrayed by the US, other Western governments, Israel and their mass media, as a threat to international peace and security. The leadership of Iran, particularly the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is said to be filled with an irrational, violent Hitler-like loathing of Jews, expressed in Holocaust denial, mocking the suffering of its victims, and the pursuit of nuclear weapons to wipe Israel off the map. These portrayals are based on exaggeration, innuendo, and, in some cases, the deliberate twisting of the truth. The objective is to secure public consent for another war of conquest on an economically nationalist, oil-rich country. Iran's leadership is not a threat to international peace and security, does not mock the Holocaust, and is not pursuing nuclear weapons to wipe Israel off the map. It's true that Iran's developing an independent nuclear power industry would furnish the country with the potential to develop nuclear weapons, but this amounts to nothing more than a defensive threat to a small class of financiers, high-level executives and corporate lawyers whose common interests lead them to rally around the idea that Iranian oil should be under US control and made available to the project of enlarging the capital of US oil companies. Continued at http://gowans.blogspot.com/2006/10/iranian-nuclear-crisis-sorting-fact.html To subscribe, send an e-mail to sr.gowans@sympatico.ca and write subscribe in the subject line. To unsubscribe, write unsubscribe. ***************************************************************** 4 * FLASH * U.S. backs down on UN sanctions for Iran * Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2006 20:30:51 -0500 (CDT) X-Sender-Host-Name: chumbly.math.missouri.edu X-Spam-Class: HAM-VERY Friends, We could be seeing a real turning point here. Fingers crossed. I couldn't believe this report, so I searched and found two sources, one from India and another from China. Both indicate a major backdown on Washington's heretofore aggressive stance against Iran. The Chinese version goes so far as to say, "U.S. officials 'have no objection to Iran's pursuit of a truly peaceful nuclear power program...'". Both versions are below. Note: I couldn't find this report in any Western source. Below those two, we have a report that seems to be all over the Western media, about Congress passing trade sanctions against Iran. These kind of sanctions are likely to do more harm to the US than to Iran. They will surely cause Iran to draw even closer to Russia and China. It seems that Bush wants to appear strong against Iran to the American public, while he is actually in the process of backing down. What this means in the global scheme of things is not clear. It could simply be a deep game, with Washington showing a conciliatory face, while still planning a second 911 to be followed by an all-out attack on Iran. Or it could mean that the 'realists' have finally put their foot down and forced the neocons to cool it as regards their aggressive project of world conquest. It's a good time for us to keep our eyes open. rkm -------------------------------------------------------- http://www.dailyindia.com/show/64515.php/US-eases-demand-for-Iran-sanctions U.S. eases demand for Iran sanctions WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Acting on EU advice, the United States has postponed its call for immediate U.N. sanctions against Iran over nuclear policy. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she spoke with the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and said he assured her talks with Tehran were going well, The Washington Times reported. Solana met with Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani in Berlin Wednesday, and again Thursday. Rice said Solana told her Larijani "seems to be sincere" in an effort to end the impasse over Iran's uranium enrichment program. Thursday's talks ended inconclusively, and Solana and Larijani scheduled more discussions next week. Tehran claims the program is only to produce reactor fuel to make electricity, but various countries are concerned it will result in nuclear weapons. Rice said the administration could wait a few more weeks for Iran to stop enriching and return to international negotiations, but "clearly this won't go on very much longer." Copyright 2006 by United Press International -------------------------------------------------------- http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-09/20/content_5117320.htm U.S. backs off on Iran's nuclear sanctions www.chinaview.cn 2006-09-20 23:26:35 WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- The United States, which warned time and again to impose sanctions against Iran, has softened its tone on Iran's nuclear program, the Washington Post said on Wednesday. Slowly but surely, the White House has muddied what was once clear lines in pursuit of diplomacy, the newspaper said. As recently as a month ago, U.S. President George W. Bush and his administration firmly demanded that Iran first suspend its nuclear activities before the U.S. would join negotiations on the nuclear program, "but now U.S. officials have quietly acquiesced in a European-led effort to find a face-saving way for the talks to begin," the article said. "With allies balking, negotiations appear more likely than punishment," the article said. Bush, in his speech on Tuesday to the UN General Assembly, "used notably mild language when he discussed Iran, suggesting that the two countries one day will 'be good friends and close partners in the cause of peace.'" Referring Bush's latest speech that U.S. officials "have no objection to Iran's pursuit of a truly peaceful nuclear power program," the article said "this is a reversal from the policy in the first term, when U.S. officials loudly proclaimed that a country with such vast oil and gas reserves has no need for a nuclear program." Under pressure from Europeans, the Bush administration dropped that argument late last year, the article said. -------------------------------------------------------- http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-10/01/content_5160934.htm Bush signs sanctions bill against Iran's partners www.chinaview.cn 2006-10-01 11:06:12 WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law a new set of sanctions on Saturday that would impose mandatory sanctions on entities or countries that provide goods or services for Iran's weapons programs. "I applaud Congress for demonstrating its bipartisan commitment to confronting the Iranian regime's repressive and destabilizing activities by passing the Iran Freedom Support Act," Bush said in a statement. The U.S. Senate passed the new sanctions bill earlier Saturday, which was passed by voice vote and cleared by the House of Representatives on Thursday. The bill, the Iran Freedom Support Act, sanctions any entity that contributes to Iran's capability of acquiring chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. The bill states that the U.S. policy was meant "not to bring into force an agreement for cooperation with the government of any country that is assisting the nuclear program of Iran or transferring advanced conventional weapons or missiles." The U.S. sanctions against Iran have remained since the takeover of the U.S. embassy by Iranian radicals in 1979. Moreover, Washington has been seeking to impose sanctions on Iran through the UN Security Council on the grounds that Iran develops a nuclear weapon program under the cover of a civilian program. Iran, however, has denied the charge, saying its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. -------------------------------------------------------- -- -------------------------------------------------------- Escaping the Matrix website http://escapingthematrix.org/ cyberjournal website http://cyberjournal.org subscribe cyberjournal list mailto:cj-subscribe@cyberjournal.org Posting archives http://cyberjournal.org/show_archives/ Blogs: cyberjournal forum http://cyberjournal-rkm.blogspot.com/ Achieving real democracy http://harmonization.blogspot.com/ for readers of ETM http://matrixreaders.blogspot.com/ Community Empowerment http://empowermentinitiatives.blogspot.com/ Blogger made easy http://quaylargo.com/help/ezblogger.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: cj-unsubscribe@cyberjournal.org For additional commands, e-mail: cj-help@cyberjournal.org ***************************************************************** 5 IRNA: Review of nuclear talks in local press Tehran, Sept 30, IRNA Iran-Nuclear-Press The morning daily Etemad Melli, in its editorial on Saturday said that the emphasis of Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana on making progress in their recent talks in Berlin proves that diplomatic attempts are underway to solve the issue. It added that the major distinction between Iran's nuclear issue and similar cases over the past three years is that from the beginning it was handled by powers who merely underlined their opposition to development of weapons of mass destruction on the ground that the region can hardly go into another crisis. "Though the mediation of EU3 in the issue and its role as a mediator between Iran and US was not satisfactory to either side, but proved that the key to solving harsh political and diplomatic issues lies in taking a proper approach. "By using a diplomatic approach to the issue, the three European countries involved in such talks managed to maintain their leading position so that they even called on the US to participate in drawing up the package of proposals submitted to Iran," it added. The editorial of another morning daily, Jomhouri Eslami on Saturday referred to postponement of talks between Larijani and Solana to the coming week has incited some comments on suspension of enrichment by Iran both on domestic and international scenes. It pointed to the key points in this regard and said the US intends to stop enrichment process in Iran and deprive the country of its legal right, which has been officially recognized within the framework of NPT and rather rely on the West. "Europe also seeks to suspend uranium enrichment in Iran at the first place, while its final goals is to stop it. Britain, which closely follows US policies, and France -- despite its recent leniency towards Iran -- have put full suspension of enrichment by Iran on their agenda, though both countries give priority to holding talks on the issue," it said. Turning to China and Russia, the editorial said that though the the two states are against expansion of US influence in the Middle East and generally in Asia, they will never sacrifice their long-term interests. "They are against the presence of US troops in the region and any measure that will lead to the US further influence in the Asian continent. Therefore, they attempt to prevent repetition of any more attacks on the region by the US and hate to witness cases similar to Afghanistan and Iraq. "Though the US is caught in quagmires in both states, the fact that Iraq and Afghanistan have turned into US military bases cannot be disregarded," it added. It continued that this is why China and Russia attempt to convince the US to approach Iran's issue through talks and prevent any harsh acts. "However, the policies of both countries, are after all, subject to more general equations that will secure their own interests. "Right at this point, we can no more count on the governments of these countries," concluded the editorial. ***************************************************************** 6 AFP: New US sanctions bill targets Iran's partners September 30, 09:15 PM WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Congress has given its final approval to a new set of sanctions targeting foreign countries that continue nuclear cooperation with Iran and sell it advanced weaponry. But mindful of the situation in Iraq, lawmakers warned that nothing in this document should be "construed as authorizing the use of force against Iran." Although it does not name any countries, the measure is seen as a clear warning to Russia and China, two key members of the UN Security Council that have been resisting calls for new international sanctions against Tehran in response to its refusal to halt uranium enrichment. Russia has been involved in a 800-million-dollar project to help Iran build a nuclear power plant in Bushehr and has been selling it modern weaponry, while China has been accused of supplying the Islamic republic with advanced missile technology. The bill that passed by the Senate in pre-dawn hours Saturday by voice vote and cleared the House of Representatives a day earlier came as Iran and the European Union are engaged in delicate negotiations designed to persuade Iran to halt its enrichment work and avoid a major international showdown. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was expected to confer with EU foreign policy coordinator Javier Solana and her counterparts from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia over the weekend to take stock of progress reached in these talks. Following the carrot-and-stick approach adopted by Washington, the Iran Freedom Support Act states that it should be the policy of the United States "not to bring into force an agreement for cooperation with the government of any country that is assisting the nuclear program of Iran or transferring advanced conventional weapons or missiles." The measure calls for this policy to remain in effect until Iran has suspended all enrichment-related activities, committed to verifiably and permanently refrain from such nuclear work in the future or the targeted country has severed ties with its Iranian partners. The president has been granted the right to waive provisions of the bill, if he finds that US national security interests warrant it. Mirroring the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act that set in motion the policy of regime change there, the bill authorizes the president to provide financial and political assistance to foreign and Iranian individuals and organizations that promote democracy for Iran. But to qualify for such aid they will have to commit to nuclear non-proliferation. Under the measure, the US government may also award grants to pro-democracy radio and television stations that broadcast into Iran. "We have to increase our capability to mine resources and intelligence about Iran," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Saturday. "And one of the challenges is that we haven't been in the country for 26 years." President George W. Bush is expected to sign the bill into law. Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a sponsor of the bill hailed its passage by saying that it would deny Iran "the technical assistance, financial resources, and political legitimacy to develop nuclear weapons and support terrorism." Tom Lantos, a Holocaust survivor and the top Democrat on the House International Affairs Committee, argued that the world should use every peaceful means possible "to defeat Iran's reckless nuclear military ambitions." "If we fail to use the economic and diplomatic tools available to us, the world will face a nightmare that knows no end: a despotic, fundamentalist regime wedded both to terrorism and to the most terrifying weapons known to man," Lantos said. Copyright © 2006 AFP. All rights reserved. All information ***************************************************************** 7 SF Chronicle: HOW AN ATTACK WOULD UNFOLD / A military assault on nuclear plants in Iran remains an option for U.S. Sunday, October 1, 2006 A B-2A Spirit thunders down the aging airstrip of Whiteman Air Force Base and takes off, curving east over the rolling forests of Missouri. It flies past the empty silos where Minuteman nuclear missiles slumbered through all the long years of the Cold War, past the nation's capital, across the Atlantic Ocean, to where the first of three giant KC-135R Stratotankers it will encounter in the long night waits with fresh fuel. More than 19 hours later, the bomber slices above the Karkas mountains of central Iran and releases a 4,500-pound "bunker buster" over a complex of buildings guarded by aging missiles and obsolete guns. Explosions echo across the countryside. That, according to many experts, would be the opening gambit in a war against Iran -- should the United States decide to undertake that risky option. "Iran has been a focus of war gaming for many years both inside and outside the Pentagon, and I have been around and participated in some of that. I have 'invaded' Iran probably 20 times; I have 'bombed' Iran 30 or 40 times," said Sam Gardiner, a retired Air Force colonel who has taught strategy and military operations at the National War College. The Bush administration is constantly reiterating its desire for a diplomatic solution to the crisis over Iran's nuclear program. But the administration emphasizes that nothing is "off the table," including military action. "The evidence is overwhelming that plans have not only been dusted off, but they are at the White House," Gardiner said. "The president believes that he has got to do this." Other analysts are far more guarded. "Only the president and a small number of his intelligence advisors can know at this point," said Michael Eisenstadt, director of the Military and Security Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "I think this could go both ways." What would a military strike look like? U.S. military options range from the subtle to the extreme. Washington could sponsor Iranian dissidents, or employ U.S. Special Forces to conduct covert operations within Iran, sabotaging nuclear facilities or assassinating key scientists. In the view of many analysts, however, such operations, while important as part of any broader military approach, are insufficient to stop Iran's nuclear program. At the other extreme, the United States could launch a full-scale invasion. That would be enormously demanding -- Iran is much larger and more mountainous than Iraq, and is likely to put up far more resistance. "Nobody that I know of is talking about the use of ground forces," Gardiner said. "I think the one thing the administration has learned from (the Iraq war) is don't invade." Between those options are several air-strike scenarios ranging from limited attacks on Iranian military assets or carefully selected research sites to sustained and broad strikes against political, military and scientific targets seeking not only to wipe out Iran's nuclear program but to topple its government. Analysts consider the latter idea unlikely -- air power alone has not proven effective at toppling governments in the past and such a sustained assault would take months and come at enormous political and diplomatic cost. But some analysts say there is little point in limiting the strikes. "There's no difference between bombing one site and bombing 1,000 sites, politically," said Andrew Teekell, a security analyst at Stratfor, a private intelligence consultant. The most likely option, in the view of many experts, is a campaign of air strikes limited in time and breadth, but enough to significantly delay or destroy Iran's nuclear program. Analysts disagree on the wisdom of such an attack. But there is broad agreement that the U.S. military has the ability to strike nearly at will against the outdated Iranian defense, even if it must do so alone, but there is also agreement that the effectiveness of a bombing campaign is uncertain, and that the possible consequences of such action could be wide-ranging, long lasting and unpleasant. As such an attack unfolded, Stealth B-2A bombers from the continental United States would be joined by fighters, bombers and missiles from submarines, carriers and cruisers based in the Persian Gulf. Iranian defenses are outdated -- its air force comprises a few hundred fighters, many of them poorly maintained, including Soviet-era MiG-29s and U.S.-made F-14s that predate the collapse of U.S.-Iran relations three decades ago -- and its arsenal of surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft weapons have little chance of overcoming modern U.S. countermeasures. According to Anthony Cordesman, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Iran has clustered land-based air defense systems -- U.S.-made Improved Hawks dating from the 1970s and Soviet-era SA-2s -- around some obvious targets, such as the uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, south of Tehran, and the heavy-water reactor at Arak, southwest of Tehran. The Russian-designed reactor being built at Bushehr, along the Persian Gulf coast, is also defended, and would be a risky target because of the several hundred Russian workers there who might be killed. Another hurdle is uncertainty over Iran's nuclear research program -- where it is, how large, and how well it is protected. Even the known components of Iran's program are widely dispersed, and recent satellite images suggest the Iranians have constructed underground chambers, protecting their equipment with as much as 45 feet of reinforced concrete and dirt. Those challenges, say military experts, can be surmounted with multiple bombing sorties. But that exposes U.S. pilots and Iranian civilians to greater risk. It's unclear how many targets U.S. bombs would need to hit, and how often. The International Atomic Energy Agency identified 18 nuclear sites in Iran, but Gardiner and other analysts say new construction has increased the number of necessary "hit points," by Gardiner's count, to about 400 for the nuclear program alone. "Could very well be 2,000, 2,500, 3,000 after you begin to add in all the other things like air bases, missile storage sites," he said. "The nonnuclear part is expanding." Cordesman estimates the number of sorties by bombers and cruise missiles would range from several hundred over a week's period for strikes focused on nuclear and missile sites to as many as 2,500 over a period of months for wider strikes including those targeting Iran's retaliatory military capability. Whatever does survive a U.S. attack -- and most analysts suspect some portion of Iran's nuclear program would -- is likely to become the kernel of a new program, said analysts who cited Israel's 1981 destruction of the Osirak reactor, where Iraq responded by vastly increasing investment in its nuclear program, from 400 scientists with a budget of $400 million, to 7,000 scientists with a budget of $10 billion. There are several ways Iran could retaliate after an attack. Iran could immediately expand the acts it is already accused of doing: using its proxies in the Middle East -- Hezbollah in Lebanon and Shiite militias in Iraq, for example -- to foment violence and instability. "I don't know how much of a pep talk those groups would need from the Iranians to attack U.S. assets," Teekell said. "They could raise all kinds of hell in Iraq." Israeli and U.S. forces in several nearby nations are within range of Iran's Shahab-3 missiles, too. Iran already has threatened to attack Israel's nuclear reactor if its own is attacked. Some analysts foresee post-attack Iran sponsoring acts of terrorism against U.S. interests around the world, and perhaps within the United States itself. But others say Iran would see such acts as too provocative. That risk might ultimately depend on how hard the United States hits Iran. "The problem is if you go too high up on the escalation scale ... it starts to look like regime change, and then you've got an enemy who thinks his back is against the wall," Eisenstadt said. "Do we want to put them there? I'm not sure we do." Perhaps Iran's most effective weapon would be withholding the oil it sells to the rest of the world -- although that has its own risks. Halting sales would be economically self-destructive. And while Iran might be able to halt the flow of oil from Iraq by sabotaging its pipelines, and the flow from other Gulf nations by blockading the Strait of Hormuz, those steps might do Tehran more harm than good because they would invite renewed U.S. attacks and could tip world sympathy away from Tehran. "I'm not sure the Iranians want to screw with shipping in the gulf ... that's a two-edged sword for them," Eisenstadt said. But "it may be with 50 billion in cash reserves, they feel willing to live with that for awhile." A full blockade is probably outside the ability of Iran's Kilo-class diesel submarines and aging navy and air force to pull off. But threatening traffic in the straits is well within Iran's means, many analysts say, and could serve its economic interests as well. Iran could harass vessel traffic by laying mines from commercial vessels that would not be easily traced to Tehran -- either by using proximity mines that some reports suggest may already be lurking on the bed of the strait, or by using speedy C-14 catamarans armed with machine guns, anti-ship missiles or suicide bombers to assault oil tankers. Exactly how much harm such harassing attacks could do is uncertain. But given the jittery nature of world oil markets and insurance companies, even the threat of such attacks could send oil prices to record highs, severely harming the U.S. economy. Should the oil flow be completely cut off -- two-fifths of the world's oil, from various gulf countries, passes through the strait -- the United States could use military force to keep the Strait of Hormuz secure, but that action could quickly escalate. "Either we're going to lose oil flow through the straits, or we're going to send ground forces into southern Iran," said Richard Andres, a professor at the Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. "All of a sudden, what you've got is ground forces occupying southern Iran, which is the worst thing in the world." The U.S. could try to invade Tehran and install a new government, much as it did in Iraq. But Iran is several times larger than Iraq, has a more-complicated terrain and a population analysts say is more likely to unite and fight against an invading force. The grim features of each option facing the United States if it chooses to fight leave many analysts arguing that there is no military solution to the Iran crisis. "Unless the U.S. does find evidence of an imminent Iranian threat -- which at this point might well require Iran to find some outside source of nuclear weapons or weapons-grade material -- the U.S. may well simply choose to wait," Cordesman wrote. "Patience is not always a virtue, but it has never been labeled a mortal sin." Others argue that our disavowing the threat of force now might have a counterintuitive effect: It might actually weaken Iran's bargaining position. "The threat of war plays right into the hands of Iranian hard-liners and encourages the ultranationalism that helps drive nuclear ambitions. There are plenty of other carrots and sticks to offer," said Stephen Zunes, a professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco. "If the only thing in your toolbox is a hammer, pretty soon everything starts looking like a nail." Nevertheless, some analysts who oppose an attack say diplomacy works best when both sticks and carrots are in plain sight. "You have to wed diplomacy with the threat of force -- with the credible use of force -- to get the Iranians to negotiate," said Richard Russell, professor of national security affairs at National Defense University. "Absent that credible threat of force, I think what you have is just Iranian charades." A means to an end A U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear research program could involve B-2A Spirit bombers, shown above, employing precision munitions such as the 5,000-pound GBU-37 "bunker buster" or other, even heavier weapons still under development. The stealth bombers would be supported by fighters, bombers, and aircraft for refueling and rescue. Submarines, cruisers and destroyers could also launch Tomahawk cruise missiles against Iranian targets, seeking to reduce Iran’s ability for defense or retribution. Guided Bomb Unit-37 (GBU-37) "Bunker Buster" BODY 4,000-pound modified artillery tube. . COST $231,250 per unit RANGE More than 5 nautical miles WARHEAD 630 pounds of explosive. A mixture of TNT and aluminum powder speeds up the maximum pressure of the explosion. This mix makes it 18 percent more powerful than TNT alone. GPS GUIDANCE SYSTEM Uses a satellite-based Global Positioning System instead of placing laser markers on targets for typical navigation system. The response Iran’s military punch Iran’s ability to defend itself against U.S. air strikes is limited by its equipment, much of which is decades old. Surface to air missiles: : -- U.S.-made improved Hawk systems : -- Soviet and Chinese SA-2s, SA- : -- Russian SA-6s : -- British Rapiers . Man-portable systems: : -- SA-7s and SA-14s . In addition, Iran has several thousand anti-aircraft guns and an aging air force of several hundred planes "many believed to be nonfunctional, " including American-made F-14s and Soviet MiGs. Most of those systems, according to analysts, are outmatched by U.S. countermeasures. Persian Gulf retaliation: Iran can retaliate after U.S. air strikes through conventional means, such as launching its Shahab-3 missiles at U.S. targets in the region, and through unconventional means, such as using proxy terrorist groups like Hezbollah. In addition, Iran could target the Strait of Hormuz, a critical path for the world’s oil, by using anti-ship missiles positioned along the shore, Kilo-class diesel submarines, by placing mines in the strait or by attacking ships using Chinese C-14 Cat-class catamarans equipped with machine guns, anti-ship missiles or suicide bombers. Facts about Iran PEOPLE: Population: 68.7 million Growth rate: 1.1% Median age: 24.8 years old Life expectancy: 70.3 years old RELIGION: Shiite Muslim: 89% Sunni Muslim: 9% Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian and Baha’i: 2% ECONOMY GDP: $181.2 billion Labor force: 23.7 million Unemployment rate: 11.2% Population below poverty line: 40% Telephones: 11.2% of population Landlines: 14.6 million Cellular: 4.3 million Internet users: 7.5 million TOP OIL PRODUCERS Production Millions of barrels per day Saudi Arabia - 9.5 Russia - 9.2 United States - 7.6 Iran - 4.0 China European - 3.5 Union - 3.4 Mexico - 3.4 Saudi Arabia - 262.7 Canada - 178.9 Iran - 133.3 Iraq - 112.5 United Arab Emirates - 97.8 Kuwait - 96.5 Venezuela - 75.6 E-mail Matthew B. Stannard at . Page F - 1 The San Francisco Chronicle] ***************************************************************** 8 San Francisco Chronicle: How experts view a strike against Iran Sunday, October 1, 2006 Abbas Milani Simple logic shows the fallacy of the military option. If Iran's nuclear program is peaceful, the United States will have attacked yet another Muslim country on faulty intelligence. Hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent Iranians will have been killed. The attack will strengthen the radical elements within the regime. All remnants of democracy will be eradicated. If we assume the Iranian regime's goal is a bomb, an attack will not solve the problem. The regime needs the bomb for its own security, particularly with a disgruntled population. If Iran is attacked, the population is likely to rally around the regime, and thus the mullahs will achieve the security they hope to gain with the bomb. Democracy is the only solution to Iran's nuclear problem, and an invasion is lethal to the cause of Iranian democracy. Richard Andres Two years ago, Iran declared war on the United States when it boldly began to support insurgents in Iraq. U.S. air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities would be the next escalatory step in this war of brinksmanship. In the short term, air strikes would be more effective than media pundits generally believe. Nevertheless, the war would not stop at air strikes. Iran would almost certainly retaliate in Iraq and elsewhere. Besides this, keeping Iran from rebuilding will require impoverishing its government. Unless Iran simply backs down after air strikes -- an unlikely scenario -- the United States would do well to target the kleptocracy's economic assets to turn indigenous power brokers against the regime. This may eventually undermine cronies' support for the war. Even if the regime continues to pursue nuclear weapons, it will not have money to do so. We would probably win the war over nuclear weapons; however, the costs to America's economy and reputation would be significant. Bennett Ramberg Should the United States decide to "eliminate" Iran's nuclear program, it must occupy the country or otherwise induce regime change. Anything less will simply slow nuclear development, not halt it. Only Germany's defeat and occupation ended the Nazi ambition. However, regime change may serve the same end as the former Soviet states and South Africa illustrate. The one exception, Libya, gave up its ambition when it feared it would suffer Iraq's fate. By contrast, Israel's 1981 attack on Iraq's Osirak reactor delayed but did not eradicate Baghdad's ambition, as international inspectors discovered after the 1991 war. Jerusalem also benefited from Baghdad's inability to strike back. Such fears dominated the decision of the United States, the Soviet Union, India and Egypt not to use force against emerging nuclear adversaries. It continues to act as a brake in the Iranian case. One untried diplomatic tact remains: "Nuclear probation," which would permit Tehran to acquire nuclear fuel plants subject to resident international inspectors' ability to investigate and shut any suspect site. Obstruction would initiate Security Council sanctions, including military force. Peter Brookes Keeping the military option in play for dealing with Iran's nuclear (weapons) program makes good policy sense. Diplomacy is always more effective when backed up by the credible threat of force. Unfortunately, striking Iran's nuclear program isn't easy due to the number of potential targets across a country four times California's size. Nor is it risk-free. A strike could have serious consequences, including increased energy market volatility, more Iranian meddling in Iraq/Afghanistan and even Tehran-sponsored terrorism against U.S. interests. There are other options, too, like punitive economic sanctions. Iran, while awash in oil and gas, has economic troubles, including inflation and unemployment that sanctions would exacerbate. But even tough sanctions may not keep the Iranian nuclear genie in its bottle -- just look at North Korea -- leaving us with no easy answers, only difficult choices. Kori Schake There are at least three types of attacks, varying in scope and effect, that should be considered: an attack designed to destroy as much as possible of Iran's nuclear weapons program, an attack to delay their progress by targeting critical known elements of it, and a demonstrative strike on a symbol of the program (such as the Ministry headquarters). Because I think Iran can be deterred from use (as opposed to possession) of the weapons, I would argue against attacking Iran unless it was making preparations to use its weapons. It is important not to overstate the retaliatory damage Iran could do to the United States -- any military conflict will not be a single iteration. We must be careful not to deter ourselves from military or other action that is in our interests out of too much concern for their response. The unpleasant truth is that there may come a time when attacking Iran is the right choice for American interests. Michael Eisenstadt Preventive military action, in the form of air and missile strikes against Iran's nuclear program, would involve major risks and uncertain prospects for success. For this reason, the United States should exhaust its diplomatic options first. In tandem with continuing efforts to impose United Nations sanctions on Iran, Washington should engage the broadest number of countries possible to voluntarily halt financial dealings with Iran until Tehran abandons the more problematic elements of its nuclear program. At the same time, the United States should work with its allies to dissuade Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, or to deter and contain Iran should dissuasion fail. Accurate and complete target intelligence is the sine qua non of effective preventive action, though recent WMD intelligence failures in Iraq and elsewhere raise doubts whether this condition can be fulfilled. In the best case, Washington might set back Tehran's nuclear program several years. It should therefore plan beforehand how to best use the time gained, by preventing Iran from obtaining the materials and equipment needed to rebuild its nuclear infrastructure. And if it opts for prevention, the United States should prepare for retaliation in the form of Iranian-sponsored attacks on Coalition forces in Iraq, terrorism against U.S. interests in the Middle East and beyond, and perhaps even attacks on oil exports from the Persian Gulf region. For this reason, attacks on Iran's security services and its conventional military forces should be part of a preventive strike. Geoffrey Kemp A full-scale air and missile strike against Iran would significantly degrade Iran's nuclear program, but absent a parallel ground invasion, there would remain great uncertainty about the mullahs' residual nuclear capabilities. The strike would have to include attacks on Iran's military assets, particularly its air defense. This would likely kill Iranian civilians, including those who oppose the current regime. A unilateral American attack not sanctioned by the United Nations would be considered illegal under most tenets of international law. Among the repercussions would be a major spike in oil prices, an unparalleled global anti-American backlash, and an increased threat to our troops in Iraq, including a possible Shiite uprising. Most detrimental, the attack would motivate all Iranians to support eventual development of a nuclear bomb. While no U.S. president should ever take the military option off the table, economic retaliatory measures against Iran should include coordinated U.S., European Union and Japanese sanctions against Iran's financial institutions and a ban on investment in its energy sector. Sanctions should parallel a strategy of containment and a commitment to the defense of our Arab friends and Israel, including an explicit American nuclear umbrella. Judith Kipper A military strike on Iran by the United States or others is not likely to destroy Iran's ambitions to have a nuclear weapon and may not even destroy Iran's nuclear facilities. Only a diplomatic solution that acknowledges Iran's legitimate security concerns is likely to deter Iran. The global consequences of a military strike may be devastating, resulting in a clash of civilizations and an increase in extremism worldwide which will take years, if not decades, to subdue. Stephen Zunes A U.S. attack on Iran would lead Iranians to rally behind their government, further isolate the United States in the international community and invite Iranian retaliation. Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that Iran's decentralized and partially hidden nuclear program would be destroyed, prompting the Iranians to withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty and reconstruct their nuclear program with a greatly intensified effort to develop weapons capability. Iran is believed to be at least 8 to 10 years away from developing even a single atomic bomb, so there is still plenty of time for a diplomatic solution. Just as quiet negotiations proved far more successful than public threats in eliminating Libya's nascent nuclear weapons program, a similar strategy could also be effective with Iran. If the Islamic Republic desires nuclear weapons, it is presumably for the same reason that prompted the nine current nuclear powers to develop theirs: deterrence. In return for a verifiable Iranian pledge to rule out any such nuclear ambitions, the United States should be willing to formally rule out the use of force against Iran. In addition, rather than singling out Iran, the United States should end its opposition to a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East and South Asia and insist that all countries in that volatile region -- including Israel, India and Pakistan -- also renounce nuclear weapons. Abbas Milani is the director of the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University and the co-director of the Iran Democracy Project at the Hoover Institution.Richard Andres is a professor at the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, the U.S. Air Force graduate school for airpower and space power strategists. Bennett Ramberg served in the State Department in the George H.W. Bush administration and is the author of "Nuclear Power Plants as Weapons for the Enemy."Heritage Foundation senior fellow Peter Brookes is the author of "A Devil's Triangle: Terrorism, WMD and Rogue States."Kori Schake is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. She is also the Bradley professor of International Security Studies at the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.MichaelEisenstadt is senior fellow and director of the Military and Security Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.Geoffrey Kemp is the director of Regional Strategic Programs at the Nixon Center. He was senior director for Near East and South Asian Affairs on the National Security Council Staff during the first Reagan administration.Judith Kipper is director of the Energy Security Group at the Council on Foreign Relations.Stephen Zunes is a professor of politics at the University of San Francisco. Page F - 2 The San Francisco Chronicle] ***************************************************************** 9 SFC: TWO CENTS / Should U.S. consider attack on Iran to knock out its nuclear facilities? [San Francisco Chronicle] Sunday, October 1, 2006 Dan Dobleman, Daly City I don't think it's necessary. Just leave them to their own devices and they'll probably blow themselves up. Hugh Cavanaugh, Alameda Go for it, George! As a former owner of a Major League Baseball team, you know the importance of this end-of-season "Axis of Evil" three-game series. A swift win over Iran will not only offset the devastating, poorly played loss to Iraq, but will give you much-needed momentum going into the big game with North Korea. But don't forget you still have that make-up game with Afghanistan. Good luck. Mateo Aceves, Berkeley Of course! Iran poses a serious and direct threat to the United States, Israel and democracies all over the world. If we don't act to end their nuclear program, who will? Janet Lawson, San Francisco Only if Bush is ready to be impeached. Jody Bloomquist, San Francisco No, we should wait and let Israel do it. They have much more to lose from Iran having nuclear weapons, and if they have any sense they will do it -- hopefully soon. Al Sartor, Walnut Creek We should consider all options. But an attack on Iran should be pretty far down the list. We already have a full plate; let's not rush the last course. Louisa Arndt, San Rafael The United States has nuclear weapons, as does Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea. Given that we've started two wars in the past five years, we're hardly in a position to call the kettle black! Does the Bush administration intend to make our nation the biggest rogue on the block? Page F - 2 The San Francisco Chronicle] ***************************************************************** 10 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: IRI for new security strategy in ME 2006/09/29 Islamic Republic of Iran calls for a new security strategy in the Middle East and Persian Gulf based on active contribution of all regional states and exit of foreign troops from the region, announced Foreign Ministry official in a gathering in Madrid on Thursday. Addressing a meeting entitled "Iran's new role in the Middle East", Deputy Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mohammadi said the current situation in Iraq, and four big wars in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East during the past three decades show clearly the need for a security strategy through cooperation of all regional countries in an area free from alien forces. He remarked that all regional states should make their best efforts to restructure the security arrangements in the region, and Iran believes that they are fully capable to establish a new strategy via confidence building measures. Mohammadi singled out the Iran-Saudi security pact as a positive step in expansion of regional cooperation which serves the security and economy of the whole region. He said the current circumstances in Iraq show that the presence of alien forces has led to nothing but increasing insecurity and misery of the local people. He added that the presence of the American troops in the Middle East has increased instability and violence and radicalism in the region. He strongly criticized America for its support for the Zionist regime and said the regime's ferocious military actions have only brought about further strength and resistance among people in Lebanon and Palestine. FK Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved By Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting News Network Sponsored By IRIB News Computer Center. E-Mail: Info@IRIBNEWS.ir ***************************************************************** 11 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Iran to abandon gas deal with Japan 2006/09/30 The Islamic Republic of Iran will revoke an agreement signed with Japan to develop the Azadegan oil field, a Majlis deputy said Saturday. Majlis Energy Commission Chairman Kamal Daneshyar made the remarks while speaking to IRNA. In February 2004, Iran and Japan's inpex corp signed an agreement for development of Azadegan, the Islamic Republic's largest onshore oil field. Work was meant to start in March 2005 but has been delayed. "Japan should pay a fine for the five-year delay in implementation of the contract," the MP said. He said Japanese foreign policy is highly influenced by American demands, adding that in line with the American decision to renew sanctions and its biased attitude towards Iran, Japan intends to cater to America demands on its deal with Iran to develop the Azadegan oil field. He moreove said that Japan's claims that the region has not been cleared up of mines and that Iran has increased its price as agreed in the deal have all been mere excuses. The MP from the southern city of Mahshahr said Iran has so far pursued a reconciliation policy, and stressed that Iranian experts have the capacity to carry out the project at a lower cost and in a very short time. M.H.Z Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved By Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting News Network Sponsored By IRIB News Computer Center. E-Mail: Info@IRIBNEWS.ir ***************************************************************** 12 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: US issues new sanctions against Iran 2006/09/30 The American Congress early Saturday issued a new set of sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran -- as well as countries that cooperate with it in the nuclear field. Russia and China are two key members of the UN Security Council that have been opposing calls for new international sanctions against Tehran. The bill also sets the ground to provide financial and political assistance to foreign and Iranian individuals and organizations that work against the Iraian government. America usually faces criticism for meddling in other countries' internal affairs and waging tension in the guise of promoting democracy. sam Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved By Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting News Network Sponsored By IRIB News Computer Center. E-Mail: Info@IRIBNEWS.ir ***************************************************************** 13 AFP: Iran wants 'large scale' uranium enrichment programme Saturday September 30, 05:39 PM BERLIN (AFP) - One of the ultimate aims of Iran's controversial nuclear programme is to begin large-scale enrichment of uranium, the country's top nuclear negotiator said in an interview with a German magazine to be published Monday. When asked by the magazine Focus if large-scale uranium enrichment was on Iran's agenda, Ali Larijani replied, "Ideally, yes." Larijani was in Berlin for talks with the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana aimed at defusing the crisis surrounding Iran's (Advertisement) [Click Here!] [ src=] refusal to respect a United Nations demand to suspend its uranium enrichment activities. Enriched uranium can be used both as a fuel in nuclear power stations and as a component of nuclear weapons. At present, Iran's uranium enrichment activities are at the research stage. But the country has said on numerous occasions it wants to develop its nuclear power industry and that would require far greater quantities of enriched uranium. Larijani told Focus that "certain nuclear power stations" in Iran "could require a higher level of enrichment." However, he said he "could not make any firm comments" on that question. The five permanent UN Security Council members - China, France, Russia, Britain and the United States - plus Germany have been trying to convince Tehran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities. The western powers have offered Iran both economic and diplomatic incentives -- including a pledge not to slap sanctions on the country -- if it plays ball. But so far Tehran has vowed to continue its enrichment programme. On Saturday Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad once again reiterated his hardline stance in a speech to university students. "They want us to suspend for a short period and then they will use this for propaganda and say Iran has suspended and it has caved in," Ahmadinejad said, according to the student news agency ISNA. "Nobody has the right to make Iran back down over its rights. With rationality and with logic, we will defend the rights of Iran," he added. Solana and Larijani discussed the nuclear standoff on Wednesday, with both men speaking of "progress" after the talks but saying no firm deal had been made. They are set to talk again next week. Speaking of the Wednesday talks Larijani told Focus Iran's "primary interest is to follow the route mapped out with the Europeans." The negotiator also called for a "strategic partnership" between Iran and the European Union. "Today we have the possibility to establish this kind of partnership because both parties have the same interests.... Don't forget Iran has the world's second-largest natural gas reserve. We could deliver it to Europe," he said. AFP ***************************************************************** 14 AFP: Iran rejects short-term enrichment suspension by Siavosh Ghazi Sat Sep 30, 7:57 AM ET TEHRAN (AFP) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has rejected a key Western demand over Iran" /> 's nuclear programme, vowing that the Islamic republic would not halt enriching uranium even for a short period. "They want us to suspend for a short period and then they will use this for propaganda and say Iran has suspended and it has caved in," Ahmadinejad said, according to the student news agency ISNA. "Nobody has the right to make Iran back down over its rights. With rationality and with logic, we will defend the rights of Iran," he said Saturday in a speech to students to mark the first day of the new university term. Ahmadinejad's comments come just two days after talks between EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani on Tehran's atomic programme ended in Berlin without agreement. The main stumbling block has been EU and US demands that Iran suspend uranium enrichment, a process that can be used to make both nuclear fuel and the explosive core of a nuclear bomb. Ahmadinejad's latest remarks are among his clearest signals yet that Iran does not intend to suspend enrichment, despite assertions by European diplomats that Tehran offered a two-month suspension in talks earlier this month. But EU diplomats are still hoping Iran will agree to some kind of suspension under a deal offered by the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany that offers Tehran a package of diplomatic and economic incentives. "We need what I would call trustworthy signals from the Iranian leadership," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in an interview with German private television station n-tv. "Decisions must be reached in Iran, and there still seem to be discussions going on about those decisions," the minister added, suggesting the Iranian leadership was divided about which direction to take in the current talks. But Ahmadinejad indicated that Iran would not bend in its stance on enrichment, a right which Tehran says is enshrined under the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty. "They have been putting pressure on us to suspend enrichment. At first they asked us to suspend for six months, then they asked us to suspend for three months, then for one month," he said. "We said no. "Now they have proposed that we suspend for a short period, for one day, but we asked them 'Why do you want us to suspend?' "They said suspend for a few days and explain that you have technical problems. But we have no technical problems! Why should we lie to the people?" he added. Iran insists that its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful energy needs, vehemently rejecting US allegations that it is seeking to manufacture nuclear weapons. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice" /> is to hold a conference call with Solana and her counterparts from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia over the weekend to take stock of the state of negotiations. Rice, who has encouraged the Solana talks despite showing mounting impatience with Iran, has won an agreement from the world powers for an early October deadline for Tehran to stop enriching uranium, diplomats said. But the United States has also been leading a push for UN sanctions against Iran should the talks fail, running into opposition to its tough stance from Russia and China. Any UN sanctions would come on top of the existing regime of US sanctions that Washington imposed after the seizure of its embassy in Tehran in 1979 and which include a trade embargo. Meanwhile, the US Congress early Saturday gave its final approval to a new set of sanctions targeting foreign countries that continue nuclear cooperation with Iran and sell it advanced weaponry. Although it does not name any countries, the measure is seen as a clear warning to Russia and China. Moscow has been involved in a key project to build Iran's first nuclear power station in the southern city of Bushehr. Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 15 AFP: Bush approves sanctions targeting Iran's partners Sat Sep 30, 7:11 PM ET WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush" /> signed into law a new set of sanctions targeting foreign countries that continue nuclear cooperation with Iran" /> and sell it advanced weaponry. The new sanctions, passed earlier by the Senate after clearing the House of Representatives a day earlier, came as Iran and the European Union" /> are engaged in delicate negotiations designed to persuade Iran to halt its enrichment work and avoid a major international showdown. "I applaud Congress for demonstrating its bipartisan commitment to confronting the Iranian regime's repressive and destabilizing activities by passing the Iran Freedom Support Act," Bush said in a statement. "This legislation will codify US sanctions on Iran while providing my administration with flexibility to tailor those sanctions in appropriate circumstances and impose sanctions upon entities that aid the Iranian regime's development of nuclear weapons," he said. "My Administration is working on many fronts to address the challenges posed by the Iranian regime's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, support for terrorism, efforts to destabilize the Middle East, and repression of the fundamental human rights of the citizens of Iran," Bush said. "We are engaged in intense diplomacy alongside our allies, and have also undertaken financial measures to counter the actions of the Iranian regime." Although it does not name any countries, the measure is seen as a clear warning to Russia and China, two key members of the UN Security Council that have been resisting calls for new international sanctions against Tehran in response to its refusal to halt uranium enrichment. Russia has been involved in an 800-million-dollar project to help Iran build a nuclear power plant in Bushehr and has been selling it modern weaponry, while China has been accused of supplying the Islamic republic with advanced missile technology. The bill, passed by the Senate in the pre-dawn hours by voice vote after clearing the House of Representatives a day earlier, came as Iran and the European Union are engaged in delicate negotiations designed to persuade Iran to halt its enrichment work and avoid a major international showdown. The measure calls for this policy to remain in effect until Iran has suspended all enrichment-related activities and committed to verifiably and permanently refrain from such nuclear work in the future, or until the targeted country has severed ties with its Iranian partners. Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 16 AFP: Bush signs US sanctions bill targeting Iran's partners - Sat Sep 30, 7:53 PM ET WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush President George W. Bushsigned into law a new set of sanctions targeting foreign countries that continue nuclear cooperation with Iran Iranand sell it advanced weaponry. "I applaud Congress for demonstrating its bipartisan commitment to confronting the Iranian regime's repressive and destabilizing activities by passing the Iran Freedom Support Act," Bush said in a statement. Mindful of the situation in Iraq Iraq, lawmakers warned that nothing in this document should be "construed as authorizing the use of force against Iran." Although it does not name any countries, the measure is seen as a clear warning to Russia and China, two permanent members of the UN Security Council that have resisted calls for new international sanctions against Tehran in response to its refusal to halt uranium enrichment. Russia is involved in an 800-million-dollar project to help Iran build a nuclear power plant in Bushehr and sells it modern weaponry. China has been accused of supplying the Islamic republic with advanced missile technology. "Enactment of this legislation ensures that ILSA (the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act) will continue to impede Iran's efforts to acquire nuclear weapons," said US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. "This act also provides important new authority for the administration to block financial transactions related to Iran's weapons of mass destruction programs and encourages the administration to use all available leverage over Russia to gain Russian support for multilateral sanctions against Iran," Frist said in a statement. In a separate statement, Senator Norm Coleman said: "For the sake of our national security, the US must ensure that the sensitive nuclear technology that we share with partner countries does not fall into the hands of the Iranians. "The Iranians have demonstrated that they are deceitful, obstructionist and bent on destroying Israel Israeland all of Western civilization. We know where this path is going to lead. Aiding Iran to become a nuclear power, even inadvertently, is unacceptable," he said. The new sanctions, passed earlier Saturday by the Senate after clearing the House of Representatives a day earlier, came as the European Union European Unionengaged Iran in delicate negotiations designed to persuade the Islamic republic to halt its enrichment work and avoid a major international showdown. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza Ricewas expected to confer with EU foreign policy coordinator Javier Solana and her counterparts from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia over the weekend to take stock of progress reached in these talks. Following the carrot-and-stick approach adopted by Washington, the Iran Freedom Support Act states that it should be the policy of the United States "not to bring into force an agreement for cooperation with the government of any country that is assisting the nuclear program of Iran or transferring advanced conventional weapons or missiles." The measure calls for this policy to remain in effect until Iran has suspended all enrichment-related activities and committed to verifiably and permanently refrain from such nuclear work in the future, or until the targeted country has severed ties with its Iranian partners. Under the measure, the US government may also award grants to pro-democracy radio and television stations that broadcast into Iran. "We have to increase our capability to mine resources and intelligence about Iran," Rice told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Saturday. "And one of the challenges is that we haven't been in the country for 26 years." The White House said in a separate statement that Bush signed into law House bill 6198 "Iran Freedom Support Act." Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 17 AFP: Iran crisis overshadows Israeli-Palestinian dispute as Rice visits Mideast by David Millikin Sun Oct 1, 6:51 PM ET WASHINGTON (AFP) - The looming nuclear crisis with Iran Iranis likely to overshadow timid efforts to rekindle the Israeli-Palestinian peace process when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza Ricevisits the Middle East this week, analysts say. Rice arrives Monday in Saudi Arabia for talks with King Abdullah, then flies to Egypt for a day of meetings before heading to Israel Israeland the Palestinian territories. The US came under strong pressure to take a more active role in trying to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks after being seen to favor Israel too heavily in its devastating response to attacks by the Lebanese militia Hezbollah in July. European and moderate Arab allies, whose support is key to US plans for Iraq Iraq, Lebanon and Iran, see the festering Israeli-Palestinian stalemate as feeding instability and radicalism across the region. But Washington's main allies in relaunching the process, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, are seen as too politically weak at home to guarantee the concessions both sides need to make to reach their goal of creating a stable Palestinian state. Abbas, a soft-spoken businessman who has never achieved the authority of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat Yasser Arafat, has been undermined by the victory in Palestinian elections early this year of the radical Islamic movement Hamas. The group, which still officially seeks Israel's destruction, took control of the Palestinian legislature in March, prompting Israel, the US and Europeans to cut essential financial aid to the West Bank West Bankand Gaza Strip Gaza Strip. Abbas has been trying to draw Hamas into a unity government that would meet international conditions of recognizing Israel's right to exist, rejecting violence and accepting past peace agreements. But so far the Islamic group has balked. Olmert has also been unable to fill the shoes left empty when his predecessor, Ariel Sharon Ariel Sharon, was felled by a massive stroke in January. His political standing plummeted following the war in Lebanon, in which Israel's once all-powerful military was unable to inflict a clear defeat on Hezbollah guerrillas despite a destructive month-long air and ground offensive. Under attack for his conduct of the war, Olmert has shelved a plan to move ahead with the Palestinians by withdrawing from parts of the West Bank following a similar pullout from Gaza last year. "There's pressure on the US administration to at least go through the motions of trying to revive the peace process," said Haim Malka, a Middle East analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "But fundamentally the gaps between the Israelis and Palestinians are so far apart at this point that there's really very little chance of any meaningful process," he said. Washington is well aware of the obstacles, and State Department spokesman Sean McCormack stressed that the Israeli-Palestinian issue "is not the sole focus of (Rice's) trip". "She's going into this trip with the idea that she's going to talk about the full agenda of issues that are before leaders in the region" including Lebanon, Syria Syria's destabilizing role, Iraq and Iran, he said. President George W. Bush President George W. Bush's focus on the war in Iraq and on confronting Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program is likely to keep the Israeli-Palestinian track on a diplomatic back burner, said Shibley Telhami, a Middle East expert at the Brookings Institution. "I don't think the administration can have Iran and Iraq as priorities and at the same time be effective on the Arab-Israeli peace process," Telhami said. "The view at the White House is that that Arab-Israeli effort is needed in part to solidify an anti-Iran coalition," he said. The US plan to impose sanctions on Iran for ignoring an August 31 UN deadline to halt its uranium enrichment activities has stalled due to strong opposition from Russia and China and unease among key European allies. As European-led negotiations with Iran drag on with little sign of concessions from Tehran, Washington needs the backing of its few Arab allies to step up the pressure. "What they will try to do is strengthen the Israeli front with moderate Arab states -- Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan -- in terms of Iran, which is of grave concern to the Gulf states," Malka said. For this, the highlight of Rice's trip will be a meeting with foreign ministers from the six-state Gulf Cooperation Council plus Egypt and Jordan, reportedly planned during her stop in Cairo. Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 18 UPI: Iran vows to continue nuke energy program United Press International - NewsTrack - 9/30/2006 1:44:00 PM -0400 TEHRAN, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Iran's president declared Saturday his nation would not give up its effort to develop nuclear technology despite international objections. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said "Iran's enemies" opposed his nation's nuclear ambitions but had no right to deprive Iran of its "nuclear right." The Islamic Republic News Agency said Ahmadinejad told an audience of university students the cost and environmental impact of fossil fuels makes development of nuclear energy worldwide an "unavoidable" development. Iran has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful; however, the United States and other nations contend the real goal is to develop nuclear weapons. © Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 19 Guardian Unlimited: President Signs Iran Sanctions Bill From the Associated Press [UP] Sunday October 1, 2006 2:16 AM AP Photo DCCD104 WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush on Saturday signed legislation that would impose mandatory sanctions on entities that provide goods or services for Iran's weapons programs. The Senate passed the bill with no debate Saturday, two days after the House approved the measure following a debate over the wisdom of toughening unilateral sanctions on Tehran at the same time the United States was trying to work with its U.N. partners on a multinational approach to Iran's nuclear threat. The measure sanctions any entity that contributes to Iran's ability to acquire chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. In a statement, Bush said, ``This legislation will codify U.S. sanctions on Iran while providing my administration with flexibility to tailor those sanctions in appropriate circumstances and impose sanctions upon entities that aid the Iranian regime's development of nuclear weapons.'' Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said in a statement that the action ``strengthened one of our most important tools in the fight to keep nuclear weapons out of the mullahs' hands.'' He said it would encourage the administration to use all available leverage over Russia, a partner in Iranian energy projects, to gain Russian support for multilateral sanctions against Iran. Bush also signed legislation Saturday extending and amending higher education programs. One part of that bill would authorize cancellation of student loan indebetedness for certain people affected by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. --- The bills are H.R. 6198 (Iran) and H.R. 6138 (education). ^--- On the Net: White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/ Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 20 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Set on Expanding Nuclear Program From the Associated Press [UP] Sunday October 1, 2006 10:16 PM AP Photo VAH108 By ALI AKBAR DAREINI Associated Press Writer TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's president on Sunday said his country was determined to expand its uranium enrichment program and called allegations Tehran was seeking nuclear weapons a ``big lie.'' Speaking to professors at Tehran University, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran hopefully will increase its enrichment program to produce nuclear fuel. The president has repeatedly rejected calls by the United States and its allies to stop enrichment. ``Allegations or charges by the United States than Iran is seeking nuclear weapons is a big lie,'' Ahmadinejad said during his speech, which was broadcast on state-run television. The process of uranium enrichment can be used to produce electricity or to build nuclear weapons depending on the level of enrichment. The U.S. alleges Iran is seeking to build nuclear weapons, but Iran contends that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Ahmadinejad said in his speech that Iran hopefully will install up to 100,000 centrifuges to process uranium gas for enrichment in order to produce nuclear fuel and said the Islamic Republic has no plans to suspend enrichment, not even for a day. ``Not a single person has a right to give up the rights of the Iranian nation,'' he said. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 21 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: China, South Korea hold intense diplomatic talks Octorber 2, 2006 KST 13:11 (GMT+9) September 30, 2006 ¤Ń Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, Beijing's point man to the six-party talks, arrived in Seoul yesterday for a string of intense discussions with Seoul officials designed to revive the stalled North Korean nuclear talks. His visit comes at a time when officials said they have recently made diplomatic efforts that they hope could break the year-long impasse in the six-party talks. The Chinese vice minister paid a courtesy visit to Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon but spent the evening with his South Korean counterpart, Chun Yung-woo. Officials here have provided few details of the proposal other than to say it has been made to the North, which has not yet responded to it. While the nuclear negotiations hit the wall over the North's demand for a lifting of financial sanctions imposed by Washington, the international intelligence community has also said that a nuclear test by the North seems possible. Seoul officials have warned that it would have serious consequences on the current talks. Reports surfaced earlier this month that Washington was getting ready to put additional sanctions on Pyongyang, but U.S. officials including Alexander Vershbow, Washington's top envoy to Seoul, recently indicated that Washington would give diplomacy some more time. Nevertheless, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said earlier this week that a trip to Asia within the next six weeks could determine whether Washington will make one last effort to get North Korea back to the stalled nuclear talks. by Brian Lee africanu@joongang.co.kr> Copyright by Joins.com, Inc. Terms of Use | ***************************************************************** 22 Xinhua: DPRK: U.S. commits over 170 cases of aerial espionage in Sept. www.chinaview.cn 2006-09-30 18:52:31 PYONGYANG, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The United States committed more than 170 cases of aerial espionage against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in September, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Thursday. RC-7B RC-12 The report quoted a military source as saying that seven U.S. tactical reconnaissance planes, including RC-12 and RC-7B, flew over the sky along the Military Demarcation Line on Sept. 23. "The U.S. imperialists further intensified the exercises for aerial nuclear attack on the north by mobilizing up-to-date strategic bombers in the month," said the KCNA. Pyongyang accused Washington of committing more than 180 cases of aerial espionage against it in August. Enditem Editor: Mo Honge ***************************************************************** 23 Guardian Unlimited: Koreas to Hold Military Talks This Week From the Associated Press [UP] Sunday October 1, 2006 9:16 AM SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korea has accepted the North's proposal to hold working-level military talks this week, a top South Korean general said Sunday. The North made the proposal Thursday to discuss military agreements already reached between the two sides, South Korean Maj. Gen. Han Min-koo, Seoul's chief negotiator for previous high-level military talks, told The Associated Press by telephone. The talks were set to open Monday at the border village of Panmunjom within the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas. In high-level military talks in May, the two former battlefield foes - separated by one of the world's most heavily armed frontiers - failed to make any progress on efforts toward easing tensions and building confidence. A key sticking point was North Korea's demand that both countries address the issue of redrawing their disputed western maritime border to avert accidental clashes. Several clashes have broken out in the western sea frontier area. The North does not recognize the maritime border demarcated by the United Nations at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, and argues that the sea border should be redrawn. Talks were supposed to resume in early July, but Seoul suspended them after the North test-fired seven missiles on July 5. The navies of the rival Koreas fought deadly battles in 1999 and 2002 in the western sea - a rich fishing ground where boats from the two sides routinely jostle for position during the May-June crab-catching season. The two countries remain technically at war because the Korean War ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 24 ICH: Nuke Use In White House Plan Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2006 16:00:19 -0500 (CDT) X-Sender-Host-Name: chumbly.math.missouri.edu X-Spam-Class: HAM On Affairs in America " My Lords, this ruinous and ignominious situation, where we cannot act with success, nor suffer with honour, calls upon us to remonstrate in the strongest and loudest language of truth, to rescue the ear of Majesty from the delusions which surround it. You cannot, I venture to say, you cannot conquer America. " What is your present situation there? We do not know the worst; but we know that in three campaigns we have done nothing and suffered much. - You may swell every expense, and strain every effort, still more extravagantly; accumulate every assistance you can beg or borrow; traffic and barter with every pitiful German Prince, that sells and sends his subjects to the shambles of a foreign country: Your efforts are forever vain and impotent-doubly so from this mercenary aid on which you rely; for it irritates to an incurable resentment the minds of your enemies, to overrun them with the sordid sons of rapine and of plunder, devoting them and their possessions to the rapacity of hireling cruelty! If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay down my armsnevernevernever. William Pitt, Earl of Chatham (170878) On Affairs in America 1777. http://www.bartleby.com/268/3/24.html === Read this newsletter online http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/ RSS FEED http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/rssfeed.xml News Syndication You can include the headlines from this newsletter on your own website free of charge http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/syndicate.htm === Number Of Iraqi Civilians Slaughtered In America's War? More Than 250,000 http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11674.htm Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In Bush's War 2713 http://icasualties.org/oif/ The War in Iraq Costs $330,722,660,208 See the cost in your community http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182 === Attack On Iran Inevitable - Nuke Use In White House Plan Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner (ret.) says U.S. forces will assassinate Iran's leadership. A Must Watch Interview Retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner on the probability of air strikes on Iran and the likely consequences. Click here to view. Real video and windows media. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15170.htm === Secret Reports Dispute White House Optimism By Bob Woodward Instead of a "long retreat," the report forecast a more violent 2007: "Insurgents and terrorists retain the resources and capabilities to sustain and even increase current level of violence through the next year." http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15162.htm === Bush calls for 'world offensive' By Maxim Kniazkov in Washington STUNG by criticism, US President George W. Bush has called for fighting America's enemies "across the world" as he stepped up his counter-offensive following charges that his policies were breeding a new generation of Islamic terrorists. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15175.htm === The anatomy of a massacre A special report by Robert Fisk Wissam talks slowly but without tears as he describes what happened next. "I lost sight of Myrna. I just couldn't see her any more for the dust flying around. Then the helicopter came back and started firing its guns at the children, at any of them who moved. I ran away behind a tel [a small hill] and lay there and pretended to be dead because I knew the pilot would kill me if I moved. Some of the children were in bits." http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15165.htm === Appeasement Driven by Oil The Bush Administration and Darfur By David Morse Appeasement driven by oil is surely as reprehensible as any. When confronted with reality, this President is clearly reluctant to confront the genuine "Islamo-terrorists" of his nightmares. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15172.htm === A Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy? By Mike Whitney Next week, President Bush will sign the Military Commissions Act of 2006 into law. - The law will allow Bush to imprison anyone he chooses and abuse them as he sees fit. It places Bush above the law, our first American monarch. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15169.htm === Why I'm Banned in the USA By Tariq Ramadan My experience reveals how U.S. authorities seek to suppress dissenting voices and -- by excluding people such as me from their country -- manipulate political debate in America. Unfortunately, the U.S. government's paranoia has evolved far beyond a fear of particular individuals and taken on a much more insidious form: the fear of ideas. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15180.htm === The New Face of Class War By Paul Craig Roberts The United States is the first country in history to destroy the prospects and living standards of its labor force. It is amazing to watch freedom-loving libertarians and free-market economists serve as apologists for the dismantling of the ladders of upward mobility that made the America of old an opportunity society. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15177.htm === At least 22 killed in ongoing U.S. Occupation: Police retrieved five bodies, including that of a school girl, from the river Tigris in the town of Suwayra, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. All bodies were shot in the head and chest. http://tinyurl.com/zjvjo === More than 12 kiled in occupied Iraq : Eight bodies were found in Baquba, north east of Baghdad, on Saturday including three belonged to a father and his two sons, police sources said. http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L30879931.htm === Insurgents spreading Iraq coup rumors: Anti-government insurgents are spreading false rumors about an attempted coup in Baghdad, the government said Saturday, as the city was placed under curfew. http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=17671 === U.S. warns: Time running out for Iraq's prime minister: The U.S. ambassador to Iraq warned on Friday that time is running out for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to contain the burgeoning sectarian bloodshed that threatens to plunge the country into civil war. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15069942/from/RS.2/ === Over 800 attacks every week in Iraq : Colonel says only pullout will end insurgency http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1884383,00.html === Basra governor survives assassination attempt : Governor of Basra Mohammad Musbeh Al-Waeli survived on Saturday an assassination attempt which resulted in the injury of three bodyguards. http://tinyurl.com/j8rpx === As Kurd and Arab clashes surge, a third war is looming in Iraq : When the Kurdish President, Massoud Barzani, banned the Iraqi flag from being flown on top of public buildings in Kurdistan this month, the Iraqi Kurds took a further symbolic step towards de facto independence. He justified the ban by saying "so many pogroms and mass-killings were committed in its name". http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1772326.ece === Kurdish guerrilla group PKK declares cease-fire: A Senior commander in the PKK Kurdish guerrilla group declared a unilateral cease-fire Saturday beginning on Oct. 1, but the group fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey said it would not give up its weapons. http://tinyurl.com/gv86z === Terrorist Or Freedom Fighter?: If I were an Iraqi, as I am an American, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I never would lay down my arms ! - Never! Never! Never! : Allen L Roland http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2006/09/30.html === Craig Murray on Manufacturing Terror : Oil, Lily Pad Bases and Torture : Why is the Bush administration so attached to torturing people that it would pressure a supine Congress into raping the US constitution by explicitly permitting some torture techniques and abolishing habeas corpus for certain categories of prisoners? http://www.juancole.com/2006/10/craig-murray-on-manufacturing-terror.html === America goes too far: Historian Paul Kennedy tells Ezzat Ibrahim that the great wheel of history is turning against the United States http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/814/intrvw.htm === Suicide bomber kills 12 in Kabul: A suicide bomber strapped with explosives detonated in front of the Afghan Interior Ministry on Saturday as staffers arrived for work, killing at least 12 people and wounding 42 http://newsnow.co.uk/newsfeed/?name=Afghanistan === 300 "militants" killed in Operation Mountain Fury in occupied Afghanistan : "Yes, I can confirm that some 300 "militants" have been killed jointly by Afghan and the U.S.-led occupation forces in the operation," said Lt. Marcelo Calero. http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200610/01/eng20061001_307979.html === British troops in secret truce with the Taliban BRITISH troops battling the Taliban are to withdraw from one of the most dangerous areas of Afghanistan after agreeing a secret deal with the local people. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2383232,00.html Betrayed: How we have failed our troops in Afghanistan : British soldiers six times more likely to die in Afghan conflict than in Iraq http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article1777868.ece === Nato unable to find Afghanistan reinforcements: NATO yesterday failed to find any volunteers to contribute 2,500 reinforcements that are needed for combat duty in Afghanistan. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,175-2381896,00.html === Two Months Before 9/11, an Urgent Warning to Rice: Black laid out the case, consisting of communications intercepts and other top-secret intelligence showing the increasing likelihood that al-Qaeda would soon attack the United States http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15171.htm === Focus: Chilling message of the 9/11 pilots: A video shows two of the worlds most infamous terrorists joking and laughing while filming their death wills at Osama Bin Ladens lair in Afghanistan. The journalist and author Yosri Fouda explains the terrible significance of the new find http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2382788,00.html === CIA abandoned plan to snatch Bin Laden from Afghan farm : US intelligence knew Bin Laden, already a wanted terrorist, used Tarnak as his base, and in spring 1998 the CIAs Counterterrorist Center began working on a plan to capture him at the compound, partly with the help of Afghan tribal fighters. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2382789,00.html === Losing a War, Winning a Police State: The New York Times disclosure of an official National Intelligence Estimate, which states that the Iraq invasion has worsened the global terrorist threat, carries an unspoken subtext that the Bush administration is either woefully ignorant of how to combat terrorism or finds the terrorist threat a useful tool for managing the American public. http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/092606a.html === Americans should scrutinize government actions, says Zinn: If you know history that is, orthodox history you'd know how many times presidents have lied to the public, he told the audience that packed the Student Union Ballroom. http://www.advance.uconn.edu/2006/061002/06100203.htm === Syria "threat" over Golan puts Israel on war alert : Israel has gone on heightened alert over a possible war with Syria amid reports that President Bashar Assad may be considering military strikes to regain the Golan Heights. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/30/wmid30.xml === Precious clarity: With the roadmap dead in the water, Israel faces its most critical moment of decision ever: opt for lasting peace, or embark on perpetual war http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/print/2006/814/op2.htm === 4 Killed as Palestinian cabinet building stormed: A Palestinian government compound has been stormed by protesters in the West Bank after four people died and at least 30 people were injured in similar clashes in Gaza. http://tinyurl.com/fxdtm === Two Palestinians killed by Israeli bomb in occupied Gaza: Witnesses said that the missile struck a group of pedestrians. http://tinyurl.com/jfme9 === Egypt, Jordan want Hamas gov't toppled: Report: In secret meeting between intelligence heads of moderate Arab states and Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin, Jordan, Egypt and unnamed Gulf state ask Abbas to oppose Hamas premiership http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3309842,00.html === Audio Interview: Jonathan Cook: Israels Ethnic Cleansing Operation: An inside look at the ethnic cleansing of Palestine with author and journalist Jonathan Cook http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15178.htm === The ethnic cleansing of Palestine : In this controversial new book, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Ilan Pappe uses recently declassified archival sources to investigate the fate suffered by the indigenous population of 1940s Palestine at the hands of the Zionist political and military leadership, whose actions led to the mass deportation of over a million Palestinians from their cities and villages http://tinyurl.com/h8o7n === UN says Israel blocked inquiry into fatal bombing of peacekeepers in Lebanon: Israel refused to let UN investigators contact Israeli commanders responsible for the mistaken bombing that killed four unarmed peacekeepers in Lebanon during the Israel-Hezbollah fighting there in July, a UN official said Friday. http://tinyurl.com/hyegv === Ben-Eliezer: Israel should kill Nasrallah at first opportunity : Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said on Saturday Israel should assassinate Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah when an opportunity arises, but to do so without causing many casualties among bystanders. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/769125.html === Lebanon accuses Israel of stealing Wazzani river water : - Mohammad Ghamlush, the engineer heading the Wazzani river pumping systems, told AFP the Israeli army sabotaged the water pumps on the river last week and installed a pipe to pump hundreds of cubic meters to Israel. http://www.aztagdaily.com/EnglishSupplement/BNEWS_09282006_003.htm === Congress okays joint project funding: The US Congress approved an increase of $460 million in funding for joint Israeli-American defense programs over the weekend, including $20 million for the development of a short-range ballistic missile defense system which will provide protection from Katyusha rockets. http://tinyurl.com/ku33n === Senate passes Iran sanctions bill : The Senate, with no debate Saturday, passed and sent to the president legislation that would impose mandatory sanctions on entities that provide goods or services for Iran's weapons programs. http://tinyurl.com/ev4m8 === US set to punish Iran's partners: The US Congress has approved a new set of sanctions against countries that continue nuclear cooperation with Iran and those that sell it advanced weaponry. http://tinyurl.com/zlao6 === Disinformation? Propaganda? US may accept Iranian nuclear bomb: AMERICA is going to have to learn to live with a nuclear Iran, US intelligence analysts have concluded at a secret meeting near Washington. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2383147.html === Why did the Iranians hate the Shah and the U.S.?: 8 minute video: A Short History Of U.S. / Iranian Relationship http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15176.htm === Pakistan spy agency behind Mumbai bombs-police Indian police said on Saturday they had found evidence that Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out the July 11 bombings in Mumbai and Pakistan's military spy agency was behind the plot. http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L30861203 === Venezuela's Chavez says assassination attempt against him foiled : President Hugo Chavez said Saturday that an attempt was made to assassinate him recently and that those responsible fled to Colombia. http://tinyurl.com/zaclz === Stephen Lendman: Diplomatic Jousting Over Venezuela's Bid for UN Security Council Seat Heats Up - : Standing against Venezuela is Guatemala that the US supports despite its decades-long history of oppression and brutality against its majority indigenous people (still ongoing) that killed over 200,000 of them over the past half century. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15167.htm === "Ex-Firebrand" Ortega on the Comeback Trail: The prospect has stirred deep anxiety in the Bush administration, which envisions him as a new ally for President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela in challenging United States policy. Mr. Chavez has lent his support to Mr. Ortega, while Washington has sent word in no uncertain terms that aid will be re-evaluated if Mr. Ortega is elected. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15168.htm === Mickey Z.: U.S. boots step on a Caribbean flea : Near the end of October, we will mark the twenty-third anniversary of a momentous American victory...a military operation that not only warmed Ronald Raygun's cold, cold heart but was also deemed film-worthy by the former mayor of Carmel, California. Yes, of course, I'm talking about the October 25, 1983 "liberation" of Grenada. http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15166.htm === "The Panama Deception" : This film shows how the U.S. attacked Panama and killed 3 or 4 thousand people in an invasion that the rest of the world was against. (Sound familiar?) It won the Academy Award for best documentary. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4078.htm === British-brokered deal has rekindled war : In Darfur's refugee camps, survivors tell of attacks by rebel groups that used to protect them http://www.guardian.co.uk/sudan/story/0,,1884432,00.html === Most Democrats Voting For Bush Torture Bill Silent : The 12 Democrats who checked their consciences at the Senate cloakroom and voted in favor of the Bush Administration's torture bill, have almost nothing to say about their votes. In case you haven't seen the roster of who voted with Republicans on this, here they are: http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15174.htm === Four men haunted by torture: Almalki is one of four Arab-Canadian men who suspect Canadian security officials were complicit in their arrest and torture overseas. http://tinyurl.com/htnax === Detainee Bill Shifts Power to President : Rather than reining in the formidable presidential powers Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have asserted since Sept. 11, 2001, the law gives some of those powers a solid statutory foundation. In effect it allows the president to identify enemies, imprison them indefinitely http://informationclearinghouse.info/article15164.htm === US Congress gives green light to human rights violations in the 'war on terror' : By passing the Military Commissions Act, the US Congress has given its stamp of approval to human rights violations committed by the USA in the "war on terror", and has turned bad executive policy into bad domestic law. http://web.amnesty.org/pages/stoptorture-060930-features-eng === US violated world's privacy with secret SWIFT checks: The US Treasury's Terrorist Finance Tracking programme had violated the privacy of up to 7,800 international financial institutions in its secret trawl through financial records held by the Belgian firm SWIFT. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/28/swift_us_privacy_violation/ === Peace & Joy Tom Feeley === Liberty can not be preserved without general knowledge among people." (August 1765) John Adams _____________________________ Change address / Leave mailing list: http://ymlp.com/u.php?feminine+rich@math.missouri.edu Hosting by YourMailingListProvider ***************************************************************** 25 Las Vegas SUN: Brian Greenspun on a Day of Atonement for our leaders Today: October 01, 2006 at 7:33:43 PDT For the sin which we have committed against Thee ... Tonight is the beginning of the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, lasts until sundown Monday night. For the 24-hour period, Jews around the world will fast, refrain from work of any kind and spend their night and day in their synagogues, praying to God for forgiveness for all of their sins that were committed in the prior year. For some, all 24 hours are needed to atone, and for others more time may be necessary. But, for most of us, at least we like to think about it this way, just a few minutes are all that is needed to make things right. Nevertheless, we spend the time reflecting, contemplating and considering how we have lived our lives and, more important, how we want to live our lives. This Yom Kippur is a little different because I believe that each of us, Jew and non-Jew, should be considering how we have spent this last year as citizens of the greatest country on Earth. For we have not done our best - or anything close to our best. Consider the latest news about Bob Woodward's new book in which he claims that President George W. Bush turned either a blind eye or a deaf ear to the pleas of his experts that we did not have enough troops in Iraq to react to the insurgents who - as history has already proved - were poised to make American and Iraqi lives a living hell. It got so bad, we are told, that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and then-National Security Adviser Condi Rice weren't talking to each other. That the president of the United States had to tell Rummy to return the lady's phone calls should give every American the kind of glimpse into the Bush administration's dysfunctionality over this war to shake whatever confidence we have left that the Bush White House has a clue what it is doing. Tonight, we will be asking God to forgive us for the sin of arrogance, for being stiff-necked at times when we should be welcoming other ideas and viewpoints. In atoning for my own sins I will not be able to keep myself from asking for forgiveness for the kind of arrogance and stiff-necked refusal to consider any ideas but their own that is now so clearly evident of the Bush administration. The benefit of the doubt with which the American people have been so generous in giving this president's wartime adventures the thumbs up has all but disappeared in light of Woodward's well-documented accusations. The truth is that arrogance is responsible for the mess we are in. Not bad luck, not bad planning and not just bad people - but the arrogance of an administration that refused to listen. I suppose we can forget about the sin of violence, but what about the sin of being weak-willed? For this we can blame our leaders on the Democratic side of the aisle. There is little doubt that President Bush was going to war with Iraq whether the people wanted it or not. But it was up to the Democrats and, yes, other like-minded Americans, to express their own leadership on this issue. But, because they were branded as unpatriotic by the arrogant bunch, they turned tail and ran away from the kind of debate that would have called to account the shortcomings of the administration and which would have shed serious light on the mistakes of willful people who have gotten us into this unsolvable mess. Do you think we have been xenophobic? What about showing zeal for bad causes? Anyone want to fess up? There is plenty of blame to go around, so no one escapes the need to atone for the kind of sins that don't just hurt people's feelings. These sins have hurt, maimed and killed thousands of U.S. servicemen and women and civilians as well. And what about that blowup that we have all seen President Bill Clinton have during an interview with Chris Wallace? That was the first time I have heard any Democrat or any well-known American, for that matter, take on the Bush administration and its mouthpieces for manipulating the media's coverage of the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Even in the face of overwhelming odds designed to shut us up and shut us down, those of us who disagree with our leadership - on whatever issue we have at the time - are just as sinful in the eyes of God as those who run roughshod over us in the name of national security. This country was founded and has survived because our citizens have been unafraid of shouting back at injustice, ineptitude and insensitivity to the plight of those less fortunate. What happened that made us bite our tongues for so long? And now the latest news from the Senate is that Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Pete Domenici finally showed his colors by introducing a bill that will change dramatically the rules regarding Yucca Mountain. For as long as the Screw Nevada bill has been on the books, it was a matter of law that Nevada would never be a site for the temporary storage of high-level nuclear waste. Domenici is trying to change all that by taking the nuke waste issue out of the budget, off the books and out of the consciousness of human beings who are used to people doing nutty things but not such blatantly nasty things. The cynicism surrounding the Yucca Mountain project - not to mention the lies and deceit - is enough to force all of us before our maker to seek forgiveness for even allowing these people to exist in positions of leadership. I suppose I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. In the end, the right people are going to atone because we are the ones - the people with the weak voices, the people who are willing to accept what government tells us is true even when our hearts and minds say it isn't so, and the people who know that Woodward is right but who don't want to admit it for fear that we would also have to admit how wrong we have been to trust the folks in Washington - who have to live with the heartache. The only caveat is that the people who need to atone are not just the Jewish people whose day it is to do such things. No, we have an entire country full of people who should be seeking forgiveness. To do less is to accept that which has turned out so wrong and will continue to be, so long as arrogance and a weak will continue to define our leaders in Washington. Contemplate that all day tomorrow and you, too, will hunger for a taste of something better. Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun. All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 26 Sunday Herald: Two leaked reports, just one conclusion - the war on terror is fuelling terrorism - Neil Mackay investigates SO, Britain and Americas intelligence services believe that the Iraq war has fuelled international terrorism aimed against the West, and made the world a much more dangerous place to live if you happen to come from Belfast or Boston, Glasgow or Galveston, Manchester or Miami, Swansea or Seattle. Leaks, throughout the week, on the Iraq wars terror dividend were deeply embarrassing to both Whitehall and Washington. Evidence that both the invasion and occupation of Iraq have, in the eyes of US and UK intelligence, provided succour and support for the international al-Qaeda franchise may have come as something of a mild shock to ordinary British and American citizens, but to intelligence operatives, military leaders and political insiders the revelation was a no-brainer. Here is the bitterly sarcastic response from one British security source to news that leaked secret reports, from within both the Ministry of Defence and the American intelligence establishment, found that the invasion of Iraq was the number one recruiting sergeant for jihadi extremists: No shit, really? What are you going to tell me next that smoking gives you cancer? Not only have the leaked intelligence reports from Britain and America red-flagged just how counter-productive the war in Iraq has been, but they have also highlighted the fragmenting state of the alliances forged as part of the war on terror. As leaks dribbled out about what the spooks really thought about the fall-out from the decision to hit Saddam, relations between the US and the UK, on one side, and Pakistan, on the other, turned increasingly sour. The head of Pakistans Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) claimed, said President Pervez Musharraf, that former US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage threatened to bomb the country into the stone age unless it supported the war on terror. This was followed by leaks from British intelligence that the UKs spying agencies felt the ISI had supported terrorism in Britain and Afghanistan. Amidst this East-West split, Pakistan and Afghan istan also fell out over who had or hadnt done the most to deal with Osama bin Ladens terrorist network and the Taliban. The British leak came from the Defence Academy, a think-tank for the UKs Ministry of Defence. Written by a naval commander, it was a distillation of thinking from within the military and intelligence services. Its key finding reads: The war in Iraq has acted as a recruiting sergeant for extremists across the Muslim world The al-Qaeda ideology has taken root within the Muslim world and Muslim populations within Western countries. Iraq has served to radicalise an already disillusioned youth and al-Qaeda has given them the will, intent, purpose and ideology to act. It goes on to say that the wars in Afghanistan and particularly Iraq have not gone well and are progressing slowly towards an as yet unspecified and uncertain result. So bad is the situation, that military brass want to pull out of Iraq so they can attempt to win the fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan. The paper says: British armed forces are effectively held hostage in Iraq following the failure of the deal being attempted by the chief of staff to extricate UK armed forces from Iraq on the basis of doing Afghanistan , and are now fighting and are arguably losing, or potentially losing, on two fronts. The West is in a fix, the report says, adding that the British government sent its troops into Afghanistan with its eyes closed. Senior British military commanders are now at loggerheads with their political masters over their desire to get British troops out of Iraq and into Afghanistan. For the time being, their efforts have been knocked down by the government. Troop levels will remain unchanged in Iraq for at least six months, although there have been hints that there might be a reduction in the British deployment to Iraq around the same time that Tony Blair leaves office. Next, the leaked British intelligence paper went on to attack Pakistan, saying: The armys dual role in combating terrorism and at the same time promoting the MMA [the hardline Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal, a coalition of religious parties], and so indirectly supporting the Taliban through the ISI, is coming under closer and closer international scrutiny Indirectly, Pakistan, through the ISI, has been supporting terrorism and extremism . Some of the British suicide bombers who attacked the London transport system in July of last year had visited Pakistan. Other British-born Muslims have travelled to training camps in Pakistan. There have been allegations that members of the Pakistani intelligence services provided military lessons at such camps. Musharraf has hit back at such claims, saying that the London bombers were radicalised in Britain. Let us not absolve the United Kingdom from their responsibilities, he said. Youngsters who are 25, 30 years old, and who happen to come to Pakistan for a month or two, and you put the entire blame on these two months of visit to Pakistan and dont talk about the 27 years or whatever they are suffering in your country. Musharraf tackled Tony Blair about the leaked report and its interpretation during a meeting on Thursday. The document also describes the British policy of supporting President Musharraf as flawed because Pakistan is on the edge of chaos. It goes on to say that links between the British and Pakistan armies at a senior level should be exploited to persuade Musharraf to stand down, accept free elections and disband the ISI. MoD attempts to play down the leaked intelligence report were limp. The Ministry said that the paper was just reporting the views of a variety of key personnel. However, as one senior military source said: It is indeed the view of those in the military and in the intelligence and security services that Iraq was a mistake and that we need to concentrate on Afghanistan. The officer also said that it was common knowledge and had been for years that the Pakistani intelligence service had aided the Taliban long before 9/11. The MoD said that Pakistan was considered a key ally in our efforts to combat international terrorism. Officials added that Pakistans security forces had made considerable sacrifices in tackling al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Britain was also working closely with Pakistan to tackle the root causes of terrorism . Musharraf angrily attacked claims made about the ISI in the British intelligence paper. I totally, 200%, reject it ISI is a disciplined force, breaking the back of al-Qaeda. Getting 680 [al-Qaeda suspects in custody] would not have been possible if our ISI was not doing an excellent job. Over on the other side of the Atlantic, the US administration experienced much the same kind of week as the British government when Americas 16 intelligence agencies were revealed to have concluded that the invasion of Iraq had also made the world a much more dangerous place to live. President Bush was eventually forced to declassify parts of his April 2006 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) entitled Trends In Global Terrorism: Implications For The United States, following leaks in the US press. One US intelligence analyst said of the document: The leaks in the UK were embarrassing for the government, but they couldnt have been that much of a shock for many Brits. The leaks in the US, however, were really damaging. They came out just ahead of the mid-term elections [for Congress in November] Our voters are still much more supportive of the war than those in the UK so for them to hear from the intelligence services that the war increases the risk of terrorism is a major blow. The most damaging revelation in the NIE report was that the Iraq conflict has become the cause célčbre for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of US involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihad movement. Al-Qaeda, according to US intelligence, is exploiting the situation in Iraq to attract new recruits and donors and to maintain its leadership role. The NIE also stated that the global jihadist movement which includes al-Qaeda, affiliated and independent terrorist groups, and emerging networks and cells is spreading and adapting to counter-terrorism efforts, and that activists identifying themselves as jihadists, although a small percentage of Muslims, are increasing in both number and geographic dispersion if this trend continues, threats to US interests at home and abroad will become more diverse, leading to increasing attacks worldwide The confluence of shared purpose and dispersed actors will make it harder to find and undermine jihadist groups. The threat from self-radicalised cells will grow both in the Homeland and overseas. US intelligence notes that jihadists regard Europe as an important venue for attacking Western interests. Extremist networks inside the extensive Muslim diasporas in Europe facilitate recruitment and staging for urban attacks, as illustrated by the 2004 Madrid and 2005 London bombings. Jihadist groups will continue to hit soft targets, with fighters with experience of Iraq a potential source of leadership. Disturbingly, the report adds that CBRN [chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear] capabilities will continue to be sought by jihadist groups. The NIE report also predicts that terror attacks against American and Western targets could spread out from Islamic groups to non-religious, non-Muslim organisations. Anti-US and anti-globalisation sentiment is on the rise and fuelling other radical ideologies. This could prompt some leftist, nationalist or separatist groups to adopt terrorist methods to attack US interests. The radicalisation process is occurring more quickly, more widely and more anonymously in the internet age, raising the likelihood of surprise attacks by unknown groups whose members and supporters may be difficult to pinpoint. We judge that groups of all stripes will increasingly use the internet to communicate, propagandise, recruit, train, and obtain logistical and financial support. Its clear that the NIE assessment was leaked in the run-up to the Congressional elections in order to destabilise a Republican Party that bases its electoral appeal on tough security policies. Senator Jay Rockefeller, the lead Democrat on the intelligence committee, said: There is no question that many of our policies have inflamed our enemies hatred toward the United States and allowed violence to flourish. But it is the mistakes we made in Iraq the lack of planning, the mismanagement and the complete incompetence of our leadership that has done the most damage to our security. It wasnt just Democrats who turned on the administration. Republican senator Arlen Specter said he was very concerned about what the NIE assessment contained, adding: My feeling is that the war in Iraq has intensified Islamic fundamentalism and radicalism. Major General John Batiste, former commander of the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq in 2004-5 and also one-time military assistant to ex-deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, called for the resignation of defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and said that the government did not tell the American people the truth for fear of losing support for the war in Iraq. The White House tried to spin the findings of the NIE paper, with Bush saying that it was only because of our success against the leadership of al-Qaeda [that] the enemy is becoming more diffuse and independent. Intelligence sources on both sides of the Atlantic mocked the attempt to put a gloss on the facts as pathetic. Tony Snow, the White House press spokesman, also tried to accentuate the positive, saying: Lets start with the obvious: since September 11, 2001, we have not been attacked We have kept America safe and we will continue to do so. His words came amid a military announcement that the number of suicide attacks in Iraq was at its highest-ever level since the invasion. Homeland Security adviser Frances Fargos Townsend attacked the press for leaking the report, saying that they were endangering national security. Bush also had to contend with trying to patch up the relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan when the nations two leaders Pervez Musharraf and Hamid Karzai were dinner guests of the president in Washington. The pair, who didnt even shake hands, have bitterly disagreed on how to fight the Taliban in the border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Karzai says Pakistan is not doing enough to fight militants and deal with Taliban supporters operating in Pakistan and preparing attacks on Afghanistan. In reply, Musharraf has accused Karzai of doing little to deal with the Taliban and ignoring huge swathes of the country . Bush also faces a revivified Bill Clinton wading into the November battle and playing the national security card. Clinton put the wind up the Republicans recently when he took an angry swipe at the Bush administration for its failures in tackling terrorism. As one British intelligence analyst, who has worked closely with Washington, said: There was only so long that the administrations in both London and Washington could go on pretending that everything was ok Its probably lucky for both Bush and Blair that the pair of them are coming to the end of their leaderships. I dont know how much more disastrous news the public can take about what they did in Iraq. 01 October 2006 © newsquest (sunday herald) limited. all rights reserved ***************************************************************** 27 Pahrump Valley Times: REGION MUST GIVE SERIOUS THOUGHT TO FUTURE ENERGY SOURCES Sep. 29, 2006 NOT JUST IDLE MUSING Is Nye County prepared for future? BOB MCCRACKEN Nye County History Most of us have wondered at one time or another about the past. We may ask, "Why did things turn out the way they did?" Looking at history, we can ask, "Why did history turn out the way it did?" There are basically two schools of thought for tackling that question. At one extreme is the idea that history is little more than an endless and more or less meaningless sequence of occurrences, best summarized by the saying, "History is just one damn thing after another." The human saga, this viewpoint would have us believe, is essentially a collection of more or less random occurrences that are not really understandable in any larger sense. Attempts to understand the forces that might drive history the way gravity, say, controls the motion of the planets, are seen as amounting to little more than construction of sand castles -- fun to build and look at, but nothing more. At the other extreme is a view of history that says human life and thus history are natural phenomena, fully a part of the natural world. As such, history is understandable in terms of both the natural laws and processes that underlie other aspects of the natural world, including stars, planets, plants, and animals, and also in terms of principles that apply uniquely to human history. This view assumes that history is a part of nature and that, like nature, history can be understood through science -- that there is a science of history. While very few historians have taken this approach, and in one degree or another subscribe to the "one damn thing" school, my bias lies with the science perspective. I believe that it is possible to develop a science of history. (There is a third perspective that believes human events and thus history are subject to influence by God or the gods. This view is outside my area of expertise.) One of the first historians to talk about a science of history was Brooks Adams, a member of the famous Adams clan from America's revolutionary times. Brooks Adams presented his ideas on the science of history in his book "The Laws of Civilization and Its Decay," published in 1895. Adams' view of human history emphasized physical energy, fear, greed and economics as major forces that helped shape history. For Adams, energy was key. In the foreword to the second edition of his book, published in 1896, Adams wrote, "The theory proposed is based upon the accepted scientific principle that the law of force and energy is of universal application in nature, and that animal life is one of the outlets through which solar energy is dissipated. Starting from this fundamental proposition, the first deduction is, that, as human societies are forms of animal life, these societies must differ among themselves in energy, in proportion as nature has endowed them, more or less abundantly, with energetic material ... Probably the velocity of the social movement of any community is proportionate to its energy and mass." Looking back, Adams doesn't appear to have had much influence on his own or subsequent generations of historians. Most historians continued to write history as if it were "one damn thing after another," forever focusing on the actions of the rich, famous, and powerful, and attributing psychological causes to the flow of history. But I take my hat off to Adams for the effort he made. In 1943, Leslie White, an anthropologist from the University of Michigan, published an article titled "Energy and the Evolution of Culture." Essentially, White's theories picked up where Adams' left off. White said energy is the driver of history and determines how societies and cultures rise and fall. According to Leslie White, culture grows and history is on the upswing as per capita energy consumption expressed through technology increases. The increase in per capita consumption of energy is the basis of the development of human society over the past 10,000 years. Brooks Adams ascertained, and Leslie White clearly understood, that when a society or a civilization loses its energy source, and that source is not replaced with an equivalent or better one, there can be no escape from cultural and historical decay -- what I call deconstruction. When a society loses its energy source, it sheds many of its original characteristics and morphs into a simpler form, less elaborate and elegant. It is much the same with a plant that shrivels when removed from sunshine or an animal that becomes weak and sick when not fed -- they deconstruct. Modest energy loss produces contraction; extreme loss causes death of the society. History is filled with examples of civilizations that ceased to exist: Sumer in Mesopotamia, Mohenjo Daro on the Indus River in Pakistan, the Greeks, the Romans, the Incas, the Mayans -- the list goes on and on. Now, this is not just idle musing. Adams and White's energy theory is applicable to understanding Nye County's past and future. Moreover, it allows us to say something about the future of Nevada and our American civilization. Until World War II, Nye County's economy was based largely on the extraction of gold and silver. In Adams' and White's terms, the precious metals mined in Nye County were exchangeable for energy or products whose production required the expenditure of energy -- fuel (gasoline and coal), food, automobiles, etc. This import of energy into Nye County led to the development of Nye County communities such as Belmont, Tonopah, Beatty, Rhyolite and Round Mountain, and Goldfield in Esmeralda County. Food grown locally was another important energy source. When precious metals ran out, less energy flowed into the county, the communities deconstructed. Some shrank dramatically, becoming shadows of their former selves -- for instance, Belmont, following the discovery of Tonopah, and Tonopah, in turn, after World War II -- or they died, as Rhyolite did after 1911. Taking advantage of restrictive laws elsewhere in the United States, in 1931 the state of Nevada legalized gambling and easy divorce. This led to tourism, which served the same function as gold and silver mining in former times -- it brought energy into the state in the form of money and new residents. This inflow of energy led to the development of Las Vegas and, on a smaller scale, Reno. The creation of the Nevada Test Site in 1949 by the federal government created many good jobs in Nye County and became, in effect, another pipeline through which energy flowed into the area. Las Vegas's amazing growth has propelled Pahrump's rise, bringing further energy into Nye County. But the question is, how sustainable are current energy relationships, especially in light of predicted shortages of fossil fuels (oil and natural gas) in the next 10 to 30 years? (The United States currently gets about 40 percent of its total energy from petroleum and approximately 22 percent each from gas and coal.) Unless replaced by nuclear and renewable energy, significant shortfalls of oil and gas supplies have the potential to lead to the deconstruction of the American civilization. And what about global warming? That is a big wild card, and no one has a good grasp of its potential impact on our way of life. Of course, global warming is related to the burning of fossil fuels. When we understand the fundamental role that energy plays in sustaining a society, it is clear that Nevadans, and in particular Nye County residents, must give serious thought to these matters. If and when oil and gas supplies falter, and I believe they will, alternative energy sources, in the Adams-White sense, need to be already in place or waiting in the wings. If not, deconstruction will begin. It will be up to each county, or perhaps region, in Nevada to come up with its own adaptation plan. There might, of course, be serious competition among jurisdictions from both within and outside the state for the most lucrative opportunities. Yucca Mountain and nuclear power production are strong cards in Nye County's hand if played right. But others might well play these cards also, and will likely try. The people I talk to say there isn't much time -- perhaps as little as 10 years -- before the shoe begins to seriously pinch. Maybe they're wrong. But do we want to take a chance and find ourselves in the position of the old prospector who missed his opportunity for a better life because, upon hearing the news of the big silver strike in central Nevada in 1900, he took his sweet time in getting there? By the time he arrived in Tonopah, all the good mine sites had been staked out. For comment or questions, please e-mail webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com Copyright © Pahrump Valley Times, 1997 - 2006 ***************************************************************** 28 WorldNetDaily: Congressional duplicity Founded 1997 Sunday, October 1, 2006 Today's Edition [Supercritical Thoughts] [Gordon Prather] Posted: September 30, 2006 While the European Union's Javier Solana and Iran's Ali Lanjani were making "good progress" towards an agreementthat "will provide objective guarantees (to the EU) that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes" that "will equally provide firm guarantees (to Iran) on nuclear, technological and economic cooperation and firm commitments (by the EU to Iran) on security issues" – the U.S. House of Representatives perversely called up and passedby voice vote HR 6198, an onerous expansion of the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act of 1996. ILSA was a primary cause of Iran's entering into talks with the EU in the first place. In 1995, the Islamic Republic of Iran launched a major effort to open up its energy sector – including oil and natural gas exploration, development and production – to foreign Islamic-law compatible "investment." Well, that would never do. So the Likudniks in Congress enacted ILSA, which required the president to impose sanctions on foreign companies – including EU, Russian and Chinese – that make such "investments." The threat of such ILSA sanctions was enough to get Russia to cancel a contractto supply Iran a turn-key gas-centrifuge uranium-enrichment facility (but not enough to cancel the construction of a nuclear power plant at Bushehr). Of course, under the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons – to which Iran, Russia and the United States are signatories – a) Iran had an "inalienable right" to acquire both facilities and b) the International Atomic Energy Agency and all IAEA members (including the U.S.) were obligated to "facilitate" their acquisition and subsequent peaceful operation. As the Iranians put it in their Note Verbaleof Aug. 1, 2005, to all IAEA members: While Iran's rights under the NPT have continued to be grossly and systematically violated, and while major state parties to the Treaty have persisted in their non-compliance with many of their obligations under Articles I, IV and VI of the Treaty in general, and under paragraph 2 of Article IV vis-a-vis Iran in particular, Iran nevertheless continued diligently to comply with all its obligations under the Treaty. In October 2003, Iran entered into an agreement with France, Germany and the United Kingdom with the explicit expectation to open a new chapter of full transparency, cooperation and access to nuclear and other advanced technologies. Regrettably, Iran received very little, if anything, in return and instead has repeatedly expanded its voluntary "confidence building measures" only to be reciprocated by broken promises and expanded requests. The October 2003 promises of the E3 on nuclear cooperation and regional security and non-proliferation have yet to be even addressed. The Iranians have since made it clear on numerous occasions that attempts by "some members" of the IAEA Board and U.N. Security Council to transform such voluntary measures "into cessation or long-term suspension were incompatible with the letter and spirit of the Paris Agreement and therefore unacceptable to Iran." Such attempts are also incompatible with the IAEA Statute, the NPT and the U.N. Charter, itself. So now come various Likudniks in the House to declare (Section 401 of HR 6198): It should be the policy of the United States not to bring into force an agreement for cooperation with the government of any country that is assisting the nuclear program of Iran or transferring advanced conventional weapons or missiles to Iran unless – (1) the President has determined that Iran has suspended all enrichment-related and reprocessing related activity (including uranium conversion and research and development, manufacturing, testing, and assembly relating to enrichment and reprocessing), has committed to verifiably refrain permanently from such activity in the future (except potentially the conversion of uranium exclusively for export to foreign nuclear fuel production facilities pursuant to internationally agreed arrangements and subject to strict international safeguards), and is abiding by that commitment; or (2) the government of that country—(A) has, either on its own initiative or pursuant to a binding decision of the United Nations Security Council, suspended all nuclear assistance to Iran and all transfers of advanced conventional weapons and missiles to Iran, pending a decision by Iran to implement measures that would permit the President to make the determination described in paragraph (1) What does that mean? Well, for one thing, if Russia doesn't immediately cease its construction of the nuclear power plant at Bushehr, the U.S.-Russia Nuclear Cooperation Agreementis dead on arrival. But beyond that, the Likudniks – who also unreservedly support the U.S.-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement – have just dealt another potentially fatal blow to the NPT, the IAEA and perhaps even the U.N. Security Council itself. Physicist James Gordon Prather has served as a policy implementing official for national security-related technical matters in the Federal Energy Agency, the Energy Research and Development Administration, the Department of Energy, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Department of the Army. He also served as legislative assistant for national security affairs to U.S. Sen. Henry Bellmon, R-Okla. Dr. Prather had earlier worked as a nuclear weapons physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico. All Rights Reserved. WorldNetDaily.com Inc. ***************************************************************** 29 London Times: A new nuclear world - Sunday Times - Times Online October 01, 2006 George W Bush has huffed and puffed about using force to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Now he may have to learn to live with them. A meeting of senior US intelligence analysts last week was unanimous in concluding that little can be done to stop Iran under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, its volatile president, from acquiring the technology to develop the bomb. The United States lacks the intelligence for targeted airstrikes, partly because there are so many targets. Military action would also send global oil prices soaring and exacerbate America’s already intractable problems in Iraq. Mr Bush does not have to take the advice of his intelligence community, but after Iraq he would be wise to be wary. In one sense this news is a relief because it appears to rule out the immediate prospect of further conflict. But in the longer term it will change for ever the balance of power in the Middle East. A country whose president has said that he wants Israel “wiped off the map” is not a secure home for weapons that enable him to do precisely that. The region is volatile enough without adding highly enriched uranium to the mix. If the West cannot prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons through a skilful containment strategy it seems highly likely that other countries in the region will join the arms race. Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt will be tempted to get the bomb. Nobody wants nuclear proliferation, but the only time a nuclear weapon has been used in war was when nobody else possessed one. The arms race during the cold war led to the doctrine of mutually assured destruction, meaning no one dared to use the bomb. India and Pakistan have both acquired nuclear weapons and, if anything, this has helped to stabilise their relationship. The best policy must be to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction, for nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of terrorists. If other countries do get them, we can only pray they find a new sense of responsibility. If nothing else, awe at their power may stay the countries’ leaders. Copyright 2006 Times Newspapers Ltd. ***************************************************************** 30 Santa Fe New Mexican: Colorado: From nuclear plant to wildlife refuge An agreement signed Friday declaring Rocky Flats ready to be removed from the Superfund - clears the way for the bulk of the former nuclear weapons plant to be turned into a national wildlife refuge. Critics have questioned the thoroughness of the cleanup. By JUDITH KOHLER | Associated Press September 30, 2006 Cleanup of former weapons plant opens land to other uses DENVER An agreement signed Friday declaring Rocky Flats ready to be removed from the Superfund sets the stage fo the bulk of the former nuclear weapons plant to be turned into a national wildlife refuge. The $7 billion cleanup of the 6,200-acre site 16 miles northwest of Denver was completed last year, years and billions of dollars short of original projections. The record of decision signed by the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and Colorado officials signals the area is considered cleaned up and not a danger to the public and envi ronment, said Frazer Lockhart, manager of the DOEs Rocky Flats office. The next steps are approval of a plan detailing the DOEs long-term monitoring and management of the 1,600-acre core where plutonium triggers were produced for nuclear weapons and the transfer of about 4,900 acres to the Department of Interior to man age as a wildlife refuge. This really marks the end of the regulatory process for the cleanup of the site, Lockhart said. The EPA must agree to remove Rocky Flats from its Superfund list before the land can be managed as a wildlife refuge. Lockhart said the transfer to the Interior Department likely will happen early next year. We dont really see any technical barriers to that, Lockhart said. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which released a conservation plan for the site in 2005, has said it will be a few years before any of the planned trails and facilities are open to the public. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., and Sen. Wayne Allard, RColo., sponsored the legislation to turn the former bomb plant into a wildlife refuge. This effort stands as a model to the nation on how we can, with determination, collaboration and innovation, reclaim areas that have been impacted by weapons production and industrial use, Udall said. Allard noted the DOE originally estimated the cleanup could take up 60 years and cost $35 billion. He said cooperation among state and federal agencies, activists and the surrounding communities greatly accelerated the cleanup by private contractor Kaiser-Hill and the transformation from weapons to wildlife. Together we have made the impossible possible, Allard said. In nearly four decades, some 70,000 plutonium triggers for nuclear bombs were made at Rocky Flats. Production was halted in 1989 because of chronic safety problems, prompting a raid by FBI agents. The Cold War ended before production could resume. In 1993, the DOE announced that the facilitys mission was over. State and federal regulators signed an agreement in 1996 on the cleanup, including demolition of what was dubbed the most dangerous building in America because of leaks, spills and a fire that drove radiation levels off the charts. Thousands of acres of open space buffered the industrial complex made up of about 800 buildings. High-level radioactive waste was shipped to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico and less contaminated waste was sent to sites in Utah and Nevada. Some of the structures were reduced to rubble and buried beneath several feat of earth. In 2000, Allard and Udall announced their plan to turn most of the land into a national wildlife refuge. The Fish and Wildlife Service says the tallgrass prairie in the buffer, relatively undisturbed for about 40 years, is home to a mule deer herd, elk, coyotes, the Western painted turtle and several species of birds. The site is also considered habitat for the threatened Prebles meadow jumping mouse. Critics have said questioned the thoroughness of the cleanup and dont think the public should ever be allowed on the site. Clearly, we need to make sure the sites cleanup components are adequately secured and monitored, Udall said. The DOE will maintain control over 1,600 acres to run treatment systems for plumes of contaminated groundwater and do monitoring. The government is negotiating to acquire private mineral rights on the land. ©2006, Santa Fe New Mexican, all rights reserved. Opinions ***************************************************************** 31 Las Vegas SUN: Hal Rothman registers disgust with underhanded tactics by the NEI Today: October 01, 2006 at 7:35:36 PDT The Nuclear Energy Institute is at it again. Nevada should pass a law declaring the NEI a terrorist entity, much as the U.S. government does with Islamic organizations, for its latest attempt to thwart the will of the citizenry with an end run to place hazardous waste in the Silver State without consulting us. Make no mistake. This insidious bunch is trying to push its camel nose underneath our tent and I guarantee that they hope you are distracted. It is dirty pool, no doubt. Just before the election, when a nongovernmental lobbying entity like NEI can be assured its generosity to incumbents in both parties will diminish any congressional resistance to its shenanigans, they are floating a bill that would permit the temporary storage of nuclear waste in Nevada. The Nuclear Energy Institute has to date been ineffectual. Sure it bought a few of our lamest politicians and an occasional newsman in an effort to sway public opinion. These efforts failed, testimony to the good sense of Nevada's people. A few months ago, I declared that our persistent opposition to Yucca Mountain had finally helped to turn the corner in the battle against that project. At the same time, I cautioned that we would see many attempts to sneak nuclear waste into the state. Some efforts would be above ground; others would be downright deceitful. This one is despicable. It attempts to buy the state for a paltry $25 million a year, essentially for giving up our sovereignty and integrity. That is roughly $20 for every man, woman and child in Nevada. Let us briefly review. In fiscal year ending June 2006, Nevada collected a little more than $1 billion in sales tax. The gaming tax netted another $838 million. That is about two thirds of the state's revenue. We are no penny ante operation these days. Even if we were inclined to pursue such a solution, the offer is insulting. It is warm spit in the face of the state, a fundamental miscalculation that will serve to stiffen our resolve to defeat this beast. They are not only trying to go around us, but they are also trying to do it on the cheap. So much for the argument that we should negotiate for benefits. It is now clear that negotiations would be fruitless. As anyone in Las Vegas well knows, a lowball offer out of the gate is a signal of a lack of respect. I don't know about you, but I never deal with people who don't respect my point of view. Until I moved to Nevada some 15 years ago, I had little sympathy for states' rights arguments. I saw states' rights as a backward-looking philosophy, one that carried the baggage of the South in the Civil War and, even worse, was laden with the stench of the opposition to civil rights. My time in the Silver State has softened my view. The egregious conduct of the federal government in Nevada, first with above-ground nuclear testing, then with the travesty of the Screw Nevada bill in 1987 that authorized Yucca Mountain, and finally with the deceitful and likely illegal running of the project, it has become hard to defend national power against that of the state. Congress has a pretty firm rule: You don't put anything in somebody else's state without checking with them. It is more than courtesy. That means they don't do the same to you. I don't recall anyone from the Nuclear Energy Institute ever asking us what we thought about interim storage. I deeply resent their conduct in this case, for it is not only underhanded but also offensive. This is an effort to make Nevada the nation's dump through the back door. A few years ago, I participated in a conference about nuclear waste. I have the habit of referring to Yucca Mountain as a "dump." One of the other presenters chastised me. He said it was a repository. I countered that it was a dump, a really expensive one, but a dump nonetheless. The Nuclear Energy Institute could do well to remember my little exchange. No end runs and no back-door entry. A state must have the power to control its destiny, especially in the case of a craven assault by a lobbying group. Hal Rothman is a history professor at UNLV. His column for the Las Vegas Sun appears Sunday. All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 32 The Local: New problem delays nuclear reactor restart Published: 30th September 2006 14:56 CET A new problem at the Forsmark nuclear power plant has delayed the restart of the Forsmark 2 reactor, after a two month stoppage. The reactor was due to start over the weekend but a fault was discovered in the detection system. "It is a system where we monitor the nuclear fission process at the beginning of the start-up," said Claes-Inge Andersson, head of information at Forsmark, to TT. The system itself monitors the flow of neutrons in the reactor in the first phase of the restart, until the reactor is operating at eight percent effect. At that point the second monitoring system takes over. Sweden's nuclear inspectorate (SKI) decided on Thursday that both reactors would restart, two months after they were shut down following an incident at Forsmark. Forsmark 2 was expected to reach full production on Monday, but Andersson said that it would now be Wednesday. "We're expecting a delay of a couple of days," he said. ***************************************************************** 33 Independent: Nuclear sell-off is an 'absolute shambles' says angry union By Tim Webb Published: 01 October 2006 Unions have branded the Government's sell-off of its nuclear assets an "absolute shambles" after the latest U-turn in the long-running process. The decision to sell another chunk of the industry immediately - which has yet to be approved by the Government - was made after board meetings last week. Unions are concerned that UK companies such as Amec and Serco will be out-muscled by bigger rivals such as US group Fluor in the bidding. They are also worried that foreign companies will gain an unfair advantage in the Ł70bn nuclear decommissioning market and in bidding to build any new reactors. The parent company of nuclear clean-up group BNG and the body which owns its nuclear sites, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), approved a plan last week to sell off BNG's Magnox Electric subsidiary, which is worth at least Ł200m. The subsidiary operates four ageing Magnox reactors and is decommissioning the other seven. It employs more than 3,000 workers. BNG, via Magnox Electric, holds the contracts to operate and decommission the Magnox reactors until new contracts are awarded by the NDA. This will follow a bidding competition starting in 2008-09. Because it will take several years for the new contracts to be awarded, the new owner of Magnox Electric will hold the contracts - worth an estimated Ł500m a year - for around five years. Fluor is expected to head the list of suitors if the Government allows the sale of Magnox Electric. It has more experience in nuclear decommissioning than UK companies. But unions are worried that whoever buys the subsidiary will be in pole position to win the new Magnox decommissioning contracts, making the process uncompetitive. New reactors are also likely to be built on existing sites, which could give the owner of Magnox Electric a headstart in winning even more lucrative new-build contracts. Unions want the new Magnox contracts to be put out to competition now, instead. Dougie Rooney, Amicus's national officer for energy, said: "It's an absolute shambles. We must ensure that the Government gets a grip on this and makes sure British interests are represented." Under last week's new plan, BNG's project services contractor division, worth around Ł100m, will also be sold off immediately. BNG also holds the contract to operate the huge Sellafield site in Cumbria, but this would be retained by it until a new contract is issued in 2008. © 2006 Independent News and Media Limited ***************************************************************** 34 Gainesville Sun: Facing the growth in nuclear power | Gainesville.com | Gainesville, Fla. The new generation of nuclear engineers is essential to the growth of the technology but there are many others needed. The nation's nuclear utilities, on the front lines of the war again October 01. 2006 6:01AM The new generation of nuclear engineers is essential to the growth of the technology but there are many others needed. The nation's nuclear utilities, on the front lines of the war against global warming, will soon be getting a new wave of recruits from nuclear engineering programs at major universities. But as utilities prepare for the additional supplies of clean electricity that will be needed to power our economy in the years ahead, state governments will need to take some positive action to ensure there is sufficient manpower to help build and operate a new generation of nuclear power plants. As they gear up to apply for licenses to construct and operate as many as 33 new plants in different parts of the country, utilities are eagerly anticipating the increasing number of students who are preparing for careers in nuclear energy. That contrasts sharply with the bleak situation several years ago, when enrollments in many nuclear engineering programs had reached a low point. Some universities discontinued their nuclear engineering programs and several engineering schools decommissioned their research reactors. Here at the University of Florida, the nuclear engineering program now has 116 undergraduates and 79 graduate students, up 10 percent over last year. Enrollments in nuclear engineering programs at other universities have also grown. For example, at the University of Tennessee, there are now 216 students enrolled in nuclear engineering - 157 undergraduates and 59 graduate students. By contrast, the same nuclear engineering program had a combined total of only 104 undergraduate and graduate students in 2000. At Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, there are 154 undergraduates in the nuclear engineering program this year, more than three times the enrollment in 2000. At the University of California-Berkeley, the number of undergraduates studying nuclear engineering has nearly doubled in the past six years to 68 students. The University of Wisconsin-Madison undergraduate enrollment in nuclear engineering last year climbed to 95, up from 24 in 2000. And the graduate student enrollments at all three institutions also increased significantly. This new generation of nuclear engineers is essential to the growth of the technology. Moreover, the nuclear industry needs more than nuclear engineers to build, operate and maintain nuclear power plants. It also needs electrical and mechanical engineers, health physicists, skilled human resource professionals to manage the hiring and many other professionals. In addition it must hire and train thousands of machinists, electricians, iron workers and other tradesmen in order to build the power plants and the related infrastructure America will need in the coming decade. Like manufacturing in general, the nuclear industry faces a critical shortage of skilled workers. And that includes nuclear plant operators. It is estimated that one-third to one-half of the existing nuclear industry work force will retire by 2015. Filling that gap and providing the skilled manpower needed to expand our base of emission-free energy poses a major challenge to the industry and to the country. If we do not produce the needed personnel, we will see a major increase in global warming as well as a growing threat to the security and reliability of our entire electric power system. In addition to the encouragement coming from the federal government and industry, states facing future energy shortages must also step up to the plate. The state of Florida - as well as many others - must insure that nuclear and other engineering programs in their universities have adequate resources, and provide incentives for our brightest students to study a subject that can make a major contribution to preserving our environment and way of life - nuclear energy. Jack Ohanian is professor emeritus of nuclear and radiological engineering at the University of Florida. Copyright 2006, The Gainesville Sun. ***************************************************************** 35 IHT: Restart of Swedish nuclear reactor delayed after new malfunction International Herald Tribune The Associated Press SEPTEMBER 30, 2006 STOCKHOLM, Sweden The planned restart of a Swedish nuclear reactor that was shut down after a malfunction in July has been delayed by at least two days after a new error was discovered, officials said Saturday. The reactor at the Forsmark nuclear plant was to be restarted late Friday, but a surveillance system that monitors the fission process malfunctioned during the startup, plant spokesman Claes-Inge Andersson told news agency TT. The reactor, which was shut down after two backup generators malfunctioned during a power failure on July 25, will now be restarted on Monday, and will be running on full capacity by Wednesday, Andersson said. A second Forsmark reactor, which has also been off the grid since July, was restarted successfully Friday, he said. Friday's malfunction was not related to the error that led to the power outage in July, he said. The Forsmark incident was rated as a category two on an international nuclear event scale, where seven is the most serious. A category two event happens on average once every two years in Sweden, the country's nuclear inspection agency SKI said. Herald Tribune All rights reserved [IHT] ***************************************************************** 36 Star-News: GE talks up nuclear energy | StarNewsOnline.com | Wilmington, NC By Si Cantwell Staff Writer si.cantwell@starnewsonline.com Castle Hayne | General Electric held a birthday party for its nuclear business Friday, serving lunch to workers and local dignitaries under a tent in the parking lot. Earlier Andy White, president and chief executive of GE Energy's nuclear business, addressed employees here and also, via video linkup, to audiences at GE nuclear facilities in California, Canada and Japan. He said the future is bright. White said nuclear plant construction in Asia has buoyed the company over the past two decades as the United States took a break from building nuclear plants. But GE has profited by servicing and upgrading existing plants in this country and providing fuel for them. There is renewed interest in nuclear energy in the U.S. amid rising prices for other types of energy and concerns about emissions from fossil fuel plants, White said before his speech. He predicts the first new reactors will be built on sites where utilities are already operating nuclear power plants. Indeed, Progress Energy is considering adding another reactor to its Shearon Harris Nuclear Plant in Wake County. In 2003, GE relocated the world headquarters of its nuclear operations from California to Wilmington. Last year it announced it would expand its nuclear and aircraft engine facilities here. It is building a reactor technology design center here that will house more than 200 engineers, project managers and other staffers after it's finished early next year. White said the company has hired more than 300 people here since 2003, with another 300 to 400 new hires expected in coming years as the $78 million expansion is completed. Salaries average $75,000 a year, the company says. White thanked the state, county and city for their support, which included several rounds of business incentives. He also recognized Wilmington Industrial Development Corp. for its role. In turn, WID Chief Executive Scott Satterfield said that in addition to the economic impact of GE's expansion and the generosity of its employee volunteers, the region has benefited by having a big-name corporate headquarters to show other industries considering locating here. General Electric built its Castle Hayne plant in 1967 and began making nuclear fuel pellets there the following year. The plant that makes rotating parts for aircraft engines was added in 1980. The two plants have about 2,100 employees today, with 1,200 of them on the nuclear side. Si Cantwell: 343-2364 si.cantwell@starnewsonline.com ***************************************************************** 37 The Daily News: New era in electricity By Don Jenkins Oct 01, 2006 - The Bonneville Power Administration hired folk singer Woody Guthrie 65 years ago, and he delivered lyrics exalting rivers, dams, workers, and the abundant and cheap hydroelectricity they made. BPA's clean and renewable juice flowed and public power flourished. But that era of plenty is passing, if not gone. And the relationship between BPA and public power is about to change. Under a plan that BPA expects to finalize early next year, public utility districts will be faced with the choice of developing their own power projects or risk losing control over rising electric rates. The NW Energy Coalition, an environmental advocacy group, calls the plan a "dangerous gamble" and "risky deregulation scheme" that could hurt the economy or the environment. It argues that transferring responsibility to individual utilities could leave the region short of electricity or lead to new plants that burn fossil fuels. Cowlitz PUD General Manager Brian Skeahan acknowledges the risks, but he embraces the challenge of stepping out of BPA's shadow. "I think what this organization will do is develop our own resources, either by ourselves or more likely in conjunction with others, rather than rely on BPA," he said. "We'll be making big decisions." One of BPA's larger customers, Cowlitz PUD receives about 90 percent of its energy from the federal agency. BPA rates largely dictate what county residents and industries pay for electricity. That relationship will begin to change after the BPA's current contracts with public utilities expire in 2011. In that year, BPA projects that the output from the 31 dams and one nuclear plant that make up the Federal Columbia River Power System will be roughly equal to the demands of the utilities. Under BPA's proposal for new 20-year contracts, the agency would continue supplying low-cost power in the amounts and roughly the same rates as it does now. But as the region's population and economy grows, BPA will have to acquire more power from somewhere elsewhere to supplement a tapped-out hydroelectric system that's under pressure to remove, rather than build, dams. BPA's newly acquired power will be available to utilities, but will be priced separately from the hydroelectricity. No one knows how much that new power will cost, though it could be more than double current rates. The two-tier rate schedule, according to BPA, will hold down rates for the system's hydroelectricity. But it means that new energy, wherever it comes from, could cost utilities and ratepayers much more. As an alternative to buying potentially pricey new power from BPA to meet growing needs, utilities could take the risk of developing their own power resources. Cowlitz PUD already has moved in that direction by investing in a wind farm in Klickitat County and showing an interest in purchasing power from a coal gasification plant proposed for the Port of Kalama. The PUD estimates it will need energy from the wind farm, which is much farther along in development than the coal gasification plant, beginning in 2012. Energy from the wind farm or coal gasification plant is expected to be more expensive than hydroelectricity, but it could be much cheaper than buying whatever new energy resources BPA develops. Skeahan said BPA's history, most notably its involvement in failed nuclear power development in the 1970s, has some public-power managers skeptical of the agency's ability to develop new resources. The Cowlitz PUD is one utility betting it can develop new resources more effectively than BPA. "We'd like to control our destiny," PUD Commissioner Ned Piper said. "I think we'll do very well. The reason is we've been forward thinking, more so than other utilities, in acquiring other resources." Energy Northwest, a consortium of public utilities that Cowlitz PUD joined recently, is applying for state approval to build the 600-megawatt coal gasification plant in Kalama. The plant holds the promise of relatively low-cost energy but also would be a new source of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas linked by some scientists to global warning. Public utilities' interest in coal concerns NW Energy Coalition, the prime mover behind Initiative 937. The initiative will be on the Nov. 7 ballot and would push utilities seeking new sources of energy toward wind power and away from coal. Turned loose to find their own resources, public utilities "might pick wind. They might pick conservation. They might pick coal," NW Energy Coalition policy director Nancy Hirsh said. "That's the big risk." Hirsh said she would like to see BPA's new power contracts require utilities to pursue conservation and renewable energy, instead of coal, as a condition to receiving its block of low-cost power. Skeahan said he's sensitive to environmental concerns, but added he believes decisions on power development should be left up to individual utilities. "I think the environmental community believes they can be more effective in a top-down approach," he said. He also noted that with coal plentiful and relatively inexpensive, "I think Nancy is understandably concerned." © 2006 The Daily News Lee Publications, Inc. Contact Us | Employment Opportunities 770 11th Avenue • P.O. Box 189 • Longview, WA 98632 • 360-577-2500 • webmaster@tdn.com ***************************************************************** 38 Indo-Asian News Service: Nuclear deal pushed to lame duck session(LEAD) By Arun Kumar, Washington, Sep 30 (IANS) US Senate early Saturday pushed the India-US civilian nuclear deal into a 'lame duck' session after the November Congressional elections with the Bush administration failing to pursue opposition Democrats to finish the business before the break. The Senate adjourned at 2.30 a.m. Saturday after a last minute bid by the Republicans to rush through the consideration of the enabling bill that has wide support across the political divide, but lost out to a political tiff between party leaders in the election season. Democrats, however, agreed to take up the legislation on a priority basis when the Senate returns for a 'lame duck' session on Nov 9, two days after elections to one-third of the 100 chamber seats. After day-long hectic parleys with the opposition, Majority leader Bill Frist sought unanimous consent of the Senate at 2.16 a.m. local time to proceed immediately with the consideration of the enabling legislation after accepting a Manager's amendment by the bill's authors Republican Richard Lugar and Democrat Joseph Biden. But Minority leader Harry Reid objected though he fully supported the legislation. Since, the bill was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by a 16-2 majority last June, his party had given a number of amendments with a commitment to complete these expeditiously, but the Majority had rejected the proposal. It was not his party's fault that the legislation was initially held up by an arms control legislation proposed by the Senate panel chairman Lugar, he said declining to rush through the important legislation. But 'we can do it in the lame duck session as a priority'. Expressing his disappointment at the Senate being prevented from passing the landmark legislation that would build a new relationship between the world's two largest democracies, Frist said there was really no need to further amend the Manager's amendment together worked out by Lugar and Biden, ranking democrat on the foreign relations panel. His party considered this legislation 'very high priority' and he was absolutely determined to get it passed as quickly as possible to deliver on President George Bush's commitment to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in terms of their July 18 agreement. Frist said if like members of his own party, Democrats agree to pass the bill without further amendment or debate it could be sent to conference over the recess to resolve differences with the other chamber over the legislation. That way 'we could be assured of sending this bill to the President before we adjourn', he said. Bush cannot sign it into law until he gets an identical version of the legislation from both chambers. The House of Representatives had passed a different version of the enabling bill by an overwhelming 359-68 votes. But Reid stood his ground. The India-US nuclear deal was important not only for India and the United States, but for the whole world and as such deserved all the more attention. Frist then moved for the adjournment of the Senate until Nov 9 when no business would be conducted except introduction of bills. The chamber would meet again on Nov 13 to take up pending business. The Congress session in November is considered a 'lame duck' session as some lawmakers who return for this session will not be in the next Congress that would convene in January 2007. Hence, they are informally called 'lame duck' members participating in a 'lame duck' session. The Senate then adjourned at 2.30 a.m. Saturday. Earlier through the long hard day starting at 9.30 a.m. Friday Frist and Reid tried to work out a 'package' on how to debate the bill that was supported by both sides, but had not been taken up by the whole Senate in the face of objections from a few senators from either party. As the Senate raced through several other bills considered crucial by the White House, Minority leader Harry Reid promised to put the bill on 'automatic pilot' so that it may be taken up as 'the first order of business' after the break. The Bush administration has been pushing hard to get the legislation passed with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice making 'a rare personal telephone call' to Reid last Monday after her meeting with Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee in New York. Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran too has had meetings with both Reid and Frist besides other key Congressional leaders and administration officials including Under Secretary of State, Nick Burns to push the legislation. The enabling legislation would exempt India from the current-law prohibition on the transfer of nuclear materials and technology to countries that are not signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Copyright Indo-Asian News Service Copyright © 2004-2006 DailyIndia.com ***************************************************************** 39 AFP: Swedish nuclear reactor restart delayed Saturday September 30, [The Barseback nuclear reactor in southern Sweden] STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Only one of the two nuclear reactors that closed in July over safety fears at Sweden's Forsmark plant has reopened, with the second delayed due to a minor malfunction, a plant spokesman has told AFP. "Forsmark 1 restarted normally," Claes-Inge Andersson said Saturday. "But we detected a small problem yesterday when we restarted Forsmark 2." Andersson said the restart would be delayed by about two days and that he expected Forsmark 2 to be running at full capacity by Wednesday. The problem, he explained, was with the equipment that monitors the power in the reactor in the early stages of the restart process. The reactors in central Sweden were closed on July 25 after a short-circuit caused a blackout. Two of four backup diesel generators failed to start automatically, revealing other faults in the power station's electrical system. Sweden's nuclear energy authority (SKI) gave the go-ahead for the reactors to start operating again on Thursday. In a report on September 14, SKI said the incidents in July had not damaged the reactors. Nuclear power accounts for almost half of all electricity generation in Sweden, which has 10 nuclear reactors, down from 12 since 1999 as part of a plan to phase out nuclear power over the next 30 years. AFP ***************************************************************** 40 AFP: US Senate leader accuses Democrats of stalling India nuclear deal Sat Sep 30, 2:29 PM ET WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Senate's Republican leader blamed obstruction by opposition Democrats for a delay in passing a US-India nuclear energy deal, which has now been put off until after the November midterm elections. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in a statement accused Democrats of attempting to weigh down the US-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation bill with "unnecessary amendments." "Republicans were prepared to pass the legislation without amendment or debate and the Democrats objected," Frist said. "I am very disappointed that some Democrat members wish to defeat the bill by adding a large amount of unnecessary amendments," he said, adding that without a consensus with the opposition party, "we will have to wait until the Senate reconvenes in November to take up this measure." Frist made his remarks as Congress wrapped up its work before recessing for several weeks to allow lawmakers to hit the campaign trail. There was no immediate public reaction from Democrats on the issue. Under the civilian nuclear deal, Washington would aid development of civilian nuclear power programs in India in return for New Delhi placing its atomic facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency" /> International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) safeguards. The pact has been fiercely debated. Supporters say it would be the cornerstone of an ever-tightening strategic alliance between the world's most powerful nation and its largest democracy. But critics fear the deal, reached on July 18, 2005 between US President George W. Bush" /> President George W. Bushand Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, would only fuel tensions between India and nuclear rival Pakistan. India tested nuclear weapons in 1974 and 1998 and is currently banned by the United States and other mostly industrialized nations from buying fuel for atomic reactors and other related equipment as a result. In July, the US House of Representatives adopted the deal only after ensuring that even after it is passed by the Senate and becomes law, the nuclear cooperation agreement would come under full oversight authority by Congress. The deal has been held up in Congress for weeks -- despite efforts by State Department officials to convince lawmakers to pass it -- and it became ensnared in congressional wrangling between Republicans and Democrats ahead of November's elections. Bush's spokesman Tony Snow said in June that the deal would help India generate more nuclear power to meet its enormous energy needs but allow it to not increase greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. "This initiative also advances US nonproliferation objectives by bringing India into the international nonproliferation mainstream," the spokesman said. Delays in the Senate started when US weapons experts called on the Senate to tighten safeguard provisions of the landmark deal. Most of the debate centred on demands for a declaration that India has stopped production of fissile material -- plutonium and highly enriched uranium -- for nuclear weapons and an annual certification that the deal does not fuel New Delhi's nuclear weapons program. But India made clear that it would not accept any conditions that went beyond the agreement with Bush and a plan it endorsed in which New Delhi would have 14 of its 22 nuclear reactors placed under international safeguards. India particularly did not want to accept any US moratorium on the production of fissile material. But US weapons experts said the measures were necessary because India had not joined the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a global accord to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 41 AFP: US Senate leader accuses Democrats of stalling India nuclear deal - Sun Oct 1, 1:48 AM ET WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Senate's Republican leader has blamed obstruction by opposition Democrats for a delay in passing a US-India nuclear energy deal, which has now been put off until after the November midterm elections. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in a statement accused Democrats of attempting to weigh down the US-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation bill with "unnecessary amendments." "Republicans were prepared to pass the legislation without amendment or debate and the Democrats objected," Frist said on Saturday. "I am very disappointed that some Democrat members wish to defeat the bill by adding a large amount of unnecessary amendments," he said, adding that without a consensus with the opposition party, "we will have to wait until the Senate reconvenes in November to take up this measure." Frist made his remarks as Congress wrapped up its work before recessing for several weeks to allow lawmakers to hit the campaign trail. There was no immediate public reaction from Democrats on the issue. Under the civilian nuclear deal, Washington would aid development of civilian nuclear power programs in India in return for New Delhi placing its atomic facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency" /> (IAEA) safeguards. The pact has been fiercely debated. Supporters say it would be the cornerstone of an ever-tightening strategic alliance between the world's most powerful nation and its largest democracy. But critics fear the deal, reached on July 18, 2005 between US President George W. Bush" /> and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, would only fuel tensions between India and nuclear rival Pakistan. India tested nuclear weapons in 1974 and 1998 and is currently banned by the United States and other mostly industrialized nations from buying fuel for atomic reactors and other related equipment as a result. In July, the US House of Representatives adopted the deal only after ensuring that even after it is passed by the Senate and becomes law, the nuclear cooperation agreement would come under full oversight authority by Congress. The deal has been held up in Congress for weeks -- despite efforts by State Department officials to convince lawmakers to pass it -- and it became ensnared in congressional wrangling between Republicans and Democrats ahead of November's elections. Bush's spokesman Tony Snow said in June that the deal would help India generate more nuclear power to meet its enormous energy needs but allow it to not increase greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. "This initiative also advances US nonproliferation objectives by bringing India into the international nonproliferation mainstream," the spokesman said. Delays in the Senate started when US weapons experts called on the Senate to tighten safeguard provisions of the landmark deal. Most of the debate centred on demands for a declaration that India has stopped production of fissile material -- plutonium and highly enriched uranium -- for nuclear weapons and an annual certification that the deal does not fuel New Delhi's nuclear weapons program. But India made clear that it would not accept any conditions that went beyond the agreement with Bush and a plan it endorsed in which New Delhi would have 14 of its 22 nuclear reactors placed under international safeguards. India particularly did not want to accept any US moratorium on the production of fissile material. But US weapons experts said the measures were necessary because India had not joined the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a global accord to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 42 Hudson Valley News: House passes bill to increase security at nuclear power plants including Indian Point Weekend, Sep 30 - Oct 1, 2006 Washington The House of Representatives has passed legislation sponsored by Congresswoman Sue Kelly that would help strengthen security at waterside nuclear power plants. As part of an effort to increase the Coast Guard presence along the Hudson River in the vicinity of Indian Point, Kelly introduced the bill on June 14. When she questioned Coast Guard officials about security patrols at Indian Point during a Congressional hearing in May, they agreed with her assessment that enhanced patrols are necessary to fully protect the plants from any potential security breach along the Hudson River. Kelly partnered with U.S. Rep. John Barrow (D-GA), who similarly has a waterside nuclear power plant in his Congressional district, and worked to get her legislation passed as part of the Coast Guard Authorization Act that was approved by the House. The bill will allow the Coast Guard to work with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to better safeguard nuclear facilities like the Indian Point facility along the Hudson River and provide vessels and weaponry capable of thwarting waterborne attacks, Kelly said. The Coast Guard currently patrols Indian Point only periodically with a 65-foot tug boat that lacks the speed or weaponry to fully protect the plants from a terrorist threat. Barrow has concerns like Kelly about potential vulnerabilities at the Vogtle Nuclear facility in Waynesboro, Ga., which is located on the Savannah River. By making the Coast Guard the primary federal agency for the maritime safety of U.S. nuclear power facilities, Kelly and Barrow's legislation enables the Coast Guard to provide the increased resources necessary to procure a faster and better-equipped Coast Guard vessel to protect Indian Point. HEAR today's news on MidHudsonRadio.com, the Hudson Valley's only Internet radio news report. ***************************************************************** 43 Guardian Unlimited: Ports Security Bill Passes in the House From the Associated Press [UP] Saturday September 30, 2006 5:46 AM By JIM ABRAMS Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The House approved a major ports security bill early Saturday, providing new steps to prevent terrorists from slipping a nuclear, chemical or biological device into one of the 11 million shipping containers entering the nation every year. Passage of the bill was the last act of the House as lawmakers left for a five-week election campaign during which candidates will be trying to prove to voters their commitment to keeping America safe in the war on terrorism. The Senate also planned to endorse the bill before it recessed, sending it to the president for his signature. Containers, now largely uninspected, ``have the potential to be the Trojan Horse of the 21st century,'' said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. She said the legislation would be a ``major leap ahead'' in strengthening national security. Democrats favored the bill, but said it failed to address rail and mass transit, other areas considered highly vulnerable to terrorist attack. ``The terrorist attacks on rail and transit systems in Spain, London and Mumbai (Bombay) should be enough evidence to convince the Republican-led Congress that U.S. rails are dangerously vulnerable,'' said Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn. The bill approves $400 million a year over five years for risk-based grants for training and exercises at ports. It requires the nation's 22 largest ports, which handle 98 percent of all cargo entering the country, to install radiation detectors by the end of next year. Pilot programs would be established at three foreign ports to test technology for nonintrusive cargo inspections. Currently only one foreign port, Hong Kong, scans all U.S.-bound cargo for nuclear materials. Background checks and credentials will be required for workers at the nation's 361 ports, and the Homeland Security Department would set up protocols for resuming operations after an attack or incident. It is feared that a terrorist attack, such as a nuclear device set off by remote control, could cripple the entire economy as well as cause massive casualties. Preferential cargo processing is offered importers who meet certain security requirements. The bill would authorize $3.4 billion over five years for ports security. The House vote was 409-2, with only Reps. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., opposing. The bill was slow in reaching the House and Senate floors because lawmakers from both sides sought to attach their own favorite pieces of legislation to the ports measure because of the certainty it would reach the president's desk. In the end, the only major add-on was legislation to restrict Internet gambling. Also attached was a measure, pushed by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., to help communities lacking telecommunications infrastructure install sirens and other emergency alert systems. With an eye to the election, Congress has concentrated on security-related issues in the past two weeks, considered measures on military tribunals, President Bush's wiretapping program, spending for defense and homeland security and a bill to build a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border. Democrats, in a letter to House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., who headed House-Senate negotiations on the bill, complained they were denied the right to offer amendments to restore rail security language contained in the original Senate bill. Congress made port security a priority after a fight in February over a buyout that put a Dubai company in control of some operations at six American ports. The outcry led the Dubai company, DP World, to promise it would sell the U.S. operations to an American company. The sale is pending. --- The bill is H.R. 4954 --- On the Net: Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov/ Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 44 The Australian: Brother names Rainbow Warrior agent This story is from our news.com.aunetwork Source: AFP From correspondents in Paris October 01, 2006 NEW Zealand police may re-open the investigation into the Rainbow Warrior bombing 21 years ago, after a man was named in the French press in connection with the attack. A brother of French presidential hopeful Segolene Royal planted the bombs which killed a crew member aboard the Greenpeace flagship in Auckland harbour in 1985, a family member told French newspaper Le Parisien on Friday. Antoine Royal, another brother of Segolene, told the Parisien newspaper that his brother Gerard was a member of the French intelligence sabotage squad who planted the bombs on the Rainbow Warrior. "At the time, (Gerard) was a lieutenant and agent of the DGSE (intelligence agency) in Asia. He was asked in 1985 to go to New Zealand, to Auckland harbour, to sabotage the Rainbow Warrior," Antoine said. "Later he told me that it was he who planted the bomb on the Greenpeace ship. He took a small craft with a second person to approach the boat. "He was able to escape the New Zealand authorities, unlike the false Turenge couple who were arrested. My sister learnt that he was present during the operation from a recent article in the press." The July 1985 bombing - seen by many in New Zealand as an act of state terrorism against a traditional ally of France - sank the Rainbow Warrior and killed Fernando Pereira, a Greenpeace photographer and father of two. Crippled by two mines planted in the dead of night, the ship was targeted in a bid to stop it launching a campaign against French nuclear testing in the Pacific, which had sparked large protests in Australia and New Zealand. Though successful in sinking the Rainbow Warrior, the operation came to be seen as an ill-conceived and executed disaster for French intelligence and a blight on the record of then president Francois Mitterrand. Mitterrand initially denied any involvement in the bombing before caving in to media pressure and authorising an inquiry. Two French agents, Commander Alain Mafart and Captain Dominique Prieur who were posing as a married couple under the false name of Turenge, were quickly exposed and arrested by New Zealand police. They were sentenced by a New Zealand court to 10 years' jail for what the judge described as a "terrorist" act, but French pressure including trade sanctions resulted in a deal involving reduced terms. Mafart and Prieur spent some six months in a New Zealand prison before being transferred for a period of three years to an island in French Polynesia where Prieur's husband was made head of security. Both returned to France in less than two years, Mafart supposedly due to illness and Prieur because her father was said to be dying of cancer. New Zealand police have said members of a four-man squad suspected of actually planting the mines are still at large. Segolene Royal is the socialist frontrunner for France's presidential election next year. © The Australian ***************************************************************** 45 London Times: Royal link to Greenpeace bombing as probe begins - October 02, 2006 From Bernard Lagan in Sydney and Charles Bremner in Paris NEW ZEALAND police said yesterday that they would re-examine files on the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, the Greenpeace vessel, more than two decades ago, after Gérard Royal, a brother of the French presidential aspirant Ségolčne Royal, was identified as one of the bombers. However, it is unlikely that the New Zealand authorities, who captured and jailed two French government agents for their part in the July 1985 bombing, will take any further action after the revelations of M Royal’s involvement, disclosed by his brother, Antoine Royal, on Saturday. A spokesman for Helen Clark, the New Zealand Prime Minister, said yesterday that New Zealand and France had struck an agreement in 1991 that effectively ruled out further charges against French citizens in connection with the bombing. The revelations concerning Gérard Royal came amid heightened interest in the case in New Zealand, where a court on Friday released video footage of Dominique Prieur and Alain Marfart, the secret service agents, pleading guilty to their parts in the bombing, which took the life of a Portuguese photographer. Prieur and Marfart had fought a 20-year legal battle, believed by New Zealand lawyers to have been backed by the French Government, to prevent the broadcasting of their courtroom pleas of guilty to charges of manslaughter. They had argued that their privacy should take precedence. The footage was broadcast by Television New Zealand yesterday with an interview with Laurent Fabius, the Prime Minister at the time of the attack on the Rainbow Warrior. M Fabius, who announced yesterday that he would be running for the Socialist nomination for the presidency, told the programme that he had been betrayed during the affair. “People lied to me,” he said. The Rainbow Warrior had been berthed in Auckland, preparing to sail to Mururoa atoll in the South Pacific to draw international attention to French underground nuclear tests there. French agents attached two bombs to the hull beneath the waterline. They exploded late at night, quickly sinking the vessel. Marfart and Prier, both members of the DGSE, the French secret service, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and wilful damage in connection with the bombing. It was never contended that they attached the bombs, which had been smuggled into New Zealand by other DGSE agents. Rather, the pair were support crew within a covert French force that New Zealand police later revealed numbered at least 13. It is likely that Gérard Royal, who, his brother has said, was working as a DGSE agent in Asia at the time of the bombing, was a member of the elusive “third team” that attached the bombs. The existence of this team was revealed in Le Monde in late 1985. According to New Zealand police reports the core of this team comprised two French men who entered New Zealand on false passports. They gave the false names of Alain Tonel and Jacques Camurier. Their true identities have never been disclosed. Antoine Royal said at the weekend of his brother’s role: “He told me that it was he who planted the bomb on the Greenpeace ship.” Arnaud Montebourg, one of Mme Royal’s campaign advisers, said yesterday that she knew nothing about the possible involvement of Gérard Royal in the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior. Intelligence sources said yesterday that M Royal had not attached the explosives to the ship. He had, however, been part of the team that had approached the vessel on dinghies, they said. Copyright 2006 Times Newspapers Ltd. ***************************************************************** 46 Bradenton Herald: Tallevast leaders call meeting on DEP ruling 09/30/2006 | DONNA WRIGHT Herald Staff Writer TALLEVAST - Alarmed over pending development and unanswered questions surrounding a 200-acre plume of underground contamination, Tallevast leaders have called a community town hall meeting 6:30 p.m. Monday at Mt. Tabor Church, 1730 Tallevast Road. The meeting will brief residents on the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's decision that Lockheed Martin Corp. has completed its investigation of the plume, and to update the community on development projects that will go before the county commission Thursday, said Laura Ward, president of FOCUS, or Family-Oriented Community United Strong, an advocacy group which she runs with Tallevast resident Wanda Washington. FOCUS leaders fear DEP's approval of Lockheed's data ends the investigation phase of the plume before the true extent of the contamination is known. Proposed development projects, Ward warns, will forever change their historic, rural community. Despite residents' objections, the Manatee County Planning Commission recently endorsed plans for The Forum, a 16,808-square-foot retail development for the northwest corner of the Tallevast Road/U.S. 301 intersection. The Forum will be built by Trey Desenberg of Covered Bridge Holdings II LLC. The board also recommended county commissioners rezone 28.9 acres Covered Bridge owns north of the retail site, from agricultural to light manufacturing. The two projects are slated to go before the county commission in a public hearing Thursday. Washington Crossings, a $30 million office and warehouse complex designed to attract high-tech businesses that support high-paying jobs, has been proposed for the southeast corner of Tallevast Road and U.S. 301. Washington Crossings will encompass roughly 170,000 square feet, and will eventually include a hotel, restaurant and bank, according to Anthony Mazzucca, manager for the developer, The Blackpoint Group, of Sarasota. State Reps. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, and Frank Peterman, D-St. Petersburg, as well as representatives from U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson's office and U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris' office, are expected to attend the town hall meeting. Others expected are Jeanne Zokovitch, an attorney from WildLaw Inc., an environmental advocacy organization, and Tim Varney and Michael Graves, technical advisers for Tallevast. The Rev. Charles McKenzie, southern regional director of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, has been invited to attend as well as Leon Harris, president of the Manatee/Sarasota Democratic Black Caucus. The Tallevast plume has been traced to the former Loral American Beryllium Co. plant at 1600 Tallevast Road. Lockheed Martin Corp. owned the beryllium plant when the contamination was discovered six years ago. Originally estimated to cover just 50 acres on the plant site, the plume is now known to cover more than 200 acres, according to Lockheed's data. The Florida DEP ruled this week that Lockheed's plume data is now complete and the investigative phase of the clean-up project is over. Earlier this week, Lockheed spokeswoman Gail Rymer said the defense giant is ready to begin the design of the remediation plan to clean up the toxic waste. That process, Lockheed estimates, will take 20 years. Donna Wright, health and social services reporter, can be reached at 745-7049 or at dwright@HeraldToday.com. ***************************************************************** 47 Sunday Herald: Europes new dumping ground - Fred Bridgland reports on how the Wests toxic waste is poisoning Africa THE war-torn African state of Somalia could hardly have expected to be affected by the tsunami that struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Boxing Day 2004, killing some 290,000 people. But that tsunami wave powered 4000 miles westwards right across the Indian Ocean to sweep over Somalias pristine beaches, and killed nearly 300 people outright. The tsunami, however, also uncovered a hidden and altogether more serious problem for Somalis: along more than 400 miles of shoreline, the turbo-charged wave churned up reinforced containers of hazardous toxic waste that European companies had been dumping a short distance offshore for more than a decade, taking advantage of the fact that there was not even a pretend authority in the African failed state. The force of the tsunami broke open some of the containers which held radioactive nuclear waste, lead, cadmium, mercury, flame retardants, hospital waste and cocktails of other deadly residues of Europes industrial processes. As the contaminants spread across the land and in the air, the United Nations said that an unknown number of people died from breathing in toxic dust and fumes. Subsequent cancer clusters have also been linked to Europes special gift to the country, delivered by that tsunami. Rumours had long circulated about European companies, mainly from Italy and Switzerland, taking advantage of the chaos in Somalia to strike immoral deals with local warlords to dump toxic waste. The arrangements, involving countless millions of pounds, inevitably financed the Somali war , offering a powerful incentive to ignore environmental concerns and carry on dumping the waste. According to the French environment protection group Robin des Bois (Robin Hood of the Forest), it costs between 300-500 (Ł200-Ł340) to treat a cubic metre of hazardous waste in Europe, while in Africa it is between six and 15 times cheaper because usually there is no real treatment process and no proper storage. A report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said the release of the deadly substances, resembling the devastation of chemical warfare, will cause serious long-term effects on human health and there is no chance of a successful clean-up because of the violence and political instability currently plaguing Somalia. The UNEP report said: The health problems include acute respiratory infections, dry heavy coughing and mouth bleeding, abdominal haemorrhages, unusual skin chemical reactions and sudden death after inhaling toxic materials. It took a tsunami to reveal one of the many secret dumping sites in Africa of European industries deadly dregs. But in recent weeks the voyage of the rust-streaked Probo Koala, a Korean-built, Greek-owned, Panama-flagged, Dutch-chartered 50,000-tonne tanker, has thrown yet more light on a trade that goaded one of Africas most distinguished ecologists, Senegals Haidar al-Ali, to observe: We talk of globalisation, of the global village, but here in Africa we are under the impression of being that villages septic tank. It is not yet clear where the Probo Koalas voyage began, although seas off Gibraltar are believed to be a gathering place for garbage cowboys; where ships with unwanted poisonous cargoes transfer them to other vessels specialising in the illegal dispersal of waste in Third World states. The scandal of the Probo Koala came to light last month, some two weeks after the tanker unloaded its cargo of black sludge in Abidjan, Ivory Coasts capital , after being turned away from Amsterdam and several African ports. The poisonous sludge, spread on waste ground and in the sea and fresh water lagoons that festoon Abidjan, led to the deaths of at least eight people, including four children, while more than 80,000 others sought medical treatment for nosebleeds, diarrhoea, nausea, eye irritation and breathing difficulties. When news broke of the first casualties, thousands of Abidjanis packed their belongings onto donkey carts and buses and moved into the surrounding rainforest . Many have fled that refuge in the past few months, trying to escape the violence of the West African countrys ethnic civil war between northerners and southerners. The Ivorian and Somali tragedies are instructive: they represent what happens to Europeans trash more commonly than environmentally-aware citizens might like to think. When ever-stricter European environmental laws mean increasing costs of clearing up and disposing of our waste, criminal middle-men step in and offer low-cost solutions in Africa. The Dutch authorities refused to accept the ships 530 tonnes of a highly toxic mixture of oil residue and caustic soda and they failed to stop the ship sailing elsewhere. We also know that the Estonian government arrested the ship last week after the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise blockaded the Probo Koala in the port of Paldiski, where the Tallinn government had refused to accept its bilge contents. In Amsterdam three months ago, the Probo Koala attempted to unload a cargo of a sticky black liquid described by the tankers owners as waste water used to clean its crude oil tanks. But residents living near the Dutch citys port complained when a sharp stench, described as being like a cross between rotten eggs and blocked drains, drifted across their suburb. A waste disposal company took a sample from the Probo Koalas waste water it proved to be a highly lethal cocktail of petroleum, caustic soda and other agents that had accumulated in the ships lower tank after multiple cleanings. The port authorities reclassified the tank contents as toxic waste and then instructed the ships captain to take the waste to a special facility and dispose of it, at a cost of Ł150,000 . The Probo Koalas captain angrily refused and sailed for Estonia to pick up petroleum products destined for Nigeria. Meanwhile, an off-the-shelf company called Tommy was quickly formed between two French commodity traders and executives of a waste disposal company in war-torn Ivory Coast. After the Probo Koalas arrival in Abidjan on its return trip from Nigeria, trucks hired by Tommy dumped the ships lower tank cargo around the city under cover of darkness. Fumes given off by the waste then led to deaths and widespread illness. This story is a common one. All down the West African coast, European- and North American-hired ships unload containers filled with old computers, noxious slops and used medical equipment. Scrap merchants, corrupt politicians and underpaid civil servants take charge of this rubbish and, for payment, dump them in landfill sites and off the coastline. Back in 1988, some 134 states adopted the Basel Convention, drawn up in the Swiss city , which set out to control the export of most forms of hazardous waste from industrialised states to developing countries although the US, Canada and Australia have refused to ratify the treaty. Now, despite the treaty, there is more evidence of death and disease from waste trade than ever before, said Jim Puckett, an expert in hazardous waste trade with the Seattle-based Basel Action Network. Unfortunately, if its easy to poison the poor for profit, unscrupulous operators and businesses will do it. The Probo Koala is believed to have violated at least two other post-Basel conventions on hazardous waste, as well as the Basel Convention itself. Andreas Bernstoff, a German expert on the toxic waste trade and a former Greenpeace International activist, has identified more than 80 sites in Africa where the rich worlds dangerous trash has been dumped. But Bernstoff said the global trade in hazardous chemicals is now less of a problem than the rapidly growing amounts of electronic waste and wreckage from computers and ships. Old computers and cellphones are often not declared as waste, but are shipped abroad as material for repair or recycling, according to bills of loading. But when they arrive they are simply dumped. Electronic waste is mainly exported to West Africa and Asia. Some 85% of the electronic parts that come out of Western Europe or North America land on a garbage dump in Nigeria, where they are burned, said Bernstorff. Some 500 containers of electronic junk arrive each month in the Nigerian port of Lagos. The waste, containing such carcinogenic elements as lead, cadmium and mercury, are then burned by contractors on dumps around the city. Experts such as Bernstoff say this practice will create long-term health time-bombs, leading to epidemics of first world diseases such as cancer in third world countries. In trash for cash schemes elsewhere, bales of plastic waste collected under Germanys widely praised Green Dot recycling programme end up in giant pits in the Egyptian desert. The government of Benin, Nigerias neighbour, was paid more than Ł1million a year, and given enhanced development aid from its former colonial master to accept Frances hazardous waste, including radioactive materials. And the German magazine Der Spiegel is investigating the burial of nuclear waste on the Equatorial Guinea island of Annobon. There is almost nothing that Europe will not try to dump beyond it shores and nowhere where it will refuse to dispose of it. The Dutch, for example, had a huge problem with pig manure, poisoned by the copper products put into feed to expand the water content, and hence the weight, when packaged and sold to consumers, of bacon and pork chops. When environmentalists objected to the noxious dung being dumped in the countrys marshes, the government did a multi-million pound deal with Saudi Arabia to bury Dutch waste in the desert. However, when the Muslim Saudis discovered the waste was mainly pig droppings, they cancelled the contract. However, some progress is being made. Two French commodity traders have been arrested in connection with the dumping of the Probo Koala cargo after arriving recently in the Ivory Coast on what they described as a humanitarian mission. Several Ivorian businessmen connected with the new Tommy company have also been arrested. In Estonia, the Probo Koala and its captain are under arrest on suspicion of trying to land another toxic cargo in the Baltic state. In November, the Basel Convention countries meet in Kenya, with calls for the treaty to be more strictly enforced in the wake of Abidjan. It is shocking that toxic waste from Europe reached the Ivory Coast, causing so much human suffering and damage to the environment, said European Union environment commissioner Stavros Dimas from Estonia last week. The case is a clear violation of European and international law with deadly results. But I fear that the Probo Koala incident is only the tip of the iceberg. 01 October 2006 © newsquest (sunday herald) limited. all rights reserved ***************************************************************** 48 Independent: EPA to investigate mine site; Agency, United Nuclear agree on probe for surface contamination September 30, 2006: By Zsombor Peter Staff Writer GALLUP — Some 24 years after closing its Church Rock mines, the United Nuclear Corporation has reached an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to investigate the site for any persistent surface contamination. Under an earlier agreement with the EPA, United Nuclear is already busy pumping ground water out of the area contaminated by tailings from its past mining operations there. The new agreement, reached Thursday, orders it to study the site's soil and abandoned facilities for contamination as well. United Nuclear must also replace a fence around the 125-acre site all of it on tribal trust land that currently does little to keep people and livestock out. Representatives for United Nuclear could not immediately be reached for comment. "It's great that we're finally getting something started," said Chris Shuey, director of the Southwest Research and Information Center's Uranium Impact Assessment Program, "but there's been virtually a quarter-century where nothing was done to protect the health of these people." Besides, Shuey noted, the agreement is neither the beginning nor likely the end of the story for the EPA, United Nuclear or the residents living with the company's legacy. "It's been in the works for a long time, and it simply continues the investigation of the site," he said. So far as the soil and facilities are concerned, United Nuclear hasn't agreed to clean up anything just yet. Only after it's had a chance to study the findings of the investigation and consult with the Navajo Nation's own Environmental Protection Agency at whose request it stepped in will the U.S. EPA consider getting United Nuclear to clean up the site. That will take a separate agreement. Rise of 'Mutton Man' Residents of the area have been living with the fear of what effects the abandoned uranium mines might be having on their health and livestock for decades. It's even made its way into the local vernacular: "Mutton Man," the popular fictional character of local entertainer Vincent Craig, attained his superpowers by feasting on the meat of a lamb that drank from a nearby wash after a real-life spill of radioactive waste from one of United Nuclear's settling ponds in 1979. The Church Rock Uranium Monitoring Project, meanwhile, an initiative of the Navajo Nation's local chapter to study the legacy of the mines, has been sampling the area for the past few years. Their fears may be well grounded. In its press release about Thursday's agreement, the U.S. EPA claims it found "elevated levels" of alpha radiation at the site and radium-226 a known human carcinogen exposure to which can lead to bone, liver and breast cancers in the surface soil. Transported by wind and runoff from rain and snow melt, it continues, they "may have" affected residents to the northeast. Still, the EPA won't go so far as to say the Church Rock mines have definitively affected anyone's health or even speculate about whether they might have some grounds to pursue compensation if it turns out they were. That, said Andrew Bain, Remedial Project Manager for the EPA's Region 9 out of San Francisco, is not the agency's job. "Our mission is to find contamination and mitigate it," he said, nothing more and nothing less. Whether residents chose to pursue compensation, Bain said, will depend on them and United Nuclear's findings. The long wait So what took the EPA so long to get an investigation out of United Nuclear? For one thing, say Bain and Shuey, it wasn't the agency's fight to begin with. According to Shuey, the state began pursuing legal action against United Nuclear over the site in the mid-1990s. Although the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals eventually ruled against the company, it managed to stall the case for eight years. But when the Navajo Nation decided the state wasn't asking enough of United Nuclear, Shuey said, it asked the EPA to step in. It took over last November. It's all happening while the tribe is trying to fend off a new round of uranium mining on and around the reservation. With more than half the world's remaining deposits, according to the University of New Mexico's Johnnye Lewis, the Colorado Plateau and the Navajo Nation's Eastern Agency in particular is where many of United Nuclear's successors are looking. One company, Texas-based Hydro Resources, Inc., has its eyes on Church Rock itself. The companies say the new techniques they'll be using won't pose the risks uranium mining used to, but the tribe and its backers aren't convinced. The Navajo Nation Council approved the Diné Natural Resources Protection Act in 2005, banning uranium mining anywhere on Navajoland. But some of the companies are seeking concessions on federal lands just outside the tribe's boarders, making it hard for the Nation to impose its will. The Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining, which Shuey consults, is mounting its own offense. The EPA's latest agreement with United Nuclear may not do much to help the tribe shape its future, but it might help the tribe reconcile with its past. Bain expects the $350,000 investigation to begin some time in November and last up to a month. United Nuclear will be footing the bill. Gallup Independent. comments to gallpind@cia-g.com ***************************************************************** 49 LA Daily News: Governor veto on perchlorate bill Updated: 09/29/2006 07:13:56 PM PDT Measure would have tightened rules for chemicals in drinking water Daily News Staff and Wire Services The governor vetoed a bill this week that would have allowed the state Department of Health Services to tighten standards for perchlorate and other chemicals in drinking water. The veto came late Thursday, three weeks after attorneys for Whittaker-Bermite, owners of a 996-acre contaminated site in Saugus, urged it. Four wells used for drinking water in the Santa Clarita Valley have been shut down because of high levels of perchlorate, a rocket fuel residue that scientists believe leached into the groundwater from decades of defense testing at Bermite. Perchlorate has been linked to thyroid disorders. The bill by Sen. Nell Soto, D-Ontario, would have allowed state health officials to give greater weight to health effects in setting drinking-water standards. But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the measure, Senate Bill 187, "ignores the necessity to consider economic and technological feasibility" when adopting those standards. State law enforces maximum contaminant levels in drinking water but cannot tighten those without measuring the public health benefits against the costs, Schwarzenegger said in a statement. "Although I support the intent of SB 187 to protect the public's drinking water supply, the bill ignores the deliberative scientific process that must be part of the development of any drinking water standard," the statement said. Soto countered in a statement that the governor in his veto "has chosen to help polluters instead of protecting the public health." "His claim that SB 187 `ignores the deliberative scientific process' for developing drinking water standards is nonsense, when in fact my bill sought to add science to a process that currently gives too much weight to the economics of cleanup. "And the governor's rejection of SB 187 is a blow to the communities that have groundwater contaminated with perchlorate, such as Rialto, Morgan Hill and Santa Clarita." In an earlier interview, Soto said she hoped the governor would sign the bill. She wasn't surprised that Whittaker had opposed it, calling the company "principally responsible" for the contamination being cleaned up in Santa Clarita. SB 187 would have made minor changes in the process used for developing drinking water standards. The changes would be options, not mandates, that the Department of Health Services and a branch of the California Environmental Protection Agency would follow. In his Sept. 6 letter to Schwarzenegger, Whittaker-Bermite attorney Eric Lardiere's called Soto's bill costly and "premature and burdensome" to industry. The Assembly approved SB 187 on a vote of 46-31 on Aug. 23, and the Senate, 29-11, six days later. Los Angeles Newspaper Group ***************************************************************** 50 Bennington Banner: State rules out water in sarcoidosis probe MIKE GLEASON, Staff Writer Saturday, September 30 BENNINGTON — The cause of sarcoidosis in Bennington state office workers remains a mystery, according to a state report released Thursday . Six workers who have worked in the state building, located on Veterans Memorial Drive, have been diagnosed with the rare disease, which is not thought to be contagious. Sarcoidosis is characterized by inflammation in one or more organs, and the cause of the disease is not known. The state Department of Health began an investigation in early June of worker health concerns. The new update, released by the Vermont Department of Health and the Department of Buildings and General Services, gave the results of the tests conducted on the drinking water. It concluded that, though chloroform and bromodichloromethane compounds were found in the water, the levels of these compounds were within the EPA's Safe Water Drinking Standard. The only analysis "Water is the only analysis the health department has in, because it was processed in our lab," said Department of Health Commissioner Sharon Moffatt. "We're still waiting for an environmental consultant for analysis (of the other data)." Moffatt added that special attention is being paid to levels of the metallic element beryllium, as there seems to be an association between high beryllium and sarcoidosis. "We've had our expert epidemiologists looking through the literature looking for these kinds of associations," said Moffatt, adding that finding a cause for the disease is like "finding a needle in a haystack." Douglas Gibson, a spokesman for the Vermont State Employees Union, reacted to the news. "In terms of the investigation, the state is taking all the right steps," Gibson said. "Does it give a measure of comfort to the employees, though? Not really." "It's the opinion of the employees that there's something wrong with the building," he added. The report also stated that the Department of Buildings and General Services is assessing options should a move from the building become necessary, but could not offer a timeframe for a move. Considerations cited for such a move were the ability to locate an appropriate workspace and whether the workspace would need work before it can be occupied. "We're talking about contingency planning," said Tasha Wallis, the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Buildings and General Services. "There's been no decision about relocation." "We're trying to figure out the logistics of the move," Wallis said. "If we have to move, we want to compress the timetable as much as possible." Wallis noted it is possible that, if something is found, a move might not be necessary. "If there is a decision made, there is a range of possibilites," said Wallis. "There may not be evidence enough to force relocation, but we may be compelled to make some repairs. There's still a lot of possibilities." Gibson also said that future steps were unclear. "According to what I've heard, we're in a holding pattern until the Department of Health test results are released," said Gibson. "But when I spoke to officials, they could offer no assurances to me or the people working there that today wouldn't be the day someone contracts sarcoidosis." Though the matter is unsettled, the VSEA's general plan is clear. "We are going to continue to recommend relocation," Gibson said. » (802) 447-2025 » 425 Main Street » Bennington, VT 05201 ***************************************************************** 51 Salt Lake Tribune: Facility CEO says planned site not 'dead' Article Last Updated: 09/30/2006 12:54:23 AM MDT Nuclear waste storage in Skull Valley By Judy Fahys The Salt Lake Tribune John D. Parkyn bristles at the word "dead" to describe the nuclear waste storage site his business consortium planned for the Skull Valley of the Goshutes Reservation. But he would not say outright Friday whether Private Fuel Storage will go to court to overturn two Interior Department rulings earlier this month that appear to have killed the project. Politics has derailed the project for now, Parkyn said in a telephone interview. And, he said, meetings between U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, a former GOP senator and Idaho governor, effectively undermined the lease the group of eight utilities had forged with the Skull Valley Goshutes a decade ago and blocked the license PFS received in February after nine years of review. "There's no question why [the lease] was reversed," said Parkyn, PFS chairman and chief executive officer. "The question is, do you sit back and stand for that [political interference in a policy decision]." Utah led opposition to the site, spending millions of dollars and years in court and at regulatory proceedings trying to stop it. Wilderness advocates joined forces with Republican Congressmen Jim Hansen and Rob Bishop to foil the consortium's preferred transportation plan, and those Skull Valley members who were targeted by tribal leaders for opposing the nuclear waste petitioned regulators and the courts against the site. Hatch, who stepped up his efforts against the waste storage in the past year, denied Friday that the two rulings by the Interior Department Sept. 7 were politically driven. One, from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, invalidated the lease between PFS and the American Indian tribe, and the other blocked the transportation of waste to the site. The senator said in a statement that the Interior Department decisions were very clear, solidly grounded in fact, and "speak for themselves." "Fighting the PFS project is my top priority, and it's no secret that I used every opportunity I could to press the issue and get the bureaucracy moving," said Hatch, who is seeking re-election for a sixth term in the Senate in November. "But the substance supported us. We had a compelling case, and we made it." Project plans called for using about 100 acres of Skull Valley to park up to 44,000 tons of spent reactor fuel until permanent disposal is developed for waste piling up at 72 locations throughout the nation. Parkyn agreed Friday that if the decisions are not overturned, the project cannot go forward. But PFS faces no deadline for filing a court appeal of the Interior Department decisions, he noted. Nonetheless, he expected consortium members and the tribe to determine their next step in a matter of months. He would not say if legal issues or financial reasons - including a lack of support from the eight member companies - were delaying a decision. "It's obvious that to build the facility at that location you have to challenge the lease reversal," he said. Parkyn told an industry newsletter, the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Monitor, that the nation needs a facility like his to deal with waste if it goes forward with the Bush administration's ambitious plans for new nuclear plants. "Time is really on our side," he told the publication. "If the industry is really serious about new [nuclear] plants, then they have to be serious about PFS." Parkyn pointed out that waste is accumulating in 31 states. Meanwhile, the long-promised federal disposal site at Yucca Mountain, Nev., sees continued delays and Eastern governors oppose a federal plan to create dozens of new interim storage sites in less than three years. "If the country is willing to deal with political obstruction [by Hatch] or does it want the waste everywhere?" Parkyn said. "We [at PFS] do have the solution. It's licensed." fahys@sltrib.com © Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune. ***************************************************************** 52 News & Star: Sellafield nuclear disaster exercise planned for Tuesday Published on 30/09/2006 A NUCLEAR disaster training exercise is about to take place at Sellafield. It will test the off-site emergency procedures. All of the agencies who would be involved in a real emergency response will be examining their readiness. To make the event even more challenging, the plant’s normal emergency control centre — at Summergrove near Whitehaven — will not be used. The exercise, code-named Oscar 8, will work on the basis that Summergrove is out of action. Instead, emergency control rooms at the Civic Centre and Sands Leisure Centre, both Carlisle, will be set up. As part of the exercise, there will an increased number of Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service vehicles moving around the area. The site siren will also be sounded at Sellafield but nearby residents should take no action. British Nuclear Group has apologised in advance for any inconvenience that the siren may cause to people who live near the plant. Donald Norrie, chief emergency planner for Cumbria County Council, said: “This county has been at the forefront of developing plans for dealing with emergency situations, including an incident at Sellafield. “Oscar 8 presents an opportunity to test these plans and check the co-ordination of responses to an off-site incident. “Such exercises are held every three years and, as a result of them, problems associated with planning can be identified and rectified.” The exercise is to take place on Tuesday. ***************************************************************** 53 BBC: Anti-nuclear protest at US Last Updated: Sunday, 1 October 2006 [Lakenheath demo] The rally comes one month after a Mildenhall protest was stood down Around 150 peace campaigners gathered at an US air base in Suffolk to demand the removal of nuclear weapons. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament claims there are more than 100 American nuclear bombs at RAF Lakenheath. "There are B61 bombs stored at the base which are ten times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb," CND Vice-President Bruce Kent said. The USAF neither confirms nor denies the existence of tactical nuclear bombs being stored at Lakenheath. "There existence is an obstacle to nuclear disarmament which is the issue in front of us," Bruce Kent said. [Bruce Kent CND] On th base there are B61 bombs which are ten times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb Bruce Kent CND "Hundreds of US nuclear weapons are kept on bases throughout Europe as part of Nato's security strategy," he added. Chairman Kate Hudson said: "Nato is a cold war relic which should have been disbanded when the Warsaw Pact was dissolved. A spokesman for Suffolk Police said the demonstration was peaceful with officers experiencing no problems at all. The protest comes one month after a peace camp outside RAF Mildenhall, also in Suffolk, was stood down. Campaigners spent two weeks protesting against US flights landing there to refuel on their way to Israel. ***************************************************************** 54 Rocky Mountain News: Flats ready to come off Superfund By The Associated Press September 30, 2006 An agreement signed Friday declaring Rocky Flats ready to be removed from the Superfund sets the stage for the bulk of the former nuclear weapons plant to be turned into a national wildlife refuge. The $7 billion cleanup of the 6,200-acre site 16 miles northwest of downtown Denver was completed last year, years and billions of dollars short of original projections. The record of decision signed by the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and Colorado officials signals that the area is considered cleaned up and not a danger to the public and environment, said Frazer Lockhart, manager of the DOE's Rocky Flats office. The next steps are approval of a plan detailing the DOE's long-term monitoring and management of the 1,600-acre core where plutonium triggers were produced for nuclear weapons and the transfer of about 4,900 acres to the Department of Interior to manage as a wildlife refuge. The EPA must agree to remove Rocky Flats from its Superfund list before the land can be managed as a wildlife refuge. Lockhart said the transfer to the Interior Department likely will happen early next year. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which released a conservation plan for the site in 2005, has said it will be a few years before any of the planned trails and facilities are open to the public. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., and Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., sponsored the legislation to turn the property into a wildlife refuge. 2006 © The E.W. Scripps Co. ***************************************************************** 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. For more information go to: *****************************************************************