///Taking the Illusions Out of History-I would like to be able to love my country and justice///

Friday, May 31, 2002

Heart of Cheapness
By PAUL KRUGMAN

oor Bono. He got stuck in a moment, and he couldn't get out of it.

In one of the oddest enterprises in the history of development economics, Bono — the lead singer for the rock band U2 — has been touring Africa with Paul O'Neill, secretary of the treasury. For a while, the latent tensions between the two men were masked by Bono's courtesy; but on Monday he lost his cool.

The pair were visiting a village in Uganda, where a new well yielding clean water has radically improved the villagers' health. Mr. O'Neill's conclusion from this, as from the other development projects he saw, was that big improvements in people's lives don't require much money — and therefore that no big increase in foreign aid is required. By the way, the United States currently spends 0.11 percent of G.D.P. on foreign aid; Canada and major European countries are about three times as generous. The Bush administration's proposed "Millennium Fund" will increase our aid share, but only to 0.13 percent.

Bono was furious, declaring that the projects demonstrated just the opposite, that the well was "an example of why we need big money for development. And it is absolutely not an example of why we don't. And if the secretary can't see that, we're going to have to get him a pair of glasses and a new set of ears."

Maybe the easiest way to refute Mr. O'Neill is to recall last year's proposal by the World Health Organization, which wants to provide poor countries with such basic items as antibiotics and insecticide-treated mosquito nets. If the U.S. had backed the proposed program, which the W.H.O. estimated would save eight million lives each year, America's contribution would have been about $10 billion annually — a dime a day per American, but nonetheless a doubling of our current spending on foreign aid. Saving lives — even African lives — costs money.

But is Mr. O'Neill really blind and deaf to Africa's needs? Probably not. He is caught between a rock star and a hard place: he wants to show concern about global poverty, but Washington has other priorities.

A striking demonstration of those priorities is the contrast between the Bush administration's curt dismissal of the W.H.O. proposal and the bipartisan drive to make permanent the recent repeal of the estate tax. What's notable about that drive is that opponents of the estate tax didn't even try to make a trickle-down argument, to assert that reducing taxes on wealthy heirs is good for all of us. Instead, they made an emotional appeal — they wanted us to feel the pain of those who pay the "death tax." And the sob stories worked; Congress brushed aside proposals to retain the tax, even proposals that would raise the exemption — the share of any estate that is free from tax — to $5 million.

Let's do the math here. An estate tax with an exemption of $5 million would affect only a handful of very wealthy families: in 1999 only 3,300 estates had a taxable value of more than $5 million. The average value of those estates was $16 million. If the excess over $5 million were taxed at pre-2001 rates, the average taxed family would be left with $10 million — which doesn't sound like hardship to me — and the government would collect $20 billion in revenue each year. But no; the whole tax must go.

So here are our priorities. Faced with a proposal that would save the lives of eight million people every year, many of them children, we balk at the cost. But when asked to give up revenue equal to twice that cost, in order to allow each of 3,300 lucky families to collect its full $16 million inheritance rather than a mere $10 million, we don't hesitate. Leave no heir behind!

Which brings us back to the Bono-O'Neill tour. The rock star must have hoped that top American officials are ignorant rather than callous — that they just don't realize what conditions are like in poor countries, and how foreign aid can make a difference. By showing Mr. O'Neill the realities of poverty and the benefits aid can bring, Bono hoped to find and kindle the spark of compassion that surely must lurk in the hearts of those who claim to be compassionate conservatives.

But he still hasn't found what he's looking for

accesswater2030@yahoo.com 12:09 PM

May 312 Guardian

Islamabad dispatch

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Pipe dreams

As Pakistan and India appear on the brink of a devastating conflict, some on the subcontinent hope the prospect of billions of dollars in oil and gas revenues may yet hold them back from war, writes Rory McCarthy

Friday May 31, 2002

Yesterday in Islamabad the leaders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan met to revive the ambitious dream of building a £1.4bn gas pipeline to run from central Asia, through Afghanistan and down to the Arabian Sea off the southern Pakistani coast.
Few believe Afghanistan is secure enough to take such an expensive project. Most provinces are still ruled by rival warlords who often owe fickle allegiance to the government in Kabul. Any pipeline that is on or near the surface would be vulnerable to attack.

Yet the dream of a 930-mile pipeline that would carry 23bn cubic metres of gas a year and bring the Afghan government an annual £205m in transit fees alone is too good to resist.

"Now with the gradual return of peace and normality in Afghanistan, we are confident that this mega-project will be realised in the near future," said General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military ruler. The prospect of a lucrative pipeline deal may yet be a key factor in encouraging the Islamabad regime to pull back from the threat of a devastating war with India, which could scuttle the plans as quickly as they have been revived.

Gen Musharraf signed a new agreement on the pipeline yesterday with Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's interim leader, and Sapamurat Niyazov, the Turkmen president. The US oil giant Unocal has been looking at the project for the past decade, battling against an Argentinean rival, Bridas Corporation, which also hoped to win the rights. In the early days of the Taliban regime Unocal officials held meetings with the ultra-Islamic clerics hoping for their support, but with little success. Now Unocal's first feasibility study needs to be updated and the project has to be put out to tender and the funding secured.

Gas analysts warn the project would be vulnerable to disruption by warlords unless it was buried deep enough in the ground, which would add considerable extra costs. Already the size of the project means large industrial buyers would be expected to pay over the odds for the gas at first. Pakistan is hoping that the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank might step in and help finance the deal.

Gen Musharraf, his eyes clearly on the vast earnings and strategic importance oil and gas could bring Pakistan, is also looking at a second £2bn pipeline that would run from Iran through Pakistan into India. Although the Indian market offers a huge opportunity, the pipeline project would have to overcome five decades of hostility between the nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.

With the two nations threatening war, now seems an unlikely time to start talking about a pipeline. Yet senior Russian officials have visited Pakistan this month, ostensibly to talk about peace with India but also to push Gazprom's bid to build the pipeline. If Gen Musharraf is unable to build a peaceful relationship with India some have suggested bypassing Pakistan by building an underwater pipe from Iran round to India. That would cost Pakistan dear.

accesswater2030@yahoo.com 11:55 AM

Thursday, May 30, 2002

1pm update
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Pakistani troops assemble at Indian border
Staff and agencies
Thursday May 30, 2002
The Guardian

Pakistan moved troops to its eastern border with India this morning after 30 people were killed in further cross-border violence between the nuclear neighbours.

The forces were being shifted from the Afghan border, where they have been aiding US forces in the search for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, a Pakistan government spokesman said today.

The move comes after suspected Islamic militants stormed a police base in Kashmir, killing two officers, and cross-border shelling killed at least 28 other people.

Adding to the tension, Pakistan's new ambassador to the United Nations, Munir Akram, said that Islamabad had never ruled out using nuclear weapons first in a conflict. India has a no-first-use policy.

"India should not have the license to kill with conventional weapons while our hands are tied" by removing the first-use option, Mr Akram said at the UN headquarters in New York.

International efforts are continuing to avert an outright war over India-controlled Kashmir. Analysts believe that if a conventional war escalated into a nuclear conflict there could be 12 million immediate deaths in the two densely populated countries.

Diplomatic efforts to ease tensions have been complicated by militant attacks, which India says Pakistan encourages. Pakistan insists it has done all it can to stop cross-border incursions by Islamic militants based in its territory.

Militants raided the police base in Doda, 110 miles northeast of Jammu, overnight and remained holed up inside, a police spokesman said at midday. Police were being evacuated from the building and officials were considering blowing up parts of it to try to flush out the armed Islamists.

The shelling in Kashmir resumed soon after Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, left the subcontinent after visiting President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad and the Indian prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in New Delhi. Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to mediate one-on-one talks between the two leaders during an Asian summit in Kazakhstan next week. Pakistan has accepted, but India has ruled out any negotiations until the cross-border attacks stop.

Pakistan denied US claims that any movement of troops could jeopardise attempts to seal the Afghan border and prevent the escape of Taliban and al-Qaida forces.

Rashid Quereshi, chief spokesman for President Musharraf, said the troops were being sent to areas "where they are needed in the prevailing situation on the borders".

Witnesses in the northwestern frontier area said they had seen dozens of army trucks moving troops and light weapons.

India and Pakistan have been on a war footing since an attack on India's parliament in December which New Delhi blamed on two Pakistan-based militant groups and the country's spy agency. Pakistan and the two groups have denied the allegations. Pakistan has also said the threat of war may force it to redeploy troops from Sierra Leone, where it forms a large part of a UN peacekeeping mission.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002
accesswater2030@yahoo.com 9:19 AM

Wednesday, May 29, 2002

Mondo Washington
by James Ridgeway

U.S. Ignored Warnings From French

Previous Columns
5/28/02 Knowing Much, Bush Did Little to Protect America

key point in unraveling why the FBI failed to follow up leads on Al Qaeda terrorism now centers on the Bureau's contemptuously brushing aside warnings from French intelligence a few days before 9-11. In a footnote to her May 21, 2002, letter to FBI director Robert Mueller, Coleen Rowley, the director of the FBI's Minneapolis office, cryptically alluded to the FBI supervising agent in Washington being given info on the so-called 20th hijacker, Zacarias Moussaoui, by the French last summer, but choosing not to act on it.
French officials were long known to have been frustrated with Washington's neglect. Shortly after the attack, Le Monde reported on a meeting between French and U.S. intelligence: "The first lapse has to do with the processing of intelligence items that come out of Europe. According to our information, French and American officials did in fact hold important meetings in Paris from the 5th to the 6th of September, that is, a few days prior to the attacks. Those sessions brought representatives of the American Special Services together with officers of the DST (Directorate of Territorial Security) and military personnel from the DGSE (General Overseas Security Administration).

"Their discussion turned to some of the serious threats made against American interests in Europe, specifically one targeting the U.S. Embassy in Paris," Le Monde continued. "During these talks, the DST directed the American visitors' attention to a Moroccan-born Frenchman who had been detained in the United States since August 17 and who was considered to be a key high-level Islamic fundamentalist. But the American delegation, preoccupied above all with questions of administrative procedure, paid no attention to this 'first alarm,' basically concluding that they were going to take no one's advice, and that an attack on American soil was inconceivable. It took September 11 for the FBI to show any real interest in this man, who we now know attended two aviation training schools, as did at least seven of the kamikaze terrorists."

In her report, Rowley presents a picture of an agency asleep at the wheel. "For example, at one point, the Supervisory Special Agent at FBI HQ posited that the French information could be worthless because it only identified Zacarias Moussaoui by name and he, the SSA, didn't know how many people by that name existed in France. A Minneapolis agent attempted to surmount that problem by quickly phoning the FBI's legal attache in Paris, France, so that a check could be made of the French telephone directories. Although the attache did not have access to all of the French telephone directories, he was able to quickly ascertain that there was only one listed in the Paris directory. It is not known if this sufficiently answered the question, for the SSA continued to find new reasons to stall."

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Translation by Arlette Lurie
accesswater2030@yahoo.com 9:28 PM

'If it kicks off, we will see fighting in Britain.'

Asian communities fear the conflict may spread over here, writes Paul Harris
Observer Worldview

Sunday May 26, 2002
The Observer

NIRMAL SINGH was born in England and grew up believing that the age-old ethnic and religious disputes of south Asia would never affect him.
But now he fears he may have been wrong. As war looms over Kashmir, Britain's diverse Asian communities are worried they will be dragged into the conflict.

'I noticed that when I went into a Pakistani shop recently they looked at my turban and they all went quiet,' said Singh, who works in his family business in the Birmingham suburb of Handsworth. 'I know everyone is talking about the trouble, but we've just got to talk peace and getting along. It is very worrying.'

The sabre-rattling between India and Pakistan over Kashmir has come at a time when relations between Britain's Pakistani and Indian communities are already strained following 11 September.

Some Hindu and Sikh leaders have sought to distance themselves from Pakistanis in reaction to a general public perception that lumps them all together as 'Asians'. They have pressured Asian radio station Sunrise Radio to drop the term Asian and refer instead to individual communities.

Last year's race riots in Pakistani or Bangladeshi communities also tested relations. In some incidents, rioting youths attacked Hindu-owned businesses. In response, the far-Right British National Party ran an anti-Islamic campaign, lining up with some Sikh and Hindu extremists.

Community leaders have called for calm: 'We would urge that no one engage in any sort of actions against the Hindu community in Britain,' said Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain. 'Our argument is with the Indian government, not ordinary people.'

The sentiment strikes a chord on the streets of Birmingham, which has substantial minorities from both sides. But there is still a genuine fear that violence in Kashmir could spread to Britain. 'If it kicks off in Kashmir, then I am sure we will see fighting here,' said Soony Harry, a Pakistani who runs a family shoe shop in Handsworth. 'Even good friends will end up fighting each other.'

For Harry, whose family is Kashmiri, living in England has given him a sense of perspective. 'I'm from Kashmir and I'm not bothered about the politics. We all get along here in England, so why not there?'

The dispute has also revealed a generation gap in both communities. Among older people who were born abroad, the issue of Kashmir is very much alive. They talk of terrorists and plebiscites with a passion that has not dimmed over the decades. But among many young British-Asians it is less important. They are more concerned with football and fashion than the ancient politics of their parents.

In Southall, Middlesex, where Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus rub shoulders on the busy high street, there is no real argument among youths hanging out on street corners.

'Our lifestyle is different here,' said Robin Chopra, a 24-year-old unemployed Indian. 'We all get along fine and don't really see Kashmir as anything to do with us.'

Kashmir crisis
26.05.2002: Frantic bid to avert nuclear conflict
26.05.2002: Indian leader under pressure after Pakistan's missile test
26.05.2002: 'If it kicks off, we will see fighting in Britain'.

accesswater2030@yahoo.com 9:13 PM

(*Editors Note | In attempting to assess how much the Bush Administration knew about the pending attacks prior to Sept. 11th. bear in mind, while this report reaches no conclusions it clearly leaves open the possibility that highly detailed information about the attacks was made available to high ranking U.S. officials in the 13 months preceding Sept. 11th. Quoting from the LA Times report; "Several officials said they were unfamiliar with the transcripts, but one Justice Department official noted that a small cadre of U.S. intelligence experts might have been privy to them.")

Go To Original

Wiretaps May Have Foretold Terror Attacks

Investigation: Suspected Al Qaeda operatives taped in Italy in 2000
discussed airplanes, airports and strikes "that will never be forgotten."

By Sebastian Rotella And Josh Meyer
Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

May 29 2002

PARIS -- Suspected Al Qaeda operatives wiretapped by Italian police in the 13 months preceding Sept. 11 made apparent references to plans for major attacks involving airports, airplanes and the United States, according to transcripts obtained by The Times on Tuesday.

U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials said they would study the transcripts because the conversations, although open to interpretation, could refer to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

A report by a Milan anti-terrorism prosecutor containing the transcripts suggests that Italian authorities realized sometime after Sept. 11 that the conversations could be related to the attacks on the United States.

If that is correct, it raises tantalizing questions about whether suspects in Italy had advance knowledge of the plot by the Sept. 11 hijackers, an elite group whose operation appears to have been tightly compartmentalized for maximum secrecy. Moreover, the intercepts could be another of the indications emerging globally that authorities missed signs that attacks were in the works.

In one conversation, a suspected Yemeni terrorist tells an Egyptian based in Italy about a massive strike against the enemies of Islam involving aircraft and the sky, a blow that "will be written about in all the newspapers of the world."

"This will be one of those strikes that will never be forgotten.... This is a terrifying thing. This is a thing that will spread from south to north, from east to west: The person who came up with this program is a madman from a madhouse, a madman but a genius. He is fixated on this program; it will leave everyone turned to ice," he said.

That dialogue took place Aug. 12, 2000, in a Citroen driven by Abdelkader Mahmoud Es Sayed, then 39, an Egyptian accused of being Al Qaeda's top operative in Italy and a man with ties to the inner circle of Osama bin Laden. Es Sayed had just picked up the Yemeni, Abdulsalam Ali Ali Abdulrahman, at the Bologna airport, according to a transcript contained in a report by the Milan prosecutor.

"In the future, listen to the news and remember these words: 'Above the head' ... remember well, remember well.... The danger in the airports.... There are clouds in the sky there in international territory, in that country, the fire has been lit and is awaiting only the wind," the Yemeni said.

That taped conversation and others surfaced during recent trials of Milan-based Al Qaeda terrorism suspects who were the object of intense surveillance and ongoing wiretaps by Italian police in 2000 and 2001. The transcripts are among copious investigative material that has been scrutinized anew "in the light of the tragic events of last September," according to the prosecutor's report, dated May 15.

Report Cites Key Figure's Links to U.S., Germany

The report noted that there are "numerous and interesting elements concerning the relationship of Es Sayed with cells in Germany and the United States." The leaders of the Sept. 11 plot were based in Hamburg, Germany, and trained along with the rest of the 19 hijackers at U.S. flight schools.

Little is known about the command structure that operated between Mohamed Atta, the suspected chief of the hijackers, and Bin Laden.

Italian authorities would not comment Tuesday on the prosecution report, except to confirm its authenticity.

Italian and U.S. anti-terrorism investigators cooperate closely, and the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported Tuesday that FBI experts helped Italian police analyze the intercepts, whose sound quality was impaired by background noise.

But FBI and Justice Department officials said Tuesday that they planned to review the transcripts and that they were unaware of any help U.S. officials had provided to the Italians. Several officials said they were unfamiliar with the transcripts, but one Justice Department official noted that a small cadre of U.S. intelligence experts might have been privy to them.

A Justice Department official said that, if accurate, the recordings would require "serious" review to determine exactly what they meant and who had the information and when.

At least one of the men, Es Sayed, has been known to U.S. law enforcement for some time. He was named in an April 19 order by the Treasury Department blocking the assets of suspected terrorists. Es Sayed was convicted in Egypt in connection with the 1997 massacre of 58 foreign tourists at Luxor, and he was wanted in Italy on charges of conspiring to traffic in arms, explosives, chemical weapons and identity papers and aiding illegal immigration.

Es Sayed fled Italy to Afghanistan in July 2001, after Italian police rounded up his accomplices in a Tunisian-dominated network accused of plotting against U.S. targets.

In addition to being imam of a Milan mosque regarded as an Al Qaeda operations center, he allegedly commanded a network that specialized in providing forged documents. He allegedly had close ties to Ayman Zawahiri, the Egyptian considered Bin Laden's second in command, as well as extremists in Sudan and Egypt, according to the Italian report. Es Sayed is believed to have died during the U.S. military strikes on Afghanistan.

His visitor traveled on a Yemeni diplomatic passport, according to the Italian report. Abdulrahman allegedly has ties to Al Qaeda and "was identified by knowledgeable foreign sources as chief of a Yemeni political security organization, which provided logistical assistance and intelligence to the Egyptian terrorist group Al Jihad," the Italian report said.

At one point, the two men discussed the U.S. hunt for Bin Laden, according to the transcripts. The transcripts are less clear about to what extent, if any, they had advance knowledge of the Sept. 11 plot.

The comments about major attacks could conceivably refer to other plots, such as a foiled one to use an airplane against world leaders assembled for a summit in Genoa, Italy, in July 2001.

Nonetheless, there are intriguing references to secretive preparations involving the United States and Germany.

On Jan. 24, 2001, police taped a conversation in the Citroen between Es Sayed and Ben Soltane Adel, a Tunisian later convicted of belonging to a terrorist cell based in Milan. "Will these work for the brothers who are going to the United States?" Adel asked, apparently referring to fake documents.

Es Sayed responded angrily, according to the transcript: "Don't ever say those words again, not even joking!" he said. "If it's necessary ... whatever place we may be, come up and talk in my ear, because these are very important things. You must know ... that this plan is very, very secret, as if you were protecting the security of the state."

At the time of the conversation, some of the hijackers had already entered the United States and begun flight training, but others had not.

All of them, however, used their real identities, so they would not have necessarily needed fraudulent documents provided by associates in Milan.

Another "very important" conversation, according to the report, took place Feb. 12, 2001. It was a telephone call from Es Sayed to the telephone of Abdulrahman, the Yemeni, and was answered by a man named Abdelwahab.

"I heard you had entered America," Es Sayed said, according to the transcript.

"I'm sorry, but we weren't able to get in," Abdelwahab responded. "It's our greatest desire and our objective."

That dialogue could be significant because a suspected accomplice of the hijackers failed to enroll in U.S. flight schools after being rejected for a visa. That suspect, Ramzi Binalshibh, is a Yemeni who remained in Hamburg and allegedly helped finance the plotters from there. But the report does not tie the Milan conversation to Binalshibh.

Later in the conversation, the two men also discuss a German-based group, apparently of Islamic extremists, described as "10 men with whom no one can make contact."

In addition to the Hamburg cell--whose leaders were in the United States by the time of the conversation--Al Qaeda also had cells in Frankfurt and Duisburg.

Wiretaps in Spain Also May Refer to Attacks

The Italian case is not the first in which European investigators say wiretaps may indicate that suspects were discussing the Sept. 11 attacks ahead of time.

In Spain, a country believed to have been a significant base for those involved in planning the attacks, authorities charged members of a Madrid cell as accomplices in the Sept. 11 plot based largely on wiretaps of Islamic extremists.

An unidentified suspect in London told the head of the Madrid cell in a taped phone call last August that he "was taking courses and had entered the field of aviation." Spanish investigators interpreted that and other comments as references to the airborne attack plot.

In the Milan transcripts, Abdulrahman used similar language. He told Es Sayed: "I'm studying airplanes. I hope, God willing, that I can bring you a window or a piece of an airplane the next time we see each other." The transcript says that comment was followed by laughter.

Later, according to the transcript, he said the fight against Islam's enemies would be waged "with any means we can combat them, using ... airplanes: They won't be able to stop us even with their heaviest weapons."

------

Rotella reported from Paris and Meyer from Washington. Times staff writer Bob Drogin in Washington contributed to this report.

If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives. For information about reprinting this article, go to www.lats.com/rights. (In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.)

© : t r u t h o u t 2002

accesswater2030@yahoo.com 9:01 PM

This is blackmail to get citizen money
Fla. Coast Off-Limits to Drilling
Energy: Government will pay $235 million to stop oil and gas exploration, White House says. In California, officials call for a similar deal.
By RICHARD SIMON and EDWIN CHEN
Times Staff Writers

May 30 2002

WASHINGTON -- President Bush, whose administration has emphasized increasing domestic energy production, moved Wednesday to prevent oil and gas drilling in a large tract off the Florida coast and in parts of the Everglades. The federal government will pay $115 million to oil companies to drop their fight to drill about 30 miles off the Florida Panhandle. The companies bought drilling rights in the 1980s but faced obstacles put up by Republican and Democratic state officials who objected that drilling could wreak havoc on the white-sand beaches in the Panhandle and on the state's vital tourism industry.

The federal government will spend an additional $120 million to buy oil and gas drilling rights held by private individuals in three sensitive areas of the Everglades.

Bush's decision to preserve what he termed "some of our nation's most beautiful natural treasures" should bolster his environmental credentials in Florida, as well as help his brother Jeb, who is seeking reelection there as governor.

Jeb Bush, who visited the White House on Wednesday, conceded that he stands to benefit from his brother's move. "But more importantly," he added, "it is good public policy, and when there's a convergence of good politics and good public policy, I don't think we should be ashamed about it."

The White House denied that politics played a role in the decision.

The president's action also triggered calls from California officials for his administration to take similar steps to end a fight over undeveloped offshore oil and gas leases off the West Coast.

"What's good for Florida certainly is good for California," said Steve Maviglio, Gov. Gray Davis' spokesman.

It was the second time that Bush, a former West Texas oil man who has pushed for oil and gas exploration in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, has scaled back potential drilling off the Florida coast. In July, the administration reduced by 75% the size of a new offshore tract in another part of the Gulf of Mexico in response to objections from Gov. Bush.

Wednesday's decision drew rare praise for the president from environmentalists, and criticism from his usual allies in the energy industry.

The reaction also underscored the difficulty the administration and Congress have experienced in developing a national energy policy in the wake of California's power crisis last year.

"National energy supply has certainly been handed a setback today," said R. Skip Horvath, president of the Natural Gas Supply Assn. He noted that the now-abandoned offshore drilling tract in Florida potentially contained large natural gas reserves--as much as 2.6 trillion cubic feet. The nation consumes almost 22 trillion cubic feet of natural gas annually.

"We cannot continue to chisel away at America's own resources and expect to continue to be self-sufficient in filling future demand," Horvath said.

Sen. John B. Breaux (D-La.), who has supported the president's efforts to open the Arctic refuge to drilling, said, "Once again politics is deciding energy policy.... Surely the administration that supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge should find a way to drill in the Gulf of Mexico, where we have been successfully drilling for the past 60 years."

Mark Ferrulo, director of the Florida Public Interest Research Group, a pro-environment group based in Tallahassee, called the White House announcement "one of the most significant victories in the 20-year battle to keep Florida's coast rig-free."

But some environmentalists were skeptical of the administration's motives.

Referring to the total cost of the decision, Phil Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, called it a "$235-million campaign contribution to the Reelect Jeb Bush Committee, courtesy of U.S. taxpayers. It's a great move for Florida, and clearly any state that wants to protect its environment ought to follow suit and elect a Bush."

The president's aides sought to downplay the impact of the decision on energy supplies.

Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton said the agreement resolves a "long-standing stalemate" between the oil companies and Florida officials.

"The money paid to the companies under the settlement can be used to make investments elsewhere to help meet the nation's energy needs," she said.

The Everglades land is estimated to contain only about 40 million barrels of oil, a two-day supply for the nation, Norton said--far less than what is thought to exist in the Arctic refuge.

Congressional approval is not required for the administration to buy back the Gulf leases from Chevron, Conoco and Murphy Oil in the area known as Destin Dome. But Congress will need to approve the purchase of the drilling rights in three sensitive areas of the Everglades ecosystem--the Big Cypress National Preserve, the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge. All are in southwestern Florida.

Some members of Congress were already talking about additional actions they plan to seek from the administration.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) sent a letter to Bush calling his announcement welcome news for Floridians, but saying it "ignores the fight that Californians have been waging since a devastating oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara in 1969."

Although state and federal moratoriums prohibit new offshore oil leases in California, those bans do not apply to 36 undeveloped leases issued from 1968 to 1984. They lie more than three miles off the coastlines of Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

"Californians do not want these leases developed, and the oil companies that hold the leases want out of a protracted legal battle," Boxer wrote Bush.

Oil companies holding the undeveloped California leases have filed a breach of contract lawsuit against the federal government because of procedural hurdles that have prevented drilling from proceeding. It was a similar lawsuit that led to settling the drilling dispute off the Florida coast.

The administration has yet to take a position on whether the government should buy back the California leases.

At the White House, deputy press secretary Scott McClellan insisted there is no inconsistency in the president's policies toward the leases in Florida and California.

"The president believes it's important to consult with local and state communities to address local concerns, whether in Florida or in California," McClellan said.

Congressional sources said that the purchase of the California leases could be far costlier--in excess of $1 billion.

While the president's actions Wednesday clearly could enhance his own reelection chances in Florida--which determined the outcome of the 2000 race--the chief short-term beneficiary is likely to be his brother.

Jeb Bush said that, while some might believe that politics were a consideration in the decision, "I don't really care."

The governor insisted that it is not hypocritical to support energy exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge while opposing such action in Florida.

The president has labored to get an energy bill out of Congress that would allow drilling in the Arctic refuge.

While the Republican-controlled House passed an energy bill that would authorize Arctic drilling, the Senate--controlled by Democrats--approved legislation that did not and instead was geared more toward promoting conservation.

As a result, one year after the president unveiled his national energy policy, energy legislation remains in doubt.
If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives. For information about reprinting this article, go to www.lats.com/rights.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright 2002 Los Angeles Times

accesswater2030@yahoo.com 8:46 PM

Love this Culture that we support
Afghan assembly candidates die

The United Nations says eight candidates standing for election to next month's traditional assembly or loya jirga in Afghanistan have been killed over the past weeks.
However, the UN spokesman in Afghanistan, Manoel de Almeida e Silva, said there were no firm indications that the killings were politically motivated.

Four of the murders were reported in the southern Kandahar province, one in Kabul, and three in the central province of Ghor.

The UN spokesman also said he was deeply disturbed at reports that three representatives selected to the first stage of the loya jirga process had been detained in the western province of Herat which is controlled by the powerful provincial governor, Ismael Khan.

Mr de Almeida said the UN had sent investigators to the region and asked the provincial government and the Afghan interim administration to look into the matter.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

accesswater2030@yahoo.com 2:50 PM

No arms embargo on India and Pakistan
· Lords told existing criteria will apply
· Nuclear warheads 'on the border'
· Sharon's army using British hardware

Richard Norton-Taylor and Ewen Macaskill, Rory McCarthy in Islamabad, Luke Harding in New Delhi
Wednesday May 29, 2002
The Guardian

The government insisted yesterday that there would be no embargo on arms sales to India and Pakistan, despite the crisis in the subcontinent and the growing criticism of British arms exports policy.

It chose to make its first public pronouncement on the issue as Pakistan tested a third ballistic missile and it was reported in Pakistan that Islamabad and New Delhi had already deployed tactical nuclear weapons near their common border.

Lord Sainsbury, the trade minister, told the House of Lords: "There is no embargo and no suspension."

He referred to the national and EU criteria for arms sales which he said would be applied "rigorously".

The guidelines give the government a great deal of discretion, as well as maintaining the traditional British secrecy about the weapons trade.

They say it takes into account internal repression, regional stability, and threats to "assert by force a territorial claim", but they also say that "full weight" should be given to Britain's commercial and diplomatic interests.

The government refuses to discuss individual arms deals, and says decisions on whether to approve them are taken case by case.

Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, was in Islamabad yesterday, where he accused Pakistan of aiding "terrorists" in Kashmir and said the world expected the military regime to take new steps against Islamist extremists.

At a "forthright" meeting with the Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf, Mr Straw said that only talks with India could solve the dispute and avert a devastating war.

He made it clear that Britain expected General Musharraf to do more to curb militancy and to stop fighters slipping across the line of control which divides Kashmir to join the guerrilla war.

"President Musharraf is under no doubt about the expectation of the international community for clear action to be taken in addition to that which has already been taken to clamp down effectively on cross-border terrorism," he said.

Gen Musharraf gave his open support to the guerrilla war in Kashmir, in an uncompromising national address on Monday evening, which he described as a "liberation struggle".

The Indian foreign secretary, Jaswant Singh, described the speach as "disappointing and dangerous" yesterday, and said that Pakistan was the "epicentre of international terrorism".

Mr Straw was equally tough. He said: "There is no doubt that Pakistan has in the past assisted what they would describe as freedom fighters, I think the rest of the world describes as terrorists, activists, across the line of control. Terrorism is terrorism."

Mr Singh, who meets Mr Straw, today, said Gen Musharraf's criticism of India was "offensive and tasteless."

There was "no possibility" of the Indian prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, holding talks next month with Gen Musharraf at a summit in Kazakhstan arranged by President Vladimir Putin.

The onus was on Pakistan to show that it had "irreversibly" dismantled camps used by Islamist militants in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, he added.

Mr Singh refused to say what India would do next if Mr Musharraf failed to deliver and whether it was prepared to attack its nuclear rival. Earlier the defence minister, George Fernandes, admitted that time was running out.

"The options are getting fewer and fewer. But which option will finally prevail I can't comment on at this stage," he said.

Yesterday's edition of the Pakistani paper the News reported that India and Pakistan had already deployed tactical nuclear warheads along the line of control and their international border.

The report appeared to be based on a US intelligence assessment written a month ago and leaked to Pakistani officials. If accurate, it is the first confirmation that this has happened, and shows how close the subcontinent is to a devastating war.

Pakistan's military spokesman Major-General Rashid Qureshi denied that his forces had moved warheads to the border. "There is no truth in that," he said. "I haven't even heard of the Indians moving them, frankly."

Lord Sainsbury's comments in the Lords responded to an emergency question from the Liberal Democrat Lord Redesdale, who said the escalation of hostilities led to the threat of nuclear war.

"Any action we take has to be judged on its total impact on the situation and that has to be considered in relationship to the role we are playing in that part of the world," the minister replied.

Ministers have been pressing India to buy 66 Hawk jets for £1bn, and Britain provides parts for the Jaguar bomber, which could be adapted for nuclear weapons and which is made under licence in India.

Yesterday India gave a veiled warning that any attempt by Britain to impose an arms embargo would put the Hawk deal in jeopardy.

British unions say that 2,500 jobs depend on securing the border.

Satyabrata Pal, the Indian deputy high commissioner in London, said: "In any ministry of defence, particularly when thinking about security, an assurance of supply is absolutely paramount."

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002
accesswater2030@yahoo.com 2:19 PM

12pm update
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
India urges Pakistan to 'recognise urgency' of situation
Staff and agencies
Wednesday May 29, 2002
The Guardian

India's foreign secretary, Jaswant Singh, today warned that Pakistan must "recognise the urgency of the situation" over Kashmir.

Mr Singh's warning to Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, came after a meeting with Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, who flew into the New Delhi after meeting Gen Musharraf in Islamabad yesterday.

"Gen Musharraf has already had enough time. It is vital that he recognise the urgency of the situation," Mr Singh told a news conference after discussing the crisis between the two nuclear neighbours with Mr Straw.

India is demanding that the infiltration of militants into Indian-controlled Kashmir must stop; Gen Musharraf insists that incursions from Pakistani militants across the "line of control" have ceased.

Asked which country he believed, Mr Straw said: "The testament of any statement is by actions and not by words."

"The international community looks to press Gen Musharraf to assure that this undertaking is fulfilled on the ground."

"India has waited patiently for the fulfilment of those commitments, which are vital for peace," Mr Straw added.

Earlier, the foreign secretary told reporters that he reassured Mr Singh and other cabinet ministers that Britain condemned terrorism "in all its forms, including cross-border terrorism, and terrorism that is dressed up as 'freedom fighters'".

In a speech on Monday, Gen Musharraf gave clear vocal support to the "liberation struggle" waged by Islamic militants in Kashmir, which has claimed 60,000 lives in 12 years. India claims Pakistan sponsors the militants leading the bloody campaign.

But Mr Singh left open the possibility of a diplomatic breakthrough by saying that there were various proposals for monitoring whether Gen Musharraf was delivering on a promise to stop militants infiltrating into Kashmir.

Meanwhile, firing along the border between India and Pakistan resumed today. Six people were reported to have been killed in Dras, in India's north-western Jammu-Kashmu state.

An Indian army statement said heavy shelling was also under way in border areas of Jammu, the state's winter capital.

Two of the three wars fought between India and Pakistan since independence from Britain in 1947 have been over the disputed Himalayan province.

One million troops are currently placed along their border since India blamed Pakistan for a militant attack on its parliament in December.

India has signed up to a "no first strike" policy over the use of its nuclear weapons, whereas Pakistan has not.

But India has far greater number of forces than Pakistan, giving it the clear advantage in any conventional conflict in the disputed province.

The nightmare scenario is if India's military superiority in any conflict over Kashmir leads Pakistan to retaliate with a nuclear strike.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002
accesswater2030@yahoo.com 2:12 PM

I am for the Natives getting their land back and compensation, but not at the cost to our children.

Tribe Offers Up Its Land to Store Nuclear Waste
Utilities: The tiny band's get-rich plan infuriates Utah leaders, who have no regulatory control.
By TOM GORMAN
Times Staff Writer

May 29 2002

SKULL VALLEY, Utah -- They're only a few dozen adults, these Goshute Indians who call this lonesome range land home, but they've whipped Utah into a fit with their get-rich plan to store the nation's nuclear waste.

The tribe, with 70 mostly poor adults, hopes to make tens of millions of dollars by storing 40,000 tons of highly radioactive waste from eight utility companies. The waste would be kept on their reservation here, 50 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, until a permanent depository is built, most likely at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

The Indians' deal with the utilities needs only the blessing of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which infuriates Utah's leaders. They complain that the whole state would be imperiled for the financial benefit of a tiny tribe over which they have no regulatory control.

The tribe argues that its reservation, where 25 members live, is better suited for storing nuclear waste than for farming. It was once described by Mark Twain as a rocky and repulsive wasteland.

"We were given the land to use--and this is how we want to use it," said Tribal Chairman Leon Bear, 46, a onetime security guard.

The state has filed multiple lawsuits, contesting the NRC's right to license a private storage facility and the utilities' creation of a private company that shields them from liability should something go wrong. It has seized control of the two-lane Skull Valley Road leading to the reservation and banned the transportation of radioactive waste on it. And it's supporting federal legislation that would prevent the utilities from constructing a 30-mile-long rail line to convey the waste to the reservation.

"I have one focus these days--to stop the storage facility from being licensed," said Gov. Mike Leavitt. "We don't produce nuclear waste, and we refuse to store it for those who do."

The utilities have filed their own lawsuits to defend the plan.

The dispute--a recurrent one in the West where Indian lands are plentiful--derives from the special status Indian tribes were granted by treaties they signed in the 19th century. Theoretically, they were regarded as sovereign nations, the equal of the United States, with absolute control over their land. That independence has been eroded over time and they are ultimately subordinate to the federal government, but they have maintained independence from most state and local government regulation.

Local officials and environmental activists are incredulous over how a project of this magnitude could face so little scrutiny, especially given the level of debate over the proposal to permanently bury 77,000 tons of nuclear waste at Nevada's Yucca Mountain.

"Yucca took 20 years of study, a Department of Energy and presidential recommendation, a governor's veto and action by Congress," said Jason Groenewold, spokesman for Heal Utah, a coalition of environmental organizations. "Here, we have a few nuclear utility companies getting together with a few members of a Native American tribe, essentially determining our nation's nuclear waste policy.

"Certainly, Congress never intended this."

In fact, it was the federal government that gave the tribe the money-making idea.

Congress had ordered the Department of Energy to take nuclear waste off utilities' hands but, in the late 1980s, it was hard pressed to find a state to take it. Energy officials instead invited the nation's tribal leaders to open up their reservations for temporary storage.

The department scuttled the idea, but the financially strapped Goshutes pursued it on their own. The tribe needed the money to provide health care, housing and other social programs--as well as income--for its members. Bear won't disclose how much money the tribe would make, but Sammy Blackbear, a tribal member who opposes the project, said it would generate $48 million over 40 years for the Goshutes.

Eight utilities, including Southern California Edison, formed a company called Private Fuel Storage and, in 1997, signed a contract with the tribe to send spent fuel rods here for as long as 40 years. If there is no permanent disposition by then, the utilities are expected to take back the material.

After five years of study, the NRC staff has concluded that the project meets federal regulations and does not pose an environmental risk, said NRC project manager Mark Delligatti. The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board is hearing objections and is expected to offer its recommendations to the NRC later this year. The NRC's five commissioners may make the final decision by year's end.

If the NRC approves the utility-financed $3.1-billion project, the storage facility could open by early 2005. The utilities would then begin delivering 40,000 casks, each containing 10 tons of uranium fuel rods surrounded by 170 tons of concrete and steel. They would stand on a reinforced concrete parking lot--like 19-foot-high nuclear silos--spread across 100 acres of what is now dry brush and grass.

The eight utilities generate 20% of the nation's nuclear power, mostly in the South, the northern Plains and the Northeast.

"Some of the utilities are running out of on-site storage space, waiting for Yucca Mountain to be ready," said Private Fuel Storage spokeswoman Sue Martin. "We're trying to avoid having to shut down a reactor for lack of storage for spent fuel."

The reservation is in Tooele County, whose commissioners agreed to the project. In exchange for providing law enforcement and hazardous material cleanup support to the utilities, the county could receive as much as $400 million over 40 years. The project, Bear says, is in keeping with the development of the region, which over the decades has become home to other hazardous ventures.

Near the 18,000-acre reservation, the Army tests how to battle anthrax and other chemical, nerve and biological agents at the Dugway Proving Ground. At another site about 20 miles away, the Army is incinerating nearly half of the nation's stockpile of chemical weapons. Thirty miles in a different direction, a private company has been burying low-level nuclear waste with the state's approval for years. The region's mining companies, alongside the Great Salt Lake, are among the nation's biggest industrial polluters. And to the west is one of the Air Force's largest bombing and cruise missile ranges.

Two years ago, Congress passed legislation effectively banning construction of rail lines to the reservation unless the Defense Department concludes that it would not affect its training mission. Military officials object to the nuclear waste facility because it would force F-16s to detour around Skull Valley en route to bombing ranges.

In a further effort to ban the rail line, the House of Representatives on May 14 attached an amendment to the military appropriations bill that declares the land as a wilderness study area. If the amendment is approved by a House-Senate conference committee, access to the site would be all but blocked.

The state continues to bombard the NRC with objections, citing concern that a military jet or errant cruise missile may crash on the site. State officials argue that the integrity of the site is compromised by seismic activity in the mountain ranges that frame the valley.

They also question whether the tribe still wants the deal.

Some of the Goshutes claim they recalled Bear as chairman for his refusal to share contract details with them and have sued the Bureau of Indian Affairs for signing off on the project.

"We're here to protect the land, not destroy it," said dissident tribal member Blackbear, who claims that a majority of the tribe now opposes the project.

Bear maintains that his recall was not valid. The BIA refuses to intervene and still recognizes Bear as tribal leader. The utilities contend that the contract remains enforceable.

The controversy has overshadowed any attention that Nevada had hoped to generate in Utah in its fight to kill the Yucca Mountain project, 90 miles from Las Vegas.

Because about 90% of the waste destined for Yucca Mountain is expected to travel through Utah, Nevada launched an ad campaign on Salt Lake TV stations earlier this month. It raised the possibility of nuclear fuel being spilled in Utah due to accident or terrorism and asked viewers to call Utah's senators to voice their objection.

Local polls indicate half of Utahans support storing nuclear waste in Nevada--even if it means traveling through Utah--but four out of five oppose temporary waste storage on the Goshute reservation.

"I'm against it going out on the reservation," said Eric Thomas, who runs an excavation company in suburban Roy. "I think Yucca Mountain should be opened, and that the utilities should just move the waste once--to Nevada."

But the utilities say they can't wait that long. And Bear said Utah officials are applying double standards against the tribe.

"Utah says it doesn't want nuclear waste in its backyard," he said. "But look around. We're already surrounded by toxic waste--and none of it is [financially] benefiting the tribe. Now it's our turn to benefit."
If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at

accesswater2030@yahoo.com 12:00 PM

Tuesday, May 28, 2002

The real terrorism is that these items are being trucked with virtually no security and no safe disposal plan
washingtonpost.com
Mexicans Search For Lost Cyanide
Hijacking of Truck Carrying 7.6 Tons Of Poison Raises Terrorism Concerns

By Mary Jordan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, May 28, 2002; Page A13

MEXICO CITY, May 27 -- Nearly eight tons of sodium cyanide hijacked from a truck in central Mexico this month is still missing despite an extensive law enforcement search, heightening concerns that it poses a potential security threat in Mexico and the United States.

The truck was hijacked May 10 in Hidalgo state, about 100 miles north of Mexico City. The truck was recovered last week but most of the cyanide -- 7.6 tons packed in 76 drums -- was missing.

Sodium cyanide is routinely used in silver mining, and Mexico is the world's largest producer of silver. The chemical is commonly used in gas chamber executions, and even trace amounts can be deadly when inhaled or ingested.

Hidalgo police today conducted door-to-door searches of warehouses as police in all northern Mexican states continued air and land searches for the missing cyanide drums.

"People aren't scared, but officials are, because they know what it can be used for," said Miguel Angel Osorio, a senior Hidalgo state official.

U.S. officials are concerned that the cyanide could be heading north, and border officials are watching for it, according to the FBI and other U.S. law enforcement agencies offering help in the search. U.S. intelligence officials have reported uncovering plans to use cyanide or other chemicals to attack U.S. targets. Earlier this year, nine men suspected of having ties to al Qaeda were arrested in Italy and found to be in possession of a cyanide-based substance and maps of Rome with the U.S. Embassy and the city's water supply system highlighted.

"We are coordinating with the Mexican authorities on this. They are taking the lead," said Josie Shumake, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. "Everybody at the ports of entry knows about it and they are on alert."

U.S. and Mexican officials stress that the truck hijacking could have been a robbery unrelated to terrorism. Truck robberies are daily events in Mexico, and some officials here said the thieves might have thought they were stealing a truckload of electronics or clothes.

"My gut says it's some thug looking for a VCR who is now scared out of his mind because he has tons of poison," said one U.S. official. "The problem is, what if it is not?"

The hunt for the cyanide has unnerved many Mexicans, particularly in Hidalgo and neighboring states. Television news reports and health officials are informing people about the substance's appearance: white bricks about the size and shape of a bar of soap.

Hidalgo police investigator Pedro Luis Noble said authorities were testing the water supplies of all communities in the state daily in search of cyanide traces. "We are monitoring all bodies of water, springs, dams," he said.

Other states in central Mexico were taking similar precautions.

The hijacking has focused new attention on the lack of regulations in Mexico governing the transportation and handling of hazardous materials.

Last Wednesday, two fishermen in a small fishing community near the Pacific Coast resort of Mazatlan discovered a container of cyanide. No one knows where it came from, although it is not believed to be part of the missing truck cargo. Officials say it might simply have been discarded as trash, raising further questions about controls on toxic substances.

Osorio, the Hidalgo state official, said both incidents highlight the need for greater regulation. He said that if the truck had been carrying television sets, it probably would have been accompanied by an armed guard. Companies transporting expensive goods routinely use security guards and even computer tracking chips. In many rural Mexican communities, even the local beer or soda delivery trucks carry a man with a shotgun.

But Osorio said the cyanide truck had no guard, probably because the entire load was worth only $15,000. "Changes are needed," he said.

Attempts by telephone and e-mail to obtain a comment from officials at Degussa AG, the mining company that owned the cyanide, were unsuccessful.

The hijacking has also raised questions about whether the United States and Mexico have any coordinated strategy for dealing with potential security threats. Since Sept. 11, the two countries have sharply increased border security and pledged to cooperate on terrorism-related matters.

But news commentators here have become increasingly critical of the government's handling of the case, saying that the U.S. government has gone on higher alert than the Mexican government and that there is no apparent coordination.

© 2002 The Washington Post Company
accesswater2030@yahoo.com 9:56 AM

World Media Watch for May 28, 2002

BUZZFLASH NOTE: Once again, these are the views and perspectives of the
individual papers, not of BuzzFlash or Gloria. They offer BuzzFlash
readers a way of reading what other nations are saying about the
crisis,
whether we like it or not. We repeat: This is not an endorsement of
their viewpoints.

* * *

1//The Independent, UK--'FRIENDS' ACT BY BUSH AND CHIRAC FAILS TO HEAL
RIFT (Mr Bush seemed, however, to be in a rather skittish and unfocused
mood after a demanding five day tour to Germany and Russia. He referred
twice to Mr Chirac as "President Jacques" and pronounced the French
President's second name through- out as "Shrak".)

2//Russian Observer.com, Russia--THE SUMMIT OIL DEAL - SETTING THE
STAGE
FOR EVEN BIGGER OIL BARGAINS (A new element in the U.S.-Russia agenda
has emerged at this Summit: energy deals?Specifically, they will
cooperate against instability in global oil markets; which in practice
means that Russia should increase its oil supplies to make up for the
shortfall in case of cuts in oil supplies to the West from the Middle
East. Meanwhile, America is to help develop Russian oil sources and
markets: this means investment. Evidently there is to be cooperation on
developing Central Asian oil markets.)

3//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong--ARMS EMBARGO AGAINST AL-QAEDA DEEMED
INEFFECTIVE (The eight-month-old United Nations arms embargo against
Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers and the al-Qaeda network has proved
ineffective, a UN monitoring group said on Wednesday?The Security
Council also imposed financial prohibitions on both groups in attempts
to cut off funding for terrorist operations?Despite these restrictions,
it has been difficult to differentiate among transactions related to
laundered money, organized crime, and funding for terrorism.)

4//The Times of India, India--INDIA LACKS GUTS TO ATTACK PAK: FAROOQ
("The United States of America thinks only of its own national
interest... No country in the world wants to see a strong India, be it
Pakistan or any other country," he said, warning the Indian leadership
not to trust anybody.)

5//Pakistan News Service, Pakistan--ASHRAF QAZI RULES OUT N-WAR WITH
INDIA (Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, who
arrived here on Saturday from New Delhi, ruled out nuclear war between
Pakistan and India.)

6//Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippines--US POWER, PRAYERS NO HELP TO
BURNHAMS ("It's like losing a tiny tack in the backyard," said Brig.
Gen. Donald Wurster, chief of US Special Forces training Philippine
troops in counter-terrorism on Basilan Island. The mountainous,
jungle-clad province is about three times the size of Singapore?he
1,000
US soldiers training Philippine troops to fight the Abu Sayyaf bandits,
linked by the United States to Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, represent
America's biggest troop deployment in its war on terror after
Afghanistan.)

---------------------------------------------

For the complete World Media Watch, click here:

http://www.buzzflash.com/mediawatch/2002/05/28_wmw.html

accesswater2030@yahoo.com 9:47 AM

Does this mean that Russia will not sell uranium to the non-Nato countries and will always lower the price of oil when OPEC gets high and mighty? Does this mean they will now approve of Satellite Missles for the US(STAR Farce)?
May 28, 2002
NATO Embraces Russia as Partner
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 9:32 a.m. ET

ROME (AP) -- NATO, the alliance set up more than a half century ago for the Cold War containment of Moscow, formally accepted its old enemy as a junior partner Tuesday.

``We have come a long way from confrontation to dialogue, and from confrontation to cooperation,'' Russian President Vladimir Putin said before he and 19 NATO leaders, including President Bush, signed an agreement creating a NATO-Russia Council.

``Two former foes are now joined as partners,'' Bush said.

Under the new arrangement, Russia will have more authority than in an earlier, less formal arrangement set up years ago to try to nudge Moscow closer to the West.

Even so, its involvement will be limited to certain areas. They include crisis management, peacekeeping and such military areas as air defense, search-and-rescue operations and joint exercises.

The 20 leaders sat at a circular table and remained seated as the documents were passed around for them to sign.

``The significance of this meeting is difficult to overestimate,'' Putin said earlier, noting that a few years ago, such a role for Russia ``would have been, simply, unthinkable, whereas today it has become a reality.''

``Being realists, we must remember that relations between Russia and the North Atlantic alliance have been historically far from straightforward,'' Putin said. Even though Russia was not admitted as a full partner and has a limited role, ``we must understand this Rome Declaration ... is only a beginning,'' he said.

Afterward, Secretary of State Colin Powell said he recognizes that Russia opposes a further enlargement of NATO. The alliance is expected to bring in up to seven new full partners in November, including states bordering on Russia.

Even with the new relationship, ``Russia cannot have a veto over who becomes a member or not,'' Powell told reporters.

Leader after leader cited Sept. 11, and the lingering terror threat, as a catalyst for new cohesion and determination among NATO members. ``The months since have made clear that by working together against these threats, we multiply our effectiveness,'' Bush said.

Putin agreed, and mentioned a blast during a holiday parade in the Russian region of Dagestan on May 9, killing 41 people. Russia blames Islamic extremists for the attack.

Later, at lunch, the leaders talked about the India-Pakistan crisis, participants said. ``We have to make a great effort to amicably pressure (India and Pakistan) to avoid the worst,'' French President Jacques Chirac told reporters.

Tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals have been building. Pakistan on Tuesday conducted its third test firing of a missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads into Indian territory, while India denounced policies of Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf as ``dangerous.''

NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson, who will be chairman of the new council, opened the session, declaring ``this gathering represents the hope of a better, saner future.''

He said he considers the council a real breakthrough and expressed hope that it would ``not just deliberate but take decisive actions. ...There is a common enemy out there.''

Bush, just days after he and Putin signed an agreement slashing their nuclear arsenals by two-thirds over 10 years, hailed the transformation of Russia from Cold War rival to friend.

``Today marks a historic achievement for a great alliance and a great European nation,'' Bush said during his turn in sequential speeches by NATO partners.

``Two former foes are now joined as partners, overcoming 50 years of division and a decade of uncertainty,'' Bush said. ``This partnership takes us even closer to a larger goal, a Europe that is whole, free and at peace for the first time in history.''

The leaders formalized their new arrangement amid the tightest of security at the seaside Pratica di Mare air base. Concerned about terrorist attacks, Italy deployed 15,000 security forces and mounted robust air and sea defenses to protect the 20 world leaders.

Bush, meeting privately with Robertson beforehand, praised the alliance for recognizing that a united Europe is ``more likely to be achieved by welcoming Russia west.''

British Prime Minister Tony Blair also welcomed Russia's new role in a front-page article for Tuesday's Corriere della Sera, the Italian daily.

He said the new arrangement ``shows how the world has evolved in the past 15 years.'' Still, Blair noted that Russia is not a full-fledged NATO member ``and won't have the right of veto.''

Russia's participation comes as NATO looks forward to expanding further in November and as it ponders its role in an age when Russia is no longer an adversary.

Russia's future involvement will be limited to crisis management, peacekeeping and such military areas as air defense, search-and-rescue operations and joint exercises. NATO and Russia will decide only on those issues on which they can find consensus. More contentious issues will be left off their agenda, and NATO will keep a free hand in setting and implementing policy.

Tuesday's gathering brought Putin and Bush together for the second time in a week. Bush spent three days in Russia last week as part of a four-nation European tour, and signed an agreement with Putin to slash their strategic nuclear arsenals to one-third of the present levels over the next decade.

Bush began the day Tuesday with a visit with Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. After Tuesday's NATO summit, he will go to the Vatican to meet Pope John Paul II before heading home to the United States.

The new council is to replace a consultative body set up in May 1997 to ease Moscow's alarm over NATO's plans to include some of Russia's Soviet-era allies and neighbors.

NATO will meet in November in Prague and likely expand by six or seven Eastern European nations.

NATO last expanded in 1999, when Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic joined.

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press | Privacy Policy

accesswater2030@yahoo.com 7:31 AM

Monday, May 27, 2002

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SUIT A "SHAM" TO PROTECT HARRIS, BUSH
Wednesday, May 22, 2002
Yesterday's Justice Department announcement of a suit against Florida counties for purging Black voters from voter rolls and other violations of civil rights is the result, and vindication, of the investigations of BBC Television reporter Greg Palast. The award winning investigative reporter, within three weeks of the 2000 election, was first to disclose that the Florida Secretary of State's office had purged thousands of voters, mostly African American, from voter registries prior to the Presidential election. All were named as felons ineligible to vote, but most, Palast disclosed, were innocent.

Palast's series, beginning first in Britain's prestigious Sunday paper, the Observer, continued in reports for BBC television's Newsnight and the Guardian, finally reaching American shores with his by-line stories in Salon.com (named Politics Story of the Year), the Nation, Washington Post and most recently, Harper's Magazine, whose next issue will contain a debate by letter between Palast and Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris.

Palast's continuing reports on the topic are devastating: disclosing e-mails and internal Florida state documents indicating that Harris' office KNEW the purge swept away the civil rights of innocents - and changed the outcome of the election. Counsel for the US Civil Rights Commission has said that Palast's reports provided, "The first hard evidence of systematic violation of civil rights."

In addition to the voter purge, Palast has documented the tribulations of African American voters in attempting to cast their ballots and have them counted. After reviewing the Justice Department's information, Palast stated today, "The US Justice Department's suit is a sham - the beneficiaries of the voting disaster, Bush's agencies, have figured out a way to do the least possible political damage to candidates Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush. They have aimed their fire at blameless county officials when the disaster was created in Tallahassee - a disaster for Black voters, though a blessing to the highly partisan Secretary of State's office. I fear this is an attempt to undercut the suit by the NAACP against Harris and others more directly responsible."

Palast has also investigated similar misdeeds in Tennessee and elsewhere.

Palast's book, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, providing the evidence of the violation of voter rights, has become a surprise best seller in the US - in its 6th printing since its launch last month.

American born Palast, now in London, relocates to the USA (New York) this weekend.

###

At www.GregPalast.com you can read and subscribe to Greg Palast's London Observer columns and view his reports for BBC Television's Newsnight. Pluto Press has just released Palast's book, "THE BEST DEMOCRACY MONEY CAN BUY: An Investigative Reporter Exposes the Truth about Globalization, Corporate Cons and High Finance Fraudsters."

Site Design by SqygeyNork Productions - www.SQYGEYNORK.com

accesswater2030@yahoo.com 9:19 PM

Next two are by Ridgeway in the Village Voice May 25, 02
Bilderbergers Reduced to Chain Hotel
Leave a Light On

This weekend the Bilderbergers—a tiny clutch of rich people who think they run the world—will hold their annual secret meeting just outside Washington, in the heart of the industrial military complex, at the Westfields Marriott in Chantilly, Virginia. This is a dreadful comedown for these people, who are used to meeting in ancient castles and on splendid estates where nobody can see them or know they're even there. And to be but a stone's throw from the Pentagon must give them the jitters as well. Talk about a target!

The Bilderberg Group was founded by moderate British lawmaker Denis Healey, David Rockefeller, and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands in 1954. The idea was to develop understanding between Europe and America during the Cold War by bringing together the people who matter—financiers, industrialists, politicians, and opinion molders. People, that is, who have had a proper education, dress appropriately, and know how to comport themselves in public.

Bilderbergers quite rightly think of themselves as rather important people. Henry Kissinger may be the best known. Member Vernon Jordan vouched for Bill Clinton in 1991, and he got in. New Jersey senator Jon Corzine sits on the American steering committee. Paul Wolfowitz, arguably the Bush ally most gung ho to whack Iraq, is in the ranks as well.

Not long ago Healey, now Lord Healey, described the essence of a Bilderberger to The Guardian: "To say we were striving for a one-world government is exaggerated, but not wholly unfair. Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn't go on forever fighting one another for nothing and killing people and rendering millions homeless. So we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing."

When push comes to shove, you can't shove a Bilderberger around. "I will tell you this," Healey continued. "If extremists and leaders of militant groups believe that Bilderberg is out to do them down, then they're right. We are. We are against Islamic fundamentalism, for instance, because it's against democracy."

accesswater2030@yahoo.com 9:00 PM

Special Education President
Bush Spent Terror Week Smiling for the Camera
While You Were Freaking

As his advisers scared the nation stiff with talk of doomsday, Shrub immersed himself in a hectic, heavyweight schedule. Let's start with the week of Monday, May 13, which the prez kicked off by inking an arms deal with Russia, signing the farm bill—and flying to Illinois for a fundraiser for state attorney general Jim Ryan, a candidate for governor.

Back in Washington on Tuesday, he attended a black-tie gala fundraiser for the Republican Party, which raised $30 million, and released the first of a set of photos of himself on Air Force One, engaged in a phone conversation with Vice President Dick Cheney after the September 11 attacks. Reserved for those who donate at least $150 to GOP legislative hopefuls, the pics capture a moment when, in the president's own words, he was just trying to stay out "of harm's way."

The next day, May 15, Bush went to Capitol Hill for a discussion of welfare reform. News broke of an FBI agent's early 9-11 warning, but it wasn't until the weekend that the administration got it together enough to cover its ass.

On Thursday, May 16, the prez attended a ceremony honoring Ronald Reagan.

Thanking God it was Friday, Bush busied himself presenting the Commander in Chief trophy to players from the Air Force Academy football team.

On the sixth day he rested. Then came the storm. Growing furor in Congress over the FBI's failure to respond to early alarms left the administration with two choices: counter convincingly or thunder more loudly. Thus on Sunday, May 19, Cheney announced that more attacks in this country are "almost a certainty." The next day, FBI chief Robert Mueller said suicide bombings here are "inevitable." On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld put in his two cents with the dire warning that the terrorists "inevitably will get their hands" on nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.

Meanwhile, the commander in chief was having himself a good old time. Bush opened the workweek of May 20 with a White House attack on Fidel Castro, a sturdy punching bag. This presumably was a swipe at that peanut farmer turned one-term president turned international appeaser and current Havana visitor, Jimmy Carter. Standing before Washington reporters, Bush sought to lift the Cuban menace to new heights, labeling the island nation a redoubt for bioterrorism—a charge which appears to have no credibility. Ramping up, he traveled to Miami that very day, where he gave Castro another kick for the benefit of the Cuban Americans in Miami, a gesture designed to get brother Jeb a key bloc of votes in his upcoming gubernatorial fight. Then he dashed off to Jeb's fundraiser, while his top advisers began suggesting that the Brooklyn Bridge and Statue of Liberty might be taken out sooner or later.

Back on the White House South Lawn, the president spent Tuesday, May 21, socializing with this year's NCAA champions. He met with the University of Maryland men's basketball team (the Terrapins), the Connecticut women's basketball squad (the Huskies), and the Minnesota men and women hockey skaters (the Bulldogs).

Through all this, the Homeland Security office never changed its alert from yellow, insisting the tips were too vague. They couldn't have been much vaguer than Bush. "The FBI director, yesterday, I talked to him. He comes in every morning, by the way," Bush explained before taking off for Europe. "So this subject, he came up this morning. He was talking about, he was speculating based upon a lot of intelligence that indicates that the Al Qaeda is active, plotting, planning, you know, trying to hit us. So he was speculating. He basically said, Look, I wouldn't be surprised if there is another attack, and it's going to be difficult to stop them, is what he said."

With that, the commander left his now jittery homeland on Wednesday, May 22, for ice cream in Berlin and another groundbreaking effort: condemning Hitler.

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accesswater2030@yahoo.com 8:56 PM

Wonder where he got the support?

www.sfgate.com Return to regular view
Right-winger wins in Colombia
Independent Uribe claims presidency by a wide margin
Juan Forero, New York Times
Monday, May 27, 2002
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/05/27/MN40827.DTL

Bogota, Colombia -- Bitter after three years of fruitless peace talks, voters gave a resounding victory on Sunday to a hard-right candidate for president who promises a sharp buildup in the armed forces to battle two rebel groups that have been waging war for 38 years.

With 98 percent of returns counted on Sunday evening, election officials said Alvaro Uribe had received 53 percent of the vote, more than 20 percentage points ahead of his closest rival, Horacio Serpa, a Liberal Party populist. The majority vote gave Uribe an outright victory and averted a runoff next month.

A former governor and mayor of Colombia's second-largest city, Medellin, Uribe promises an uncompromising "hard hand" against the insurgents, a position that has resonated across this nation of 40 million people in an election that was being closely followed by U.S. officials.

Even before Uribe declared himself the winner, the U.S. ambassador, Anne Patterson, arrived to offer congratulations at the elegant Bogota hotel where Uribe's campaign workers were celebrating.

"It looks like he's ahead by a very significant amount and I'm here to congratulate him," Patterson said. She said Washington expected to have close relations with Uribe, who will be inaugurated in August, replacing President Andres Pastrana.

She added that the results of the vote showed that "Colombians are fed up of terrorism."

Uribe's proposals -- to double the size of the army's combat force to 100, 000 soldiers and the National Police to 200,000 -- could mean a more tangible U.S. role in a country that produces 80 percent of the cocaine consumed in the United States.

Because of that and Colombia's increasing instability, the United States has already made it the third-largest recipient of U.S. aid. The assistance is limited to counter-drug operations, but the Bush administration is pushing Congress to drop restrictions so Colombia can use U.S. helicopters and troops trained by U.S. soldiers in direct combat with rebels.

READY TO FIGHT REBELS
It is a proposition that Pastrana, who was constitutionally barred from re- election, lobbied for after his peace talks with Colombia's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, collapsed in February. If the U.S. government agrees to provide aid to battle the rebels, Uribe seems willing to be an unwavering soldier in the fight.

He has continuously stressed that the only way Colombia can extricate itself from its mess is by controlling the rebels.

"We do not need American troops, but what we need is to strengthen Plan Colombia," Uribe said in a recent interview, referring to a $1.1 billion mostly military aid package that the U.S. Congress approved in 2000. "We need the resources from Plan Colombia, the helicopters and equipment, to be used to combat crimes, to prevent massacres, to prevent takeovers of towns, that they be used against kidnappings and to prevent forced displacements of villagers."

Tired of escalating rebel violence, Colombians were willing to overlook concerns about the possibility of a more violent conflict in accepting Uribe's message.

"Now with Uribe as president, we are going to confront the guerrillas," said Camilo Santaella, a lawyer, moments after he cast his ballot in a suburban Bogota neighborhood. "At last the hour has arrived to defend ourselves and finish with the cancer that's killing Colombia."

CONFRONT PARAMILITARY
Some Colombians fear that Uribe will take a softer approach to the illegal right-wing paramilitary forces, considering his close association with military officers accused of rights abuses and his friendships with far-right Colombians. The paramilitaries pay for their war against rebel sympathizers with drug trafficking and the donations of large landowners.

Uribe has tried to allay those concerns, saying he plans to combat the paramilitaries with as much vigor as he does the rebels.

He also has said he holds open the possibility of peace talks. But it is unlikely that the rebels will declare a unilateral cease-fire or stop kidnappings -- two demands that Uribe says the guerrillas must meet before the government sits down to negotiate.

STRONG MANDATE
The voters gave Uribe a strong mandate. In taking the first round, he became the first candidate to avoid a runoff in the decade since the two-phase electoral system was put in place. According to a survey by the University of Los Andes, he and his running mate, the journalist Francisco Santos, have the support of 55 of 102 senators and 97 of 165 representatives.

To be sure, the election underscored voters' weariness with centrists like Serpa, a longtime politician who took only 32 percent of the vote. Though Uribe was a member of the Liberal Party, voters saw him as an outsider who started his own movement, Colombia First.

Luis Eduardo Garzon, a leftist union leader also running under an independent coalition, took advantage of voters' disenchantment, too. Though little known a few months ago, Garzon apparently took third place even though the organized left has been largely destroyed by assassinations. His good performance came at the expense of Noemi Sanin, who was once considered a contender to become Colombia's first female president.

©2002 San Francisco Chronicle Page A - 1

accesswater2030@yahoo.com 8:51 PM

This is not Velvet Glove Fascism
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/72040_joel27.shtml

In the Northwest: Protests heating up in a B.C. run by far right
Monday, May 27, 2002

By JOEL CONNELLY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST

VANCOUVER, B.C. -- Beneath a dark and foreboding sky, the largest demonstration seen in the Northwest since Seattle's WTO fireworks brought traffic to a halt Saturday in Canada's third-largest city.

It is unlikely, however, that the protest will slow the layoffs of public employees, closures of long-term care facilities or shutdowns of hospitals and courts being instituted by the ultraconservative government of B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell.

What Campbell calls "special interest groups" were in the streets -- Indian drummers, anti-poverty activists, burly longshoremen and construction workers, college students, greens and doctors frustrated by a fee dispute with the government.

But the march by up to 30,000 people may have led nowhere. With 77 of 79 seats in the provincial Legislature, Campbell's B.C. Liberal Party -- despite its name, a party of the political right -- can rule as a kind of elected dictatorship.

"I think that's dangerous because when you have legitimate democratic avenues of protest shut down, people get more and more disturbed. I think you'll see more and more unrest," George Heyman, president of the B.C. Government Employees Union, said as he marched.

Already there are signs of anger and unrest.

Campbell's constituency office was recently firebombed, and an incendiary device exploded early this month at a Vancouver school where his wife is vice principal.

Across British Columbia, physicians have instituted a "job action" because the province refused to fully honor a binding arbitration award won by the B.C. Medical Association. Elective surgery for more than 1,000 people has been canceled.

Doctors in four cities -- Kamloops, Kelowna, Penticton and Vernon -- escalated the action Friday by refusing to perform even critical surgeries. They announced an emergency room in one hospital would be kept open each day.

And some demonstrators Saturday held signs saying: "Prepare the General Strike."

British Columbia has long been known for its raucous, confrontational political life.

Unlike the United States, where both parties seek the middle ground, British Columbia has veered between governments of the far left and far right. It is not that the center cannot hold -- to borrow poet W.B. Yeats' much-quoted phrase -- but that the center has never emerged.

Last year, voters threw out the left-leaning New Democratic Party, closely allied with organized labor, and put the B.C. Liberals in charge.

The new government imposed sweeping tax cuts, with the province's wealthiest citizens getting the most money. With a ballooning $4 billion (Canadian) deficit, the B.C. Liberals announced deep cutbacks in government services.

The provincial work force is being slashed by 12,000 jobs. A total of 28 courthouses around British Columbia are being shut down. Thousands of hospital and long-term care beds are being eliminated. Seniors in care facilities are being given just a few weeks to find new living arrangements.

Small towns like New Denver and Kimberly in the Kootenay region will lose hospitals -- a devastating blow to Kimberly, which has sought to attract retirees after closure of a major mine.

Tourism in places like the scenic Kootenays is likely to suffer as well. The government has announced it will no longer maintain old logging roads for recreation. B.C. Forest Service campsites will be abandoned and possibly bulldozed.

At Saturday's rally, a social worker from the aluminum-producing town of Kitimat argued that the reductions are hitting hardest at remote communities that gave the strongest support to Campbell's party.

"We are just one of hundreds of towns across this province that are literally on the cutting edge of Gordon Campbell's new era," said Carmen Nikal.

Despite the outpouring of anger, Campbell's government still has the cards.

In the United States, eight Republican senators defied the Bush administration to vote against oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- and GOP Sen. John McCain engineered passage of a campaign finance reform measure.

Such shows of independence are unheard of in a parliamentary system. B.C. legislators are a disciplined unit, not independent actors.

And the premier has an opinion-shaping ally in the CanWest Global Communications Corp., the Winnipeg-based media conglomerate that owns both The Vancouver Sun and The Province, as well as the channel that dominates TV news.

Not only have Vancouver's dailies supported Campbell's government on their news, business and editorial pages, but their corporate parent gave the B.C. Liberals a five-figure donation in last year's campaign.

Campbell's popularity has fallen in the polls. But one recent survey showed that the B.C. Liberals would win another term if an election were held tomorrow. Opposition votes would be split between the New Democrats and the upstart Green Party.

At Vancouver's Sunset Beach, where the marching ended Saturday, B.C. Federation of Labor President James Sinclair said the rally was sending a clear message to the premier: "You have no mandate to rip up this province."

But Campbell has declared that no protest will disrupt his plan to create a "new era."

As western Canada was tranquilly settled in the 19th century -- in contrast to our Wild West -- the motto was "Peace, Order and Good Government." The maxim for British Columbia in the early 21st century may be: None of the above.

© 1998-2002 Seattle Post-Intelligencer

accesswater2030@yahoo.com 8:48 PM

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