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From: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com (abolition-usa-digest) To: abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: abolition-usa-digest V1 #38 Reply-To: abolition-usa-digest Sender: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk abolition-usa-digest Thursday, November 12 1998 Volume 01 : Number 038 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1998 11:27:06 -0800 (PST) From: Tracy Moavero <paintl@igc.apc.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) URGENT: CONTACT US MISSION RE NAC We're glad that many of you have been writing to President Clinton and Secretary Albright to protest the US attack on the New Agenda Coalition at the UN. We have sent out the following action alert which calls for letters to go the the US Mission with copies to the President. The Administration definitely needs to hear from us, but if we can generate letters to the Mission, that will be reported to the Administration too. We think there is value in breaking the shroud of silence around the US delegation in such forums. Let them know we are paying attention and we are not happy! Happy faxing, Tracy Moavero ACTION ALERT: UNITED STATES BLOCKING PROGRESS ON NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT The Cold War may be long over, but the United States and other declared nuclear powers still cling to their nuclear weapons. An estimated 36,000 nuclear weapons remain in the world's nuclear arsenals, thousands of them ready to launch on a moment's notice, and the nuclear powers continue to squander billions of dollars on nuclear weapons research and development. Meanwhile an ever growing list of countries are lining up to join the nuclear club, raising the specter of a new, more deadly chapter in tbe arms race and the danger of a nuclear strike somewhere in the world. A New Arms Race or a New Agenda? The United Nations General Assembly is about to vote on two important nuclear disarmament resolutions. One, sponsored by Ireland and seven other nations calls for a New Agenda for nuclear disarmament. These governments (Ireland, Brazil, South Africa, Slovenia, Mexico, Sweden, Egypt, and New Zealand) have recognized that without a serious new approach, the dangerous legacy of the Cold War will live on. Their New Agenda indcludes a call for negotiations on a treaty that would eliminate nuclear weapons. Malaysia has introduced a resolution calling on nations to honor the 1996 International Court of Justice opinion that a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons is required by law. The United States, preferring the nuclear status quo, has strongly rejected these resolutions and is intensively lobbying other nations to vote them down. The US delegation needs to hear from you! A vote is expected by November 13. Take Action to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Contact US Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Grey Jr., United States Mission to the United Nations, 799 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, Fax 212-415-41198 cc: President William Jefferson Clinton, The White House, Washington DC 20500, Fax 202-456-2883 Tell the Ambassador * The United States should be leading the world toward the abolition of nuclear weapons instead of blocking good faith efforts to jumpstart the stalled disarmament process. * Support the Malaysian and New Agenda resolutions submitted to the United Nations. * Contrary to your statement at the UN, the continued existence of thousands of nuclear weapons IS a clear and present danger to life on the planet. * Past reductions in the world's nuclear arsenals are welcome but insufficient. * The United States should support and advance verifiable measures to immediately reduce the nuclear danger. ****************************************** Tracy Moavero Peace Action International Office 866 UN Plaza, Room 4053 New York, NY 10017-1822 USA Tel.: +1-212-750-5795 Fax: +1-212-750-5849 Email: paintl@igc.apc.org Web: www.peace-action.org Peace Action is a member of the International Peace Bureau and Abolition 2000: A Global Network for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, and has endorsed the Hague Appeal for Peace - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 12:20:26 -0500 From: "David Culp" <dculp@igc.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Russian Gov't. Urges Duma to Ratify START II This is a multi-part message in MIME format. - ------=_NextPart_000_0009_01BE0CA4.7B075300 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT URGES DUMA TO RATIFY ARMS PACT HOME Tuesday November 10 7:11 AM ET By Patrick Worsnip MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's new government urged parliament Tuesday to ratify the START-2 arms deal with the United States, in a bid to improve Moscow's case for Western help in its economic crisis, Interfax news agency said. But the agency said many deputies in the Communist-dominated State Duma, which despite government pleas has repeatedly delayed ratifying the treaty since it was signed in 1993, opposed the call by First Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Maslyukov. Interfax quoted an unidentified parliamentary source as saying that Maslyukov, himself a Communist, told a closed Duma hearing that efforts should be intensified to close a further disarmament deal, START-3. START-2 slashes the two countries' deployed nuclear warheads by up to two thirds to no more than 3,500 each by 2007. The U.S. Senate has ratified the treaty, but the Duma has held back, concerned by fears over U.S. plans for missile defense systems, by the expansion of NATO, and by the cost of scrapping unwanted missiles. Russian President Boris Yeltsin and President Clinton have agreed to open negotiations on START-3 -- which would provide for further reductions -- as soon as START-2 comes into force. Interfax quoted the parliamentary source as saying that radical communist Albert Makashov led an attack on Maslyukov's proposals during the hearings, which were called to provide details of the government's anti-crisis economic plan. Makashov attracted attention last month when he addressed a leftist rally in Moscow with anti-Semitic remarks, which have sparked indignation among Russian liberals. RIA news agency quoted Vladimir Lukin, chairman of the Duma's international affairs committee, as saying Maslyukov had raised the START issue in order to ``create a political environment'' for rescuing Russia from its economic plight. Maslyukov spelled out details of the economic plan whose broad outlines, made public over the last two weeks, have already alienated foreign creditors with calls for more state regulation and printing of money. The plan devised by the recently installed government of Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov aims to save Russia from a crisis that erupted in August when the previous government devalued the rouble currency and froze loan repayments. The session of the State Duma, the lower house, was closed to journalists but Lukin told reporters the economic situation described by Maslyukov was ``as you can imagine, not brilliant.'' Primakov's government is seeking rapid passage by parliament of its economic moves. ``In 10 days, approximately, we will have a schedule of what has to be done, be it presidential decrees, government resolutions or amendments and draft laws to be approved by parliament,'' Maslyukov said in a weekend television interview. Maslyukov has made clear the state role in the economy will increase and has said the government's program will put Russia on the road to a ``socially-oriented'' market economy. He says the government will work closely with the Duma to ensure swift approval of laws and amendments, although the annual battle is looming over setting the state budget. The government's plan won partial approval Tuesday from Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, an endorsement hardly likely to endear it to the International Monetary Fund which is holding back on further credits to Russia for the moment. Zyuganov said before Tuesday's hearing that the plan was ``a step forward toward the real economy and the social protection of citizens.'' But he said only time would tell if it worked. Unlike in previous years, the opposition-dominated Duma is largely behind the prime minister. Primakov is a compromise figure approved by the chamber after President Boris Yeltsin -- who has been recovering for the last two weeks from another bout of ill health -- was forced to drop his first choice to end a political stalemate. Copyright ⌐ 1998 Reuters Limited. 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For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 15:50:01 -0800 (PST) From: Jackie Cabasso <wslf@igc.apc.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Chinese nuclear test site converted to camel sanctuary! Dear friends. As the remarkable article which follows explains, the Lop Nur nuclear test site in China is being converted into a sanctuary for the rare Bactrian camel!! (Let's hope its safe for the camels.) Meanwhile, instead of making plans to close the Nevada Test Site, the United States is preparing to conduct its 5th "subcritical" underground nuclear test, code-named "Cimerron," within the next few weeks.... San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle, Nov. 8, 1998, P. A-13 Nuke test site to camel sanctuary London Independent By Geoffrey Lean Sunday, November 8, 1998 LONDON -- Beating swords into ploughshares is old hat, it seems. This week there is to be an international treaty to give up atomic weapons for camels. On Wednesday China and the United Nations are to sign an agreement to turn China's Lop Nor nuclear test site into a sanctuary for the rare Bactrian camel. The unprecedented move results from three pioneering expeditions to the desolate area north of Tibet--replete with extraordinary feats of derring-do--by a group of explorers whose average age was well above 60. The new nature reserve--a barren and still partially unexplored tract the size of Germany--is to be set up to protect 400 wild Bactrian camels, which have survived more than 40 overhead nuclear explosions, only to be threatened by hunters. It is the first such reserve ever to be set up on an atomic bomb test site. The two humped wild Bactrians are thought to the last representatives of the herds from which all the world's camels are descended. The one-humped dromedaries of North Africa and the Middle East are believed to have evolved from them--a single hump equips them better to withstand extreme heat. This week's agreement largely springs from a long campaign by John Hare, a retired international civil servant from Britain, who persuaded the Chinese authorities to allow him to be the first foreigner to enter the area for half a century. He led three expeditions into the former test site, fighting off bandits, repairing a truck with wire from an old rocket, and twice almost being stranded hundreds of miles from the nearest villages in one of the most inhospitable places on earth. There is no fresh water in the vast area, only salt springs, and the camels have adapted to drinking salt water. They eat dry grass and tamarisks that grow around the springs. "There is no nothing, no people, no fresh water, virtually no vegetation, no birds and almost no animals except the camels," said Hare. At least 45 atmospheric explosions are thought to have been carried out over the area, before the tests went underground. Testing stopped completely in 1996. Hare admits to having been a "camel wallah" for 40 years. As a colonial-era member of the British Overseas Civil Service in northern Nigeria, he used camels for transportation on the fringes of the Sahara. He also employed them while working for the U.N. Environment Program in Kenya. ******************************************** WESTERN STATES LEGAL FOUNDATION 1440 Broadway, Suite 500 Oakland, CA USA 94612 Tel: (510)839-5877 Fax: (510)839-5397 wslf@igc.apc.org ********** Part of ABOLITION 2000 ********** Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 16:40:55 -0500 From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) FWD: Bellefont I received this message on November 10, and thought you would be interested. Please respond to Michael Bernard <<cbernard@hiwaay.net> with ideas and words of support? Ellen Thomas - prop1@prop1.org Proposition One Committee - ---------------------------------------------- From: "Michael Bernard" <<cbernard@hiwaay.net> To: <<prop1@prop1.org> Subject: Bellefont Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 11:33:40 -0800 <flushright><fontfamily><param>Arial</param><smaller>Proposistion One, There is a large project going on in Bellefont Alabama, located in the northeast, that is being kept very quiet nationally and internationally. The nuclear facility located in Bellefont has been left uncompleted for some time, but now the Department of Energy has decided to complete it and use it for the manufacture of Tritium. A simple research done on Tritium will show that it is the most valuable substance on Earth and that the only use for it will be in the manufacturing of Nuclear Weapons. If America continues to sign treaties for the reduction of Nuclear Arsenals, then why do we need to, for the first time in history, manufacture Tritium when there is a stockpile that can keep our currently huge arsenal effective well into the next century. The only reason is for an expansion of the arsenal. This subject is discussed here like an everyday thing, because people are hypnotized by the idea of 500 new jobs instead of the world wide implications of such a plant. I am hoping that someone somewhere will read this and get the word out worldwide about what is going on in Bellefont and stop it before it is too late. Michael Bernard Scottsboro, Alabama </smaller></fontfamily> _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 11:57:54 -0800 (PST) From: Tracy Moavero <paintl@igc.apc.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) ACTION ALERT CORRECTION It seems that I accidentally put an extra digit in the US Mission fax number in the action alert below. The correct number is 212-415-4119 or you can try 212-415-4443. Today the US voted against the Malaysia (International Court of Justice) resolution at the UN, which passed by a vote of 100 to 25 with 23 absentions. The vote on the New Agenda Coalition is expected Friday morning, and the pressure on other countries to vote against is extremely high. Let's show them that we see what's going on and that the US position does not reflect what the people want. Tracy Moavero ACTION ALERT: UNITED STATES BLOCKING PROGRESS ON NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT The Cold War may be long over, but the United States and other declared nuclear powers still cling to their nuclear weapons. An estimated 36,000 nuclear weapons remain in the world's nuclear arsenals, thousands of them ready to launch on a moment's notice, and the nuclear powers continue to squander billions of dollars on nuclear weapons research and development. Meanwhile an ever growing list of countries are lining up to join the nuclear club, raising the specter of a new, more deadly chapter in tbe arms race and the danger of a nuclear strike somewhere in the world. A New Arms Race or a New Agenda? The United Nations General Assembly is about to vote on two important nuclear disarmament resolutions. One, sponsored by Ireland and seven other nations calls for a New Agenda for nuclear disarmament. These governments (Ireland, Brazil, South Africa, Slovenia, Mexico, Sweden, Egypt, and New Zealand) have recognized that without a serious new approach, the dangerous legacy of the Cold War will live on. Their New Agenda includes a call for negotiations on a treaty that would eliminate nuclear weapons. Malaysia has introduced a resolution calling on nations to honor the 1996 International Court of Justice opinion that a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons is required by law. The United States, preferring the nuclear status quo, has strongly rejected these resolutions and is intensively lobbying other nations to vote them down. The US delegation needs to hear from you! A vote is expected by November 13. Take Action to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Contact US Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Grey Jr., United States Mission to the United Nations, 799 UN Plaza, New York NY 10017, Fax 212-415-4119 cc: President William Jefferson Clinton, The White House, Washington DC 20500, Fax 202-456-2883 Tell the Ambassador * The United States should be leading the world toward the abolition of nuclear weapons instead of blocking good faith efforts to jumpstart the stalled disarmament process. * Support the Malaysian and New Agenda resolutions submitted to the United Nations. * Contrary to your statement at the UN, the continued existence of thousands of nuclear weapons IS a clear and present danger to life on the planet. * Past reductions in the world's nuclear arsenals are welcome but insufficient. * The United States should support and advance verifiable measures to immediately reduce the nuclear danger. ****************************************** Tracy Moavero Peace Action International Office 866 UN Plaza, Room 4053 New York, NY 10017-1822 USA Tel.: +1-212-750-5795 Fax: +1-212-750-5849 Email: paintl@igc.apc.org Web: www.peace-action.org Peace Action is a member of the International Peace Bureau and Abolition 2000: A Global Network for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, and has endorsed the Hague Appeal for Peace - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 12:11:25 -0800 (PST) From: Sue Broidy <a2000@silcom.com> Subject: (abolition-usa) Grassroots International A2000 News Grassroots News from Austria and Egypt Great Results to Inspire the Abolition 2000 Movement We have wonderful news from Bahig Nasser our Abolition 2000 Regional Representative in Cairo, Egypt. He has sent us the names of 50 organizations who have recently endorsed the Abolition 2000 statement - 23 from Egypt, 5 in Syria, 9 in Palestine,3 in Israel, 1 each in Bahrain, Morocco ,Kuwait, Libya, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Algeria and Tunisia. He also sent the following list of important leaders who have signed the petition: Khalid Moheey El- Eden The leader of the parlimentarian opposition in the People' s Assembly of Egypt ( the first house ) President of the Arab Coordination Center of NGOs Prof.Dr. Refaat El Said Professor of history Expert in the field of Islamic fundamentalism Member of the Shoura Council ( the Second house ) Prof.Dr. Ismail Sabry Abdallah Former minister of planning in Egypt President of the Third World Forum Cooperative expert with UN Dr. Mourad Ghalib Former minister of foreign affairs in Egypt President of APPSO Prof.Dr. Samir Amin Former director of Devlpoment and planning institute for Africa ( UN University ),Dakar, Senegal Currently ,Director of Third World Forum , Dakar , Senegal. and Chairman of Arab Research Center Mr. Farouk Abou Essa Former foreign minister of Sudan Currently Secretary General of Arab Lawyers Union Dr. Mohamed Shaker Former Ambassador, Expert in the field of nuclear weapons President of the NPT THIRD REVIEW CONFERENCE. Mr. Mohamed Fayek former minister of Media in Egypt currently Secretary General of Arab Organization of Human Rights Mr. Omran Elshafei Former assistant to Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt Prof. Dr.Mostafa Elway,Egypt Expert in the field of security and conflict resolution Prof. Dr. Hassan Nafaa,Egypt Expert in the field of UN and other international organizations Mr. Taher Shash Former judge and former Ambassador,Egypt Expert in the field of Human rights and Humanitarian Laws Dr.Ahmed Abdul Halim (Retired General ) Deputy President of National Center for Middle East Studies Expert in the field of Disarmament and Nuclear Weapons Dr. Essmat Ezz (Retired General ) Pugwash Expert in the field of Disarmament and Nuclear Weapons Prof Dr.Fawzy Hammad Former president of Atomic Energy Authority of Egypt Prof. Dr.Abd Elgwad Emmara Expert in the field of Nuclear Energy. NEWS FROM AUSTRIA We were also very pleased to hear recently from Georg Breuer in Vienna, Austria who sent us news about his great achievements for Abolition 2000. The following people have signed the petition: Cardinal Dr. Franz Konig, former Archbishop of Vienna Alois Kothgasser, Bishop of Innsbruck Reinhold Stecher, former Bishop of Innsbruck Gertraud Knoll, Protestant Superintendentin Werner Horn, Superintendent Alfred Stingl, Lord Mayor of Graz Ferdinand Lacina, former Minister of Finance Peter Kostelka, leader of the Social Democratic Party in Parliament Albrecht Konecny, leader of the Social Democratic Party in the Bundesrat (Senate) also: a socialist MP and five members of the Bundesrat: all nine Green MPs and many Green regional and communal deputies and party functionaries; a dozen university professors; several prominent actors and a number of other well known Austrians. Georg writes," We also wrote to some 200 groups and organizations informing them about the petition and inviting them to spread it among their members, to publish it in their bulletins and to contact you directly if they want to become part of the network...More and more signed forms are coming in. So far I received 750 signatures. At my post office I shoed the petition to the girl at the counter. She said, That's fine, give me one" and collected the signatures of all her colleagues in the office." He also gave us the names of four potential partner organizations we will be contacting immediately. This is all very encouraging and hopefully will inspire others to do the same. Look for this information on our website at http://www.wagingpeace.org and watch the numbers grow! Sincerely, Sue Broidy Coordinator, Abolition 2000 Nuclear Age Peace Foundation 1187 Coast Village Road Santa Barbara CA 93108 Phone (805) 965 3443 FAX(805)568 0466 Email: A2000@silcom.com Website http://www.waginpeace.org/abolition2000 To subscribe to the abolition-usa listerve, send a message (no subject) to abolition-usa-request@lists.xmission.com To post to the list, mail to: abolition-usa@lists.xmission.com To subscribe to the international abolition-caucus, send a message (no subject) to majordomo@igc.org To post to the list, mail to: abolition-caucus@igc.apc.org - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1998 21:48:39 -0800 (PST) From: Timothy Bruening <tsbrueni@wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us> Subject: (abolition-usa) My new GOP Congressman Doug Ose and military spending The 3rd Congreessional District of California has a new GOP Representative named Doug Ose. I saw him decry government waste in his TV ads. I would like to help him in his mission to fight government waste by sending him a list of wasteful military projects. Please send me a list of wasteful military programs. I would also like to see peace activists meet with Doug Ose to urge him to oppose wasteful military programs. His email is doug@dougose.com. - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 01:03:24 EST From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) draft statement on Iraq Friends, This is a DRAFT statement which I prepared earlier this year for the War Resisters League. I don't believe it was adopted in this form by WRL but I send it on as a basis for discussion because - unhappily, very unhappily - not much has changed and this analysis remains pretty much on target, in my view. In terms of what can be done NOW, while I certainly support all calls for "day after" actions, it is urgent that in this brief span of time before the die is cast (if that time still remains), we call or write our members of Congress, to express our absolute opposition to Clinton's course. He should not be impeached for his sexual life, but his political life, from the erratic and illegal bombing of Sudan and Afghanistan to the impending illegal and unilaterial military action against Iraq is very much the basis for charges of impeachment. Peace, David McReynolds, staff, War Resisters League, NYC David McReynolds War Resisters League Statement on Iraq It is necessary, as we examine the present crisis, to concede that the government of Iraq is an unlovely one, an oppressive military dictatorship. As such, it joins a number of other unlovely regimes, such as those in Indonesia, Burma, Syria, Iran, some of which have strong U.S. support (the United States is currently supplying military aid to Indonesia, in spite of a record of oppression of its own people as well as those in East Timor). And we remind ourselves, even as the drums of war are heard on the nightly news, that democratic governments can do terrible things, to match anything Saddam has done. We look at our own recent history in Indochina, in Central America, in Panama. We remember that we, alone, have used nuclear weapons - the ultimate weapon of mass terror. Let us, therefore, begin by not allowing the nightly news, nor the daily headlines, to make up our minds for us. The current crisis is a manufactured one, and the United States is functioning once more as a bully because it is the only true "super power" in the world. When Iraq attacked Iran, and a war dragged on from 1980 to 1988 during which time a million young men from both nations were killed, the United States said and did absolutely nothing. Since both Iraq and Iran were considered hostile to U.S. interests, the terrible slaughter (with weapons eagerly supplied to the two sides by outside dealers, including the U.S.) was not covered on the evening news, nor was it an occasion for urgent meetings of the Security Council. Today Iraq has attacked no one. It lost the Gulf War, it was driven from Kuwait (which was not a democracy when Iraq invaded it, and has not become a democracy since its "liberation"), it suffered massive destruction from U.S. air strikes which crippled much of its infrastructure. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates (December, 1995) that the UN-imposed blockade has killed more than 567,000 under the age of five, due to lack of food or medical supplies. More than 4,500 children under the age of five are dying each month from hunger and disease (United Nations Children's Fund, October 19, 1996). We can deplore the failure of Saddam to accept the terms the UN has laid down - which amount to unconditional surrender. But Saddam is hardly exceptional in defying UN Resolutions. You would never guess it from Peter Jennings or Tom Brokaw or Dan Rather, but for the sixth year in a row the United Nations General Assembly has voted by overwhelming margins against the U.S. embargo on Cuba. This year Japan, Canada, and the entire European Union voted against the U.S. - only two countries - Israel and Uzbekistan - voted to support the U.S. We must ask by what right the United States defies the United Nations (failing even to pay its dues), and yet feels free to threaten war against Iraq. And, in the Middle East, Israel has repeatedly shown utter contempt for UN resolutions and even, as in the case of the Oslo Accords, with treaties it signed. President Clinton has rarely been less candid or convincing than when he talks about the danger of Iraqi chemical and biological warfare. Yes, such weapons are profoundly dangerous. Unhappily it has to be assumed that not only does the U.S. possess such weapons but that in the Middle East Iran, Syria, and Israel can all be assumed to have them or be working on their development. Certainly Israel has a number of nuclear weapons and has threatened to use them. The United States Congress has not yet voted full U.S. compliance with the international treaties banning chemical weapons. The U.S., while demanding that UN teams (heavily staffed with U.S. inspectors) be permitted on-site inspection anywhere in Iraq, has refused to accept the same verification measures for itself. We deplore all weapons of mass destruction and terror - and note that most of these weapons are held by the United States. We deplore all war. We deplored and spoke out against the Iraqi attack on Iran when the U.S. was silent. We deplored Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people while the U.S. was silent - and even provided massive funding to Israel. Most of all we have spoken out against the double standards so swiftly resorted to by the U.S. President, Secretary of State, and Congressional leaders. The Gulf War has been over for six years. It is time to end the sanctions against Iraq, which have achieved nothing except terrible suffering within Iraq. We deeply oppose the U.S. policy of choosing "an enemy of the month" to help fuel support for military spending. The government of Iraq has committed a number of "sins" but they are hardly unique. The government of Syria is at least as undemocratic and ruthless as Iraq, but the U.S. is eager to bring Syria into peace negotiations. The government of Israel is, on a daily basis, engaged in the oppression of the Palestinian people, destroying their homes and subjecting them to military occupation. The government of Indonesia has engaged in unspeakable oppression in East Timor - but it long had a warm and friendly relationship with Bill Clinton. It should now be clear that despite the enormous military power of the U.S., its position on Iraq does not even command full support of its European allies, which are desperately searching for alternatives to war. And it should be clear that the government of the United States continues to play a shell game with the American people, focusing on the "wrong-doing" of some governments as if they were unique, while ignoring similar "wrong-doing" by governments we are doing business with. While we directly urge the government of Iraq to take steps to assure the world that it will not produce nuclear weapons or chemical and biological weapons, we also directly urge that every government take similar steps and, most important, that those nations possessing the ultimate weapon of mass terror - the nuclear bomb - move toward a world with zero nuclear weapons. At this point, and judged on the record, the good faith of Bill Clinton and the U.S. government is no better than that of Saddam Hussein. To say that is not to speak in support of Saddam Hussein, but to suggest how much Americans need to focus on fundamentally changing our own government. Not only is the United States not authorized to be the "cop of the world", it is not qualified to play that role. International conflicts must be resolved within the framework of the United Nations, free of the constant threats by the U.S. government to engage in unilateral military action. Finally, we must point out that behind the dramas of confrontation between Sadaam and Clinton are the ordinary working people of Iraq, who cannot vote freely, yet are the targets of the U.S. sanctions and of Clinton's threats. There is, in the U.S. approach to Iraq, and to much of the Middle East, a profound arrogance which overlooks the fact that much of civilization may well have had its origins here in the fertile crescent. The people who live there merit a greater measure of human respect than its seems possible for a heavily armed state such as our own to give. There is about U.S. policy, both in dealing with Iraq, and also in dealing with Libya, a sense that no national leader who defies a U.S. President should be able to "get away with it". Clinton has continued this unhappy tradition of "personalizing foreign policy", which made it so very hard to bring the Indochina War to an end. The old saying is that "pride goes before a fall" and in this case, the pride to worry about is not in Baghdad but in Washington D.C. - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 07:48:41 -0500 From: Peace through Reason <prop1@prop1.org> Subject: (abolition-usa) Speaker Livingston's Backers: Defense Contractors It's good to get this information, although it's disturbing. Do we need to put some pressure on the House NOW not to elect Livingston to Speaker? Ellen Thomas prop1@prop1.org - -------------------------------------- http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-Livingstons-Backers.html November 12, 1998 Defense Cos. Big Livingston Backers By The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) -- Though he has no major Pentagon installations in his district, Louisiana Republican Rep. Bob Livingston, the man in line to become House speaker, has raised more money from defense companies than from any other source. That's because in the Washington money game, where you sit matters more than where you're from. And for the last four years, Livingston has sat at the head of the Appropriations Committee, deciding where billions of federal dollars go. Even before ascending to the committee's top post, Livingston was a member of the Appropriations subcommittee that wrote the annual defense spending bill, supporting more money for the military. ``They are his closest friends in Washington,'' said Charles Lewis, director of the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan watchdog group. ``They have sponsored his career to this point. When you're a politician, you tend to remember who your good friends are over time. These defense companies have been close to him for the last decade.'' Since he became Appropriations chairman, other special interests also have been generous, according to Federal Election Commission records. In 1994, the election that gave the Republicans control of the House, Livingston raised $169,032 from political action committees. Through Oct. 14 of this year, PACs contributed $578,951 to Livingston's re-election committee and an additional $389,878 to the leadership PAC that he formed in March. Some of these contributions closely tracked issues before Livingston's Appropriations Committee. For instance: --The drug company Schering-Plough contributed $10,370 to Livingston's re-election committee and his PAC. Livingston ultimately backed the company's unsuccessful efforts in the closing weeks of the congressional session to gain a patent extension for its anti-allergy drug Claritin. Schering-Plough lobbyist Robert Lively also provided $448 worth of tickets to a Baltimore Orioles game to assist a Livingston-related fund-raiser. --Chrysler Corp. contributed $5,000 to Livingston's leadership PAC on Oct. 3 and $2,000 to Livingston's re-election committee on Oct. 6, as the final spending bill was being written. The legislation prevented the federal government from increasing the fuel efficiency standard for light trucks and cars. --In the spring, the House debated whether to impose new standards on managed care health organizations. Livingston's PAC received $2,000 from Blue Cross-Blue Shield, one of the leaders of the lobbying effort to block new regulations, and $7,500 from two members of the anti-regulation lobbying group Healthcare Leadership Council: Tenet Healthcare Corp. and the U.S. Surgical Corp. ``We are here to raise money for Republican candidates,'' said John Emling, executive director of Livingston's Building Our Bases PAC, which raised $1.1 million in seven months. ``The timing of the contributions? We get them when they're sent.'' Still, the defense industry has helped lead the way. Livingston's two most generous givers are from nowhere near his home state of Louisiana: Textron, based in Rhode Island, which has contributed $43,000 over the last decade, and Maryland-based Lockheed Martin, which has given $39,800. ``You have natural allies,'' Emling said. ``Bob is a defense hawk. It's logical that defense-related industries are going to support him. We've had a dialogue with them for years.'' Livingston has taken pride in helping to spare the Pentagon the same sort of paring that other agencies have endured in the drive to balance the federal budget. ``We do not apologize for trying to maximize the dollars we put into this bill and provide for the national defense of this country,'' Livingston declared in June. Defense contractors say they appreciate his support. ``He's been an articulate advocate for our industry,'' Lockheed Martin spokesman Charles Manor explained. ``We have a high comfort level with Bob Livingston.'' - ---------------------------- http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-Livingston-Glance.html November 12, 1998 List of Livingston's Major Donors By The Associated Press The five companies, all defense contractors, whose employees and political action committees have made the heaviest donations to Rep. Bob Livingston, R-La., since 1987, according to Federal Election Commission records and the Center for Public Integrity: --Textron Inc., $43,000. --Lockheed Martin, $39,800. --Diagnostic Retrieval Systems, $35,000. --Avondale Industries, $32,650. --Northrop Grumman, $31,900. Related Information From Hoover's Inc. Avondale Industries - http://www.nytimes.com/partners/quote/hoovers.cgi?ticker=AVDL Chrysler Corp - http://www.nytimes.com/partners/quote/hoovers.cgi?ticker=C Lockheed Martin Corp - http://www.nytimes.com/partners/quote/hoovers.cgi?ticker=LMT Northrop Grumman Corp - http://www.nytimes.com/partners/quote/hoovers.cgi?ticker=NOC Tenet Healthcare Corp - http://www.nytimes.com/partners/quote/hoovers.cgi?ticker=THC Schering Plough - http://www.nytimes.com/partners/quote/hoovers.cgi?ticker=SGP United States Surgical - http://www.nytimes.com/partners/quote/hoovers.cgi?ticker=USS - _______________________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * _______________________________________________________________________ - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ End of abolition-usa-digest V1 #38 ********************************** - To unsubscribe to $LIST, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe $LIST" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.