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abolition-usa-digest      Friday, January 5 2001      Volume 01 : Number 409




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

Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2000 10:47:39 -0500
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Rumsfeld's corrupt record

Rumsfeld, Bush's pick for Defense Secretary, headed the infamous Congressional
Rumsfeld Commission whose tainted conclusions are driving the push for Son of
Star Wars.  The Commission predicted that North Korea would be such a
threat by
2005 that the US had to deploy NMD by last summer.  Thankfully we were able to
get Clinton to "delay" a decision on deployment--but not on continuing
research
and testing.
See Bill Hartung's report, The Tangled Web for the sordid,sorry story of
how Rumsfeld got to chair the Commission during the Gingrich Congress, and
the disgraceful corporate corruption which played such a heavy handed role.

www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms (click on reports)

Tangled Web: the Marketing of Missile Defense 1994-2000 by William Hartung and
Michelle Ciarrocca, June 2000.
Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)
15 East 26th Street, Room 915
New York, NY 10010
tel:  [phone]
fax:  [phone]
email:  [e-mail]
http://www.gracelinks.org
GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network for the elimination
nuclear weapons.

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

Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2000 15:03:59 -0500
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: Rumsfeld: Star Wars Booster

>Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2000 16:36:03 -0500
>Subject: Rumsfeld: Star Wars Booster
>To: [e-mail]
>From: "[e-mail]" <[e-mail]>
>
>
>        A taste of what is ahead of us with our incoming Secretary of
Defense.
He
>is also an opponent of the CTB, CWC and Start II. Get your activist engines
>running...
>
>        But first, my best wishes on behalf of the national office and org
for
a
>happy, healthy and prosperous New year!
>
>        - Gordon
>
>
>
>
>Institute for Public Accuracy
>915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
>[phone] * http://www.accuracy.org * [e-mail]
>___________________________________________________
>                 Friday, December 29, 2000
>
>                 Rumsfeld: Star Wars Booster
>
>WILLIAM HARTUNG, cell: [phone], [phone] ext. 106,
>[e-mail],
>http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports.html
>Senior research fellow at the World Policy Institute and co-author of the
>recent report "Tangled Web: The Marketing of Missile Defense, 1994-2000,"
>Hartung said today: "Donald Rumsfeld has a reputation as a moderate, dating
>back to his days as secretary of defense in the Ford administration in the
>mid-1970s, but during the 1990s he has become a darling of right-wing
>Republicans and a member in good standing of the Star Wars lobby. As Newt
>Gingrich and Trent Lott's handpicked chairman of a congressionally-mandated
>commission on Third World ballistic missiles that bore his name, Rumsfeld
>grossly exaggerated the ballistic missile threat to the United States posed
>by so-called rogue states such as Iran and North Korea. At the same time
>that he was providing this allegedly objective assessment of missile
>threats, Rumsfeld was a close associate of Frank Gaffney's Center for
>Security Policy, a corporate-financed, ideologically driven think tank that
>serves as the nerve center of the missile defense lobby. He also served on
>the board of Empower America, which ran misleading, pro-Star Wars ads
>against Democratic senators who opposed the plan during the 1998 mid-term
>elections. Before Rumsfeld is confirmed as secretary of defense, he needs
>to answer some tough questions about whether he has the temperament and the
>objectivity to be entrusted with decisions about a National Missile Defense
>system that could cost hundreds of billions of dollars and spark a new
>nuclear arms race in the bargain."
>
>KARL GROSSMAN, [phone], cell: [phone],
>[e-mail], http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk
>Author of the forthcoming "Weapons In Space" and professor of journalism at
>the State University of New York/College at Old Westbury, Grossman said
>today: "Star Wars has received a huge push with the assumption of power by
>the Bush-Cheney administration, intimately linked to corporate interests
>committed to expanding space military activities. The goal, as U.S.
>military documents state [e.g., http://www.spacecom.af.mil/usspace], is to
>have the U.S. 'control space' and from space 'dominate' the Earth below.
>That's why, in November 2000, some 160 nations voted in the United Nations
>-- the U.S. abstained -- to reaffirm the Outer Space Treaty, the basic
>international law on space, enacted in 1967 to keep war out of space. Now
>the U.S. would push full-speed-ahead to make space a new arena of war.
>Spearheading the drive will be Rumsfeld and Richard Cheney, a former member
>of the TRW board. His wife, Lynne Cheney, remains on the Lockheed Martin
>board but is on a 'leave of absence.' (Lockheed Martin, the world's biggest
>weapons manufacturer, and TRW are major Star Wars contractors -- and have
>spent many millions of dollars lobbying for the program.) A main player,
>too, will be National Security Council deputy director-designee Stephen J.
>Hadley, a Star Wars advocate whose Washington law firm represents Lockheed
>Martin. And they will be working from a foreign policy platform put
>together at the Republican National Convention by a committee chaired by
>Bruce Jackson, vice president for corporate strategy and development at
>Lockheed Martin."
>
>For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
>Sam Husseini, [phone] or [phone]
>

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

Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 10:18:05 -0500
From: Ellen Thomas <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews 01/01/01

Dear friends,

Happy New Year!  NucNews Archives have been posted through December 25, 2000
(http://www.onelist.com/archive/NucNews).  I trust 2001 will be a lively (and
hopefully healthy) time for all - looking forward to seeing how many people
show up in Washington D.C. against the inauguration.  Will be a fascinating
study of power stolen and (hopefully) power defused.  Thanks for your good
work....

Ellen Thomas

     ___________________________________________________

Today's News and Archives: http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm
Submit URL/Article: mailto:[e-mail]
OneList Archives: http://www.onelist.com/archive/NucNews (subscribe online)
Other Excellent News-Collecting Sites -
DOE Watch - http://www.egroups.com/group/doewatch
Downwinders - http://www.egroups.com/group/downwinders

Quick Route to U.S. Congress:
http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm (Senators' Websites)
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html (Representatives' Websites)
http://thomas.loc.gov/ (Pending Legislation - Search)

Online Petition to Abolish Nuclear Weapons -
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/prop1/petition.html

Subscribe to NucNews Briefs:  mailto:[e-mail]

   Distributed without payment for research and educational
purposes only, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107.




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

Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001 13:44:32 -0500
From: Kevin Martin <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) the passing of a true leader, Alan cranston

The following message is from the Global Security Institute to
friends and colleagues of Alan Cranston. Among the many hats Alan wore
was co-chair of Project Abolition, and GSI serves as the fiscal sponsor
of Project Abolition.
The only thing I'd add to the words below is that in his energy and
dedication to the cause of ridding the world of the scourge of nuclear
weapons, Alan was one of a kind. A memorial service will be held in San
Francisco January 16.

Kevin Martin
Project Abolition

============================

Senator Alan Cranston died standing up.

While preparing to start a new day, the 86 year old father, grandfather,

friend, and leader passed away standing at his kitchen sink on the
morning
of New Year's Eve, gracefully exiting at the dawn of the new millennium.

The staff, board, and friends of the Global Security Institute, which he

founded to further the cause of the total elimination of nuclear
weapons,
will deeply miss his wit, vision, strength and unwavering determination.


Alan Cranston used as a guide for leadership a quote by the Chinese
philosopher Lao-Tzu, which he carried in his wallet for years:

"A leader is best when people barely know that he exists, less good when

they obey and acclaim him, worse when they fear and despise him. Fail to

honor people and they fail to honor you. But of a good leader, when his
work
is done, his aim fulfilled, they will all say, 'We did this ourselves.'
"

Those who knew him and worked with him remember his utter humility and
complete commitment to the task at hand.

Alan Cranston looked with hope toward the future. We reaffirm our
profound
commitment to completing the work that he began; our work continues
undiminished and strengthened by his memory. We hope you will join with
us
in honoring his memory by helping complete the task.

In the near future, it is our intention to host, along with the Cranston

family, a memorial celebration, honoring his life and work. We hope you
will
participate.

Alan Cranston did not want honor for himself, but honored life itself by

serving the cause of peace. We shall follow in his large footsteps.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Granoff
CEO, Global Security Institute

Tyler Stevenson
Projects Director, GSI

Zachary Allen
Program Director, GSI

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

Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001 14:45:06 -0500
From: Kevin Martin <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) details on memorial service for Alan Cranston

Please send this message to Senator Cranston's friends, colleagues and
loved ones on your email lists.

Please note that many airlines have bereavement rates, and friends
should therefore mention the memorial service when
booking flights.

                          =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

                                          The Family of

                            ALAN MacGREGOR CRANSTON (1914-2000)

                                          Invites You to

                                 A Memorial Celebration of His Life


                                     January 16, 2001, 3:00 PM
                                   Grace Cathedral, San Francisco
                                        Reception to Follow


               For more information about the memorial celebration,
please call 415-561-6686.

 In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to the Global Security
Institute on Alan=B9s behalf to further his work
                         and goals.  P.O. Box 475160, San Francisco, CA
94147


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

Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001 14:52:26 -0500
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: American Mantra

>Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001 12:51:53 -0500
>Subject: American Mantra
>X-FC-MachineGenerated: true
>To: [e-mail]
>X-FC-Forwarded-From: [e-mail]
>From: "[e-mail]" <[e-mail]>
>
>American Mantra: Free Market Capitalism
>
>By Peter Phillips
>
>Free Market Capitalism has become the dominant American ideological truth.
>The decline of communism opened the door for unrepentant free marketers to
>boldly espouse market competition as the final solution for global harmony.
>According to the American mantra, if given the opportunity to freely
>develop the marketplace will solve all evils. We will enjoy economic
>expansion, individual freedom, and unlimited bliss by fully deregulating
>and privatizing society's socio-economic institutions.
>
>The recent selection of G.W. Bush as the U.S. President has placed into
>power the party that is the strongest supporter of this American mantra.
>The business/government revolving-door cabinet will be comprised of more
>corporate CEO's than any presidency in recent history. The new government
>elite will work to see that the American mantra remains safe, globalized,
>and unchallenged.
>
>Pesky socialist or nationalist leaning governments will be undermined,
>pressured into compliance or even invaded if they dare to resist the
>American mantra. The full force of U.S. dominated global institutions -WTO,
>World Bank, IMF, NAFTA-will focus on maximizing free market circumstances
>and corporate access to every region of the world. Economic safety nets,
>environmental regulations, labor unions, human rights, become second place
>to the free flow of capital and investments. Indigenous resisters face
>overt repression, disappearance, or imprisonment by governments fully armed
>and supported by the American dominated New World Order.
>
>So what is the underlying rationale for this American mantra? Are its
>dogmatic beliefs based on specific socio-economic facts? Are free market
>forces clearly the best mechanism for human betterment? Do these mechanisms
>work cross-culturally and are they efficient under all circumstances?
>A closer examination of the American mantra reveals that "free market"
>essentially means constant international U.S. government intervention on
>behalf of American corporations. A public-private partnership that utilizes
>U.S. embassies, the CIA, FBI, NSA, U.S. Military, Department of Commerce,
>USAID, and every other U.S government institution to protect, sustain, and
>directly support our vital interest-U.S. business.
>
>This public-private partnership means that the government of Guatemala is
>pressured to withdraw laws that forbid Gerber foods from marketing their
>chubby baby image on infant formula. Peasants see the baby and believe that
>formula will make their infants healthy and chubby as well. Yet breast
>feeding is considerable healthier in a country where unsafe water mixed
>with formula results in high infant mortality.
>
>The American mantra claims that prices will reach their lowest levels and
>consumers will benefit from free market competition. Yet living essentials,
>food, water, housing, health care, all have the international tendency to
>increase more rapidly than products that are non-essential. Even in the U.S
>we can get a great deal on a computer, but try buying emergency health care
>on a middle income paycheck. Americans are often amazed to find out that
>prescription drugs are significantly cheaper in other countries, a fact
>that discredits the benefits of an unregulated market.
>
>American mantra institutions push market deregulation that transforms
>foreign economies for the benefit of U.S. businesses. Post-NAFTA Mexicans
>are now importing U.S. grown corn for their tortillas, as millions of
>formally subsidized peasant farmers leave the land to seek minimum wage
>work in the cities of United States. Los Angeles has become the center for
>new American sweatshops, as "illegals" compete for poverty jobs, citizens
>cannot afford to accept.
>
>Government-assisted foreign market penetration by U.S firms often results
>in the buying out of successful indigenous companies and the competitive
>overwhelm of others. This situation leaves U.S. multinationals in dominate
>positions in foreign domestic markets and creates win-fall profit taking
>opportunities.
>The free market mantra carries with it shock treatment policies of lowering
>public expectations, forced austerity measures, and dismantled human
>services. A privately run water system is deemed superior to a public
>system because the profit motive will create maximum efficiency. Yet there
>is absolutely no research that systematically compares public verses
>private efficiency levels, only the dogmatic assertion that this is so.
>
>The American mantra affects the U.S. population as well. We are still
>riding on the betterments from the first three/quarters of the 20th
>century, and have not faced the full impacts of the economic bifurcation
>that has occurred the past 25 years. Poverty levels are rising, the working
>poor expanding and homelessness one pay check away for many. In the last
>quarter century the bottom 60 million Americans have economically declined,
>and most of the next 100 million have barely held their own, while the
>dot.com generation elites have socked away fortunes.
>
>It is time to re-examine the American mantra and speak for global humanity.
>We must establish business socio-economic accountability standards and
>reacquaint our government with its responsibility for maintaining the
>common good.
>
>Peter Phillips is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State
>University and director of Project Censored a media research group.
>
>
>Peter Phillips Ph.D.
>Sociology Department/Project Censored
>Sonoma State University
>1801 East Cotati Ave.
>Rohnert Park, CA 94928
>707-664-2588
>

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

Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2001 11:01:37 -0500
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: Silver linings?

>>> Message fromMichael Moore
>>> "Let's Look At the Bright Side of Life!"
>>>
>>> December 14, 2000
>>>
>>> Dear friends,
>>>
>>> Hail to the Thief!
>>>
>>> On this dark, dark day in American history, I prefer to see the next
>>White
>>> House as half-full instead of half-empty! That's just the kind of kooky
>>> optimist I am.
>>>
>>> Instead of brooding over the antics of our Supreme Court Jesters, I'd
>>> rather focus on what makes this country great. Such as all that hooey
>>our
>>> 7th grade civics teacher told us about how ANYONE can become President
>>of
>>> the United States. She was right! It's true! ANYONE just became
>>president.
>>> Let this be a lesson to my younger readers -- listen to your teachers!
>>>
>>> You know, I always like it when life is a win-win situation. Gore won
>>the
>>> "popular" vote, so I guess that means George W. won the unpopular vote!
>>> Everyone goes home with something.
>>>
>>> OK, put away that Gillette double-edged razor and flush those sleeping
>>> pills down the toilet -- tonight is a night for celebration! It's time
>>to
>>> count our blessings, to thank the Lord for what we have been given, to
>>> reach out and touch someone, to....
>>>
>>> To make a list! A list of all the silver linings in this cloud on its
>>way
>>> from Austin to D.C. Yes, there are a number good things that will come
>>out
>>> of all this madness.
>>>
>>> Consider these silver linings:
>>>
>>> Silver Lining #1: Ralph Nader QUADRUPLED the Number of Votes He Got in
>>96!
>>> Continue to ignore his supporters, continue to trash him, and the
>>Democrats
>>> will lose AGAIN in 2004. If there is one lesson that had better be
>>learned
>>> after all the acrimony dies down it's that the Democratic Party can no
>>> longer elect a President without the millions of disgruntled voters who
>>> demand an end to the death penalty, a law that provides free health
>>> coverage for all, prison time for corporate crooks, a doubling of the
>>> minimum wage, a cut in Pentagon spending, and a host of other issues.
>>You
>>> don't have to agree with all these positions, but if you choose to
>>ignore
>>> them, you do so at your own peril. These last five weeks have done more
>>to
>>> turn off millions of Americans to BOTH the Republican and Democratic
>>> parties than a hundred Nader super rallies on C-Span could ever hope to
>>do.
>>> Trust me, Nader will quadruple his vote again in 2004. That's 12
>>million
>>> voters next time. Count on it.
>>> Come home, Democratic Party, come home.
>>>
>>> Silver Lining #2:  Someone Is Going to Count Those Votes In Florida.
>>>
>>> That's right. Thanks to one of the best Freedom of Information Act laws
>>in
>>> the country, any citizen or media outlet in Florida may demand to have
>>the
>>> ballots hand-counted. The Miami Herald has already filed their request.
>>If
>>> they don't do it, I will. Within the next month or so, this one truth
>>will
>>> be proven and revealed: Gore got more votes than Bush in Florida. Gore
>>won.
>>> Which will lead us to our next silver lining...
>>>
>>> Silver Lining #3: The Bush Presidency Will Be Crippled.
>>>
>>> The nation will know Baby Bush only as an illegitimate president. He
>>will
>>> be nothing more than an illegal squatter in the Oval Office. Not only
>>will
>>> he have no mandate, he will have no business being there. He will get
>>> little or nothing done. Put a fork in his administration. It's cooked
>>> before they even have the parade.
>>>
>>> Silver Lining #4: George W. Bush Likes Naps, Video Games and Taking the
>>Day
>>> Off To Go Fishing.
>>>
>>> Just in case the hubris of Silver Lining #3 is slightly off, we can be
>>sure
>>> that Bush is just lazy enough and just dumb enough so that he won't
>>find
>>> the time to do too much damage to the country or the world. The people
>>to
>>> keep  an eye on will be the cabal he brings to Washington with him.
>>They
>>> will require the rest of us to give up napping or going fishing. The
>>video
>>> games we keep.
>>>
>>> Silver Lining #5: Strom Thurmond Is Not Long for This World.
>>>
>>> I say this with absolutely no animosity or disrespect. I hope he lives
>>an
>>> even longer life. But I think even Strom would agree -- if you make it
>>to
>>> 98, you get the brass ring, and you also know that your days are
>>numbered.
>>> Whether forced to retire due to ill health or having to leave the
>>Senate
>>> because of a higher calling, when Thurmond goes, the Democratic
>>governor of
>>> South Carolina is going to appoint a Democratic senator and that will
>>give
>>> the Democrats a 51-49 majority. When that happens, more chaos for Bush,
>>> more roadblocks, more trouble for his agenda (though not THAT much
>>trouble,
>>> considering that the same rich guys who fund Bush also fund most of
>>these
>>> Democrats).
>>>
>>> Silver Lining #6: Thank You, United States Supreme Court!
>>>
>>> By being so blatantly partisan, you can bet that a post-Thurmond
>>> Democratically-controlled Senate is sufficiently ticked off to stop any
>>> Bush nominee who is too extreme.
>>>
>>> And, thanks to this week's 5-to-4 blunder, you have been tricked into
>>doing
>>> something none of us ever thought we would get you to do. You have
>>taken a
>>> stand against "states' rights!" Yes, that evil concept that the
>>founding
>>> fathers agreed to in order to keep the slave states happy has just been
>>> dealt a death blow -- by you! We expect to hold you to this new
>>standard.
>>>
>>> You also made clear your strong support for the equal protection clause
>>in
>>> the Constitution. Great! You can prove your new allegiance to equality
>>for
>>> all by ordering an investigation as to why one in three black voters in
>>> some Florida precincts were not allowed to vote.
>>>
>>> Silver Lining #7: We Will Now Have a Nationwide Uniform Ballot.
>>>
>>> No more chads, no more Karnack. No more the rich getting the foolproof
>>> high-tech vote scanners, and the poor getting antiquated machines that
>>> don't work. May I make a radical suggestion? A piece of paper and a
>>Number
>>> 2 pencil that one uses to mark an "X" in a square, and then a cardboard
>>box
>>> with slit on top that you put the piece of paper into! That's the
>>Canadian
>>> way. Last month, they hand-counted thirteen million paper ballots in
>>under
>>> 4 hours! We look like idiots. This has to be the first bill passed by
>>> thenew Congress.
>>>
>>> Silver Lining #8: Everyone Finally Knows the Awful Truth: "One Person,
>>One
>>> Vote" Is a Lie.
>>>
>>> Good. Now we can do something about it. We need a system of
>>proportional
>>> representation. That would guarantee that everyone's voice is heard.
>>> Remember that other civics lesson -- "majority rule, minority rights"?
>>> Proportional representation means if your party got 10% of the vote,
>>you
>>> get10% of the seats. A number of local governments in the U.S. have
>>> switched to this much fairer and representative system. In the
>>meantime, we
>>> have our best chance now to dump the Electoral College (or, at the very
>>> least, reform it so that every states' electors are proportioned to the
>>> percentage each candidate got).
>>>
>>> Silver Lining #9: We Will Never Have To Look at James Baker or Warren
>>> Christopher Again.
>>>
>>> 'Nuff said.
>>>
>>> Silver Lining #10: With Bush In the White House, Evil Has No Mask.
>>>
>>> From now on, unlike during the Clinton/Gore years, when the poor are
>>forced
>>> into greater hardships, when the innocent are executed, when our First
>>> Amendment rights are stripped from us, when our family's jobs are
>>shipped
>>> to sweatshops overseas, when a record number of personal bankruptcies
>>> continues to rise, when abortion remains unavailable in 86% of the
>>counties
>>> in the country, the liberals and Democrats will not sit silently by.
>>It's
>>> hard for them to organize any real opposition to a Democrat in the
>>White
>>> House -- "I mean, he's one of US! At least he's not a REPUBLICAN! We
>>MUST
>>> support him against those EVIL REPUBLICANS!"
>>>
>>> And then he does nearly everything a Republican would do -- and gets
>>away
>>> with it.
>>>
>>> Bush won't get away with it. Liberals and Democrats will be forced to
>>> finally take a stand. All will be well until the next election.
>>>
>>> Sleep tight, my friends, and don't let the bogeyman scare you. It's
>>only a
>>> dream... it's only a dream...
>>>
>>> Yours,
>>>
>>> Michael Moore
>>> [e-mail]
>>>
>
>
>
>
>

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

Date: Fri, 05 Jan 2001 00:47:25 -0500
From: Ellen Thomas <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews 01/01/05 - D.U./NATO/Pentagon; CTBT Study Results; Recycling Radwaste

Hi, folks, NucNews archives are posted through December 31, 2000
(http://www.onelist.com/archive/NucNews).  Here are some significant stories
from the past two days:

1. EU Demands Truth From NATO Over Uranium Shells
2. Pentagon Denies Balkan Uranium Worry
3. Nuclear Test Ban Report Sought by Clinton Urges Ratification
4. U.S. Agency Seeks Approval to Recycle Radioactive Metals

- ---

EU Demands Truth From NATO Over Uranium Shells

Updated 2:05 AM ET January 5, 2001 By Anna Baker
http://webcrawler-news.excite.com/news/r/010105/02/international-health-balk
ans-dc

LONDON (Reuters) - European Commission President Romano Prodi demanded to know
the truth behind claims that depleted uranium used in NATO weapons had caused
death or illness among Balkan peacekeepers.

Several European nations including the current holders of the European Union
presidency, Sweden, echoed Prodi's concerns, intensifying pressure on NATO to
investigate the so-called "Balkan Syndrome."

In Bosnia, the NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) dismissed the claims, saying
ammunition with depleted uranium used during the 1992-95 war there posed only a
"negligible hazard."

The syndrome came under the spotlight following reports that six Italian
soldiers who served in the former Yugoslavia had developed leukemia and died
after exposure to spent ammunition.

France became the latest country Thursday to announce that it was conducting
its own inquiry into the syndrome, after four of its Balkan veterans contracted
leukemia. It noted that as yet no link to spent ammunition was apparent.

Depleted uranium is used in the tips of missiles, shells and bullets to
increase their ability to penetrate armor and can be pulverized on impact into
a toxic radioactive dust, defense experts say.

NATO SAYS NO PLANS TO CHANGE

Prodi said that even if there were the slightest risk from the munitions, they
should be abolished.

"I want the truth to be ascertained, not only concerning the soldiers, but also
for the people who lived near them, the population," Prodi told Italian state
radio.

U.S. attack jets fired some 31,000 rounds of depleted uranium ammunition
against Serbian tanks and armored vehicles during NATO's 1999 Kosovo campaign,
according to a United Nations expert. Some 10,000 were fired in neighboring
Bosnia in 1994-95, NATO officials reported only last month.

NATO spokesman Mark Laity ruled out any immediate plans to destroy stocks of
depleted uranium munitions.

"The onus is on those who call ill health to prove it, rather than on us, who
don't," he told CNN.

"If things change, NATO will change."

In a bid to establish the facts, Belgium has urged EU defense ministers to
analyze and debate peacekeepers' health problems for the first time at EU
level.

Sweden welcomed the proposal and said it would be discussed at a meeting next
Tuesday of the interim Political and Security Committee. "It is important that
we act," Swedish Defense Minister Bjorn von Sydow said in a statement Thursday.

He said that Sweden's ambassador to NATO would consult with the alliance,
although the country is not itself a NATO member.

    NATO ambassadors are expected to discuss the issue at their regular meeting
next Wednesday, NATO sources said.

MYSTERY AILMENTS

Belgium has reported that five peacekeepers who were in Bosnia and other parts
of the former Yugoslavia have died from cancer.

It said that other soldiers who had been on Balkan peacekeeping missions during
the 1990s reported a variety of unexplained ailments, including headaches and
insomnia.

The Netherlands reported that two soldiers who served in Kosovo and Bosnia had
died from leukemia and Portugal has raised concerns over the death of one of
its Balkans veterans.

Both countries, along with Bulgaria, Finland and Greece, said tests were being
conducted among troops who served in the Balkans and who are still in Kosovo.

Germany and Spain said tests among their peacekeeping troops had so far turned
up no evidence of "Balkan Syndrome."

CONCERNS GROW FOR CIVILIANS

Concerns over the risks of depleted uranium shells during the Kosovo campaign
have been voiced by civilian aid workers in Britain, the Netherlands and Italy.

An umbrella group called the Italian Consortium for Solidarity, comprising some
100 non-governmental organizations active in the Balkans since 1992, cited a
study by British scientist Roger Coghill which estimated some 10,000 possible
future deaths from cancer due to use of uranium in the Balkans.

"I think the local people are in most danger," said Martina Iannizzotto, the
Belgrade-based coordinator of the group's activities in Yugoslavia.

Italian fishermen urged their government to investigate whether any of the
bombs dumped by planes during the Kosovo campaign and dredged up in nets
contained depleted uranium.

A U.N. report in May warned that much of Kosovo's water could be so
contaminated as to be unfit to drink, and that a clean-up of the province could
cost billions of dollars. It warned U.N. staff not to approach any target which
might have been hit by a depleted uranium weapon.

Prodi proposed setting up immediate contact with the governments of Bosnia and
Serbia to discuss pollution and problems linked to depleted uranium.

SFOR said a U.N. Environmental Program was due to report early in 2001 on any
possible risks after measuring radiation levels in soil samples

- -------

Pentagon Denies Balkan Uranium Worry

Excite News Updated 4:32 AM ET January 5, 2001, By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military
Writer
http://news.excite.com/news/ap/010105/04/us-uranium

WASHINGTON (AP) - Responding to a growing chorus of European suspicions, the
Pentagon denies that U.S. and allied peacekeepers in the Balkans face a health
hazard from remnants of American weapons that contain depleted uranium.

"We have not found any link between illnesses and exposure to depleted
uranium," Kenneth Bacon, spokesman for Defense Secretary William Cohen, said
Thursday. "We're pretty confident of what we've said, which is we have found no
direct link."

The Pentagon has been investigating the question since the 1991 Gulf War, when
such weapons were used in combat for the first time.

The United Nations sent a team of experts last year to take samples of soil and
water in Kosovo, where Air Force A-10 aircraft fired depleted uranium munitions
in missions against Serb armored vehicles. Bacon said the samples are being
evaluated at five laboratories, and the U.N. work is expected to be completed
this spring.

In several European countries, questions are being raised about whether
depleted uranium exposure may pose cancer risks.

On Thursday, a spokesman for the European Union said the 15-nation group would
conduct an inquiry, and Bacon said the United States expects the issue to be
raised at a NATO meeting next week. Last week, Italy began investigating
possible links between depleted uranium munitions and about 30 cases of serious
illness among soldiers who served in Kosovo and Bosnia.

Bacon said 31,000 rounds of depleted uranium weapons were fired by American
aircraft during the 1999 war in Kosovo. In U.S.-led NATO airstrikes against
Bosnia in 1994 and 1995, about 10,800 rounds were fired around Sarajevo, he
said.

Questions about possible health risks have persisted, particularly within
veterans groups, since shortly after the Gulf War.

Some in Europe have raised the possibility that exposure to depleted uranium
could cause cancers such as leukemia.

Noting this, Bacon said "a logical starting point" for addressing that question
would be an epidemiological study to determine if an unusually high incidence
of leukemia occurred among soldiers who served in either Bosnia or Kosovo.

"That's something that could be done by European allies, it could be done by
us, but it hasn't been done yet," Bacon said. "And until people do that basic
type of epidemiological work, which involves comparison groups, et cetera, I
think it's premature to talk about any link between depleted uranium and
leukemia. We have found nothing to link the two in our research."

Uranium is best known in its enriched form, which is used to power nuclear
plants and in nuclear weapons. A byproduct of the enrichment process is
depleted uranium which, as its name implies, is depleted of much of its
radioactivity. Because depleted uranium is extremely dense, it is an unusually
effective penetrator of conventional tank armor.

A 1999 Rand Corp. review of scientific literature on uranium found no studies
indicating adverse health effects on humans from exposure to or ingestion of
uranium compounds. Rand, which analyzes national security issues for the
Pentagon, recommended more research, because the use of depleted uranium
munitions is expected to grow.

On the Net: Pentagon studies on depleted uranium: http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/

- ----

Nuclear Test Ban Report Sought by Clinton Urges Ratification

By MICHAEL R. GORDON, New York Times, January 5, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/05/world/05NUKE.html?pagewanted=all

    A former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who conducted a
comprehensive study of the nuclear test ban treaty at the request of President
Clinton has concluded that the United States must ratify it in order to mount
an effective campaign against the spread of nuclear weapons.

The assessment by Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, who was chairman of the Joint
Chiefs from 1993 to 1997, is part of a last-ditch attempt by Mr. Clinton to
build support for the treaty, which Senate Republicans rejected in 1999 and on
which President- elect George W. Bush's own top aides have sharply disagreed.

General Shalikashvili's report outlines measures intended to assuage critics of
the treaty, including increased spending on verification, greater efforts to
maintain the United States nuclear arsenal and a joint review by the Senate and
administration every 10 years to determine whether the treaty is still in
American interests.

President-elect Bush assailed the treaty as unverifiable and unenforceable
during the campaign, but he has also promised to continue the Clinton
administration's moratorium on nuclear testing for the time being. And some
Republican lawmakers have suggested that they might reconsider their votes
against the accord if the treaty was modified or accompanied by new safeguards
and if the new Republican administration supported it.

Mr. Bush's advisers have been deeply divided on the merits of a test ban. Like
most top military men, Gen. Colin L. Powell, the secretary of state-designate,
backed the treaty after he retired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs in 1993,
even urging India to sign the accord during a trip there.

"The treaty is necessary for the safety and reliability of the world because it
will reduce the threat of nuclear weapon attacks," General Powell said at the
time.

But Donald Rumsfeld, the conservative defense secretary-designate, has heatedly
opposed the treaty, saying it would preclude the United States from developing
new generations of nuclear weapons.

"By weakening confidence in existing U.S. weapons designs, and by inhibiting
the development of new designs to respond to a changing world, the C.T.B.T., in
my view, would have begun a slow erosion of U.S. and allied confidence in our
stockpile," Mr. Rumsfeld has said, using the abbreviation for the Comprehensive
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, as the agreement is formally known.

Mr. Bush's aides declined to comment yesterday on General Shalikashvili's
assessment, which is to be presented to Mr. Clinton today.

But it comes at a sensitive juncture in the arms control debate. With Mr.
Bush's vow to develop an antimissile defense and uncertainty over Washington's
position on nuclear testing, there is considerable concern in allied capitals
that the broader framework of arms control may be in jeopardy. If Mr. Bush
proceeds with the antimissile defense, despite the allies' concerns, he could
find himself under pressure to make some gestures on the testing issue, some
arms control supporters say, to ease that opposition, particularly in Europe.

The nuclear test ban treaty was rejected by the Senate in October 1999 by a
vote of 51 to 48, a decisive setback for the Clinton administration given the
constitutional requirement that treaties be approved by a two-thirds vote.

President Clinton responded by proclaiming the United States' intention to
observe a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear testing and by asking General
Shalikashvili to meet with Senate critics, nuclear arms designers and other
experts to see if it was possible to work out a way to win eventual approval by
the Senate. The retired general was assisted by James E. Goodby, a senior arms
control official in Republican and Democratic administrations.

The test ban treaty was completed in 1996. By December, it had been signed by
160 countries and ratified by 69. But the treaty cannot take effect until it
has been approved by the United States and 43 other nations that have nuclear
research or power reactors.

Of these, Britain, France and Russia have signed and ratified the accord. China
has signed the agreement, but has yet to ratify it. India and Pakistan, which
have engaged in a nuclear arms race in South Asia, have not signed. Nor has
North Korea.

General Shalikashvili and other recent military leaders have argued that United
States' ratification is essential to persuade other nations to accept the
treaty and strengthen other measures to curtail the spread of nuclear arms,
like the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty under which nonnuclear states forgo
the right to develop nuclear weapons.

"The view of the chairman and the chiefs has been that while there are risks
with this treaty, as with most treaties, the advantages in helping the fight
against proliferation outweigh the disadvantages," General Shalikashvili said
in a telephone interview.

Given his harsh criticism of the treaty during the campaign and the passions
the treaty has stirred up in Washington, Mr. Bush may be tempted to let the
treaty languish unratified. But General Shalikashvili asserted in his report
that postponing American approval of the accord could be risky.

General Shalikashvili's assessment turns on several key points. The former
military chief argues that the United States has a military stake in
instituting a formal ban on testing to slow the nuclear arms race.

Stopping China from conducting nuclear tests, he said, would prevent Beijing
from fielding a new generation of mobile, multiple warhead missiles. More
generally, he argued, it is in the Pentagon's interest to discourage other
nations from developing tactical nuclear weapons that could be used as a
counterweight to the United States' huge advantage in nonnuclear arms.

"Any activities that erode the firebreak between nuclear and conventional
weapons or that encourage the use of nuclear weapons for purposes that are not
strategic and deterrent in nature would undermine the advantage that we derive
from overwhelming conventional superiority," he wrote.

Addressing worries about verification, General Shalikashvili argued that the
kind of low-level clandestine nuclear tests that Russia or China might try to
carry out would be of little use in developing militarily decisive weapons.
Further, he argued, it would be easier to detect such testing if the
verification provisions in the accord, including on-site inspections, were in
effect.

In submitting the treaty for approval, the Clinton administration instituted a
number of safeguards, including a $4.5 billion a year program to maintain the
reliability of nuclear weapons through computer simulations, the disassembly of
nuclear weapons and other measures.

While General Shalikashvili said that the program was adequate, he urged
several new measures. The United States should step up intelligence efforts to
monitor test activities, including the use of new satellite-based sensors, he
said in an interview. It should also expand efforts to assure the reliability
of the United States nuclear arsenal. One measure, he said, would be the
construction of a new factory to remanufacture the plutonium "pits," or
triggers, for nuclear bombs.

Some critics of the treaty said it might be more acceptable if it had a 10-year
time limit instead of lasting indefinitely.

General Shalikashvili said it was unrealistic to think the accord could be
renegotiated now, but suggested a procedure to address the anxieties of the
treaty's opponents on this point. Ten years after ratification, the Senate and
the executive branch would jointly review compliance with the treaty and
efforts to ensure the viability of the nuclear arsenal. If there were doubts
about the value of the treaty, the United States could withdraw from the
accord.

General Shalikashvili conceded that wining support for the treaty would not be
easy, but said that most of the measures he proposed were needed in any event.

"These are things we need to do regardless of the treaty," he said.

- ---------

4. U.S. Agency Seeks Approval to Recycle Radioactive Metals

Environmental News Service 01/01/03, By Brian Hansen
http://ens-news.com/ens/jan2001/2001L-01-03-15.html

WASHINGTON, DC, January 3, 2001 (ENS) - The manufacture of consumer products
out of radioactively contaminated materials discarded from commercial nuclear
power plants and government bomb factories could become a fact of American
life. In an extraordinary move, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission today
asked the National Academy of Sciences to sanction the controversial practice.

Dr. Richard Meserve, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), made
the request during the public portion of a special National Academy of Sciences
committee meeting in Washington.

Meserve asked the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) panel to examine the
practice of releasing radioactively contaminated solid waste materials into
everyday commerce. He said this type of recycling is necessary to insure the
continued viability of the commercial nuclear power plant industry and the Cold
War decommissioning activities of the U.S. Department of Energy.

"There has basically been no guidance as to how those problems should be
addressed," Meserve said to the panel of NAS scientists. "It is our hope that
we will get your findings and recommendations as to how we should proceed in a
timely manner."

Meserve's request of the NAS panel is the latest development in a long standing
government and industry led effort to establish a consistent system governing
the release of solid materials from NRC licensed facilities.

The nuclear power industry and the Department of Energy (DOE) are currently
saddled with tens of thousands of tons of solid materials contaminated with low
levels of radioactivity, which they once disposed of in specially designed
nuclear waste disposal facilities.

That practice changed beginning in the 1970s, when the NRC, its licensees, and
the DOE began searching for a more cost effective method of disposing of the
enormous volume of steel girders, pallets, machinery and other solid materials
tainted with tiny amounts of radioactivity.

The NRC and the DOE now allow their licensees and contractors to recycle some
solid materials, but there is currently no national health based standard or
generally applicable criteria governing the release of solid materials from
commercial nuclear power plants or government nuclear weapons facilities.

Radioactive scrap ready for sale (Photo courtesy Environmental Assessment
Division Argonne National Laboratory U.S. Department of Energy)

Meserve said that the current "ad-hoc" recycling system is not sufficient for
the NRC and its licensees, which he noted must spend large amounts of money to
dispose of their low level solid wastes.

Meserve said that the DOE has encountered the same costly solid waste disposal
problem "in spades" as it proceeds with decommissioning a number of Cold War
nuclear weapons facilities.

"That's why we're here - to seek your advice on these matters," Meserve told
the NAS panel.

At the NRC's request, the National Academy of Sciences' panel has agreed to
examine the question of whether or not there are sufficient technical bases to
establish a consistent system for controlling the release of what it is terming
"slightly contaminated" solid materials.

The panel is expected to evaluate a number of factors in making its
recommendations regarding the release of these materials, including studies of
critical groups, exposure pathways and scenarios, and individual and collective
doses.

Meserve asked the panel to consider a number of other factors in reaching its
conclusion, including rulemaking actions taken by federal agencies, states, and
the European Union.

Meserve outlined four conclusions that he said the NAS panel could reasonably
reach.

Permitting the release of radioactively contaminated solid materials if the
potential dose is less than a specified level.

Restricting the release of such materials for only certain authorized uses,
which could prohibit recycling.

Prohibiting the release of materials that were stored in areas where
radioactive materials were present.

Segregating reused materials for public and nonpublic use.

Meserve added that his list of alternatives was not intended to "constrain [the
NAS panel] from being more inventive" in its recommendations.

 Meserve acknowledged the controversial nature of the solid waste recycling
initiative, which environmental and public health groups have vehemently
criticized.

Processing radioactive materials (Photo courtesy Manufacturing Sciences
Corporation)

"This is a difficult issue where the emotional currents run strong," he said.

Still, Meserve implored the NAS panel to resist putting a "spin" on its
findings to address - or to avoid - the controversial nature of the NRC's solid
waste recycling initiative.

"Call it the way you see it - we'll worry about the political fallout," Meserve
said. "We want your best advice - give it to us straight."

Some members of the NAS panel did just that, as they wasted little time in
peppering the NCR chairman with a host of probing questions.

Dr. Robert Budnitz, president of the California based Future Resources
Associates, wanted to know why the NRC had requested the panel's
recommendations at all.

"Where did this come from? What's going on?" Budnitz asked Meserve.

Budnitz, a former NRC official, said he suspects the request came about because
the agency could no longer deal with the myriad individual recycling cases that
it is currently juggling.

Meserve acknowledged the point, saying that "it's a licensee need," and that it
is "extraordinarily expensive" for nuclear power plant operators to dispose of
their radioactively contaminated solid materials through other means.

Radioactive metal pallets (Photo courtesy DOE Oakridge Operations)

Meserve added that, "There's a lot of decommissioning underway [at DOE nuclear
weapons facilities] that we need to deal with somehow."

Bunditz pressed the point, asking Meserve if the Energy Department has
"formally or informally" approached the NRC about pushing for a national
standard for the recycling of contaminated solid materials.

"Is that part of this or not?" Bunditz asked.

Meserve acknowledged that he did "personally meet" with Energy Secretary Bill
Richardson about this problem, and that Richardson had encouraged the National
Academy of Sciences' involvement in the matter.

Andrew Wallo, director of the DOE radiation division's office of environment,
safety and health, was on hand Wednesday to report the agency's perspective on
the contaminated solid materials disposal problem.

Wallo noted that there are hundreds of tons of metals and other slightly
contaminated materials at DOE nuclear weapons facilities that must be removed
if the sites are to be cleaned up and closed down.

"It's a valuable commodity excepting the radioactivity in it," Wallo said of
the materials.

Wallo told the panel that most of the scrap metal that has been released from
DOE facilities is either not contaminated at all, or has surface contamination
well below the agency's current standard. However, the pubic and the steel
industry has not been accepting of those very low exposure risks, Wallo
acknowledged.

Wallo recalled the furor that erupted when the DOE allowed contractor British
Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) to release 110,000 tons of radioactive metals -
including 6,000 tons of volumetrically contaminated nickel - from the DOE's
K-25 nuclear weapons plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Public health and environmental groups vehemently objected to the contract,
saying that there was no law prevent the metals from being used to make
silverware, orthodontic braces, hip joint replacements, and even intrauterine
devices.

The steel industry also opposed the release of the contaminated scrap metal,
saying that it would erode public confidence in the industry and cost steel
companies tens of million of dollars should radioactive materials somehow find
their way into production furnaces.

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson (Photo courtesy DOE)

The public outcry forced Energy Secretary Richardson to block the sale of the
radioactive nickel. Richardson later issued a moratorium restricting the
release of such materials until a national policy could be devised.

Gary Visscher, vice president of the American Iron and Steel Institute, watched
with interest on Wednesday as the NRC and the DOE asked the National Academy of
Sciences to sanction the practice of recycling radioactively contaminated
metals.

"Anything that diminishes the public's confidence in the safeness of steel is
going to hurt our companies," Visscher told ENS.

Lisa Gue, a policy analyst with the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, was
also on hand on Wednesday to keep tabs on the two federal agencies and their
industry contractors.

"We have an ongoing concern with federal agencies that appease industry by
setting rules that facilitate the release of radionuclides into the
environment," Gue said. "If the nuclear industry cannot afford to protect the
public and the environment from its waste products, then it's not a viable
industry."

Gue and other observers said they are concerned with the large block of time
that was devoted to closed sessions during the three day meeting. According to
the official agenda, a total of 12 and a half hours of meeting sessions are to
be closed to the public, though officials pledged to post a summary of the
private sessions on the Internet.

For more information on this week's meeting, log on to:
http://www4.nas.edu/cp.nsf/Projects+_by+_PIN/BEES-J-00-02-A?OpenDocument
     ___________________________________________________

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