Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik Juni 2005 / Timeline June, 2005
Version 3.0
|
06/01/2005
Det er nu 25 måneder siden, at USAs præsident Bush
erklærede krigen i Irak for vundet.
06/01/2005
NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of
Defense
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier
who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Staff Sgt. Victor M. Cortes III, 29, of Erie, Pa., died May 29 in
Baghdad, Iraq of non-combat-related injuries. Cortes was assigned
to the 703rd Forward Support Batttalion, 3rd Infantry Division,
Fort Stewart, Ga.
06/01/2005
NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of
Defense
National Guard and Reserve Mobilized as of June 1, 2005
This week, the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps announced a
decrease in the number of reservists on active duty in support of
the partial mobilization, while the Coast Guard number increased.
The net collective result is 550 fewer reservists mobilized than
last week.
At any given time, services may mobilize some units and individuals
while demobilizing others, making it possible for these figures to
either increase or decrease. Total number currently on active duty
in support of the partial mobilization for the Army National Guard
and Army Reserve is 144.301; Naval Reserve, 3,415; Air National
Guard and Air Force Reserve, 9,468; Marine Corps Reserve, 10,648;
and the Coast Guard Reserve, 593. This brings the total National
Guard and Reserve personnel, who have been mobilized, to 168,425,
including both units and individual augmentees.
06/01/2005
Vejledende folkeafstemning om EU-forfatningstraktaten i
Holland. 63 procent af vælgerne stemmer nej.
06/01/2005
WACHOVIA COMPLETES RESEARCH OF PREDECESSOR COMPANIES
Apologizes for historical ties to slavery and plans to work with
community partners to increase education and awareness of
African-American history
CHARLOTTE, NC – Wachovia Corporation recently commissioned a
leading historical research firm to conduct research on its
predecessor institutions. The resulting research revealed that two
institutions that ultimately became part of Wachovia through
acquisitions, the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company and the Bank
of Charleston, owned slaves.
Through specific transactional records, the research company
determined that the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company owned at
least 162 slaves, and the Bank of Charleston accepted at least 529
slaves as collateral on mortgaged properties or loans, and
subsequently acquired an undetermined number of these individuals
when customers defaulted on their loans.
“On behalf of Wachovia Corporation, I apologize to all
Americans, and especially to African-Americans and people of
African descent,” said Ken Thompson, Wachovia chairman and
chief executive officer. “We are deeply saddened by these
findings.”
Wachovia has made the full research report available on its Web
site. In addition, Wachovia plans to partner with community
organizations that are experts in furthering awareness and
education of African-American history, in order to help preserve
the African-American experience and incorporate this important
piece of our country’s history in educational forums.
Wachovia will approach this effort as it does all community
partnerships, bringing a dedicated relationship, commitment of
financial resources and the power of its employee volunteer
network.
“We know that we cannot change the past, and we can’t
make up for the wrongs of slavery,” said Thompson. “But
we can learn from our past, and begin a stronger dialogue about
slavery and the experience of African-Americans in our country.
Today Wachovia is a company that is committed to respecting
individuals and building an inclusive work environment. We want to
promote a better understanding of the African-American experience,
including the unique struggles, triumphs and contributions of
African-Americans, and their important role in America’s past
and present. This is a natural fit with our company’s strong
focus on diversity, education and communities.”
06/01/2005
GAO: DEFENSE INFRASTRUCTURE
Issues Need to Be Addressed in Managing and Funding Base Operations
and Facilities Support
June 2005
Congress has designated increased funding for BOS programs in
recent years, sometimes more than requested, but because those
amounts were often less than the cost of BOS services provided at
installations, hundreds of millions of dollars designated for S/RM
and other purposes were redesignated by the military services to
pay for BOS. As GAO has previously reported, such funding movements
while permissible are disruptive to the orderly provision of
services, contribute to the degradation of many installation
facilities, and can adversely affect the quality of life and morale
of military personnel. The problem appears to be greatest in the
Army.
Further, in fiscal year 2004, U.S. military installations faced
additional pressures in managing available BOS and S/RM funding as
the services redesignated varying amounts of these funds to help
pay for the Global War on Terrorism. Similar problems are
reportedly occurring in fiscal year 2005.
While difficult to quantify, installation officials at the
locations GAO visited voiced concerns about the potential for these
conditions to adversely affect operations and readiness in the
future. Moreover, such movements of funds add considerable
uncertainty regarding actual BOS requirements and the extent of
underfunding.
06/03/2005
Wreath For Those Killed, Even At Their Own Hands
By Scott Shane
New York Times
June 3, 2005
WASHINGTON, June 2 - According to the Pentagon, 40 soldiers in Iraq
and seven others in Afghanistan have killed themselves, and 21
marines have committed suicide either in the region or while on
active duty in the United States.
The numbers do not include suicides that occurred after discharge.
Veterans' advocates have identified more than 30 such cases from
news accounts but say the total may be considerably higher.
Some military health experts say they believe the surreptitious
threat from suicide bombers and snipers in Iraq is even more
stressful than open combat. Through the end of April, 1,118 Army
men and women had been evacuated from Iraq for psychiatric reasons,
according to official statistics.
Through February, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs,
12,020 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan had been treated for
post-traumatic stress disorder.
06/04/2005
CONTRACTS from the United States Department of
Defense
General Dynamics C4 Systems, Taunton, Mass., was awarded on June 2,
2005, a $7,632,000 increment as part of a $126,672,195
cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-plus-award-fee, and time and materials
contract for a further development of an initial architecture for
the Warfighter Information Network - Tactical Communication System.
Work will be performed in Taunton, Mass. (75 percent) and
Gaithersburg, Md. (25 percent), and is expected to be completed by
Jan. 9, 2006. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the
current fiscal year. There were an unknown number of bids solicited
via the World Wide Web on April 8, 2002, and three bids were
received. The U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, Fort
Monmouth, N.J., is the contracting activity (DAAB07-02-C-F404).
06/06/2005
Det britiske underhus stopper andenbehandlingen af EU's
forfatningstraktat på ubestemt tid.
06/06/2005
CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense
McDonnell Douglas Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Boeing
Co., Saint Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $31,361,338 contract to
convert 9,000 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) selective
availability anti-spoofing module (SAASM) guided vehicles procured
under JDAM Lot 9 contract to selective availability anti-spoofing
module/anti-jam (SAASM/AJ) configuration and procure anti-jam
non-recurring equipment. The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM)
weapon system provides the Air Force and the Navy with an improved
aerial delivery capability for existing 500,1000 and 2000-pounds
bombs. The JDAM is a strap-on kit with Inertial Navigation System
(INS)/Global Positioning System (GPS) capability. The location of
performance is Honeywell Inc., Motion and Sensor Products
Operation, Minneapolis, Minn., (approx 25%). Total funds have been
obligated. This work will be complete February 2007. Solicitations
began and negotiations were complete June 2005. The Air-to-Ground
Munitions Systems Wing, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the
contracting activity (F A8681-05-C-0033).
06/07/2005
CONTRACTS from the United States Department of
Defense
Contracts, Tuesday, June 7, 2005
SYColeman Inc. of Washington, DC is being awarded an indefinite
delivery, indefinite quantity contract, with a potential maximum
value of $100,000,000, for media approach planning, prototype
product development, commercial quality product development,
product distribution and dissemination, and media effects analysis
for the Joint Psychological Operations Support element and other
government agencies. The work will be performed CONUS and OCONUS
and task orders may be issued from June 7, 2005 - June 6, 2010.
This contract was awarded on a competitive basis pursuant to FAR
6.102. The contract number is H92222-05-D-1012.
Lincoln Group of Washington, DC is being awarded an indefinite
delivery, indefinite quantity contract, with a potential maximum
value of $100,000,000, for media approach planning, prototype
product development, commercial quality product development,
product distribution and dissemination, and media effects analysis
for the Joint Psychological Operations Support element and other
government agencies. The work will be performed CONUS and OCONUS
and task orders may be issued from June 7, 2005 - June 6, 2010.
This contract was awarded on a competitive basis pursuant to FAR
6.102. The contract number is H92222-05-D-1010.
SAIC of Washington, DC is being awarded an indefinite delivery,
indefinite quantity contract, with a potential maximum value of
$100,000,000, for media approach planning, prototype product
development, commercial quality product development, product
distribution and dissemination, and media effects analysis for the
Joint Psychological Operations Support element and other government
agencies. The work will be performed CONUS and OCONUS and task
orders may be issued from June 7, 2005 - June 6, 2010. This
contract was awarded on a competitive basis pursuant to FAR 6.102.
The contract number is H92222-05-D-1011.
MPRI, Alexandria, Va., was awarded on June 6, 2005, an $18,717,634
firm-fixed-price contract for Staff Recruiter Services. Work will
be performed at Fort Knox, Ky., and is expected to be completed by
Jan. 6, 2006. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the
current fiscal year. There were two bids solicited on May 2, 2003,
and two bids were received. The Army Contracting Agency, Fort
Eustis, Va., is the contracting activity (DABJ01-03-F-0538).
06/07/2005
International law: Grenada ratifies the CWC
The Hague, 7 June 2005
Grenada deposited its instrument of ratification to the Chemical
Weapons Convention (CWC) with the Secretary General of the United
Nations on 3 June 2005. Grenada will become the 169th State Party
to the Convention on 3 July 2005, thirty days after the deposit of
its instrument of ratification.
Grenada's ratification of the CWC confirms the universal validity
of this multilateral instrument, which bans the development,
production, stockpiling, use or transfer of chemical weapons and
enhances collective security through the verified elimination of an
entire category of weapons of mass destruction, writes OPCW.
06/08/2005
Rumsfeld Signs Pre-positioning Agreement With Norway
By Kathleen T. Rhem
American Forces Press Service
STAVANGER, Norway, June 8, 2005 - Defense Secretary Donald H.
Rumsfeld and his Norwegian counterpart today signed an agreement
here to allow U.S. Marines to pre-position military equipment in
Norway for use should they ever have to come to this country's
aid.
The memorandum of understanding Rumsfeld and Norwegian Defense
Minister Kristin Krohn Devold signed today revises an existing
agreement, in place since 1981, that provided for an expeditionary
brigade's worth of equipment to be stored at Trondelag, Norway, as
part of the U.S. plan to reinforce Norway's defenses during the
Soviet era.
The new agreement, called the Marine Corps Pre-positioning Program
Norway, more accurately reflects the current regional security
environment, according to a joint statement issued by the two
officials after a meeting this morning.
NATO's Iraqi, ISAF Training Site in Norway Hosts Rumsfeld
Visit
By Kathleen T. Rhem
American Forces Press Service
STAVANGER, Norway, June 8, 2005 - Defense Secretary Donald H.
Rumsfeld today visited NATO's Joint Warfare Center here, where
Iraqi troops and international forces in NATO's International
Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan have trained.
Roughly 50 Iraqi "key leaders" have participated in the JWC's
10-day training program, and NATO has sent three iterations of
troops preparing for the ISAF mission in Afghanistan through the
center here.
"The kinds of things that NATO, Norway, the United States and other
countries are doing in the world today are notably different from
earlier periods," Rumsfeld said in a combined news conference with
Norwegian Defense Minister Kristin Krohn Devold. "The things
they're doing in Iraq and Afghanistan are being done with large
numbers of countries that have not worked on those projects before
individually, and have certainly never worked on those kinds of
projects before together."
The Joint Warfare Center, established here in October 2003, allows
international forces to train together before deploying into an
operational environment.
06/08/2005
CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense
The Raytheon Co., Waltham, Mass., is being awarded an indefinite
delivery/indefinite quantity contract to provide logistics support
services to operate and maintain up to four forward based X-Band
Radar - transportable radars to support the Ballistic Missile
Defense System. The principal place of performance will be at
Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems in Woburn, Mass., and the
period of performance is from 26 May 2005 through 25 May 2010. The
maximum potential value of the contract is $260,900,000. The
Missile Defense Agency is the contracting activity
(HQ0006-05-C-0016.)
06/08/2005
Soldiers' Divorce Rates Up Sharply : Separation, stress erode
marriages
By Gregg Zoroya
USA Today
The number of active-duty soldiers getting divorced has been rising
sharply with deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.
The trend is severest among officers. Last year, 3,325 Army
officers' marriages ended in divorce up 78% from 2003, the
year of the Iraq invasion, and more than 31/2 times the number in
2000, before the Afghan operation, Army figures show. For enlisted
personnel, the 7,152 divorces last year were 28% more than in 2003
and up 53% from 2000. During that time, the number of soldiers has
changed little.
The Army has no comparable data for past wars.
06/09/2005
Nobelfredsprismodtageren
Bertha von Suttner fødes 1843.
06/09/2005
Niels Bohrs åbne
brev til FN
1950.
06/09/2005
NARA set to open military records
On 11 June 2005, the National Archives and Records Administration
(NARA) National Personnel Records Center in Overland, Missouri will
unseal the first release of what is expected to be a "a mother
load" collection of interest to military historians, biographers,
and genealogists. The center houses the military records of some 56
million individuals, beginning in the 19th century and extending
into the 20th.
A total of three batches of individual records are slotted to be
released: Navy enlisted men from 1885 until 8 September 1939;
Marine Corps enlisted men from 1906 until 1939; and the first 150
of about 3,000 Americans identified as "persons of exceptional
prominence." Included in the last category are the military records
of generals George S. Patton Jr. and Omar Bradley; African American
sports hero Lt. Jackie Robinson; President John F. Kennedy; author
Herman Wouk; actors Clark Gable, Audie Murphy, and Steve McQueen;
and, yes, entertainer Pfc. Elvis Presley, wrrites NCH WASHINGTON
UPDATE (Vol. 11, #26; 9 June 2005). Personnel Records Center, 9700
Page Avenue, Overland, Mo. 63132; phone: 314-801-0850.
06/09/2005
Iraqi labor leaders fight for rights
By Alexandra Klaren
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20050609-105532-1284r
WASHINGTON, June 9 (UPI) -- Iraqi labor leaders plan to meet with
U.S. lawmakers and other officials to drum up support for greater
workers' rights in Iraq, organizers say.
"This is a chance for people in the U.S., especially working
people, to hear from Iraqis themselves about what they want to have
happen with their country," David Bacon, a labor journalist and
co-organizer of the tour, told United Press International. "Unions
are a fundamental building block of Iraqi civil society and if Iraq
is going to become a democratic country, trade unions must play a
very important role in determining what direction that is."
The group, invited by U.S. Labor Against The War, a
Washington-based non-governmental organization, arrives in
Washington Friday to begin a June 10-24 national tour that takes
them to 20 cities. Members from the Iraqi Federations of Trade
Unions, the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq, and
General Union of Oil Employees plan to meet with U.S. workers,
union leaders, members of Congress and others to seek help for
greater rights in Iraq.
"We have more resources than them," Bacon said. "They could use the
help of U.S. unions and working people in terms of trying to change
their status."
President Bush, in his 2004 State of the Union address, said he
would send Congress a proposal to double the budget of the National
Endowment for Democracy, a body created in 1983 to work with
pro-democracy groups around the world through non-governmental
efforts.
"I will send you (Congress) a proposal to double the budget of the
National Endowment for Democracy, and to focus its new work on the
development of free elections, and free markets, free press, and
free labor unions in the Middle East," he said. "And above all, we
will finish the historic work of democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq,
so those nations can light the way for others, and help transform a
troubled part of the world."
Despite his statements, however, laws that prohibit labor
organizing still exist in Iraq.
When the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority took over Iraq
following the ouster of President Saddam Hussein in 2003, chief L.
Paul Bremer implemented 100 orders that repealed a huge chunk of
the Iraqi legal structure. Not on the list, however - as noted by
Matthew Harwood in the April 2005 issue of the Washington Monthly
-- was Saddam's 1987 Labor Code, which reclassified workers of
large state enterprises, the majority of Iraqi workers, as civil
servants, denying them the right to form unions in the public
sector.
"Much of the CPA's effort in Baghdad was devoted to helping create
a conservative's ideal state, complete with a 15-percent flat tax
on individual and corporate income," Harwood wrote.
Gene Bruskin, a USLAW co-convener, said there was some language in
the transitional law that says unions should have a right to
organize, but there was no implementation.
"Iraq's economy is organized around basic industries that are
publicly owned so if you have a clause in the transitional law that
says that unions have a right to organize but public employees
don't, it's a meaningless clause," he told UPI.
Iraqi labor leaders have made significant efforts in working with
the U.N.-backed International Labor Organization to develop a new
labor code that they hope will be a part of the new Iraqi
constitution, which is still on the drawing board.
"I think it's broadly recognized by virtually every democratic
leader and government and society in the world that you cannot have
democracy without free trade unions," Bruskin said. "And so we
think it's really important for people in the U.S. to hear directly
from Iraqis, and these Iraqis in particular, because they represent
secular, democratic, progressive voices."
Of almost equal concern to Iraqi workers is the issue of
privatization. Later in his article, Harwood wrote, "Bremer's crew
was so zealous that they tried, in September 2003, to privatize
virtually the whole economy -- 200 state-owned firms."
Since the new Iraqi government has come to power, these ideas have
found new life. According to the Institute for War and Peace
Reporting, Iraqi Industry Minister Mohammed Abdullah, following
Iraq's new strategy to create a liberal free-market economy,
recently drew up plans to partially privatize the majority of
Iraq's 45 state-owned companies, including its lucrative oil
sector.
06/10/2005
Byretssagen mod Ulla Røder og
andre fredsaktivister for overtrædelse af straffelovens
§ 137, stk 2 ved 'i forening og efter forudgående aftale
ved larm eller uorden at have forstyrret en offentlig samling i
Folketinget' i forbindelse med tingets vedtagelse af
beslutningsforslag om 'fortsat dansk bidrag til den multinationale
sikringsstyrke i Irak' i november 2004, starter i Københavns
Byret - Afdeling 37 - Rådhuspladsen i København.
06/10/2005
Iraq Command Investigates Deaths
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 10, 2005 - Multinational Corps Iraq has opened a
criminal investigation into two Task Force Liberty soldiers' deaths
June 7 at Forward Operating Base Danger, near Tikrit, Iraq,
officials in Iraq reported today.
Capt. Phillip T. Esposito and 1st Lt. Louis E. Allen were killed in
what was thought to be an indirect-fire attack. Both officers were
assigned to Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 42nd Infantry
Division, New York Army National Guard. Esposito was company
commander; Allen served as a company operations officer.
Military police and responders at first indicated that a mortar
round had struck the window on the building where the two officers
were located. However, explosive ordnance personnel determined the
blast pattern at the scene was inconsistent with a mortar attack
after further examination.
06/13/2005
Totalnægtersag for højesteret, noterer
Information.
06/13/2005
CONTRACTS from the United States Department of
Defense
Computer Sciences Corp., Arlington, Va, is being awarded a
cost-plus-award-fee contract, HQ0006-05-C-0024, to provide
scientific, engineering, and technical assistance support for the
Executive Management Council to the Missile Defense Agency's deputy
director for Ballistic Missile Defense System Integration, the
deputy director for Technology & Engineering, and the Chief of
Staff. The contract has a one-year base period of performance and
four one-year options. The contract will be performed in Fairfax
and Arlington, Va. The contract value is $62,513,185, including
options. Fifty-nine offers were solicited and two were received.
The Missile Defense Agency is the contracting activity.
(HQ0006-05-C-0024)
Lockheed Martin Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif., is being awarded a
$6,449,05 contract modification to the existing Space Base Infrared
System High component engineering, manufacturing, and development
contract. This contract primarily provides technical support to
2SWS contractor test force/mission assurance in the areas of
Space-Based Infrared System hardware/software/communications
testing, exercise support, and verification of operational
suitability. Contractor support will include testing and exercise
support to external operations centers, Air Force Satellite Control
Network operations, and other organizations/agencies as required.
This contract action supports the Space -Based Infrared System
Support Manager in SMC/ISO located at Peterson Air Force Base,
Colo. At this time $372,916 of the funds has been obligated. The
Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base,
Calif., is the contracting activity. (F04701-95-C-0017,
P00320).
06/13/2005
Who Keeps Tabs On Contractors In Iraq?
By DEBORAH HASTINGS & ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.theday.com/eng/web/news/re.aspx?re=E7F232C1-7072-4394-
A8A3-C0614076EE0F
There is no centralized procedure for monitoring scores of
contracting firms rebuilding Iraq with U.S. funds, according to the
military. The controls that do exist have been criticized for
failing to keep track of millions.
Instead, most contracts are monitored by the individual agencies
that award them. The Army Corps of Engineers, for example, which
issues the bulk of reconstruction work, has its own inspectors and
quality assurance monitors. The U.S. Defense Contract Management
Agency provides oversight on behalf of the Army for troop support
contracts - private firms that do everything from serving meals to
washing fatigues.
Congress has set aside $18.4 million to help Iraq rebuild its
roads, water systems, airports, rail lines, seaports, housing and
other needed projects. The cost of reconstruction has been
estimated at $150 billion.
The International Advisory and Monitoring Board, established by the
United Nations after Iraq's interim government took power last year
summer, audits cash and oil revenues held by the Development Fund
for Iraq, which funds additional rebuilding contracts with Iraqi
money.
The Coalition Provisional Authority ran the country for 13 months
following its invasion, and rushed to issue rebuilding projects
using a combination of seized Iraqi money and international
funds.
Last month, investigators said incompetence and "indications of
fraud" was responsible for nearly $100 million in cash not being
accounted for by the CPA. That amount included more than $7 million
that simply vanished, according to the Special Inspector General
for Iraq Reconstruction, appointed in January 2004 to serve as a
U.S. government watchdog for Iraqi reconstruction.
The CPA, predominantly run by Americans, has provided a poor
example for reconstruction, critics say. Millions handed out to
contractors, including Custer Battles, has not been accounted for,
auditors said.
06/14/2005
3 Labs Rip Nuclear Program
By John Fleck, Albuquerque Journal
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
http://www.abqjournal.com/north/361894north_news06-14-05.htm
http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2005_6_15.html
The United States' current approach to maintaining its nuclear
arsenal "looks increasingly unsustainable," according to an
internal report by senior officials at the nation's three nuclear
weapons labs.
The nuclear weapons program's future costs exceed the available
budget, and the effort to maintain aging warheads is forcing the
nation to retain a larger nuclear arsenal than would otherwise be
needed, the report concludes.
Completed last month, the report's findings mirror in some respects
those of a key House of Representatives subcommittee.
The House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee issued a
report last month calling for a sweeping reorganization of the U.S.
nuclear weapons complex as part of its proposed 2006 Department of
Energy budget.
The two reports set the stage for today's unveiling of the Senate's
version of the DOE budget, written by Sen. Pete Domenici,
R-N.M.
The outcome of the debate is critical to New Mexico, which is home
to Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories, two of the three
U.S. nuclear weapons design laboratories. The federal government
will spend an estimated $2.9 billion this year for nuclear weapons
work in New Mexico, more than in any other state.
The House and lab reports both argue that it is no longer feasible
to maintain the existing Cold War nuclear arsenal by nursing along
old weapons, refurbishing aging parts when necessary.
The labs' report, written by a quartet of senior nuclear weapons
scientists and endorsed by the weapons program chiefs of the three
U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories, argues that continuing to
maintain weapons is possible "only at significantly increasing
cost."
The program, dubbed "Stockpile Stewardship" when it was established
a decade ago, "merely preserve(s) nuclear weapons with out-dated
technology and a ponderous and expensive enterprise required to
support old technology," the labs' report concludes.
Because of resulting uncertainties about long-term weapons
reliability, "the United States must retain a relatively large
number of reserve weapons to ensure against contingencies," the lab
scientists from Sandia, Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore national
laboratories wrote— spares in case problems crop up in some
of the primary stockpile weapons.
Official stockpile numbers are classified, but the independent
Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental and arms
control group, estimates there are 5,300 nuclear weapons in the
active U.S. stockpile and another 5,000 being held in reserve.
The House subcommittee, led by Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, raised
similar arguments last month, concluding that the nuclear weapons
labs need to design a new "Reliable Replacement Warhead" that is
easier to care for in the long run.
Hobson's 2006 budget report calls for the new warhead to be
"designed for ease of manufacturing, maintenance, dismantlement and
certification without nuclear testing."
To do that, Hobson's spending plan would:
Reduce spending on refurbishment of current U.S. weapons;
Increase spending on design efforts for the new Reliable
Replacement Warhead;
Reduce spending on preparations for possible future underground
nuclear test blasts at the federal government's Nevada Test
Site;
Cut spending on nuclear weapons supercomputers, arguing that they
have not lived up to their promise as a way of conducting virtual
nuclear tests to maintain existing weapons;
Eliminate funding for a new factory to build plutonium nuclear
weapon cores; and
Delay money for a new plutonium lab at Los Alamos until the weapons
designers have a clearer picture of what the newly designed warhead
requires.
06/15/2005
HOUSE HANDS BUSH A DEFEAT -- VOTES TO CURB PATRIOT ACT LIBRARY
PROVISIONS
NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE (Vol. 11, #28; 23 June 2005)
On 15 June 2005, in a stunning 238 to 187 victory for the library
community, the House approved an amendment to the Patriot Act that
bars the Department of Justice from using any appropriated federal
funds to search library and bookstore records under provisions of
the Patriot Act.
The amendment, remarkably similar to the "Freedom to Read
Protection Act" that was attached to the House
Science-State-Justice Subcommittee appropriations bill, was
advanced by Representative Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and endorsed by a
curious coalition of some 38 House conservatives worried about
government intrusion and about 200 Democrats concerned about
personal privacy. One House aide referred to the victorious
coalition as "the crazies on the left and the crazies on the right,
meeting in the middle."
Far from being "crazies," the library community has long argued
that certain provisions in Section 215 of the Patriot Act are
draconian. When the Patriot Act was enacted in 2001 it granted
broad new powers to the FBI to access what the law merely defined
as "tangible things" from libraries, bookstores, and other records.
All that was needed was a warrant issued by the government's secret
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or "FISA" court. The effect
of the provision was to make permissible what Patriot Act critics
characterized as "fishing expeditions" by FBI agents who could
investigate, among other things, what library patrons were
reading.
The House passed measure mandates that security officials would
need to obtain a standard court-ordered search warrant issued by a
judge or a subpoena from a grand jury in order to seize records
relating to a suspect's reading habits. In other words, the Sanders
amendment restores legal standards and warrant procedures for
investigations of library and bookstore records that were in place
prior to enactment of the Patriot Act.
Administration officials claim that national security officials
have never invoked the provision against a library or bookstore;
nevertheless, one administration official did not hesitate to
declare that "bookstores and libraries should not be carved out as
safe havens for terrorists and spies who have, in fact, used public
libraries to do research and communicate with their
co-conspirators." The House Republican leadership hopes to have the
provision removed when a conference committee meets to work out
differences between the House and Senate passed versions of the
bill.
06/15/2005
CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense
Northrop-Grumman Space and Mission, Clearfield, Utah, is being
awarded a $5,932,141 cost-plus award-fee contract modification to
provide for Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Reentry Vehicle
Application Program objectives, which maintain the critical
attributes necessary to address problems and issues with existing
operational reentry systems through retirement and ensure the
long-term availability of components and reentry systems industrial
base to support replacement follow-on systems. At this time,
$870,558 of the funds has been obligated. This work will be
complete by June 2007. Negotiations were completed March 2005. The
Headquarters Ogden Air Logistics Center is the contracting activity
(F42610-98-C-0001).
06/16/2005
Blair And Howard could face charges over Iraq - lawyer
Philippe Sands, QC, director of the Centre for International Courts
and Tribunals at University College London, said Mr Howard, along
with British Prime Minister Tony Blair could face charges amid
claims the Iraq war was illegal.
Professor Sands said United States President George W Bush and US
Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld also could find themselves in
similar predicaments.
Professor Sands says if Mr Blair or Mr Howard travel to such
countries after they've left office they could face prosecution,
but said Mr Howard is a softer target given Australia has less
political clout in the world than the US or Britain, writes
Information Clearing House.
06/17/2005
Weapons In Space: Dawn of a New Era
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
http://www.space.com/news/050617_space_warfare.html
For more than a decade, the military utilization of space has
become all the more important in warfighting. Since the Gulf War of
1991, using space assets has enabled air, land, and sea forces and
operations to be far more effective.
Space power has changed the face of warfare. So much so,
particularly for the United States, skirmishes of the 21st century
cannot be fought and won without space capabilities. That reliance
has led to a key action item for U.S. space warriors: How best to
maintain and grow the nation’s space superiority and deny
adversaries the ability to use space assets.
That fact has prompted arguments as to the "weaponization" of space
– from satellites killing satellites, exploding space mines,
even using technology to make an enemy’s spacecraft go deaf,
dumb, or blind.
Leftover legacy
The White House is now delving into U.S. military space policy and
what it sees as the need to reshape current national space policy,
a leftover legacy document from the Clinton Administration.
Clinton’s unclassified National Space Policy was issued in
September 1996. Among its proclamations: "Consistent with treaty
obligations, the United States will develop, operate and maintain
space control capabilities to ensure freedom of action in space
and, if directed, deny such freedom of action to adversaries. These
capabilities may also be enhanced by diplomatic, legal or military
measures to preclude an adversary's hostile use of space systems
and services."
In a June 10 press briefing, White House spokesman, Scott
McClellan, explained that the national space policy has been
"undergoing an interagency review" because it hasn’t been
updated in several years.
McClellan said that "we’ve seen a lot of dramatic changes,
internationally and domestically, that affect our space policy. And
that’s why it needs to be updated."
"But we believe in the peaceful exploration of space," McClellan
continued. "And there are treaties in place, and we continue to
abide by those treaties. But there are issues that relate to our
space program that could affect those space programs that we need
to make sure are addressed."
As for the interagency review process of national space policy
itself, McClellan added: "It’s not looking at weaponizing
space, as some reports had previously suggested. But the peaceful
exploration of space also includes the ability of nations to be
able to protect their space systems."
Full spectrum dominance
What the White House will spin up and out as new military space
policy, nobody knows for sure. But already there’s heated
debate.
At a meeting sponsored by the Nuclear Policy Research Institute on
May 16 and 17 and held in Washington, D.C., various policy experts
argued over the merits of "Full Spectrum Dominance".
Theresa Hitchens, Vice President of the Center for Defense
Information in Washington, D.C. is skeptical about what’s in
the offing from White House space policy wonks. Contrasted with the
Clinton space policy, she feels it’s a question of
emphasis.
The Bush policy will embrace a need to bolster U.S. military space,
Hitchens predicted. It will provide a stronger incentive for
military space operations to "ensure freedom of action in space"
and for "space protection," she explained.
"The new policy will be more military-oriented, rather than the
heavily civil-oriented predecessor," Hitchens suggested.
What’s ahead is a shift of terminology, she added, a "playing
with the words."
As example, the term "freedom of action in space" is now a code
phrase for "freedom to attack as well as freedom from attack,"
Hitchens emphasized, drawing the distinction from recently issued
U.S. Air Force Counterspace Operations Doctrine.
Tap on the shoulder to toast
Hitchens points to current U.S. Air Force documents that state the
need for anti-satellite capabilities. These "knock ‘em dead"
ideas range from hit-to-kill devices, electromagnetic pulses to
lasers. "Anything from a tap on the shoulder to toast", she said,
is not ruled out, including physical destruction of a target
satellite. All are part of the counterspace portion of space
control.
Just how explicit will the new Bush space policy be on these
matters?
None of this detail is likely to be visible within the publicly
released document, Hitchens said. "What I am suggesting is that the
strategy of fighting ‘in, from and through’ space is
already codified in official military documents. Those documents
could not have been published without at least the tacit approval
of the Pentagon civilian leadership and the White House."
For Hitchens, what’s coming is simply putting "the political
chapeau on this strategy." It will support the space warfighting
strategy, although probably in a rather subtle and understated way,
she said.
"The reason for the coyness is also obvious. The White House knows
that the idea of space weaponization is publicly controversial.
Therefore, they will seek to defuse this controversy by emphasizing
the ‘defensive’ needs and approach," Hitchens
advised.
Time to weaponize space
"The time to weaponize and administer space for the good of global
commerce is now, when the United States could do so without fear of
an arms race there."
This is the view of Everett Dolman, Associate Professor of
Comparative Military Studies in the School of Advanced Air and
Space Studies at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.
No peer competitors are capable of challenging the United States,
Dolman explained, as was the case in the Cold War, and so no "race"
is possible. The longer the United States waits, however, the more
opportunities for a peer competitor to show up on the scene.
Dolman argues that, in ten or twenty years, America might be
confronting an active space power that could weaponize space. And
they might do so in a manner that prevents the United States from
competing in the space arena.
"The short answer is, if you want an arms race in space, do nothing
now," Dolman said.
Maintain the status quo
For those that think space weaponization is impossible, Dolman said
such belief falls into the same camp that "man will never fly". The
fact that space weaponization is technically feasible is
indisputable, he said, and nowhere challenged by a credible
authority.
"Space weaponization can work," Dolman said. "It will be very
expensive. But the rewards for the state that weaponizes
first—and establishes itself at the top of the Earth’s
gravity well, garnering all the many advantages that the high
ground has always provided in war—will find the benefits
worth the costs."
What if America weaponizes space? One would think such an action
would kick-start a procession of other nations to follow suit.
Dolman said he takes issues with that notion.
"This argument comes from the mirror-image analogy that if another
state were to weaponize space, well then, the U.S. would have to
react. Of course it would! But this is an entirely different
situation," Dolman responded.
"The U.S. is the world’s most powerful state. The
international system looks to it for order. If the U.S. were to
weaponize space, it would be perceived as an attempt to maintain or
extend its position, in effect, the status quo," Dolman suggested.
It is likely that most states—recognizing the vast expense
and effort needed to hone their space skills to where America is
today—would opt not to bother competing, he said.
Force enhancement
There has been a clear shift in military space prowess over the
last couple of decades, pointed out Nancy Gallagher, Associate
Director for Research at the Center for International and Security
Affairs at the University of Maryland, in College Park.
"I don’t see military uses of space as a dichotomy,"
Gallagher said, "for example, that it’s either used for
purely peaceful purposes, or it has already been
‘militarized’ or even
‘weaponized’…and thus anything goes."
Gallagher noted that both the United States and the former Soviet
Union made military use of space from the outset, but primarily in
support functions that were generally agreed to be stabilizing.
"What has been happening over the past twenty-plus years is
basically a shift from using space to help stabilize deterrence to
using it for war-fighting purposes, she said.
Today, that means primarily "force enhancement", Gallagher said,
like the use of space-based communications, spysat imagery, as well
as guidance systems to make U.S. conventional forces on land, sea,
and air more lethal.
But there are also increasing ambitions for space control and space
force application capabilities, Gallagher said. Those include
anti-satellite weapons, space-based missile defense, and weapons
based in space that can hit targets on Earth.
Political heat
"I will be interested to see how forward-leaning the new
presidential directive will be," Gallagher said, in terms of space
control. Which steps have already been authorized and those than
remain "options" needing future presidential decision remain to be
seen, she said.
The new Bush space directive may be interesting primarily as a
signal of how much political heat the White House is willing to
take by being explicit about its plans in order to try to
institutionalize them, Gallagher said.
"I would like to see more debate on the Hill and among opinion
leaders and the general public about what types of space-based
military capabilities the United States really should be pursuing,
given the actual nature of the threats and alternative means to
address them," Gallagher concluded.
Little to be gained…much to be lost
"Space is indeed militarized, and has been since the 1960s,"
observed Craig Eisendrath, Senior Fellow at the Center for
International Policy in Washington, D.C. "Placing weapons in outer
space -- weaponization -- is different, and has not yet happened.
Substantial research is being conducted but deployment has not
occurred," he said.
At stake, Eisendrath said, is not only the immense expense that
would be incurred by an arms race in outer space. "There is also
the serious threat that should space be weaponized, and battles
fought, it would become quickly inoperable for the important
commercial purposes it serves, particularly in communications. For
this reason, there is an urgent need for more control."
While Eisendrath is not optimistic that the Bush administration
will desist from weaponization of space, he remains hopeful.
"There is little to be gained and much to be lost, particularly
given the serious state of our economy with mounting deficits and
increasing instability. This could be an area where the
administration prudently withdraws," Eisendrath said.
This is the first in a series of articles dealing with the
militarization and weaponization of space.
06/17/2005
CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense
Lockheed Martin System and Sensors, Syracuse, N.Y., is being
awarded a $6,216,421 cost-plus incentive-fee and firm fixed price
contract modification. This contract modification will install the
second of two pacific Alaska Range Complex Long Range Radar System;
providing a transportable radar which includes one TPS-77 Radar,
microwave equipment, peculiar support equipment. The TPS-77 radar
is composed of a three dimensial L-Band primary surveillance radar
and monopulse secondary surveillance radar. The system provides air
surveillance information to be used in the conduct of air
sovereignty operations. The location of performance is Taylor
Mountain, Alaska Nugget Construction Inc. Total funds have been
obligated. This work will be complete by September 2006.
Negotiations were completed May 2004. The Headquarters Electronic
Systems Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., is the contracting
activity (F19628-03-C-0049, P00019).
06/17/2005
General Cites Influencers as Part of Recruiting
Challenge
By Sgt. 1st Class Doug Sample, USA
American Forces Press Service
FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md., June 17, 2005 - The greatest challenge
facing recruiters is the people who influence young men and women
of the "Millennium Generation" not to serve, the commander of the
Army Recruiting Command said here today.
"Influencers are clearly having an impact right now on our ability
to successfully recruit -- unquestionably so," said Maj. Gen.
Michael D. Rochelle, who was here to take part in a
change-of-command ceremony for the 1st Recruiting Brigade.
At a news conference following the ceremony, the general pointed
out that recruiting is getter harder because parents don't want
recruiters, "who simply want to tell the Army story, who we are and
what it is we do for this great nation," to sit down and talk with
their children.
"The one characteristic that is very honorable and respectable
about 'millennials' is that they listen and they generally heed the
advice of their advisers," Rochelle said.
"Whether we're talking parents, coaches, teachers, guidance
counselors, it matters not. They take all of that on board, then
they filter it and process it," the general explained.
Rochelle's comments come as the Army, for the fourth consecutive
month, failed to reach its recruiting goal. He said recruiters
today have to contact as many as 100 people before getting one
person to sit down to listen to the Army's story, and "that number
is rising."
Despite the challenges, the general said, the recruiting command
will give "everything it has" to meet the goal of 80,000 new
recruits in fiscal 2005, which ends Sept. 30. "We're still focused
very much on 100 percent success," he said.
Rochelle expressed hope that recruiting numbers will get better
soon, especially during the upcoming summer, when high school
graduates will be faced with the question of what to do next.
"Typically, we get a lift in the summer months," he said. "The
question will be how much of a lift. I'm hoping for a very good
lift."
The general said the Army hopes to bring in new recruits by
increasing signing bonuses to up to $40,000, a move that will
require congressional authorization. Programs also are in place to
give soldiers tours of military installations to give them a feel
for Army life, and another program partners with business to
guarantee new recruits priority interviews right when they complete
training or military service.
He said about 100 companies have signed on with the Army in the
"Partnership for Youth Success," including the Dell Corp.,
Southwest Airlines and Sears Logistics.
"What these companies realize is that these young soldiers, after
completion of military service, bring a quality that's frankly
irreplaceable," Rochelle said.
The general said his order to "stand down" recruiters in March was
a result of reports in the media that recruiters were using
forceful and unfair tactics to enlist new soldiers. He said the
move was intended to "refocus recruiters on Army values."
06/19/2005
A critical moment for the Non Proliferation regime
The Council of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World
Affairs is greatly concerned about the recent failure of the
Seventh Review Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),
held in New York in May, to deliver a
final document with concrete indications on how to progress towards
the reduction and ultimately the elimination of nuclear weapons, as
called for when the NPT entered into force in 1970.
The difficulties and even the possibility of a collapse of the
nuclear non-proliferation regime, the weakening of the taboos in
place since 1945 on the use of nuclear weapons, coupled with the
dangers of a terrorist group detonating a nuclear explosive device,
combine to produce a recipe for potential unmitigated disaster.
Despite the urgency of the threat and the gravity of the situation,
the lack of political will of some NPT states parties to live up to
their obligations under the Treaty produced a deadlock and
paralysis during the meetings in New York. Despite the best efforts
of the NPT Review Conference President, Amb. Sergio Duarte, and
many others, the Seventh Review Conference actually represented a
step back from the conclusions made at the two previous review
conferences in 1995 and 2000. In particular the important
conclusions of the 2000 review Conferences (the so called 13
steps), which have never been implemented, have not been even
mentioned in any offcial document of the 2005 review
Conference.
For their part, the original nuclear weapons states (US, Russia,
UK, France and China) have not lived up to their obligations under
Article VI of the NPT to move decisively toward the irreversible
elimination of their nuclear arsenals. Such inaction invites
charges of hypocrisy when these same countries seek to deny access
to nuclear technologies to non-nuclear weapons states, or –
in the case of the United States – continue to profess
interest in developing new nuclear weapons and possibly resume
nuclear testing. More broadly, the entire framework of nuclear
weapons disarmament is in danger of being swept away. Strategic
arms control between the US and Russia is not progressing, the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) has not entered into force,
and serious negotiations have not even started on a Fissile
Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) to eliminate production of
weapons-grade Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) and plutonium.
Moreover, too little is being done to control and dispose of
existing stockpiles of HEU that run the risk of falling into the
hands of terrorist groups. No attention is being paid to large
numbers of tactical nuclear weapons that continue to exist in great
numbers with no military rationale whatsoever, while the deployment
of weapons in space moves closer to reality.
Elsewhere, fundamental challenges to the nuclear non-proliferation
regime are posed by the withdrawal of North Korea from the NPT and
its nuclear military program, by the loopholes that exist which
allow countries which develop full-cycle civilian nuclear
activities to move more easily towards developing nuclear weapon
programs, and by the continued presence and activities of three
nuclear weapons-states that exist outside the NPT.
Time is running out if a nuclear catastrophe is to be averted.
Political solutions are urgently needed to resolve those conflicts
that either spawn international terrorism, or increase the risk of
the use of nuclear weapons or other WMDs, or destabilize the
Non-proliferation regime or all of these things combined. Global
security must be based on international institutions and the rule
of law rather than on unilateral action and an excessive reliance
on military force.
In the wake of the failure of the 2005 NPT Review Conference, the
Pugwash Council calls on national governments, multilateral
institutions, and international NGOs to lead the international
community away from a misplaced reliance on nuclear weapons, We
need to understand the catastrophic dangers that await us if clear
progress is not made to decisively reduce and eventually eliminate
nuclear weapons.
Contact:
Dr. Jeffrey Boutwell, Executive Director
Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
11 Dupont Circle, NW Suite 900
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 1-202-478-3440
Email: pugwashdc@aol.com
06/20/2005
International flygtningedag.
06/23/2005
CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense
Defense Technologies Inc., Ranlo, N.C., is being awarded an
$8,821,262 ceiling-priced indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity
contract for basic and applied research leading to the development
of a prototype Intelligent Autonomous Unmanned Controls Station
System. Work will be performed in Ranlo, N.C. (70 percent) and
Patuxent River, Md. (30 percent), and is expected to be completed
in June 2008. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the
current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured under
a Broad Agency Announcement; one proposal was received. The Naval
Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Md., is the
contracting activity (N00421-05-D-0055).
Rockwell Collins Government Systems, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is being
awarded a $45,334,038 firm fixed price and cost plus fixed fee
contract modification that exercises production options for the
purchase of 19,659 Defense Advanced Global Positioning Satellite
Receivers (DAGRs) and accessories. The DAGR will provide authorized
Department of Defense, and Foreign Military Sales users of GPS User
Equipment a Precise Positioning System, hand-held, dual-frequency,
lightweight receiver (less than one pound) that incorporates the
next generation, tamper-resistant Global Positioning Satellite
(GPS) "SAASM" (Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module)
security module. The DAGR will serve as a replacement for the
Precision Lightweight GPS Receiver in integrated platforms as well
as for the advanced and basis GPS user. This effort supports
foreign military sales to Germany, France, Canada and Australia.
Total funds have been obligated. This work will be complete by June
2006. The Headquarters Space and Missile Systems Center, Los
Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., is the contracting activity
(F04701-02-C-0011, P00026).
Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, Sudbury, Mass., is being
awarded a $752,000,000 cost-plus award-fee, firm fixed price
contract to provide Taiwan with elements of a missile and air
defense capability. Specifically, this system includes a Ultra High
Frequency phased array radar integrated with Taiwan furnished
Identification Friend-or-Foe beacons, two Missile Warning Centers,
communications and interface architecture and protocol to specified
Taiwan mission elements via the Taiwan military communications
infrastructure; consistent with United State Government
restrictions. This effort supports foreign military sales with
Taiwan. At this time, $349,754,206 of the funds have been
obligated. This work will be complete by September 2009.
Solicitation began December 2004. The Headquarters Electronic
Systems Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., is the contracting
activity (FA8722-05-C-0001).
Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is being awarded a
$351,850,082 firm fixed price, cost-plus award-fee, time and
materials contract to provide strategic posts and associated mobile
support teams survivable inter-site/intra-site communications paths
to receive emergency action messages (EAMs) and force management
messages from nuclear C2 nodes (inter-site) and disseminate them to
their bomber, tanker, and reconnaissance aircrews (intra-site).
GEMS will be developed and fielded in both a fixed and a
transportable configuration utilizing layered system architecture.
GEMS will provide extremely high frequency and very low
frequency/low frequency communications and aircrew alerting, as
well as receiving, computing, routing, storing, and disseminating
capability for EAM and other force direction and force management
messages from the Nuclear Command and Control Systems nodes to
aircrews in the seats and to nuclear execution ground support
forces. The locations of performances are Rockwell Collins, Cedar
Rapids, Iowa (40 percent), and Rockwell Collins, Richardson, Texas
(60 percent). At this time, $9,900,000 of the funds have been
obligated. This work will be complete by May 2011. Solicitation
began April 2005, and negotiations were completed June 2005. The
Headquarters Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom Air Force Base,
Mass., is the contracting activity (FA8726-05-D-0003, 0001).
06/23/2005
DRS Technologies Receives $44 Million in Orders for Advanced
Intelligence Equipment
PARSIPPANY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 23, 2005--DRS Technologies,
Inc. announced today that it has received orders with a combined
value of approximately $44 million to provide advanced intelligence
equipment supporting all installation types used in the collection
of communications intelligence (COMINT) and signal intelligence
(SIGINT) data. These products will be used in man-portable,
fixed-site and mobile applications supporting the intelligence
community.
The contracts were awarded to DRS by various intelligence agencies
and U.S. government organizations, as well as domestic and
international defense prime contractors. For these orders, the
company's DRS Signal Solutions unit in Gaithersburg, Maryland, will
provide various high-performance tuners, receivers, demodulators
and direction finding equipment. Product deliveries are expected to
be completed in approximately six months. DRS Signal Solutions
provides advanced military and space communications technologies to
achieve information superiority on the 21st century battlefield. It
offers a wide range of solutions for gathering, exploiting and
protecting critical Command, Control, Communications and
Intelligence (C3I) information, including microwave products with
unmatched signal purity for increased surveillance and compact
satellite communication (SATCOM) converters at half the physical
size of any other available, with low-phase noise and low
distortion.
06/26/2005
FNs antitorturdag.
06/26/2005
INFANT HOSTAGE MASS MURDER BY US COALITION
By Dr Gideon Polya
According to the latest UN Population Division demographic data
(see: http://esa.un.org/unpp/index.asp?panel=1 ), in 2005 the
estimated under-5 infant mortality in US-occupied Iraq and
Afghanistan will total about 120,000 and 330,000, respectively, out
of under 5 year old populations of 4.3 million and 5.5 million,
respectively.
The latest UNICEF
report (2005) (see: http://www.unicef.org/index2.html)
estimates that in 2003 the under-5 infant mortality was 110,000 in
Iraq and 292,000 in Afghanistan as compared to 1,000 in the
invading and occupying Coalition country Australia (noting that
these countries have similar populations).
How is this happening in these "liberated" countries? The Ruler is
responsible for the Ruled but WHO and medical literature sources
indicate that the annual per capita medical expenditure in the
Occupied Iraqi and Afghan Territories is LESS THAN ONE PERCENT (1%)
of that in Metropolitan
USA (see:
http://www.countercurrents.org/iraq-polya110305.htm).
Australia and the US are currently celebrating the safe release of
ONE Western hostage in Iraq - but the US-led Coalition is holding
about 10 million under 5 year olds hostage in the Occupied Iraqi
and Afghan Territories (out of over 50 million hostages in total)
and nearly HALF A MILLION of these infants are dying EACH YEAR,
largely due to grossly insufficient provision of life-preserving
requisites by the Occupying Coalition (see:
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gpolya/links.html).
In 2005 the total post-invasion under-5 infant mortality in
US-occupied Iraq and Afghanistan (already 1.5 MILLION) will EXCEED
the number of Jewish children murdered by the Nazis during World
War 2.
Of course it is not just infants who are dying AVOIDABLY due to
UK-US democratic imperialism (democratic Nazism) in the Occupied
Iraqi and Afghan Territories. Using the latest UN and medical
literature data it can be readily estimated that the post-invasion
avoidable mortality (excess mortality) has been about 0.4 million
in Iraq and 1.5 million in Afghanistan - nearly 1,000 Iraqi or
Afghan civilian deaths for every US Coalition military death.
06/27/2005
Preliminary Declaration of the Jury of Conscience World
Tribunal on Iraq
Tribunal on Iraq Findings
World Tribunal on Iraq
Monday 27 June 2005
http://www.worldtribunal.org/main/?b=91
In February 2003, weeks before war was declared on Iraq, millions
of people protested in the streets of the world. That call went
unheeded. No international institution had the courage or
conscience to stand up to the aggression of the US and UK
governments. No one could stop them. It is two years later now.
Iraq has been invaded, occupied, and devastated. The attack on Iraq
is an attack on justice, on liberty, on our safety, on our future,
on us all. We the people of conscience decided to stand up. We
formed the World Tribunal on Iraq, to demand justice and a peaceful
future.
The legitimacy of the World Tribunal on Iraq is located in the
collective conscience of humanity. This, the Istanbul session, was
the culmination of a series of 20 hearings held in different cities
of the world focusing on the illegal invasion and occupation of
Iraq.
We the Jury of Conscience, from 10 different countries, met in
Istanbul. We heard 54 testimonies from a panel of advocates and
witnesses who came from across the world, including from Iraq, the
United States and the United Kingdom.
The World Tribunal on Iraq met in Istanbul from 24-26th of June
2005. The principal objective of the WTI is to tell the truth about
the Iraq war as clearly as possible, and to draw conclusions that
underscore the accountability of those responsible and underline
the significance of justice for the Iraqi people. Saddam Hussein's
crimes against his people are not the focus of this Tribunal. We
believe it is up to the Iraqi people to investigate these crimes in
an independent and free trial.
I. Overview
1. The reasons given by the US and UK governments for the illegal
invasion and occupation of Iraq in March 2003 have proven to be
false. The real motive was to control and dominate the Middle East.
Establishing hegemony over the Middle East serves the goal of
controlling the world's largest reserves of oil and strengthening
the position of the US's strategic ally Israel.
2. Blatant falsehoods about the presence of weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq and a link between Al Qaeda terrorism and the
Saddam Hussein régime were manufactured in order to create
public support for a "preemptive" assault upon a sovereign
independent nation.
3. Iraq has been under siege for years. The imposition of severe
inhuman economic sanctions at the end of the first Gulf war in
1991; the establishment of no-fly zones in the Northern and
Southern parts of Iraq; and the concomitant bombing of the country
were all aimed at degrading and weakening Iraq's human and material
resources and capacities in order to facilitate its subsequent
invasion and occupation. In this enterprise the US and British
leaderships had the endorsement of a complicit UN Security
Council.
4. In pursuit of their agenda of empire, the Bush and Blair
blatantly ignored the massive opposition to the war expressed by
millions of people around the world. They embarked upon one of the
most unjust, immoral, and cowardly wars in history.
5. The Anglo-American occupation of Iraq of the last 27 months has
led to the destruction and devastation of the Iraqi state and
society. Law and order have broken down completely, resulting in a
pervasive lack of human security; the physical infrastructure is in
shambles; the health care delivery system is a mess; the education
system has ceased to function; there is massive environmental and
ecological devastation; and, the cultural and archeological
heritage of the Iraqi people has been desecrated.
6. The occupation has intentionally exacerbated ethnic and
confessionnal divisions in Iraqi society, with the aim of
undermining Iraq's identity and integrity as a nation. This is in
keeping with the fam liar imperial policy of divide and rule.
7. The imposition of the UN sanctions in 1991 caused untold
suffering and thousands of deaths. The situation has worsened after
the occupation. At least 100,000 civilians have been killed; 60,000
are being held in US custody in inhuman conditions, without
charges; thousands have disappeared; and torture has become
virtually routine.
8. The privatization, deregulation, and liberalization of the Iraqi
economy has transformed the country into a client economy that
serves the Washington Consensus. The occupying forces have also
accomplished their primary goal of acquired control over the
nation's oil.
9. Any law or institution created under the aegis of occupation is
devoid of both legal and moral authority. The recently concluded
election, the Constituent Assembly, the current government, and the
drafting committee for the Constitution are therefore all
illegitimate.
10. There is widespread opposition to the occupation. Political,
social, and civil resistance through peaceful means is subjected to
repression by the occupying forces. It is the brutality of the
occupation that has provoked a strong armed resistance and certain
acts of desperation. By the principles embodied in the UN Charter
and in international law, the popular national resistance to the
occupation is legitimate and justified. It deserves the support of
people everywhere who care for justice and freedom.
II. Findings and Charges
On the basis of the preceding findings and recalling the Charter of
the United Nations and other legal documents quoted in the
appendix, the jury has established the following charges.
A. Against the Governments of the US and the UK
1. Planning, preparing, and waging the supreme crime of a war of
aggression in contravention of the United Nations Charter and the
Nuremberg Principles.
Evidence for this can be found in the leaked Downing Street Memo of
23rd July, 2002 in which it was revealed that: "military action was
now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam through
military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD.
But the intelligence and facts were fixed around the policy."
Intelligence was manufactured to willfully deceive the people of
the US, the UK, and their elected representatives.
2. Targeting the civilian population of Iraq and civilian
infrastructure, by intentionally directing attacks upon civilians
and hospitals, medical centers, residential neighborhoods,
electricity stations, and water purification facilities in
violation of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the International
Covenant for Civil and Political Rights ("ICCPR"), Articles
7(1)(a), 8(2)(a)(i), and 8(2)(b)(i). The complete destruction of
the city of Falluja in itself constitutes a glaring example of such
crimes.
3. Using disproportionate force and indiscriminate weapon systems,
such as cluster munitions, incendiary bombs, depleted uranium (DU),
and chemical weapons. Detailed evidence was presented to the
Tribunal by expert witnesses that leukemia had risen sharply in
children under the age of five residing in those areas which had
been targeted by DU weapons.
4. Failing to safeguard the lives of civilians during military
activities and during the occupation period thereafter, in
violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Articles 13 and 27, and
the ICC Statute, Articles 7 (1)(a) and 8(2)(a)(i). This is
evidenced, for example, by "shock and awe" bombing techniques and
the conduct of occupying forces at checkpoints.
5. Using deadly violence against peaceful protestors, beginning
with, among others, the April 2003 killing of more than a dozen
peaceful protestors in Falluja.
6. Imposing punishments without charge or trial, including
collective punishment, on the people of Iraq, in violation of the
International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),
Geneva Conventions, and customary international law requiring due
process. Repeated testimonies pointed to "snatch and grab"
operations, disappearances, and assassinations.
7. Subjecting Iraqi soldiers and civilians to torture and cruel,
inhuman, or degrading treatment in violation of the Geneva
Conventions, the ICCPR, other treaties and covenants, and customary
international law. Degrading treatment includes subjecting Iraqi
soldiers and civilians to acts of racial, ethnic, religious, and
gender discrimination, as well as denying Iraqi soldiers Prisoner
of War status as required by the Geneva Convention. Abundant
testimony was provided of unlawful arrests and detentions, without
due process of law. Well known and egregious examples occurred in
Abu Ghraib prison as well as in Mosul, Camp Bucca, and Basra. The
employment of mercenaries and private contractors to carry out
torture has served to undermine accountability.
8. Re-writing the laws of a country that has been illegally invaded
and occupied, in violation of international covenants on the
responsibilities of occupying powers, in order to amass illegal
profits (through such measures as Order 39, signed by L. Paul
Bremer III for the Coalition Provisional Authority, which allows
foreign investors to buy and takeover Iraq's state-owned
enterprises and to repatriate 100 percent of their profits and
assets at any point) and to control Iraq's oil. Evidence listed a
number of corporations that had profited from such
transactions.
9. Willfully devastating the environment, contaminating it by
depleted uranium (DU) weapons, combined with the plumes from
burning oil wells, as well as huge oil spills, and destroying
agricultural lands. Deliberately disrupting the water and waste
removal systems, in a manner verging on biological-chemical
warfare. Failing to prevent the looting and dispersal of
radioactive material from nuclear sites. Extensive documentation is
available on air, water pollution, land degradation, and
radiological pollution.
10. Actively creating conditions under which the status of Iraqi
women has seriously been degraded contrary, to the repeated claims
of the leaders of the coalition forces. Women's freedom of movement
has been severely limited, restricting their access to education,
livelihood, and social engagement. Testimony was provided that
sexual violence and sex trafficking have increased since the
occupation of Iraq began.
11. Failing to protect humanity's rich archaeological and cultural
heritage in Iraq, by allowing the looting of museums and
established historical sites and positioning military bases in
culturally and archeologically sensitive locations. This took place
despite prior warnings from UNESCO and Iraqi museum officials.
12. Obstructing the right to information, including the censoring
of Iraqi media, such as newspapers (e.g., al-Hawza, al-Mashriq, and
al-Mustaqila) and radio stations (Baghdad Radio), targeting
international journalists, imprisoning and killing academics,
intellectuals and scientists.
13. Redefining torture in violation of international law, to allow
use of torture and illegal detentions, including holding more than
500 people at Guantánamo Bay without charging them or
allowing them any access to legal protection, and using
"extraordinary renditions" to send people to torture in other
countries known to commit human rights abuses and torture
prisoners.
B. Against the Security Council of United Nations
1. Failing to protect Iraq against a crime of aggression.
2. Imposing harsh economic sanctions on Iraq, despite knowledge
that sanctions were directly contributing to the massive loss of
civilian lives and harming innocent civilians.
3. Allowing the United States and United Kingdom to carry out
illegal bombings in the no-fly zones, using false pretense of
enforcing UN resolutions, and at no point allowing discussion in
the Security Council of this violation, and thereby being complicit
and responsible for loss of civilian life and destruction of Iraqi
infrastructure.
4. Allowing the United States to dominate the United Nations and
hold itself above any accountability by other member nations.
5. Failure to stop war crimes and crimes against humanity by the
United States and its coalition partners in Iraq.
6. Failure to hold the United States and its coalition partners
accountable for violations of international law during the
occupation, and giving official recognition to the occupation,
thereby legitimizing an illegal invasion and becoming a
collaborator in an illegal occupation.
C. Against the Governments of the Coalition of the Willing
Collaborating in the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
D. Against the Governments of Other Countries
Allowing the use of military bases and air space, and providing
other logistical support, for the invasion and occupation.
E. Against Private Corporations
Profiting from the war with complicity in the crimes described
above, of invasion and occupation.
F. Against the Major Corporate Media
1. Disseminating the deliberate falsehoods spread by the
governments of the US and the UK and failing to adequately
investigate this misinformation. This even in the face of abundant
evidence to the contrary. Among the corporate media houses that
bear special responsibility for promoting the lies about Iraq's
weapons of mass destruction, we name the New York Times, in
particular their reporter Judith Miller, whose main source was on
the payroll of the CIA. We also name Fox News, CNN and the BBC.
2. Failing to report the atrocities being committed against Iraqi
people by the occupying forces.
III. Recommendations
Recognising the right of the Iraqi people to resist the illegal
occupation of their country and to develop independent
institutions, and affirming that the right to resist the occupation
is the right to wage a struggle for self-determination, freedom,
and independence as derived from the Charter of the United Nations,
we the Jury of Conscience declare our solidarity with the people of
Iraq.
We recommend:
1. The immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the coalition
forces from Iraq;
2. That coalition governments make war reparations and pay
compensation to Iraq for the humanitarian, economic, ecological,
and cultural devastation they have caused by their illegal invasion
and occupation;
3. That all laws, contracts, treaties, and institutions established
under occupation which the Iraqi people deem inimical to their
interests, should be considered null and void;
4. That the Guantanamo Bay prison and all other offshore US
military prisons be closed immediately; that the names of the
prisoners be disclosed, that they receive POW status, and receive
due process;
5. That there be an exhaustive investigation of those responsible
for crimes of aggression and crimes against humanity in Iraq,
beginning with George W. Bush, President of the United States of
America; Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; and
other government officials from the coalition of the willing;
6. That we initiate a process of accountability to hold those
morally and personally responsible for their participation in this
illegal war, such as journalists who deliberately lied, corporate
media outlets that promoted racial, ethnic and religious hatred,
and CEOs of multinational corporations that profited from this
war;
7. That people throughout the world launch actions against US and
UK corporations that directly profit from this war. Examples of
such corporations include Halliburton, Bechtel, Carlyle, CACI Inc.,
Titan Corporation, Kellog, Brown and Root (subsidiary of
Halliburton), DynCorp, Boeing, ExxonMobil, Texaco, British
Petroleum. The following companies have sued Iraq and received
"reparation awards": Toys R Us, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Shell,
Nestlé, Pepsi, Phillip Morris, Sheraton, Mobil. Such actions
may take the form of direct actions such as shutting down their
offices, consumer boycotts, and pressure on shareholders to
divest.
8. That soldiers exercise conscience and refuse to enlist and
participate in an illegal war. Also that countries provide
conscientious objectors political asylum.
9. That the international campaign for dismantling all US military
bases abroad be reinforced.
10. That people around the world resist and reject any effort by
any of their governments to provide material, logistical, or moral
support to the occupation of Iraq.
We, the Jury of Conscience, hope that the specificity of these
recommendations will lay the groundwork required for a world where
the international institutions will be shaped and reshaped by the
will of people and not fear and self-interest, where journalists
and intellectuals will not remain mute, where the will of the
people of the world will be central, and human security will
prevail over state security and corporate profits.
Appendix: List of Legal Documents
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
The Convention on the Political Rights of Women (1952)
The Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959)
The Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination (1963)
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)
The Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (1979)
The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984)
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)
The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998)
The European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
(1950)
The American Convention on Human Rights (1969)
The Code of Conduct for the Armed Forces of the United States of
America (1963)
06/27/2005
81-Year-Old Invited to Join Navy
MAGNOLIA, AR-June 27, 2005 — At age 81, Fola Coats might seem
a little old to join the Navy. But the great-grandmother recently
received a letter inviting her to enlist in the Seabees of the
Naval Reserve.
"I laughed when I got (the letter)," she said. "I told (my family),
I can't wait to get my uniform."
06/28/2005
Successful Discrimination Appeal Puts Spotlight on Faslane
Arrests
By: Trident ploughshares
With the G8 mass blockade of Faslane only days away a protester who
claimed that his arrest at a previous protest at the base was
discriminatory has today won his appeal to the Scottish High Court,
raising further questions about the policy of Strathclyde Police in
responding to peaceful protest.
Alan Wilkie, 73, from Edinburgh, who was convicted of a
breach of the peace at the blockade in April 2003, told Lady
Cosgrove, Lord Bracadale and Lord Nimmo Smith that the arrest
breached his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights
by discriminating against him, when police arrested him but did not
arrest a group whose conduct was identical to his. The group who
were not arrested included MSP Tommy Sheridan and other
candidates for the Scottish Parliament elections which were held
the following week. The selective arrest policy was seen to be
politically motivated.
The court quashed Alan's conviction, saying that the magistrate,
Justice of the Peace Viv Dance, had misdirected herself by refusing
to admit written evidence from Tommy Sheridan and others which
supported the claim that the arrests had been selective. While they
did not specifically mention the ECHR, it is clear that they took
the view that evidence which related to a claim under Article 14 of
that Convention should have been admitted because it was wholly
relevant. Alan said: "I am delighted that this appeal has been
upheld at a time when the right to protest peacefully is under
attack on so many fronts. This is only one small step but I hope
that it will make the police and the prosecuting authorities more
careful in the future about trampling on people's rights."
A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said: "As we usually do before
these mass blockades we are again asking Strathclyde Police not to
take the side of an unlawful system of WMD and arrest people
engaged in peaceful protests. If they do indulge in mass arrests we
will be watching very carefully for any discriminatory
practice."
The blockade will take place on Monday 4th July, two days before
the start of the G8 Summit. It is expected to be one of the biggest
direct actions against militarism ever in the UK.
06/29/2005
CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense
Aerospace Engineering Spectrum, Ogden, Utah; Arinc Engineering
Services, Annapolis, Md.; Battelle Columbus Operations, Columbia,
Ohio; Dynamics Research Corp., Midwest Oklahoma, Sverdrup
Technology, Fort Walton Beach, Fla., Karta Technologies, San
Antonio, Texas, Manufacturing Technology, Fort Walton, Fla.,
Northrop Grumman, Fairfax, Va.; Southwest Research Institute, San
Antonio, Texas; and Support Systems Associates, Melbourne, Fla. is
being awarded a $1,900,000,000 indefinite delivery/indefinite
quantity contract to provide for Engineering and technical services
in support of the Design and Engineering Support Program II to
support all AFMC weapon systems, subsystems, and related
processes.
The Design and Engineering Support Program II contracts will
address technical areas such as: Laboratory Services, Technical
Documentation, Courseware Development, Systems Design, Engineering,
Development, software/Firmware, Maintenance, Repair, Operational
Support, Process Modeling, Analysis, Re-Engineering, Environmental,
Health, and Safety. The Air Force can issue delivery orders
totaling up to maximum amount indicated above, though actual
requirements may necessitate less than the amount above. At this
time, $50,000 of the funds has been obligated. This work will be
complete by June 2012. Solicitation began October 2004 and
negotiations were completed May 2005. The Headquarters Ogden Air
Logistics Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting
activity (FA8222-05-D-0001, 0010).
06/30/2005
Luxembourg medlem af ESA.
 |
 |