ISSUE:
#. 66. Dec. 30, 2002
THIS WEEK:
SPECIAL HOLIDAY NUCLEAR PARANOIA ISSUE!
KOREA BACK TO THE BRINK--IRAN NEXT?!
ANONYMOUS OFFICIALS: SADDAM ARMING AL-QAEDA!!
YET MORE ALARMIST CLAIMS: OSAMA SEEKING NUKES!!!
ARE WE SCARED YET????
CURRENT HOMELAND SECURITY COLOR ADVISORY CODE: YELLOW
By Bill Weinberg
with David Bloom, Special Correspondent
THE PALESTINE FRONT
1. West Bank: Sharon Calls for Increase in Assassinations
2. Gaza: Housing Demolitions Continue in Rafah
3. IDF Still Using Human Shields, Say Rights Groups
4. B'tselem: IDF Beats, Shaves Heads of Palestinians
5. IDF Force Palestinian-American to Pose as Suicide Bomber
6. Soldier Who Killed Old Woman Slapped on Wrist
7. Electoral Commission Bars Arab, Approves Kach Militant
8. Lebanese Mercs Vote Likud
10. Internationals Protest in Solidarity with Palestinians
11. American Indian Militant Calls for "Global Intifada"
THE IRAQ FRONT
1. Pentagon Escalates Gulf Military Build-Up
2. Saddam Shoots Down Drone
3. French Protest U.S. Battle Group
4. Refugee Crisis Looms
5. Turkish Troops Fight Kurdish Guerillas in Northern Iraq
6. Did U.S. Shoot Down Ukrainian Airliner?
7. Shi'ite Opposition Against U.S. Intervention
8. Saddam-Rumsfeld Lovefest Back in the News--at Last!
9. Iraq Torture Victim Calls Out U.K. on Aiding Saddam...
10. ...But is Censored by New York Times
11. Saddam Arming al-Qaeda?
12. Will Saddam Take Exile to Avoid War?
13. Study: Balkan Bombing has Grave Implications for Iraq
THE AFGHANISTAN FRONT
1. Report: CIA Using Harsh Interrogation Techniques
2. Human Rights Watch: US Must Investigate Torture Claims
3. U.S. Soldier Shot in Head
4. Death Faces Returning Refugees
5. RAWA Censored by U.S. Immigration Authorities
6. Trans-Afghan Pipeline Plans Advance
THE SUBCONTINENT
1. Jihadis Deal Pakistan Bloody Christmas
2. Musharraf: Ready for Nuclear War
THE CAUCASUS FRONT
1. "International Terrorism" Behind Chechnya Suicide Blast?
2. Chechens Fear "Wahhabi" Threat
NUCLEAR PARANOIA
1. Back to the Brink in Korea
2. Iran Next?
3. Congress Approves Nuclear "Bunker-Busters"
4. Pakistani Scientist's Son: Osama Sought the Nuke
5. Neither Rain nor Snow nor Deadly Atomic Fallout...
6. Greenland Inuit Protest "Star Wars" Plans
7. Belgrade Mission Swipes Yugo Uranium--More to Come?
8. Ukrainian Cops Impound Radioactive Christmas Trees
9. Bechtel Contracted to Entomb Chernobyl
10. 3rd Circuit Screws TMI Survivors
11. Energy Department: Renewable Generation Down
THE PALESTINE FRONT
1. WEST BANK: SHARON CALLS FOR INCREASE IN ASSASSINATIONS
On Dec. 30, Israeli Attorney General Elyakim Rubenstein told Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon to only use "targeted killings" as a last resort. (AP, Dec.
30) In reaction, Sharon told his cabinet the "anti-terrorist struggle"
must be reinforced. "We should strike against those who commit these
attacks, those who organize them and those who help them." (UK Telegraph,
Dec. 31) This past week saw an upsurge in the assassination of Palestinian
resistance leaders and fighters.
On Dec. 23, two Palestinian militants, one from Fatah and one from Hamas,
were approached by an Israeli undercover unit while they were driving
across a field in a tractor in Jenin. According to Palestinian security
officials, the Israelis stopped the tractor and then shot the two men at
close range. Israeli security sources said the men had raised their rifles
after they realized they were surrounded. (South China Morning Post, Dec.
24)
On Dec. 25, Israeli paratroopers shot dead a Hamas member in Nablus. (EFE,
Dec. 25) An elderly Palestinian man dropped dead Dec. 26 after a stun
grenade thrown by Israeli troops landed near him in Tul Karm. Salim
Marawah, 65, was standing near his house during a raid by Israeli troops in
the area. (AFP, Dec. 26)
The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that on Dec. 26 an Israeli
special unit stormed the guards' room at Ramallah hospital, and abducted a
Palestinian youth after wounding him. (BBC Monitoring: Wafa, Dec. 26)
Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians on Dec. 26 in what Israel described
as "wide-ranging counter-terrorist actions" across the West Bank. An
Islamic Jihad leader died in a gunbattle in Qabatiya, near Jenin. Five
Israeli soldiers were wounded. A Hamas leader and his passenger in Ramallah
were shot dead when Israeli forces riddled his car with gunfire, claiming
he drew a gun when they tried to arrest him. Palestinian witnesses said the
Israelis also opened fire on local youth, killing an unarmed 19-year-old
traffic policeman. Another Palestinian was killed while fleeing arrest in
Ramallah, Israel said. In Tul Karm, Israeli Border Police killed the head
of the local al-Aksa Martyrs' Brigades. Israeli forces also killed two
Palestinian gunmen in the center of Nablus. After the battle, residents
came out of their homes to protest the Israeli-imposed curfew. One
protester, who the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) claimed was armed, was shot
dead, and Palestinian hospital sources said that 20 people were hurt.
(Times of London, Dec. 27; Ha'aretz, Dec. 27)
On Dec. 27, two Palestinian gunmen, engineering students from the town of
Dura near Hebron, infiltrated the Jewish settlement of Otniel and shot four
Yeshiva students to death. The two attackers were themselves killed.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility. Israeli forces destroyed houses
belonging to Islamic Jihad militants in Dura the next day. (AFP, Dec. 29)
Voice of Palestine radio reported that on Dec. 28 "four citizens were
wounded when the occupation forces opened fire on hundreds of citizens held
at Atarah Bridge, which was declared a closed military zone." (BBC
Monitoring, Voice of Palestine, Dec. 29) That same day, Israeli troops on
Dec. 28 dynamited the Palestinian preventive security headquarters in Deir
Jareer near Ramallah. (Xinhua, Dec. 28)
Eleven-year-old Abdel Karim Salameh was killed when Israeli forces opened
fire at crowd of stone-throwing children in Tul Karm on Dec. 30. A second
boy was wounded in the leg by a rubber-coated steel bullet. The Israeli
military denied live fire had been used. (UK Independent, Dec. 30)
AFP reports that on Dec. 30, near Jenin, a 37-year-old Palestinian
schoolteacher was shot dead by an Israeli soldier after his car rammed into
an army jeep, injuring an Israeli officer. It was not clear whether or not
the crash was an accident. The man was unarmed. (AFP, Dec. 30) The Voice of
Israel reported "a Palestinian got out of the vehicle and began running
towards the soldiers. They opened fire and killed him." (BBC Monitoring:
Voice of Israel, Dec. 30) The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported the
incident differently: "Eyewitnesses said that teacher Asim Fu'ad
Abd-al-Rahman Massad, 37, from Faqqu'ah in Jenin in the West Bank, was
martyred when the occupation soldiers suddenly opened fire on him.
Eyewitnesses noted that an Israeli military vehicle intercepted Massad's
car near Al-Julmah military roadblock. His car lightly bumped against the
Israeli vehicle. The soldiers ordered him to get out of the car and then
shot him dead without any reason." (BBC Monitoring: Palestinian news agency
Wafa, Dec. 30)
On Dec. 30, a Palestinian in Nablus was shot dead by Israeli forces
occupying the city. Palestinian officials reported the man was throwing
rocks at the IDF. The army said he had thrown a Molotov cocktail. Two other
Palestinians were wounded, one critically. (AFP, Dec. 30) A 55-year-old
Palestinian man from the village of Al-Nabi near Ramallah died Dec. 30 when
Israeli troops prevented the car he was driving in from reaching the
hospital. (BBC Monitoring, Voice of Palestine, Dec. 30)(David Bloom)
[top]
2. GAZA: HOUSING DEMOLITIONS CONTINUE IN RAFAH
The Israeli army destroyed 15 houses in the Rafah refugee camp near the
border with Egypt on Dec. 24. A Palestinian security spokesman said the
action left 100 people homeless. The army said its troops raided Rafah to
destroy clandestine tunnels through which Palestinian militants smuggled
weapons from Egypt into the Gaza Strip. (Xinhua, Dec. 24)
Voice of Palestine radio reported on Dec. 24 the IDF wounded a Palestinian
man and inflicted heavy damage on residents' houses during an incursion
into Al-Qararah and Al-Hay al-Namsawi, east of Khan Yunis. (BBC Monitoring:
Voice of Palestine, Dec. 24)
On Dec. 24, Israeli forces opened fire at a group of Palestinians they
described as digging a hole near an unmanned army outpost east of Jabaliyah
in the Gaza Strip. One fifteen-year-old was killed, and five were wounded.
(AP, Dec. 24; BBC Monitoring, Wafa, Dec. 24)
Palestinians said Israeli troops shot nine-year-old Hanneen Abu Suleiman in
the head, as she played outside her home Dec. 28 in the town of Khan
Younis. Witnesses said the gunfire came unprovoked from a Jewish settlement
a few hundred yards away. The army said Palestinians in the area had fired
at an army outpost. (AP, Dec. 28)
A Palestinian militant dressed in an IDF uniform cut through the fence
separating Gaza from Israel and opened fire on an army patrol on Dec. 30.
The patrol returned fire, killing him. (AFP, Dec. 30)
Two Palestinians were wounded in Rafah during a Dec. 30 raid by the IDF on
the area near the border with Egypt. (Xinhua, Dec. 30)(David Bloom)
[top]
3. IDF STILL USING HUMAN SHIELDS, SAY RIGHTS GROUPS
Despite a ruling by the High Court of Justice forbidding the use of
"neighbor practice," in which the IDF coerces neighbors of wanted suspects
to serve as human shields in the arrests, human rights groups say the
practice continues. Several affidavits filed in the court recounted
incidents in which Palestinians claimed to have been forced to become human
shields, a violation of the Geneva Convention. Three weeks ago, the army
told the court it had issued orders that the practice must cease.
(Ha'aretz, Dec. 25) (See also: Human Shield Killed in IDF "Neighbor
Practice")(David Bloom)
[top]
4. B'TSELEM: IDF BEATS, SHAVES HEADS OF PALESTINIANS
The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem says Israeli soldiers beat five
Palestinians in a Hebron barbershop on Dec. 3, forcibly shaved the heads of
two of the men, and tried to make a third swallow shampoo. A soldier hit
one of the men in the face with a metal bucket. When Palestinian youths
outside began throwing stones at the shop, the soldiers took cover behind
the customers and fired at the stone throwers over their shoulders,
illegally using the captives as human shields. B'Tselem added: "This grave
incident is only the tip of the iceberg. Cases of punishment and abuse of
Palestinians by IDF soldiers in the occupied territories occur daily."
Recently, Palestinians in Hebron reported Israeli troops forced them to
select which one of their limbs would be broken, in a macabre "lottery."
(See WW3 REPORT #65)(AP, Dec.
30)(David Bloom)
[top]
5. IDF FORCE PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN TO POSE AS SUICIDE BOMBER
The Al-Hayat Al-Jadida daily newspaper reported Dec. 27 that the Israeli
army abused a 14-year old Palestinian-American, Ahmad Abdel Haq. According
to the boy's mother, soldiers raided her home after blowing open the front
door with explosives. They forced the boy to sit on the floor and tie an
al-Aksa Brigades headband on his head, then took pictures of him. She said
an officer placed a Palestinian flag and two M-16 machine-guns behind him,
as well as a number of hand grenades and another gun in front of him, and
forced him to read a suicide bomber's statement. Haq's mother said the
soldiers threatened to kill him if he told the media about the incident.
Finally, he was thrown against the stairs, resulting in injuries to his
head. She reported the incident to the US consulate, saying she feared the
photographs might be used against her son. Haq's mother said the boy needed
psychological care as a result of the incident. (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec.
27, trans.: Hear Palestine News Service)(David Bloom)
[top]
6. SOLDIER WHO KILLED OLD WOMAN SLAPPED ON WRIST
An IDF soldier who shot and killed Fatma Obayed, a 95-year-old woman
travelling in a taxi on a road forbidden to Palestinian vehicles, has been
sentenced to 65 days in military prison. The IDF determined the shots were
fired without justification, since the taxi did not pose a mortal threat to
the soldiers. Mohammed Obayed, the victim's grandson, who lives in A'atara
northwest of Ramallah, reacted angrily: "The Israeli army thinks that it is
humanitarian and progressive, but this sentence shows its true face. The
soldier's action was a very grave matter, but in my opinion whoever judged
the soldier bears much greater responsibility since he has encouraged
Palestinian blood to be spilled in the future. Other solders will
understand that the price to be paid for such an act is just two months in
prison." (Ha'aretz, Dec. 26)(David Bloom)
[top]
7. ELECTORAL COMMISSION BARS ARAB, APPROVES KACH MILITANT
Israel's election commission on Dec. 30 barred MK Ahmed Tibi, an Israeli
Arab legislator from the Arab Movement for Renewal-Hadash Party, from
participating in the upcoming elections. Tibi had drawn the ire of many in
the Israeli political establishment when he called Palestinian resistance
in Jenin during Operation Defensive Shield last spring "an act of noble
heroism." The electoral commission is comprised of representatives of
Israeli parties currently in power, and the right-wing representatives
voted against Tibi in a bloc. (AP, Dec. 30) Israeli High Court Justice
Michael Chesin, who is overseeing the committee, had called on its members
not to disqualify Tibi, despite noting that Tibi " often treads a very
dangerous tightrope" and makes disturbing remarks. Cheshin called Tibi's
disqualification "a bad and incorrect decision. Likud Justice minister Meir
Sheetrit called the decision a "blunder."
The commission is also expected to bar Arab MK Azmi Bishara, and his entire
Balad party as well. Bishara complimented Hezbollah on their "resistance"
at an event commemorating Hafez Assad's death in Syria last year. "Balad's
political-diplomatic line is support of Hezbollah," said the representative
of Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein "They want to create a state on the
ruins of the State of Israel." (Ha'aretz, Dec. 31) Israeli journalist Uri
Avnery had this following observation: "If the Balad party or its chief is
disqualified, all or most of the Arab citizens will boycott the elections.
The Arab sector, constituting almost 20% of the Israeli population, will
disappear from the political map. Without it, there is no chance for the
Left ever to return to power, or even to play a meaningful role in a 'Unity
Government.'"(New Profile, Dec. 28)
The same day it disqualified Tibi, the election commission again ignored
Chesin's recommendation and approved former Kach leader Baruch Marzel to
run on the extreme-right Herut list, led by MK Michael Kleiner. Israel
banned the Kach movement in 1994 after a Kach supporter, Dr. Baruch
Goldstein, shot and killed 29 Muslim worshippers at the tomb of the
Patriarchs in Hebron. Marzel was a protege of Rabbi Meir Kahane, the
movement's leader, who was assassinated by an Egyptian gunman in New York
in 1990. Herut calls for brutally crushing Palestinian resistance, and
settling the occupied territories. (Reuters, Dec. 29) "This is the mark of
Cain on the forehead of the Central Elections Committee and the political
system, which approves such an anti-democratic racist reptile and wants to
disqualify an authentic representative of the Arab public," Tibi told
reporters.
The head of the Special Assignments Department at the attorney general's
office, Talia Sasson, said during the deliberations that documents found at
the offices of the Kach movement prove beyond a doubt that Marzel still
leads the outlawed militant group, and therefore must be ruled out as a
candidate for the Knesset. "I am still in a state of shock," Chesnin told
an Israel Radio interview. "I must point out that the decision has left me
greatly upset. I assumed all along that Marzel would not be allowed to run.
Of course, I come from a very different world and, in that respect, I may
be slightly naive." Interestingly, the left-wing Meretz faction joined the
right-wing representatives on the electoral commission to approve Herut's
list. (Ha'aretz, Dec. 30)(David Bloom)
[top]
8. LEBANESE MERCS VOTE LIKUD
The Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot reported Dec. 30 that some 800 former
members of the South Lebanese Army (SLA), Israel's Christian proxy army in
Lebanon, were registered to vote in the Likud primary. Omri Sharon, son of
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and number 27 on the Knesset list, helped the
SLA members' absorption into Israel in exchange for their votes. Many Likud
members were angered by the report, noting it was illegal for non-Israelis
to be members of the party, or to vote in primary elections. Sharon junior
dismissed the report. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 30) (See also: Lebanese Mercs
Find New Jobs at IDF Checkpoints)(David Bloom)
[top]
9. SUPREME COURT REJECTS REFUSENIKS' APPEAL
A petition by eight reserve soldiers who have refused to serve in the
occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip on moral grounds was rejected by the
Israeli High Court of Justice on Dec. 30. The judges rejected the concept
of selective conscientious objection--that is, choosing specific
circumstances in which one refuses to serve, as opposed to outright
pacifism. "In a society as pluralistic as ours, recognition of selective
conscientious objection might loosen the links that hold us together as a
people," wrote justice Aharon Barak. "Yesterday, the objection was to serve
in southern Lebanon. Today, the objection is to serving in Judea and
Samaria. Tomorrow, the objection will be to evacuating the outposts in the
territories. The army of the people might turn into the army of [different]
peoples, made up of different units, each of which has its own areas where
it may operate and other areas where, for reasons of conscience, it may
not." Lt. David Zonshain, a leader of the refusenik movement, was let out
of military prison to appear before the court. Afterwards, he told
reporters, "For 11 years I have served in the IDF as an officer in the
paratroopers and it is a great privilege for me to do so. In the light of
today's court decision, I will have the great privilege of serving in
[military] jail Number Six. I think this is the best and most serious
military service one can perform in the army today. It is the most Zionist
and the most Jewish act and the only right one under these circumstances."
When asked how his refusal differed from soldiers who refuse to remove
"illegal" settlement outposts in the West Bank, Zonshein replied: "There is
a big difference. The refusal to remove outposts is based on ideological
and Messianic considerations whereas our refusal is based on universal
values." (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 30) (See also: Refuseniks Mount Legal
Challenge to Occupation)(David Bloom)
[top]
10. INTERNATIONALS PROTEST IN SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINIANS
On Dec. 28, about 350 anti-globalization activists from 25 different
countries staged a solidarity demonstration in Ramallah. The activists were
attending the World Social Forum in Palestine. The demonstrators marched
with Palestinian flags, chanting "End the occupation, settlers out!" A
statement from the organizers said the forum's purpose was to "integrate
the Palestinian national cause in the global agenda of social movements"
and "stir world public opinion in reaction to the Israeli abuse of human
rights in the Palestinian territories." The four-day event is modeled on
the World Social Forum held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, last February. After
two days of workshops in Ramallah, the delegates went on field visits in
the West Bank and Gaza Strip. (AFP, Dec. 28) 13 Belgian nationals headed
for the meeting were sent back to Belgium when they arrived at Israel's Ben
Gurion International Airport on Dec. 26. The Israeli Interior Ministry said
the Belgians were expelled because they were considered likely to disturb
the peace. (AP, Dec. 27)
On Dec. 29, 17 internationals joined more than 50 Palestinians in an
attempt to deliver food and medical supplies to Mawasi, a Palestinian town
behind an Israeli checkpoint surrounded by Jewish settlements near Rafah in
Gaza. The IDF put up roadblocks, so demonstrators emptied the two
ambulances full of supplies and proceeded on foot. At the Rafah-Masawi
checkpoint, Israeli soldiers fired without warning, injuring a Palestinian
AP photographer in the head. A press release from the International
Solidarity Movement (ISM) says 300 Palestinians and 25 international
observers, from Britain, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and the US,
will try again on Dec. 31. 100 Palestinians from Mawasi will greet the
demonstrators on the other side of the checkpoint. (ISM, Dec. 29; ISM, Dec.
31) The army closed off Mawasi two months ago, and Palestinian women who
were in Rafah getting supplies and medical treatment have been prevented
from returning. "Every day we go to al-Mawasi, the soldiers at the
roadblock fire at us, and prevent us from entering into the area," one of
the women complained. (Xinhua, Dec. 29)(David Bloom)
[top]
11. AMERICAN INDIAN MILITANT CALLS FOR "GLOBAL INTIFADA"
On Dec. 25, longtime indigenous activist Dacajeweiah "Splitting the Sky"
John Hill--a veteran of the 1971 Attica prison uprising in New York State
as well as land struggles in British Columbia--joined Samer Elatrash, local
Palestinian human rights activist, for a panel entitled "Land and Dignity:
Bridging the First Nations and Palestinian resistance movements" at
Montreal's Concordia University. Dacajeweiah called for a "global Intifada"
against all forms of colonialism. "Not only is the Arab world in a
resistance against colonialism," he said. "But the whole world is coming to
a posture of an international uprising, an international revolution against
the imperial powers of the world, in particular the rogue state of America
and its NATO allies, and the real axis of evil--namely Tony Blair, George W
Bush and Canada's own Jean Chretien." (Palestine Chronicle, Dec. 26)
[top]
THE IRAQ FRONT
1. PENTAGON ESCALATES GULF MILITARY BUILD-UP
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed a deployment order Dec. 24
sending "significant" ground forces, combat aircraft and logistics support
to the Persian Gulf, the Pentagon announced Dec. 27. The classified order
identifies an array of forces and capabilities--including mechanized
infantry units, mid-air re-fuelers and medical facilities--that will be
deployed to Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and other Gulf nations in the coming
weeks. The order leaves it up to the various military services to decide
what specific units will fulfill the force requirements. The Navy responded
by issuing "prepare to deploy" orders to two aircraft carrier battle groups
and activated a hospital ship, the USNS Comfort, based in Baltimore, and
ordered its crew to prepare a 1,000-bed trauma center. (Washington Post,
Dec. 28)
See also WW3 REPORT #65
[top]
2. SADDAM SHOOTS DOWN DRONE
Baghdad shot down an unmanned Predator spy plane over southern Iraq Dec.
23. An Iraqi fighter jet reportedly violated an allied no-fly zone in the
south to fire at the drone before retreating north. "They got a lucky shot
today, and they brought down the Predator," Gen. Richard B. Myers, Joint
Chiefs chairman, admitted at a Pentagon press conference. (Washington
Times, Dec. 24)
[top]
3. FRENCH PROTEST U.S. BATTLE GROUP
With chants of "no blood for oil," some 1,000 marched through the French
Mediterranean port of Marseille Dec. 26 to protest the passage of a US Navy
battle group headed for the Persian Gulf. The battle group, led by aircraft
carrier USS Harry S. Truman, has nearly a dozen ships with 8,000 sailors
and Marines, ended a five-day stop in Marseille Dec. 25. Bernard Genet, a
spokesperson for anti-war group Understand and Act criticized France's
policy of opening ports to US flotillas. France officially maintains a
critical distance from the US/UK war drive, saying that everything must be
done to avoid military action. (AP, Dec. 26)
[top]
4. REFUGEE CRISIS LOOMS
With international aid groups warning that a military assault on Iraq could
lead to a "humanitarian disaster" and up to 1 million refugees fleeing the
country, the UK's International Development Secretary, Clare Short, broke
ranks with the government, insisting that war against Saddam Hussein
cannot be justified if it causes "devastating suffering" to his people. (UK
Independent, Dec. 29) UNICEF and the World Food Program are already moving
emergency supplies to Iraq and neighboring countries in anticipation of a
refugee crisis and potential starvation. A special meeting called at the UN
to address the looming catastrophe found that conditions in Iraq "after
years of sanctions" are far worse than they were after Operation Desert
Storm, with 'high levels of vulnerability and dependence'. The 1991 war
caused more than a million Kurds alone to flee the fighting and an unknown
number "probably greater" of southern Shiites. (UK Observer, Dec. 22)
[top]
5. TURKISH TROOPS FIGHT KURDISH GUERILLAS IN NORTHERN IRAQ
On Nov. 22, two vehicles of Turkey's MIT intelligence service and a
military tank were ambushed near the village of Kiste-Nzure in Barwari
Bala, Duhok Governorate, northern Iraq, by the guerrillas of KADEK, or
Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy Congress--the successor organization of the
Kurdish Workers Party (PKK). After several hours of fierce fighting, four
Turkish officers were killed and others were wounded, and the tank was
badly damaged. The guerrillas also seized some military equipment and
ammunition. After the fighting, the Turkish army, supported by military
helicopters, launched an incursion to recover the bodies and to pursue the
KADEK guerrillas. After more heavy fighting they succeeded in recovering
the bodies.
(Hawlati, Al-Sulaymaniyah, Iraq [in Sorani Kurdish], Dec. 2, via BBC
Monitoring, Dec. 24)
See also WW3 REPORT #52
[top]
6. DID U.S. SHOOT DOWN UKRAINIAN AIRLINER?
The Ukrainian airliner which crashed in Iran on Dec. 23 may have been shot
down by forces patrolling the no-fly zones over Iraq, Gov. Yevhen
Kushnaryov of the eastern Ukrainian district of Kharkiv said in a TV
interview. At least 44 people died in the crash. Said Gov. Yevhen
Kushnaryov: "Accidents like this can be caused by anything: a mistake on
the part of the crew, engine failure or some other technical reason. But we
should keep in mind that this zone is close to Iraq, where a special
[no-fly] regime is in place. That is, nothing should be ruled out..."
(Inter-TV, Kiev [in Russian], Dec. 24, via BBC Monitoring)
[top]
7. SHI'ITE OPPOSITION AGAINST U.S. INTERVENTION
The head of the Tehran-based Office of Jihad of the Supreme Council for
Islamic Revolution in Iraq said that that group does not approve of US
military intervention. In an interview with correspondents, Abd al-Aziz
al-Hakim stressed that "the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq
wants the Iraqi regime to be overthrown by the Iraqi people." (Vision of
the Islamic Republic of Iran Network 1 [in Persian], Dec. 28, via BBC
Monitoring)
See also WW3 REPORT #63
[top]
8. SADDAM-RUMSFELD LOVEFEST BACK IN THE NEWS--AT LAST!
Finally, a mainstream US newspaper has taken note of current Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's role in the arming of Iraq with chemical
weapons in the 1980s. Wrote the Washington Post Dec. 30: "High on the Bush
administration's list of justifications for war against Iraq are President
Saddam Hussein's use of chemical weapons, nuclear and biological programs,
and his contacts with international terrorists. What US officials rarely
acknowledge is that these offenses date back to a period when Hussein was
seen in Washington as a valued ally. Among the people instrumental in
tilting US policy toward Baghdad during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war was
Donald H. Rumsfeld, now defense secretary, whose December 1983 meeting with
Hussein as a special presidential envoy paved the way for normalization of
US-Iraqi relations. Declassified documents show that Rumsfeld traveled to
Baghdad at a time when Iraq was using chemical weapons on an 'almost daily'
basis in defiance of international conventions."
The Post reviewed thousands of declassified government documents and
conducted numerous interviews with former policymakers, determining that
"US intelligence and logistical support played a crucial role in shoring up
Iraqi defenses against the 'human wave' attacks by suicidal Iranian troops.
The administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush authorized the
sale to Iraq of numerous items that had both military and civilian
applications, including poisonous chemicals and deadly biological
viruses, such as anthrax and bubonic plague."
The Reagan administration also supplied intelligence on Iranian troop
buildups to Saddam Hussein regime Iraqis, sometimes through third parties
such as Saudi Arabia. The US "tilt" to Iraq in the war was enshrined in
National Security Decision Directive 114 of Nov. 26, 1983, which still
remains classified. Former officials told the Post the directive stated
that the US would do "whatever was necessary and legal" to prevent Iraq
from losing the war with Iran. But that "legality" seems dubious at best,
as the Post reports that the directive "was issued amid a flurry of reports
that Iraqi forces were using chemical weapons in their attempts to hold
back the Iranians. In principle, Washington was strongly opposed to
chemical warfare, a practice outlawed by the 1925 Geneva Protocol. In
practice, U.S. condemnation of Iraqi use of chemical weapons ranked
relatively low on the scale of administration priorities, particularly
compared with the all-important goal of preventing an Iranian victory."
On Nov. 1, 1983, senior State Department official Jonathan T. Howe, told
Secretary of State George P. Shultz that intelligence reports showed Iraq
was resorting to "almost daily use of CW" against Iranian troops. "But the
Reagan administration had already committed itself to a large-scale
diplomatic and political overture to Baghdad, culminating in several visits
by the president's recently appointed special envoy to the Middle East,
Donald H. Rumsfeld." Secret talking points prepared for Rumsfeld's first
visit to Baghdad used some of the language from NSDD 114, including the
statement that the US would regard "any major reversal of Iraq's fortunes
as a strategic defeat for the West." When Rumsfeld met with Saddam on Dec.
20, he told the dictator that Washington was ready for a resumption of full
diplomatic relations, according to a State Department report of the
conversation. Iraqi leaders later described themselves as "extremely
pleased" with the Rumsfeld visit, which had "elevated US-Iraqi relations to
a new level."
The Reagan administration removed Iraq from the State Department terrorism
list in February 1982--over the objections of Congress. Iraq--along with
Syria, Libya and South Yemen--was one of four original countries on the
list when it was first drawn up in 1979. Some former US officials say that
removing Iraq from the list provided Saddam with an incentive to expel
Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal from Baghdad in 1983. But Iraq continued to
host Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestine Liberation Front, who took refuge
in Baghdad after being expelled from Tunis for masterminding the 1985
hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro, in which an elderly American
tourist was killed.
According to a sworn court affidavit prepared by former National Security
Council official Howard Teicher in 1995, the US "actively supported the
Iraqi war effort by supplying the Iraqis with billions of dollars of
credits, by providing military intelligence
and advice to the Iraqis, and by closely monitoring third country arms
sales to Iraq to make sure Iraq had the military weaponry required." The
affidavit said that former CIA director William Casey used a Chilean
company, Cardoen, to supply Iraq with cluster bombs.
The Reagan administration also turned a blind eye to the export of "dual
use" items such as chemical precursors that have military and civilian
applications. Writes the Post: "When United Nations weapons inspectors were
allowed into Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War, they compiled long lists of
chemicals, missile components, and computers from American suppliers,
including such household names as Union Carbide and Honeywell, which were
being used for military purposes. A 1994 investigation by the Senate
Banking Committee turned up dozens of biological agents shipped to Iraq
during the mid-'80s under license from the Commerce Department, including
various strains of anthrax, subsequently identified by the Pentagon as a
key component of the Iraqi biological warfare program. The Commerce
Department also approved the export of insecticides to Iraq, despite
widespread suspicions that they were being used for chemical warfare."
Iraq's use of chemical weapons was no secret. In February 1984, an Iraqi
military spokesman virtually acknowledged their use in a warning to Iran:
"The invaders should know that for every harmful insect, there is an
insecticide capable of annihilating itÉand Iraq possesses this annihilation
insecticide." In December 1988, Dow Chemical sold $1.5 million of
pesticides to Iraq, despite concerns that they could be used as chemical
warfare agents. An Export-Import Bank official reported in a memorandum
that he could find "no reason" to stop the sale, despite evidence that the
pesticides were "highly toxic" to humans and would cause death "from
asphyxiation." State Department reports note the by 1987, the Iraqi air
force was also using chemical weapons against Kurdish guerillas in then
north of Iraq. Today, Bush administration spokesmen cite Saddam's use of
chemical weapons "against his own people" to bolster their argument that
his regime presents a "grave and gathering danger" to the US.
The Saddam-friendly policy still hadn't turned around on the very eve of
Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. When the then-U.S. ambassador to Iraq, April
Glaspie, met with Saddam on July 25, 1990, a week before the invasion, she
assured him that Bush "wanted better and deeper relations," according to an
Iraqi transcript. "President Bush is an intelligent man," the ambassador
told Hussein, referring to the father of the current president. "He is not
going to declare an economic war against Iraq."
See also WW3 REPORT #48
[top]
9. IRAQ TORTURE VICTIM CALLS OUT U.K. ON AIDING SADDAM...
Hussain al-Shahristani, an exiled Iraqi nuclear scientist who was tortured
and imprisoned for 11 years for refusing to work on Saddam's secret nuclear
program, accused the United Kingdom of supplying Saddam's dictatorship with
the very equipment that was used to torture him. "When I was in jail I was
held with British-made handcuffs," said al-Shahristani. "In the cells next
door, I could hear the screams of people who were having holes drilled into
their bones. Those drills were made in Britain." Al-Shahristani made his
comments at a press conference where he was chosen to present a new 23-page
report from the British Foreign Office on rights abuses in Saddam's Iraq.
He embarrassed officials by straying from the script to accuse Britain of
complicity with Saddam's regime. (UK Telegraph, Dec. 3)
[top]
10. ...BUT IS CENSORED BY NEW YORK TIMES
The New York Times' Dec. 3 account of the new British report mentioned the
its accusation of Iraq's "Unique Horror" in the headline--but made no
mention of al-Shahristani's own accusation. It only mentioned that the
scientist "noted that the British and American governments had not been so
concerned about human rights in Iraq in the past," and quoted him saying,
"However, later is better than never."
The Times account did, however, quote Amnesty International accusing
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw of a "cold and calculated
manipulation" of the human rights situation in Iraq to back up the case for
military moves against Baghdad. "Let us not forget that these same
governments turned a blind eye to Amnesty International's reports of
widespread human rights violations in Iraq before the gulf war," said the
secretary general of the group, Irene Khan.
See also WW3 REPORT # 62
[top]
11. SADDAM ARMING AL-QAEDA?
Admitting that the details are "murky," the New York Post reported Dec. 12
that the Bush administration has "credible evidence" that Saddam's Iraq
supplied "al-Qaeda-linked extremists" with "a deadly chemical
weapon"--possibly the nerve agent VX. The paper cited anonymous "officials"
claiming that the agent "was smuggled through Turkey for a possible attack
in Europe or the United States or both." The group in question was
identified as "Asbat al-Ansar, a Lebanon-based Sunni group that receives
financial support from al-Qaeda."
[top]
12. WILL SADDAM TAKE EXILE TO AVOID WAR?
Arab leaders seeking to avoid a new war they fear could ignite the whole
Middle East are considering the possibility of pressing Saddam Hussein to
step down and go into exile, diplomats say. "There is a strong feeling that
the United States is after Saddam and not after weapons of mass destruction
and therefore efforts should focus on how to persuade Saddam to leave,"
said one Arab diplomat on condition of anonymity. Regional newspapers have
carried reports of offers made to Saddam to flee to Egypt or Libya, even
Cuba or North Korea, but no government has commented officially on the
prospect. (AP, Dec. 29)
[top]
13. STUDY: BALKAN BOMBING HAS GRAVE IMPLICATIONS FOR IRAQ
The bombing of factories during the 1999 NATO campaign in Yugoslavia may
have long-term environmental and health effects, according to a new report,
raising questions about the pending military assault on Iraq. The report by
the Washington-area Institute for Energy and Environmental Research warns
that bombardment of industrial facilities may violate international
humanitarian law. "Precision targeting may be intended to minimize civilian
damage, but the choice of targets may still violate the international laws
of war, including the Geneva Conventions," said Nicole Deller, a lawyer and
co-author of the study. "The deliberate targeting of industrial facilities
that hold little military value yet can cause severe health and
environmental damage appear to violate these laws."
The institute studied the bombardment of the Zastava car factory in
Kragujevac, some 100 kilometers south of Belgrade, and a petrochemical
plant, fertilizer plant and oil refinery in Pancevo, about 20 kilometers
northeast of the capital. Both cities were designated environmental "hot
spots" by the UN Environment Program Balkans Task Force after the bombings.
"There is no doubt that the bombings released large quantities of
contaminants such as mercury, but it is impossible to precisely determine
their effects because of lack of data about pre-conflict pollution levels,"
said Sriram Gopal, the report's main author. In Pancevo, the bombings
resulted in major releases of the toxic chemicals dichloroethane and
mercury. In Kragujevac, bombed transformer stations at the car factory
leaked toxic PCBs or polychlorinated biphenyls, which have been linked to
some cancers.
The institute said the Pentagon bottlenecked its investigation by rejecting
its Freedom of Information Act request for the targeting criteria used in
the bombings, handing over 42 blank pages that were marked declassified.
An analysis of the Yugoslav bombing campaign carried out this year by the
US General Accounting Office also remains classified. Despite incomplete
data, the institute said the report shows the need to redefine how
"collateral damage" is evaluated. "Currently collateral damage is measured
in terms such as the number of civilian casualties or the cost of replacing
property," Gopal said. "Long-term harm to the environment can be much more
difficult to quantify and evaluate, despite its very significant costsÉ. As
this study indicates, the health and environmental consequences of
precision bombing can affect unborn generations far into the future, even
when the bombs are entirely successful in finding their targets." (AP, Nov.
5)
[top]
THE AFGHANISTAN FRONT
1. REPORT: CIA USING HARSH INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES
CIA interrogators have been using "stress and duress" techniques on
captured fighters in Afghanistan, the Washington Post reported Dec. 26. The
paper described a cluster of metal shipping containers it said constituted
a secret CIA interrogation center at Bagram Air Base, headquarters of US
forces in Afghanistan. Captives who refused to cooperate were often kept
standing or kneeling for hours, in black hoods or spray-painted goggles,
the report said, citing anonymous intelligence specialists. At times they
were held in awkward, painful positions and deprived of sleep with a
24-hour bombardment of lights. Those who cooperated were rewarded with
"creature comforts" as well as feigned friendship, respect, cultural
sensitivity and, sometimes, money. On the other hand, some who refused to
cooperate were turned over--"rendered," in official parlance--to foreign
intelligence services whose use of torture has been documented by the US
government and human rights organizations. US officials have said little
publicly about the captives' names, numbers or whereabouts, and virtually
nothing about interrogation methods. The Post based its account on
interviews with several former and ten current intelligence
officials--including several who said they had witnessed the handling of
prisoners. The paper said that all interviewed defended the interrogation
techniques as necessary. A second interrogation center was reported to be
on Diego Garcia, a British-controlled island in
the Indian Ocean. According to US officials, nearly 3,000 suspected
al-Qaeda members and supporters have been detained worldwide since
September 11, 2001. About 625 are at the US Navy's facility at Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba. Approximately 100 have been "rendered" to third countries.
Thousands more have been arrested and held with US assistance in countries
known for brutal treatment of prisoners, the officials were quoted as
saying. (Reuters, Dec. 26)
A letter from Moazzam Begg, 35, the only British prisoner being held at
Bagram, to his wife in Birmingham, wrote of hunger and being kept awake by
bright lights. "I still don't know what will happen with me," he lamented.
So far the US has admitted that two men held at Bagram have died in
custody--one from a heart attack and the other from a pulmonary embolism,
or blood clot on the lung. An investigation is now under way, but no reason
has been given for what caused the injuries. The US has been equally silent
in the case of Begg. British Foreign Office officials admit that after
11 months of asking they have still not been able to see him to check on
his health. Begg has not seen a lawyer, a Red Cross official or any member
of his family either since he was arrested in the Pakistani capital of
Islamabad last February. When the US bombing began in November 2001, Begg
closed down the school he had opened in Kabul and moved to Pakistan--where
he was arrested, bundled into a car and smuggled back over the border into
Afghanistan, first to Kandahar and then to Bagram. (UK Observer, Dec. 29)
[top]
2. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: U.S. MUST INVESTIGATE TORTURE CLAIMS
Human Rights Watch responded to the Washington Post allegations of harsh
interrogation techniques at Bagram Air Base by sending a Dec. 26 letter to
the White House demanding an investigation and reminding President Bush
that torture is illegal under international law. The letter read in part:
"Human Rights Watch is deeply concerned by allegations of torture and other
mistreatment of suspected al-Qaeda detainees described in the Washington
Post ('US Decries Abuse but Defends Interrogations') on December 26. The
allegations, if true, would place the United States in violation of some of
the most fundamental prohibitions of international human rights law. Any US
government official who is directly involved or complicit in the torture or
mistreatment of detainees, including any official who knowingly acquiesces
in the commission of such acts, would be subject to prosecution worldwide.
Human Rights Watch urges you to take immediate steps to clarify that the
use of torture is not US policy, investigate the Washington Post's
allegations, adopt all necessary measures to end any ongoing violations of
international law, stop the rendition of detainees to countries where they
are likely to be tortured, and prosecute those implicated in such abuse."
[top]
3. U.S. SOLDIER SHOT IN HEAD
A US soldier was seriously wounded with a gunshot wound to the head at
Kandahar Air Field, but not by enemy fire, Pentagon sources said. The
soldier, who was not identified, was flown to a US military hospital in
Landstuhl, Germany, but was later moved to a undisclosed location. The
Pentagon declined to provide details of the shooting, but said it was being
investigated. (Newsday, Dec. 30)
[top]
4. DEATH FACES RETURNING REFUGEES
At least 41 children died of severe cold this December at Afghan refugee
camps on the border with Pakistan, aid workers report. Haji Abdul Ghani, of
the Pakistan-based Edhi Welfare Trust, told Reuters that squalid conditions
in four camps around the southern Afghan town of Spin Boldak, combined with
freezing temperatures, threaten another 1,200 children. Ghani said
pneumonia, tuberculosis and malaria are all prevalent at the camps. Nearly
100,000 live in camps at Spin Boldak without adequate clothing or shelter,
with another 35,000 in similar camps on the Pakistan side of the border.
Afghanistan has an estimated 700,000 internally displaced people. About
400,000 are scattered around southern areas of the country, having been
forced from their homes by drought and war. Many have been filtering back
into Afghanistan from Pakistan and Iran since the fall of the Taliban, but
adequate resources are not available for the returnees, and the eastern
border has now been sealed by Pakistani troops pursuing Taliban/al Qaeda
remnants forces. (Reuters, Dec. 15)
[top]
5. RAWA CENSORED BY U.S. IMMIGRATION AUTHORITIES
Oct. 19 saw a conference at New York City's Barnard College entitled
"Afghan Women Report: Achievements and Challenges One Year After Bonn,"
looking back at events since the international conference which established
the framework for Afghanistan's new government. But NYC activist Anne
Jaclard reports in the November issue of the bulletin News & Letters:
"RAWA (Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan) had been invited
to the conference, but the U.S. refused to give its representative a visa.
I missed hearing RAWA's principled stand that only a secular government can
establish women's rights. Since all the Afghan speakers had either
advocated a moderate Islamic government, avoided the issue, or assumed that
was the best one could hope for, I asked the speakers to address the issue
of a secular government. The idea was dismissed as impossible 'because
people won't accept it' by Fatima Gailani, who had been the spokesperson
for the Mujahadeen (religious army) when it was fighting the Soviet Union,
and who only recently became active in women's rights."
[top]
6. TRANS-AFGHAN PIPELINE PLANS ADVANCE
Officials from Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Pakistan met in the Turkmen
capital, Ashgabat, to sign an agreement on construction of a gas pipeline
crossing the three countries. This follows an Islamabad summit meeting
bringing together the presidents of the three countries in May when the
project received formal approval. With improved regional security after the
fall of the Taliban last year, the three governments have decided to push
ahead with plans for the ambitious 1,500-kilometer gas pipeline. The
trans-Afghan pipeline would export Turkmen gas via Afghanistan to
Pakistani ports, from where it could reach world markets. India is the
largest potential buyer and Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Delhi was
welcome to join the project. The Asian Development Bank is carrying out a
study for the project, but investors remain cautious about putting money
into Afghanistan--where the central government still has only limited
influence in regions the pipeline would cross. (BBC, Dec. 27)
See also WW3 REPORT #s 46 and 37
[top]
THE SUBCONTINENT
1. JIHADIS DEAL PAKISTAN BLOODY CHRISTMAS
Two attackers covered in burkas (traditional women's robes) tossed a
grenade at a small church during Christmas services in Chianwala, 40 miles
outside Lahore, Pakistan, killing three and wounding 11 others. (NYT, Dec.
26)
[top]
2. MUSHARRAF: READY FOR NUCLEAR WAR
Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, suggested in Dec. 30 comments
that he was ready to use nuclear weapons if Indian forces had entered his
territory during escalated tensions over the past year. "I personally
conveyed messages to [Indian] Prime Minister [Atal Bihari] Vajpayee through
every international leader who came to Pakistan that if Indian troops moved
a single step across the international border or Line of Control, they
should not expect a conventional war from Pakistan," the general told a
gathering of Pakistani air force veterans. He did not specifically mention
nuclear arms, and the government later said he was not referring to the use
of such weapons--without explaining what he actually meant. (AP, Dec. 31)
[top]
THE CAUCASUS FRONT
1. "INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM" BEHIND CHECHNYA SUICIDE BLAST?
The death toll from a suicide bombing at the headquarters of the
pro-Russian government in Chechnya stood at 61 when rescuers called off the
search for survivors Dec. 29, two days after the attack devastated the
compound in the Chechen capital, Grozny. Officials in the republic blamed
rebel Chechen leader Aslan Maskhadov for the attack, but Maskhadov denied
any involvement. Authorities in Moscow blamed the attack on "international
terrorism." Officials say three bombers wearing Russian military uniforms
drove two trucks through the gates of the compound, before detonating
explosives equivalent to one ton of TNT. (BBC, Dec. 29)
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2613559.stm)
Muslim Brotherhood leader Mamoun el-Hodeiby, speaking to the AP from his
Egypt headquarters Dec. 29, also denied accusations by Russian
counter-terrorism officials that a member of the organization was among
those who planned the Chechnya attack. "We as the Muslim Brotherhood cannot
be part of such acts, never," said el-Hodeiby, who has been a vocal
supporter of the Chechen separatist cause. "The Russians should not blame
others for what they are doing to the Chechen people," he said. The
ITAR-Tass news agency reported that a Russian counter-terrorism official,
Col. Ilya Shabalkin, had named Chechen rebel warlord Shamil Basayev and a
Muslim Brotherhood member identified as Abu al-Walid ordered the bombing.
Yasser el-Sirri of the London-based Islamic Observation Center, told the AP
that Abu al-Walid is the nom de guerre of Abdel Aziz al-Ghamidi, a Saudi
militant who took over from warlord Omar Ibn al Khattab, who died
mysteriously in Chechnya earlier this year. Khattab, believed to have ties
with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, was responsible for some of the
Chechen rebels' boldest attacks. (AP, Dec. 29)
See also WW3 REPORT # 31
While the Kremlin and FSB (former KGB) warn of "Arab mercenaries" and
"international terrorism" at work in Chechnya, some commentators in Russia
point to Moscow's own brutal counter-insurgency war as laying the seeds of
terror in the conflicted Caucasus republic. "Young Chechens are growing
impatient with the moderate political approaches of [elected Chechen rebel
president Aslan] Maskhadov," said Anna Politkovskaya, an independent
Russian journalist who has been widely praised for her courageous reporting
of Russian military abuses against Chechen civilians. "The young radicals
believe that only the most painful terrorist methods can win." In the first
Chechen war, 1994-96, Chechen rebels did resort to hostage-taking, but
shunned suicide tactics and showed little interest in Islamic ideology.
"The horrors of the current war [1999-present] have given rise to a
generation that knows nothing but the Koran and fighting," said Ruslan
Khasbulatov, a Moscow-based Chechen moderate and former Speaker of the
Russian parliament. "This has happened in response to the zachistki," the
reputedly brutal Russian security sweeps, "which are driving young Chechens
to join rebel detachments in ever larger numbers." (Christian Science
Monitor, Dec. 30)
[top]
2. CHECHENS FEAR "WAHHABI" THREAT
Days before the devastating suicide attack, Umalt Dudayev in Grozny wrote
for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting on the assassinations of
Said-Pasha Salekhov and his son by unidentified assailants in the village
of Stariye Atagi, 20 kilometers south of the Chechen capital. Salekhov, 50,
was a descendant of the ancient Arab tribe of Kureishi--to which the
prophet Mohammed himself supposedly belonged--and was one of Chechnya's
most respected religious leaders. The locals blame the Nov. 21 killings on
Wahhabi militants--but few will speak openly, fearing for their own lives.
The pro-Moscow interior ministry in Grozny reports that since Russia began
its current war in Chechnya three years ago, some 30 prominent religious
figures and upwards of 200 regional and local government officials have
been killed at the hands of Islamic militants in the republic. Any contact
with Russian authorities is sufficient to land local religious leaders on
the Wahhabi hit list. "We are caught between a rock and a hard place,"
admitted the deputy governor of one of Chechnya's municipalities, who did
not want to be named. "The Russians don't trust us as they think we
collaborate with the guerrillas. On the other hand, the Wahhabis are after
us. As far as they are concerned, we are all traitors, or kafir [Arabic for
apostate]."
Non-governmental organizations in Chechnya estimate that up to ten percent
of the populace now supports the hardline Islamists, who have even
infiltrated the security forces. "When the new war began in Chechnya, many
Wahhabi militants shaved off their beards, bought themselves fake papers
and dispersed among civilian population," said Magomed Bakhaev, deputy
chief of police of the Urus-Martan district. "Many of them have joined the
regular police force, riot police and other interior ministry departments.
There is a sprawling, powerful network of Wahhabi militants operating
across Chechnya, which has hardly been affected by Russia's anti-extremism
effort." Bakhaev said the clandestine Wahhabi network recruits young
Chechens into Jamaats-militant Islamic squads-and pays for undercover
operations against Russian troops and Chechen officials. "They are
everywhere," he said. "They are watching for those Chechens who collaborate
with Russian authorities, and make lists of local officials. Then the
Sharia [Islamic law] court issues death sentences in absentia to those
people..."
Fundamentalist Islam first appeared in Chechnya via the Arab volunteers who
came to fight in the first war against the Russians, from 1994-6. Several
of the Islamic radicals had fought the Soviet army in Afghanistan and
wanted to continue the struggle in Chechnya. They included Fathi, a Chechen
of Jordanian origin, and Khattab, a Saudi who died last spring under
mysterious circumstances. Khattab has since been replaced by his deputy,
known as Abu Walid. Some say Abu Walid is a Jordanian Chechen, others claim
that, like Khattab, he comes from southern Saudi Arabia.
The end of the first war left several militant groups in powerful
positions. The Akhmadov brothers, Arbi Barayev and Abdul Malik, became
wealthy through kidnapping and seizing oilfields. Post-war ruin and
unemployment have driven many young Chechens into the hands of these
Islamic militias. But most Chechens are Sufi Muslims, whose religious
practices are strongly interwoven with old customs and Chechen common law,
known as adat. Chechens worship their own saints--evlia--who brought Islam
to the mountainous country centuries ago. The militant newcomers rejected
these indigenous traditions as apostasy--and were, in turn, viewed with
suspicion by many Chechens. "The Wahhabi militias were manned by junkies,
drunks and generally people of dubious background," recalled Zaindi-Haji, a
mullah from Pervomaiskoe near Grozny. "To be sure, there were some honest
acolytes of 'pure Islam' among them, as well, but most of them were in it
only for the money. They would stop at nothing to achieve their mercenary
ends. They used religion to brainwash young Chechens and cause splits in
society. This was a great evil for which they will never be forgiven."
However, just as support for fundamentalist Islam was waning, Russia's new
war against Chechnya in 1999 drove young people back into the arms of
Wahhabi teachings and Jamaat squads. "Our young people have lost moral
guidance," lamented Sharani Jambekov, a professor at the university in
Grozny. "The war has wreaked havoc on their views and system of values.
Every single Chechen family has lost someone in the war. Young people see
it as their duty to avenge the death of their next of kin, and that's the
main reason why many of them join Wahhabi movements."
(Umalt Dudayev is the pseudonym of a Chechen journalist)
[top]
NUCLEAR PARANOIA
1. BACK TO THE BRINK IN KOREA
The North Korean government moved 1,000 uranium fuel rods to the Yongbyon
nuclear reactor Dec. 26, saying that it wanted to restart it to produce
electricity. But John Large, one of Britain's leading nuclear experts, says
restarting the reactor could enable North Korea to produce nuclear weapons
in as little as 30 days. North Korea's move comes just a week after the
authorities unilaterally disabled monitoring equipment and seals put in
place by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency under a 1994 deal in
which the US promised to supply oil in exchange for North Korea shutting
down its nuclear program. Pyongyang says it needs the electricity to
compensate for the US suspension of oil shipments after North Korea
admitted in October that it was still trying to develop nuclear weapons.
But Large, a former British Naval technician, is skeptical. "All scenarios
point to the finishing of the development of nuclear weapons," he said. "It
brings the whole of South-East Asia into political instability." (London
Times, Dec. 27)
A Russian Foreign Ministry official accused President Bush on Dec. 23 of
having sparked the crisis by "blackmailing North Korea with its difficult
economic situation." Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov said Bush
incited North Korea's steps to unfreeze its nuclear program by branding it
part of the "axis of evil." Mamedov asked the Vremya Novostei daily
newspaper: "How should a small country feel when it is told that it is all
but part of forces of evil of biblical proportions and should be fought
against until total annihilation?" That same day, Russia's Foreign Ministry
expressed Moscow's official regret over Pyongyang's statement that it had
started removing the monitoring equipment. In Washington, State Department
spokesman Philip Reeker dismissed the suggestion that Bush was to blame as
"absurd," noting that Mamedov's assessment contrasted with the official
position of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
A Russian nuclear arms expert also said that while North Korea may soon
have enough plutonium to develop low-yield nuclear weapons, it still faced
major obstacles. "North Korea lacks the necessary technology to build
certain components, such as detonators to explode nuclear devices, and some
others," Sergei Kazennov of the Institute of World Economy and
International relations told Itar-Tass news agency. (Reuters, Dec. 23)
The crisis deepened Dec. 27 when the joint US/UN command monitoring the
Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea announced that North
Korean troops have been moving weapons into the zone in violation of the
1953 armistice that ended the Korean War. US/UN authorities said an
investigation had confirmed reports by South Korean soldiers that North
Korean troops had brought 7.62mm machine-guns into the area six times
between Dec 13 and 20. The weapons were reportedly set up 100 to 400 yards
north of the Military Demarcation Line, and removed at the end of each day.
(UK Telegraph, Dec. 28)
Ironically, one important test will be whether work continues on the two
new nuclear power plants North Korea is allowed under the 1994 agreement
with the US. The group building them--the Korean Peninsula Energy
Development Organization (KEDO), financed largely by Japan and South
Korea--will meet soon to decide. If that work goes on--under close
international supervision, but with Pyongyang's approval--it could be a
sign of progress. (BBC, Dec. 27) Russian officials, meanwhile, charged that
KEDO helped spark the crisis by stalling construction of the new reactors.
"The main conflict here is linked to the fact that KEDO countries have not
fulfilled duties they promised to,' said Russia's Atomic Energy Minister
Alexander Rumyantsev. (The Straits Times, Dec. 29)
But US oil shipments are essential to poverty-wracked North Korea until the
permitted new reactors are completed. On Nov. 14, in response to
Pyongyang's statement that it was still pursuing nuclear weapons, President
George Bush declared that November's oil shipments to the North would be
the last if North Korea did not agree to halt its weapons ambitions.
However, confusion clouded the North Korean statement which sparked the
controversy. A key Korean phrase interpreted to mean the North actually
posses nuclear weapons could have been mistaken for the phrase "entitled to
have"--according to Seoul, capital of South Korea, which is wary of a new
war on the peninsula. (BBC, Dec. 27)
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Dec. 23 the US is
prepared to wage war against North Korea and Iraq simultaneously. "I have
no reason to believe that North Korea feels emboldened because of the
world's interest in Iraq," Rumsfeld said. "If they do, it would be a
mistake. We are perfectly capable of doing that which is necessary."
(Washington Times, Dec. 24)
North Korea also issued an official protest of the new James Bond film,
"Die Another Day," which begins with the fictional secret agent being
captured and tortured for months by North Korean forces, and ends with him
foiling a North Korean attempt to invade the South and attack US forces
with space-based weapons. The statement said the formulaic Pierce
Brosnan/Halle Berry star vehicle "clearly proves" the US is "the root cause
of all disasters and misfortune of the Korean nation" and is "an empire of
evil." The statement, released by North Korea's Secretariat of the
Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, demanded the US
stop showing the film. The film--which closes with Brosnan and Berry having
sex in a Buddhist temple--has also aroused hostility and calls for a
boycott in the South, where anti-US sentiment has swelled since the
acquittals of two US soldiers whose armored vehicle killed two Korean girls
in June. (BBC, Dec. 14)
See also WW3 REPORT # 56
[top]
2. IRAN NEXT?
Not to be left out of the fun, Iran--the third leg of Bush's "axis of
evil"--also insisted it is forging ahead with its controversial new nuclear
reactor. Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said US concerns that Iran was
developing nuclear technology for military purposes were unfounded. The
International Atomic Energy Agency will send inspectors to check Iran's
nuclear facilities in February, after Tehran postponed a visit
scheduled for this month. Kharrazi told official state media: "Iran has no
plan to produce nuclear weapons, and all efforts in this field are intended
for peaceful means." But US officials said that secret facilities at Arak
and Natanz spotted in commercial satellite photographs, were both of a type
that could be used to help build a nuclear weapon. A new nuclear plant is
also being built, with the help of Russian technicians at the port of
Bushehr, and is scheduled to begin operating in 2004. US officials argue
that a weapons program is the only reason an oil-rich state like Iran would
need a nuclear plant. (BBC, Dec. 14)
See also WW3 REPORT #s 45 , 40
[top]
3. CONGRESS APPROVES NUCLEAR "BUNKER-BUSTERS"
Buried in the $393 billion defense authorization bill that Congress
approved in November was an obscure item authorizes the Energy Department's
National Nuclear Security Administration, which manages the US nuclear
stockpile, to spend $15 million to study modifying nuclear weapons to be
used to destroy underground factories or laboratories. The US produced a
preliminary "bunker-buster" weapon in 1997 by repackaging a hydrogen bomb
into a hardened case. Pentagon planners contend that such new weapons are
needed against the deeply buried and fortified installations that some
countries, including Iraq and North Korea, are thought to use for producing
and storing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The Energy Department
is also considering building a new installation for making the plutonium
"pits" that are at the heart of nuclear bombs. The plant would cost $2.2
billion to $4.1 billion, the department estimates. It intends to issue a
decision on construction in April 2004. "At a time when we are trying to
discourage other countries--such as North Korea--from developing nuclear
weapons, it looks hypocritical for us to be preparing to introduce a whole
new generation of nuclear weapons into the arsenal," said Rep. Edward J.
Markey (D-MA). (NYT, Nov. 16)
See also WW3 REPORT #46
[top]
4. PAKISTANI SCIENTIST'S SON: OSAMA SOUGHT THE NUKE
A leading Pakistani nuclear scientist, Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, barred
by his government from talking to reporters, has made it known through his
son that Osama bin Laden approached him before the 9-11 attacks for help in
making nuclear weapons. The al-Qaeda leader was rebuffed, the son, Azim
Mahmood, said in an interview with the AP. "Basically Osama asked my
father, 'How can a nuclear bomb be made and can you help us make one?'" he
said. "My father said, 'No, and secondly you must understand it is not
child's play for you to build a nuclear bomb.'" Dr. Mahmood, is under a gag
order from Pakistani intelligence officials, but his conversations with bin
Laden in meetings in 2000 and as late as July 2001 were reconstructed for
the AP by his son. Azim Mahmood said his father met with bin Laden in
Afghanistan several times, "and definitely this question of building a
nuclear bomb came up." The father was detained in November 2001, and
released in February, but has to carry a mobile phone at all times so
Pakistani intelligence can track his movements. Azim said his father's US
interrogators were particularly intrigued by one of his books, "Doomsday
and Life After Death." Dr. Mahmood first met bin Laden in 2000 while
visiting Afghanistan to build a school, the son said. "My father shared the
Taliban thinking. He liked their system of government. He wanted to help
them." When bin Laden learned a nuclear scientist was in Kabul, he sent an
al-Qaeda operative, Abu Bilal, to his hotel to arrange a meeting.
In a separate interview, Mullah Mohammed Khaksar, a former senior Taliban
official, said bin Laden was trying to obtain nuclear materials, but he
could not say whether the effort succeeded. The Mullah, who renounced the
Taliban last year but had made contact with US officials in 1999, said he
knew of several mysterious shipments that entered Afghanistan and were
stored at a warehouse in Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold. One was a
balloon-like container covered in aluminum and others were capsules the
length of a man's hand, the Mullah said. Azim Mahmood said his father was
uncertain whether al-Qaeda possessed nuclear material. "At one meeting they
brought a box, a thing that someone had sold to them for a huge amount of
money, but my father laughed and said it was nothing," he said. (AP, Dec.
29)
See also WW3 REPORT #s 15 and 2
[top]
5. NEITHER RAIN NOR SNOW NOR DEADLY ATOMIC FALLOUT...
US postal workers will be offered potassium iodide pills to protect against
cancer in the event of a nuclear or radiological emergency. The USPS said
it was buying nearly 1.6 million pills from Tampa-based Anbex, Inc. for
distribution to all 750,000 postal workers. "Employees are out there in all
of these communities nationwide and we wanted to err on the side of
caution," Postal Service spokeswoman Sue Brennan said. (AP, Dec. 3)
[top]
6. GREENLAND INUIT PROTEST "STAR WARS" PLANS
US plans to make Greenland a cornerstone in the new missile shield system
is sparking protest among the ice-capped island's 56,000 Inuit (Eskimo)
inhabitants. Greenland's military base at Thule, just 800 miles from the
North Pole, hosts an early warning radar to detect missiles aimed at the
US. Under the Pentagon's new proposals, the radar will be significantly
upgraded by 2005. "People in Thule are
strongly against the anti-ballistic missile program, unless our community
gets a lot of money from the Americans," said Axel Olsen, vice-mayor of
Qaanaaq 75 miles from the base. "People are afraid if a war begins we will
be one of the first targets," he added. A former trading station, Thule Air
Base was built after Denmark signed an agreement with the US in 1951, when
Greenland was a Danish colony. Greenland has since been granted limited
autonomy, but Denmark still has control over foreign treaties and military
affairs. Some 600 Inuit were forced from their homes as construction on the
Thule base began. "We're occupied by strangers," said Kaaleeraq Nielsen, a
supporter of the pro-independence Inuit Brotherhood party. "We have to
renegotiate the 1951 treaty because we want our land back." In
mid-December, the US formally asked Denmark to allow the Thule base to be
used in the new "Star Wars" program. Greenland's vice premier Josef
Motzfeldt, was allowed to sit in on the Washington meeting between the US
Secretary of State Colin Powell and the Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig
Moeller. But Greenland's political parties are united in wanting their
country to be a signatory to any new military deals.
"The 1951 agreement between the US and Denmark on defense of Greenland
should be renegotiated with direct and active participation of Greenland,"
said Jakob Janussen, chair of the Commission on Self-Governance of
Greenland. Pro-independence politicians say by charging the US for its use
of the military base they can raise funds needed to operate independently
of Denmark, which currently supplies an annual $375 million to sustain the
former colony. "We don't get any financial benefits from the base. Even
using the base for our civilian aircraft is out of the question," said
Aqqaluk Lynge, president of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference in Greenland,
which represents the Inuit. Others reject further development of the Thule
site altogether on environmental grounds. In 1968, a US military aircraft
carrying nuclear bombs crashed, causing severe pollution in the area. Even
today Greenlanders do not know whether Denmark has given the US approval to
transport nuclear weapons over their territory, locals complain. "At least
one kilogram of plutonium is unaccounted for," says Greenpeace's Madge
Cristensen. "We have been trying to get an overview of dump sites at Thule
but have been denied access," he added. "Our concern is also for global
peace issues." (BBC, Dec. 19)
[top]
7. BELGRADE MISSION SWIPES YUGO URANIUM--MORE TO COME?
100 pounds of high-quality uranium--enough to make three nuclear
weapons--was whisked out of Yugoslavia's Vinca Institute for Nuclear
Sciences in August by an international team of officials from the US,
Russia, Yugoslavia and the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency.
The keeping the nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists. The
Washington-based Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit group founded by
the media entrepreneur Ted Turner, donated $5 million to cover much of the
cost of the action. State Department officials planned the operation said
that as many as two dozen research reactors in 16 countries were being
considered for similar missions. "We want to get at all of them, and some
of them are going to be a lot more pernicious than others," said a senior
official said, who spoke on condition of anonymity. (Washington Post, Aug.
26)
[top]
8. UKRAINIAN COPS IMPOUND RADIOACTIVE CHRISTMAS TREES
Ukrainian officials seized the fir trees at local markets in the southern
town of Rovno,
where they were being sold for the upcoming Orthodox Christmas, claiming
they were cut in an area contaminated by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in
1986. After the region was covered by a radioactive cloud, a complete ban
on the felling of trees in the contaminated forests surrounding the
Chernobyl reactor was imposed. Police said the local businessmen knew the
trees from the Zhytomyr region were contaminated, and used forged documents
to sell them. Authorities are now attempting to trace people who have
already bought the trees. (BBC, Dec. 29)
[top]
9. BECHTEL CONTRACTED TO ENTOMB CHERNOBYL
An international consortium led by Bechtel International Systems Corp. of
San Francisco is completing plans for what may be the largest movable
structure ever built--a 20,000-ton steel shell to enclose Chernobyl Reactor
4, site of the devastating 1986 nuclear accident. The hangar-shaped arch,
nearly 370 feet high, is to be slid into place along greased steel plates
to cover the ruined remains in a weather-tight shelter. Inside, robotic
cranes and live workers will then begin prying apart the wreckage and
removing radioactive debris. The effort is part of a 10-year plan launched
by the Group of 7 industrialized nations in 1997. The $768 million project,
including the shell, is scheduled for completion in 2007. The shelter is
designed to keep water out and dust in for 100 years, or until the
Ukrainian government to designate a permanent storage facility and dispose
of more than 200 tons of uranium and nearly a ton of plutonium that remain
in the ruins . (Washington Post, Dec. 29)
[top]
10. 3RD CIRCUIT SCREWS TMI SURVIVORS
The 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia refused to hear an
appeal of a lower-court decision summarily dismissing the claims against
General Public Utilities Corp., owners of the Three Mile Island nuclear
plant in Harrisburg, PA, and related defendants. Lawyers for 1,990
plaintiffs who claimed their health was damaged by the 1979 reactor
meltdown at the plant say their legal action is over. "There's nothing more
that can be done to proceed with them, essentially," said lawyer Lee
Swartz. "We doubt the US Supreme Court would agree to hear the case." An
estimated 100,000 people fled the region during the crisis. TMI Alert, a
group that monitors Three Mile Island, vows that it will continue to track
radioactivity-related cancers. Said TMI Alert Eric Epstein: "While this is
a setback, I believe we'll endure and prevail, probably when I'm a very old
man." The plaintiffs included Terry Koller and his wife, Joanne, who was
pregnant during the TMI incident. Their daughter, Abigayle, was born with
deformed feet. Koller said he and his wife have known for some time that
the case was "dead in the water." Their daughter, after two surgical
operations as a child, played basketball in high school and college and now
does mission work. "We have moved on with our life," Koller said. "She has
moved on with hers. We're not thinking about the past. The Lord gave her
abilities in other ways." (AP, Dec. 28)
-
[top]
11. ENERGY DEPARTMENT: RENEWABLE GENERATION DOWN
Consumption of energy from renewable sources--such as solar, wind and
bio-fuels--fell sharply in 2001, the Energy Department reports. The
department attributed much of the decline to a drought that cut
hydroelectric generation by 23%. The end-of-the-year report by the
department's Energy Information Administration also said solar equipment
was being retired faster than new equipment was being built. "Back in the
late 70's and early 80's, we had very, very large support programs," said
Fred Mayes, who handles data on renewable energy at the agency. Those
programs, launched after the loss of oil from Iran jacked the price to
almost $40 a barrel, expired in the 1980's, and "things went into the
tank," Mayes said. Equipment from the boom years is wearing out, and the
base of installed equipment is shrinking, he said. Over all, consumption of
renewable energy fell 12% to the lowest level in over 12 years, accounting
for only 6% of the energy consumed in the country. Only 36.3 megawatts of
solar capacity were added in 2001. At that rate it would take 30 years to
add the capacity of one large nuclear plant. (NYT, Dec. 8)
[top]
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