[Peace-discuss] News notes, 12/16 (Part 1 of 2)

[C. G. Estabrook]

NOTES ON THE WEEK'S NEWS, FOR AWARE MEETING, 12/16 (Part 1 of 2)
  
[NB: I neglected to send these notes out in a timely fashion, so I'm
appending a a bit of doggerel (so to speak) to make up for it. --CGE]

SUNDAY DECEMBER 09

On December 7 in Geneva, US Undersecretary of State John Bolton
deliberately wrecked the 5th Review Conference of the Biological and Toxic
Weapons Convention (BWC). Only yesterday, Bolton told the Conference that
the United States would allow the continuation of negotiations for a new
enhancement mechanism for the BWC. Today, one hour before the Conference
was to end, Bolton reversed that position. This forced a suspension of the
Review Conference until November 2002. This reversal so shocked delegates
that a European Union (EU) representative referred to the US delegation as
"liars", and said that in "decades of multilateral negotiations, we've
never experienced this kind of insulting behavior." The EU nations,
including staunch US ally Great Britain, then boycotted a meeting of the
Western Group of States Parties to the BWC saying they had "been treated
like dirt." "Since the Anthrax letter attacks, biological weapons are
recognized as a major threat to US and global security," said Martin
Butcher, director of security programs for Physicians for Social
Responsibility (PSR). "Negotiating an enforcement mechanism would have
been a major step forward in preventing the spread and use of these
dreadful weapons of mass destruction. In killing the talks, the
administration puts Americans at risk" The Review Conference had agreed to
continue negotiations for an inspection and enforcement regime for the
Treaty, already underway for seven years. The United States was alone in
opposing the draft enforcement mechanism before the Review Conference. As
early as July, US Ambassador Donald Mahley announced that the Bush
administration would not sign the protocol for the Biological Weapons
Convention. The 1972 BWC bans biological weapons but provides no mechanism
for enforcing the ban ... "The administration is being hypocritical,"
Butcher said. "They claim to be fighting the menace of biological weapons,
but are walking away from a treaty that would further that goal. They are
preparing a public health response to an attack, but blocking diplomatic
initiatives that could prevent one." [PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY]

MONDAY DECEMBER 10

Today is Civilian Death Parity Day. According to Professor Marc Herold of
the University of New Hampshire, the American military has now killed as
many Afghan civilians as the civilians who were killed in New York in the
WTC attacks on 9/11. Herold compiled his data starting in early October
from a variety of international sources. (His data can be found at
<pubpages.unh.edu/~mherold>). He suggests that the 3700 to 5000 Afghan
civilian deaths should be compared, in a country with roughly 1/10 the US
population, to the 50,000 deaths of US soldiers during the Vietnam war.
[DEMOCRACY NOW]

A directive has been sent to shipping companies in the Middle East,
warning that any refusal to allow US troops to board vessels will result
in "the destruction of the commercial vehicle," one Pentagon source said.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard Myers said the US military has
already boarded "a couple of ships" off the Pakistani coast after
receiving information that al Qaeda members were aboard, but has had "no
luck so far." [Recall the causes of the War of 1812.] [NY POST]

Late Sunday two groups linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah
movement, as well as the armed wings of the radical Islamic groups Hamas
and Islamic Jihad, announced in a joint statement an offer to suspend
their suicide attacks for seven days until the end of the holy month of
Ramadan ... "But our operations will continue in the Gaza Strip and West
Bank if the tanks continue to invade our land and the helicopters do not
stop bombing our people. We have the right to defend ourselves ... and no
one can prevent us from doing this, not even the Americans," their
statement said. (Hours later the groups associated with Fatah -- the
al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Return Brigades -- renounced their
involvement in the truce offer.) Israel rejected the offer [AFP]

New York Mayor-elect Michael Bloomberg in Israel likened Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat to Osama bin Laden during a visit to Israel,
calling them both terrorists. Palestinian officials responded by calling
Bloomberg a mafioso. [They may have confused their mayors: the father of
Mayor Giuliani is known to have been a mafia functionary. [REUTERS]

A "National Youth & Student Peace Coalition" will launch a diverse
campaign against the war. They are holding a press conference today to
speak out against the potentially unending "war on terror" and its effects
on student and youth, as well as the Bush administration's moves to limit
the freedoms of Muslims, Arabs, immigrants, and anyone who appears to
disagree with them. They will hold the press conference at the National
Japanese American Memorial in Washington, DC. [DEMOCRACY NOW]

TUESDAY DECEMBER 11

Last week 10 Members of Congress sent a letter to the President declaring:
"as we work to clean up Afghanistan and destroy al Qaeda, it is imperative
that we plan to eliminate the threat from Iraq." Signers included Senators
John McCain (R-AZ), Joseph Lieberman (D-CN), Jesse Helms (R-NC), Trent
Lott (R-MS), Richard Shelby (R-AL), and Chair of the House International
Relations Committee Henry Hyde (R-IL). Now, the House International
Relations Committee is scheduled to consider HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 75, a
resolution that declares any "refusal by Iraq to admit United Nations
weapons inspectors ...should be considered an act of aggression against
the United States and its allies." This is a clear move to authorize
large-scale bombing of Iraq. Introduced by Rep. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) the
bill is cosponsored by Chairman Hyde (R-IL) and Representatives Goss
(R-FL), Schrock (R-VA), Cantor (R-VA), Burr (R-NC), Cooksey (R-LA),
Rohrabacher (R-CA), and Watkins (R-OK).  Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) is
circulating a CONGRESSIONAL SIGN-ON LETTER calling any war with Iraq
"unwise and dangerous in the extreme" and urging the President to "limit
the use of force to the apprehension of those who planned, authorized,
committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11,
2001." Citing strong world opinion against taking phase II of the war on
terrorism to Iraq, the letter states: "An attack on Iraq, or any other
nation not involved in the 9/11 attacks, would ... exceed the authority
given by Congress in the joint resolution of September 14." The letter
warns that an expansion of the war would cause a massive loss of life,
lead to an international backlash against the US, and help "terrorists
advance their ultimate goal" by "inflam[ing] the Muslim world into an
all-out holy war against the United States. Representatives McKinney
(D-GA), Bartlett (R-MD), Houghton (R-NY) and Duncan (R-TN) have all signed
on. [EDUCATION FOR PEACE IN IRAQ CENTER <saveageneration.org>]

About 1,000 bodies, the victims of fighting between Taliban and opposition
forces, are believed to be lying around Kandahar airport, humanitarian
sources in Kabul revealed. [AFP]

Dozens of Taliban prisoners died after surrendering to Northern Alliance
forces, asphyxiated in the shipping containers used to transport them to
prison, witnesses say. The deaths occurred as the prisoners, many of them
foreign fighters for the Taliban, were brought from the town of Kunduz to
the prison at Shibarghan, a journey that took two or three days for some.
[NY TIMES]