From: Ellen Thomas Subject: (abolition-usa) Don't forget to come this Saturday (June 3rd) 2pm -- "Drum for Date: 01 Jun 2000 09:31:32 -0400 --=====================_76383770==_.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" "Drum for Disarmament" on the 19th Anniversary Celebration of Peace Park! Don't forget to join the drumming celebration this Saturday, June 3rd, of the 19th Anniversary of the Antinuclear Vigil outside the White House, at 2:00 p.m. in Lafayette Park.... We'll be having an echo celebration the next day, Sunday, June 4th, 2:00 p.m. -- to start the 20th year, and as a back-up in case the police shut us down (as they've done twice in recent years on the anniversary), or we get rained on. Also we will be commemorating the 11th anniversary of Tiananmen Square massacre. So make this first weekend in June "Peace Park weekend" and come join our holyday! Love, et in dc, for the Peace Park Crew PROPOSITION ONE COMMITTEE P.O. Box 27217, Washington, DC 20038 USA 202-462-0757 (phone) | 202-265-5389 (fax) http://prop1.org | prop1@prop1.org *** BAN AND BURY ALL RADIOACTIVE BOMBS * depleted uranium, fission, neutron * Write Letter to Congress about HR-2545 - http://prop1.org/prop1/letter.htm Depleted uranium keeps on killing!: http://prop1@prop1.org/2000/du/dulv.htm NucNews: http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm ____________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * ____________________________________________________________ --=====================_76383770==_.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"   "Drum for Disarmament" on the 19th Anniversary Celebration  of Peace Park!

Don't forget to join the drumming celebration this Saturday, June 3rd, of the 19th Anniversary of the Antinuclear Vigil outside the White House, at 2:00 p.m. in Lafayette Park.... 

We'll be having an echo celebration the next day, Sunday, June 4th, 2:00 p.m. -- to start the 20th year, and as a back-up in case the police shut us down (as they've done twice in recent years on the anniversary), or we get rained on.  Also we will be commemorating the 11th anniversary of Tiananmen Square massacre.

So make this first weekend in June "Peace Park weekend" and come join our holyday!

Love,

et in dc, for the Peace Park Crew

PROPOSITION ONE COMMITTEE
P.O. Box 27217, Washington, DC 20038 USA
202-462-0757 (phone) | 202-265-5389 (fax)
http://prop1.org | prop1@prop1.org

                         ***

                    BAN AND BURY ALL RADIOACTIVE BOMBS
                          * depleted uranium, fission, neutron *

 Write Letter to Congress about HR-2545 - http://prop1.org/prop1/letter.htm
Depleted uranium keeps on killing!: http://prop1@prop1.org/2000/du/dulv.htm
                      NucNews: http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm


____________________________________________________________

* Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! *
____________________________________________________________ --=====================_76383770==_.ALT-- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ellen Thomas Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews 00/06/01 - Date: 01 Jun 2000 09:33:37 -0400 --=====================_76508375==_.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Excited to announce that Dr. Ted Taylor, one of the first whistleblowers,= has posted a great website at http://www.tbtaylor.com/. Dr. Taylor, adviser to Presidents, Senators (etc.), a nuclear physicist who worked at Los Alamos= and Lawrence Livermore Labs designing nuclear weapons, quit decades ago and has been giving speeches ever since, because he had came to believe that what he was doing was immoral, an addiction that must stop. Good information, from= a very good man. Daybook - Washington Times and Agence France Presse http://www.washtimes.com/national/daybook-20006122245.htm Energy Department meeting =97 10:45 a.m. =97 The Energy Department= hosts a meeting to accept a donation for the Energy Department's Northern New Mexico Fire Recovery Fund from the Japanese Nuclear Cycle Development Institute. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson participates. Location: Secretary's= Conference Room, 1000 Independence Ave. SW. Contact: 202/586-5806. =20 8:30 a.m. =97 Navy Department holds a meeting of the naval research advisory committee panel on quality of life. Location: Office of Naval Research, 800 N. Quincy St., Arlington. Contact: 703/696-6769. =20 Infectious diseases briefing =97 9:45 a.m. =97 The American Medical= Association holds a briefing on "Infectious Disease: The Emerging And Re-Emerging= Threats." Highlights =97 10 a.m. =97 "Bioterrorism: A Real Threat or an= Alarmist's Viewpoint?" 10:30 a.m. =97 "Vaccines and Infectious Diseases: Putting Risks Into Perspective." 11:15 a.m. =97 "Antibiotic Resistance: On The Brink of a Public Health Nightmare?" 11:45 a.m. =97 "Emerging Infectious Diseases: A Global Problem and Its Impact on the United States." Location: National Press Club, 14th and F streets NW. Contact: 202/789-7447. Lawsuit briefing =97 10:30 a.m. =97 The Initiative and Referendum= Institute and the American Civil Liberties Union hold a news briefing to announce a= lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service regarding its regulation banning the= collection of signatures on all postal property. Location: Treasury Room, JW Marriott Hotel, 1331 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Contact: 202/429-5539. Christian Defense Coalition news conference =97 1 p.m. =97The Christian= Defense Coalition holds a news conference to unveil a national campaign on "Can a Christian Vote for Al Gore?" The Rev. Patrick Mahoney participates.= Location: Naval Observatory, Massachusetts Avenue at 34th Street NW. Contact: 202/547-1735. --- PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES: Vice President Gore - Atlanta, Georgia=20 10:45 a.m. =97 Greets patients of the Children's Cancer Ward Outpatient Clinic, Children's Health Care of Atlanta at Eaglston, Atlanta. 11 a.m. =97 Gives an address, Cancer Medical Quadrangle, Emory= University Medical Center, Atlanta. 2:45 p.m. =97 Addresses the 11th Annual World Report Conference, CNN= 20th Anniversary Celebration, Sidney Marcus Auditorium, World Congress Center, Atlanta. -- Governor Bush - Nevada a.m., Sacramento Airport p.m. 7:30 a.m. Conservation Announcement, Sand Harbor State Park - Hwy= 28, =20 Lake Tahoe-Incline Village, NV 775/831-0494 3:10 p.m. - Governor arrives Trajen Flight Support, Mather Field= 10510 Superfortress Ave., Mather, CA 916/368-1455 --=20 Ralph Nader -- today's schedule unknown, but the Green Party Convention will= be in Boulder, Colorado on June 24th -- http://www.greens.org/colorado/convention.html for details. Nader's= website:=20 http://www.votenader.org/ ---- Come Drum for Nuclear Disarmament on Saturday, June 3rd, 2 p.m., Lafayette Park, across from the White House, on the 19th Anniversary of the founding= of the Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil. 202-462-0757 for info; mailto:prop1@prop1.org. ___________________________________________________ Today's Newspapers: http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm NucNews Archives: http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm Subscribe to NucNews: prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Subscribe) Submit URL/Article: prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Editor) About NucNews: http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm NucNews - E-Mailed: http://www.onelist.com/archive/NucNews Excellent e-mail news resources: DOE Watch - doewatch@onelist.com - http://members.aol.com/doewatch=20 Downwinders - downwinders@onelist.com - http://downwinders@onelist.com=20 EnviroNews - environews@envirolink.org -= http://www.envirolink.org/environews=20 Planet Ark/Reuters - anna@planetark.org - http://www.planetark.org/news/ Radbull (Radiation Bulletin) radbull@dax.energy-net.org=20 Distributed without payment for research and educational=20 purposes only, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107. --=====================_76508375==_.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Excited to announce that Dr. Ted Taylor, one of the first whistleblowers, has posted a great website at http://www.tbtaylor.co= m/.  Dr. Taylor, adviser to Presidents, Senators (etc.), a nuclear physicist who worked at Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore Labs designing nuclear weapons, quit decades ago and has been giving speeches ever since, because he had came to believe that what he was doing was immoral, an addiction that must stop.  Good information, from a very good man.

Daybook - Washington Times and Agence France Presse
http://www.washtimes.com/national/daybook-20006122245.htm<= /a>

      Energy Department meeting =97 10:45 a.m. =97 The Energy Department hosts a meeting to accept a donation for the Energy Department's Northern New Mexico Fire Recovery Fund from the Japanese Nuclear Cycle Development Institute. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson participates. Location: Secretary's Conference Room, 1000 Independence Ave. SW. Contact: 202/586-5806.
  
      8:30 a.m. =97 Navy Department holds a meeting of the naval research advisory committee panel on quality of life. Location: Office of Naval Research, 800 N. Quincy St., Arlington. Contact: 703/696-6769.
 
    Infectious diseases briefing =97 9:45 a.m. =97 The American Medical Association holds a briefing on "Infectious Disease: The Emerging And Re-Emerging Threats."
      Highlights =97 10 a.m. =97 "Bioterrorism: A Real Threat or an Alarmist's Viewpoint?"
      10:30 a.m. =97 "Vaccines and Infectious Diseases: Putting Risks Into Perspective."
      11:15 a.m. =97 "Antibiotic Resistance: On The Brink of a Public Health Nightmare?"
      11:45 a.m. =97 "Emerging Infectious Diseases: A Global Problem and Its Impact on the United States."
      Location: National Press Club, 14th and F streets NW. Contact: 202/789-7447.

    Lawsuit briefing =97 10:30 a.m. =97 The Initiative and Referendum Institute and the American Civil Liberties Union hold a news briefing to announce a lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service regarding its regulation banning the collection of signatures on all postal property. Location: Treasury Room, JW Marriott Hotel, 1331 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Contact: 202/429-5539.

    Christian Defense Coalition news conference =97 1 p.m. =97The Christian Defense Coalition holds a news conference to unveil a national campaign on "Can a Christian Vote for Al Gore?" The Rev. Patrick Mahoney participates. Location: Naval Observatory, Massachusetts Avenue at 34th Street NW. Contact: 202/547-1735.

---

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES:

Vice President Gore - Atlanta, Georgia

    10:45 a.m. =97 Greets patients of the Children's Cancer Ward Outpatient Clinic, Children's Health Care of Atlanta at Eaglston, Atlanta.
      11 a.m. =97 Gives an address, Cancer Medical Quadrangle, Emory University Medical Center, Atlanta.
      2:45 p.m. =97 Addresses the 11th Annual World Report Conference, CNN 20th Anniversary Celebration, Sidney Marcus Auditorium, World Congress Center, Atlanta.

--

Governor Bush - Nevada a.m., Sacramento Airport p.m.

        7:30 a.m. Conservation Announcement, Sand Harbor State Park - Hwy 28, 
Lake Tahoe-Incline Village, NV 775/831-0494
        3:10 p.m. - Governor arrives Trajen Flight Support, Mather Field 10510 Superfortress Ave., Mather, CA 916/368-1455

--

Ralph Nader -- today's schedule unknown, but the Green Party Convention will be in Boulder, Colorado on June 24th -- = http://www.greens.org/colorado/convention.html for details.  Nader's website:  http://www.votenader.org/

----

Come Drum for Nuclear Disarmament on Saturday, June 3rd, 2 p.m.,= Lafayette Park, across from the White House, on the 19th Anniversary of the= founding of the Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil.  202-462-0757 for info;= mailto:prop1@prop1.org.




    = ___________________________________________________

       Today's Newspapers: http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm
           NucNews= Archives: http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm
     Subscribe to NucNews:  prop1@prop1.org= (NucNews-Subscribe)
           Submit= URL/Article: prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Editor)
           =          About NucNews: http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm
        NucNews - E-Mailed: http://www.onelist.com/archive/NucNews

Excellent e-mail news resources:

DOE Watch - doewatch@onelist.com - http://members.aol.com/doewatch
Downwinders - downwinders@onelist.com= - http://downwinders@onelist.com
EnviroNews - environews@envirolink.org= - http://www.envirolink.org/environews=
Planet Ark/Reuters - anna@planetark.org - http://www.planetark.org/news/
Radbull (Radiation Bulletin) radbull@dax.energy-net.org

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


--=====================_76508375==_.ALT-- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Lindis Percy and Anni Rainbow" Subject: (abolition-usa) SBIRS at NSA Menwith Hill UK Date: 02 Jun 2000 02:38:17 +0100 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0015_01BFCC3B.9B69C440 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable The first SBIRS satellite dish (one of two) was lifted into place on = top of the 'stem' on 1 June 2000. The next stage will be the = construction of the radomes which will cover up the satellite dishes. = SBIRS is well and truely at MHS and will probably soon be 'on-line'. May we suggest that you click on to the CAAB website = http://www.gn.acp.org/cndyorks/caab/ to see a photo of the SBIRS radomes = before the satellite dishes go up. Lindis Percy and Anni Rainbow CAMPAIGN FOR THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF AMERICAN BASES (CAAB) 8 Park Row, = Otley, West Yorkshire, LS21 1HQ, England, U.K. Tel/fax no: +44 (0)1943 466405 0R +44 (0)1482 702033 email: caab.lindis_anni@virgin.net Website: http://www.gn.apc.org/cndyorks/caab/ =20 "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can = change the world: indeed it's the only thing that ever does." = Margaret Mead=20 =20 ------=_NextPart_000_0015_01BFCC3B.9B69C440 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
 The first SBIRS satellite dish (one of two) was = lifted into=20 place on top of the 'stem' on 1 June 2000. The next stage will be = the=20 construction of the radomes which will cover up the = satellite=20 dishes.  SBIRS is well and truely at MHS and will = probably soon=20 be 'on-line'.
 
May we suggest that you click on to the = CAAB=20 website http://www.gn.acp.org/cndyo= rks/caab/=20 to see a photo of the SBIRS radomes before the satellite dishes go=20 up.
 
Lindis Percy and Anni Rainbow
 
CAMPAIGN FOR THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF = AMERICAN BASES=20 (CAAB) 8 Park Row, Otley, West Yorkshire, LS21 1HQ, England,=20 U.K.
Tel/fax no: +44 (0)1943 466405 0R +44 (0)1482 = 702033
email: caab.lindis_anni@virgin.net
Website: http://www.gn.apc.org/cndyo= rks/caab/
 
"Never doubt that a small group = of=20 thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed it's the = only thing=20 that ever does."     Margaret=20 Mead 

 
<= /FONT>
------=_NextPart_000_0015_01BFCC3B.9B69C440-- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) MOSCOW SUMMIT LETTER FAXED TODAY TO CLINTON/PUTIN (INCLUDES PRESS Date: 02 Jun 2000 17:46:57 +1000 John Hallam =46riends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord Street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, 2042 =46ax (61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd LETTER RE START - III/ABM TREATY FOR CLINTO/PUTIN MOSCOW SUMMIT FAXED TODAY INCLUDES PRESS RELEASE, COVER LETTER AND FULL TEXT OF LETTER The following was faxed to Presidents Clinton and Putin today afternoon (Fri 2 Sydney time) (Cover letter and full text of letter). The press release is to be faxed to Australian media and overseas stringers tonight in Sydney, and on Fri 2 in Santa Barbara. (Includes press release, cover letter to Clinton, Putin, and their secretaries /ministers for defence and foreign affairs, and final full text with all signatories for the Moscow Summit START-III/ABM letter) [PRESS RELEASE ISSUED EVENING FRIDAY 2 SYDNEY TIME FOR SATURDAY 3] EMBARGOED TO SAT. 3 JUNE ABOLITION 2000 AUSTRALIAN PEACE COMMITTEE =46RIENDS OF THE EARTH AUSTRALIA WORLD ANTI - N - WEAPONS GROUPS CHALLENGE CLINTON AND PUTIN 'HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?' IN START-III MOSCOW TALKS Anti - Nuke weapons groups and parliamentarians worldwide have challenged Presidents Putin and Clinton, in START-III and ABM-related talks scheduled to commence in Moscow tomorrow, to go for the lowest possible warhead numbers, to take nuclear weapons off hairtrigger alert, and to scrap the proposed US NMD system, in the light of the recent review conference of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The letter bears the signatures of 162 NGOs worldwide including the International Peace Bureau, the World Court Project, CND-UK, Womens International League for Peace and Freedom,(WILPF), International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War(IPPNW), the Centre for defence Information, Global Resource and Action Centre for the Environment, Tri Valley CAREs, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, and Abolition-2000,(itself composed of 2000 groups worldwide dedicated to the abolition of nuclear weapons). It has been signed by 29 parliamentarians including a number of members of the European Parliament, and 17 Australian parliamentarians. According to Irene Gale of the Australian Peace Committee and letter coordinator John Hallam, of Friends of the Earth Australia, "The recent Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference at the UN, concluded with a final declaration that was signed on to by the nuclear weapons states - which includes the US and Russia - in which they agreed to the unequivocal and total elimination of nuclear weapons. Immense pressure has been brought to bear by the rest of the world on the nuclear weapons powers to fulfill their legal obligations under article VI of the NPT to eliminate their nuclear arsenals. The US has been told by everyone from the Russians and the Chinese to NATO not to deploy an NMD system. Presidents Clinton and Putin must go into these talks in Moscow with this in mind, not thinking how best to satisfy domestic weapons lobbies. They have no legal option under the recent final declaration from the NPT review, but to negotiate the very lowest possible warhead totals, and to proceed from there in a smooth process with the other nuclear weapons powers to eliminate nuclear weapons altogether." Contact: John Hallam, F.O.E., Australia 61-2-9517-3903, h61-2-9810-2598 Irene Gale AM, 08-8364-2291 Carah Ong, Abolition 2000, Santa-Barbara, USA., 1-805-965-3443 [COVER LETTER] RE: START-III, MOSCOW SUMMIT PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883, +1-202-456-6218, 456-6201 PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN +7-095-205-4330, +7-095-206-5173 7-095-205-4219 CC =46OREIGN MINISTER OF RUSSIA IGOR IVANOV +7-095-244-3276, +7-095-244-2203 SECRETARY OF STATE MADELEINE ALBRIGHT +1-202- 647-6047 MINISTER FOR DEFENCE IGOR SERGEYEV +7-095-247-2722, +7-095-293-3323, DEFENCE SECRETARY WILLIAM COHEN +1-703-695-1149 Dear Presidents Clinton and Putin, This letter concerns your discussions together on 4/5 June in Moscow. (It is copied to the relevant ministers and secretaries of state for Foreign Affairs and Defence, Ivanov and Albright, Sergeyev and Cohen.) It has been signed by 170 NGOs including 30 parliamentarians worldwide, who are asking you and President Putin to negotiate the lowest possible START-III warhead totals, and are asking that the US not proceed with an NMD system and not alter the ABM treaty. I commend it to your attention. John Hallam, Letter coordinator. PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON +1-202-456-2461, +1-202-456-2883, +1-202-456-6218, 456-6201 PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN +7-095-205-4330, +7-095-206-5173 7-095-205-4219 CC =46OREIGN MINISTER OF RUSSIA IGOR IVANOV +7-095-244-3276, +7-095-244-2203 SECRETARY OF STATE MADELEINE ALBRIGHT +1-202- 647-6047 MINISTER FOR DEFENCE IGOR SERGEYEV +7-095-247-2722, +7-095-293-3323, DEFENCE SECRETARY WILLIAM COHEN +1-703-695-1149 Dear Presidents Clinton and Putin, We the undersigned, are writing to you in the aftermath of the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and in view of your summit meeting in Moscow on June 4-5, with respect to the ratification of the START-II arms control agreement, the negotiation of a START-III agreement, and the possible deployment of a National Missile Defence (NMD) system by the US, with the prospect of the modification of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. Your two countries bear a unique responsibility for the security of the world, as you possess by far the largest share of the world's nuclear weapons. The overwhelming majority of the world's governments and peoples are not content to see nuclear weapons retained indefinitely by your two nations (or by the UK, France, China, Israel, India or Pakistan). This has been shown repeatedly in UN resolutions calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons, and opinion polls supporting the immediate start of negotiations for a nuclear weapons convention. Support for a nuclear weapons convention is widespread in many quarters and cannot be dismissed. Measures discussed at the NPT Review Conference which should form a basis for your Moscow discussions include: (1) Unequivocal and Total Elimination The 1996 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, the judiciary body of the United Nations, and the world's highest legal authority, reaffirming the need to eliminate nuclear weapons in its interpretation of Article VI of the NPT, unanimously stated: "There exists an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control." In the final declaration of the NPT Review, the NWS made an 'unequivocal undertaking' to 'accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals'. This position however, represents a bare minimum. The reality is that the peoples and nations of the world want decisive action to eliminate nuclear weapons, and they will expect your Moscow discussions to reflect this new undertaking and to demonstrate evidence of your compliance with it. (2) Take US and Russian Nuclear Forces off 'Launch-on-Warning' Status. The final declaration of the NPT Review Conference contains a commitment to take 'concrete steps to reduce the operational status of nuclear weapons'. We therefore urge that both the US and Russia agree immediately to take nuclear weapons off 'launch-on-warning' status. The idea of an entirely accidental nuclear war, which 'launch-on-warning' makes possible, must be intolerable to you, yet it has nearly occurred on a number of documented occasions. Evidently the US and Russian military were sufficiently concerned about this last year to establish a joint 'Center for Y2K Strategic Stability'. With such mutual verification of early warning information achieved between them, it should be possible to extend this to monitoring de-alerting of their nuclear forces. Removing nuclear weapons systems from launch-on-warning status would be the single most responsible and important step that you could both take in Moscow toward the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. (3)Implementation of START-II The final declaration of the NPT Review Conference contains a commitment to the implementation of START-II. This is highly uncertain due to US Senate opposition to the 1997 ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty) protocols. Consequently, both sides should agree to unilateral reciprocal measures to reduce their deployed strategic nuclear arsenals below START-1 levels in accordance with START-1 verification procedures. (4)START-III The NPT Review conference has urged both of you to conclude START-III as soon as possible. We therefore further urge you to work together to agree to irreversible, verifiable, reductions to 1000 warheads or below for deployed strategic systems, and in addition to verifiable measures to deactivate and dismantle all remaining tactical nuclear weapons. If your two countries are to satisfy your obligations under Article VI of the NPT, and the wishes of the rest of the world, it is clear that you must join with the other nuclear weapon states in a process that will take your nuclear arsenals down to zero. (5)Preserve and Strengthen the ABM Treaty The final declaration of the NPT Review conference refers to the 'preserving and strengthening' of the ABM treaty. This and the NWS statement at the recent NPT Review Conference on the 'maintenance and strengthening' of the ABM treaty should not be interpreted to mean the treaty's alteration to allow NMD deployment. We strongly urge that the US does not deploy a National Missile Defence (NMD) system, and that it cease efforts to amend the ABM Treaty to allow such a deployment. As indicated by the 'Talking Points', such deployment merely encourages retention of large nuclear arsenals. The UN Secretary-General, New Agenda Coalition, Non-Aligned Movement, European Union, the other NWS and others have all strongly reaffirmed the importance of retaining the ABM Treaty. The deployment of a costly system of unproven and dubious efficacy against a threat that does not yet and may never exist, will serve only to derail the process of nuclear weapons elimination to which both the US and Russia are bound as NPT signatories. The recent NPT Review shows that the whole world wants you to take immediate steps toward the elimination of your nuclear arsenals. Accordingly we urge you in Moscow to make the deepest cuts possible under START-III, and to proceed swiftly from there to the complete elimination of nuclear weapons under strict international control. Signed: Bruna Nota, President, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, NY/Geneva., Maj- Britt Theorin, President, Colin Archer, Secy-General, International Peace Bureau,(IPB) Geneva., Switz., Dr Mary Wynne-Ashford, Co-Chair, Michael Christ, Executive Director, Merav Datan, International Coordinator, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), Cambridge, Mass, Maj-Britt Theorin, MEP, European Parliament, Caroline Lucas MEP, Green MEP for South East England, European Parliament, Hiltrud Bryer, Md EP, Green MEP for Germany, European Parliament, =46rank Cook MP, Vice-President, NATO Parliamentary Assembly, =46ranz Floss, Spokesperson, European Federation of Green Parties, Vienna, Austria., Commander Robert D. Green, Royal Navy (Ret'd.), Chair, George Farebrother, Secy., World Court Project UK, Hailsham, Sussex, UK., Dave Knight, Chair, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, (CND) UK., Lynne Jones, MP Birmingham Selly Oak, House of Commons, Lond., UK Dr. Phyllis Starkey, MP Milton Keynes Southwest, House of Commons, Lond., UK= =2E, Janet Bloomfield, Former chair CND., Saffron-Walden Group Against Nuclear Weapons, Saffron-Walden, Essex, UK., Jenny Maxwell, West Midland Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Birmingham, UK= =2E, R. Ralph, Secy, Woking Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Woking, Surrey, UK.= , Jill Stallard, CND-Cymru, Wales., UK., Anni Rainbow and Lindis Percy, Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases, Otley, Yorks, UK., Di Mc Donald, Nuclear Information Service, UK., Margaret Turner, President, Womens International League for Peace and =46reedom, UK., Rosy Bremer, South East Hants Peace Council, UK., Glen Lee, Orpington Womens Peace Group, Orpington, UK, Shiela Triggs, Chair, Orpington Branch, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Orpington, UK., Daniel Durand, National Secretary, Mouvement de la Paix, St-Ouen, France., Dr. Jean-Marie Matagne, President, Action des Citoyens pour le D=E9sarmement Nucl=E9aire (ACDN), France., Elizabeth Lavier, Les Verts, France., Stephanie Fournier, Balearic Group of Ornithology and Defence of Nature, Palma de Mallorca, Spain., Jo Lau, Italian Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, Florence, Italy, Ak Malten, Global Anti-Nuclear Alliance, The Hague, Netherlands, Eloi Glorieux, MP Flemish Regional Parliament, Belgium., Peter Vanhoutte, MP Greens Belgium, Belgian Defence Committee Member, Brussels, Belgium., Senator Tom Pitstra, Green-Left Senator, Parliament, Netherlands., =46iona Dove, Transnational Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Marjan Willemsen, For Mother Earth, Netherlands, Hans Taselaar, INZET (Association for North/South Campaigns,) Amsterdam, Net= h., Regina Hagen, Darmstaedter Friedensforum, Germany., Eva Quistorp, MEP, Women for Peace, Germany., Bernd Frieboese, Ole Von Uexkull (Swed), BARSEBACKSOFFENSIV, Berlin/Lund. Roland Blach, Non-Violent Action to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Germany., Clemens Ronnefeldt, Secy., International Fellowship of Reconciliation.,( German Branch,) Dr Hanne-M. Birkenbach, Schleswig-Holstien Institute for Peace Research, Kiel, Germany., Wolfgang Schlupp-Hauck, Friedens Und Begenungsstatte Mutlangen eV Dr. Arthur Muhl, President, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, (IPPNW) Switzerland., Matthias Reichl, Centre for Encounters and Active Non-Violence, Austria, Aurel Duta, Mama Terra/For Mother Earth Romania, Bucharest, Romania, Alba Circle Non-Violent Movement, Hungary, Malla Kantola, Secretary-General, Committee of 100, Helsinki, Finland., Lea Launokari, Women for Peace, Helsinki, Finland., Gerd Soderholm, Women Against Nuclear Power, Helsinki Finland., Thor Magnusson, Peace 2000 Institute, Reykjavik, Iceland, Terje Stokstad, Chair, Nej Til Atomvapen, Oslo, Norway., Bjorn Hilt,Chair, Professor Kirsten Osen, Vice-Chair, IPPNW Norway (Norwegian Physicians Against Nuclear War,) Trondhiem/Oslo Norway, Gunnar Westberg MD., President, Swedish Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War., (SLMK) Goteborg, Sweden., Allan Elm, Danish Association of Sustainable Communities, Galina Ragouzhina, WISE-Kaliningrad, Russia., Natalia Koniachkina, WISE-TOMSK, Russia., Alexandra Koroleva, Ecodefense Kaliningrad, Russia., Victor Khazan MP, Ukrainian Environmental Association 'Zelenyi Zvit' (Friends of the Earth Ukraine), Dnipropetrovsk, Kiev, Ukraine, Nadia Sosovkina, Coordinator, Ukrainian Society for Sustainable Development, Kiev, Ukraine., Alla Shevchuck, Odessa Social-Ecological Union, Odessa, Ukraine, Vyacheslav Stepanov, Black Sea department of Ukrainian Ecological Academy of Science, Ukraine., Bahig Nassar, Coordinator, Arab Coordination Centre of NGOs, Egypt. Green Action for Social-Ecological Change, Tel Aviv, Israel., Jean P. Patterson, Womens International League for Peace and Freedom, Costa-Rica., Jean P. Patterson, Friends Peace Centre, San Jose, Costa Rica., Grace de Hara, Lihue Association, Patagonia, Argentina., Aurora Donoso, Accion Ecologica, (Friends of the Earth Ecuador), Quito, Ecuador, Richard Salvador, Abolition2000 Pacific, Pacific Island Association of NGOs, Belau, Ammu Abraham, Womens Centre, Bombay., India., Marco Kapellberger, Global Peoples Assembly, Samoa., Aditi Chowdhury, Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives., Hong-Kong., Corazon Valdez- Fabros, Secretary-General, Nuclear-free Phillipines Coalition., Manila, Phillipines, MW Faruque, Youth Approach for Development and Cooperation, Dhaka, Banglades= h., M. Shahidul Ahsan, Bangladesh Campaign to Ban Landmines., Dhaka, Al Haj Safu Mia Sarker, Bangabandhu Srimte Sangsad, Bashurhat, Noakhali, Berhampur, Bangladesh., Shara Jaker, Muktijoddah Jadhugar (Liberation War Museum), Dhaka., Banglades= h., Abir Ahad, Bangabandhu Research Organization, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Hannan Chowdhury, Suganda Sanskritik Kendra, Dhaka, Bangladesh., Babul Ahmed Pervez, Bangladesh Journalists Association., Bill Blaikie MP, House Leader, New Democratic Party of Canada, Neil Arya, President, Physicians for Global Survival, Canada, David Morgan, President, Veterans Against Nuclear Arms, Vancouver, BC, Canad= a, Joyce Lydiard, WILPF-British Columbia, Canada., Desmond Berghofer, Institute for Ethical Leadership, Vancouver, Canada, Tryna Booth, Canadian Peace Alliance., Linda Murphy, President, Inter-Church Uranium Committee, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, Kira Van Deusen, Foundation for Indigenous Siberian Culture and Native Exchange, Vancouver, Canada, David Greenfield, Green Party of Canada, Saskatoon, Canada, Rear-Admiral Eugene J. Carroll, Jr., US Navy (Ret'd.), Centre for Defence Information, Washington DC., Carah Ong, Coordinator, Abolition-2000, Santa Barbara, Calif., David Krieger, President, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, Santa Barbara, Calif., USA., Ellen Thomas, Proposition One Committee, Washington DC., US., Marylia Kelly, Executive Director, Sally Light, Nuclear Weapons Program Analyst, Tri-Valley CAREs, Livermore, Calif., Alice Slater, Director, Global Resource and Action Centre for the Environment, NY., USA., Martin Butcher, Director of Security Programs, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Washington DC., US., John Burroughs, Executive Director, Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, NY., USA., Jackie Cabasso, Western States Legal Foundation, Oakland Calif, USA., Chris Paine, Senior Researcher, Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC), Washington, DC., Bill Smirnow, Nuclear-Free America, Huntingdon, NY., USA., Bishop Walter Sullivan, President, Pax Christi, USA., Bob Kinsey, Peace and Justice Task Force, Rocky Mountain Conference, United Church of Christ., Boulder Colorado, USA., Mia Adjali, General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Church, N.Y., USA., Howard W. Hallman, Chair, Methodists United for Peace With Justice, Washington DC., USA., Rev. Robert Moore, Coalition for Peace Action., Princeton, NJ., USA., Phyllis Yingling, President, Womens International League for Peace and =46reedom, USA, Anthony Guarisco, Alliance of Atomic Veterans, USA., Dana L. Richter, Copper Country Peace Alliance, Houghton, Michigan, USA., Bob Kinsey, Colorado Coalition for the Prevention of War., Bruce K. Gagnon, Coordinator, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, Gainesville, Fl, USA., George W. Albee, President, Psychologists for Social Responsibility, Washington DC., USA., John M Phelan, Chairman, Fordham Centre for Communication Policy and Ethics, USA., Barbara Weidener, Director/Founder, Grandmothers for Peace International, Elk Grove, Calif., USA., Kevin Martin, Director, Project Abolition, Goshen, Indiana, USA., Hari Scardo, Veterans for Peace, Washington, DC., USA., Randall Caroline Forsberg, Institute for Defence and Disarmament Studies, US= A., Sue Ann Foster, Mandala Centre, Carmichael, CA, USA., Karen Talbott, Director, International Centre for Peace and Justice, USA., Jack and Felice Cohen-Joppa, The Nuclear Resister, Tucson, Ariz., USA, Rochelle Becker, San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, Calif., USA., Carol Vesecky, Director, Biointensive for Russia., Palo Alto Calif., Rob Wheeler, Millenium Assembly Peoples Network, USA., Donald C. Whitmore, President, Third Millenium Foundation, Auburn, Washington USA., Sam Marshall/Robert Randall, Trident-To-Life Campaign, Brunswick., GA, USA., The Jonah House Community, Dr Carol Rosin, Founder, Institute for Security and Cooperation in Outer Space, (ISCOS), Ventura, Calif, USA., Michele Artt, Chairperson, Michigan Chapter, US Peace Council, Manna Jo Greene, Hudson Valley Sustainable Communities Network, Patricia J. Birnie, GE Stockholders Alliance for a Nuclear- Free Future, Tucson, Arizona, USA., Betty Schroeder, Chair, BANDU, Tucson, Ariz., USA., Brian Watson, Ground Zero Center for Non-Violent Action., USA., Motoki Hashima, A. U. Coalition for a Nuclear-Free World, Wash, DC., Chris Carter MP, Junior Government Whip, MP for Te-Atatu, NZ., Kate Dewes, Disarmament and Security Centre, Christchurch, NZ., Megan Hutching, National Secretary, Womens International League for Peace and Freedom, Aotearoa/NZ., Barney Richards, National Secretary, Peace Council of Aotearoa/NZ., Marion Hancock, Peace Foundation, Aotearoa/NZ, Jim Holdom, CORSO., NZ., Theresa Ruth Scott, National Council of Women, Hamilton, NZ Dame Laurie Salas, Abolition 2000 NZ., Wellington, NZ., J.P. Morrison, Past President, Canterbury Workers Educational Association., Christchurch, NZ, J. P. Morrison, Disarmament Officer, United Nations Association of New Zealand, Christchurch, NZ., Tom La Roche, Engineers for Social Responsibility, New Zealand, Larry Ross, New Zealand Nuclear-Free Peacemaking Association, NZ., Dr. Carmen Lawrence, MP Member for Fremantle, Parliamentarians for a Nuclear-Free Future, Australia. Jill Hall MP, Federal Member for Shortland, Australia, Tanya Plibersek MP, Federal Member for Sydney, Federal Parliament, Aust., Julia Gillard, Federal Member for Lalor, Federal Parliament, Aust., Kelly Hoare MP, Federal Member for Charlton, (Newcastle) NSW, Aust., Daryl Melham, Federal Member for Banks., NSW., Aust., Allan Morris MHR, Federal Member for Newcastle, NSW., Aust., Harry Jenkins MP., Federal Member for Scullin., Vic., Aust., Jann Mc Farlane MP, Federal Member for Stirling, W.A., Senator Lyn Allison, Democrat Senator for Victoria., Parliamentarians for a Nuclear-free Future, Senator Vicky Bourne, Democrat Senator for NSW., Senator Sue Mackay, ALP Senator for Canberra, Senator George Campbell, ALP Senator for NSW., Senator Kerry O'Brien, ALP Senator for Tasmania, Tom Helm, MLC Mt. Newman, W.A., Helen Hodgson, MLC., W.A., Kerry Tucker MLC., Green Member of the ACT Legislative Assembly, Geoff Holland, Institute for Global Futures Research, Earlville, Qld, Kirsten Blair, Coordinator, Environment Centre of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT., David Sweeney, Nuclear Campaigner, Australian Conservation Foundation., =46itzroy, Vic., Dr Susan Wareham, President, Medical Association for the Prevention of War, Canb, Aust., Tom Clements, Victorian Branch MAPW., Aust., Angela Drury, Cameron Edwards, People for Nuclear Disarmament (PND) NSW., Dr. Helen Caldicott, Founding President, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Womens Action for Nuclear Disarmament., Jo Vallentine, Graham Daniell, People for Nuclear Disarmament,(PND) W.A., Irene Gale, AM, Australian Peace Committee, Adelaide, SA., Denis Doherty, Pax Christi NSW., Hannah Middleton, Australian Anti-Bases Campaign, John Hallam, Nuclear Campaigner, Friends of the Earth Australia Sydney, Aust= =2E, - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ellen Thomas Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews 00/06/02 - (Sorry for the delay) Date: 02 Jun 2000 13:31:36 -0400 --=====================_42846582==_.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Come Drum for Nuclear Disarmament on Saturday, June 3rd, 2 p.m., Lafayette Park, across from the White House, on the 19th Anniversary of the founding= of the Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil (24 hours a day since June 3, 1981). Come= on, folks, these people deserve a boost. And we need to remind the public about the need to live up to the recent NPT victory. What better way than drums?= =20 202-462-0757 for info; mailto:prop1@prop1.org. Daybook - Washington Times and Agence France Presse http://www.washtimes.com/national/daybook-2000622133.htm Tiananmen vigil =97 8 p.m. =97 The Independent Federation of Chinese= Students and Scholars and 12 human rights and overseas Chinese organizations= co-sponsor a candlelight vigil to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the June 4, 1989, massacre in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Political dissidents Wei Jingsheng= and Harry Wu and student leader Wang Dan will address the rally. Location: In= front of the Chinese Embassy, 2300 Connecticut Ave. NW. Contact:202/737-0022. Geo-sciences meeting =97 8:30 a.m. =97 The American Geophysical Union,= the Geochemical Society and the Mineralogical Society of America hold their= spring meeting. Highlights =97 1:30 p.m. =97 ... "Radiation and Remote Sensing 1"; ... "Forest Biogeochemistry 2"; "Remote Sensing of the Biosphere 2"; "Portal to= the Future: The Digital Library for Earth System Education 1".... Location: Washington Convention Center, 900 Ninth St. NW. Contact: 202/462-6900. Arrival ceremony =97 11 a.m. =97T he Defense Department hosts a= full-honors arrival ceremony to welcome Chilean Minister of Defense Mario Fernandez to= the Pentagon. Defense Secretary William S. Cohen participates. Location: River Parade Field, the Pentagon. Contact: 703/695-0169. U.S. Catholic Conference news conference =97 11 a.m. =97The U.S.= Catholic Conference holds a news conference on the Vatican's relations to other countries. Location: Murrow Room, National Press Club, 14th and F streets= NW. Contact: 202/541-3200. Vice President Gore - DC 2 p.m. =97 Makes remarks at the National Summit on Fatherhood, Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, 400 New Jersey Ave. NW. Contact: 301/973-2367. 4:35 p.m. =97 Makes remarks at a Race for the Cure rally, base of the Washington Monument, the National Mall. Texas Governor George W. Bush - Sacramento 8:45 a.m. -- Border Governors Conference in Sacramento, California.= Media information for the conference may be obtained by calling 916/445-4571. Governor Bush will also speak via satellite at the CNN 20th Anniversary Celebration. ___________________________________________________ Today's Newspapers: http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm NucNews Archives: http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm Subscribe to NucNews: prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Subscribe) Submit URL/Article: prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Editor) About NucNews: http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm NucNews - E-Mailed: http://www.onelist.com/archive/NucNews Excellent e-mail news resources: DOE Watch - doewatch@onelist.com - http://members.aol.com/doewatch=20 Downwinders - downwinders@onelist.com - http://downwinders@onelist.com=20 EnviroNews - environews@envirolink.org -= http://www.envirolink.org/environews=20 Planet Ark/Reuters - anna@planetark.org - http://www.planetark.org/news/ Radbull (Radiation Bulletin) radbull@dax.energy-net.org=20 Distributed without payment for research and educational=20 purposes only, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107. --=====================_42846582==_.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Come Drum for Nuclear Disarmament on Saturday, June 3rd, 2 p.m., Lafayette Park, across from the White House, on the 19th Anniversary of the founding of the Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil (24 hours a day since June 3, 1981).  Come on, folks, these people deserve a boost.  And we need to remind the public about the need to live up to the recent NPT victory.  What better way than drums?  202-462-0757 for info; mailto:prop1@prop1.org.

Daybook - Washington Times and Agence France Presse

    Tiananmen vigil =97 8 p.m. =97 The Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars and 12 human rights and overseas Chinese organizations co-sponsor a candlelight vigil to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the June 4, 1989, massacre in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Political dissidents Wei Jingsheng and Harry Wu and student leader Wang Dan will address the rally. Location: In front of the Chinese Embassy, 2300 Connecticut Ave. NW. Contact:202/737-0022.

    Geo-sciences meeting =97 8:30 a.m. =97 The American Geophysical Union, the Geochemical Society and the Mineralogical Society of America hold their spring meeting.
      Highlights =97 1:30 p.m. =97 ... "Radiation and Remote Sensing 1"; ... "Forest Biogeochemistry 2"; "Remote Sensing of the Biosphere 2"; "Portal to the Future: The Digital Library for Earth System Education 1"....

    Location: Washington Convention Center, 900 Ninth St. NW. Contact: 202/462-6900.

     Arrival ceremony =97 11 a.m. =97T he Defense Department hosts a full-honors arrival ceremony to welcome Chilean Minister of Defense Mario Fernandez to the Pentagon. Defense Secretary William S. Cohen participates. Location: River Parade Field, the Pentagon. Contact: 703/695-0169.

      U.S. Catholic Conference news conference =97 11 a.m. =97The U.S. Catholic Conference holds a news conference on the Vatican's relations to other countries. Location: Murrow Room, National Press Club, 14th and F streets NW. Contact: 202/541-3200.

Vice President Gore - DC
      2 p.m. =97 Makes remarks at the National Summit on Fatherhood, Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, 400 New Jersey Ave. NW. Contact: 301/973-2367.
      4:35 p.m. =97 Makes remarks at a Race for the Cure rally, base of the Washington Monument, the National Mall.

Texas Governor George W. Bush - Sacramento
      8:45 a.m. -- Border Governors Conference in Sacramento, California. Media information for the conference may be obtained by calling 916/445-4571. Governor Bush will also speak via satellite at the CNN 20th Anniversary Celebration.


     ___________________________________________________

       Today's Newspapers:
http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm
           NucNews Archives: http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm
     Subscribe to NucNews:  prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Subscribe)
           Submit URL/Article: prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Editor)
          &= nbsp;         About NucNews: http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm
        NucNews - E-Mailed: http://www.onelist.com/archive/NucNews

Excellent e-mail news resources:

DOE Watch - doewatch@onelist.com - http://members.aol.com/doewatch
Downwinders - downwinders@onelist.com= - http://downwinders@onelist.com
EnviroNews - environews@envirolink.org= - http://www.envirolink.org/environews=
Planet Ark/Reuters - anna@planetark.org - http://www.planetark.org/news/
Radbull (Radiation Bulletin) radbull@dax.energy-net.org

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


--=====================_42846582==_.ALT-- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) Don't Blow It Date: 03 Jun 2000 20:58:36 +1000 *** PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE *** For Our Kid's Future - Make Nuclear Weapons a Thing of the Past A nuclear bomb could STILL ruin your whole day ... There are over 36,000 nuclear weapons around the world - enough to destroy the planet several times over. Our government alone spends over $30 billion annually just to maintain the Pentagon's nuclear arsenal of over 12,000 nuclear weapons. To make matters worse, instead of reducing nuclear bombs, the U.S. is building a costly "Star Wars" anti-missile system that doesn't work and may spark a new arms race. When will we say "enough is enough?" You can help create a safer future by making nuclear weapons a thing of the past. Tell our elected officials "Don't Blow It!" Our government should take the lead in reducing nuclear stockpiles, putting an end to "Star Wars" and supporting verifiable arms reductions. But they need to hear from you first. Please visit and send our elected officials a clear message for a safer future. dontblowit.org partner organizations include: * Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers * Back from the Brink * Council for a Livable World * Peace Action; * Physicians for Social Responsibility * Fourth Freedom Forum Please pass this message on to EVERYONE you know who might be concerned about nuclear weapons and our future. Don't forget your folks, your brothers and sisters, your college friends, your co-workers and oh yea ... your favorite nuclear physicist. Thanks. John Hallam Friends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord Street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, 2042 Fax (61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ellen Thomas Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews 00/06/03 - 19th Anniversary of Antinuclear Vigil Day, Date: 03 Jun 2000 09:03:03 -0400 --=====================_67021397==_.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Come Drum for Nuclear Disarmament today, June 3rd, 2 p.m., Lafayette Park, across from the White House, on the 19th Anniversary of the founding of the Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil (24 hours a day since June 3, 1981). We'll be drumming again tomorrow, June 4th, to start the 20th year and to remember Tiananment Square. 202-462-0757 for info; mailto:prop1@prop1.org. Favorite missile defense cartoons of the week: http://www2.uclick.com/feature/2000/05/31/tt.gif (Toles) http://www2.uclick.com/feature/2000/05/25/ta.gif and http://www2.uclick.com/feature/2000/06/02/ta.gif (Auth) ___________________________________________________ Today's Newspapers: http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm NucNews Archives: http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm Subscribe to NucNews: prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Subscribe) Submit URL/Article: prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Editor) About NucNews: http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm NucNews - E-Mailed: http://www.onelist.com/archive/NucNews Excellent e-mail news resources: DOE Watch - doewatch@onelist.com - http://members.aol.com/doewatch Downwinders - downwinders@onelist.com - http://www.downwinders.org/ EnviroNews - environews@envirolink.org - http://www.envirolink.org/environews Planet Ark/Reuters - anna@planetark.org - http://www.planetark.org/news/ Radbull (Radiation Bulletin) radbull@dax.energy-net.org Distributed without payment for research and educational purposes only, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107. --=====================_67021397==_.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"
Come Drum for Nuclear Disarmament today, June 3rd, 2 p.m., Lafayette Park, across from the White House, on the 19th Anniversary of the founding of the Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil (24 hours a day since June 3, 1981).  We'll be drumming again tomorrow, June 4th, to start the 20th year and to remember Tiananment Square. 202-462-0757 for info; mailto:prop1@prop1.org.

Favorite missile defense cartoons of the week: 

     ___________________________________________________

       Today's Newspapers: http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm
           NucNews Archives: http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm
     Subscribe to NucNews:  prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Subscribe)
           Submit URL/Article: prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Editor)
                    About NucNews: http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm
        NucNews - E-Mailed: http://www.onelist.com/archive/NucNews

Excellent e-mail news resources:

DOE Watch - doewatch@onelist.com - http://members.aol.com/doewatch
Downwinders - downwinders@onelist.com - http://www.downwinders.org/
EnviroNews - environews@envirolink.org - http://www.envirolink.org/environews
Planet Ark/Reuters - anna@planetark.org - http://www.planetark.org/news/
Radbull (Radiation Bulletin) radbull@dax.energy-net.org

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


--=====================_67021397==_.ALT-- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ellen Thomas Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews 00/06/05 Date: 05 Jun 2000 07:20:32 -0400 --=====================_5511231==_.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Daybook, June 5, 2000 - Washington Times and FIND/Agence France Presse http://www.washtimes.com/national/daybook-200065214121.htm Terrorism policy report =97 10 a.m. =97 National Commission on= Terrorism releases its final report on the nation's policies and practices for= preventing and punishing terrorism. Location: 2255 Rayburn House Office Building.= Contact: 202/944-1987. Chechnya/Russia conflict =979 a.m. =97 National Press Club Newsmaker= Program hosts a discussion on the conflict with Russian forces in Chechnya. Ilias Akhmadov, foreign minister for Chechnya, participates. Location: National= Press Club, West Room, 14th and F streets NW. Contact: 202/662-7593. Internet privacy panel discussion =97 9 a.m. =97 Electronic Privacy Information Center hosts two panel discussions on Internet privacy and the= open source movement. Location: National Press Club, Holeman Lounge, 14th and F streets NW. Contact: 202/483-1140. Army research meeting =97 9:30 a.m. =97 National Academies Army= Research Laboratory Technical Assessment Board holds a meeting of its Panel on= Sensors and Electron Devices. Location: Army Research Laboratory, Zahl Building,= fourth floor, seminar room 4D36, 2800 Powder Mill Road, Adelphi. Contact: 202/334-3311. Presidential Candidates: AL GORE - North Carolina, New York 11:30 a.m. =97 Addresses the graduating class of Tarboro High School, Tarboro, N.C. 3:05 p.m. =97 Makes remarks about improving government services at= North Carolina State University Centennial Campus College of Textiles, Raleigh,= N.C. 7:20 p.m. =97 Gives brief remarks at a Democratic Congressional= Campaign Committee reception, The Supper Club, main ballroom, New York City. 8:30 p.m. =97 Gives brief remarks at a Democratic Congressional= Campaign Committee reception, SEIU Conference Center, New York City. Contact: 202/456-7035 ----- [Thanks to those who turned out for the Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil 19th Anniversary celebration on Saturday, June 3rd. Next year will be the 20th anniversary, and we hope with a year's advance notice you will begin= thinking how we can make sure it's big, loud, and noticeable -- this is the first= notice that we intend to have a musical rally, including speakers about Star Wars, Downwinders, Depleted Uranium, MOX, and all other compelling issues which haven't been resolved in the next year. Please put the first weekend in= June on your calendar as Antinuclear Weekend in Washington DC! See http://prop1.org. Ellen Thomas, mailto:prop1@prop1.org] ___________________________________________________ Today's Newspapers: http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm NucNews Archives: http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm Subscribe to NucNews: prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Subscribe) Submit URL/Article: prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Editor) About NucNews: http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm NucNews - E-Mailed: http://www.onelist.com/archive/NucNews Excellent e-mail news resources: DOE Watch - doewatch@onelist.com - http://members.aol.com/doewatch=20 Downwinders - downwinders@onelist.com - http://www.downwinders.org/=20 EnviroNews - environews@envirolink.org -= http://www.envirolink.org/environews=20 Planet Ark/Reuters - anna@planetark.org - http://www.planetark.org/news/ Radbull (Radiation Bulletin) radbull@dax.energy-net.org=20 Quick Route to U.S. Congress: http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm (Senators' Websites) http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html (Representatives' Websites) http://thomas.loc.gov/ (Pending Legislation - Search) Distributed without payment for research and educational=20 purposes only, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107. --=====================_5511231==_.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Daybook, June 5, 2000 - Washington Times and FIND/Agence France Presse

      Terrorism policy report =97 10 a.m. =97 National Commission on Terrorism releases its final report on the nation's policies and practices for preventing and punishing terrorism. Location: 2255 Rayburn House Office Building. Contact: 202/944-1987.

     Chechnya/Russia conflict =979 a.m. =97 Nationa= l Press Club Newsmaker Program hosts a discussion on the conflict with Russian forces in Chechnya. Ilias Akhmadov, foreign minister for Chechnya, participates. Location: National Press Club, West Room, 14th and F streets NW. Contact: 202/662-7593.

      Internet privacy panel discussion =97 9 a.m. =97 Electronic Privacy Information Center hosts two panel discussions on Internet privacy and the open source movement. Location: National Press Club, Holeman Lounge, 14th and F streets NW. Contact: 202/483-1140.

      Army research meeting =97 9:30 a.m. =97 National Academies Army Research Laboratory Technical Assessment Board holds a meeting of its Panel on Sensors and Electron Devices. Location: Army Research Laboratory, Zahl Building, fourth floor, seminar room 4D36, 2800 Powder Mill Road, Adelphi. Contact: 202/334-3311.

Presidential Candidates:

AL GORE - North Carolina, New York

      11:30 a.m. =97 Addresses the graduating class of Tarboro High School, Tarboro, N.C.
      3:05 p.m. =97 Makes remarks about improving government services at North Carolina State University Centennial Campus College of Textiles, Raleigh, N.C.
      7:20 p.m. =97 Gives brief remarks at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reception, The Supper Club, main ballroom, New York City.
      8:30 p.m. =97 Gives brief remarks at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reception, SEIU Conference Center, New York City. Contact: 202/456-7035

-----

[Thanks to those who turned out for the Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil 19th Anniversary celebration on Saturday, June 3rd.  Next year will be the 20th anniversary, and we hope with a year's advance notice you will begin thinking how we can make sure it's big, loud, and noticeable -- this is the first notice that we intend to have a musical rally, including speakers about Star Wars, Downwinders, Depleted Uranium, MOX, and all other compelling issues which haven't been resolved in the next year.  Please put the first weekend in June on your calendar as Antinuclear Weekend in Washington DC!  See http://prop1.org.  Ellen Thomas, mailto:prop1@prop1.org]



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Quick Route to U.S. Congress:

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--=====================_5511231==_.ALT-- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ellen Thomas Subject: (abolition-usa) Star Wars: Episode Two - In These Times Date: 05 Jun 2000 08:09:57 -0400 --=====================_7543721==_.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" http://www.inthesetimes.com/stclair2414.html June 12 , 2000 Star Wars: Episode Two The Pentagon's Latest Missile Defense Fantasy By Jeffrey St. Clair It's wrong to say that Star Wars is back. The hare - brained scheme hatched on the fly by Ronald Reagan in 1983 has never gone away. Quietly but relentlessly a Star Wars industry, under the rubric of Ballistic Missile Defense, has mushroomed. The corporate press, which rightly heckled the plan in its early days, soon got bored with the story and left it for dead. Then in 1992, the missile shield's putative critics took over the White House and became its new masters. In the intervening years, billions of dollars poured into the Pentagon's Space and Missile Defense Command Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to production plants spread across key congressional districts, and into the plump accounts of a portfolio of defense contractors and high - tech firms. Credit: Terry Laban In a 1995 review of the program in DefenseIssues, an internal Pentagon newsletter, Lt. Gen. Malcolm O'Neill, then head of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, rhapsodized about a "synergized" network of high - powered, space - based lasers, satellites, radar and sea - , air - and ground - launched "exoatmospheric kill vehicles" that would save U.S. cities from "theater - class ballistic missiles, advanced cruise missiles and other air - breathing threats as well." Feel safer? Now the Pentagon is seeking approval to put part of its system into operation. The first phase is a ground - based system of 100 Interceptor missiles and a ring of new radar stations, both to be based in the Alaskan tundra. Clinton has said he will make a final decision on the system this summer. All indications are that he will give it the green light. Of course, there are problems. Namely, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and corporate America's coddling of China, why in the world would the United States need to deploy such a system? Such questions prompt the most absurd frenzy of threat - inflation since the notion that the Marxist government of Grenada posed a grave danger to the Western Hemisphere. A coven of atomic warriors has been rolled out to fulminate about "rogue nations" and "global terrorists" who threaten what the Pentagon brass calls the "early post - Cold War paradigm." Of course, if Osama Bin Laden ever decides to strike back at his former friends in the U.S. government, his payload is much more likely to be delivered via FedEx in a Louis Vuitton suitcase than a rocket launched from his camp in the Hindu Kush. Another stumbling block is the 1972 Anti - Ballistic Missile Treaty that flatly prohibits such a system, which the architects of the ABM treaty rightly saw as a destabilizing force that would spur proliferation and stockpiling of weapons. But the Clinton - Gore administration views the ABM treaty as outmoded and, in a now customary display of hubris, on April 25, U.S. Ambassador James Collins delivered a draft copy of proposed changes to Moscow. The tenor of the U.S. rewrite didn't sit well with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, who warned it could prove a "fatal mistake." "Everyone should be aware that the collapse of the ABM treaty would have a destructive domino effect for the existing system of disarmament agreements," he said. "We would be back in an era of suspicion and confrontation." New Russian President Vladimir Putin has already upped the nuclear ante by authorizing changes in Russia's military doctrine that would allow it to launch a "first strike" nuclear attack. Anti - nuclear activist Daniel Ellsberg, the former government researcher who leaked the Pentagon Papers, says that may have been the bizarre intention of the Pentagon all along. "In order to advance a domestic political agenda," he says, "the United States is encouraging the Russians to remain on and advance a launch - on - warning system." It's the old game of escalating threats. The cheerleaders for the new Star Wars system now realize that the "rogue state" threat isn't credible. For one thing, North Korea, nearly crippled by drought and economic isolation, seems ready to consider a rapprochement with the South. Iran, the Pentagon's other favorite devil, doesn't have missiles that could reach the United States. And Iraq, still smoldering from years of unceasing U.S. air strikes, is barely able to maintain its water supply system, never mind construct a fleet of transcontinental ballistic missiles. Even that normally reliable intermediary for U.S. strategic interests, U.N. Secretary - General Kofi Annan, has publicly voiced his doubts about the new Star Wars scheme, saying it could reignite a global arms race. Even some unrepentant cold warriors chafed at this chilling dialogue. North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms, who rules the Foreign Relations Committee, vowed that any changes to the ABM Treaty agreed to by Russia would be "dead on arrival." The Republicans have a political motive to drag their feet. They don't want to give Al Gore a "hawkish" victory on the eve of the election or allow Clinton to add some more military luster to his legacy. "So, Mr. Clinton is in search of a legacy," Helms blustered. "La - de - da - he already has one. The Russian government should not be under any illusion whatsoever that any commitments made by this lame - duck administration will be binding on the next administration." To top it off, the system doesn't work. There have been two high - profile tests of the Interceptor missile to date. One was an unmitigated failure. The other was initially touted as "a direct kill," but it later emerged that the Pentagon had fixed the test. The next firing is slated for June 26. A few months ago, Defense Secretary William Cohen pointed to this date as a make - it - or - break - it final exam for the program. But now top Pentagon officials are beginning to show signs of test anxiety. "It will depend on what caused the failure," hedges Pentagon spokesman Mike Biddle. "A mechanical failure isn't necessarily terminal." Even the program's biggest boosters now concede that the missile shield would be all but useless against a nuclear strike launched by Russia, China or, one supposes, France, should Parisians ever seek to retaliate for the crimes of EuroDisney. A newly declassified State Department document, obtained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, shows that a minimum of four U.S. Interceptors would be needed to "kill" one incoming missile. This means that the entire system would be exhausted trying to down 20 missiles. The Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization projects the cost of the system at $36 billion, a typically modest appraisal. The Congressional Budget Office has come up with a slightly more robust number of $60 billion - a figure the government auditors admit is little more than a rough guess, since the administration hasn't yet put forward details on the next two phases of the plan. But even that number was enough to stagger some of the plan's most ardent backers. "That's out of sync with anything I've seen," said Rep. Curt Weldon, the Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the House Armed Services Committee's panel on military research and development. "But you can't put a price tag on protecting American cities." Despite the dearth of media coverage, the public is beginning to sour on the plan. According to a recent ABC News poll, public support for the Clinton/Gore version of national missile defense is sliding; 44 percent of Americans support the plan, down from 55 percent in 1985. So what's driving the bipartisan push for an increasingly unpopular new missile defense system that is extravagant, inept, unnecessary and destabilizing? You don't have to dig very deep to find an answer: Raytheon, TRW, Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Each of these firms has secured a lucrative sector of the Star Wars program. Of course, the companies do have to make some political offerings. And they haven't been miserly. Together these four companies have flushed more than $2.6 million to the two political parties in soft money alone since 1996. On top of that, the defense giants' PACs have sluiced $3.7 million to federal candidates in the past three years, making the Star Wars coalition one of the prime sponsors of our political system. What money can't buy, direct persuasion often can. These four companies spent more than $18 million lobbying Congress in 1998, sending out a legion of former senators, congressmen and retired Pentagon chieftains as their hired guns on the Hill. This all gives a bracing new meaning to getting more bang for the buck. Jeffrey St. Clair is a contributing editor of In These Times. Vol. 24, No. 14 ____________________________________________________________ * Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! * ____________________________________________________________ --=====================_7543721==_.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"
http://www.inthesetimes.com/stclair2414.html

June 12 , 2000

Star Wars: Episode Two
The Pentagon's Latest Missile Defense Fantasy

By Jeffrey St. Clair

It's wrong to say that Star Wars is back. The hare - brained scheme hatched on the fly by Ronald Reagan in 1983 has never gone away. Quietly but relentlessly a Star Wars industry, under the rubric of Ballistic Missile Defense, has mushroomed.

The corporate press, which rightly heckled the plan in its early days, soon got bored with the story and left it for dead. Then in 1992, the missile shield's putative critics took over the White House and became its new masters. In the intervening years, billions of dollars poured into the Pentagon's Space and Missile Defense Command Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to production plants spread across key congressional districts, and into the plump accounts of a portfolio of defense contractors and high - tech firms.
Credit: Terry Laban

In a 1995 review of the program in DefenseIssues, an internal Pentagon newsletter, Lt. Gen. Malcolm O'Neill, then head of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, rhapsodized about a "synergized" network of high - powered, space - based lasers, satellites, radar and sea - , air - and ground - launched "exoatmospheric kill vehicles" that would save U.S. cities from "theater - class ballistic missiles, advanced cruise missiles and other air - breathing threats as well." Feel safer?

Now the Pentagon is seeking approval to put part of its system into operation. The first phase is a ground - based system of 100 Interceptor missiles and a ring of new radar stations, both to be based in the Alaskan tundra. Clinton has said he will make a final decision on the system this summer. All indications are that he will give it the green light.

Of course, there are problems. Namely, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and corporate America's coddling of China, why in the world would the United States need to deploy such a system? Such questions prompt the most absurd frenzy of threat - inflation since the notion that the Marxist government of Grenada posed a grave danger to the Western Hemisphere. A coven of atomic warriors has been rolled out to fulminate about "rogue nations" and "global terrorists" who threaten what the Pentagon brass calls the "early post - Cold War paradigm." Of course, if Osama Bin Laden ever decides to strike back at his former friends in the U.S. government, his payload is much more likely to be delivered via FedEx in a Louis Vuitton suitcase than a rocket launched from his camp in the Hindu Kush.

Another stumbling block is the 1972 Anti - Ballistic Missile Treaty that flatly prohibits such a system, which the architects of the ABM treaty rightly saw as a destabilizing force that would spur proliferation and stockpiling of weapons. But the Clinton - Gore administration views the ABM treaty as outmoded and, in a now customary display of hubris, on April 25, U.S. Ambassador James Collins delivered a draft copy of proposed changes to Moscow. The tenor of the U.S. rewrite didn't sit well with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, who warned it could prove a "fatal mistake." "Everyone should be aware that the collapse of the ABM treaty would have a destructive domino effect for the existing system of disarmament agreements," he said. "We would be back in an era of suspicion and confrontation."

New Russian President Vladimir Putin has already upped the nuclear ante by authorizing changes in Russia's military doctrine that would allow it to launch a "first strike" nuclear attack. Anti - nuclear activist Daniel Ellsberg, the former government researcher who leaked the Pentagon Papers, says that may have been the bizarre intention of the Pentagon all along. "In order to advance a domestic political agenda," he says, "the United States is encouraging the Russians to remain on and advance a launch - on - warning system."

It's the old game of escalating threats. The cheerleaders for the new Star Wars system now realize that the "rogue state" threat isn't credible. For one thing, North Korea, nearly crippled by drought and economic isolation, seems ready to consider a rapprochement with the South. Iran, the Pentagon's other favorite devil, doesn't have missiles that could reach the United States. And Iraq, still smoldering from years of unceasing U.S. air strikes, is barely able to maintain its water supply system, never mind construct a fleet of transcontinental ballistic missiles. Even that normally reliable intermediary for U.S. strategic interests, U.N. Secretary - General Kofi Annan, has publicly voiced his doubts about the new Star Wars scheme, saying it could reignite a global arms race.

Even some unrepentant cold warriors chafed at this chilling dialogue. North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms, who rules the Foreign Relations Committee, vowed that any changes to the ABM Treaty agreed to by Russia would be "dead on arrival." The Republicans have a political motive to drag their feet. They don't want to give Al Gore a "hawkish" victory on the eve of the election or allow Clinton to add some more military luster to his legacy. "So, Mr. Clinton is in search of a legacy," Helms blustered. "La - de - da - he already has one. The Russian government should not be under any illusion whatsoever that any commitments made by this lame - duck administration will be binding on the next administration."

To top it off, the system doesn't work. There have been two high - profile tests of the Interceptor missile to date. One was an unmitigated failure. The other was initially touted as "a direct kill," but it later emerged that the Pentagon had fixed the test. The next firing is slated for June 26. A few months ago, Defense Secretary William Cohen pointed to this date as a make - it - or - break - it final exam for the program. But now top Pentagon officials are beginning to show signs of test anxiety. "It will depend on what caused the failure," hedges Pentagon spokesman Mike Biddle. "A mechanical failure isn't necessarily terminal."

Even the program's biggest boosters now concede that the missile shield would be all but useless against a nuclear strike launched by Russia, China or, one supposes, France, should Parisians ever seek to retaliate for the crimes of EuroDisney. A newly declassified State Department document, obtained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, shows that a minimum of four U.S. Interceptors would be needed to "kill" one incoming missile. This means that the entire system would be exhausted trying to down 20 missiles.

The Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization projects the cost of the system at $36 billion, a typically modest appraisal. The Congressional Budget Office has come up with a slightly more robust number of $60 billion - a figure the government auditors admit is little more than a rough guess, since the administration hasn't yet put forward details on the next two phases of the plan. But even that number was enough to stagger some of the plan's most ardent backers. "That's out of sync with anything I've seen," said Rep. Curt Weldon, the Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the House Armed Services Committee's panel on military research and development. "But you can't put a price tag on protecting American cities."

Despite the dearth of media coverage, the public is beginning to sour on the plan. According to a recent ABC News poll, public support for the Clinton/Gore version of national missile defense is sliding; 44 percent of Americans support the plan, down from 55 percent in 1985. So what's driving the bipartisan push for an increasingly unpopular new missile defense system that is extravagant, inept, unnecessary and destabilizing? You don't have to dig very deep to find an answer: Raytheon, TRW, Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Each of these firms has secured a lucrative sector of the Star Wars program.

Of course, the companies do have to make some political offerings. And they haven't been miserly. Together these four companies have flushed more than $2.6 million to the two political parties in soft money alone since 1996. On top of that, the defense giants' PACs have sluiced $3.7 million to federal candidates in the past three years, making the Star Wars coalition one of the prime sponsors of our political system. What money can't buy, direct persuasion often can. These four companies spent more than $18 million lobbying Congress in 1998, sending out a legion of former senators, congressmen and retired Pentagon chieftains as their hired guns on the Hill.

This all gives a bracing new meaning to getting more bang for the buck.

Jeffrey St. Clair is a contributing editor of In These Times.

Vol. 24, No. 14

 



____________________________________________________________

* Peace Through Reason - http://prop1.org - Convert the War Machines! *
____________________________________________________________ --=====================_7543721==_.ALT-- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Kevin Martin Subject: (abolition-usa) Los Angeles Times op-ed by Alan Cranston and Tad Daley Date: 05 Jun 2000 09:48:47 -0500 Dear Friends, You'll want to read this superb op-ed on Star Wars and nuclear abolition from yesterday's LA Times by Sen. Alan Cranston and Tad Daley of the Global Security Institute: http://www.latimes.com/print/opinion/20000604/t000052769.html Letters to the Times in support of the arguments they make couldn't hurt. One of the many hats Sen. Cranston wears is co-chair of Project Abolition. Peace, Kevin Martin Director, Project Abolition - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: LCNP@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) Op-eds re NPT outcome and Bush proposals Date: 05 Jun 2000 18:58:15 EDT Here are two recent op-eds that address the NPT outcome as well as Bush's proposals. 1) San Diego Union-Tribune, San Diego, California, May 30, 2000, p. B-7 Contradictory actions on nuclear weapons By John Burroughs and Jacqueline Cabasso George W. Bush's new proposals for unilateral cuts in America's nuclear arsenal while pursuing missile defense and space-based weapons are one illustration among others that the United States suffers from a kind of schizophrenia regarding the future of its nuclear arms. One side of the American policy brain seems wired for the idea that huge stocks of nuclear weapons are, as Bush said, "expensive relics of dead conflicts," and we should use this moment in history to pursue arms reductions and defuse the nuclear threat. The other is wired for continued reliance on fewer but fancier nuclear weapons, and missile shields that presuppose nuclear weapons will exist indefinitely. Bush's rhetoric of rejecting the "Cold-War mentality" is indicative of welcome re-evaluation of nuclear policy thinking. But the contradictory idea of proceeding with missile defense while at the same time convincing the Russians to reduce the numbers and alert status of nuclear warheads is out of touch with reality. The Clinton administration suffers from the same sort of split personality. In international negotiations such as the just concluded review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty at the United Nations, the United States talks disarmament and opposes the spread of nuclear weapons, while in Washington policies are still openly based on fielding threats of nuclear annihilation. On May 20, the NPT review ended with the United States and other nuclear weapons states agreeing to an historic consensus statement affirming their "unequivocal undertaking . . . to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals." For the first time in the NPT's 30-year history they dropped weasel words such as "ultimate goal" regarding their treaty obligation to pursue nuclear disarmament. Back in Washington, by contrast, authoritative Defense Department annual reports plan for maintenance of large nuclear forces and the policy of nuclear deterrence for the "foreseeable future." A 1997 presidential directive affirms that the United States will continue to rely on nuclear arms as a cornerstone of its national security for the "indefinite future." A March 2000 Energy Department document obtained by the Los Alamos Study Group identifies the requirements for keeping nuclear weapons viable "forever." At the NPT conference the United States also committed itself to "concrete agreed measures to reduce the operational status of nuclear weapons." This means we promise to work with Russia to take nuclear forces off hair-trigger alert, so that missiles are no longer ready to fly within minutes of an order to do so. Candidate Bush also says "the United States should remove as many weapons as possible "from high-alert, hair-trigger status" because that status "may create unacceptable risks of accidental or unauthorized launch." But diplomatic "talking points" recently obtained by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists revealed that U.S. negotiators actually advised Russia that keeping its nuclear forces on alert would be a good idea. Under "any possible future arms control agreement," the talking points say, Russia (like the United States) could maintain on "constant" alert a "large, diversified, viable arsenal," sufficient to mount an "annihilating counterattack" in response to a U.S. first strike. This astonishing suggestion was supposed to reassure Russia that it could overwhelm the limited U.S. national missile defense system the Clinton administration seems bent on deploying. And Bush calls for an even more elaborate missile defense system, possibly including space-based weapons, even though he must know what the U.S. talking points make clear: that it would force Russia to refuse de-alerting and reduction in nuclear arsenals. At the NPT conference the United States also committed to "a diminishing role for nuclear weapons in security policies to minimize the risk that these weapons ever be used and to facilitate the process of their total elimination." Yet Defense Secretary William Cohen, in his February 2000 Report to the President and Congress, described an expanded role for nuclear weapons, "to deter any potential adversary from using or threatening to use nuclear, chemical, or biological (NBC) weapons against the United States or its allies, and as a hedge against defeat of U.S. conventional forces in defense of vital interests." At the NPT conference the United States additionally agreed that a no-backtracking "principle of irreversibility" applies to nuclear disarmament. Yet U.S. laboratories are being funded for nuclear weapons maintenance, research, design and development at inflation-adjusted levels higher than the average Cold War year. Among many new programs, the labs are planning by 2020 to be able to produce annually, at a new facility, 450 plutonium triggers for nuclear warheads - a number comparable to or exceeding the size of the individual arsenals of China, France, the United Kingdom and Israel. The U.S. government needs to start speaking with one voice, its disarmament voice, and to act accordingly. The imminent Clinton-Putin summit in Moscow in June is the place to start. The United States should stop pursuing national missile defense schemes that block arms reductions and threaten to spur new arms races, seek and accept sweeping reductions in both strategic (long-range) and tactical (short-range) weapons, and together with Russia take all weapons off hair-trigger alert so that Armageddon is no longer the push of a button away. Finally, the United States should initiate multilateral negotiations on the framework for a nuclear-weapon-free world. These would be good first steps toward nuclear sanity and real global security. Burroughs is the executive director of the New York-based Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy. Cabasso is the executive director of the Western States Legal Foundation in Oakland. Copyright 2000 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. [A much shorter op-ed we did covering some of the same themes that appeared in The Star-Ledger, Newark, NJ, on June 2, included a paragraph referring to the Kerrey amendment as follows: "Sens. Robert Torricelli and Frank Lautenberg can help as early as next week by supporting Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey's amendment to the 2001 Defense Authorization Act. This makes clear that the president has authority to reduce and de-alert nuclear forces in a verifiable and reciprocal manner below the level set by 1994's START 1, the most recent arms agreement fully approved by Russia and the United States. Both senators supported a similar amendment last year."] 2) The Morning Journal, Lorain, Ohio, June 5, 2000, p. A4 U.S. must keep its word on nuclear weapons By Peter Weiss Presidential candidate George W. Bush said recently that he would be willing to reduce America's nuclear arsenal to the "lowest possible number consistent with our national security." These are welcome words, but they demonstrate Bush's ignorance of the terms of the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The treaty points to a better way. The result of the treaty's recent five-year review, reached May 20 at the United Nations, surprised almost everyone. The surprise lay in the fact that the five official nuclear powers - the United States, Russia, Great Britain, France and China - pledged to make "an unequivocal undertaking ... to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals." This was greeted by the world press as a major breakthrough. Well, yes and no. The five major powers have never disavowed their obligation to get rid of their nukes. But in the past, they have always defined this as an "ultimate" or "eventual' goal. When measured against the words of their military people, who are fond of speaking of their reliance on nukes "forever" or "for the foreseeable future" or "until there is a more stable security environment," this has sounded like a program for the next century, if not millennium. Now the weasel words are gone. But the chances of turning the words of the May 20th pledge into action are not overwhelming. There is no effective enforcement mechanism for the pledge and no deadline. The major nuclear powers have a history of foot-dragging on this issue. Plus, there's the influence of strong lobbies in each of these countries arguing for the retention of nuclear weapons. Current U.S. policy on this issue is not encouraging. The Pentagon has already decided that when President Clinton meets President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in June, the United States will not agree to the Russian proposal to cut nuclear arsenals to 1,500 for each country. And the United States, in an effort to lessen Russian opposition to our plans for a ballistic missile defense (better known as "Star Wars"), has assured the Russians that they will have 2,000 to 2,500 nukes to use in the case of a nuclear attack. Therefore, they do not have to worry about a few missile defense sites in Alaska aimed at a mere handful of North Korean or Libyan missiles. In other words, MAD - the doctrine of mutual assured destruction - still lives in the minds of our "security" experts. At its ratification 30 years ago, the Non-Proliferation Treaty was a Faustian bargain between the five countries that then possessed nuclear weapons and the rest of the world. Every state today except India, Pakistan, Israel and Cuba has promised, in accordance with the treaty, not to develop or acquire nuclear weapons. In return, the countries that already had nuclear weapons in 1968 agreed in Article VI of the treaty, "to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race ... and to nuclear disarmament." In 1996, the International Court of Justice, at the request of the U.N. General Assembly, ruled unanimously that this constituted a general obligation not only to pursue but to bring to a conclusion negotiations for nuclear disarmament "in all its aspects." Nuclear weapons are morally abhorrent, militarily useless and illegal under international law. A single bomb would destroy hundreds of thousands of lives. Small steps like those taken at the United Nations on May 20 will have to lead to big results: not ultimately, not eventually, but very soon. Peter Weiss is president of the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy in New York. John Burroughs, Executive Director Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy 211 E. 43d St., Suite 1204 New York, New York 10017 USA tel: +1 212 818 1861 fax: 818 1857 e-mail: johnburroughs@earthlink.net website: www.lcnp.org Part of the Abolition 2000 Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David Crockett Williams" Subject: (abolition-usa) Global Peace Walk 2000 mid-point vision to East Coast and for Our Future Date: 05 Jun 2000 18:06:02 -0700 ----------begin forwarded post------- Future Dear Friends, We are sending out this message calling for people to give focus to the Global Peace Walk 2000 as we are about to begin a significant new phase. We are asking please for you to take up this message and spread it through all channels. Right now, we are the smallest the walk has been with 14 walkers and 5 support vehicles. We began walking on MLK's birthday January 15th from the San Francisco War Memorial Building and we go until the United Nations Headquarters by the 55th Anniversary of the UN's beginning of charter on October 24th, 2000. We are concerned about our future, we are concerned about our human life. On Monday June 5th at 9am we are beginning to walk from the Ponca City, OK City Hall toward Leavenworth, KA. From July 1st to July 4th, close to the Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, we will make Global Peace Fasting for Mother Earth and Leonard Peltier, Symbol of between Land and Life. On July 4th, there is a Leonard Peltier Global Peace Walk Benefit Concert at Ft. Leavenworth where Red Thunder and Blackfire will perform, and also many punk, hip-hop, and rock bands. Our major date St. Louis, MO has been moved to August 12th. We are going to Sun Dance in South Dakota until the 9th of August and so on the 12th, we will reconvene at the St. Louis Zoo (where the walk will reach around July 23rd), and walk together 6 miles to the Gateway Arch, symbolic gateway to the East/West. We will hold ceremony there and in the afternoon, there will be a benefit concert to raise funds to bring traditional elders to the United Nations. This is the gathering point for all people to walk together to Washington, DC and New York. We have 50 days to walk 900 miles through Indianpolis, IN, Columbus, OH, Pittsburg, PA, and into the Capitol by the October 4th. On October 7th, we will join our prayer with the Global Network Against Nuclear Weapons and Power in Space in the LaFayette Park by the White House. On October 9th, we will make a Millenium of Peace Ceremony at the Washington National Monument and ask President Clinton to pray together as humble human beings to claim the United States as a "Global Peace Zone." The original symbolic center of the Nation was to be where the Jefferson Stone stands today, a couple hundred of feet from the Washington Monument. Since 1994, a number of indigenous elders have made ceremony there to pray for a rededication of the sacred symbol of the center of the Nation to be founded upon a culture of peace. We would like to encourage this movement and also during this time we would like to encourage the World 13 moon calendar peace change movement. There will also be a concert. We are carrying many different peoples' prayers and concerns on this walk and during this time in Washington, we will deliver their messages to our political leadership. From Washington, the walk will then up toward the United Nations in New York City passing through Baltimore and Philadelphia. Our prayer is a Future Generations' Prayer for "Global Peace Now!" and to develop a Spiritually United Nations on the 55th Anniversary of the United Nations original charter. At this time, we would like to hold a Spiritual Environmental Summit with indigenous elders speaking upfront about stewardship of our Mother Earth and how to adjust our lives to reestablish a spiritual balance between the human being and the elements of earth, water, air, and fire. If transportation and the venue space were available, many traditional elders could be present. We would like to invite environmental, peace, and spiritual activist organizations to participate and, together, to quickly find common sustainable ground to Protect our Land and Life for Future Generations. We need spiritual and material help. Fundamentally, just let's walk together! Please join us at any time, just be prepared to camp and survive. Then we need to arrange food and shelter for everybody involved. We need to cover gas money for the support vehicles and pay for phone, copies, etc. We need to find a conference room in New York in order to create the Summit. We need to provide transportation and lodging for the elders to come to Washington, D.C. and New York. If people would convert their frequent flyer miles into travel vouchers for the elders' plane tickets this could happen. Please consider using your network to spread this message and request. If you have a website, maybe it would be possible to link it to www.globalpeacenow.org. We need to prepare for our future. Global Emergency Reasons. The Global Peace Walk 2000 asks for your prayer and spiritual practice to bring back a knowledge of mind and a symbol of peace to bring a new consciousness and so encouraging an universal human resovlve for "Global Peace Now." Spirituality is the highest form of politics. Living on the Globe with All our Friends, Wonderful Blessing and a Beautiful Relationship. All our relations, Global Peace Walkers voicemail 1888 Excite2, ext Peacezones updates 415 267 1877 cell 1888 285 8865, ext 61389 www.globalpeacenow.org ---------end forwarded post--------- --dcw David Crockett Williams gear2000@lightspeed.net Offering "The Legal Revolution" http://www.prepaidlegal.com/go/dcwilliams General Agency Services gear2000@lightspeed.net http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/genagency.html Global Peace Walk 2000 http://www.globalpeacenow.org Updates/Voicemail 415-267-1877 Global Emergency Alert Response http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000 USCampaign gear2000@onemain.com D C Williams for President, Leonard Peltier for VP http://www.egroups.com/group/williams-peltier Science & Technology in Society & Public Policy List http://www.egroups.com/group/dcwilliams The Vision of Paradise on Earth, DCWilliams http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/vision.html Nuclear Disarmament & Economic Conversion Act http://www.PetitionOnline.com/prop1/petition.html Easy way to Email Media and Government http://congress.nw.dc.us/wnd "An Agenda for Peace", one Global Peace Walk support letter http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000/agenda.html - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David Crockett Williams" Subject: (abolition-usa) Fw: "Stop the Helicopters" : National Call-In Day on Colombia,TOMORROW Date: 05 Jun 2000 19:03:30 -0700 ----- Original Message ----- Sent: Monday, June 05, 2000 4:48 PM > Please make a point of calling your Senators tomorrow: > > In Illinois: > > Sen Durbin 202 224 2152 / fax 202 228 0400 > Sen Fiztgerald 202 224 2854 / fax 202 228 1372 > > Support the Wellstone Amendment to de-militarize the drug 'problem' > > Stop the War! > > Thanks for your consideration and support of this important action! > > PF > > PS if you use Working Assets Long Distance [www.workingassets.com], you get discounted 'Citzenship' rates on calls to these numbers, as well as supporting progressive not-for-profits with every call) > > > -------------------------------- > > > 6/5/00 > > Dear friend of drug policy reform and peace in Colombia: > > Recently you visited our online write-to-Congress form, > probably via the "Stop the Helicopters" web site at > , to send a letter > to Congress opposing the escalation of military aid for > Colombia's drug war. A vote in the Senate is imminent, and > organizations concerned with peace and human rights in Latin > America, as well as organizations dealing with drug policy > reform and others, have joined forces on a National Call-In > Day, tomorrow June 6, 2000. > > Because of the great importance of this vote -- our side > actually has a chance to win, for a change -- we are asking > you to do a little more this time than just sending send an > e-mail. We are asking you to call your two Senators on the > phone and ask them to oppose military aid to Colombia, to > support the Wellstone amendment, which would shift the funds > into domestic prevention and treatment, and to insist that > human rights protections on drug war funding remain intact > or be strengthened. > > You can reach your Senators via the Congressional > Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, or you can find their web > sites, which include direct phone numbers and usually include > numbers local to your state, by visiting > . You can also visit > http://www.drcnet.org/stopthehelicopters/ and type in your > name and address -- as you did previously -- and get their > Washington, DC phone numbers from our system. Please also use > the tell-a-friend form on our site to help bring in new and > greater support for the cause. > > If you're not currently subscribed to DRCNet, please visit > our home page at http://www.drcnet.org to find our more about > what we do. And lastly, please write to alert- > feedback@drcnet.org (mailto:alert-feedback@drcnet.org) and let > us know that you've taken action. It's important to our > planning and fundraising efforts to know what kind of impact > we are making. > > Again, please join the National Call-In Day on Colombia and > call your two Senators TOMORROW (6/6/00). If you get this > bulletin too late or can't call tomorrow, call as soon as you > can -- it will still make a difference. And tell your friends > about http://www.drcnet.org/stopthehelicopters/ and send them > this alert to spread the word! Thank you for taking a stand. > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > > To subscribe to DRCNet's weekly newsletter and action alert > list, visit http://www.drcnet.org and enter your name, e-mail > address and state in the "quick-signup form to the right. To > unsubscribe from DRCNet, send e-mail to listproc@drcnet.org > with the words signoff drc-natl as the message (not the > subject), or e-mail listhelp@drcnet.org for assistance. > > DRCNet needs your support! Please visit our registration > form at http://www.drcnet.org/drcreg.html to make a donation > on our encryption-secured credit card form or enter your > name, address and pledge amount to print out and send in with > your check. Or just send checks or money orders to: DRCNet, > P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036-8402, or call your > credit card info in to (202) 293-8340. > - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) De-Alerting/START Amendment Tomorrow in US Senate Date: 06 Jun 2000 15:20:09 +1000 I. Kerrey Amendment Up As Soon As TOMORROW As of today (June 5), the Senate is expected to begin debate on the FY 2001 Defense Authorization bill on the floor tomorrow at 2:30pm. If it remains on the floor, the Kerrey amendment could come up that afternoon or on Wednesday. The Kerrey amendment would allow cuts in strategic nuclear arsenals below START I levels, as long as those reductions would parallel cuts in Russia's arsenal. In the current Defense Authorization bill, the U.S. is prohibited from making cuts below 6,000 strategic warheads until START II enters into force. That will not happen until the Senate ratifies a protocol to the treaty, which is extremely unlikely to happen this year. Below is a letter individuals can email or fax to their Senators in support of the Kerrey amendment. Please note the Republicans can be strongly encouraged to support the amendment given the recent speech by George W. Bush in which he supported unilateral cuts in U.S. nuclear forces and de-alerting (both of which are prohibited by the Defense Authorization bill). For Republicans, a vote against this amendment is a vote against their presidential candidate. This point was covered in an article by Walter Pincus in the Washington Post yesterday, which is immediately below the Dear Senator letter. It is also possible the bill could come up tomorrow, and then be postponed. However, Kerrey's office would like to have their amendment considered sooner rather than later. Important Senators to contact on this amendment include: Lugar Dems voting wrong in '99 or needing reinforcing: Bayh Byrd Graham Lincoln Republicans likely to support, need reinforcing: Chafee - A. Millar Jeffords - D. Kimball "Getable" Republicans: Lugar Snowe Collins Hagel Domenici Warner Fitzgerald McCain Specter For additional background, please see the Coalition's Issue Brief: "Stuck at First START" at http://www.clw.org/coaltion/briefv4n6.htm + + + + + DRAFT LETTER ON KERREY AMENDMENT Dear Senator: I am writing you to urge your vote in favor of an amendment to S. 2549 (the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001) that would allow the President to reduce U.S. strategic nuclear force levels below START I levels. Current law prohibits the U.S. from reducing nuclear force levels below the nearly decade-old START I treaty. The existing law micromanages the nation's nuclear arsenal and forces the Pentagon to keep planes, submarines, and missiles it no longer wants or needs. Approval of the amendment proposed by Senator Robert Kerrey would increase national security by allowing the military to determine the appropriate levels for our nuclear forces. Gen. Shelton, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has already indicated his opposition to the restriction in the bill: "I would definitely oppose inclusion of any language that mandates specific force levels." Moreover, approval could also save taxpayers $670 million the first year after adoption, and up to $11 billion over the next ten years, according to an estimate prepared by the Congressional Budget Office in March 2000. Governor George W. Bush, the expected Republican presidential nominee, recently wrote an editorial claiming "It should be possible to reduce the number of American nuclear weapons significantly beyond what has already been agreed to under START II, without compromising our security in any way." Please support the Kerrey amendment to S. 2549 allowing the President flexibility to reduce U.S. strategic nuclear force levels below START I that are verifiable, symmetrical, reciprocal, and do not interfere with U.S. deterrence. This would enable the Pentagon to do its job of protecting the U.S. and it could save taxpayers billions of dollars. Sincerely, + + + + + "Bush Nuclear Plans Could Face Hurdle," WPost, 06/04/00, by Walter Pincus Two of Texas Gov. George W. Bush's arms control proposals are not just controversial but would violate existing law put in place by his own party. In a May 23 speech at the National Press Club, the Republican presidential candidate called for removing some U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles from "hair-trigger status" and said he would make deep cuts in America's nuclear arsenal, unilaterally if necessary. Since 1995, however, the House and the Senate have passed legislation to prevent the Clinton administration from taking such steps. Under Republican amendments to the Defense Authorization Act, the president is prohibited from removing any more U.S. ICBMs from constant alert or from unilaterally reducing the U.S. arsenal below the 6,000-warhead level set by the first strategic arms reduction treaty, START. The prohibitions could be removed, of course, if Bush wins the election and Congress wishes to free his hand. But they highlight the consternation that his proposals have caused within his own party, the difficulty he might face in persuading the next Congress to adopt his plan, and the continuing partisanship of arms control. Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said the governor is aware of the existing legislation and would work with Congress to shift away from the Cold War thinking that produced gigantic arsenals and a nuclear balance of terror. "The president proposes and the Congress disposes," Fleischer said. Calling Bush's arms control proposals illegal "is like saying our proposal to end the death tax is illegal because there is a death tax now," he added, referring to the governor's desire to eliminate estate taxes. So far, Republican congressional leaders on arms control issues have avoided public disagreements with the GOP's presumptive nominee by asking for clarifications of Bush's speech rather than condemning it. A few have expressed willingness to reconsider their positions. "I don't think we ought to unilaterally reduce nuclear weapons unless there are verifiable and bilateral reductions" with Russia, said Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.), a member of the Armed Services Committee. But, he added, "I need to look at de-alerting" warheads, which he has opposed in the past. One of the authors of the current prohibitions, Sen. Robert C. Smith (R-N.H.), also a member of the Armed Services Committee, has been a strong opponent of both unilateral reductions and "de-alerting"--Pentagon jargon for removing warheads from constant readiness to be launched within minutes. But he wants to talk with Bush before commenting on the candidate's proposals, according to Smith's press secretary, Lisa Harrison. "There are some things he wants clarified," Harrison said. At an Armed Services hearing May 23, the same day as Bush's speech, Chairman John W. Warner (R-Va.) questioned whether unilateral reductions are effective. He pointed out that in 1991, President Bush unilaterally cut the number of U.S. tactical warheads in hopes that Moscow would take reciprocal action and reduce its short-range nuclear weapons. But, Warner said, "the Russians have retained theirs, to the point where we dropped from 10,000 to maybe 1,500 in inventory . . . [and] they still have upwards of 10,000 to 12,000 of these [short-range] weapons." In his arms control speech, the Texas governor defended his father's unilateral reductions as "a precedent that proves the power of leadership." Huge reductions in tactical warheads "were achieved in a matter of months, making the world much safer more quickly," he said. In an interview last week, Warner praised the GOP presidential candidate for having said that he would request a thorough assessment of the U.S. arsenal from his defense secretary and the Joint Chiefs of Staff before making any unilateral reductions. "He would move carefully and only after consultations, because these are far-reaching moves," Warner said. He added that he supports Bush's "innovations" of "removing the hair triggers"--or taking more warheads off alert--and "building down numbers," or further reducing the size of the U.S. arsenal, "but only after consultation" with the Pentagon. Since the end of the Cold War, Russia and the United States have slashed the number of nuclear warheads deployed on ICBMs, submarines and long-range bombers from more than 10,000 on each side to 6,750 U.S. strategic warheads and 5,400 Russian ones, according to the independent Center for Defense Information. Under START, each side must be at or below 6,000 by the end of next year. The restrictions built into current law by congressional Republicans, however, prevent the president from reducing America's strategic arsenal below 6,000 warheads until START II goes into effect, which will lower the limit to between 3,000 and 3,500 warheads on each side. The Russian parliament finally ratified START II this year, four years after the Senate did. But the Senate has yet to ratify various protocols, and therefore the treaty has not gone into force. Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) attempted a year ago to eliminate the prohibition against cutting the U.S. arsenal before START II formally takes effect. He lost, 56 to 44, with all but three Republicans voting with the majority. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) opposed Kerrey's amendment. But he said last week that he would back unilateral reductions if Bush won the election. "I wouldn't trust this Clinton administration, but a Bush presidency would be different," he said. Kerrey plans to bring up his amendment again this year, when the fiscal 2001 Defense Authorization Bill comes to the Senate floor after the present recess. But an aide indicated that Senate Democrats might flip positions now, pushing for language requiring all nuclear weapons reductions to be reciprocal. "Given George W. Bush's statement, we are deciding whether to try to repeal the current law, or to make reductions possible only if the Russians do so also, given that there won't be formal ratification of START II in the next seven months," Kerrey's aide said. In his May 23 speech, Bush also proposed a much larger missile defense system than the Clinton administration has been considering. His concept, which has encountered broad support among congressional Republicans, appears to be nearly identical to the missile shield proposed by his father in his 1991 State of the Union address. President Reagan's "Star Wars" plan, formally known as the Strategic Defense Initiative, was aimed at defeating a full-scale Soviet attack involving hundreds of missiles. The elder Bush's 1991 proposal was for a more modest system to defend against an accidental Russian launch or a small volley of missiles fired by some other country. It became known at the Pentagon as GPALS, for "global protection against limited strikes." Warner, Allard and Kyl all said they approve of George W. Bush's current proposal for a global system that would protect not just the United States but also Israel, Taiwan and European allies from missile attack. "We have to benefit our allies as well as ourselves," Allard said, "because we are all threatened by rogue states." William Schneider, a senior Pentagon and State Department official in the Reagan and Bush administrations, said consultations on GPALS had begun in 1991 with European allies, Japan and Russia, but the project was quickly dropped when the Clinton administration came into office in 1992. GPALS envisioned 750 ground-based interceptors deployed at six areas in the United States, plus 1,000 space-based interceptors using "brilliant pebbles" technology, which would fire thousands of pieces of metal at an incoming warhead, like buckshot in space. By contrast, the Clinton administration's proposal is for a system of 100 to 250 ground-based interceptors with silos to be built in just one or two sites--Alaska and possibly North Dakota--at a cost estimated at $12.6 billion to $60 billion. A January 1992 General Accounting Office study of GPALS put its price tag in 1992 dollars at $63 billion. Democratic critics, such as Rep. John Conyers Jr. (Mich.), then-chairman of the House Government Operations Committee, charged at the time that the Bush administration was planning to spend more than $100 billion on "imaginary technology." + + + + + - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: FoE Sydney - Nuclear Campaign Subject: (abolition-usa) AUSTRALIA CHOOSES ARGENTINE RESEARCH REACTOR Date: 06 Jun 2000 19:01:50 +1000 John Hallam =46riends of the Earth Sydney, 17 Lord Street, Newtown, NSW, Australia, 2042 =46ax (61)(2)9517-3902 ph (61)(2)9517-3903 nonukes@foesyd.org.au http://homepages.tig.com.au/~foesyd http://www.abc.net.au/news/newslink/nat/newsnat-6jun2000-47.htm This Bulletin: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 13:09 AEST BREAKING STORIES Argentinian firm to build nuclear research reactor An Argentinian company will build a new nuclear research reactor in Sydney's Lucas Heights. The Federal Government has chosen the company, INVAP, as its preferred tenderer to design and build the reactor. The project will cost about $280 million and the reactor is expected to be commissioned in 2005. Industry, Science and Resources Minister Nick Minchin says INVAP will work with two Australian companies on the project. "The INVAP bid together with its Australian partners did offer the best combination of high performance...and the best building layout," he said. "I'd also point out that the INVAP bid offered the highest value-added local content at 53 per cent." =A9 2000 Australian Broadcasting Corporation - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ellen Thomas Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews 00/06/06 Date: 06 Jun 2000 08:29:13 -0400 --=====================_48657299==_.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Daybook, June 6, 2000 - Washington Times and FIND/Agence France Presse http://www.washtimes.com/national/daybook-200066214937.htm Russia seminar =97 8:30 a.m. =97 The Hudson Institute holds a seminar on "Russia: Its Place in the 21st Century and the Implications for the United States" with James Woolsey, former director of the CIA. Location: Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Hearing Room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building. Contact: 202/224-2420. 9:30 a.m. =97 Senate Joint Economic Committee conducts high technology summit "Removing Barriers to the New Economy." Witnesses include Andy Grove, Intel Corporation chairman, and Bill Gates, Microsoft Corp. chairman and= chief software architect. Location: 216 Hart Senate Office Building. Contact: 202/224-5171. Turkey briefing =97 10 a.m. =97 The Commission on Security and= Cooperation in Europe hosts a briefing on the political atmosphere in Turkey. The= participants include mayors Emrullah Cin of Viransebir, Turkey, and Sahabettin Ozaslener= of Van, Turkey. Location: 2255 Rayburn House Office Building. Contact: 202/225-1901. King Abdullah visit =97 3 p.m. =97 King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of= Jordan visit Congress. Highlights =97 4:45 p.m. =97 House International Relations Committee= meeting, Capitol, Room H-130, U.S. Capitol 5:30 p.m. =97 Meeting with House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Illinois Republican, Capitol, Room H-230. Contact: 202/225-5021 or 202/225-0600. Presidential Candidates: George W. Bush -- Augusta, Georgia.=20 12:25 p.m. - Hero's Overlook Memorial=20 Augusta Riverwalk 10th and Reynolds St., Augusta, GA=20 ----- Action Alert: Fm: Daryl Kimball and Stephen Young * U.S.-Russian agreement on Pu disposition=20 http://www.clw.org/coalition/summit050400pu.htm Tell The White House & Congress NO PLUTONIUM BURNING IN COMMERCIAL NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS!!! Isolate it, guard it, STOP MAKING IT! The=20 Utility-Military-Industrial Cancer Machine Has Killed Enough of Us Already [http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/victims.html &=20 http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/probability.html]. Call The White House at: 202-456-1414 Fax The White House at: 202-456-2461 & 202-456-2883 Call BOTH Your Senators & Your Rep at: 202-224-3121 Alert the media if you live "close" [however you want to define that] to a commercial nuclear power plant and tell them NO PLUTONIUM=20 BURNING HERE. Show them these web sites & ask them to print and broadcast= them: 1. http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/probability.html NRC Admits To 45% Chance Of Core Melt Before Congress 2. http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/rickover.html Commercial Nuke= Industry Would End IF The Facts Were Made Public 3. http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/crac.html See What "Your" Nuke= Power Plant Can Do To Your City, State, Region Of The Country 4 http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/infant.html Infants Killed By= Nuclear Power Plants=20 ___________________________________________________ Today's Newspapers: http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm NucNews Archives: http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm Subscribe to NucNews: prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Subscribe) Submit URL/Article: prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Editor) About NucNews: http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm NucNews - E-Mailed: http://www.onelist.com/archive/NucNews Excellent e-mail news resources: DOE Watch - doewatch@onelist.com - http://members.aol.com/doewatch=20 Downwinders - downwinders@onelist.com - http://www.downwinders.org/=20 EnviroNews - environews@envirolink.org -= http://www.envirolink.org/environews=20 Planet Ark/Reuters - anna@planetark.org - http://www.planetark.org/news/ Radbull (Radiation Bulletin) radbull@dax.energy-net.org=20 Quick Route to U.S. Congress: http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm (Senators' Websites) http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html (Representatives' Websites) http://thomas.loc.gov/ (Pending Legislation - Search) Distributed without payment for research and educational=20 purposes only, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107. --=====================_48657299==_.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Daybook, June 6, 2000 - Washington Times and FIND/Agence France Presse
http://www.washtimes.com/national/daybook-200066214937.h= tm

    Russia seminar =97 8:30 a.m. =97 The Hudson Institute holds a seminar on "Russia: Its Place in the 21st Century and the Implications for the United States" with James Woolsey, former director of the CIA. Location: Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Hearing Room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building. Contact: 202/224-2420.

      9:30 a.m. =97 Senate Joint Economic Committee conducts high technology summit "Removing Barriers to the New Economy." Witnesses include Andy Grove, Intel Corporation chairman, and Bill Gates, Microsoft Corp. chairman and chief software architect. Location: 216 Hart Senate Office Building. Contact: 202/224-5171.

    Turkey briefing =97 10 a.m. =97 The Commission on Securit= y and Cooperation in Europe hosts a briefing on the political atmosphere in Turkey. The participants include mayors Emrullah Cin of Viransebir, Turkey, and Sahabettin Ozaslener of Van, Turkey. Location: 2255 Rayburn House Office Building. Contact: 202/225-1901.

    King Abdullah visit =97 3 p.m. =97 King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan visit Congress.
      Highlights =97 4:45 p.m. =97 House International Relations Committee meeting, Capitol, Room H-130, U.S. Capitol
     5:30 p.m. =97 Meeting with House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Illinois Republican, Capitol, Room H-230. Contact: 202/225-5021 or 202/225-0600.

Presidential Candidates:

George W. Bush  -- Augusta, Georgia.
12:25 p.m. - Hero's Overlook Memorial
Augusta Riverwalk 10th and Reynolds St., Augusta, GA

-----

Action Alert:

Fm: Daryl Kimball and Stephen Young

* U.S.-Russian agreement on Pu disposition
http://www.clw.org/coalition/summit050400pu.htm

Tell The White House & Congress NO PLUTONIUM BURNING IN COMMERCIAL NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS!!! Isolate it, guard it, STOP MAKING IT! The
Utility-Military-Industrial Cancer Machine Has Killed Enough of Us Already [http://www.geocities.com/moth= ersalert/victims.html &
http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/probability.html].

Call The White House at: 202-456-1414
Fax The White House at: 202-456-2461 & 202-456-2883
Call BOTH Your Senators & Your Rep at: 202-224-3121
Alert the media if you live "close" [however you want to define that] to a commercial nuclear power plant and tell them NO PLUTONIUM
BURNING HERE. Show them these web sites & ask them to print and broadcast them:

1. http://www.geocities.com/moth= ersalert/probability.html NRC Admits To 45% Chance Of Core Melt Before Congress
2. http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/rickover.html
Commercial Nuke Industry Would End IF The Facts Were Made= Public
3.
http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/crac.html See What "Your" Nuke Power Plant Can Do To Your City,= State, Region Of The Country
4 http://www.geocities.com/mothersalert/infant.html<= /font> Infants Killed By Nuclear Power Plants



    = ___________________________________________________

       Today's Newspapers: http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm
           NucNews= Archives: http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm
     Subscribe to NucNews:  prop1@prop1.org= (NucNews-Subscribe)
           Submit= URL/Article: prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Editor)
           =          About NucNews: http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm
        NucNews - E-Mailed: http://www.onelist.com/archive/NucNews

Excellent e-mail news resources:

DOE Watch - doewatch@onelist.com - http://members.aol.com/doewatch
Downwinders - downwinders@onelist.com= - http://www.downwinders.org/
EnviroNews - environews@envirolink.org= - http://www.envirolink.org/environews=
Planet Ark/Reuters - anna@planetark.org - http://www.planetark.org/news/
Radbull (Radiation Bulletin) radbull@dax.energy-net.org

Quick Route to U.S. Congress:

http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm (Senators'= Websites)
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html= (Representatives' Websites)
http://thomas.loc.gov/  (Pending Legislation -= Search)


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


--=====================_48657299==_.ALT-- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: marylia@earthlink.net (marylia) Subject: (abolition-usa) DOE misses NIF deadline Date: 06 Jun 2000 19:26:01 -0700 (PDT) Hi peace and enviro advocates: I thought you might be interested in an article detailing DOE's missing the congressionally-mandated deadline to "rebaseline" the cost of the National Ignition Facility. By June 1, 2000, the Department was suppossed to have provided Congress with either the price tag for the problem-plagued mega-laser or with the estimated costs to close out the project, according to last year's House and Senate Conference Committee Report. On June 1, DOE did neither, sending instead a request for a three month extension. This article is from the Tri-Valley Herald, the story was covered in the San Francisco Chronicle and other papers as well. Read on... LIVERMORE LAB MISSES DEADLINE CONGRESS THREATENS TO DISMANTLE HIGHLY TROUBLED LASER PROJECT Tri-Valley Herald -- Friday, June 2, 2000 by Glenn Roberts Jr. LIVERMORE -- Energy Department officials asked Congress on Thursday for a three-month extension to complete a report on the revised cost and schedule of a troubled laser project at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Members of Congress had requested the report by Thursday under threat that the National Ignition Facility laser project under construction at Livermore Lab would otherwise be dismantled. Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Gioconda, acting assistant secretary for Energy Department defense programs, said Thursday that the Energy Department has instead submitted preliminary estimates to Congress for the National Ignition Facility project. "We are requesting more time from Congress to make sure we go through a detailed review," Gioconda said. "We have not completed a bottoms-up review." A final report will be submitted to Congress in mid-September. Gioconda said he is hopeful that Congress will be patient. "I'm hoping that they evaluate the path forward and accept that path forward." U.S. Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a Democrat who lives in Alamo, said Thursday through a spokesman that she has not had time to review the preliminary report, which was released late in the day. The preliminary report was submitted to congressional committees with oversight of Energy Department appropriations, he said. A stadium-size nuclear weapons research tool, NIF was designed to blast BB-size pellets of radioactive fuel with 192 high-power X-ray laser beams. NIF construction began in 1997. According to the preliminary estimates, NIF has almost doubled in cost -- to $2.1 billion -- and is about six years behind schedule. And considering all NIF-related research and development, coupled with the project cost, the total price tag is estimated at $3.3 billion. In the approaching budget year, Livermore Lab is expected to cut other programs by about $63 million to help pay for NIF cost overruns and about $32 million will be taken from other Energy Department facilities. Gioconda said it is not yet certain where the rest of the estimated $1 billion cost increase will be taken from, though Energy Secretary Bill Richardson has said that costs would be at the expense of other programs within the Energy Department, at no added cost to taxpayers. NIF problems surfaced last year, when lab and Energy Department officials initially estimated that NIF was about $350 million over budget and 12 to 18 months behind schedule. Richardson reprimanded Livermore Lab officials in August 1999 for withholding information about the project troubles. In September 1999, a congressional committee asked Richardson to "complete and certify a new cost and schedule" by June 1. "If the secretary is unable to provide such a certification, the Department should prepare an estimate of the costs necessary to terminate the project." Susan Houghton, a Livermore Lab spokeswoman, said the lab is working to prepare a revised cost and schedule for NIF based on the Energy Department's decision in May on how to proceed with the project. "We're just starting (that process)," Houghton said. Marylia Kelley, executive director for Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment, an anti-nuclear group based in Livermore, said she expects that the lateness of the final cost and schedule report will erode congressional confidence in the project. She said the delayed report also will allow the lab to continue to spend millions on NIF and increase the overall investment in the project, which will make it more difficult for Congress to say "no" on NIF. NIF may "eat other programs alive" at Livermore and other labs if it continues, said Kelley, a longtime lab critic. Marylia Kelley Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 2582 Old First Street Livermore, CA USA 94550 - is our web site, please visit us there! (925) 443-7148 - is our phone (925) 443-0177 - is our fax Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the Abolition 2000 global network for the elimination of nuclear weapons, the U.S. Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and the Back From the Brink campaign to get nuclear weapons taken off hair-trigger alert. - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Kevin Martin Subject: (abolition-usa) UPDATE/ANALYSIS: vote today on Kerrey amendment & others Date: 07 Jun 2000 11:35:36 -0500 Dear Friends: Important information on the Kerrey amendment to permit de-alerting and reductions of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile from the Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers follows. Kevin Martin Director, Project Abolition **** June 7, 2000 TO: Coalition members and friends FR: Daryl Kimball, Exec. Director; and Stephen Young, Deputy Director RE: Vote on Kerrey amend. & Warner alternative set for today Last evening, the Senate engaged in a lively debate on U.S. nuclear weapons in connection with the Kerrey (D-NE) amendment on eliminating the current restriction on reductions and "de-activations" below START I levels until START II enters into force. Senators Kerrey (NE), Kerry (D-MA) and Levin (D-MI) did a good job debating the issue. The Congressional Record transcript of the Senate debate from June 6, 2000 should be available on Thomas later this morning Scrambling to find a reason to oppose the Kerrey intiative, Sen. Warner (R-VA) offered an amendment to Sen. Kerrey's amendment, which creates an additional restriction that would allow "retirements and/or dismantling" below START I levels only AFTER a strategic review carried out by the Sec. of Defense, which is not due to be completed until late next year. It would leave in place the funding restriction on "early deactivations" (i.e. most de-alerting options). While it appears that the Warner amendment would be somewhat preferable to the current restriction (a lesser of two evils), it is inferior to the Kerrey amendment which would strike the current restriction entirely. The vote on Sen. Kerrey's and Sen. Warner's amendments will take place at about 1pm today, following 90 more minutes of debate. We expect that the Warner amendment will win on a mainly party-line vote. There may also be votes on a Feingold (D-WI) amendment related to scaling back the operational fleet of Trident ballistic missile subs and a Durbin (D-IL) amendment on realistic testing requirements for national missile defense. Look for more details on these later. As Kerrey argued on the Senate floor, the intent of the Warner substitute appears to be to grant the NEXT president -- not Bill Clinton -- the authority to pursue reductions of the U.S. arsenal below START I levels. That the Warner amendment conflicts with the concept and practice of the Bush May 23 foreign policy speech seems not to bother Senator Warner and other Republican Senators. Nevertheless, the debate on these amendments -- and the vote -- will likely show that there is some level of bipartisan support for Presidential actions to reduce excessive U.S. nuclear force levels as Russia's arsenal decreases given the political impasse on START II implementation and the terms of START III. Attached below is a summary -- in simple terms -- of what the Warner alternative amendment (to the Kerrey amendment on strategic nuclear reductions and de-alerting) would do. Also attached below is the text of the current legislative restriction (as amended in 1998 and 1999). For further information, see: "Stuck at First START: U.S. Forced to Maintain its Nuclear Arsenal while Russia's Declines," June 6, 2000 - DK & SY ********* Summary of the Effect of the Warner Amendment: * it would add an additional waiver requirement for releasing funds for "retiring or dismantling" strategic delivery systems below START I (which is START II entry into force) by specifying that a new nuclear posture review must be conducted and considered before the President can "retire or dismantle" strategic nuclear weapons delivery systems below START I levels. If START II were to enter into force before that review is completed (which is highly unlikely), the additional waiver requirement would not apply. * it would maintain the existing funding limitation on "early deactivation" of strategic nuclear delivery systems below START I levels (i.e. "removing nuclear warheads from those systems or taking other steps to remove those systems from combat status"). This would impede the next President from pursuing many de-alerting options. This limitation can only be waived when and if: - START II enters into force; and - 30 days after the President submits a report to Congress certifying, among other things, that the proposed deactivations will not adversely affect strategic stability and that the deactivations will not be carried out more rapidly by the U.S. than by Russia. The net effect would be: 1) to delay any possible retirement and/or dismantlement of U.S. strategic nuclear weapons below START I levels (6000) until late 2001 (depending on when the Quadrennial Defense Review and associated nuclear posture review are completed); and 2) postpone indefinitely beyond the end of FY 2001 (unless START II miraculously enters into force earlier) any "early deactivations" (i.e. most de-alerting measures) of nuclear weapon delivery systems below START I levels. It is important to note that in 1994 the President and the JCS conducted an extensive review of U.S. nuclear weapons requirements and determined that the U.S. can reduce its deployed strategic arsenal well below 6000. In January 1996, the Senate ratified the START II agreement which would reduce U.S. and Russian deployed strategic arsenals to 3000-3500 each. In 1997, the President and the JCS carefully reviewed U.S. nuclear weapons requirements again and determined that the U.S. can go even lower, to 2000-2500. The Warner amendment requirement for a new nuclear posture review before the funding limitation on retirement and/or dismantlement of strategic delivery systems below START II pertains to whether or not the U.S. arsenal should go below 2000 strategic deployed nuclear bombs. In addition, it is important to note that the Warner amendment would even delay George W. Bush -- if he were to be elected President -- from pursuing unilateral strategic nuclear weapons reductions and from de-alerting "as many weapons as possible," according to the process he outlined in his on May 23, 2000 speech. In that speech George W. Bush said that: "In addition, the United States should remove as many weapons as possible from high-alert, hair-trigger status - another unnecessary vestige of Cold War confrontation. Preparation for quick launch - within minutes after warning of an attack - was the rule during the era of superpower rivalry. But today, for two nations at peace, keeping so many weapons on high alert may create unacceptable risks of accidental or unauthorized launch. So, as president, I will ask for an assessment of what we can safely do to lower the alert status of our forces." The Warner amendment would prohibit de-alerting even after Bush conducts his assessment of "what we can safely do to lower the alert status of our forces." Go figure .... *************************** LIMITATION ON RETIREMENT OR DISMANTLEMENT OF STRATEGIC NUCLEAR DELIVERY SYSTEMS Sec. 1302 of National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 As amended in the FY 1999 and FY 2000 Def. Auth. Act (a) FUNDING LIMITATION- (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), funds available to the Department of Defense may not be obligated or expended for retiring or dismantling, or for preparing to retire or dismantle, any of the following strategic nuclear delivery systems below the specified levels: (A) 76 B-52H bomber aircraft. (B) 18 Trident ballistic missile submarines. (C) 500 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles. (D) 50 Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missiles. (2) The limitation in paragraph (1)(B) shall be modified in accordance with paragraph (3) upon a certification by the President to Congress of the following: (A) That the effectiveness of the United States strategic deterrent will not be decreased by reductions in strategic nuclear delivery systems. (B) That the requirements of the Single Integrated Operational Plan can be met with a reduced number of strategic nuclear delivery systems. (C) That reducing the number of strategic nuclear delivery systems will not, in the judgment of the President, provide a disincentive for Russia to ratify the START II treaty or serve to undermine future arms control negotiations. (D) That the United States will retain the ability to increase the delivery capacity of its strategic nuclear delivery systems should threats arise that require more substantial United States strategic forces. (3) If the President submits the certification described in paragraph (2), then the applicable number in effect under paragraph (1)(B)-- (A) shall be 16 during the period beginning on the date on which such certification is transmitted to Congress and ending on the date specified in subparagraph (B); and (B) shall be 14 effective as of the date that is 240 days after the date on which such certification is transmitted. (b) WAIVER AUTHORITY- If the START II treaty enters into force, the President may waive the application of the limitation in effect under paragraph (1)(B) or (3) of subsection (a), as the case may be, to the extent that the President determines such a waiver to be necessary in order to implement the treaty.'. (c) FUNDING LIMITATION ON EARLY DEACTIVATION - (1) If the limitation under subsection (a) ceases to apply by reason of a waiver under subsection (b), funds available to the Department of Defense may nevertheless not be obligated or expended to implement any agreement or understanding to undertake substantial early deactivation of a strategic nuclear delivery system specified in subsection (a) until 30 days after the date on which the President submits to Congress a report concerning such actions. (2) For purposes of this subsection and subsection (d), a substantial early deactivation is an action during the fiscal year during which the START II Treaty enters into force to deactivate a substantial number of strategic nuclear delivery systems specified in subsection (a) by-- (A) removing nuclear warheads from those systems; or (B) taking other steps to remove those systems from combat status. (3) A report under this subsection shall include the following: (A) The text of any understanding or agreement between the United States and the Russian Federation concerning substantial early deactivation of strategic nuclear delivery systems under the START II Treaty. (B) The plan of the Department of Defense for implementing the agreement. (C) An assessment of the Secretary of Defense of the adequacy of the provisions contained in the agreement for monitoring and verifying compliance of Russia with the terms of the agreement and, based upon that assessment, the determination of the President specifically as to whether the procedures for monitoring and verification of compliance by Russia with the terms of the agreement are adequate or inadequate. (D) A determination by the President as to whether the deactivations to occur under the agreement will be carried out in a symmetrical, reciprocal, or equivalent manner and whether the agreement will require early deactivations of strategic forces by the United States to be carried out substantially more rapidly than deactivations of strategic forces by Russia. (E) An assessment by the President of the effect of the proposed early deactivation on the stability of the strategic balance and relative strategic nuclear capabilities of the United States and the Russian Federation at various stages during deactivation and upon completion, including a determination by the President specifically as to defense program. (d) FURTHER LIMITATION ON STRATEGIC FORCE REDUCTIONS - (1) Amounts available to the Department of Defense to implement an agreement that results in a substantial early deactivation of strategic forces may not be obligated for that purpose if in the report under subsection (c)(3) the President determines any of the following: (A) That procedures for monitoring and verification of compliance by Russia with the terms of the agreement are inadequate. (B) That the agreement will require early deactivations of strategic forces by the United States to be carried out substantially more rapidly than deactivations of strategic forces by Russia. (C) That the proposed early deactivations will adversely affect strategic stability. (2) The limitation in paragraph (1), if effective by reason of a determination by the President described in paragraph (1)(B), shall cease to apply 30 days after the date on which the President notifies Congress that the early deactivations under the agreement are in the national interest of the United States. (e) CONTINGENCY PLAN FOR SUSTAINMENT OF SYSTEMS- (1) Not later then February 15, 1998, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to Congress a plan for the sustainment beyond October 1, 1999, of United States strategic nuclear delivery systems and alternative Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty force structures in the event that a strategic arms reduction agreement subsequent to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty does not enter into force before 2004. (2) The plan shall include a discussion of the following matters: (A) The actions that are necessary to sustain the United States strategic nuclear delivery systems, distinguishing between the actions that are planned for and funded in the future-years defense program and the actions that are not planned for and funded in the future-years defense program. (B) The funding necessary to implement the plan, indicating the extent to which the necessary funding is provided for in the future-years defense program and the extent to which the necessary funding is not provided for in the future-years defense program. (f) START TREATIES DEFINED - In this section: (1) The term ``Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty'' means the Treaty Between the United States of America and the United Soviet Socialist Republics on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START), signed at Moscow on July 31, 1991, including related annexes on agreed statements and definitions, protocols, and memorandum of understanding. (2) The term ``START II Treaty'' means the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, signed at Moscow on January 3, 1993, including the following protocols and memorandum of understanding, all such documents being integral parts of and collectively referred to as the ``START II Treaty'' (contained in Treaty Document 103-1): (A) The Protocol on Procedures Governing Elimination of Heavy ICBMs and on Procedures Governing Conversion of Silo Launchers of Heavy ICBMs Relating to the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (also known as the ``Elimination and Conversion Protocol''). (B) The Protocol on Exhibitions and Inspections of Heavy Bombers Relating to the Treaty Between the United States and the Russian Federation on Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (also known as the ``Exhibitions and Inspections Protocol''). (C) The Memorandum of Understanding on Warhead Attribution and Heavy Bomber Data Relating to the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (also known as the ``Memorandum on Attribution''). ____________________________________ Daryl Kimball, Executive Director Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers 110 Maryland Avenue NE, Suite 505 Washington, DC 20002 (ph) 202-546-0795 x136 (fax) 202-546-7970 website ____________________________________ . - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ellen Thomas Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews 00/06/08 Date: 08 Jun 2000 07:56:41 -0400 --=====================_158551092==_.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable NucNews archives have been posted through May 31, 2000. See http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm. Daybook, June 8, 2000 - Washington Times and FIND/Agence France Presse http://www.washtimes.com/national/daybook-200068214251.htm Balkans War forum =97 9 a.m. =97 The Brookings Institution holds a= forum on the 1999 Balkans War, the situation in Kosovo and lessons for future= military operations. Gen. Wesley Clark, former supreme allied commander for Europe, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, delivers a keynote speech. Location:= Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Contact: 202/797-6105. 10 a.m. =97 Senate Foreign Relations European affairs subcommittee= holds a hearing, "Kosovo: One Year After the Bombing." Location: 419 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Contact: 202/224-4651. Roma briefing =97 8:30 a.m. =97Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty holds a briefing, "What Do the Roma Want? A Status Report From Central Europe,"= about the widespread discrimination suffered by the Roma (Gypsies) across Central Europe. Location: Fourth-floor conference room, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW. Contact: 202/457-6949. -- Presidential Candidates: Governor Bush 12:20 p.m. - Knoxville Civic Auditorium, The Mary Costa Plaza, 500= E. Church Ave., Knoxville, TN =3D 865/544-5399 5:10 p.m. - Governor arrives : Philadelphia International Airport, Atlantic Aviation,=20 Gate 47 - Int'l Overseas Terminal, Island Ave., Philadelphia, PA= 215/492-7060 5:45 p.m. - Pennsylvania Republican Party Reception, Westin Philadelphia Hotel=20 Salon 1 and 2, 17th and Chestnut at Liberty Place, Philadelphia, PA 215/563-1600 ---- Who manufactures depleted uranium? http://www.nucmet.com/uranium.htm (From: Raulmax@aol.com) ___________________________________________________ Today's Newspapers: http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm NucNews Archives: http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm Subscribe to NucNews: mailto:prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Subscribe) Submit URL/Article: mailto:prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Editor) About NucNews: http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm NucNews - E-Mailed: http://www.onelist.com/archive/NucNews Excellent e-mail news resources: DOE Watch - doewatch@onelist.com - http://members.aol.com/doewatch=20 Downwinders - downwinders@onelist.com - http://www.downwinders.org/=20 EnviroNews - environews@envirolink.org -= http://www.envirolink.org/environews=20 Planet Ark/Reuters - mailto:anna@planetark.org -= http://www.planetark.org/news/ Radbull (Radiation Bulletin) radbull@dax.energy-net.org=20 Quick Route to U.S. Congress: http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm (Senators' Websites) http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html (Representatives' Websites) http://thomas.loc.gov/ (Pending Legislation - Search) Online Petition - http://www.PetitionOnline.com/prop1/petition.html Distributed without payment for research and educational=20 purposes only, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107. --=====================_158551092==_.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable NucNews archives have been posted through May 31, 2000.  See http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm.

Daybook, June 8, 2000 - Washington Times and FIND/Agence France Presse
http://www.washtimes.com/national/daybook-200068214251.h= tm

      Balkans War forum =97 9 a.m. =97 The Brooking= s Institution holds a forum on the 1999 Balkans War, the situation in Kosovo and lessons for future military operations. Gen. Wesley Clark, former supreme allied commander for Europe, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, delivers a keynote speech. Location: Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Contact: 202/797-6105.

      10 a.m. =97 Senate Foreign Relations European affairs subcommittee holds a hearing, "Kosovo: One Year After the Bombing." Location: 419 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Contact:
 202/224-4651.

    Roma briefing =97 8:30 a.m. =97Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty holds a briefing, "What Do the Roma Want? A Status Report From Central Europe," about the widespread discrimination suffered by the Roma (Gypsies) across Central Europe. Location: Fourth-floor conference room, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW. Contact: 202/457-6949.
--

Presidential Candidates:

Governor Bush
        12:20 p.m. - Knoxville Civic Auditorium, The Mary Costa Plaza, 500 E. Church Ave., Knoxville, TN =3D 865/544-5399
        5:10 p.m. - Governor arrives : Philadelphia International Airport, Atlantic Aviation,
Gate 47 - Int'l Overseas Terminal, Island Ave., Philadelphia, PA 215/492-7060
        5:45 p.m. - Pennsylvania Republican Party Reception, Westin Philadelphia Hotel
Salon 1 and 2, 17th and Chestnut at Liberty Place, Philadelphia, PA 215/563-1600

----

Who manufactures depleted uranium?  http://www.nucmet.com/uranium.htm
(From: Raulmax@aol.com)

     ___________________________________________________

       Today's Newspapers: http://prop1.org/nucnews/links.htm
           NucNews Archives: http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm
     Subscribe to NucNews:  mailto:prop1@prop1.org= (NucNews-Subscribe)
           Submit= URL/Article: mailto:prop1@prop1.org (NucNews-Editor)
           =          About NucNews: http://prop1.org/nucnews/nucnews.htm
        NucNews - E-Mailed: http://www.onelist.com/archive/NucNews

Excellent e-mail news resources:

DOE Watch - doewatch@onelist.com - http://members.aol.com/doewatch
Downwinders - downwinders@onelist.com= - http://www.downwinders.org/
EnviroNews - environews@envirolink.org= - http://www.envirolink.org/environews=
Planet Ark/Reuters - mailto:anna@planetark.org - http://www.planetark.org/news/
Radbull (Radiation Bulletin) radbull@dax.energy-net.org

Quick Route to U.S. Congress:

http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm (Senators'= Websites)
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html= (Representatives' Websites)
http://thomas.loc.gov/ (Pending Legislation -= Search)

Online Petition - http://www.PetitionOnline.com/prop1/petition.html
      Distributed without payment for research and= educational
   purposes only, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section= 107.


--=====================_158551092==_.ALT-- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jackie Cabasso Subject: (abolition-usa) laser warfare: "science fiction into reality" Date: 08 Jun 2000 05:28:36 -0700 --=====================_2742999==_.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by hawk.prod.itd.earthlink.net id FAA00740 Dear colleagues -- One of the benefits of staying in a crummy hotel is th= at you get USA Today. This is a surprisingly informative and useful article: la= sers; corporations, Star Wars, the Middle East -- it=92s all here! (You'll find= a photo on the website if you to the front page.) -- Jackie http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/ncswed19.htm 06/07/00 Army's new hightech laser is right on target By Andrea Stone, USA TODAY=20 WASHINGTON In what is being called a milestone in the infant field of la= ser warfare, the Army said Wednesday that it has shot down a rocket using a highenergy laser. In its first live warhead test, the Tactical High Ener= gy Laser (THEL) system intercepted and destroyed an armed Russianmade Katyus= ha rocket within seconds of its launch at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., Tuesday. The system detected the 10footlong, 5inchdiameter rocket with it= s radar before shooting it down at the speed of light.=20 ''We've just turned science fiction into reality,'' said Lt. Gen. John Costello, commander of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, w= hich developed the laser with the Israeli defense ministry and defense contrac= tor TRW Corp.=20 If future tests go well, the Army is expected to hand over the system to = Israel within the next year. It would be positioned along Israel's northern bord= er with Lebanon to protect against Katyusha and other shortrange rocket atta= cks. =20 Although the system was tailored with Israel's unique security needs in m= ind, Costello said the technology has ''the potential to play a significant ro= le in defending U.S. national security interests worldwide.'' =20 The U.S. military has no defensive weapons system capable of protecting t= roops from shortrange rocket attacks. It hopes to adapt the THEL system for use= in shielding peacekeeping forces abroad. ''In the past, the only prayer we had was jumping in a foxhole and prayin= g,'' said Jerry Wilson, THEL's program manager. ''This gives the war fighter a chance to defeat that threat.'' =20 But John Pike, a weapons analyst at the Federation of American Scientists= , said THEL has no foreseeable applications for U.S. forces. ''This is for the extremely specific problem of the Hezbollah firing arti= llery rockets across the northern border of Israel,'' he said, noting Katyushas= have a range of just 12 miles. ''We don't have anyone firing these at us. We'd= never let anybody get that close.'' =20 The Air Force is working on what will likely be the U.S. military's first highenergy weapon, the Airborne Laser. The 747mounted airborne laser is b= eing designed to shoot down SCUD ballistic missiles like those used in the Gul= f War. The system's deployment is expected within 10 years. Military researcher= s continue to work on spacebased lasers, a legacy of President Reagan's ''s= tar wars'' initiative. However, the system envisioned by the Clinton administ= ration to protect against ballistic warheads would employ interceptor missiles, = not lasers. *************************************************************************= *** *************** Jacqueline Cabasso WESTERN STATES LEGAL FOUNDATION 1440 Broadway, Suite 500 Oakland, California 94612 USA Tel: + 1 (510) 839-5877 Fax: + 1 (510) 839-5397 Western States Legal Foundation is a founding member of the=20 ABOLITION 2000 GLOBAL NETWORK TO ELIMINATE NUCLEAR WEAPONS *************************************************************************= *** *************** --=====================_2742999==_.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by hawk.prod.itd.earthlink.net id FAA00740
Dear colleagues -- One of the benefits of staying in a crummy hotel is that you get USA Today.  This is a surprisingly informative and useful article: lasers; corporations, Star Wars, the Middle East -- it=92s all here! (You'll find a photo on the website if you to the front page.) -- Jackie


 06/07/00

Army's new hightech laser is right on target

By Andrea Stone, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON  In what is being called a milestone in the infant field of laser warfare, the Army said Wednesday that it has shot down a rocket using a highenergy laser.  In its first live warhead test, the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) system intercepted and destroyed an armed Russianmade Katyusha rocket within seconds of its launch at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., Tuesday. The system detected the 10footlong, 5inchdiameter rocket with its radar before shooting it down at the speed of light.

''We've just turned science fiction into reality,'' said Lt. Gen. John Costello, commander of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, which developed the laser with the Israeli defense ministry and defense contractor TRW Corp.

If future tests go well, the Army is expected to hand over the system to Israel within the next year. It would be positioned along Israel's northern border with Lebanon to protect against Katyusha and other shortrange rocket attacks. 

Although the system was tailored with Israel's unique security needs in mind, Costello said the technology has ''the potential to play a significant role in defending U.S. national security interests worldwide.'' 

The U.S. military has no defensive weapons system capable of protecting troops from shortrange rocket attacks. It hopes to adapt the THEL system for use in shielding peacekeeping forces abroad.

''In the past, the only prayer we had was jumping in a foxhole and praying,'' said Jerry Wilson, THEL's program manager. ''This gives the war fighter a chance to defeat that threat.'' 

But John Pike, a weapons analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, said THEL has no foreseeable applications for U.S. forces.

''This is for the extremely specific problem of the Hezbollah firing artillery rockets across the northern border of Israel,'' he said, noting Katyushas have a range of just 12 miles. ''We don't have anyone firing these at us. We'd never let anybody get that close.'' 
The Air Force is working on what will likely be the U.S. military's first highenergy weapon, the Airborne Laser. The 747mounted airborne laser is being designed to shoot down SCUD ballistic missiles like those used in the Gulf War. The system's deployment is expected within 10 years.  Military researchers continue to work on spacebased lasers, a legacy of President Reagan's ''star wars'' initiative. However, the system envisioned by the Clinton administration to protect against ballistic warheads would employ interceptor missiles, not lasers.






*************************************************************************= ******************
Jacqueline Cabasso
WESTERN STATES LEGAL FOUNDATION
1440 Broadway, Suite 500
Oakland, California 94612 USA
Tel: + 1 (510) 839-5877
Fax: + 1 (510) 839-5397
Western States Legal Foundation is a founding member of the
ABOLITION 2000 GLOBAL NETWORK TO ELIMINATE NUCLEAR WEAPONS
*************************************************************************= ****************** --=====================_2742999==_.ALT-- - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Sally light Subject: (abolition-usa) Re: [abolition-caucus] laser warfare: "science fiction into reality" Date: 08 Jun 2000 09:28:20 +0100 --------------E05B4BE52FFF1C012692F62F Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by falcon.prod.itd.earthlink.net id IAA20843 In early May, around May 6th, I saw a brief article come across my email claiming the first successful use of a high energy laser as a weapon in a test at the White Sands Missile Range, again, as here, as part of a joint project by US and Israel. Sally Light Nuclear Weapons Program Analyst Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) Jackie Cabasso wrote: > Dear colleagues -- One of the benefits of staying in a crummy hotel is > that you get USA Today. This is a surprisingly informative and useful > article: lasers; corporations, Star Wars, the Middle East -- it=92s all > here! (You'll find a photo on the website if you to the front page.) > -- > Jackie http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/ncswed19.htm 06/07/00 Army'= s > new hightech laser is right on target By Andrea Stone, USA > TODAY WASHINGTON In what is being called a milestone in the infant > field of laser warfare, the Army said Wednesday that it has shot down > a rocket using a highenergy laser. In its first live warhead test, > the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) system intercepted and destroyed > an armed Russianmade Katyusha rocket within seconds of its launch at > White Sands Missile Range, N.M., Tuesday. The system detected the > 10footlong, 5inchdiameter rocket with its radar before shooting it > down at the speed of light. ''We've just turned science fiction into > reality,'' said Lt. Gen. John Costello, commander of the U.S. Army > Space and Missile Defense Command, which developed the laser with the > Israeli defense ministry and defense contractor TRW Corp. If future > tests go well, the Army is expected to hand over the system to Israel > within the next year. It would be positioned along Israel's northern > border with Lebanon to protect against Katyusha and other shortrange > rocket attacks. Although the system was tailored with Israel's unique > security needs in mind, Costello said the technology has ''the > potential to play a significant role in defending U.S. national > security interests worldwide.'' The U.S. military has no defensive > weapons system capable of protecting troops from shortrange rocket > attacks. It hopes to adapt the THEL system for use in shielding > peacekeeping forces abroad. ''In the past, the only prayer we had was > jumping in a foxhole and praying,'' said Jerry Wilson, THEL's program > manager. ''This gives the war fighter a chance to defeat that > threat.'' But John Pike, a weapons analyst at the Federation of > American Scientists, said THEL has no foreseeable applications for > U.S. forces. ''This is for the extremely specific problem of the > Hezbollah firing artillery rockets across the northern border of > Israel,'' he said, noting Katyushas have a range of just 12 miles. > ''We don't have anyone firing these at us. We'd never let anybody get > that close.''The Air Force is working on what will likely be the U.S. > military's first highenergy weapon, the Airborne Laser. The 747mounted > airborne laser is being designed to shoot down SCUD ballistic missiles > like those used in the Gulf War. The system's deployment is expected > within 10 years. Military researchers continue to work on spacebased > lasers, a legacy of President Reagan's ''star wars'' initiative. > However, the system envisioned by the Clinton administration to > protect against ballistic warheads would employ interceptor missiles, > not lasers. > > > > > * > ***********************************************************************= ****************** > Jacqueline Cabasso > WESTERN STATES LEGAL FOUNDATION > 1440 Broadway, Suite 500 > Oakland, California 94612 USA > Tel: + 1 (510) 839-5877 > Fax: + 1 (510) 839-5397 > Western States Legal Foundation is a founding member of the > ABOLITION 2000 GLOBAL NETWORK TO ELIMINATE NUCLEAR WEAPONS > ************************************************** > **************************************** > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > [Image] [Image] > [Image] > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > To subscribe to the Abolition Global Caucus, send an email from the > account you wish to be subscribed to: > "abolition-caucus-subscribe@egroups.com" > > Do not include a subject line or any text in the body of the message. > --------------E05B4BE52FFF1C012692F62F Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="------------82376216934A530FC5280DFE" --------------82376216934A530FC5280DFE Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by falcon.prod.itd.earthlink.net id IAA20843 In early May, around May 6th, I saw a brief article come across my email claiming the first successful use of a high energy laser as a weapon in a test at the White Sands Missile Range, again, as here, as part of a joi= nt project by US and Israel.

Sally Light
Nuclear Weapons Program Analyst
Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment)

Jackie Cabasso wrote:

Dear colleagues -- One of the benefits of staying in a crummy hotel is that you get USA Today.  This is a surprisingly informative and useful article: lasers; corporations, Star Wars, the Midd= le East -- it=92s all here! (You'll find a photo on the website if you to th= e front page.) -- Jackie http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdcc/n= cswed19.htm  06/07/00 Army's new hightech laser is right on target By Andrea Stone, USA TODAY&nbs= p;WASHINGTON  In what is being called a milestone in the infant field of laser warfare, the Army said Wednesday that it has shot down a rocket using a highenergy laser.  In its first live warhead test, the Tactical High Energy Las= er (THEL) system intercepted and destroyed an armed Russianmade Katyusha roc= ket within seconds of its launch at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., Tuesday. The system detected the 10footlong, 5inchdiameter rocket with its radar before shooting it down at the speed of light. ''We've just turned science fiction into reality,'' said Lt. Gen. John Costello, commander of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, which developed the laser with the Israeli defense ministry and defense contractor TRW Corp.&= nbsp;If future tests go well, the Army is expected to hand over the system to Isr= ael within the next year. It would be positioned along Israel's northern bord= er with Lebanon to protect against Katyusha and other shortrange rocket atta= cks. Although the system was tailored with Israel's unique security needs in mind, Cost= ello said the technology has ''the potential to play a significant role in def= ending U.S. national security interests worldwide.'' The U.S. military has no defensive weapons system capable of protecting troops from shortrange rocket attacks. It hopes to adapt the THEL system for use in shielding peacekeeping forces abroad. ''In the past, the only prayer we had was jumping in a foxhole and praying,'' said Jerry Wilson, THEL's program manager. ''This gives the war fighter a chance to defeat that threat.''&n= bsp;But John Pike, a weapons analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, said THEL has no foreseeable applications for U.S. forces. ''This is for the extremely specific problem of the Hezbollah firing artillery rockets across the northern border of Israel,'' he said, noting Katyushas have a range of just 12 miles. ''We don't have anyone firing these at us. We'd never let anybody get that close.''The Air Force is working on what will likely be the U.S. military's first highenergy weapon, the Airborne Laser. The 747mounted airborne laser is being designed to shoot down SCUD ballistic missiles like those used in the Gulf War. The system's deployme= nt is expected within 10 years.  Military researchers continue to work on spacebased lasers, a legacy of President Reagan's ''star wars'' initia= tive. However, the system envisioned by the Clinton administration to protect against ballistic warheads would employ interceptor missiles, not lasers.=  
 
 
 
 
*****************************************************************= **************************
Jacqueline Cabasso
WESTERN STATES LEGAL FOUNDATION
1440 Broadway, Suite 500
Oakland, California 94612 USA
Tel: + 1 (510) 839-5877
Fax: + 1 (510) 839-5397
Western States Legal Foundation is a founding member of the
ABOLITION 2000 GLOBAL NETWORK TO ELIMINATE NUCLEAR WEAPONS
*****************************************************************= **************************