From: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com (abolition-usa-digest) To: abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: abolition-usa-digest V1 #480 Reply-To: abolition-usa-digest Sender: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk abolition-usa-digest Monday, October 22 2001 Volume 01 : Number 480 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 15:40:41 -0400 From: John Burroughs Subject: (abolition-usa) Statement by Avis Bohlen, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, in the 1st Committee of the General Assembly on 10-10-01 USUN PRESS RELEASE # 137 (01) October 10, 2001 AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY Statement by Avis Bohlen,United States Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, in the First Committee of the General Assembly, October 10, 2001 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Before I begin, please accept my congratulations on your assumption of the Chairmanship of the First Committee . I am confident that the skill, experience, and knowledge you and the bureau bring to First Committee deliberations will assist us in a successful conclusion to our endeavors. I would like to express my appreciation for the moment of silence observed by the Committee at its first meeting October 4, 2001. Mr. Chairman and other representatives to the First Committee, We convene during a solemn period for humanity. Just four weeks ago a horrendous attack was carried out against this city and the international community. In addition to several thousand Americans, hundreds of citizens from 80 different nations lost their lives at the hands of a well-organized group of terrorists who showed total disdain for the innocents who suffered and perished. The world was shocked and appalled by these criminal events. The depravity of those acts, the tragic loss of life and the horrifying destruction mark that day forever as a sad chapter in human history .We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of sympathy that came to us from all over the world and for the solidarity shown by the international community in undertaking the long struggle now just beginning to bring the perpetrators to account and to fight terrorism wherever it manifests itself with all the weapons at our disposal. The events of September 11 and the continuing concerns we all share underscore the need to take a fresh look at the international community's traditional convictions and approaches to security. We must strengthen them where appropriate, but we must also consider new ways to reduce the terrorist threat to mankind. Responsible governments must assure the security and safety of their citizens and of civil society as a whole. We are not free to stand aside and watch our citizens be slaughtered, nor can we tolerate international aggression or other forcible assaults on key interests and values. Criminals and terrorists who possess the means to threaten society, and who have shown no reluctance to use them, are a danger to us all and threaten the achievement of the goal of general and complete disarmament. Governments throughout the world must cooperate and devote appropriate energy and resources to finding them, bringing them to justice, and rooting out the organized networks that enable them to operate. There is intense concern that some of these terrorists and criminals may continue to seek to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction. This gives the international community important and persuasive reasons to redouble our non-proliferation and arms control efforts. We must also strengthen other mechanisms intended to ensure that toxic and dangerous materials remain under appropriate control and are used solely for legal and constructive purposes. The United States Government is actively examining these questions, and we would welcome ideas and views of others on how best to achieve these goals. We hope to enlist the help of all the members of the United Nations in the fight against terrorism and the threats posed by proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Delegations to the First Committee have come here to consider issues of disarmament, arms control, and international peace and security. We will consider resolutions that focus on ways and means to reduce the potential harm to mankind from the tools of war - from small arms to weapons of mass destruction. We will not always agree on the best ways to reduce these dangers, but we can exchange insights, discuss alternate approaches, and seek to persuade each other. Let me begin by reiterating and emphasizing the strong support of the United States for the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) . As a nuclear weapon state, the United States understands its special responsibility under Article VI to take steps related to nuclear disarmament. President Bush has made clear that the U .S. will reduce its nuclear forces to the lowest possible level that is compatible with the security of the U .S. and its allies. NPT Parties and UN Member States, including the U.S., have repeatedly called for the immediate commencement of negotiations on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT) to end the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons. We are extremely disappointed that the continuing deadlock in the CD is preventing the start of these negotiations. We urge all CD members to start FMCT negotiations without further delay. The United States is keenly aware of the dangers we face in today's global environment. Earlier this year my government began a strategic policy review that is beginning to bear fruit. As one example, you are aware that the U.S. Government and the Government of the Russian Federation have been intensively discussing a new strategic framework. This framework will be premised on openness, mutual confidence, and real opportunities for cooperation. It will reflect a clean and clear break from the Cold War. It will also include substantial reductions in offensive nuclear forces, cooperation on missile defense, enhanced non - and counter-proliferation efforts, and measures to promote confidence and transparency. In this context, I must reiterate that the United States is firmly opposed to the UN inserting itself into issues regarding the ABM Treaty , which remains a matter for the parties. As I just noted, discussions between the Russian Federation and my country on a new strategic framework, including a revised approach to the ABM Treaty, have intensified in recent months and they will continue. In these circumstances it is even more inappropriate for the ABM Treaty to be dealt with here in this forum. If a resolution on the ABM Treaty is introduced again this year, the United States will vote no on it. We urge our friends and allies to do the same. Today's world provides both new threats and new opportunities. We must be able to react to these changes. However, let me emphasize that the United States is committed to working constructively with all members of the international community to develop broad support for an effective agenda to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and to ensure meaningful arms control. It is not just two or three nations that are threatened in today's world; the entire globe faces security challenges. We are prepared to work together in search of common ground, but we do not want to engage in activities that would undercut genuine efforts to combat the spread of weapons of mass destruction and address other very real security threats. Unspeakable though the acts of September 11 were, they unfortunately do not exhaust the full range of deadly weapons available to a determined and merciless terrorist. Much has been written in recent weeks about the threat of the use of biological weapons, about the dangers of toxins and biological agents being dispersed in areas with large concentrations of people. While the ease of resorting to such weapons is sometimes overestimated in the press, the possibility that BW might be used on a massive scale must now, after September 11, be regarded as less remote than before. This possibility must give new urgency to our efforts to combat the threat of biological weapons -- and by weapons I mean here biological agents used with lethal intent. A first step must be to strengthen the norms against use of biological weapons, to make clear and doubly clear that this form of terrorism, like all others, is unacceptable. We believe that the international community, which has in Security Council Resolutions 1368 and 1373 so clearly stated its resolve to combat terrorism by all the means at its disposal, must equally clearly state that any use of biological weapons - whether by a state, an organization or an individual - would be a crime against humanity to which the international community will respond. We must also make clear that transfer of BW and other toxins to those who would use them is similarly unacceptable. Over the past six years, the United States and many other countries sought to negotiate in Geneva a protocol that would strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention - - that is to give force to its prohibitions against possession, development, stockpiling and acquisition. Last July, we made clear that we could not support the protocol, because the measures that were proposed to enforce the ban against possession and development are neither effective or equitable - and given the inherent properties of biological products it seems all but certain that they can never be made so. This continues to be our view. But in addition, the events of September 11 have reinforced our view that the priority focus must be on use. The international community must here and now state our abhorrence of use, as suggested above; we must all strengthen our national laws criminalizing use and transfer, and we must all agree that use and transfer are crimes to which our many mutual treaties of extradition would apply. We must give ourselves the means to question and challenge in the event of suspected use. And we must able to distinguish an outbreak of illness caused by BW from a naturally occurring illness. And in the unthinkable event that a major BW incident occurs somewhere, we need to pool as much as we can our knowledge and expertise to minimize the effects. That is why the United States is working closely with many nations to improve our common preparedness to mitigate and respond to BW attacks, and why we intend to expand this cooperation, especially in the area of medical consequence management. The U.S. is also fully engaged in international efforts against chemical weapons. Our goals remain the worldwide destruction of existing stocks of chemical weapons and full compliance with the prohibition of the development, production, stockpiling and use of these weapons of mass destruction. We are also assisting the Russian Federation in its stockpile destruction program. We note that it is not only chemical weapons activities that are of concern. In Japan, terrorists made and used nerve gas. It is essential that Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) member states put in place national laws and other regulations that help to keep materials for making chemical weapons out of unauthorized hands and ensure effective prosecution of those who make or use chemical weapons. Each of us must do all we can to control the export from our countries of sensitive goods and technology related to weapons of mass destruction. This effort remains essential if we are to prevent the spread of these weapons, not only to governments who would use such weapons against others but to terrorists as well. Improvements in border controls and monitoring will also help in this effort. The conclusions of the 2000 NPT Review Conference included several measures related to curtailing the potential risk of terrorism involving nuclear material. Among such steps are the strengthening of International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, revising the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material , improving national standards of security and physical protection of nuclear material, establishing stronger regulatory control over radioactive sources, and enhancing international cooperation against illicit trafficking in nuclear material. These measures will not only address concerns about nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists, but also the threats to health and life posed by indiscriminate dispersal of radioactive materials. Improving the security and safety of civil nuclear installations against sabotage is also an important step. Mr. Chairman, the United States takes seriously its obligations under the arms control agreements to which we are a party .We lead the way in assisting foreign nations to counter the proliferation of deadly technology. We are also prepared to engage in negotiations that will result in greater peace and security for the international community . We are also fully aware of the consequences to our security and that of the international system due to the changing nature of the threats posed in today's world. The U.S. Delegation will examine carefully the resolutions which are to be tabled over the coming days, taking into account the need to ensure our own security as we pursue arms control and disarmament objectives that can enhance security for all. And all nations should craft their proposals bearing in mind the real threat to our security that the events of September 11 so horribly demonstrated. The world has changed, Mr. Chairman, but many basic issues continue to compel our attention and effort. The members of this body have a responsibility to address challenges to international security, both existing and new, and my delegation is ready to work with you and our counterparts. Thank you. - - 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. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 08:47:12 +0100 From: Sally Light Subject: (abolition-usa) [Fwd: VAFB Resistance Update: SENTENCING for LACW affinity group] This is a multi-part message in MIME format. - --------------19FC4E4FA4142A891A3B9AC3 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit - --------------19FC4E4FA4142A891A3B9AC3 Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Return-Path: Received: from hotmail.com ([216.32.181.28]) by emu (EarthLink SMTP Server) with ESMTP id tso9as.iok.37tiu8v Tue, 16 Oct 2001 05:17:32 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Tue, 16 Oct 2001 05:17:31 -0700 Received: from 63.173.226.35 by lw2fd.hotmail.msn.com with HTTP; Tue, 16 Oct 2001 12:17:27 GMT X-Originating-IP: [63.173.226.35] From: "Marc P Blaise P" To: ammonhennacy@hotmail.com Subject: VAFB Resistance Update: SENTENCING for LACW affinity group Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 12:17:27 +0000 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: X-OriginalArrivalTime: 16 Oct 2001 12:17:31.0765 (UTC) FILETIME=[87B13A50:01C1563C] X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 Dear People! Thank you all who prayed for us and supported us in this process! Your efforts have been helpful in leading to MINIMAL consequences. Agape, Marc ****NEWS RELEASE - 16 Oct 2001**** ACTIVISTS RESISTING US SPACE COMMAND SENTENCED TO PROBATION AND JAIL TIME WHO: Four peace activists connected to the Los Angeles Catholic Worker WHAT: Three sentenced to probation and fines; one sentenced to 3 months in jail WHERE: Federal Courthouse at Los Angeles, CA, because of prayer-action at Vandenberg Air Force Base WHEN: Monday October 15th 2001; 3:00pm WHY: On May 19th 2001, hundreds of peace & justice demonstrators gathered at Vandenberg Air Force Base (near Santa Barbara, CA) to call for an end to global exploitation enforced by US Space Command programs conducted from Vandenberg (VAFB). Since July 2000, about 60 people have been arrested for protesting these star wars programs, and in July 2001 four of the activists went to trial and were convicted by a jury on August 2nd. Brian Buckley, Liz Wyrsch, Scott Galindez & Marc Page were part of a Catholic Worker affinity group that conducted a prayer-action at VAFB on May 20th 2001. Two other co-defendants (Jeff Dietrich & Elizabeth Griswold) pleaded guilty early; Elizabeth is on probation for three years and Jeff is in prison for six months. Yesterday Judge William Rae pronounced a three-month prison sentence for Galindez, $560 fine & fees for Buckley & Wyrsch, and one year of probation for Buckley, Wyrsch, & Page. Galindez & Page were also ordered to pay the mandatory $60 fees. The three defendants sentenced to probation told Judge Rae that they would not pay any fees and fines, and that they are likely to resist compliance with probation. US Attorney Sharon McCaslin asked for Galindez to be jailed because of prior arrests and convictions. Three community members spontaneously stood up in the courtroom to support Galindez' request for a two-week stay of execution prior to his impending incarceration. Judge Rae accepted the request. Responding to McCaslin's accusation that the group acted under a hierarchical model of someone leading his followers, Wyrsch replied in anarchist fashion, "We led each other and we followed each other." ( Down the street in another federal courthouse, 15 Greenpeace activists were arraigned for the third time in a revised indictment of their action against star wars testing at VAFB. The internationals were granted the right to return to their homelands prior to their impending trial. They face up to 11 years for their successful delay of a national missile defense test on July 14th of this year. ) #30 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For further info: http://www.nevadadesertexperience.org/M19.html or CONTACT Elizabeth Griswold==323.267.8789 or Piper Weinberg===775.537.6088 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Revolutionary Love, Marcus P Blaise Page PO BOX 4973 GALLUP, NM 87305 U.S.A. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.angelfire.com/folk/AMMON for info on Ammon Hennacy projects Shundahai! . . . _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp - --------------19FC4E4FA4142A891A3B9AC3-- - - 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. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 14:52:15 +0100 From: Sally Light Subject: (abolition-usa) NDE's Oct. 22 event in Berkeley, CA on nuclear power Friends, If you are in the Berkeley, CA. area, please put this on your calendar. Peace - Sally. Sally Light Executive Director Nevada Desert Experience WANT TO KNOW WHY NUCLEAR POWER IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH? Come to the free presentation & discussion on nuclear power plants, led by Ernie Goitein, engineer and NPP authority. When: Monday, October 22, 6 pm to 9 pm Where: Wesley Student Center, 2398 Bancroft Way (at Dana), Berkeley, right across the street from the UC Berkeley campus. Why: Despite the devastation & ongoing aftermath of the Chernobyl accident, the Three Mile Island accident, and the releases of radioactive contamination by the use of nuclear power in space technology, the US is going forward with nuclear power activities. The public deserves to know the risks it faces from this threat. Students are invited, but all are welcome. Light refreshments will be provided. HAVE ALL YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT NUCLEAR POWER AND NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS ANSWERED! - --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by the following: Nevada Desert Experience, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, and other organizations. For more information, call Nevada Desert Experience at (510) 527-2057. - - 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. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 17:39:21 -0400 From: John Burroughs Subject: (abolition-usa) newsletter online - post-Sept 11 disarmament picture, responding to the attacks, and more The fall 2001 Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy newsletter is now available at http://www.lcnp.org/pubs/Bombsaway01/contents.htm, in pdf with selected articles in html. It includes articles on the post-attacks disarmament picture ("Disarmament Also Needs Coalitions", "Congress and the Fate of the ABM Treaty"), previously available articles re responding to September 11 ("A Rule-of-Law Response," "War: Metaphor into Reality," "Crime(s) of Terror: Developing Law and Legal Institutions"), and more. 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@lcnp.org 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. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2001 00:08:52 -0700 From: Tim Bruening Subject: (abolition-usa) End The Nuclear Threat Now! Below is a letter I wrote to my local newspapers about the terrorist attacks and the threat of nuclear war. Please write similar letters to your newspapers, President Bush, and your Congressional representatives. The September 11 terrorist attack on the U.S. has pitched the world into crisis. While it's unclear how this crisis will be resolved, we must remember that in a world with weapons of mass destruction (including the 4,400 U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons still on hair-trigger alert), an escalation of violence can lead to the ultimate catastrophe: the use of nuclear weapons. To stem this threat, President Bush should take a cue from his father. In September 1991, President George Bush Sr. responded to the instability caused by the Soviet breakup by "directing that all U.S. strategic bombers immediately stand-down from their alert posture." This, along with other de-alerting steps and the elimination of thousands of short-range nuclear weapons, led then President Gorbachev to respond in kind. Please contact President Bush (The White House, Washington, D.C., 20500; (202) 456-1111; president@whitehouse.gov) to urge him stake his own claim to history and take the lead in reducing the threat of nuclear war by working with Russia to take all nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert and pushing for the elimination of all nuclear weapons. The use of domestic airplanes as missiles has shown us that in this uncertain world fraught with anger and hatred, anything can happen. We must make sure that nuclear war does not. - - 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. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2001 07:20:47 -0400 From: Ellen Thomas Subject: (abolition-usa) Map(s) of nuclear power plants? - --=====================_124232793==_.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Inquiry: do you know where there's a map of all U.S. nuclear power plants, and a list of towns near each one? And similar maps of nuclear plants around the world? Would really appreciate a copy, paper or (preferably) digital. Please reply to me only, and not the group (mailto:prop1@prop1.org). "Radiation Hazards USA" (http://prop1.org/prop1/radiated/drh.htm), by Louise Franklin-Ramirez and John Steinbach of the Gray Panthers, can be used to find this information, but their map lists pretty nearly ALL radiation hazards, and it would be good to have a clearly readable map for the current discussion. Did you see "Nuclear power plants vulnerable to terrorists" Sunday? - http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/sunday/opinion_b32dd47c81b5 a07310d0.html (NucNews has been posted through October 18, 2001.) Ellen Thomas ___________________________________________________ Today's News and Archives: http://prop1.org/nucnews/briefslv.htm Submit URL/Article: mailto:NucNews@onelist.com OneList Archives: http://www.onelist.com/archive/NucNews (subscribe online) Other Excellent News-Collecting Sites - DOE Watch - http://www.egroups.com/group/doewatch Downwinders - http://www.egroups.com/group/downwinders Quick Route to U.S. Congress: http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm (Senators' Websites) http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html (Representatives' Websites) http://thomas.loc.gov/ (Pending Legislation - Search) Online Petition to Abolish Nuclear Weapons - http://www.PetitionOnline.com/prop1/petition.html Subscribe to NucNews Briefs: mailto:prop1@prop1.org Distributed without payment for research and educational purposes only, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107. - --=====================_124232793==_.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"
Inquiry:  do you know where there's a map of all U.S. nuclear power plants, and a list of towns near each one?  And similar maps of nuclear plants around the world?  Would really appreciate a copy, paper or (preferably) digital.  Please reply to me only, and not the group (mailto:prop1@prop1.org).

"Radiation Hazards USA" (http://prop1.org/prop1/radiated/drh.htm), by Louise Franklin-Ramirez and John Steinbach of the Gray Panthers, can be used to find this information, but their map lists pretty nearly ALL radiation hazards, and it would be good to have a clearly readable map for the current discussion.

Did you see "Nuclear power plants vulnerable to terrorists" Sunday? - http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/sunday/opinion_b32dd47c81b5a07310d0.html

(NucNews has been posted through October 18, 2001.) 

Ellen Thomas

     ___________________________________________________

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

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

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

Subscribe to NucNews Briefs:  mailto:prop1@prop1.org

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


 - --=====================_124232793==_.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. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2001 08:41:07 -0400 From: John Burroughs Subject: (abolition-usa) a new Marshall plan? October 9, 2001 A New Marshall Plan? Advancing Human Security and Controlling Terrorism By Dick Bell & Michael Renner Worldwatch Institute What do you think of this advice from a senior U.S. military officer and statesman about how the people of the United States should deal with a part of the world torn by war, poverty, disease, and hunger: "...it is of vast importance that our people reach some general understanding of what the complications really are, rather than react from a passion or a prejudice or an emotion of the moment....It is virtually impossible at this distance merely by reading, or listening, or even seeing photographs or motion pictures, to grasp at all the real significance of the situation. And yet the whole world of the future hangs on a proper judgment." The speaker was General George C. Marshall, outlining the Marshall Plan in an address at Harvard University on June 5, 1947. Surveying the wrecked economies of Europe, Marshall noted the "possibilities of disturbances arising as a result of the desperation of the people concerned." He said that there could be "no political stability and no assured peace" without economic security, and that U.S. policy was "directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos." As President Bush and his advisors review the results of the initial bombing campaign, they might also consider the relevance of Marshall's strategy to the moral and political problems America now confronts. Of course we should find the people responsible for the deaths of September 11 and bring them to justice, and work with other nations to root out other terrorist networks. But we must do so in a way that does not result in the deaths of even more innocent people, deaths that would only deepen the cycle of anger and rage that led to September 11. What is largely missing from the administration's rhetoric is recognition of the scale of the underlying problems that have to be addressed, regardless of how successful we may be in the short run in tracking down the perpetrators of the September 11th terrorist assaults. As Marshall's words so plainly suggest, finding the terrorists should be part of a much more ambitious campaign, one in which the rich countries approach the appalling inequities of the world with the same boldness and determination that the United States brought to bear in Europe under the Marshall Plan. We don't really need to spend another dime on "intelligence" to recognize the conditions that leave whole countries in a state of despair and misery. Some 1.2 billion people worldwide struggle to survive on $1 day or less. 1.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.9 billion have inadequate access to sanitation. About 150 million children are malnourished, and more than 10 million children under 5 will die in 2001 alone. At least 150 million people are unemployed and 900 million are "underemployed"-contending with inadequate incomes despite long hours of backbreaking work. Globalization has raised expectations, even as modern communications make the rising inequality between a rich, powerful, and imposing West and the rest of the world visible to all. Poverty and deprivation do not automatically translate into hatred. But people whose hopes have worn thin, whose aspirations have been thwarted, and whose discontent is rising, are far more likely to succumb to the siren song of extremism. This is particularly true for the swelling ranks of young people whose prospects for the future are bleak. Some 34 percent of the developing world's population is under 15 years of age. The United States and the other industrial nations should launch a global “Marshall Plan” to provide everyone on earth with a decent standard of living. We can already hear the cries of people claiming that such a global plan would "cost too much." But let's look at the numbers. The cost of our initial response has soared into the tens of billions of dollars, on top of an already large proposed defense budget of $342.7 billion. For the sake of comparison, let's assume that the United States will spend an additional $100 billion on military actions in the next 12 months. What could we buy if we matched this $100 billion military expenditure dollar-for-dollar with spending on programs to alleviate human suffering? A 1998 report by the United Nations Development Programme estimated the annual cost to achieve universal access to a number of basic social services in all developing countries: $9 billion would provide water and sanitation for all; $12 billion would cover reproductive health for all women; $13 billion would give every person on Earth basic health and nutrition; and $6 billion would provide basic education for all. These sums are substantial, but they are still only a fraction of the tens of billions of dollars we are already spending. And these social and health expenditures pale in comparison with what is being spent on the military by all nationssome $780 billion each year. There is a sad irony in watching the Bush Administration's strenuous efforts to build an international coalition. There is no such muscular effort underway in the United States, or in any of the other rich nations, to build a coalition to eradicate hunger, to immunize all children, to provide clean water, to eradicate infectious disease, to provide adequate jobs, to combat illiteracy, or to build decent housing. The cost of failing to advance human security and to eliminate the fertile ground upon which terrorism thrives is already escalating. Since September 11, we know that sophisticated weapons offer little protection against those who are out to seek vengeance, at any cost, for real and perceived wrongs. Unless our priorities change, the threat is certain to keep rising in coming years. By choosing to mobilize adequate resources to address human suffering around the world, President Bush has a unique opportunity to seize the terrible moment of September 11 and earn a truly exalted place in human history. But first, we must all understand that in the end, weapons alone cannot buy us a lasting peace in a world of extreme inequality, injustice, and deprivation for billions of our fellow human beings. Dick Bell is Vice President for Communications at the Worldwatch Institute (dbell@worldwatch.org) Michael Renner is a Senior Researcher at the Worldwatch Institute (mrenner@peconic.net) For further information, please contact Niki Clark, 202-452-1992 x 517, nclark@worldwatch.org The Worldwatch Institute web site is at http://www.worldwatch.org Copyright notice: This article may be copied, used on web sites, or otherwise reproduced without charge providing that the user include the address of the Worldwatch web site (http://www.worldwatch.org) and attribute the article to the Worldwatch Institute, 1776 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20036. - - 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. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2001 16:28:39 -0500 From: Lisa Ledwidge / IEER Subject: (abolition-usa) Rep. Buyer Suggests Limited Nuclear Retaliation I just received this from a friend. Does anyone have further information on= =20 this irresponsible and dangerous statement by the congressperson? Lisa http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/wrtv/20011018/lo/929540_1.html Thursday October 18 04:05 PM EDT Rep. Buyer Suggests Limited Nuclear Retaliation U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer says that the United States should use tactical=20 nuclear weapons against Osama bin Laden's terrorist network in Afghanistan= =20 if it is linked to recent anthrax incidents in the United States. The Indiana Republican said that small, specialized nuclear weapons -- not= =20 as powerful as the atom bombs that were used in World War II -- could be=20 used on the caves where members of bin Laden's network have taken shelter. Buyer, a Gulf War veteran, said that the use of the weapons would be a=20 proper response if bin Laden's people are linked to the anthrax cases in=20 Florida, Washington, New York and elsewhere in the United States. "Don't send special forces in there to sweep," Buyer said. "We'd be very=20 na=EFve to believe that biotoxins and chemical agents were not in these=20 caves. Put a tactical nuclear device in, and close these caves for a=20 thousand years." Buyer said that he hadn't talked with other lawmakers or the Bush=20 administration about the idea, and didn't know how many in the government=20 would support it. Buyer stresses that he doesn't advocate the use of full-power nuclear=20 bombs, but he acknowledged that much of the world wouldn't see the= difference. "I just want the (Bush) administration to know that I think the United=20 States needs to send a message to the world that we are prepared to do=20 that," Buyer said. - - 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. ------------------------------ End of abolition-usa-digest V1 #480 *********************************** - To unsubscribe to $LIST, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe $LIST" 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.