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/ Archive| HavenWorks.com/nuclear/archive |
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/ Archive
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- "Iran
'has made 4,000 centrifuges'." ... "Iran has secretly
manufactured around 4,000 centrifuges capable of weapons grade uranium
enrichment - 25 times the quantity it has admitted to the UN, it was claimed
today." ... "Alireza Jafarzadeh, an exiled Iranian dissident who in 2002
helped to uncover almost two decades of covert Iranian nuclear activity,
said the centrifuges - rotating machines used in separation processes -
were ready to be installed at Iran's nuclear facility in Natanz." ... "Mr
Jafarzadeh, who runs Strategic Policy Consulting, a Washington-based thinktank
focusing on Iran and Iraq, said the information - which he described as
"very recent" - had come from sources within the Tehran regime that had
proved to be accurate in the past." -Guardian.co.uk
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- 
- 
- "Australia
to Begin Talks on Uranium Exports to China (Update1)."
... "The agreement will set up safeguards to ensure Australian uranium
supplied to China is only used for peaceful purposes, Downer said today
in an e-mailed statement." -By Angela Macdonald-Smith
-Bloomberg
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Autos
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- Homes
- "Bush
Signs Massive Energy Bill Into Law." ... "In the
near term, the new legislation will extend daylight-saving time, give tax
breaks to drivers who buy cars with fuel-efficient technologies and try
to jump-start the construction of new nuclear power plants." ... "Environmental
groups and other opponents say the bill amounts to a gift to energy companies
that does nothing new to promote renewable energy." ... "The measure funnels
billions of dollars to energy companies, including tax breaks and loan
guarantees for new nuclear power plants, clean coal technology and wind
energy." ... "For consumers, the bill would provide tax credits for buying
hybrid gasoline-electric cars and making energy-conservation improvements
with better windows and appliances in new and existing homes." -By
Nedra Pickler -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
- "Bush
Signs Sweeping Energy Bill." ... "President Bush
today signed a sweeping energy bill that provides billions of dollars in
tax subsidies to energy companies, but that even he acknowledged will do
little to alleviate the high prices of gasoline at the pump for most Americans."
... "The bill will provide tax breaks and loan guarantees for new nuclear
power plants, clean coal technology and wind energy. It will also require
utilities, for the first time, to comply with federal reliability standards
for the electricity grid, instead of relying on self-regulation, an effort
to avoid power blackouts, like the one that struck the Midwest and Northeast
in the summer of 2003." -By Maria Newman
-NYTimes
-
- "Iran
restarts uranium production: news@nature.com answers
questions about Iran's nuclear programme." ... "Does Iran have the capacity
to enrich uranium?" ... "An enrichment plant at Nantanz already houses
a few hundred centrifuges, and several thousand more are planned. But large-scale
enrichment is not yet possible in Iran, says IAEA spokesman Peter Rickwood.
Enriching to weapons-grade uranium-235 requires many thousands of centrifuges,
which poses serious engineering challenges." ... "But Paul Leventhal, founder
of the Nuclear Control Institute, a Washington DC-based group that lobbies
to prevent nuclear proliferation, notes that the IAEA's assessment may
not be the whole story. "The IAEA doesn't have a very good track record
for finding undisclosed nuclear facilities," he says." -By
Mark Peplow -Nature
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-
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- "Australia
to start nuclear fuel talks with China." ... "Australia,
which has an estimated 40 pct of the world's low-cost uranium resources,
already has 19 nuclear agreements covering 36 countries and earns some
300 mln usd annually from uranium exports."
-AFXNews via -Forbes
-
- "Iran
Resumes Uranium Conversion Against United Nations Wishes."
... "Iran resumed uranium conversion activities at its nuclear plant in
the central city of Isfahan today in a move that could bring prompt the
United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic."
-Bloomberg
- 
- 
-
- "N.
Korea talks broke over light-reactors, US envoy says:
Negotiations resume Aug. 29." ... "North Korea's unexpected insistence
that it still has the right to build light-water reactors to generate electricity
became the main deal-breaker during 13 days of sometimes acrimonious discussions
on eliminating nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula, the chief US negotiator
said yesterday." -By Edward Cody-WashingtonPost
via -Boston/Globe
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- "Iran:
crisis looming over nuclear plans." ... "Threats
by Iran to re-start the process of enriching uranium could indicate that
it has taken a strategic decision to develop a nuclear fuel production
cycle." ... "If so, it could face UN sanctions in due course and one day
even a military attack on its facilities by Israel or the United States."
... "But nuclear experts and a new assessment by US intelligence say that
Iran is perhaps ten years from being able to make enough fuel for a nuclear
bomb." ... "Neither a diplomatic nor a military crisis has been precipitated
yet." -By Paul Reynolds-BBC
/News
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-
- "Iran
Says It Will Break U.N. Seals Placed at a Nuclear Plant."
... "Defying the warning of European leaders, Iran said Monday that it
was removing the seals placed by the United Nations nuclear agency at one
of its nuclear sites to restart activities there." ... "European diplomats
said that if Iran did go ahead and resume the nuclear activities, then
they would have little choice but to ask for the agency, the International
Atomic Energy Agency, to place the issue before the United Nations Security
Council for possible political and economic sanctions." -By
Nazila Fathi with contributions by Mark Landler and Graham Bowley -NYTimes
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- "Bush
seals nuclear agreement with India." ... "In a detailed
joint statement issued after talks on[e] day in Washington with Manmohan
Singh, India's prime minister, Mr Bush said he would seek agreement from
Congress to end more than four decades of sanctions that have barred full
US co-operation with India on civilian nuclear energy programmes." ...
"In return for the US pledges, India agreed that it was “ready to assume
the same responsibilities and practices and acquire the same benefits and
advantages as other leading countries with advanced nuclear technology.”"
... "This would include voluntarily placing its civilian nuclear facilities
under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, agreeing to additional
measures under the IAEA protocol, and co-operating fully in international
schemes to prevent the spread of nuclear enrichment and re-processing technologies."
-By Caroline Daniel and Edward Alden
-FT.com
-
-
- - Karl
Rove
- "Rove
leak is just part of larger scandal." ... "Let me
remind you that the underlying issue in the Karl Rove controversy is not
a leak, but a war and how America was misled into that war." ... "In 2002
President Bush, having decided to invade Iraq, was casting about for a
casus
belli. The weapons of mass destruction theme was not yielding very
much until a dubious Italian intelligence report, based partly on forged
documents (it later turned out), provided reason to speculate that Iraq
might be trying to buy so-called yellowcake uranium from the African country
of Niger. It did not seem to matter that the CIA advised that the Italian
information was "fragmentary and lacked detail." ... "The role of Rove
and associates added up to a small incident in a very large scandal - the
effort to delude America into thinking it faced a threat dire enough to
justify a war." -By Daniel Schorr -CSMonitor
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- 
-
- "Top
Chinese general warns US over attack." ... "China
is prepared to use nuclear weapons against the US if it is attacked by
Washington during a confrontation over Taiwan, a Chinese general said on
Thursday." ... "“If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided
ammunition on to the target zone on China's territory, I think we will
have to respond with nuclear weapons,” said General Zhu Chenghu." -By
Alexandra Harney, Demetri Sevastopulo, Edward Alden and Richard McGregor
-FT.com
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- "U.S.
Warns Iran on Nuclear Issue: Envoy to IAEA says military
action is an option if Tehran fails to take 'necessary steps.' North Korea
is urged to return to talks." ... "The United States continued its drumbeat
of criticism of Tehran's efforts to obtain nuclear capability Thursday,
saying it would not tolerate an Iran with nuclear bombs." ... "Separately,
Washington warned North Korea that the U.S. would look at "other options"
unless Pyongyang returned to six-party talks seeking a peaceful resolution
of the communist regime's nuclear activities." -By
Alissa J. Rubin
-LAtimes
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-
- "Saudi
Arabia Exempt From Nuke Inspections." ... "The U.N.
atomic watchdog agency approved a deal Thursday that keeps nuclear inspectors
out of Saudi Arabia despite an international push to scrap such arrangements
because they can be abused by proliferators." ... "In the past two decades,
the kingdom has been linked to prewar Iraq's nuclear program and to the
Pakistani nuclear black marketeer Abdul Qadeer Khan." -By
George Jahn -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
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- "Iran
Said to Admit Tests on Path to Atom Arms." ... "Iran
has admitted that it conducted small-scale experiments to create plutonium,
one of the pathways to building nuclear weapons, for five years beyond
the date when it previously insisted it had ended all such work, a senior
official of the International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to report
Thursday." ... "Since 2003, when Iran first began admitting that it had
hidden 17 years of work from the nuclear agency, it made assurances that
its accounting of its activities was full. But it has repeatedly had to
revise that accounting, often in the face of evidence from the agency's
scientific analyses." -By Richard Bernstein with contributions
by David E. Sanger and Elaine Sciolino
-NYTimes
-
-
- "US
says Iranian nuclear reporting contradictions not due to error."
... "IAEA deputy director for safeguards Pierre Goldschmidt told the agency's
35-nation board of governors that Iran had falsely reported the timing
of plutonium experiments." -AFXNews
via -Forbes
- "Strain
shows in talks on Iran's nuclear aims." ... "Iran
and its European negotiating partners struggled in preliminary talks on
Tuesday to salvage their nuclear agreement following threats by Iran to
resume sensitive nuclear activities banned under the accord." ... "In the
talks on Tuesday, the Europeans reiterated their warning to Iran in a letter
earlier this month that they will end their two years of nuclear negotiations
and begin punitive action against Iran if it resumes nuclear activities
frozen under the November 2004 accord, a European official said." -By
Elaine Sciolino -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
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- "Laser
Could Rival Energy From Sun's Center." ... "In a
building the size of a football stadium, engineers have assembled the framework
for a network of 192 laser beams, each traveling 1,000 feet to converge
simultaneously on a target the size of a pencil eraser." ... "The goal
is to create unimaginable heat 180 million degrees Farenheit and intense
pressure from all directions on a BB-size hydrogen fuel pellet, compressing
it to one-thirtieth of its size." ... "The result, the scientists hope,
will be a fusing of atoms so that more energy is released than is generated
by the laser beams, something scientists call fusion ignition. It is what
happens when a hydrogen bomb explodes." (1, 2,
3,
4)
-By H. Josef Hebert -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
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- "N.
Korea Seeks Emergency Meeting With South." ... "North
Korea has proposed an emergency meeting with South Korea next week in an
apparent effort to enlist the nation's support in the international standoff
over its nuclear weapons program, officials in Seoul said today." ... "The
ostensible topic of the meeting is relations between the Koreas, but the
view in the South is that the North is reaching out for allies in the escalating
nuclear crisis." -By Barbara Demick-LAtimes
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- "U.S.
backs Europeans on Iran warning." ... "The United
States on Thursday backed France, Britain and Germany in their warning
to Iran that they will break off talks over Tehran's nuclear program if
it resumes uranium enrichment." ... "France, Britain and Germany warned
in a letter to Iran that they would end negotiations over Iran's nuclear
program if Tehran went ahead with uranium enrichment as it has threatened
to do."-Reuters
via -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
-
- "North
Korea 'may have six bombs': UN nuclear watchdog chief
Mohammed ElBaradei has said North Korea could possess several nuclear bombs."
... "Speaking on US television, he said Pyongyang had enough plutonium
to make five or six nuclear weapons." ... "The country also has the necessary
infrastructure to convert the plutonium into weapons, Mr ElBaradei added."
... "North Korea announced in February that it had nuclear arms - but that
claim has not been verified by Mr ElBaradei's International Atomic Energy
Agency." ... "When asked by CNN if it was the IAEA's assessment that North
Korea already had as many as six bombs, Mr ElBaradei replied: "I think
that would be close to our estimation.""-BBC
/News
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-
- "Japan
considers taking North Korea nuclear issue to UN."
... "Kyoto, Japan — Japan might bring the issue of North Korea's nuclear
weapons program before the UN Security Council unless six-nation talks
on the dispute begin showing progress, Japan's Foreign Minister said Friday."
... "North Korea fiercely opposes bringing its case to the Security Council,
which would be a first step in pushing for sanctions against the reclusive
communist regime. Pyongyang has said in the past that it would consider
sanctions a “declaration of war.”" -AP
via -GlobeAndMail
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- "Iran
Rejects Efforts to Halt Its Nuclear Program (Update2)."
... "Iran rejects U.S. and European efforts to block its development of
nuclear technology, and is determined to continue a uranium enrichment
program, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said at the United Nations." ...
"France, Germany and the U.K. have been in talks to convince Iran to halt
an enrichment program, which the U.S. says is intended to produce nuclear
weapons. Iran, one of 188 nations that have ratified the treaty, agreed
in November to suspend its nuclear activities in exchange for trade and
economic concessions." -By Bill Varner
-Bloomberg
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-
- "Iran
'may restart nuclear program'." ... "Iran said Saturday
it is likely to resume uranium enrichment-related activities within a week,
a process it halted last year to build confidence in talks with European
countries and avoid referral to the U.N. Security Council for possible
sanctions." ... "Tehran's announcement came a day after talks in London
with European negotiators yielded no results. France, Britain and Germany,
acting on behalf of the 25-nation European Union, are seeking guarantees
from Iran that it will not use its nuclear program to make weapons, as
Washington suspects." -AP
via -CNN
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-
- "DIA:
N. Korea Can Arm Missile With Nuke: Defense Official
Says North Korea Can Arm Missile With Nuclear Weapon." ... "The Defense
Intelligence Agency chief says North Korea is able to arm a missile with
a nuclear weapon, but hasn't said whether it has done so or if such a missile
could reach the United States." ... "Still, the assessment presented by
Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby to a Senate panel Thursday would mark a significant
step forward in the communist state's capabilities." ... "Jacoby discussed
North Korea's capabilities during questioning by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton,
D-N.Y., at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing." ... "Clinton asked
if "North Korea has the ability to arm a missile with a nuclear device?""
... "Jacoby answered, "My assessment is that they have the capability to
do that."" (1, 2)
-By John J. Lumpkin -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
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-
- "Putin
Warns Iran Against Atomic Arms: Russian President
Warns Iran Against Seeking Atomic Arms, but Defends Syria Missile Deal."
... "On the first visit by a Kremlin leader to Israel, Russia's Vladimir
Putin soothed his hosts Thursday by aiming sharp words at Iran over its
nuclear program, but he sparred with his Israeli counterpart on a Syrian
missile deal that Israelis see as a threat." ... "Making a trip meant to
cement relations after decades of Soviet-era discord, the Russian president
said his country and Israel are linked by the Holocaust and the deaths
of millions of Soviet citizens in World War II. And he noted Israel's large
population of Russian-speaking immigrants." (1, 2,
3)
-By Steve Gutterman -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
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- -
"Arms
Move to Syria 'Unlikely,' Report Says." ... "The
Bush administration's senior weapons inspector said in a report released
last night that it was "unlikely" that Saddam Hussein's forces moved weapons
to Syria, though he expressed concern about nuclear-related equipment that
was apparently removed after American-led forces invaded Iraq." ... "In
a 92-page addendum to a report issued last fall, Charles Duelfer, the head
of the former Iraq Survey Group, was also highly critical of the way key
Iraqi scientists were interviewed after their capture, suggesting opportunities
to mine information from them might have been lost." -By
David E. Sanger -NYTimes
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- "Bolton
Often Blocked Information, Officials Say: Iran, IAEA
Matters Were Allegedly Kept From Rice, Powell." ... "John R. Bolton --
who is seeking confirmation as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
-- often blocked then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and, on one occasion,
his successor, Condoleezza Rice, from receiving information vital to U.S.
strategies on Iran, according to current and former officials who have
worked with Bolton." ... "In some cases, career officials found back channels
to Powell or his deputy, Richard L. Armitage, who encouraged assistant
secretaries to bring information directly to him. In other cases, the information
was delayed for weeks or simply did not get through. The officials, who
would discuss the incidents only on the condition of anonymity because
some continue to deal with Bolton on other issues, cited a dozen examples
of memos or information that Bolton refused to forward during his four
years as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security."
-By Dafna Linzer-WashingtonPost
-
- Water- Nevada
- "U.S.
probes nuclear dump documents." ... "Government employees
may have falsified documents related to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste
project in Nevada, the Energy Department said Wednesday. The disclosure
could jeopardize the project's ability to get a federal permit to operate
the dump." ... "The department said the questionable data involved computer
modeling for water infiltration and climate at the Yucca site, which is
90 miles northwest of Las Vegas." ... "[Nevada state Nuclear Projects director
Bob] Loux said potential water transport -- the issue that some of the
questionable work apparently involved -- is critical for the proposed waste
repository." ... "Water is "the key mechanism at Yucca Mountain both in
terms of infiltrating into the site and in terms of letting radioactivity
release into the biosphere," Loux said." -AP
via -CNN
-
-
- "IAEA
chief: N Korea bigger threat." ... "North Korea poses
more of a nuclear threat than Iran, the director-general of the International
Atomic Energy Agency told CNN, because the country already has the nuclear
material that would go into a weapon." ... ""We know North Korea has the
plutonium that can go into the bomb," Mohammed ElBaradei told CNN's Christiane
Amanpour on Thursday. "We have not seen any such material in Iran."" ...
"North Korea, he said, represents an "imminent threat or an imminent danger,"
while Iran is merely suspected of having a nuclear program."
-CNN
- "Q&A:
The U.N. and nuclear proliferation." ... "The following
is a transcript of an interview with Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General
of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), conducted by CNN's Chief
International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour."
-CNN
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-
-
- "Iran
admits it considered purchasing weapons technology."
... "As the International Atomic Energy Agency prepared to open a meeting
in Vienna on Monday to review Tehran's nuclear program, Iranian officials
reluctantly turned over new evidence that strongly suggests it discussed
acquiring technologies central to making nuclear weapons and hid that fact
for 18 years, U.S. and European officials say." ... "The officials said
the documents, which are dated 1987, were handed over after investigators
for the agency confronted Iranian officials with evidence gathered in interviews
with members of the network run by Pakistan's top nuclear expert, A.Q.
Khan. The documents, according to officials who have seen them, include
an offer by Khan's representatives to provide a package of technologies
- for a price that ran from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of
dollars, according to a European diplomat - including the difficult-to-master
process of casting uranium metal." -By Elaine Sciolino
and David E. Sanger with contributions by William J. Broad -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
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-
-
- "Iran,
North Korea Focus of Nuclear Meeting: Iran and North
Korea Focus of Top-Level Meeting of U.N. Nuclear Monitoring Agency." ...
"Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, was
reacting to revelations by diplomats that Tehran had been approached by
members of the nuclear black market network in the late 1980s with a written
offer to set up the basics of the enrichment program now causing concerns
about the Islamic Republic's nuclear aims." ... "In giving the agency the
written offer from the network of Pakistani scientist A. Q. Khan, Iran
"showed us for the first time the offer they had, and that is good," ElBaradei
told reporters." ... "However, he suggested in his opening remarks to the
board meeting that Iran is providing information too late, saying that
"in view of the past undeclared nature of significant aspects of Iran's
nuclear program, a confidence deficit has been created."" (1, 2,
3)-AP
via -ABCNEWS
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-
-
- "Iran,
Russia postpone nuclear fuel deal citing black market info."
... "Last-minute disputes Saturday forced Iran and Russia to postpone the
signing of an agreement to supply Iran with fuel for its first nuclear
reactor, a deal strongly opposed by the United States." ... "Under the
agreement, Russia will provide Iran with fuel and take back the spent fuel,
a safeguard meant to banish fears Iran would misuse it to build nuclear
weapons. U.N. nuclear experts also would monitor the facility."
-AP via -USATODAY
-
- "Official
admits Iran may hide nuclear program in tunnels."
... "Iran may be hiding its nuclear technology inside special tunnels because
of threats of attack by the United States, Tehran's chief nuclear negotiator
said in an interview published Friday." ... "Hassan Rowhani, who has been
negotiating with Germany, Britain and France over Iran's uranium enrichment
program, was asked by an interviewer for the daily Le Monde: "Is it accurate
that Iran has built tunnels meant to serve Iran's nuclear activities?""
... "Rowhani responded that reports Iran was building tunnels to hide its
nuclear technology "could be true," he said." ... ""From the moment the
Americans threaten to attack our nuclear sites, what are we to do? We have
to put them somewhere," Rowhani said." -AP
via -IHT.com
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-
-
- "Iran
Was Offered Nuclear Parts: Secret Meeting in 1987
May Have Begun Program." ... "International investigators have uncovered
evidence of a secret meeting 18 years ago between Iranian officials and
associates of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan that resulted in a
written offer to supply Tehran with the makings of a nuclear weapons program,
foreign diplomats and U.S. officials familiar with the new findings said."
... "The meeting, believed to have taken place in a dusty Dubai office
in 1987, kick-started Tehran's nuclear efforts and Khan's black market.
Iran, which was at war with Iraq then, bought centrifuge designs and a
starter kit for uranium enrichment. But Tehran recently told the International
Atomic Energy Agency that it turned down the chance to buy the more sensitive
equipment required for building the core of a bomb." ... "There is evidence,
however, that Iran used the offer as a buyer's guide, acquiring some of
the pricier items elsewhere, officials said."
-By Dafna Linzer
-WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Bush
Seeks More NATO Support on Iraq." ... "President
Bush is pressing his agenda for a refurbished trans-Atlantic alliance at
back-to-back summits with NATO and the European Union. He's looking for
a commitment on more training aid for postwar Iraq and is expected to argue
his case for increasing pressure on Iran to end its nuclear ambitions."
... "NATO's 26 members are expected to announce they all will participate
in a modest program to train Iraq's military." -By
Tom Raum -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
-
- "Goss:
North Korea's nuclear capability grown: CIA director
also cites chemical, biological weapons programs." ... "North Korea's nuclear
weapons arsenal has grown since the country was labeled part of an "axis
of evil" by President Bush three years ago, CIA Director Porter Goss testified
Wednesday before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee." ... ""Our assessment
is they have a greater capability than that assessment," Goss said, referring
to a January 2002 CIA assessment of North Korea's nuclear program, which
stated the communist state had produced enough plutonium for one or two
nuclear weapons." -CNN
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- "Poor
Relations With Iran Turning Worse." ... "The Bush
administration is pressing Britain, France and Germany for strong measures
against Iran in response to its violation of a nonproliferation agreement
reached with the three last fall, a State Department official said Wednesday."
... "The issue is part of a deepening American concern over recent Iranian
activities that range from weapons programs to terrorism. To head off a
potential crisis, some analysts believe the administration should work
harder to promote a dialogue with Iran." ... "The United States believes
Iran is developing nuclear weapons, a view reinforced by Iran's recent
decision to resume construction of centrifuges. This is a key step in the
development of a uranium-based bomb, one that Iran promised the Europeans
last fall that it would not take." -By George Gedda
-AP via -Newsday.com
-
-
- "Fear
of Nuclear Iran Could Influence U.S. Diplomacy."
... "The intense antagonism that has existed since militant students held
52 Americans hostage for 444 days during the 1979 Iranian revolution "could
become a collision course," former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski
said this week." ... ""But perhaps there are the makings of somewhat ameliorating
the relationship between the two sides," he said." ... "[However] Many
experts believe even if Tehran's hard-line leaders are replaced, it may
have no impact on the quest for a nuclear bomb because a broad spectrum
of Iranians endorse that goal." (1, 2)
-By Carol Giacomo-Reuters
-
-
-
- "Israeli
Nuclear Whistleblower Vanunu to Go Free." ... "Israeli
nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu goes free on Wednesday after 18
years in jail for spilling secrets that publicly placed the Jewish state
among the world's top atomic powers." ... "But the former nuclear technician
-- whose revelations to a British newspaper led analysts to conclude Israel
had an arsenal of more than 100 nuclear warheads -- will still be subject
to a list of stringent security measures to keep him silent." ... "Vanunu
was jailed in 1986 for treason after disclosing information to Britain's
Sunday Times." (1, 2)
-By Megan Goldin -Reuters
-
-
- "Alarm
Raised Over Quality of Uranium Found in Iran." ...
"United Nations nuclear inspectors have found traces of extremely highly
enriched uranium in Iran, of a purity reserved for use in a nuclear bomb,
European and American diplomats said Wednesday." ... "Among traces that
inspectors detected last year are some refined to 90 percent of the rare
235 isotope, the diplomats said. While the International Atomic Energy
Agency has previously reported finding "weapons grade" traces, it has not
revealed that some reached such a high degree of enrichment." ... "The
presence of such traces raises the stakes in the international debate over
Iran's nuclear program and increases the urgency of determining the uranium's
origin. If the enrichment took place in Iran, it means the country is much
further along the road to becoming a nuclear weapons power than even the
most aggressive intelligence estimates anticipated." -By
Craig S. Smith with contributions by David E. Sanger -NYTimes
-
-
- "U.S.
Confident IAEA to Put Iran on Sanctions Notice."
... "Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Wednesday he was confident
the U.N. atomic watchdog, which is assessing Iran's nuclear programs, would
warn Tehran it could face sanctions within months." ... "The resolution
being discussed in Vienna will stop short of declaring Iran in breach of
the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and reporting it to the U.N. Security
Council for possible sanctions but will signal that could be close, he
said." -Reuters
-
-
-
- "U.N.
Inspectors Report Evidence That Iran Itself Made Fuel That Could Be Used
for A-Bombs." ... "Despite Iranian disavowals, International
Atomic Energy Agency experts in Iran have found evidence of indigenous
production of a concentrated fuel that, if pure enough, can be used to
make nuclear weapons. They said in an inspection report that equipment
made there showed many traces of the fuel, highly enriched uranium." ...
"Iran has consistently argued that any traces of concentrated fuel must
have come from equipment contaminated before it was imported, presumably
from Pakistan. But the report, distributed yesterday to the agency's board,
found the fuel on parts Iranians had made, and "only negligible traces"
on imported parts." (1, 2)
-By William J. Broad and David E. Sanger -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- "U.N.
Finds Uranium Enrichment Tools in Iran: Discovery
Renews Doubts On Nation's Nuclear Goals." ... "U.N. inspectors investigating
Iran's nuclear program have uncovered sophisticated uranium enrichment
equipment, renewing doubts about the Iranian government's pledge that its
intentions are peaceful and transparent, diplomatic officials said yesterday."
... "The discovery of several completed gas centrifuges, coupled with last
week's find of blueprints for a previously unknown Iranian enrichment project,
will be part of a critical International Atomic Energy Agency report expected
to detail Iran's recent nuclear shortcomings, according to diplomats and
government experts." -By Peter Slevin and Joby Warrick
-WashingtonPost
- "Pakistan
Opposition Charges Atomic Cover-Up." ... "Opposition
parties accused the military-dominated government of hiding the army's
role in the proliferation scheme; humiliating the scientist, Abdul Qadeer
Khan; appeasing the United States; and bypassing the elected legislators."
-By Salman Masood and David Rohde -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
- "U.N.
Nuclear Official to Visit Libya." ... "Mohamed ElBaradei,
the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will visit
next Monday and Tuesday, "to review progress in our work," said IAEA spokesman
Mark Gwozdecky." -AP
via -Miami/Herald
-
- 
-
- "Pakistan's
Nuclear Ali Baba." ... ""Nobody could touch him,"
says Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, Pakistan's foreign minister. The regret in
his voice is palpable. "Imagine an American government doing this to Charles
Lindbergh, or Albert Einstein, at the height of his popularity. Dr. A.Q.
Khan is that kind of national hero in Pakistan."" ... "Abdul Qadeer Khan,
an accomplished scientist, is also by his own account a thief of Ali Baba
proportions. He became a national hero by stealing the designs of a European
nuclear centrifuge system that enabled Pakistan to explode several nuclear
devices in 1998. Khan's original nuclear larceny, as Kasuri says, "gave
us strategic balance."" -By Jim Hoagland
-WashingtonPost
-
-
-
-
-
- "Musharraf
issues pardon to nuclear scientist." ... "A Pakistani
nuclear scientist whose involvement in international WMD proliferation
was described by the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog as "the tip of an
iceberg" was today pardoned for his part in the trade." ... "Pakistan's
president, Pervez Musharraf, said that he had accepted a written apology
from Abdul Qadeer Khan - known as the father of the country's nuclear bomb
- for selling nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea."
-Guardian.co.uk
-
-
-
-
- "Pakistani
nuclear scientist confesses to sharing secrets: Abdul
Qadeer Khan confessed Sunday to trading nuclear technology to Iran, Libya,
and North Korea." ... "Pakistan's chief nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer
Khan, has confessed to sharing nuclear technology with Iran, Libya, and
North Korea in a 12-page document presented to President Pervez Musharraf,
according to a briefing given by government officials in Islamabad." ...
"News of the confession followed a decision to dismiss Mr. Khan from his
government post on Saturday by the nuclear command authority, a grouping
of top military and political officials supervising the probe." -By
Owais Tohid -CSMonitor
-
-
- "Libya
Nuclear Components Arrive in U.S.: Plane Carrying
Components of Libya's Nuclear Weapons Program Arrives in U.S., White House
Says." ... "Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, following up a promise to end
his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, has shipped some 55,000 pounds
of nuclear and missile components to the United States in a bid to break
out of diplomatic isolation." ... "Bush administration officials indicated
Gadhafi could expect some easing of economic pressure in return if he continued
on a cooperative track. But one official told The Associated Press that
Libya had not proved it no longer supported terrorism."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- "U.S.
says guards cheated in nuke plant terrorism drill."
... "Security guards who repelled four simulated terrorist attacks at a
Tennessee nuclear weapons plant had been tipped in advance, undermining
the encouraging results, the Energy Department's watchdog office said Monday."
... "The surprising successes by guards at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant
last summer in Oak Ridge, Tenn., spurred an internal investigation. It
determined that at least two guards defending the mock attacks had been
allowed to look at computer simulations one day before the attacks. The
plant processes parts for nuclear weapons and maintains vast supplies of
bomb-grade uranium." -By Ted Bridis
-AP via -AJC
-
-
-
- "Pakistan
Chief Says It Appears Scientists Sold Nuclear Data."
... "Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, acknowledged Friday that
scientists from his country appeared to have sold nuclear designs to other
nations probably "for personal financial gain." He denied that the Pakistan
government knew of any sales at the time but vowed that suspects would
be dealt with "as antistate elements."" ... "General Musharraf's statement
at a global economic forum here came after weeks of delicate efforts to
force Pakistan to deal with the scientists, according to diplomats and
American officials. Technical documents recently obtained from Libya on
its nuclear program, as well as documents relating to Iran's nuclear activities,
undercut years of Pakistani denials and appeared to force General Musharraf's
hand, diplomats and American officials said." (1, 2)
-By Mark Landler and David E. Sanger-NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
- "Libya
Gives U.N. Inspectors Nuke Drawings." ... "Libya
gave U.N. inspectors drawings of a nuclear weapon, the International Atomic
Energy Agency said Friday, the clearest sign yet that Libya was at some
point serious about building such arms." ... ""We have put those drawings
under our seal, and they are secure," Mark Gwozdecky, chief spokesman for
the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, said without elaborating." -By
George Jahn -AP
via -Miami/Herald
-
-
-
- "Pakistan
Expands Nuclear Investigation." ... "Pakistan has
expanded an investigation of its premier nuclear weapons laboratory, detaining
as many as seven scientists and administrators amid allegations sensitive
technology may have spread to countries such as Iran, North Korea and Libya,
officials said Sunday." ... "Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said
over the past few days between five and seven personnel at the Khan Research
Laboratories were taken in for questioning. But he said the detained men
were not "necessarily involved in something or have allegations against
them."" -By Matthew Pennington
-AP via -Miami/Herald
-
-
- "Libya's
black market deals shock nuclear inspectors." ...
"Colonel Muammar Gadafy of Libya has been buying complete sets of uranium
enrichment centrifuges on the international black market as the central
element in his secret nuclear bomb programme, according to United Nations
nuclear inspectors." ... "The ease with which the complex bomb-making equipment
was acquired has stunned experienced international inspectors. The scale
and the sophistication of the networks supplying so-called rogue states
seeking nuclear weapons are considerably more extensive than previously
believed." -By Ian Traynor
-Guardian.co.uk
-
- "Libya
Ratifies the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty." ... "Libya
has ratified the nuclear test ban treaty, a United Nations agency said
Wednesday, less than three weeks after Libya publicly renounced its plans
to develop outlawed weapons." ... "Libya's nuclear program was nowhere
near producing a weapon. Still, the announcement appeared to be a further
sign of commitment by its leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, to give up the
program." -AP
via -NYTimes
-
-
- "U.S.
to Send India Nuclear, Space Technology: New Delhi
Pledges to Pursue Peaceful Purposes and Help Block Spread of Weapons."
... "President Bush pledged yesterday to help India with its nuclear energy
and space technology in return for India's promise to use the assistance
for peaceful purposes and to help block the spread of dangerous weapons."
... "U.S. officials asserted that India will receive no substantial technology
until the New Delhi government enacts tougher export controls to prevent
the spread of sophisticated science. The Bush administration said the principal
goal is nonproliferation at a time when the administration is stepping
up its efforts to deny weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups
and pariah governments." -By Peter Slevin
-WashingtonPost
-
-
-
- "Pakistan
may have supplied nuclear info." ... "Libya pledged
to name its suppliers when it announced last month it was giving up its
nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programs." ... "Officials say
many of the names probably will be Pakistani. They say evidence points
to Pakistani nuclear experts as the source of at least some technology
Libya used in its nuclear weapons program. Similar reports have arisen
about probable Pakistani assistance to Iran and North Korea, countries
President Bush said comprised an ``axis of evil'' with Saddam Hussein's
Iraq." -By Matt Kelley
-AP via -Salon/news/wire
-
-
-
-
- "In first
visit by outsiders in a year, U.S. experts tour Korea nuclear site."
... "North Korea declared Saturday that it had shown what it called a "nuclear
deterrent" to the unofficial delegation, but officials familiar with their
visit to the North's main nuclear site said they had seen the facilities
to produce bomb fuel rather than an actual weapon." ... "The members of
the delegation declined to give a description of the facilities they inspected
until they had a chance to brief the Bush administration. But officials
who have received sketchy reports say the tour was clearly intended to
signal to the United States that President George W. Bush's efforts to
dissuade North Korea from moving forward with its nuclear program had failed,
and that officials in Washington should accept that North Korea is an undeclared
nuclear power, much as it accepts that Pakistan and Israel are nuclear-weapons
nations." -AP,
-Reuters, & -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
-
-
- "S
Korea welcomes North's nuclear offer." ... "South
Korea's foreign minister on Wednesday welcomed North Korea's offer to freeze
its nuclear programme in return for economic aid and diplomatic concessions,
saying it would help the US and other countries resume six-way talks on
the nuclear crisis." ... "North Korea specified that it was willing to
"refrain from test and production of nuclear weapons and stop even operating
the nuclear power industry for a peaceful purpose as first-phase measures
of the package solution". In exchange, North Korea demanded that the US
lift political, economic and other sanctions." -By
Song Jung-a in Seoul and Guy Dinmore -FT.com
-
- "India,
Pakistan hope to improve relations further." ...
"The leaders of nuclear-armed India and Pakistan will try to build on recent
moves to improve ties after meeting on Monday, India's foreign minister
said, but there was no word on whether they had made concrete progress."
... "India's Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf held their first meeting in over two years on Monday on
the sidelines of a regional summit in Islamabad, boosting hopes for peace."-Reuters
via -AlertNet.org
-
- "Further
thaw for India, Pakistan: The prime ministers of
the two nuclear powers met Sunday, a first since the nations averted war
in 2001." ... "As the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC) opened its summit in the Pakistani capital Islamabad under a dense
umbrella of security, the leaders of India and Pakistan made their first
cautious moves in more than two years to shake hands and brush off piles
of accumulated mistrust." ... "Hopes have risen after Indian Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee and his Pakistani counterpart, Mir Zafarullah Jamali,
met Sunday for the first time. In an unexpected breakthrough, diplomatic
sources have said that Mr. Vajpayee is scheduled to meet with Pakistani
leader Pervez Musharraf Monday." -By Owais Tohid
-CSMonitor
-
- "U.S. group
plans visit to Korean nuclear site: But White House
denies involvement in delegation's trip." ... "North Korea has agreed to
let an American delegation visit its Yongbyon nuclear plant, which is at
the heart of a 14-month-old international standoff, South Korean officials
said Friday." ... "The trip would represent the first time that a foreign
delegation was authorized to visit the plant since North Korea expelled
United Nations nuclear inspectors in late 2002. Yongbyon, about 100 kilometers,
or 60 miles, north of the capital, Pyongyang, is where most of North Korea's
nuclear facilities are clustered." -By Samuel Len
-IHT.com
-
- "U.N.
Nuclear Watchdog Agency Head to Travel to Libya:
ElBaradei Will 'Kick Start a Process of Verification'." ... "Mohamed ElBaradei,
director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told a press
briefing in Vienna that he would lead an IAEA team to Libya to "kick start
a process of verification" of Libya's arms program, wire services reported."
... "After years of denying the existence of a nuclear weapons program,
Libya acknowledged last week that it had a program to develop nuclear and
other unconventional weapons. In a surprise announcement, Libyan leader
Moammar Gaddafi said he will abandon unconventional weapons, freeze his
nuclear program and allow international inspectors to test his word." -By
Fred Barbash -WashingtonPost
-
- "Libya
to allow snap arms inspections." ... "Libya has agreed
to allow snap U.N. nuclear arms inspections, just a day after declaring
it was giving up plans to build an atomic bomb, a Western diplomat says."
... "Libya, widely praised for announcing on Friday that it was ditching
efforts to build the bomb and other banned weapons, told the head of the
U.N. nuclear watchdog on Saturday that it was ready to sign up to inspections,
the diplomat told Reuters." -By Louis Charbonneau
-Reuters via -Reuters.co.uk
-
- Brazil
- "UN
wants access to Brazil atomic enrichment plant."
... "The U.N. nuclear watchdog is negotiating with the Brazilian government
to ensure that a new uranium enrichment facility due to begin operating
next year is properly safeguarded, the agency said on Friday. Several Western
diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Brazil was not considered
a problem state and there were no concerns that it was developing nuclear
weapons." ... "Brazil, which has the world's six-largest uranium reserves
and the most sophisticated nuclear programme in Latin America, has said
the new plant will begin enriching uranium next year to produce fuel for
its atomic power plants." -By Louis Charbonneau
-Reuters -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
-
- "Iran
to sign nuclear treaty." ... "Iran has said that
it will sign a treaty today giving the UN's nuclear watchdog the right
to conduct snap nuclear inspections within its borders, a gesture one Western
diplomat described as "long overdue"." ... "Iran's promise to sign the
1968 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a global pact aimed at reducing
the spread of nuclear arsenals, comes after increasing international concerns
that it is trying to produce nuclear weapons. Iran has repeatedly denied
this." -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
-
-
-
-
- "North
Korea guarantee may pave way to accord." ... "The
Bush administration has agreed with South Korea and Japan to a broadly
worded set of principles to end North Korea's nuclear program, calling
for a ``coordinated'' set of steps in which five nations would offer North
Korea a security guarantee as it begins a verifiable disassembly of its
nuclear facilities, according to Bush administration and Asian officials."
... "The statement is being sent to China's leaders today, the officials
said, in hopes that Beijing will pass them on this week to Kim Jong Il,
the North Korean leader. But officials said that North Korea may judge
the offer far too vague, in part because it sets no timetable for energy
or economic aid to the country, and because it would require inspections
of suspect facilities that have never before been opened." -By
David Sanger -NYTimes
via -RegisterGuard
-
-
- "Dirty
Bomb Warheads Disappear: Stocks of Soviet-Era Arms
For Sale on Black Market." ... "In the ethnic conflicts that surrounded
the collapse of the Soviet Union, fighters in several countries seized
upon an unlikely new weapon: a small, thin rocket known as the Alazan.
Originally built for weather experiments, the Alazan rockets were packed
with explosives and lobbed into cities. Military records show that at least
38 Alazan warheads were modified to carry radioactive material, effectively
creating the world's first surface-to-surface dirty bomb." ... "The radioactive
warheads are not known to have been used. But now, according to experts
and officials, they have disappeared." ... "The last known repository was
here, in a tiny separatist enclave known as Transdniester, which broke
away from Moldova 12 years ago. The Transdniester Moldovan Republic is
a sliver of land no bigger than Rhode Island located along Moldova's eastern
border with Ukraine. Its government is recognized by no other nation. But
its weapons stocks -- new, used and modified -- have attracted the attention
of black-market arms dealers worldwide. And they're for sale, according
to U.S. and Moldovan officials and weapons experts." (1, 2,
3)
-By Joby Warrick -WashingtonPost
-
- "Iran
Faces Censure for Nuclear Cover-Ups: Iran Faces Censure
for Past Nuclear Cover-Ups Under Draft Resolution at U.N. Atomic Energy
Meeting." ... "Iran faces censure for past nuclear cover-ups but escapes
a direct threat of sanctions under a draft resolution to be presented at
a U.N. atomic energy meeting." ... "A session of the International Atomic
Energy Agency's board of governors is set Wednesday to approve the draft,
which papers over the dispute between the United States and France, Germany
and Britain." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- "Pakistan,
Kashmir and India breathe easier with cease-fire."
... "Indian and Pakistani military commanders agreed yesterday to a cease-fire
along their common border, including the volatile and heavily militarized
front line in the disputed territory of Kashmir, officials in both countries
said." ... "The truce, which was to take effect at midnight last night,
is the first formal cease-fire between the nuclear-armed rivals since a
separatist insurgency began in Indian-controlled portions of Kashmir 14
years ago." -By Hari Kumar
-NYTimes via -SeattlePI.NWsource
-
-
- "IAEA
at odds with US over Iran." ... "The UN's nuclear
watchdog yesterday rejected US criticism of a crucial report on Iran's
nuclear programme, which stated that no evidence had been found that Iran
had been trying to build a nuclear bomb." ... "The report, which will be
presented to the IAEA board on November 20, underlines that the IAEA itself
remains uncertain of Iran's intentions." ... "While acknowledging the lack
of evidence of nuclear weapons programmes, the report states: "Given Iran's
past pattern of concealment, it will take some time before the agency is
able to conclude that Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful
purposes."" -By Mark Huband and Bayan Rahman
-FT.com
-
-
- "Iran
Warns IAEA, U.S. Condemnation May Backfire." ...
"Tehran warned on Thursday of "unpredictable consequences" if the U.N.
watchdog finds it in breach of a global pact against atomic weapons, as
Washington accused the United Nations of playing down "evidence" Iran wants
a bomb." ... ""The United States wants the board [the International Atomic
Energy Agency's (IAEA) Board of Governors] to declare Iran in violation
of its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which
would require it to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible
economic sanctions." -By Louis Charbonneau
-Reuters via -Wired
-
- "Experts
say report shows Iran wants atom bomb." ... "Arms
experts say a U.N. nuclear watchdog report on Iran supports U.S. claims
that Tehran has a secret atomic weapons programme by detailing a two-decade
cover-up of research possibly linked to bomb making." ... "Despite Iran's
secretiveness and the array of activities possibly associated with weapons,
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concluded there was no evidence
to date Iran had a weapons programme. Iran has always denied the charge."
-By Louis Charbonneau
-Reuters -Reuters.co.uk
-
- -
-
- "Cheney’s Long
Path to War: The Hard Sell: He sifted intel.
He brooded about threats. And he wanted Saddam gone. The inside story of
how Vice President Cheney bought into shady assumptions and helped persuade
a nation to invade Iraq." ... "Of all the president’s advisers, Cheney
has consistently taken the most dire view of the terrorist threat. On Iraq,
Bush was the decision maker. But more than any adviser, Cheney was the
one to make the case to the president that war against Iraq was an urgent
necessity. Beginning in the late summer of 2002, he persistently warned
that Saddam was stocking up on chemical and biological weapons, and last
March, on the eve of the invasion, he declared that “we believe that he
[Saddam Hussein] has in fact reconstituted nuclear weapons.” (Cheney later
said that he meant “program,” not “weapons.” He also said, a bit optimistically,
“I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators.”) After seven
months, investigators are still looking for that arsenal of WMD." (1, 2,
3)
-By Mark Hosenball, Michael Isikoff and Evan Thomas
-MSNBC 20031117
-Newsweek
-
- "Iranian
official announces temporary suspension of uranium enrichment."
... "Iran has suspended its enrichment of uranium and sent a letter to
the U.N. nuclear watchdog accepting additional inspections of its nuclear
facilities, a top Iranian official said Monday." ... "The protocol to the
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty allows IAEA experts to perform snap inspections
and otherwise extend their probe of Iranian nuclear activities that previously
were off-limits." -MSNBC
- "Hard-liners
hold rally to denounce Iran's nuclear agreement."
... "About 1,500 hard-liners protested in Tehran Friday against Iran's
pledge to open its nuclear program to unfettered inspections and suspend
uranium enrichment." ... "The protesters, who support Iran's supreme leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urged Iran to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation
Treaty. Some wore white shrouds symbolizing their readiness to die for
their cause." -By Ali Akbar Dareini
-AP via -SFGate.com
-
-
-
- "Iran
to curb nuclear program: As Europe plays good
cop to Washington's bad cop, Iran agreed Tuesday to a closer monitoring
of its nuclear effort." ... "Iran pledged Tuesday to suspend uranium enrichment
and allow tough international checks of its nuclear program, defusing a
looming crisis and crowning European diplomatic efforts to avert a conflict
between Washington and Tehran." ... "Iran's moves to assuage Western fears
that it is building a nuclear bomb came after senior officials met with
three European foreign ministers who pressed the authorities to comply
with demands by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In return,
the ministers promised technical help with Iran's civilian nuclear power
project." -By Peter Ford with contributions by Michael
Theodoulou and Faye Bowers -CSMonitor
-
- "UN
nuclear agency warns Iran 'time is running out'."
... "The chief United Nations nuclear inspector on Thursday called on Iran
to accelerate its co-operation with his agency. He warned that time was
running out for Tehran to comply with an end of October deadline and provide
full transparency to allay international concerns over its nuclear programme."
... "Tehran insists its nuclear programme is aimed at peaceful energy production,
but the US maintains it is a front for developing nuclear weapons." -By
Roula Khalaf -FT.com
- "US
experts debate 'mini-nukes'." ... "Defence officials
in the United States say that a one-day conference on nuclear weapons is
taking place at the Strategic Air Command headquarters in Nebraska." ...
"Arms control groups say the conference is to discuss whether to build
a new generation of nuclear bombs, known as "mini-nukes", capable of destroying
underground bunkers." -By David Bamford-BBC/News
-
-
- "North
Korean nuclear claims 'serious,' U.S. official says:
North Korea told a Bush administration official last week it has completed
reprocessing spent fuel rods into plutonium, a White House official said."
... ""This is serious" because North Korea also made it clear it intends
to start making weapons, another government official said." ... "On Monday,
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "North Korean officials did
indicate to the United States that they had completed reprocessing. Now
this is something that we are evaluating."" ... "He added that White House
has no way of confirming the information and that North Korea has made
"a lot of claims in the past."" -Contributed to by
Dana Bash -CNN
-
- "Report
of North Koreans' Claim on Nuclear Rods Appears in South."
... "North Korea claims to have reprocessed all its spent nuclear fuel
rods while restarting a small experimental reactor and working on two much
bigger reactors, a South Korean report said today." ... "Chang Sung Min,
a former member of South Korea's national assembly, said that a high-level
United States official had quoted North Korean diplomats as saying the
North had finished reprocessing its 8,000 spent fuel rods by the end of
last month, according to Yonhap, the semi-official South Korean news agency."
-By Don Kirk -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
- "CIA
asked Britain to drop Iraq claim: Advice on
alleged uranium buywas refused." ... "The CIA tried unsuccessfully in early
September 2002 to persuade the British government to drop from an official
intelligence paper a reference to Iraqi attempts to buy uranium in Africa
that President Bush included in his State of the Union address four months
later, senior Bush administration officials said yesterday." ... "“We consulted
about the paper and recommended against using that material,” a senior
administration official familiar with the intelligence program said. The
British government rejected the U.S. suggestion, saying it had separate
intelligence unavailable to the United States." -By
Walter Pincus with contributions by Karen DeYoung-WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
-
- "CIA
approved Bush remarks on Iraq: State of Union
speech referring to nuclear weapons claim was cleared." ... "Amid increasing
criticism and doubts cast on U.S. intelligence that led to the war against
Iraq, the Bush administration Friday continued its defense of President
Bush’s case for ousting Saddam Hussein. U.S. national security adviser
Condoleezza Rice said the CIA had cleared Bush’s January State of the Union
speech in its entirety, including a sentence — now labeled false — alleging
Iraq was looking to buy uranium from Africa." ... "If CIA Director George
Tenet had any misgivings about that sentence in the president’s speech,
“he did not make them known” to Bush or his staff, said Rice." -Contributed
to by David Gregory and -AP
via -MSNBC
-
-
- "CBS:
White House Ignored CIA Over Iraq Uranium Claim."
... "The White House ignored a request by the CIA to remove a statement
in President Bush's State of the Union address that Iraq was seeking uranium
from Africa for its nuclear weapons program, CBS Evening News reported
on Thursday." ... "The CIA checked the parts Bush's speech dealing with
Iraq's weapons of mass destruction for accuracy and CIA officials warned
White House National Security Council staff that the intelligence was not
strong enough to flatly state that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa,
CBS News said." -CBSNews-Reuters
-
- "Bush
Defends Iraq War as Nuclear Claims Called Wrong (Update1)."
... "In the United States, Joseph Wilson, the man sent by the Central Intelligence
Agency to Niger to investigate the report of Iraq's effort to buy uranium,
said the administration knew the information was wrong before Bush's speech."
... ""That information was erroneous and they knew about it well ahead''
of the president's Jan. 28 address, Wilson said." ... ""Either the administration
has some information that it has not shared with the public or, yes, they
were using the selective use of facts and intelligence to bolster a decision
in a case that had already been made -- a decision that had been made to
go to war,'' Wilson told NBC's ``Meet the Press'' on Sunday. He made similar
comments on other news shows and in a New York Times op-ed article."
-Bloomberg
-
-
- "White
House Issues Retraction of Allegations in Bush State of the Union Address."
... "The White House has issued a rare retraction of allegations from the
president's January State of the Union Address. Officials say President
Bush's accusation that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein tried to buy
uranium in Africa, was based on what turned out to be a forged document."
... "Making his case against Saddam Hussein six months ago, President Bush
said British intelligence reported that the then-Iraqi leader had tried
to buy significant quantities of uranium from Niger." ... "The United Nations
later concluded that those documents were forgeries and White House spokesman
Ari Fleischer now admits that the information should not have been included
in the State of the Union." -By Scott Stearns -VOANews.com
-
-
- "Iran
claims it has missile that can reach Israel." ...
"Iran yesterday claimed to have conducted final tests on a missile capable
of reaching Israel and US forces around the Middle East, and was poised
to deploy the weapon with its armed forces." ... "The claim, confirming
an Israeli allegation last week, is certain to heighten tensions with the
US, amid allegations from Washington that Iran was making rapid progress
in a clandestine programme to build nuclear warheads." ... "An Iranian
foreign ministry spokesman, Hamid Reza Asefi, said the test on the Shahab-3
missile occurred several weeks ago, not in the past few days, as the Israeli
press had reported." -By Julian Borger
-Guardian.co.uk
-
- "Bush
pushes for new nukes." ... "If the Bush administration
succeeds in its determined but little-noticed push to develop a new generation
of nuclear weapons, this sun-baked desert flatland [in Nevada] 65 miles
northwest of Las Vegas could once again reverberate with the ground-shaking
thumps of nuclear explosions that used to be common here." ... "The nuclear-weapons
test areas are now a wasteland that is home mostly to lizards and coyotes.
Throughout the Nevada Test Site, the ground is strewn with mangled buildings
and pockmarked with craters, the ghostly evidence of the 928 nuclear tests
the government conducted here from 1951 to 1992." -By
Tom Squitieri -USATODAY
-
-
-
-
-
- "Britain
and Russia's tentative warming trend: President
Putin is in London this week in an historic visit by a Russian leader."
... "Having resolutely opposed the war that Britain waged with the United
States in Iraq, Putin is now determined not to be muscled out of the peace.
He insists that pre-war contracts with Iraq signed by oil giant LukOil
be upheld by the provisional authority in the country. He also wants Iraq's
former debts to Moscow, thought to be worth more than $8 billion, to be
repaid." ... "On Iran, where Russia is helping build an atomic power plant,
Putin denies that Russia is helping proliferate dangerous nuclear technology
and is staunchly defending Russia's economic interests." -By
Mark Rice-Oxley -CSMonitor
-
-
-
- "Nuke
component unearthed in Baghdad back yard: U.S.
officials: Find is not smoking gun." ... "The CIA has in its hands the
critical parts of a key piece of Iraqi nuclear technology -- parts needed
to develop a bomb program -- that were dug up in a back yard in Baghdad,
CNN has learned." ... "The parts, with accompanying plans, were unearthed
by Iraqi scientist Mahdi Obeidi who had hidden them under a rose bush in
his garden 12 years ago under orders from Qusay Hussein and Saddam Hussein's
then son-in-law, Hussein Kamel." ... "U.S. officials emphasized this was
not evidence Iraq had a nuclear weapon -- but it was evidence the Iraqis
concealed plans to reconstitute their nuclear program as soon as the world
was no longer looking." -CNN
-
- "Iran
to keep limits on work of UN inspectors." ... "Iran
said yesterday it would continue to limit the operations of the United
Nations nuclear watchdog agency, setting the stage for a confrontation
with the United States." ... "The International Atomic Energy Agency has
said it expected Iran ''to grant the agency all access deemed necessary''
to defuse suspicions that Tehran is operating a nuclear weapons program."
... "In London, a senior US official said that while military action against
Iran to stop it from developing nuclear weapons is far from the thoughts
of Washington, it is an option as a last resort." -By
Ali Akbar Dareini -AP
via -Boston/Globe
-
-
-
-
- "U.S.
and Russia Press Iran on Al Qaeda, Weapons:
Concerns Mount Over Nuclear Facilities, Influence in Iraq; Some at Pentagon
Urging Intervention." ... "The Bush administration kept up pressure against
Iran yesterday, saying that the Islamic republic's claims of cracking down
on al Qaeda within its borders were inadequate and expressing continued
concern about Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons." ... "Some administration
officials, especially at the Pentagon, are urging the administration to
adopt steps to destabilize the Iranian government in the wake of unconfirmed
intelligence reports that suggested al Qaeda operatives in Iran helped
plan the May 12 suicide bombing attacks against residential compounds in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia." -By Glenn Kessler-WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Russia
Dismisses U.S. Criticism of Iran Atom Deals." ...
"Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov was quoted as saying on Wednesday
that the United States could not in any way object to Moscow's plans to
proceed with the construction of a nuclear power station in Iran." -Reuters
-
-
- "Powell
Says U.S. Is Studying North Korean Nuclear Offer."
... "North Korea has given the United States a plan that could lead to
the Koreans dismantling their nuclear weapons program, Secretary of State
Colin L. Powell said today. But he warned that the offer came with a demand
for significant concessions in return." ... ""They did put forward a plan
that would ultimately deal with their nuclear capability and their missile
activities, but they of course expect something considerable in return,"
Mr. Powell told reporters at the State Department. The North Koreans made
the offer during talks in Beijing last week, and Mr. Powell said the United
States is studying it." -By Joel Brinkley
-NYTimes via -Google-News
-
-
-
-
- "North
Korea's Threats A Dilemma for China: Ally's
Nuclear Gamesmanship Rankles Beijing." ... "North Korea's declaration this
week that it possesses a nuclear arsenal and might sell some of it to the
highest bidder has put new pressure on China to rein in its longtime ally,
Chinese and U.S. officials said yesterday." ... "For U.S. officials, the
grim news from three-way talks in Beijing was tempered by the realization
that their long struggle to draw the Chinese into a campaign against North
Korea might suddenly bear fruit. For months, China has been viewed in Washington
as a roadblock, unwilling to engage North Korea and actively thwarting
action at the U.N. Security Council. Now, officials said, they hope to
go back to the United Nations with Chinese support for demanding an end
to North Korea's nuclear activities." -By Glenn Kessler
and John Pomfret -WashingtonPost
-
-
-
- "Talks
End After N.Korea Claims to Have Nuclear Bomb." ...
"Nuclear talks in Beijing ended on Friday after U.S. officials said North
Korea disclosed it had atomic bombs and Pyongyang said it presented a plan
to resolve the dispute but was ignored." ... "Despite the apparent deadlock,
China, which hosted the three-day talks, said on Friday the three countries
had agreed the discussions were a "good beginning" to ending a crisis that
had been festering for six months." -By Paul Eckert
and Brian Rhoads -Reuters
-
- "North
Korea issues war warning to US." ... "Even as North
Korean negotiators met today with US officials to seek a solution to the
standoff over the communist state's nuclear ambitions, Pyongyang warned
that war could break out on the Korean peninsula." ... "The North's Korean
people's army (KPA) vowed to "put all people under arms and turn the whole
country into a fortress", and urged its soldiers to become "human bombs
and fighters ready to blow up themselves" to protect leader Kim Jong Il."
-Guardian.co.uk
-
-
- "US,
North Korea prepare for talks: US and North
Korean delegations have arrived in Beijing for their first, face to face
talks on the North Korean nuclear crisis since it erupted last October."
... "The three-day talks, due to start on Wednesday, will be led by the
US assistant secretary of state for East Asian affairs, James Kelly, and
the deputy director general of North Korea's American Affairs Bureau, Li
Gun." ... "A BBC correspondent says that who takes part in the talks is
a sticking point in itself. North Korea describes China's role as simply
that of host, while the US, in an attempt to internationalise the issue,
insists Beijing is a full party." -BBC/News
-
-
- "Kim
plays a nuclear game he cannot win." ... "Whether
North Korea has started reprocessing plutonium for nuclear weapons, or
(depending on the translation) simply completed preparations, the regime's
statement on Friday was a deliberate provocation ahead of this week's talks
with the US and China in Beijing." ... "Mr Kim is trying to have his cake
and eat it. The regime demands negotiations to obtain security assurances
and aid from the US and its allies, but it also wants to pursue a nuclear
weapons capability. The reprocessing declaration, coming after a US commitment
to talks, epitomises this dual strategy. If this is North Korea's new game,
then no one in the region is likely to play. For the US, a North Korea
that is reprocessing plutonium and hiding fissile material in the country's
thousands of caves (and which could then be sold to a third party) poses
an unacceptable threat to homeland security." -By
Victor Cha -FT.com
-
-
- "North
Korea Proposes Talks With South." ... "North Korea
made a conciliatory gesture toward South Korea on Saturday, proposing high-level
talks a day after jeopardizing negotiations with the United States by claiming
it is reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, possibly for weapons." ... "North
Korean officials telephoned South Korean officers at the border village
of Panmunjom to propose Cabinet-level talks on April 27-29 in Pyongyang.
The North called off a similar meeting last week." -By
Jae-Suk Yoo -AP
via -Miami/Herald
-
-
- "U.S., N. Korea
talks likely to happen: N. Korean statement
on nuclear program unclear." ... "U.S. officials said North Korea’s announcement
that it was reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods could be false bluster
intended as a negotiating tactic ahead of talks next week on ending Pyongyang’s
nuclear ambitions. The announcement was not considered likely to derail
the discussions, officials in the region said Saturday." ... "North Korea
dramatically raised the stakes in its six-month nuclear standoff with the
United States when a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said in a surprise
statement that scientists were reprocessing more than 8,000 spent fuel
rods — which could yield enough plutonium to make six to eight nuclear
bombs — despite repeated warnings from Washington not to do so." -Contributions
by Betsy Steuart, Ashleigh Banfield, David Gregory, Robert Windrem with
-AP and -Reuters
via -MS-NBC
-
-
- "North
Korea softens on talks: War in Iraq may be
prompting Pyongyang to agree to multilateral talks on its nuclear program."
... "If North Korea really does want the multilateral talks now hinted
at by Pyongyang officials, it would mark the first major concession by
hard-boiled Korean negotiators since the North admitted a secret uranium
program last October." ... "If genuine, North Korea's shift toward a softer
policy may be an important diplomatic consequence of a US campaign in Iraq
that has suddenly featured graphic images of Saddam Hussein's statue being
toppled in a city square in Baghdad, analysts say. North Korean leader
Kim Jong Il, who has nearly as many public statues of himself, has been
touring military bases in the North for two weeks." -By
Robert Marquand -CSMonitor
-
- 
-
- 
- 
- "Germany
Guarantees U.S. Fly-over Rights in Iraq War." ...
"Germany guaranteed U.S. troops fly-over rights in an Iraq war on Wednesday
despite its own opposition to an attack and warnings that military action
may breach international law." ... "Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder also rejected
opposition calls for a parliamentary vote on allowing German troops on
NATO reconnaissance flights over Turkey and on keeping nuclear and chemical
contamination detection units in Kuwait." -By David
Crossland -Reuters
-
-
- "Senator
Wants Fake Iraq Documents Probed: Sen. Jay
Rockefeller Wants FBI Investigation of Forged Documents That Were Used
Against Iraq." ... "The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee
asked the FBI on Friday to investigate forged documents the Bush administration
used as evidence against Saddam Hussein and his military ambitions in Iraq."
... "Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia said he was uneasy about a possible
campaign to deceive the public about the status of Iraq's nuclear program."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
-
- "Fake
Iraq documents 'embarrassing' for U.S.: Intelligence
documents that U.S. and British governments said were strong evidence that
Iraq was developing nuclear weapons have been dismissed as forgeries by
U.N. weapons inspectors." ... "The documents, given to International Atomic
Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, indicated that Iraq might
have tried to buy 500 tons of uranium from Niger, but the agency said they
were "obvious" fakes." -By David Ensor
-CNN
-
-
-
- 
- "'91
Iraq plan to use germs is reported." ... "Saddam
Hussein secretly planned to launch 75 missiles armed with chemical or biological
warheads during the 1991 Persian Gulf War if Baghdad were hit with nuclear
weapons, according to a new report by UN weapons inspectors." ... "Hans
Blix, head of the UN Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission,
delivered the report ["Unresolved Disarmament Issues"] Friday to the UN
Security Council. It has not been released to the public, but the Los Angeles
Times has obtained a copy." -By Bob Drogin-LAtimes
via -Boston/Globe
-
- "N
Korea missile test meets calm US response." ... "North
Korea on Monday test-fired a cruise missile into the Sea of Japan - the
latest in a series of provocative military gestures by the communist state."
... "The act appeared designed by North Korea to increase pressure on the
US to agree a negotiated settlement to their dispute about nuclear weapons."
-By Andrew Ward -FT.com
-
-
- "UN
begins probe into Iranian nuclear site." ... "UN
inspectors started their first in-depth investigation into Iran's controversial
Natanz site on Monday, following accusations by US officials at the weekend
that they had failed to keep track of suspected nuclear weapons programmes
in both Iran and Iraq." ... "Analysts in Washington saw the criticism of
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) by Condoleezza Rice, national
security adviser, and Colin Powell, secretary of state, as helping the
US to win support in a crucial week of diplomacy for its proposed ultimatum
to Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi president." -By Guy Dinmore
and Clive Cookson -FT.com
-
-
-
- 
- "'67
Study Discouraged Use of Nuclear Weapons in Vietnam War."
... "A secret 1967 government study on the possible use of tactical nuclear
weapons in the Vietnam War that was declassified and released yesterday
found that the political cost of using such devices far outweighed its
military benefits." ... "The study was undertaken after nuclear scientists
working on governmental scientific analyses as part of the so-called Jason
Group heard informal remarks by senior military officers about possible
use of tactical nuclear weapons." ... "The 36-year-old study also disclosed
the United States was trying to develop a "research earth borer," an air-dropped
nuclear bomb that could dig into the ground to a certain depth before exploding."
-By Walter Pincus-WashingtonPost
-
-
-
- "Why
US is reacting quietly to N. Korea's provocations:
Administration hopes lack of response to hostile acts will force others
in the region to shoulder responsibility." ... "By appearing to disregard
a series of ever-escalating actions by Pyongyang, the US may hope to alarm
its allies and partners in the region to become more involved themselves
in the North Korean problem." ... "The downside of such a strategy, some
experts say, is that if addressing North Korea's nuclear program is put
off until some point after a US-led war on Iraq, the world could find itself
with a rogue nuclear power producing a nuclear bomb or two per month by
this summer." -By Howard LaFranchi
-CSMonitor
-
-
-
-
- "Japan
fears N. Korea near point of no return: The
North appears ready to start up a reprocessing plant." ... "Satellite photos
indicating that North Korea is cranking up its nuclear program - turning
on its Yongbyon reactor and testing equipment that reprocesses spent-fuel
rods - are deepening worries in Japan that Kim Jong Il is approaching a
point of no return in his self-styled standoff with the US." -By
Robert Marquand -CSMonitor
-
-
- "N.
Korea Warns Nuke War Could Break Out: North
Korea Escalates Hostile Rhetoric, Warning Nuclear War Could Break Out at
'Any Moment'." ... "The North's official news agency also accused Washington
of planning massive war games to prepare for an invasion, and said the
country is "fully ready to repel the U.S. military attack."" ... "On Saturday,
100,000 pro-U.S. demonstrators jammed a downtown Seoul plaza to support
the presence of 37,000 U.S. troops in South Korea and condemn the North."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- "US
plan for new nuclear arsenal: Secret talks
may lead to breaking treaties." ... "The Bush administration is planning
a secret meeting in August to discuss the construction of a new generation
of nuclear weapons, including "mini-nukes", "bunker-busters" and neutron
bombs designed to destroy chemical or biological agents, according to a
leaked Pentagon document." ... "The meeting of senior military officials
and US nuclear scientists at the Omaha headquarters of the US Strategic
Command would also decide whether to restart nuclear testing and how to
convince the American public that the new weapons are necessary." -By
Julian Borger -Guardian.co.uk
- "U.S.
Eyes Mini-Nukes." ... "The U.S. government will convene
a conference later this year to discuss the need for small-scale nuclear
weapons, and determine whether the ban on nuclear testing poses an obstacle
to maintaining America's nuclear force, a leaked Pentagon document says."
... "The document, obtained and posted on the Internet by the nuclear watchdog
Los Alamos Study Group, is the minutes of a meeting last month planning
for a conference in August. It was first reported by Britain's Guardian
newspaper."
-CBSNews
-
-
-
- "N.
Korea Vows to Win Standoff With U.S.: North
Korea Vows to Win Nuclear Standoff With U.S.; South Korea's Leader Warns
of Arms Race." ... "The bluster from the North came as South Korea's outgoing
president warned that Pyongyang's production of atomic weapons could force
his country and Japan to built [sic] nuclear bombs as well." ... ""If North
Korea has nuclear weapons, South Korea could possess such weapons ... and
Japan could arm with nuclear weapons. This is what a lot of people worry
about. This cannot be tolerated," Kim Dae-jung told tourism officials."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- "N.Korea
Says Sure of Winning Nuclear War with U.S.." ...
"North Korea said on Monday that victory would be certain for the communist
state in any nuclear war with the United States thanks to Pyongyang's "army-first"
political system." ... "War warnings and claims that the United States
is poised to attack North Korea have been almost daily fare in Pyongyang
official media, which have ratcheted up the rhetoric since a nuclear crisis
flared last year." -Reuters
/World
-
- "GOP
plan would revive use of nuclear arms: Policy
paper urges new generation of warheads." ... "A group of House Republicans
proposed a fundamental shift in · America's nuclear weapons strategy
on Thursday, saying the · GOP would push
for the design and manufacture of a new generation of warheads, a more
aggressive policy on their use and steps that would make it easier to resume
nuclear testing." ... "The group of 23 lawmakers, as members of the policy
committee that helps set the House legislative agenda, specifically called
for the repeal of a decade-old law that prohibits the development of smaller,
low-yield weapons of less than 5 kilotons." ... "The panel, known as the
House Policy Committee, also urged that the U.S. government be allowed
to initiate pre-emptive nuclear attacks against hostile nations with caches
of biological or chemical weapons." -By James Sterngold
-SFGate.com
-
-
- "Pyongyang
has broken atom pacts, agency says: IAEA sends
issue to Security Council for possible action." ... "The United Nations'
chief nuclear arms inspector on Wednesday declared North Korea in breach
of weapons accords and sent the matter to the Security Council for its
consideration, upping the ante in the tense standoff with Pyongyang over
its nuclear aspirations." ... "At an emergency meeting Wednesday in Vienna,
the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation governing board declared
North Korea officially in "noncompliance" with nuclear nonproliferation
protocols." ... "The Security Council now has the power to impose economic
sanctions against North Korea, which Pyongyang has said it would consider
an act of war." -By Timothy L. O'Brien
-NYTimes via -IHT.com
-
- "Pyongyang
[North Korea] has untested missile capable of reaching U.S., Congress told."
... "North Korea has an untested ballistic missile capable of reaching
the western United States, intelligence officials said Wednesday." ...
"The North Korean missile is a three-stage version of the Taepo Dong 2,
Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said
to reporters. It has not been flight-tested, Jacoby said, leaving some
questions about North Korea's capability to successfully launch the missile."-AP
via -USATODAY
- "N.
Korea warns against bombing nuclear facilities."
... "North Korea's government-run newspaper warned Thursday that any U.S.
attack on the country's nuclear facilities would bring a "powerful counterattack"
and spark "total war." North Korean deputy foreign minister director Ri
Pyong-gap told Britain's Guardian newspaper that "pre-emptive attacks are
not the exclusive right of the U.S."" ... "Administration officials say
they do not see the heated rhetoric as a precursor to war. They say North
Korea is raising the specter of resuming its nuclear program as a bargaining
chip to open talks with the United States." -By Laurence
McQuillan -USATODAY
-
-
- "UN
report on Iraq: grist for many mills: UN releases
its interim report on weapon inspections." ... "United Nations weapons
chiefs Monday report to the Security Council on Iraq's compliance to disarm
- providing a document that is unlikely to resolve any debates." ... "Nuclear
inspectors say they have uncovered no evidence so far that Iraq has tried
to reconstitute its bomb program. But wide gaps in Iraq's accounting of
missing WMD material remain." ... "One reason for the discrepancy - and
therefore Baghdad's unwillingness to give up residual WMD capabilities,
analysts say - may be Iraq's calculation that Washington will carry out
regime change regardless. "What [the Iraqis] have is some scrappy bits
of chemical and biological [material], but it's enough to strap to a dirty
bomb," says a British analyst who asked not to be named. "They believe
they are going to be invaded anyway, so they would rather it happen with
opposing troops in chemical-weapons suits, and with a Samson option overshadowing.""
-By Scott Peterson
-CSMonitor
-
- "U.S.
Official Holds Seoul Talks on N.Korea." ... "With
the specter of Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions hanging over the Korean peninsula,
the top U.S. arms control diplomat met South Korean officials on Wednesday
for talks on how to end a standoff with the isolated communist North."
... "U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton held talks with Foreign Minister
Choi Song-hong after stepping up pressure on Pyongyang by saying it was
time to take the matter to the U.N. Security Council. The council could
handle the Korea problem as well as the Iraq crisis, he said." -By
Paul Eckert and Jane Macartney-Reuters/World
-
-
- "S.Korean
protesters blame Kelly for North crisis." ... "The
[approximately 60] activists took aim at James Kelly, the U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, who was winding
up a two-day visit to Seoul to discuss ways to thwart North Korea's nuclear
weapons ambitions." ... "It was Kelly who visited Pyongyang in October
and said after meeting senior officials that the North had admitted enriching
uranium in a covert atomic arms programme. That admission and a subsequent
U.S. decision to halt fuel aid triggered the crisis in which North Korea
became the first country to pull out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty."-Reuters
-AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
- "U.S. shares
data on Iraq with Blix: Some intelligence withheld
from inspectors, Powell says." ... "After weeks of delay, the United States
within the past several days has begun providing United Nations inspectors
with “significant” intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs that has enabled
inspectors to become “more aggressive and to be more comprehensive in the
work they’re doing,” Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said yesterday."
... "The increased U.S. assistance to the inspectors comes less than three
weeks before Hans Blix, head of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection
Commission (UNMOVIC), and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director
General Mohamed ElBaradei are scheduled to provide the U.N. Security Council
with their first formal assessment of Iraqi compliance with U.N. disarmament
demands." -By Karen DeYoung and Walter Pincus-WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
-
- "Timeline:
North Korea nuclear crisis: BBC News Online
charts the build-up of tension since North Korea's reported disclosure
of a secret nuclear weapon programme." -BBC/News
- "N.
Korea slams 'criminal policy' of U.S.: President
Bush: 'Diplomacy will work'" ... "North Korea has accused the United States
of spreading a "false rumor" about its nuclear "issue" in an attempt to
hurt inter-Korean relations." ... ""There is an increasing danger of a
nuclear war on the Korean peninsula due to the U.S. criminal policy toward
the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea)," according to a statement
released Wednesday from Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency."
-CNN /Asia
-
- "U.S.
Offers Talks with N.Korea, South Pragmatic." ...
"In a key policy shift, the United States said it was willing to talk to
communist North Korea about its nuclear intentions, easing tension a notch
following calls from the region for dialogue." ... "The U.S administration,
which had previously insisted North Korea roll back recent steps to revive
its nuclear weapons plans before any talks, announced its new position
after holding talks in Washington with South Korea and Japan." ... "Pyongyang
has threatened war in the event of U.S. economic sanctions over the issue."
-By Kim Yeon-hee -Reuters
- "IAEA calls
for North Koreans to comply." ... "The International
Atomic Energy Agency strongly urged North Korea to comply with its nuclear
safeguards and deplored "in the strongest terms" recent moves by Pyongyang
to expel IAEA inspectors and dismantle the agency's surveillance cameras
at nuclear facilities." ... "The resolution was approved in Vienna by IAEA
governors representing 35 countries and came as talks opened in Washington
that are expected to produce a demand by the United States, South Korea,
and Japan for North Korean nuclear restraint." -By
Brian Knowlton -IHT.com
- "N.
Korea given 'one more chance'." ... "The U.N. nuclear
agency will give North Korea a final chance to abandon its covert weapons
program and readmit inspectors before it hands the dispute over to the
Security Council, an official said Monday." ... ""North Korea will be given
another chance to come into compliance," the International Atomic Energy
Agency official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity."
-AP
via -USATODAY
-
- "North
Korea orders expulsion of U.N. nuclear inspectors, says will open laboratory."
... "North Korea ordered the expulsion Friday of U.N. nuclear inspectors
and announced it will reactivate a laboratory able to produce weapons-grade
plutonium. The U.N. nuclear agency said its investigators were "staying
put" for now." ... "The inspectors were the last means that the International
Atomic Energy Agency had to monitor whether the facilities are being used
for nuclear weapons projects. Despite IAEA warnings, the North removed
monitoring seals and surveillance cameras from the nuclear complex at Yongbyon
earlier this week." -By Paul Shin
-AP via -SFGate.com
-
- "U.N.:
N. Korea Engaging in 'Brinkmanship': U.N. Agency
Says North Korea Is Engaging in 'Nuclear Brinkmanship'" ... "North Korean
workers have moved 1,000 fresh fuel rods to a storage site near the Soviet-designed,
5-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon that was frozen in a deal with Washington
that ended the 1994 crisis, the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency
said. A total of 8,000 such rods is needed to start the reactor." ... ""Moving
towards restarting its nuclear facilities without appropriate safeguards,
and towards producing plutonium raises serious nonproliferation concerns
and is tantamount to nuclear brinkmanship," Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, director
of the Vienna-based agency, said in a statement."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "US
tries diplomacy, firm line on N. Korea." ... "The
Bush administration pressed North Korea diplomatically yesterday to refrain
from restarting a dormant nuclear reactor, even as Defense Secretary Donald
H. Rumsfeld warned that the US military could simultaneously take on both
Iraq and the communist Pyongyang regime." ... "''We are capable of fighting
two major regional conflicts,'' Rumsfeld said at the Pentagon. ''We're
capable of winning decisively in one and swiftly defeating in the case
of the other, and let there be no doubt about it.''" ... "Rumsfeld stressed
that no military action to halt Pyongyang's renewed nuclear ambitions was
imminent, and White House officials said the United States intends to pursue
a diplomatic course to persuade North Korea to abandon efforts to expand
its nuclear arsenal." -By John J. Lumpkin
-AP via -Boston/Globe
- "North
Korea warns of 'catastrophe': North Korea has warned
the United States that broadening the dispute over its nuclear program
would result in what it calls an "uncontrollable catastrophe."" ... "Ratcheting
up tensions on the Korean Peninsula Tuesday, the North's state-run Rodong
Sinmun newspaper said the nuclear issue could only be resolved by North
Korea and the United States, "the countries responsible for it."" ... ""If
the U.S. persistently tries to internationalize the pending issue between
the DPRK (North Korea) and the U.S. in a bid to flee from its responsibility,
it will push the situation to an uncontrollable catastrophe," it said."
-CNN /World
/Asia
- "[CNN
International Editor] David Clinch: U.S. will deal with N. Korea 'one way
or the other'." ... "North Korea began removing seals
and monitoring equipment last weekend that were placed by international
nuclear inspectors on the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, which is capable of
producing weapons-grade plutonium." ...
-
- "South
Korea picks liberal Roh for president." ... "Ruling
party candidate Roh Moo-hyun won South Korea's presidential election on
Thursday, a result that could complicate ties with the United States as
the allies grapple with North Korea's nuclear programme." ... "The triumph
of Roh, 56, a populist human rights and labour lawyer, marks a stunning
turnaround after the 11th-hour desertion of his election alliance partner,
Chung Mong-joon." ... "The United States has 37,000 troops helping protect
the South from its reclusive neighbour. North and South Korea are technically
still at war as the 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty."
-By Paul Eckert -Reuters
via /Asia
- "US
accuses Iran of secret nuclear weapons plan." ...
"Washington edged closer to confrontation with all three members of President
Bush's "axis of evil" yesterday when US officials accused Iran of secretly
developing two nuclear plants which could be used to produce weapons."
... "Iran denied the charge, pointing out that officials from the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had been invited to visit the two sites, near
the towns of Arak and Natanz, in February." -By Julian
Borger -Guardian.co.uk
- "U.S.:
Iran working on nuclear weapons: IAEA: Nuclear
facilities not a surprise." ... "The United States accused Iran Friday
of "actively working" on a nuclear weapons program and said that recent
satellite photographs of a massive nuclear power construction project "reinforce"
that belief." ... "But International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General
Mohamed ElBaradei, in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, said
the chief of Iran's atomic energy program had told him in September that
the construction was for a 6,000-megawatt nuclear power facility." -Contributed
to by Christiane Amanpour, David Ensor, and Elise Labott -CNN
/World
-
-
- "U.N.
inspects new Iraqi military factory." ... "With a
new group of inspectors at work in Iraq, bringing the total to 70, the
U.N. inspection teams visited six sites Wednesday -- including a military
factory built in 1999." ... "In other searches during the day, inspectors
continued their work at the al-Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center on the
south side of Baghdad and at the Akashat uranium mine, about 420 kilometers
(260 miles) west of Baghdad, near the Syrian border." ... "Several tons
of uranium have been under seal at al-Tuwaitha since the previous round
of inspections ended in 1998." -Contributed to by
Nic Robertson and Rym Brahimi
-CNN /World
- "U.N. nuclear
agency warns N. Korea." ... "The head of the U.N.
nuclear agency urged North Korea not to restart a nuclear power plant that
Washington suspects was used to develop atomic arms before it was mothballed
eight years ago." ... "Mohamed Elbaradei, director-general of the International
Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, warned late Thursday that any unilateral
move by the North Koreans to remove agency seals and monitoring cameras
at its nuclear facilities would contravene agreements between Pyongyang
and the United Nations." ... "The North Korean nuclear program was suspended
under a 1994 deal with Washington, averting a possible war on the Korean
peninsula. Experts say North Korea could quickly extract enough plutonium
from its old facilities to make several nuclear weapons."
-MS-NBC
-
-
- "U.S.
Warns Iraq It Has Nuclear Option." ... "The United
States raised the temperature in its confrontation with Iraq over weapons
of mass destruction, saying it could go nuclear if such weapons were used
against its forces or its allies." ... "Washington issued the warning Tuesday
as U.N. arms inspectors carried out the most intensive inspections in Iraq
of their current mission and the Iraqi Foreign Ministry accused Washington
of trying to find a pretext for war." -By Nadim Ladki
-Reuters /World
-
-
- "U.S.
Sees Nuclear Deterrence Against WMD Attack." ...
"The six-page strategy document says deterring attacks with the threat
of "overwhelming force" is an essential element in protecting America and
its allies from weapons of mass destruction, also known as WMD." ... ""The
United States will continue to make clear that it reserves the right to
respond with overwhelming force -- including through resort to all our
options -- to the use of WMD against the United States, our forces abroad,
and friends and allies," the strategy report said." ... ""In addition to
our conventional and nuclear response and defense capabilities, our overall
deterrent posture against WMD threats is reinforced by effective intelligence,
surveillance, interdiction and domestic law enforcement capabilities,"
it said." -By Randall Mikkelsen
-Reuters /World
- "Iraq
dossier hints at 'dirty bomb': U.S.: Iraq hiding
weapons, documents." ... "Iraq's declaration of its weapons programs could
identify countries or firms that supplied its nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons programs, according to a table of contents obtained Monday by CNN."
... "In a letter that accompanies the nearly 12,000-page document, Foreign
Minister Naji Sabri said the dossier's publication "entails risk" of releasing
information that violates nonproliferation standards." ... "Sabri called
the report "currently accurate, full and complete," but told the U.N. Security
Council it contains information that could aid countries seeking to develop
nuclear, chemical or biological weapons." -Report
contributed to by Nic Robertson, Rym Brahimi, Rebecca MacKinnon, &
Maria Arelaez -CNN
/Europe
-
- "Soldier
Pleads in Classified Photo Case: Soldier Pleads
Guilty in Attempted Sale of Photos of Top-Secret Military Facility." ...
"A soldier has pleaded guilty to trying to sell a newspaper photographs
of a top-secret bunker where U.S. government leaders would be taken in
a nuclear attack." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "Iraq
inspectors hit back at criticism." ... "UN weapons
inspectors in Iraq have defended themselves after accusations by Baghdad
of spying and suggestions by Washington that searches are not "aggressive"
enough." ... ""We believe we are doing the job we need to be doing. We
have been unannounced and thorough," said Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman
for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), whose inspectors are
helping with the search." ... "Ms Fleming rejected allegations of espionage,
but added that if any inspector were found to be a spy, he would be immediately
dismissed." -BBC/News
-
-
- "U.S.
Criticizes North Korea for Rejecting Inspections."
... "The White House issued a muted criticism of North Korea today, saying
it was "disappointing" that North Korea had rejected a demand for inspections
of its newly revealed program to develop nuclear weapons from highly enriched
uranium." ... "The demand came from the International Atomic Energy Agency,
the nuclear inspection and regulatory organization linked to the United
Nations." ... "The White House comments appeared to be part of a strategy
to defuse any sense of imminent confrontation with North Korea, which the
Central Intelligence Agency believes is still a few years away from producing
a nuclear weapon from its uranium program." -David
E. Sanger -NYTimes
via -Moreover
-
- "U.S.
quietly prepares to negotiate with N. Korea." ...
"Despite North Korea's open breach of its promise to stop pursuing nuclear
weapons, the Bush administration is quietly paving the way for negotiations
that might give the reclusive country oil, food or other aid in exchange
for verifiable shutdown of its bomb facilities." ... "... State Department
officials said verification schemes are already being prepared by the Verification
and Compliance Bureau in the office of John Bolton, the undersecretary
for arms control." ... "Powell said officials from the Department of Energy
and the International Atomic Energy Agency are already monitoring a North
Korean nuclear facility that had produced plutonium." -By
Barbara Slavin -USATODAY
-
-
- "Russia
and China urge Korea thaw." ... "Russia and China
have urged the United States and North Korea to normalise diplomatic relations,
and called for the Korean peninsula to be kept free of nuclear weapons."
... "The call came in a joint declaration by the Russian president, Vladimir
Putin, and his Chinese counterpart, Jiang Zemin, who have been meeting
in Beijing." ... "Mr Putin is in China on the first stop of an Asia tour,
during which he became the first major world leader to meet Hu Jintao,
who recently took over as leader of China's Communist Party."-BBC/News
- "North
Korea revises confusing nuclear report." ... "North
Korea on Monday retracted a controversial weekend radio broadcast that
confused and alarmed its neighbours by appearing to confirm for the first
time the reclusive communist state has nuclear weapons." ... "... on Monday,
the Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) stated that North Korea
believed it was "entitled" to have nuclear arms -- a revision that was
likely to ease some concern, but nonetheless puts Pyongyang at odds with
the United States and allies Japan and South Korea. " -By
Paul Eckert -Reuters/Asia
- "North
Korea sows confusion with nuclear arms comment."
... "But analysts in Japan and South Korea, two neighbours who are working
closely with the United States to pressure the North to scrap its nuclear
ambitions, said on Monday it looked more like a linguistic mix-up." ...
"Just one Korean syllable separates North Korea's stock assertion of its
right to possess nuclear arms from a declaration it has such weapons --
a development that would complicate allied efforts to pre-empt a new nuclear
crisis on the Korean peninsula." -By Paul Eckert -Reuters/Asia
- "Skepticism
over N. Korea nuclear claims: Reports from
North Korea that the reclusive nation has developed nuclear weapons are
being met with confusion and skepticism." ... "North Korea's Pyongyang
Radio said Sunday the country "has come to have nuclear and other strong
military weapons to deal with increased nuclear threats by the U.S. imperialists,"
according to the Yonhap news agency which monitors North Korean broadcasts."
-CNN
-
- "U.N.
passes Iraq resolution on weapons inspections:
Bush: 'All nations must continue to pressure Saddam'" ... "The United Nations
Security Council on Friday approved a resolution that demands unfettered
access for U.N. inspectors to search for weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq." ... "All 15 member states of the Security Council voted in favor
of the resolution." ... "Iraq has seven days to accept the resolution's
terms." ... "Within 30 days, Iraq must send the U.N. a list of its
weapons." ... "Within 45 days, Iraq must allow inspections to begin."
... "Iraq is accused of possessing weapons of mass destruction -- nuclear,
biological, chemical -- in violation of the ceasefire treaty it signed
when Baghdad lost the 1991 Persian Gulf War." -Report
contributed to by Jane Arraf -CNN
-
- "U.S.
Says Pakistan Gave Technology to North Korea." ...
"American intelligence officials have concluded that Pakistan, a vital
ally since last year's terrorist attacks, was a major supplier of critical
equipment for North Korea's newly revealed clandestine nuclear weapons
program, current and former senior American officials said today [20021017]."
... "The trade between Pakistan and North Korea appears to have occurred
around 1997, roughly two years before Gen. Pervez Musharraf took power
in a bloodless coup. However, the relationship appears to have continued
after General Musharraf became president, and there is some evidence that
a commercial relationship between the two country's extended beyond Sept.
11 of last year.." (1, 2)
-By
David E. Sanger and James Dao -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- "U.S.
Not Certain if Pyongyang [North Korea] Has the Bomb."
... "Confronted by new American intelligence, North Korea has admitted
that it has been conducting a major clandestine nuclear-weapons development
program for the past several years, the Bush administration said tonight.
Officials added that North Korea had also informed them that it has now
"nullified" its 1994 agreement with the United States to freeze all nuclear
weapons development activity." ... "Administration officials refused to
say tonight [20021016]
whether the North Koreans had acknowledged successfully producing a nuclear
weapon from the project, which uses highly enriched uranium. Nor would
administration officials who briefed reporters say whether they think North
Korea has produced such a weapon." (1, 2)
-By
David E. Sanger -NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
Quad
Cities - 
-
- "Leach
says he will not back Iraq resolution." ... "U.S.
Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, said Wednesday he will break with the Bush administration
and oppose a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq." ...
"The Davenport native said there is too great a danger of such action resulting
in a biological weapons attack against Israel and an Israeli nuclear counterattack.
“This is a circumstance we should step back from,” he added." -By
Ed Tibbetts -QCTimes
- "IAEA
Says Can't Prove Iraq Making Nuclear Weapons." ...
"The United Nations nuclear watchdog said Monday it had information [satellite
images] that could indicate Iraq was attempting to revive its nuclear weapons
program, but on-site inspections were needed to draw clear conclusions."
-Reuters via -ABCNEWS.com
- "The
Times: Exiled Iraqi says nuclear bomb months away."
... "The British newspaper said Dr Khidir Hamza, described as a top Iraqi
nuclear researcher who fled to the West in 1994, believed that Iraq was
able to make copies of a German-built centrifuge and use them to enrich
uranium smuggled from Brazil to produce a nuclear bomb within the next
few months." ... "The German-built centrifuge was dismantled by international
arms inspectors before they were withdrawn from Iraq in 1998. But Hamza
told the Times that Iraqi scientists had studied how the centrifuge was
built and learned how to copy it." -By Amos Harel
-Ha'aretzDaily
-
-
- "President
Bush's address to the United Nations. [CNN Full-Text Transcript]."
Highlights: "The history, the logic and the facts lead to one conclusion:
Saddam Hussein regime is a grave and gathering danger." ... "To suggest
otherwise is to hope against the evidence. To assume this regime's good
faith is to bet the lives of millions and the peace of the world in a reckless
gamble, and this is a risk we must not take." ... "The first time we may
be completely certain he has nuclear weapons is when, God forbid, he uses
one. We owe it to all our citizens to do everything in our power to prevent
that day from coming." ... "The United States help found the United Nations.
We want the United Nations to be effective and respectful and successful.
We want the resolutions of the world's most important multilateral body
to be enforced. And right now those resolutions are being unilaterally
subverted by the Iraqi regime." ... "My nation will work with the U.N.
Security Council to meet our common challenge. If Iraq's regime defies
us again, the world must move deliberately, decisively to hold Iraq to
account. We will work with the U.N. Security Council for the necessary
resolutions." ... "But the purposes of the United States should not be
doubted. The Security Council resolutions will be enforced, the just demands
of peace and security will be met or action will be unavoidable and a regime
that has lost its legitimacy will also lose its power."
-CNN
- "Study:
Iraq Could Make N-Bomb." ... "The IISS [the International
Institute for Strategic Studies] said Saddam had subordinated all other
foreign policy goals and his country's economic development to his relentless
drive for weapons of mass destruction, enduring more than a decade of sanctions
rather than obey U.N. resolutions." -By Paul Taylor
-Reuters
- Press Release on: - "Iraq’s
Weapons of Mass Destruction: A Net Assessment:
An IISS Strategic Dossier." ... "Had the Gulf War not intervened,
Iraq could have accumulated a nuclear stockpile of a dozen or so weapons
by the end of the decade." ... "After its invasion of Kuwait, Baghdad
stepped up large scale BW agent production and assembled rudimentary BW
[biological weapons] munitions. These weapons were distributed to military
units, who were delegated to use them if coalition forces advanced on Baghdad
or used nuclear weapons." ... "This Strategic Dossier does not attempt
to make a case, either way, as to whether Saddam Hussein’s WMD arsenal
is a casus belli per se. Wait and the threat will grow; strike and
the threat may be used." [bold in original] -Press
Statement By Dr. John Chipman, IISS Director. -IISS.org
- "‘They’re
Getting Closer’: Iraq Closer to Nuclear Weapons,
Rumsfeld Says." ... "Iraq already possesses a threatening cache of chemical
and biological weapons and is getting "closer every day" to obtaining nuclear
weapons, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Good Morning America
today." ... "Rumsfeld said it was not known or even "knowable," if Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein had managed to obtain nuclear weapons, since weapons
inspectors have not been allowed into the country for years."
-ABCNEWS.com -GMA
- "Congress
Now Promises to Hold Weeks of Hearings About Iraq."
... "Congressional leaders said today that they would undertake weeks of
hearings and debate on whether to support military action against Iraq,
a move that could delay a final vote until after the November elections."
... "Even as Congressional leaders discussed an extended timetable, a United
Nations official said today that international weapons inspectors had identified
several nuclear-related sites in Iraq where new construction or other unexplained
changes had occurred since their last visit nearly four years ago." -By
David Firestone and David E. Sanger -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- "Bush
to Put Case for Action in Iraq to Key Lawmakers."
... "Some senators demanded hard evidence to back up Vice President Dick
Cheney's contentions that Mr. Hussein is close to producing a nuclear weapon
and poses an urgent threat to the United States." -By
Alison Mitchell and David E. Sanger -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- "U.S.
may offer more Iraq evidence." ... "The Bush administration
has secret information supporting its claims that Saddam Hussein poses
an unacceptable threat to the world and is close to developing nuclear
weapons, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday. President
Bush could disclose the information through upcoming congressional hearings
on Iraq, Rumsfeld hinted at a Pentagon press conference." ... "In London,
Prime Minister Tony Blair said his government hoped to publish in the next
few weeks a dossier of evidence on Saddam's efforts to develop weapons
of mass destruction." -AP
via -USATODAY
- "Saddam:
U.S. 'believes it should control the world'." ...
""America," Saddam was quoted as saying, "believes it should control the
world. But some of the world's states have nuclear bombs and this is not
feasible."" -By James Martone
-CNN
-
- OPINION
- "India,
Pakistan and G.E.." ... "Two months ago India and
Pakistan appeared headed for a nuclear war. Colin Powell, the U.S. secretary
of state and a former general, played a key role in talking the two parties
back from the brink. But here in India, I've discovered that there was
another new, and fascinating, set of pressures that restrained the Indian
government and made nuclear war, from its side, unthinkable. Quite simply,
India's huge software and information technology industry, which has emerged
over the last decade and made India the back-room and research hub of many
of the world's largest corporations, essentially told the nationalist Indian
government to cool it. And the government here got the message and has
sought to de-escalate ever since. That's right — in the crunch, it was
the influence of General Electric, not General Powell, that did the trick."
-By Thomas L. Friedman
-NYTimes via -Moreover
- "Koizumi
urges ban on nuclear weapons." ... "Japanese Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi is calling for the elimination of all nuclear
weapons." ... ""As the only country that has experienced a nuclear attack
... we have appealed to the global community to eradicate nuclear weapons
and build a lasting peace, so that the devastation ofnuclear warfare will
never again be repeated," Koizumi said." -CNN
- "Hiroshima
mayor sends nuclear alert to Bush." ... "The mayor
of the Japanese city of Hiroshima has delivered a stinging rebuke to the
Bush administration on the 57th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic
bomb on his city in 1945." ... "More than 220,000 people were killed as
a result of the Hiroshima bombing." ... "Over half of those killed died
in the initial explosion, whilst tens of thousands died later as a result
of cancers and other illnesses attributed to the atomic fallout."
-CNN
- "'One
hell of a big bang'." ... "Today is Hiroshima Day,
the anniversary of the first use of a bomb so powerful that it would come
to threaten the existence of the human race. Only two such devices have
ever been used, but now, a decade after the end of the cold war, the world
faces new dangers of nuclear attack - from India, Pakistan, Iraq, al-Qaida,
and even the US. Launching a special investigation into nuclear weapons,
Paul Tibbets, the man who piloted the Enola Gay [named after Paul Tibbets
mother, Enola Gay Haggard]] on its mission to Japan, tells Studs Terkel
why he has no regrets - and why he wouldn't hesitate to use it again."
-Guardian.co.uk
- "Atomic
plans returned to Japan." ... "Documents hidden since
World War II showing Japan's plans for an atomic bomb have been returned
to the country, according to a newspaper report."
-BBC /News
- "Iraq
experts warn senators: Saddam pushing ahead with weapons program."
... "Richard Butler refuted statements by Iraq that it has no weapons of
mass destruction or the means to make such chemical, biological and nuclear
weaponry." ... ""Everyone, Mr. Chairman, is being lied to," said the former
chief weapons inspector for the United Nations. Iraq forced his team of
inspectors -- charged with certifying that Iraq had no such weapons --
to leave the country in late 1998." ... "Khidar Hamza, a former Iraqi nuclear
engineer, said Iraq is well into the production of chemical weapons and
has enough uranium to generate several nuclear weapons by 2005."
-CNN
- "Israel
Has Sub-Based Atomic Arms Capability." ... "Israel
has acquired three diesel submarines that it is arming with newly designed
cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, according to former
Pentagon and State Department officials, potentially giving Israel a triad
of land-, sea- and air-based nuclear weapons for the first time." ... "Although
developing a sea-based leg would preserve the deterrent value of Israel's
nuclear force, according to analysts, it would complicate U.S. efforts
to keep other countries in the Middle East and elsewhere from seeking to
acquire nuclear arms. It also could spur a nuclear arms race in the Middle
East." ... "Israel has long refused to confirm or deny it has nuclear weapons.
U.S. analysts say it has a modest arsenal of short- and medium-range nuclear-capable
missiles, nuclear bombs that could be delivered from jet fighters and Harpoon
missiles that could be launched from planes or ships."
-By Walter Pincus -WashingtonPost
-
- "Musharraf
tries to quell nuclear war fears: Pakistani
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on Saturday tried to defuse fears of nuclear
war between his nation and India, saying that such a war was all but unthinkable."
... ""I don't think either side is that irresponsible to go to that limit,"
Musharraf told CNN in an exclusive interview. "I would even go to the extent
of saying one shouldn't even be discussing these things, because any sane
individual cannot even think of going into this unconventional war, whatever
the pressures."" -CNN
-
- "Kashmir
leads to U.S. plan for airlift." ... "As border tensions
heighten between nuclear powers Pakistan and India, a U.S. government team
is in India to plan the possible evacuation of 1,100 U.S. troops and up
to 63,000 U.S. citizens from both countries." -By
Jonathan Weisman -USATODAY
-
- "Nuclear
rivals talk tough over Kashmir: India and Pakistan
have exchanged belligerent warnings over disputed Kashmir, where a massive
troop build-up and continued shelling have fuelled fears of all-out war."
-BBC /News
Osama
bin Laden - "U.S.
Fears Bin Laden Gain in Nuclear Effort: Concern
Over 'Dirty Bomb' Affects Security." -By Bob Woodward,
Robert G. Kaiser and David B. Ottaway -WashingtonPost