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Stop ABM Treaty Withdrawal - Law Suit * Dept. of Homeland Offense!

12 June 2002


1) Lawsuit to stop withdrawal from ABM Treaty
2) Department of Homeland Offense


"It is not the task of the individual who lives in this critical time merely to await results and to criticize. He must serve this great cause as well as he can. For the fate of all humanity will be that fate which it honestly earns and deserves. "

Albert Einstein
Berlin, September 4, 1931
For the complete transcript of his speech at the 1932 Disarmament Conference, see
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=archive&s=1932einstein


Editor's Notes:

If there is one politician striving to do all he can for disarmament, it is Dennis J. Kucinich. He and other House Democrats are filing a law suit to prevent the US withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. China and Russia are expected to be introducing a proposal to ban space-based weapons to the United Nations' Conference on Disarmament at the end of this month. Meanwhile, Item 2 highlights the official US position for initiating unprecedented chaos. Suddenly C-Span switched from its plans to cover 911 investigations at the National Press Club on June 10, to covering Bush's new plan to centralize national and domestic security and border agencies under the auspices of one government official. Of course the new restructuring by the Bush administration left the CIA and FBI out of the picture -- that would shake up the present control structures too much, exposing the destructiveness of the current law enforcement JUST US system. This item, too, includes information on Yucca Mountain, Leonard Peltier – Earth First, FBI abuses, and plans to protest at FBI Headquarters on June 29.

"The natural state of mind for mankind is freedom. The proof is the length to which any man, woman or child will go to regain it, once it is taken. He will try and try and try, against all odds... to get home."

John Quincy Adams

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1) Lawsuit to stop withdrawal from ABM Treaty

Ohio lawmaker to file lawsuit to stop withdrawal from ABM treaty
Mon Jun 10, 521 PM ET

WASHINGTON - A group of House Democrats, led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, plans to file a lawsuit Tuesday to block the Bush administration from withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Kucinich's office said the lawsuit will ask a federal district court to issue a temporary restraining order to stop the withdrawal, scheduled to go into effect Thursday, six months after President George W. Bush announced his plans to leave the treaty.

The Ohio lawmaker said the suit will also seek a decision on whether the Constitution permits the president to withdraw from the treaty without the consent of Congress. He said 29 other Democrats and an independent who usually votes with the Democrats would join as plaintiffs.

Kucinich tried last Thursday to bring to the House floor a resolution asking Bush to get the approval of Congress before pulling out of the treaty, which barred the United States and the Soviet Union from erecting missile defense systems.

He was defeated 254-169, with all House Republicans supporting a ruling of the chair that denied Kucinich a vote on his resolution.

In 1979 Sen. Barry Goldwater filed a lawsuit against President Jimmy Carter, saying Carter had acted unconstitutionally in unilaterally abrogating the U.S. mutual defense pact with Taiwan when the United States formalized diplomatic relations with the Beijing government. The Supreme Court declined to take the case after a lower court decided against the senator.

Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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"Space Weapons Ban - How Can It Be Achieved"
Breaking News from Conference and Workshop, sponsored by:
International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation
Federation of German Scientists
June 10 and 11, 2002
Berlin

Press Release:
New movement towards a space weapons ban
June 11, 2002

On June 10 and 11, a workshop and expert meeting were held in Berlin, Germany, on the questions how a space weapons ban could be achieved. On the invitation of three scientific organizations, experts from the US, China, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Germany met to discuss proposals for a space weapons ban that have been officially tabled in the past.

The Chinese representative surprised the attendants with a brand new proposal that will be officially introduced into the United Nations' Conference of Disarmament at the end of this month. Fu Zhigang from the Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the CD explained details of a working paper his country drafted jointly with Russia. The suggested agreement would obligate the States Parties "not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying any kinds of weapons, not to install such weapons on celestial bodies, or not to station such weapons in outer space in any other manner."

Several other draft treaties were also presented and discussed by the scientific, legal, and policy experts at the workshop. The Space Preservation Act of 2002, introduced at the US Congress by Representative Dennis Kucinich, is complemented by the companion Space Preservation Treaty and used as a tool to both educate the public on the dangers of an arms race in space and build pressure on the US administration to reconsider its space weaponization plans. Considerably older is the Proposed Treaty on the Limitation of the Military Use of Outer Space drafted by German scientists in 1984 which at that time was supported by the SPD and Green Party in the German Bundestag.

The discussion showed that activities to prevent an arms race in space are as important now and then. The participants will continue their efforts in the future to raise international attention for a space without weapons.

Background information: The workshop "Space Weapons Ban - How Can It Be Achieved" was held on June 10 and 11, 2002, at the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften in Berlin and convened by ACDIS (Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), INESAP (International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation), and VDW (Federation of German Scientists).

For further details contact: Regina Hagen, INESAP Coordinator
Email: inesap@hrzpub.tu-darmstadt.de

To read the Kucinich-H.R.3616- and
"World Treaty to Ban Space-Based Weapons," visit:
http://www.peaceinspace.com

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Related Article:

Militarizing Space Would Lead to New Balance of Terror
Published Tuesday, June 11, 2002 in the Madison Capital Times
by Dan Cornwell

Within days, President Bush's withdrawal from the ABM Treaty will go into effect - without the advice and consent of the Senate or action by Congress. This is an assault on our Constitution and the principle of separation of powers that is so essential to our freedom. And there is no greater threat to the future security of the United States than the Bush administration's rush to put weapons into space.

It is obvious why the president has chosen to avoid seeking the Senate's advice and consent or any action by Congress: The arguments for urgency in termination of the treaty could not stand up under scrutiny by the Congress. There is no plausible case for urgency in deployment of a missile defense system when the threat is so remote, the demand on our resources so great, and the dependability of the system so much in doubt.

So one has to ask, what is the administration's purpose? Why the hurry?

The answer is clear from all the signals the Bush administration has sent about its vision of our future military posture. The goal is to gain complete military dominance of space and to be able to project overwhelming force from space to anyplace on earth, at any time.

For the complete article, see:
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0612-04.htm

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Related Article:

U.S. endorses preemptive strikes Bush administration promotes new strategic doctrine
By Thomas E. Ricks and Vernon Loeb
THE WASHINGTON POST

June 10 — The Bush administration is developing a new strategic doctrine that moves away from the Cold War pillars of containment and deterrence toward a policy that supports preemptive attacks against terrorists and hostile states with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

For the complete article, see:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/764396.asp?pne=msntv

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Related Article:

Bush reportedly tells Koizumi he's going to attack Iraq
Sunday, June 9, 2002 at 11:00 JST
TOKYO â€" U.S. President George W Bush told Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of his intention to attack Iraq when the two met in Tokyo in February, a Japanese daily reported Sunday. Citing Japan-U.S. diplomatic sources, the Mainichi Shimbun said in a front-page story that Bush did not refer to any specific date but said twice, "It would be swift." "We'll attack Iraq. We'll do it definitely," Bush was quoted as telling Koizumi.

For the complete article, see:
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=9&id=219352

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Related BBC News Article:
"Iraq 'has no terror weapons"
By Alex Kirby



A former UN official who served in Iraq tells BBC News Online he thinks the country has no weapons of mass destruction.

The official, Denis Halliday, was the UN humanitarian co-ordinator in Iraq in 1997-98.

Mr Halliday said he thought a US attack on Iraq was likely later this year, and people there were deeply concerned.

Any attack could mean appalling losses of Iraqi civilians and US troops.

For the complete article, see:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_2029000/2029457.stm

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Leaving the ABM Treaty in the Dust
-- by Leah Wells

Two months ago, the Los Angeles Times exposed a U.S. plan for developing contingency plans to use nuclear weapons against Russia, China, Syria, Lybia, Iran, Iraq, and/or North Korea. This enlightening, albeit dangerous and revealing, policy demonstrates our motives of paving the road for a fast and furious arms race unlike any other. To make matters worse, the United States will unilaterally walk away from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty this Thursday under the pretext that it is outdated and unneeded..

..Leo Tolstoy, in his essay entitled "Patriotism or Peace" cites a passage by the Chinese philosopher Confucius: "In reply to a prince's question how to increase his army, in order to conquer a southern tribe which did not submit to him, Confucius replied: 'Destroy all thy army, and use the money, which thou art wasting now on the army, on the enlightenment of thy people and on the improvement of agriculture, and the southern tribe will drive away its prince and will submit to thy rule without war.'"

In response to our country's policies and to Confucius' advice, I have two questions: Is there more than one way to defend our country? Is there more than one way to show we love our country? Seems like taking care of future generations is a good way both to defend our country and show we love it. When one-fourth of children in America live in poverty, our country is less secure and less stable. A healthy, well-educated and well-cared-for population will want to invest their time, energy and money in keeping America beautiful. A deprived, sickly and ill-informed population is actually a danger to our nation.

We can defend our country by establishing alliances with other countries, especially those on the "terrible seven" list. Folks from the Peace Pilgrim Center, in a letter after the terrorist attacks on September 11, said that we still have the capacity to transform enemies into friends. Dr. King challenged us to do the same thing in his essay entitled "Loving Your Enemies.."

..Perhaps we should heed Confucius' words. Or Dr. King's. Or buckle up - we're in for a wild ride.

The above was excerpted from an article by Leah C. Wells, who serves as the Peace Education Coordinator for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. She may be contacted at education@napf.org

The complete article was published Tuesday, June 11, 2002 by CommonDreams.org at this link:
http://commondreams.org/views02/0611-08.htm
© Copyrighted 1997-2001

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2) Department of Homeland Offense

With his Cabinet-level homeland security agency, Bush overwhelmed questions about his pre-9/11 performance, and undid the Democrats' 2002 election strategy. David Corn reports.
Bush's New Dept: Rushing for Security or Politics?
June 10, 2002

After September 11, the President of the United States told budget director Mitch Daniels there would be three conditions under which a deficit would be acceptable recession, national emergency and war: "Lucky me, I hit the trifecta." First the trifecta, now, with the announcement of his new cabinet-level homeland security department, George W. Bush has pulled a hat trick. In one stroke, Bush overwhelmed the mounting questions about his administration's pre-9/11 performance regarding terrorism, placed himself in the forefront of change, and undid the Democrats' 2002 election strategy. Not bad for a President who, of late, was somewhat foundering on the Middle East and 9/11 questions.

For the complete article, see:
http://www.thenation.com/capitalgames/index.mhtml?bid=3&pid=71

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Related Article:

Mr Bush's Titanic War on Terror Will Eventually Sink Beneath the Waves Meantime, all the men who claim to be fighting terror are using this lunatic "war" simply for their own purposes.

Independent/UK
by Robert Fisk

June 12, 2002

First it was to be a crusade. Then it became the "War for Civilization". Then the "War without End". Then the "War against Terror". And now ­ believe it or not ­ President Bush is promising us a "Titanic War on Terror". This gets weirder and weirder. What can come next? Given the latest Bush projections last week ­ "we know that thousands of trained killers are plotting to attack us" ­ he must surely have an even more gargantuan cliché up his sleeve.

Well, he must have known about the would-be Chicago "dirty" bomber ­ another little secret he didn't tell the American people about for a month. Until, of course, it served a purpose. We shall hear more about this strange episode ­ and I'll hazard a guess the story will change in the next few days and weeks. But what could be more titanic than the new and ominously named "Department for Homeland Security", with its 170,000 future employees and its $37.5bn (£26.6bn) budget? It will not, mark you, incorporate the rival CIA and FBI ­ already at each other's throats over the failure to prevent the crimes against humanity of 11 September ­ and will thus ensure that the intelligence battle will be triangular: between the CIA, the FBI and the boys from "Homeland Security". This, I suspect, will be the real titanic war.

For the complete article, see:
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0612-01.htm

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Bush Administration Stops One Dirty Bomber, But Targets US Cities With Largest Dirty Bomb Program in History

WASHINGTON - June 11 - While Attorney General Ashcroft announced the capture of an alleged al Qaeda operative intending to make a radioactive "dirty bomb," the Bush Administration has given the rubber stamp for thousands of potential dirty bombs to move across the United States to a leaky dump at Yucca Mountain. A national nuclear dump in Nevada, located far from the sites of waste generation would result in millions of shipping miles of high-level nuclear waste - the most concentrated nuclear material on the planet. The routes (barge, rail and truck) would be general commerce routes that link trade centers. Major US cities in 43 states are in the cross hairs for Yucca shipments, which in the current era, could well become dirty bombs if exploded in transit.

For the complete article, see:
http://www.commondreams.org/news2002/0611-07.htm
also
http://www.nirs.org

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Related Yucca Information:

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed a resolution approving the Yucca Mountain nuclear storage site in Nevada. The measure now moves to the Senate floor for a final vote. For more details on this, see:
http://www.lcv.org/congress/congresswatch/2002/06/10/cw_26962.asp

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Yucca: Inefficient reactors, a lazy DOE, a mountain of deadly fuel
By Bob Nichols
Online Journal Contributing Writer

June 10, 2002—Yucca Mountain is a colossal testament to bureaucratic waste and
inefficiency. The federal Department of Energy (DOE) mismanagement legacy is
truly Biblical in its proportions.

For the article, see:
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Commentary/Nichols061002/nichols061002.html

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For an easy way to contact your Senator on the Yucca Mountain and other vital issues, contact Jim Harris Jim@ProgressiveSecretary.Org

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Link to Dennis Kucinich's Statement to STOP:
"Transportation of Nuclear Waste to the Proposed Yucca Mountain Storage Facility"

House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Highways and Transit/Railroads Joint Hearing

http://www.house.gov/kucinich/press/pr-020425-nuclearwaste.htm

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June 11, 2002

Debate Over Homeland Security Plan Hits Congress Full Force
by The Associated Press | New York Times

Tuesday, 11 June, 2002

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lawmakers questioned the exclusion of the FBI and CIA from direct lines of authority under a new Homeland Security Department as the House opened hearings into President Bush's anti-terrorism reorganization plan.

At Tuesday's hearing and elsewhere on Capitol Hill, members of Congress grew more openly critical of the plan, which was announced last week, even as they generally agreed on a need for quick action.

House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said many lawmakers are concerned that the president's plan does not envision the "full participation'' of the FBI and CIA, which have been the subjects of heavy criticism for their pre-Sept. 11 intelligence performance. Under Bush's plan, intelligence would be analyzed by the new department, which would have no authority over what the agencies produced.

"Many of us feel we can maybe, perhaps, more completely do that job than what was outlined'' by the president, Armey said. "We may have to pull these agencies more fully into the structure than was recommended.''

http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/09.013B.debate.full.htm

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Spying and Lying: The FBI's Dirty Secrets
Mark Weisbrot, AlterNet June 6, 2002

It seems that the FBI is likely to be rewarded for the missed warnings, fumbled intelligence, and bureaucratic foul-ups that preceded Sept. 11. Attorney General John Ashcroft has announced that the FBI is changing its rules so that it can spy on domestic organizations, even where there is no evidence of specific criminal activity.

It is doubtful that the Administration could get away with these changes if the real functioning of the FBI as a political police force were better known. The press has referred to the agency's COINTELPRO (from counterintelligence program) operation of the 1960s and 70s as though it were ancient history, a minor aberration of the FBI's quirky and fanatical director J. Edgar Hoover.

In fact COINTELPRO was a massive operation to infiltrate, disrupt, harass, and otherwise interfere with the lawful activities of civil rights advocates, peace activists, religious organizations, and others. One of the FBI's most famous and hated targets was the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In a covert operation that now reads like a B-grade movie script, the FBI actually made a serious effort to blackmail Dr. King into committing suicide.


For the complete article, see :
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=13316

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Related Article:

Environmental Activists Win Case Against FBI, Police -- Given $4.4M
By The Associated Press | New York Times

Tuesday, 11 June, 2002

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- A federal jury awarded $4.4 million Tuesday to two radical environmentalists who accused Oakland police and the FBI of trying to frame them for a 1990 bomb blast that wrecked the activists' car.


For the complete article, see:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/09.013D.bari.4M.htm

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Related Issue:

Leonard Peltier is one of the many current victims of COINTELPRO.
Visit the following Flyby News Archive link for more information and to learn how you can help free this indigenous human rights leader:
http://www.flybynews.com/cgi-local/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1013207483,22139,


This June 26, 2002 will mark the 27th year since the shoot-out on the Pine Ridge Reservation that led to the deaths of two FBI agents, the un-investigated killing of an American Indian Movement activist, and the Wrongful Conviction of Leonard Peltier. To learn about actions around the world and to support his defense, or to purchase a limited inventory of the hard cover edition of Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sundance for only $18.00 (Includes S&H), visit:
http://www.freepeltier.org/

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CALL TO ACTION:

MARCH ON THE FBI AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
headquarters in Washington DC Pennsylvania Ave. between 9th and 10th St. NW
Saturday, June 29 @ 12 noon

- Say no to the FBI attacks on civil rights and civil liberties
- Stand up against racism and racial and religious profiling
- No new COINTELPRO
- Defend the Arab American, Muslim and South Asian communities
- Stop the new witchhunt against political and religious organizations
- Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier & all political prisoners in the U.S.
- Money for jobs, education and healthcare - not repression and war

The Bush administration announced in the last week of May that the FBI would be seizing vast additional powers to spy on the people of the United States. We must act now to stop this assault on our rights.
These powers pose a grave danger to civil liberties and civil rights, and will - unless defeated by the people - lead to a new round of persecution of people based on their political or religious convictions.

More than anything, the people of this country need to be back in the streets to let the government know that we will not be silenced and we will not be intimidated. Everything that we have learned from the union movement, the civil rights movement and the anti-war movements of the past is that the people can defeat the government's plans through their own mobilization.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

*ENDORSE the June 29 protest! Email ANSWER@afgj.org with your/your group's endorsement.

*DONATIONS are urgently needed! Tax-deductible contributions can be made at http://www.internationalanswer.org/donate.html

*HELP GET THE WORD OUT - organize others to come to Washington DC on June 29. For more information, see http://www.internationalanswer.org (downloadable flyers, local contacts and more will be available). We are calling on all nearby cities in the East Coast, South and Midwest to come to Washington DC on Saturday, June 29 for a regional demonstration at the FBI headquarters. If you can't make it to DC, organize a local action at a Federal Building on Friday, June 28.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
http://www.internationalanswer.org

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