Just Foreign Policy News November 3, 2006 No War with Iran: Petition More than 3300 people have signed the Just Foreign Policy/Peace Action petition through Just Foreign Policy's website. Please sign/circulate if you have yet to do so: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/involved/iranpetition.html
Get Local: the Just Foreign Policy NorthEast Tour If there's an event in your area, try to come. If not, pass the info to folks you know who live near upcoming events; we'll try to drop by your neighborhood soon. http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/tour/index.html Just Foreign Policy News daily podcast: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/podcasts/podcast_howto.html Summary: U.S./Top News The termination of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, slipped into a military authorization bill, has generated outrage among lawmakers who say they didn't know it was in the legislation, the New York Times reports. Investigations by the office have sent American occupation officials to jail on bribery charges, exposed poor construction work by companies like Halliburton and Parsons, and discovered the military didn't track hundreds of thousands of weapons it shipped to Iraq. Despite heavy-handed interference from the US, Daniel Ortega appears poised for victory in Nicaragua's presidential elections, the Independent reports. Lawyers will soon ask the German federal prosecutor open a criminal investigation of Donald Rumsfeld and Alberto Gonzales for war crimes, Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith report in The Nation. The passage of the Military Commissions Act provides a central argument for the legal action: it demonstrates the intent of the Bush Administration to immunize itself legally from prosecution in the US. A new protest movement inside the U.S. military echoes similar protests during Vietnam, Mark Benjamin writes in Salon. Last week a group of current troops announced plans to petition Congress with a collection of "appeals for redress," which call for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. Since then, the effort has swelled to nearly 500 troops, and continues to grow. The government shut down a Web site containing an archive of captured Iraqi documents, after The New York Times asked about complaints from IAEA officials about the posting of detailed accounts of Iraq's secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, experts say, constitute a guide to building an atom bomb. One diplomat said the agency's experts "were shocked" at the public disclosures. The Pentagon has stepped up planning for attacks against North Korea's nuclear program and is bolstering nuclear forces in Asia, the Washington Times reports. Officials said the accelerated military planning includes detailed programs for striking a North Korean plutonium-reprocessing facility at Yongbyon. The planning was already underway before North Korea's recent nuclear test. Nuclear experts see a world on the threshold of a dangerous arms race, the Washington Post reports. Some fault the Bush administration for policies that rewarded nuclear-armed friends while denouncing foes accused of building the same weapons. Others say the current situation is a byproduct of a world in which countries no longer have to choose between the US and the Soviet Union, but can build independent alliances. America is now seen as a threat to world peace by its closest allies, according to an international survey of public opinion that reveals how far the country's reputation has fallen since the invasion of Iraq, the Guardian reports. Iran Russia is ready to back a U.N. resolution to curb Iran's nuclear program but sanctions drawn up by European leaders greatly exceed what Moscow agreed with Western powers, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday. Lavrov has said the resolution should focus only on areas the International Atomic Energy Agency has defined as serious, such as uranium enrichment, chemical processing and heavy-water reactors. Iraq An Army dog handler convicted of abusing detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq has returned to the country with his military police unit, AP reports. While it might be unpalatable to U.S. politicians, an amnesty might help reduce violence in Iraq, writes US Army historian Dale Andrade in the Washington Post. Israel Israeli troops fired at a large crowd of unarmed Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip today as the women approached a mosque to help Palestinian militants holed up inside, the New York Times reports. Two women were killed and about 10 were injured. The shooting provoked widespread outrage among Palestinians. Afghanistan The next opium harvest in Afghanistan will likely rival this year's record high, AP reports. Mexico Protesters forced federal police to retreat from the gates of the state university in Oaxaca after six hours of pitched fighting and the rector's call for an end to the government "attack, " AP reports. North Korea The Bush administration claim that North Korea cheated or reneged on a 1994 agreement with the U.S. to freeze its nuclear program is "completely false and ridiculous," former President Carter said. Contents: U.S./Top News 1) Congress Tells Auditor in Iraq to Close Office James Glanz, New York Times, November 3, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/03/world/middleeast/03reconstruct.html Investigations led by Republican lawyer Stuart Bowen in Iraq have sent American occupation officials to jail on bribery and conspiracy charges, exposed disastrously poor construction work by well-connected companies like Halliburton and Parsons, and discovered that the military did not properly track hundreds of thousands of weapons it shipped to Iraqi security forces. Tucked away in a huge military authorization bill that President Bush signed two weeks ago is what some of Bowen's supporters believe is his reward for repeatedly embarrassing the administration: a pink slip. The order comes in the form of an obscure provision that terminates his federal oversight agency, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, on Oct. 1, 2007. The clause was inserted by the Republican side of the House Armed Services Committee over the objections of Democratic counterparts during a closed-door conference, and it has generated surprise and some outrage among lawmakers who say they had no idea it was in the final legislation. Bowen's office, which began operation in January 2004 to examine reconstruction money spent in Iraq, was always envisioned as a temporary organization, permitted to continue its work only as long as Congress saw fit. Some advocates for the office, in fact, have regarded its lack of a permanent bureaucracy as the key to its aggressiveness and independence. But as the implications of the provision in the new bill have become clear, opposition has been building on both sides of the political aisle. One point of contention is exactly when the office would have naturally run its course without a hard end date. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who followed the bill closely as chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, says that she still does not know how the provision made its way into the conference report. Neither the House nor the Senate version contained such a termination clause before the conference, all involved agree. "It's truly a mystery to me," Collins said. "I looked at what I thought was the final version of the conference report and that provision was not in at that time." But like several other members of the House and Senate who were contacted on the bill, Collins said that she feared the loss of oversight that could occur if the inspector general's office went out of business, adding that she was already working on legislation with several Democratic and Republican senators to reverse the termination. 2) Ortega on Threshold of Power Despite US Hand in Nicaragua Andrew Buncombe, Independent, Friday, November 3, 2006 http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1103-04.htm More than two decades after they first swept to power, Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas appear poised for victory in Nicaragua's presidential elections. Despite heavy-handed interference from the US, which has actively campaigned against Ortega, the 60-year-old former president is eight to 10 points ahead of his rivals, just days away from Sunday's vote. Polls suggest he is less than one point away from the 35 per cent he needs to win in the first round and avoid the need for a run-off. If Ortega secures victory he will do so despite remarkable interference from the US, whose ambassador in Nicaragua, Paul Trivelli, has been outspoken in his disapproval of the Sandinista leader and in support of Eduardo Montealegre, the candidate for the National Liberal Alliance who is currently placed second in the polls. Ortega's previous attempts at securing the presidency, which he lost in 1990, have also met with strident US opposition. The US has a long and bloody history of interference in Nicaragua. In the Eighties, the administration of Ronald Reagan spent an estimated $300m (£160m) to provide arms and support to Contra rebels who launched a brutal war against the Sandinista government, leading to the deaths of up to 30,000 people. At the time of the Sandinistas' victory in the 1984 election, Reagan said Nicaragua was only "two days" from Brownsville, Texas - implying that the Sandinistas represented a direct threat to the US. While Ortega has regularly criticised American interference during this campaign, he has also spoken of reconciliation and portrayed himself as someone who will be able to create jobs and boost the country's economy, which is heavily dependent on trade with Washington. 3) War Criminals, Beware Jeremy Brecher & Brendan Smith, The Nation, November 20, 2006 http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061120/brechersmith On November 14 a group of lawyers will come before the German federal prosecutor and ask him to open a criminal investigation targeting Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales and other key Bush Administration figures for war crimes. The recent passage of the Military Commissions Act provides a central argument for the legal action, under the doctrine of universal jurisdiction: It demonstrates the intent of the Bush Administration to immunize itself legally from prosecution in the US, even for the most serious crimes. 4) A new protest movement inside the military Mark Benjamin, Salon, Nov. 2, 2006 http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/11/02/mil_protest/ An extraordinary full-page antiwar ad appeared in the Sunday edition of the New York Times on Nov. 9, 1969. In it, 1,366 active-duty U.S. service members signed a statement calling for an end to the war in Vietnam. Behind those signatures was a groundswell of dissent inside the military. Today, there are echoes of the Vietnam experience in the protracted Iraq war - including a growing protest movement in the military. It has formed around a form-letter campaign, presumably conducted within the bounds of military regulations that restrict what soldiers are allowed to say. Last week, a group of current troops, with support from a handful of antiwar organizations, announced plans to petition Congress with a collection of "appeals for redress," which call for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. They had 65 signatures from active-duty troops and reservists. Since then, the effort has quietly swelled to nearly 500 troops, and continues to grow. 5) U.S. Web Archive Is Said to Reveal a Nuclear Primer William J. Broad, New York Times, November 3, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/03/world/middleeast/03cnd-documents.html Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who had said they hoped to "leverage the Internet" to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein. But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq's secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb. Last night, the government shut down the Web site after The New York Times asked about complaints from weapons experts and arms-control officials. A spokesman for John Negroponte, the director of national intelligence, said access to the site had been suspended "pending a review to ensure its content is appropriate for public viewing." Officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency, fearing that the information could help states like Iran develop nuclear arms, had privately protested last week to the American ambassador to the agency, according to European diplomats. One diplomat said the agency's technical experts "were shocked" at the public disclosures. 6) U.S. Speeds Attack Plans For North Korea Bill Gertz, Washington Times, Published November 3, 2006 http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20061103-122702-4895r.htm The Pentagon has stepped up planning for attacks against North Korea's nuclear program and is bolstering nuclear forces in Asia, said defense officials familiar with the highly secret process. The officials said the accelerated military planning includes detailed programs for striking a North Korean plutonium-reprocessing facility at Yongbyon with special operations commando raids or strikes with Tomahawk cruise missiles or other precision-guided weapons. The effort, which had been under way for several months, was given new impetus by Pyongyang's underground nuclear test Oct. 9 and growing opposition to the nuclear program of Kim Jong-il's communist regime, especially by China and South Korea. A Pentagon official said the Department of Defense is considering "various military options" to remove the program. "Other than nuclear strikes, which are considered excessive, there are several options now in place. Planning has been accelerated," the official said. 7) Optimism Turns To Anxiety On Curbing Nuclear Arms Dafna Linzer, Washington Post, Friday, November 3, 2006; A23 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/02/AR2006110201581.html In the waning days of the 20th century, nearly a dozen countries abandoned nuclear weapons programs, betting on the promised security of a post-Cold War world. But the trend toward disarmament seems to have tapered off almost as quickly as it began. In the first six years of the 21st century, one country - Libya - agreed to give up the possibility of making a weapon. But North Korea accelerated its program, and many believe Iran is doing the same. More countries are exploring uranium enrichment and nuclear power programs that could be diverted to produce weapons. Officials and nuclear experts who felt nothing but optimism in the early 1990s now see a world on the threshold of a dangerous arms race. Some fault the Bush administration for policies that rewarded nuclear-armed friends while denouncing foes accused of building the same weapons. Others say the current situation is a natural byproduct of a fragmented world in which countries no longer have to choose between the US and the Soviet Union, but can go separate ways and build independent alliances. 8) British believe Bush is more dangerous than Kim Jong-il US allies think Washington threat to world peace Only Bin Laden feared more in United Kingdom Julian Glover, The Guardian, Friday November 3, 2006 http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1938434,00.html America is now seen as a threat to world peace by its closest neighbours and allies, according to an international survey of public opinion published today that reveals just how far the country's reputation has fallen among former supporters since the invasion of Iraq. Carried out as US voters prepare to go to the polls next week in an election dominated by the war, the research also shows that British voters see George Bush as a greater danger to world peace than either the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, or the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Both countries were once cited by the US president as part of an "axis of evil", but it is Bush who now alarms voters in countries with traditionally strong links to the US. In Britain, 69% of those questioned say they believe US policy has made the world less safe since 2001, with only 7% thinking action in Iraq and Afghanistan has increased global security. The finding is mirrored in America's immediate northern and southern neighbours, Canada and Mexico, with 62% of Canadians and 57% of Mexicans saying the world has become more dangerous because of US policy. Even in Israel, which has long looked to America to guarantee national security, support for the US has slipped. Only one in four Israeli voters say that Bush has made the world safer, outweighed by the number who think he has added to the risk of international conflict, 36% to 25%. A further 30% say that at best he has made no difference. Iran 9) Russia Says Iran Sanctions Draft Goes Too Far Reuters, November 3, 2006, Filed at 11:42 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-nuclear-iran.html Russia is ready to back a U.N. resolution to curb Iran's nuclear program but sanctions drawn up by European leaders greatly exceed what Moscow agreed with Western powers, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday. Negotiations on the draft resolution, authored by Britain, France and Germany with general U.S. support, promise to be tough, possibly lasting weeks, because veto-wielding Russia and China oppose punitive action against Tehran. Lavrov was speaking in Brussels as envoys of the six world powers prepared to meet at the UN later in the day to tackle differences over steps toward sanctions. He said the six had agreed that measures against Iran should be "reasonable ... be proportional given the actual situation as regards the nuclear program in Iran and should also be in stages." "We were prepared and are still prepared to draw up measures of that sort," he said. "We do not intend to drop back our efforts as regards the problem of Iran and nuclear power," Lavrov said, but added: "What the EU troika drew up went way beyond what was agreed." On Wednesday, Lavrov said Russia rejected steps that would corner Iran, alluding to a travel ban in the draft on Iran's nuclear ambitions, which the West believes are a cover for bombmaking but Tehran says involve generating electricity only. The draft orders all countries to prevent the sale and supply of equipment, technology and financing contributing to Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. It would freeze assets of people and entities involved in these programs and prevent them from traveling except for special events. "I would think we will get a resolution imposing some minor sanctions," said a Western diplomat at the UN. "But that would require substantive concessions from both the Americans, who want tougher sanctions, and the Russians, who (really) want no sanctions at all." Russia's demands are expected to include softening the sanctions and redefining an exemption for a nuclear reactor Moscow is building for Iran, Security Council diplomats said. The European-authored draft exempts from sanctions the $800 million Bushehr reactor in southwestern Iran, expected to go into operation late next year. But the draft says Russia must check with a Security Council committee if it delivers material that can be used for weapons, such as parts used for the uranium enrichment cycle. Russia has objected to including Bushehr in the resolution in the first place, saying it was a power plant that is legal under the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Lavrov has said the resolution should focus only on areas the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, has defined as serious, such as uranium enrichment, chemical processing and heavy-water reactors. Iraq 10) Convicted soldier now back in Iraq The ex-sergeant was sentenced for abusing Abu Ghraib prisoners. Associated Press, November 3, 2006 http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-ghraib3nov03,1,6075689.story An Army dog handler convicted of abusing detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq has returned to the country with his military police unit, a spokesman said Thursday. Spc. Santos A. Cardona boarded a plane Monday at Pope Air Force Base, which is adjacent to Ft. Bragg, for the trip to Iraq. Cardona is assigned to the 23rd Military Police Company, said Maj. James Crabtree, a spokesman for the 18th Airborne Corps. Crabtree said it wasn't known exactly what Cardona's job would be. The unit will focus on law enforcement, detainee operations and route security and, to a lesser extent, training Iraqi police. A military jury at Ft. Meade, Md., sentenced Cardona in June to 90 days of hard labor with no prison time. He was convicted of using his dog to threaten a former Baath Party member at the prison. At the time a sergeant, he also was reduced in rank, given a pay cut and ordered to give up $600 a month for a year. He was one of 11 soldiers convicted of crimes related to prisoner abuse at the prison in late 2003 and early 2004. He was convicted of dereliction of duty and aggravated assault after he was accused of letting his shepherd dog bark inches from the face of a prisoner kneeling in front of him. 11) Too Soon To Rule Out Amnesty It Might Help in Iraq Dale Andrade, U.S. Army historian, Washington Post, Friday, November 3, 2006; A21 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/02/AR2006110201600.html When Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki took office in May, he spoke of reconciliation between Sunnis and Shiites. Five months later, as the country tumbles deeper into the abyss of sectarian violence, that seems increasingly unlikely. National security adviser Stephen J. Hadley traveled to Baghdad this week in hopes of working out some sort of solution to the parade of kidnappings, assassinations and bombings. One of the items likely to be on the agenda is an amnesty program - a proposal brought up this past summer but quickly killed by objections from all sides. Shiites oppose granting amnesty to those responsible for repression under Saddam Hussein and killings by Sunni gangs after his overthrow. Sunnis want to exclude Shiites involved in local religious militias. And U.S. officials have resisted amnesty for Iraqis who killed American soldiers. When the Iraqi government first announced an amnesty plan, Sen. Carl Levin said, "The idea that they should even consider talking about amnesty for people who have killed people who liberated their country is unconscionable." The result of all this is sure to be a very fuzzy definition of who is eligible for amnesty. "The fighter who did not kill anyone will be included in the amnesty," Maliki said in an interview in May, "but the fighter who killed someone will not be." Whom does that leave? It's natural to balk at the idea of giving bloodthirsty terrorists a free pass, but the key question is this: Will an amnesty program weaken the insurgency and reduce the violence? Probably not in the short term, but most successful counterinsurgency campaigns have included some sort of amnesty along the path toward peace. Israel 12) Israel Kills 2 Women During Mosque Siege Greg Myre, New York Times, November 3, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/03/world/middleeast/04mideastcnd.html Israeli troops fired at a large crowd of unarmed Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip today as the women approached a mosque to help Palestinian militants holed up inside. Two women were killed and about 10 were injured, according to hospital workers. The shooting provoked widespread outrage among Palestinians. The Israeli military said its fire was directed at Palestinian gunmen who were hiding among the women as they marched toward the Um al-Nasir mosque in Beit Hanun, the town in the northeastern Gaza Strip where Israeli troops and militants have been battling for the past three days. The Israelis said eight militants were shot, and that they were not aware that women were hit, but were investigating. Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian prime minister, angrily called on the international community to "come here and witness the daily massacres that are being carried out against the Palestinian nation." Haniya also praised the women "who led the protest to break the siege of Beit Hanun." The shooting, which was captured by television cameras, was the most dramatic episode so far in the fighting in Beit Hanun. Israeli forces entered the town early on Wednesday in an attempt to stop Palestinian militants from firing rockets from the area into Israel. As Israeli forces pursued the militants in the town on Thursday, an estimated 60 gunmen dashed inside the Um al-Nasir mosque, initiating a standoff that lasted through the night. Early this morning, a Palestinian radio station called on women in the town to march to the mosque and support the gunmen inside. A short time later, hundreds of women, dressed in flowing black abayas and wearing head scarves, headed to the the scene. As they approached the mosque, shots rang out, but the women continued marching. A moment later, a number of women were hit, and the crowd scattered. Some of the wailing women turning back, while others kept advancing toward the mosque, climbing over improvised dirt barriers set up by the Israeli forces. "We heard the call for women to help the fighters, and we decided to go," said Mona Abu Jasir, 37, who was hit by a bullet in the right leg. "We had no weapons, and we were walking toward the mosque when I was shot." Afghanistan 13) Opium Production Appears Near Record High Jason Straziuso, Associated Press, Thursday, November 2, 2006; 3:31 PM http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/02/AR2006110200776.html Afghan farmers now planting opium poppies will probably reap a harvest comparable to this year's record crop, in part because insurgents are preventing effective counter-narcotics work, officials said Thursday. Planting is under way in southern regions responsible for the bulk of the estimated 6,100 tons of Afghan opium produced in the 2005-06 growing season. Anti-drug officials say that despite anti-cultivation campaigns, they foresee little improvement by harvest time next spring. Drug production has skyrocketed since a U.S.-led offensive toppled the Taliban regime five years ago for giving refuge to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida camps. Last spring's poppy harvest accounted for 92 percent of the global opium supply and was enough to make 610 tons of heroin - more than all the world's addicts consume in a year. Police and government officials are deeply implicated in the trade, which adds to the corruption and lawlessness threatening Afghanistan's fledgling democracy. Taliban militiamen had all but eradicated opium cultivation by 2000 but now profit from it, protecting poppy farmers. Mexico 14) Protesters in Oaxaca Make Police Retreat Associated Press, November 3, 2006, Filed at 11:34 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Mexico-Oaxaca-Unrest.html Protesters besieging Oaxaca City forced federal police to retreat from the gates of the state university after six hours of pitched fighting and the rector's call for an end to the government "attack." The clash Thursday occurred at the entrance to the university, which protesters demanding the ouster of the Oaxaca state governor have used as their headquarters since police drove them from the city's picturesque central plaza on Sunday. Police control in other areas of the city remained spotty. Reverberations from the ongoing fight in Oaxaca city - seized five months ago by a coalition of striking teachers and leftist protesters - also reached Mexico City, where sympathizers temporarily blocked some downtown streets to demand police withdraw from Oaxaca. In Oaxaca City, about 200 police wearing body armor and carrying riot shields advanced to the university gates and fought the protesters for more than six hours before retreating. The retreat left protesters claiming victory and pledging to re-establish barricades that had been dismantled in previous days. Under Mexican law, the university rector must give the police permission to enter. Rector Francisco Martinez, speaking on the university radio station controlled by the protesters, called the operation an "attack" and demanded police withdraw. North Korea 15) Carter Says Claim That North Korea Cheated 'Completely False' Judy Mathewson, Bloomberg, Friday, November 3, 2006 http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1103-07.htm The Bush administration claim that North Korea cheated or reneged on a 1994 agreement with the U.S. to freeze its nuclear program is "completely false and ridiculous," former President Carter said. Carter, who helped broker the agreement with the North Koreans on behalf of then-President Clinton, said the pact was "observed pretty well by both sides" for eight years. "It lasted until 2002 when the US in effect abandoned that agreement and branded North Korea as an axis of evil," Carter said in an interview to be broadcast this weekend. Carter also said the U.S. further undermined the agreement by condemning summit meetings that took place in 2000 between North Korea and South Korea. President Bush said on Oct. 11, two days after North Korea tested a nuclear bomb, that the 1994 agreement "just didn't work." Secretary of State Rice on Oct. 10 said the North Koreans "cheated" on that agreement. Bush and Rice also said such a history justified the administration's refusal to talk directly with North Korea and instead urged the Asian nation to return to six-nation disarmament talks. North Korea said Oct. 31 it will rejoin that six-country forum if the U.S. agrees to discuss lifting financial sanctions imposed last year. It's wrong to say that North Korea cheated on the 1994 agreement, Carter said. Under Clinton, North Korea agreed to bring back international atomic inspectors, freeze its nuclear program and put its spent fuel rods in cold storage, he said. Carter, the 2002 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, called for direct U.S.-North Korea talks, though he said they would probably have to be arranged discreetly at the six-party negotiations. To arrange talks between just the U.S. and North Korea at a separate forum "would result in too much loss of face by the current administration, but they could do it under the aegis of the umbrella of the so-called six-power talks, assembled with a secret, private, unpublicized agreement by the North Koreans in advance," Carter said. The Bush administration has said that bilateral conversations with North Korea have already taken place at the six-party talks and can again. - Robert Naiman Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org Just Foreign Policy is a membership organization devoted to reforming U.S. foreign policy so it reflects the values and interests of the majority of Americans.
