IRAQ SANCTIONS MONITOR Number 185 Wednesday, January 10, 2001 The daily Monitor is produced by the Mariam Appeal. Tel: 00 44 (0) 207 403 5200. Website: www.mariamappeal.com. Students against war in Iraq fire the mother of all tomatoes The Independent, 10 January 2001 The tomato wasn't sun-dried, it wasn't Tuscan and it certainly wasn't on the vine. But when a protester threw it at Tony Blair on a visit to Bristol yesterday, the offending fruit looked as if it had been preparing for the moment all of its life. Soft and overripe, if not quite rotten, the humble British tom was hurled at the Prime Minister by one of a group of students protesting against British sanctions on Iraq. In a clear breach of Mr Blair's personal no-fly zone, the Mother of All Tomatoes executed a perfect arc before landing with a splat on the back of his checked suit. Onlookers had visions of Alastair Campbell, Mr Blair's official spokesman, diving through the air like a presidential bodyguard to catch the splat himself. But even the quick-witted spin-doctor was taken by surprise when his boss arrived to open a new further education college in the city amid jeers and heckles from about 70 protesters. Worse still for this notoriously non-stick premier, the tomato managed to cling grimly to its target. For a few agonising seconds, Teflon Tony was no more. As a clutch of special branch and local officers leapt into the crowd, Mr Blair's scowl seemed to say: "I paid the tax, so where were the police?" A man wearing, appropriately enough, a bomber jacket was bundled away. After the college opening, an unflappable Mr Blair was chauffeured across town to Bristol City Council's headquarters to give a speech on the differences between the Government and the Tories. More than 200 teachers, nurses, schoolchildren and business people listened to his new catchphrase, that it was "choice, not chance" that had seen Britain's economy and public services blossom under Labour. Just to make sure that his audience got the message, Mr Blair used the phrase "choice not chance" no fewer than seven times in a speech that contrasted Labour's record and pledges with Tory plans to privatise and cut investment. Crucially, the Prime Minister admitted repeatedly that although progress had been made "in every area," a lot more remained to be done to improve public services. "It is all for one big overarching national purpose: to build a Britain in which prosperity spreads to every corner of the land, every party of every city, every family and child," he said. "Prosperity for all: that is the purpose and radical change and investment over the next five years is what will achieve it. It won't happen by chance, but the choices we as a nation make." After his speech, Mr Blair embarked on a question-and-answer session with the invited audience, which allowed him to reject renationalisation of the railways - his train arrived 11 minutes late - rule out drug legalisation and promise more help for the homeless. The Prime Minister said that it would be a "hard slog" to get the rail service up to standard, but "it is no secret" that French and German railways were better than Britain's because of years of investment. In a reference to his pro-Iraqi hecklers, he also gave one questioner a stout defence of Britain's no-fly zone in southern Iraq. Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait was "an act of absolute barbarity," he said, promising that the UK would continue to "contain him". Clearly relishing the campaign trail, Mr Blair ended with a warning that Tory cynicism and voter apathy was "the biggest danger of all". In his clearest hint yet that the general election is nearly upon us, he said: "Your choice is there, make that choice and let's decide the future of this country." As he left, a tell-tale tomato stain was clearly visible on the back of his suit jacket. ______________________________________________ India hopes to buy 1 mt crude from Iraq >From THE TIMES OF INDIA, January 10th, 2001 NEW DELHI: India is hopeful that the U.N. Sanctions Committee will agree to its plea for purchase of an additional one million tons of crude oil from Iraq under the food-for-oil programme. The committee last month gave its approval for India to receive 1.5 million tons of crude in exchange for wheat, rice and tea, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Ram Naik said on the sidelines of the 4th International Petroleum Conference and Exhibition he inaugurated on Tuesday. "We hope to receive the U.N. Sanctions Committee approval for an additional one million ton crude from Iraq during this fiscal in addition to the 1.5 million tons of crude already approved in December," he said, adding the crude would be priced below current international prices. On the agreement signed with Iraq for the supply of crude on a long-term fixed rate basis, Naik said while the "the in principal agreement has been signed, it would take effect when the sanctions against Iraq are lifted. We are seeking to buy large quantities of Iraqi crude, the price and quantity of which would be decided once the sanctions are lifted." _______________________________________________ GCC states sign defence pact >From JANES DEFENCE WEEKLY, January 10th, 2001 The leaders of the six Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states signed a much-delayed mutual defence agreement during a 30-31 December summit meeting in Manama, Bahrain. Iran quickly said it wanted a role within the pact. "This is the most important agreement signed by the GCC because for the first time it puts a legal framework to this type of co-operation," Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Mubarak said after the summit. Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia said: "Developing a defence capability that can effectively deter any possible attack on our countries is of vital importance." Few details of the agreement, initially approved by the alliance's defence ministers in Riyadh in September 2000, were disclosed but officials said it would accelerate plans for an expanded rapid deployment force by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain. The six states contain more then half the world's oil reserves. Under the agreement, the GCC's Peninsula Shield force, formed in 1986 and based at Hafr al-Batin in northeastern Saudi Arabia, will be expanded from its current strength of around 5,000 to at least 25,000 personnel, according to summit delegates. The GCC states have been talking about strengthening the Peninsula Shield force since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, which the force was powerless to prevent. However, internal rivalries between the member states, most of which resent Saudi domination of the GCC, have stymied that effort. A $300 million plan to build a new military base for the force was shelved in 1998, with officials citing financial problems caused by the plunge in oil prices at that time. However, prices have rebounded and this could result in military projects being revived. The GCC states have spent tens of billions of dollars on upgrading their defences, particularly their air forces, since the 1990-91 Gulf War and currently have a combined military force of some 200,000 personnel compared to 150,000 before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Nevertheless, they remain highly dependent on Western, particularly US, military protection and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. It was not clear whether the new defence agreement signals an effort by the GCC states to co-ordinate their arms purchases. The USA, which is the region's main arms supplier, has long complained of the diversity of weapons systems the GCC members have acquired and of the differences between the states that have blocked meaningful defence co-ordination. One sign that the GCC countries may now be moving towards an integrated defence system is a plan launched in 1999 to build an $80 million early warning network and a $70 million joint communications system. Iran, which has been making a major effort to achieve a rapprochement with the GCC states over the last three years, has proposed a regional military alliance. While they have responded warmly to a political reconciliation, the GCC states remain wary of any security relationship with Tehran, which strongly opposes the US military presence in the Gulf and sees a regional defence pact as a means of reducing that presence. Commenting on the GCC agreement, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Assefi said on 1 January: "A joint defence pact by the regional states is welcomed by us as it covers our standpoint on maintaining regional security through regional potentials ... but the role of other regional players should not be ignored." The summit communique took an unusually soft tone with regard to Iraq, eschewing the routine condemnation of the Baghdad regime and instead urging it to open a "comprehensive dialogue" with the UN Security Council on eliminating Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction to pave the way for lifting economic sanctions imposed in 1990. _______________________________________________ Depleted uranium: civilian research is also needed >From THE GUARDIAN, January 10th, 2001 By DR KAMIL MAHDI Last February, I attended a seminar at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in which Derek Plumbly, then head of the Middle East section, said that the FCO was going to cooperate with the Department for International Development and with the World Health Organisation on research into the health effects of depleted uranium in southern Iraq (Climbdown on Gulf war syndrome, January 9). When I probed Ron White of DfID, he said that it would only support research into the health effects of the Iraqi regime's use of chemical weapons in Halabja in 1988. Subsequent correspondence I received from Peter Hain confirmed that the British government was not interested in research into the impact of DU on the Iraqis. Now that the cover-up of the dangers to which British soldiers were exposed has been revealed, the government has one less incentive for obstructing research into the military use of contaminated material in Iraq and Kuwait. Dr Kamil Mahdi Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter The terrible result of the last 10 years of carnage in the Balkans extends beyond its effect on peacekeeping troops. Since the Bosnian conflict we have been reviewing aspects of health care in Sarajevo - and disquieting phenomena are appearing. There is substantial anecdotal evidence that there has been a great increase in the number of malignant soft tissue and bone tumours since the end of the war. These are frequently presented to one of us, an orthopaedic surgeon, on his regular visits to Sarajevo. In the last two years the number of tumours has at least equalled those seen in a similar-sized population during 20 years of practice in the UK. We do not know if the shells landing on Sarajevo contained depleted uranium, but this is surely a matter for investigation. More generally, it is crucial that there are formal epidemiological i do not confine concern to members of external armed forces. John Beavis James Ryan Leonard Cheshire Centre of Conflict Recovery Surely there is a paradox at the heart of the current controversy over the use of depleted uranium armour piercing shells in Kosovo? During its air campaign, Nato was strongly criticised for not allowing its pilots to venture below 15,000ft and, as a result, failing to destroy more than a handful of Serb armoured vehicles. Given that the real danger from depleted uranium occurs after the warhead strikes armour plate with enough energy to penetrate and fireball - creating ultrafine residues of toxic uranium oxide - the presence of significant uranium oxide contamination in Kosovo would suggest that Nato war planes were flying much lower than 15,000ft and hit many more armoured vehicles than we were led to believe. Dave Parker Bishop's Stortford, Herts ________________________________________________ Gulf veterans left in cold: Balkans troops to be screened for uranium >From THE GUARDIAN, January 10th, 2001 The government yesterday bowed to intense domestic and international pressure by agreeing to screen Balkans veterans for signs of contamination from depleted uranium used in US anti-tank shells. But the announcement infuriated Gulf war veterans, whose supporters labelled the refusal to offer the tests to troops in previous conflicts a 'vicious injustice'. In an embarrassing u-turn, foreshadowed in yesterday's Guardian, John Spellar, the armed forces minister, told MPs that British troops who had served in Kosovo and Bosnia, as well as civilians working there, would be offered what he called 'an appropriate voluntary screening programme'. He said Britain would step up its environmental monitoring of the Balkans and pool data collected by the UN and European allies, which have already introduced emergency screening for their troops. Until yesterday, the MoD had repeatedly spurned the need for any screening for DU. But Mr Spellar insisted there was no evidence linking DU shells to ill health. He did not offer the new tests to troops in the Gulf war even though far more of the controversial weapons were fired there than in the Balkans. Mr Spellar delivered a robust defence of DU shells, used in British tanks as well as US aircraft, insisting they provided a 'battle-winning military capability'. He said: 'Because of its density and metallurgic properties, depleted uranium is ideally suited for use as a kinetic energy penetrator in anti-armour munitions'. At Nato headquarters in Brussels, Britain and the US joined forces to kill off an Italian proposal, backed by Germany, for the alliance's 19 member countries to stop using depleted uranium ammunition until further notice. Mr Spellar conceded that debris from DU shells might present a 'hazard from chemical toxicity' and a 'low-level radiological hazard'. Those risks, he said, arose from dust created when the weapons hit targets, but as expended rounds or fragments the hazards of DU were 'negligible'. He said Gulf veterans - the cause of whose illnesses, he added, had not been discovered - had been offered screening for a 'whole body load of uranium'. But these tests were derided as inappropriate by Gulf war veterans and their medical advisers. Malcolm Hooper, emeritus professor of medicinal chemistry at Sunderland University, described the Ministry of Defence move as a 'cynical betrayal' and 'vicious injustice'. The MoD, he said, was testing for high-level exposure to soluble material, rather than long-term, low-level, exposure to radiation inside the body. It was indulging in 'Mickey Mouse science'. Terry Gooding of the Gulf War Veterans Association said the MoD had never screened members for DU symptoms. Michael Burrows, senior coordinator of the association, said: 'Mr Spellar said there is an insignificant danger posed by radiation from depleted uranium, but what about the dust and the effect it has on the lymphatic system?' He added: 'I can't see that the voluntary screening will have any benefit whatsoever. The screening that he is talking about is for uranium, not depleted uranium.' Ministers are expected to await the publication of a report on DU being prepared by the Royal Society, expected in the summer , before finalising details of the screening programme. Bruce George, chairman of the Commons defence committee, who had been threatening to mount his own inquiry into the affair, warned it was essential that the research was carried out as quickly as possible. 'If it is true that there is a link between depleted uranium and leukaemia cancer, then people are going to die,' he said. The government's an nouncement - pressed on the MoD by Downing Street - follows a spate of leukaemia cases among Balkan veterans in Italy, France, Portugal and Denmark, though scientists differ over whether the number is exceptional within the total groups. Professor Eric Wright, an expert on radiation-induced leukaemia at the University of Dundee, said: 'The diagnosis of leukaemia in many of these people is very soon after the alleged exposure. Whilst you can never say never in science, this does seems extraordinarily unlikely to be causal.' Norwegian peacekeepers yesterday refused to sign contracts for service in Kosovo, demanding a clarification of the risk from ammunition that included DU. _______________________________________________ Touchy-feely tough guy rounds on fight-to-lose brigade >From THE GUARDIAN, January 10th, 2001 By SKETCH SIMON HOGGART Following the Guardian article yesterday morning, the defence minister John Spellar made a statement about depleted uranium shells and the effect they are having on our soldiers. It appears they aren't having any effect, or at least not anything you need to worry about. Short of curling up with a hot water bottle and a mug of Ovaltine, there's nothing healthier for a soldier than a depleted uranium shell. I exaggerate, but only slightly. Mr Spellar's statement was a classic example of the New Labour caring and sharing, touchy-feely style, combined with the Mister Mucho Macho pose favoured by defence ministers since the days of Genghis Khan. I ran Mr Spellar's statement through the new bullshit programme on my computer and came up with a helpful concordance. 'This ammunition provides a battle-winning capacity. Therefore DU will remain part of our arsenal for the foreseeable future. Because, when this country commits our forces to conflict, we fight to win!' [So, anyone who expresses anxiety about the effects is one of those milktoasts who believes that our boys should fight to lose.] 'The working environment of our forces in the Balkans is already closely monitored because of health and safety and environmental concerns about the theatre.' [New Labour treats a battlefield with the same tender concern as a primary school which might have asbestos in the roofing.] 'I have spelt out the background to DU research because it is important to put some of the inaccurate and inflammatory media coverage in context.' [This remark, greeted with some approval, translates as 'we can always blame the papers for flamming things up'. If there's one thing MPs dislike more than other MPs, it's the press.] 'These issues are not new, and we must not unduly alarm service personnel or their families.' [Anything which warns soldiers that they might have to face dangers quite apart from the enemy is destroying morale. There just might be an implied reference here to the Guardian, a notorious leader of the fight-to-lose brigade.] 'Our response will be on the best available science.' [This phrase, which we heard innumerable times in the early days of the BSE crisis, means 'on the basis of any scientific research we can drag up which fits what we have decided already'.] 'I hope this statement puts the current debate in context.' [Or, 'shuts the papers up for a few weeks at least'.] 'We are providing battle- winning equipment for our forces and taking seriously our responsibility for their welfare. I am sure the house would agree they deserve no less.' [And the house is really keen on motherhood and apple pie, too.] Not surprisingly, apart from a sprinkling of 'fight-to-lose' MPs who pointed out that some of their constituents who'd fought in the Gulf war and Kosovo were in pretty rough shape, this statement was received with tremendous approval from all round the house, not least from the Tories. Iain Duncan-Smith, their defence spokesman, pointed out that the Italians had threatened, if DU weapons were not banned, to pull out of Nato! This was greeted with great hilarity and no doubt lots of jokes about the Italian tank with one forward gear and three reverse. Nicholas Soames was entirely in favour of DU shells. 'They inflict the most serious damage on the Queen's enemies!' he thundered. Oh dear, not another attack on the poor old Guardian. _________________________________________________ UN holds back on uranium warnings: No radiation risk, says official, as fears spread in Kosovo over legacy of bombing >From THE GUARDIAN, January 10th, 2001 The United Nations is resisting calls to protect children and other civilians in Kosovo from the potential health risks from depleted uranium left by British and American shells in contravention of its own expert advice. On a hastily arranged trip designed to play down growing alarm in Nato countries, Bernard Kouchner, who heads the UN administration in the war torn territory, went to western Kosovo yesterday where mos of the Nato shells were fired. He told reporters there was no radiation and he saw no immediate necessity to cordon off site thought to be contaminated by the heavy metal. His remarks flew in the face of recommendations from a panel of experts from the UN's own environment programme last autumn that all possible depleted uranium sites be sealed off from public access. On Monday the World Health Organisation also warned that depleted uranium was of potential danger to children in particular playing in contaminated areas. As Dr Kouchner toured the site of a Nato air strike in the town of Klina, Italian soldiers equipped with white overalls and Geiger counters surveyed the wreckage of a destroyed Yugoslav tank and two armoured personnel carriers. He said no radiation had been detected. 'It might be better to close it because of all the tanks and all the holes, but I trust the soldiers. They are very precise and they did it several times.' He added that the UN had not received any requests to close off the site off from the public. Nearby Valmir Ademaj, 11, told reporters he and his friends had played inside the destroyed military vehicles and nobody had warned them not to go there. Beqir Rracaj, 74, said many people had taken parts of the tanks as souvenirs. The potential danger from contamination by depleted uranium has been known to western governments for a long time. A month after Nato troops entered Kosovo Britain's government-funded national radiation protection board warned foreigners working in Kosovo, or visiting as journalists or aid staff, to keep clear of war-damaged Yugoslav vehicles. 'If access to potentially contaminated areas is deemed essential, advice should be sought from the Ministry of Defence or the Foreign Office on any protective measures required,' it said in a warning posted on its website. But Britain and other western countries did not call for areas to be fenced off. Most of the anxiety expressed in Nato countries has centred on the risk to their own citizens working as soldiers or police in Kosovo. Several cases of leukemia have prompted alarm. Britain and other countries are now starting a screening campaign for their nationals. The team from the UN environment programme, which visited 11 potential depleted uranium sites last autumn, is due to publish its findings in February. In the meantime, it said, 'where there is an apparent risk of contamination, signs should be put up to forbid public access'. Ironically, the Yugoslav government has taken more precautions since the war than Nato or the UN. It says it marked the eight sites in southern Serbia where up to 5,000 Nato shells landed. It has had noaccess since the war to the 100 sites in Kosovo where shells fell. Slobodan Milosevic's government said use of depleted uranium shells 'adds a new dimension to the crime Nato perpetrated against the Yugoslav people'. The new western-backed government of Vojislav Kostunica has not repudiated this harsh language. Zoran Stankovic of the Belgrade Military Academy hospital told a Belgrade newspaper this week that about 10% of uranium 238 turns on impact into toxic oxides, and 70% into aerosols, which are often more dangerous than radiation. He warned that serious lung, kidney and bone disorders caused by toxic uranium particles inhaled or otherwise introduced in the body - with contaminated food or drink - could be expected in Yugoslavia. The Serbian ecology minister, Dragan Veselinovic, said last week there was a danger of Nato bombs and radioactive ammunition 'threatening to turn into live uranium and enter the food chain". Pleurat Sejdiu, joint head of Kosovo's health department, dismissed the concern as propaganda. 'People trust the Nato experts not to harm the population,' he said. Ibrahim Rugova, leader of Kosovo's biggest party, said yesterday that the depleted uranium scare in the Balkans was being misused by those who opposed Nato intervention in Kosovo in the hope that it would lead to withdrawal of the Nato-led peacekeeping force. _________________________________________________ MISCELLANY+++++ Important Public Meeting SANCTIONS KILL!! Open meeting against United Natiions' Sanctions Wednesday February 7, 7pm to 9pm Committee Room 10, House of Commons Chair: Tam Dalyell MP. Speakers include: Alice Mahon MP, chair of the Committee for Peace in the Balkans, George Galloway MP, founder of the Mariam Appeal, Richard Byrne, Voices in the Wilderness and Chris Doyle, the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding. Meeting arranged by Labour Action for Peace. Further information from Jim Addington, 00 44 (0)20 8399 2547 To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
