Jugoinfo
Il Coordinamento Romano per la Jugoslavia ADERISCE
all'appello conclusivo dei lavori del
Tribunale italiano contro i crimini della NATO in Jugoslavia
ed invita tutti ad ADERIRE a loro volta
sottoscrivendo i capi d'accusa formulati e
partecipando alla giornata del 3 giugno a Roma
===
ROMA 3 GIUGNO 2000
VIA PIETRO COSSA 40 – SALA UNIVERSITA’ VALDESE
DALLE ORE 9.00
PROIEZIONE VIDEO, MOSTRE FOTOGRAFICHE
TRIBUNA APERTA TRA I COMITATI E LE ASSOCIAZIONI
ORE 15.00
SESSIONE FINALE DELLA SEZIONE ITALIANA DEL TRIBUNALE INDIPENDENTE CONTRO
I CRIMINI DELLA NATO IN JUGOSLAVIA
Il 31 luglio 1999 hanno avuto inizio a New York le attivita' del
"TRIBUNALE INTERNAZIONALE INDIPENDENTE CONTRO I CRIMINI DELLA NATO IN
JUGOSLAVIA", promosso da Ramsey Clark, con la stesura di 19 punti di
accusa contro la NATO ed i governi occidentali.
Le attivita' del "Tribunale" hanno trovato seguito in molti altri paesi
del mondo. In Italia il primo
novembre 1999 alla presenza di Ramsey Clark ha preso il via la sezione
italiana del Tribunale. Nel corso di questi mesi, confortati dal
crescente interesse suscitato e dalle numerose iniziative di
presentazione del "Tribunale Italiano" in molte citta', abbiamo potuto
verificare con dati oggettivi la veridicita' delle nostre accuse.
A completamento del lavoro svolto in questi mesi, noi sottoscritti
firmatari di questo appello accusiamo le massime autorità della
Repubblica in carica nel marzo 1999 - in particolare il presidente del
Consiglio dei Ministri Massimo D'Alema e i ministri del governo per la
partecipazione alla guerra illegale e il Presidente della Repubblica
Oscar Luigi Scalfaro per non aver difeso la Costituzione - nonchè i loro
successori per quanto attiene ai crimini in continuità con l'aggressione
armata, ciascuno secondo la personale responsabilità scaturente dalle
diverse competenze, azioni e omissioni:
per avere collaborato attivamente all'aggressione contro la Repubblica
Federale Jugoslava, paese
sovrano da cui non era venuta nessuna minaccia nè all'Italia nè ai suoi
alleati;
per avere violato tutti i principi del diritto internazionale e in
particolare la Carta delle Nazioni
Unite, i principi del Tribunale di Norimberga, le Convenzioni di Ginevra
e i protocolli aggiuntivi
sulla tutela delle popolazioni civili nonchè lo stesso trattato
istitutivo della NATO;
per aver consentito che dal proprio territorio partissero attacchi
contro istallazioni e popolazioni
civili, condotti su obiettivi e con armi appositamente studiate per
infliggere il massimo danno, anche
protratto nel tempo, alle persone e alle loro condizioni di vita
(attacchi deliberati contro strutture
civili, bombe a grappolo);
per aver danneggiato l’economia della costa adriatica con la chiusura
degli aeroporti civili;
per aver consentito lo smaltimento nelle acque territoriali italiane di
ordigni bellici non utilizzati
causando danni alle persone, all’ambiente all’economia;
per aver consentito l'utilizzo in maniera massiccia di proiettili e
missili all'uranio impoverito causando danni incalcolabili e per un
tempo indeterminato contro le popolazioni della Federazione Jugoslava e
dei paesi limitrofi, con enormi rischi attuali anche per i volontari
civili e per i militari italiani impegnati nel Kosovo.
per aver partecipato al bombardamento di impianti chimici e farmaceutici
causando deliberatamente danni ambientali di enorme rilevanza tali da
configurare una vera e propria guerra batteriologica, chimica e
nucleare;
per aver violato la Costituzione italiana e aggirato le procedure che
essa impone in caso di guerra
(concepibile solo come difesa da attacchi contro il nostro paese e i
suoi alleati);
per aver collaborato alla politica della forza di occupazione della NATO
che obiettivamente ha
portato alla instaurazione di un potere criminale nella provincia
jugoslava del Kosmet e alla
persecuzione ed espulsione della popolazione di etnia serba e di altre
etnie non albanesi, nonchè
degli albanesi considerati indesiderabili dal nuovo potere;
per avere obiettivamente tollerato l'emergere e il consolidarsi di un
potente centro di attività
criminali a ridosso del nostro paese nel triangolo
Albania-Kosovo-Montenegro;
per avere attivamente collaborato ad affamare e sacrificare la
popolazione della Jugoslavia con
l'imposizione di misure di embargo internazionalmente illeggittime;
per avere attivamente collaborato a esercitare pressioni e ingerenze
contro un paese sovrano e le
sue legittime istituzioni;
per avere inviato truppe e personale civile a governare territori
ridotti di fatto a nuovi protettorati e
colonie in violazione della stessa risoluzione ONU 1244;
per aver messo in piedi al fine di giustificare l'intervento militare
la scandalosa campagna della
MISSIONE ARCOBALENO e per avere mentito al popolo italiano al fine di
convincere
l'opinione pubblica della necessità di partecipare alla guerra;
per avere rinunciato all'esercizio della sovranità del nostro paese e al
diritto-dovere di controllo di
tutte le attività che vi svolgono comandi, strutture e mezzi militari
stranieri;
per avere acconsentito a modificare, senza nessuna decisione del
Parlamento, lo statuto della NATO.
Queste accuse, saranno esposte e ampiamente documentate il 3 giugno a
Roma nella sessione
plenaria del Tribunale Indipendente contro i crimini NATO costituitosi
in Italia che si terrà presso
l'Università Valdese (via Pietro Cossa 40) e saranno quindi portate a
New York, dove il 10
giugno si riunirà il Tribunale Internazionale Indipendente promosso
dall'ex Ministro della Giustizia
USA Ramsey Clark.
Invitiamo tutti i cittadini, le associazioni, le personalità consapevoli
della necessità di impedire che
tali crimini siano perpetuati e diventino anzi la norma delle relazioni
internazionali, a sostenere
l'iniziativa della sezione italiana del Tribunale Clark e la raccolta di
testimonianze e documenti e
partecipare attivamente all'assemblea del 3 giugno a Roma.
===
"Il manifesto", 15 Febbraio 2000
KOSOVO
Quell'intervento è stato illegittimo
MICHELE DI SCHIENA *
D urante la guerra nel Kosovo pervennero alla Procura della repubblica
presso il Tribunale di Roma diversi esposti e denunce di gruppi,
associazioni e privati cittadini che facevano presente l'illegittimità
costituzionale della scelta del nostro governo di partecipare nella
primavera del '99 ai ripetuti attacchi aerei organizzati da alcuni paesi
della Nato ai danni della Jugoslavia. L'illegittimità dell'operato del
governo discendeva, secondo gli esponenti, dalla considerazione che gli
attacchi aerei, pur se motivati da pretesi intenti umanitari,
costituivano
atti di guerra offensiva in aperta violazione dell'art. 11 della
Costituzione per il quale "l'Italia ripudia la guerra... come mezzo di
risoluzione delle controversie internazionali". I denunzianti
sostenevano in
particolare che sussisteva l'illegittimità costituzionale della
decisione
governativa sotto il profilo della violazione degli artt. 78 e 87 della
Costituzione dal momento che, per il combinato disposto di tali norme,
lo
stato di guerra doveva essere dichiarato dal presidente della Repubblica
previa deliberazione delle Camere che avrebbero dovuto conferire al
governo
i necessari poteri.
Avendo il governo - sempre secondo gli esponenti - assunto l'iniziativa
bellica in assenza di detti presupposti, andavano accertate eventuali
responsabilità penali, con particolare riferimento al reato di
usurpazione
del potere politico previsto dall'art. 287 del Codice penale.
Di recente si è avuto notizia che il Collegio per i reati ministeriali
presso il Tribunale di Roma, con decisione del 26 ottobre scorso, ha
archiviato il procedimento sulla base di inconsistenti e sorprendenti
argomentazioni che mortificano lo spirito e la lettera di precise
disposizioni costituzionali. Per quanto attiene alla mancata
deliberazione
dello stato di guerra da parte delle Camere, il citato Collegio
riconosce,
invero, che non vi fu la "autorizzazione formale dello stato di guerra
da
parte del Parlamento" ma dice che venne "sostanzialmente rispettata" la
ratio dell'art. 78 della Costituzione per il quale "le Camere deliberano
lo
stato di guerra e conferiscono al Governo i poteri necessari". E ciò in
considerazione del fatto che l'intervento militare, presentato dal
governo
come operazione umanitaria, ottenne il conforto del dibattito
parlamentare e
tenuto conto che tale intervento "non poteva non comportare l'impiego
delle
Forze armate della Repubblica... in una prospettiva di guerra
offensiva".
Quanto poi alla mancata dichiarazione da parte del presidente della
Repubblica dello stato di guerra che avrebbero dovuto deliberare le
Camere,
afferma testualmente il Collegio che "tale omissione non comporta alcun
sovvertimento o radicale deroga all'equilibrio dei poteri di governo
delineati dalla carta fondamentale". E infine, con specifico riferimento
al
disposto dell'art. 287 c.p. che punisce, come si è detto, l'usurpazione
di
poteri politici, afferma lo stesso Collegio che la ricorrenza di tale
fattispecie va esclusa "spettando al governo, a termini di Costituzione,
il
potere di impulso e di iniziativa circa l'inizio delle operazioni
belliche,
sicché nessun potere spettante ad altro organo costituzionale è stato
illegittimamente esercitato".
Siamo quindi di fronte ad un provvedimento che archivia la procedura
mentre
riconosce nella partecipazione dell'Italia alle operazioni militari nel
Kosovo un vero e proprio "stato di guerra" in una prospettiva
"offensiva",
ammette la mancanza di una "formale" autorizzazione del Parlamento dello
stato bellico e giudica sostanzialmente irrilevante, e quindi eludibile
senza conseguenze giudiziarie, la mancata dichiarazione di tale stato da
parte del presidente della Repubblica.
Dimentica il Collegio che gli artt. 78 e 87 della Costituzione, i quali
condizionano l'inizio di attività belliche all'emanazione di atti
formali e
quindi tecnicamente "solenni", sono norme rigorosamente precettive la
cui
finalità è quella di richiamare l'attenzione delle istituzioni, delle
istanze democratiche e dell'intero paese sulla gravità di una scelta di
guerra, sulle ragioni che la determinano e sulle responsabilità
politiche
che tale decisione può comportare. Il citato organo giudiziario trascura
inoltre di considerare che per la sussistenza dell'elemento materiale
del
reato di "usurpazione di potere politico" non è necessario che sia stato
arbitrariamente esercitato un potere spettante ad altro organo
costituzionale con l'illegittima "invasione di altro potere dello stato"
ma
è sufficiente, come ritiene la dottrina e impone il comune buon senso,
l'arrogarsi e cioè l'assumere arbitrariamente un potere che per legge
non
spetta. E certamente il governo non aveva, per la nostra Costituzione,
il
potere di fare la guerra senza che le Camere ne avessero deliberato lo
"stato" conferendo anche formalmente al governo medesimo i poteri
necessari;
con la conseguenza che, in difetto di tale conferimento, la
partecipazione
alle operazioni belliche nel Kosovo ha assunto i caratteri
dell'arbitrarietà
e dell'"usurpazione".
Non è allora possibile considerare chiuso in questo malinconico modo il
discorso sulla legittimità costituzionale dell'intervento dell'Italia
nella
guerra del Kosovo dal momento che sono in gioco il prestigio e il
rispetto
di principi e di regole che costituiscono il fondamento dello stato di
diritto. E poi, su di un piano diverso, non si può far finta di ignorare
che
il provvedimento di archiviazione del Collegio per i reati ministeriali
costituisce oggettivamente, ben oltre le sue contraddizioni e le sue
intenzioni, un atto di accusa di gravi responsabilità politiche che
meritano
rinnovata e preoccupata attenzione.
* presidente onorario aggiunto Cassazione
===
For Immediate Release
Attention: Assignment Editor
May 10, 2000
NEW REVELATIONS ARE FURTHER PROOF OF U.S. WAR
CRIMES
New revelations that NATO’s high-altitude bombing of Yugoslavia
was far less successful than claimed at the time, are “further proof of
U.S. war crimes against Yugoslavia,” said Sara Flounders, national
co-director of the International Action Center on May 10.
“This will provide additional evidence for the International War
Crimes Tribunal we will hold in New York June 9-10 to try U.S.
and NATO political and military leaders for war crimes, crimes
against humanity and crimes against peace,” Flounders said.
Newsweek magazine had gotten hold of an internal U.S. Air Force
report showing that only 58 of NATO’s so-called high-precision
strikes hit their targets. This compares with 744 NATO claimed at
the end of the bombing campaign.
“The claims of high accuracy with little harm to civilians,” said
Flounders, “was just another in the long line of lies NATO
spokespeople used to justify massive attacks on civilian targets in
Yugoslavia.”
A special investigation team from the U.S. and other NATO air
forces searched Kosovo on foot and by helicopter. U.S. top
officers boasted that NATO forces had disabled "around 120
tanks", "about 220 armored personnel carriers" and "up to 450
artillery and mortar pieces" in 78 days of bombing.
The investigators reported instead that NATO hit just 14 tanks, 18
APCs and 20 artillery and mortar pieces, less than one tenth of
NATO claims. These figures are quite close to the losses Yugoslav
forces reported at the end of the war. NATO dismissed the
Yugoslav report as "disinformation" at the time.
The investigators found out that U.S. and NATO high-altitude air
power was effective chiefly against civilian targets. It was the
bombing of cities and power stations that most damaged Serbia.
Flounders noted that the report, made last summer, had never been
made public. A second report, which reported hits closer to NATO
and the Pentagon’s boasts, was then used.
“The Newsweek article avoided the implications that the U.S. and
NATO commanders violated the rules of war by striking civilian
targets,” said Flounders. “Instead, it pointed to the efficacy of
striking the civilian infrastructure of a country, which in the case of
Yugoslavia includes hundreds of schools, dozens of hospitals and
almost every major industry. In effect it advocates new war crimes.”
Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark had drawn up the original
charge sheet against NATO leaders, which added up to 19 charges.
Charge number 9, said Flounders, was “Attacking Objects
Indispensable to the Survival of the Population of Yugoslavia,”
including depriving the population of Yugoslavia of food, water,
electric power, food production, medicines, medical care and other
essentials to their survival, [by engaging] in the systematic
destruction and damage by missiles and aerial bombardment of food
production and storage facilities, drinking water and irrigation works
for agriculture, fertilizer, insecticide, pharmaceutical, hospitals and
health care facilities, among other objects essential to human survival.
“The NATO commanders, fearing the complete failure of their
campaign against the Yugoslav military, concentrated on hitting
civilian targets,” said Flounders. “This is clearly a war crime, and we
will prove this before the world on June 10.”
CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROGRAM JOURNAL FOR THE JUNE 10
INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL ON U.S./NATO WAR CRIMES
A special Program Journal will be produced for the June 10
International Tribunal on U.S./NATO War Crimes in Yugoslavia.
The June 10 International Tribunal is the culmination of a global truth-
telling campaign. Scores of hearings in countries around the world have
collected eyewitness testimony, expert testimony and analysis. All of
this will be presented on June 10.
The Program Journal is a great opportunity for individuals and
organizations to show their commitment to this landmark struggle for
justice. It is the key instrument for defraying the expenses of the
Tribunal.
Please consider contributing to this beautiful commemorative book. A
Display Ad can be a message of solidarity or protest, a greeting, a
remembrance of loved ones, a poem, a book or Web site promotion, or
whatever you find appropriate. You can also be listed as a Sponsor or
Supporter.
You and all those attending the International Tribunal will receive the
program journal. Copies will be sent around the world to all those who
organized hearings, to human rights organizations, schools and
libraries.
DISPLAY AD INFORMATION
Full-page Ad (7.25"wide x 9.75" high) is a $1000 donation.
Half-page Ad (7.25" wide x 4.75" high) is a $500 donation.
Quarter-page Ad (3.5" wide x 4.75" high) is a $250 donation.
Ads can be designed by our Journal staff if requested. Or you can send
in
camera-ready copy by mail or deliver it to the International Action
Center.
Text for a Display Ad can be faxed to 212-675-7869 or mailed.
SPONSOR/SUPPORTER LISTINGS.
You can be listed in the journal as a Sponsor for a $100 donation.
Supporter
listings require a $50 donation. Please indicate how your want your name
listed when you send in your response.
SATURDAY, MAY 20 IS THE DEADLINE FOR ORDERS, AD COPY AND
PAYMENT
HOW TO PLACE YOUR ORDER
You can place your order on-line or through the mail. For on-line
orders, go
to the People’s Rights Fund web site at { HYPERLINK
http://www.peoplesrightsfund.org }www.peoplesri
ghtsfund.org. (This
site was just updated to accept donations for June 10.)
Send mail orders with payment to: International Action Center, 39 W. 14
St.
#206, NY, N.Y. 10011. Write checks to the "People's Rights
Fund/Tribunal."
For Display Ads, include the text for the ad or when and how you are
sending camera-ready copy. For sponsor or supporter listings, indicate
how
you wish to be listed. Include your name, address, phone number, e-mail
address, and group/school/union affiliation. Also, indicate if you want
the
Program Journal sent to you because you won't be attending the June 10
Tribunal.
Call 212-633-6646 if you have questions or e-mail iacenter@...
We will not let the history of war crimes be written by the
perpetrators. There
is nothing more important than to tell the truth about U.S.-NATO war
crimes
against Yugoslavia and the horrible reality of the occupation of Kosovo.
We
need your voice, your words and your support now.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the May 18, 2000
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
EDITORIAL: PUT THE WAR CRIMINALS IN THE DOCK
The U.S. and NATO leaders thought they would get away with
the war against Yugoslavia.
They scraped through a 78-day war they had expected to win
in three days. They planned and provoked the war. They
bombed civilian targets. They used outlawed weapons. They
forced the Yugoslav government to draw its army out of its
own province, Kosovo.
And they thought they were home free.
Clinton, Albright, Gen. Wesley Clark, and their
counterparts in Western Europe hoped they had heard the end
of protests against their dirty war against Yugoslavia.
But by last July, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey
Clark and the International Action Center were charging
U.S./NATO leaders with 19 counts of war crimes, crimes
against peace and crimes against humanity.
By October, tens of thousands of people protesting in
Athens made it clear that Clinton was a war criminal and
unwelcome.
Others in 14 countries from Russia to Australia held
popular tribunal hearings that called the NATO political
and military leaders war criminals. These hearings showed
that Washington had planned the war for 10 years. They
showed that the "massacre" charges against the Belgrade
government were lies.
They showed that U.S. and German intelligence agencies
built up the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army--a terrorist
gang. They showed that the so-called Racak massacre was a
provocation by U.S. agent William Walker and the KLA. They
showed that the Rambouillet "Accord" was an ultimatum to
Yugoslavia that no government could accept.
Now these hearings are reaching a climax. In Rome and
Berlin on June 2-3, and in New York on June 10, the
International Tribunals on U.S./NATO War Crimes in
Yugoslavia will take place. The tribunal will prove to the
world and to history that these political and military
leaders are indeed war criminals.
The progressive movement in the United States should give
its full support to this tribunal and make sure that the
June 10 public hearing plays before a packed house.
- END -
(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
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changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
ww@.... For subscription info send message
to: info@.... Web: http://www.workers.org)
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
all'appello conclusivo dei lavori del
Tribunale italiano contro i crimini della NATO in Jugoslavia
ed invita tutti ad ADERIRE a loro volta
sottoscrivendo i capi d'accusa formulati e
partecipando alla giornata del 3 giugno a Roma
===
ROMA 3 GIUGNO 2000
VIA PIETRO COSSA 40 – SALA UNIVERSITA’ VALDESE
DALLE ORE 9.00
PROIEZIONE VIDEO, MOSTRE FOTOGRAFICHE
TRIBUNA APERTA TRA I COMITATI E LE ASSOCIAZIONI
ORE 15.00
SESSIONE FINALE DELLA SEZIONE ITALIANA DEL TRIBUNALE INDIPENDENTE CONTRO
I CRIMINI DELLA NATO IN JUGOSLAVIA
Il 31 luglio 1999 hanno avuto inizio a New York le attivita' del
"TRIBUNALE INTERNAZIONALE INDIPENDENTE CONTRO I CRIMINI DELLA NATO IN
JUGOSLAVIA", promosso da Ramsey Clark, con la stesura di 19 punti di
accusa contro la NATO ed i governi occidentali.
Le attivita' del "Tribunale" hanno trovato seguito in molti altri paesi
del mondo. In Italia il primo
novembre 1999 alla presenza di Ramsey Clark ha preso il via la sezione
italiana del Tribunale. Nel corso di questi mesi, confortati dal
crescente interesse suscitato e dalle numerose iniziative di
presentazione del "Tribunale Italiano" in molte citta', abbiamo potuto
verificare con dati oggettivi la veridicita' delle nostre accuse.
A completamento del lavoro svolto in questi mesi, noi sottoscritti
firmatari di questo appello accusiamo le massime autorità della
Repubblica in carica nel marzo 1999 - in particolare il presidente del
Consiglio dei Ministri Massimo D'Alema e i ministri del governo per la
partecipazione alla guerra illegale e il Presidente della Repubblica
Oscar Luigi Scalfaro per non aver difeso la Costituzione - nonchè i loro
successori per quanto attiene ai crimini in continuità con l'aggressione
armata, ciascuno secondo la personale responsabilità scaturente dalle
diverse competenze, azioni e omissioni:
per avere collaborato attivamente all'aggressione contro la Repubblica
Federale Jugoslava, paese
sovrano da cui non era venuta nessuna minaccia nè all'Italia nè ai suoi
alleati;
per avere violato tutti i principi del diritto internazionale e in
particolare la Carta delle Nazioni
Unite, i principi del Tribunale di Norimberga, le Convenzioni di Ginevra
e i protocolli aggiuntivi
sulla tutela delle popolazioni civili nonchè lo stesso trattato
istitutivo della NATO;
per aver consentito che dal proprio territorio partissero attacchi
contro istallazioni e popolazioni
civili, condotti su obiettivi e con armi appositamente studiate per
infliggere il massimo danno, anche
protratto nel tempo, alle persone e alle loro condizioni di vita
(attacchi deliberati contro strutture
civili, bombe a grappolo);
per aver danneggiato l’economia della costa adriatica con la chiusura
degli aeroporti civili;
per aver consentito lo smaltimento nelle acque territoriali italiane di
ordigni bellici non utilizzati
causando danni alle persone, all’ambiente all’economia;
per aver consentito l'utilizzo in maniera massiccia di proiettili e
missili all'uranio impoverito causando danni incalcolabili e per un
tempo indeterminato contro le popolazioni della Federazione Jugoslava e
dei paesi limitrofi, con enormi rischi attuali anche per i volontari
civili e per i militari italiani impegnati nel Kosovo.
per aver partecipato al bombardamento di impianti chimici e farmaceutici
causando deliberatamente danni ambientali di enorme rilevanza tali da
configurare una vera e propria guerra batteriologica, chimica e
nucleare;
per aver violato la Costituzione italiana e aggirato le procedure che
essa impone in caso di guerra
(concepibile solo come difesa da attacchi contro il nostro paese e i
suoi alleati);
per aver collaborato alla politica della forza di occupazione della NATO
che obiettivamente ha
portato alla instaurazione di un potere criminale nella provincia
jugoslava del Kosmet e alla
persecuzione ed espulsione della popolazione di etnia serba e di altre
etnie non albanesi, nonchè
degli albanesi considerati indesiderabili dal nuovo potere;
per avere obiettivamente tollerato l'emergere e il consolidarsi di un
potente centro di attività
criminali a ridosso del nostro paese nel triangolo
Albania-Kosovo-Montenegro;
per avere attivamente collaborato ad affamare e sacrificare la
popolazione della Jugoslavia con
l'imposizione di misure di embargo internazionalmente illeggittime;
per avere attivamente collaborato a esercitare pressioni e ingerenze
contro un paese sovrano e le
sue legittime istituzioni;
per avere inviato truppe e personale civile a governare territori
ridotti di fatto a nuovi protettorati e
colonie in violazione della stessa risoluzione ONU 1244;
per aver messo in piedi al fine di giustificare l'intervento militare
la scandalosa campagna della
MISSIONE ARCOBALENO e per avere mentito al popolo italiano al fine di
convincere
l'opinione pubblica della necessità di partecipare alla guerra;
per avere rinunciato all'esercizio della sovranità del nostro paese e al
diritto-dovere di controllo di
tutte le attività che vi svolgono comandi, strutture e mezzi militari
stranieri;
per avere acconsentito a modificare, senza nessuna decisione del
Parlamento, lo statuto della NATO.
Queste accuse, saranno esposte e ampiamente documentate il 3 giugno a
Roma nella sessione
plenaria del Tribunale Indipendente contro i crimini NATO costituitosi
in Italia che si terrà presso
l'Università Valdese (via Pietro Cossa 40) e saranno quindi portate a
New York, dove il 10
giugno si riunirà il Tribunale Internazionale Indipendente promosso
dall'ex Ministro della Giustizia
USA Ramsey Clark.
Invitiamo tutti i cittadini, le associazioni, le personalità consapevoli
della necessità di impedire che
tali crimini siano perpetuati e diventino anzi la norma delle relazioni
internazionali, a sostenere
l'iniziativa della sezione italiana del Tribunale Clark e la raccolta di
testimonianze e documenti e
partecipare attivamente all'assemblea del 3 giugno a Roma.
===
"Il manifesto", 15 Febbraio 2000
KOSOVO
Quell'intervento è stato illegittimo
MICHELE DI SCHIENA *
D urante la guerra nel Kosovo pervennero alla Procura della repubblica
presso il Tribunale di Roma diversi esposti e denunce di gruppi,
associazioni e privati cittadini che facevano presente l'illegittimità
costituzionale della scelta del nostro governo di partecipare nella
primavera del '99 ai ripetuti attacchi aerei organizzati da alcuni paesi
della Nato ai danni della Jugoslavia. L'illegittimità dell'operato del
governo discendeva, secondo gli esponenti, dalla considerazione che gli
attacchi aerei, pur se motivati da pretesi intenti umanitari,
costituivano
atti di guerra offensiva in aperta violazione dell'art. 11 della
Costituzione per il quale "l'Italia ripudia la guerra... come mezzo di
risoluzione delle controversie internazionali". I denunzianti
sostenevano in
particolare che sussisteva l'illegittimità costituzionale della
decisione
governativa sotto il profilo della violazione degli artt. 78 e 87 della
Costituzione dal momento che, per il combinato disposto di tali norme,
lo
stato di guerra doveva essere dichiarato dal presidente della Repubblica
previa deliberazione delle Camere che avrebbero dovuto conferire al
governo
i necessari poteri.
Avendo il governo - sempre secondo gli esponenti - assunto l'iniziativa
bellica in assenza di detti presupposti, andavano accertate eventuali
responsabilità penali, con particolare riferimento al reato di
usurpazione
del potere politico previsto dall'art. 287 del Codice penale.
Di recente si è avuto notizia che il Collegio per i reati ministeriali
presso il Tribunale di Roma, con decisione del 26 ottobre scorso, ha
archiviato il procedimento sulla base di inconsistenti e sorprendenti
argomentazioni che mortificano lo spirito e la lettera di precise
disposizioni costituzionali. Per quanto attiene alla mancata
deliberazione
dello stato di guerra da parte delle Camere, il citato Collegio
riconosce,
invero, che non vi fu la "autorizzazione formale dello stato di guerra
da
parte del Parlamento" ma dice che venne "sostanzialmente rispettata" la
ratio dell'art. 78 della Costituzione per il quale "le Camere deliberano
lo
stato di guerra e conferiscono al Governo i poteri necessari". E ciò in
considerazione del fatto che l'intervento militare, presentato dal
governo
come operazione umanitaria, ottenne il conforto del dibattito
parlamentare e
tenuto conto che tale intervento "non poteva non comportare l'impiego
delle
Forze armate della Repubblica... in una prospettiva di guerra
offensiva".
Quanto poi alla mancata dichiarazione da parte del presidente della
Repubblica dello stato di guerra che avrebbero dovuto deliberare le
Camere,
afferma testualmente il Collegio che "tale omissione non comporta alcun
sovvertimento o radicale deroga all'equilibrio dei poteri di governo
delineati dalla carta fondamentale". E infine, con specifico riferimento
al
disposto dell'art. 287 c.p. che punisce, come si è detto, l'usurpazione
di
poteri politici, afferma lo stesso Collegio che la ricorrenza di tale
fattispecie va esclusa "spettando al governo, a termini di Costituzione,
il
potere di impulso e di iniziativa circa l'inizio delle operazioni
belliche,
sicché nessun potere spettante ad altro organo costituzionale è stato
illegittimamente esercitato".
Siamo quindi di fronte ad un provvedimento che archivia la procedura
mentre
riconosce nella partecipazione dell'Italia alle operazioni militari nel
Kosovo un vero e proprio "stato di guerra" in una prospettiva
"offensiva",
ammette la mancanza di una "formale" autorizzazione del Parlamento dello
stato bellico e giudica sostanzialmente irrilevante, e quindi eludibile
senza conseguenze giudiziarie, la mancata dichiarazione di tale stato da
parte del presidente della Repubblica.
Dimentica il Collegio che gli artt. 78 e 87 della Costituzione, i quali
condizionano l'inizio di attività belliche all'emanazione di atti
formali e
quindi tecnicamente "solenni", sono norme rigorosamente precettive la
cui
finalità è quella di richiamare l'attenzione delle istituzioni, delle
istanze democratiche e dell'intero paese sulla gravità di una scelta di
guerra, sulle ragioni che la determinano e sulle responsabilità
politiche
che tale decisione può comportare. Il citato organo giudiziario trascura
inoltre di considerare che per la sussistenza dell'elemento materiale
del
reato di "usurpazione di potere politico" non è necessario che sia stato
arbitrariamente esercitato un potere spettante ad altro organo
costituzionale con l'illegittima "invasione di altro potere dello stato"
ma
è sufficiente, come ritiene la dottrina e impone il comune buon senso,
l'arrogarsi e cioè l'assumere arbitrariamente un potere che per legge
non
spetta. E certamente il governo non aveva, per la nostra Costituzione,
il
potere di fare la guerra senza che le Camere ne avessero deliberato lo
"stato" conferendo anche formalmente al governo medesimo i poteri
necessari;
con la conseguenza che, in difetto di tale conferimento, la
partecipazione
alle operazioni belliche nel Kosovo ha assunto i caratteri
dell'arbitrarietà
e dell'"usurpazione".
Non è allora possibile considerare chiuso in questo malinconico modo il
discorso sulla legittimità costituzionale dell'intervento dell'Italia
nella
guerra del Kosovo dal momento che sono in gioco il prestigio e il
rispetto
di principi e di regole che costituiscono il fondamento dello stato di
diritto. E poi, su di un piano diverso, non si può far finta di ignorare
che
il provvedimento di archiviazione del Collegio per i reati ministeriali
costituisce oggettivamente, ben oltre le sue contraddizioni e le sue
intenzioni, un atto di accusa di gravi responsabilità politiche che
meritano
rinnovata e preoccupata attenzione.
* presidente onorario aggiunto Cassazione
===
For Immediate Release
Attention: Assignment Editor
May 10, 2000
NEW REVELATIONS ARE FURTHER PROOF OF U.S. WAR
CRIMES
New revelations that NATO’s high-altitude bombing of Yugoslavia
was far less successful than claimed at the time, are “further proof of
U.S. war crimes against Yugoslavia,” said Sara Flounders, national
co-director of the International Action Center on May 10.
“This will provide additional evidence for the International War
Crimes Tribunal we will hold in New York June 9-10 to try U.S.
and NATO political and military leaders for war crimes, crimes
against humanity and crimes against peace,” Flounders said.
Newsweek magazine had gotten hold of an internal U.S. Air Force
report showing that only 58 of NATO’s so-called high-precision
strikes hit their targets. This compares with 744 NATO claimed at
the end of the bombing campaign.
“The claims of high accuracy with little harm to civilians,” said
Flounders, “was just another in the long line of lies NATO
spokespeople used to justify massive attacks on civilian targets in
Yugoslavia.”
A special investigation team from the U.S. and other NATO air
forces searched Kosovo on foot and by helicopter. U.S. top
officers boasted that NATO forces had disabled "around 120
tanks", "about 220 armored personnel carriers" and "up to 450
artillery and mortar pieces" in 78 days of bombing.
The investigators reported instead that NATO hit just 14 tanks, 18
APCs and 20 artillery and mortar pieces, less than one tenth of
NATO claims. These figures are quite close to the losses Yugoslav
forces reported at the end of the war. NATO dismissed the
Yugoslav report as "disinformation" at the time.
The investigators found out that U.S. and NATO high-altitude air
power was effective chiefly against civilian targets. It was the
bombing of cities and power stations that most damaged Serbia.
Flounders noted that the report, made last summer, had never been
made public. A second report, which reported hits closer to NATO
and the Pentagon’s boasts, was then used.
“The Newsweek article avoided the implications that the U.S. and
NATO commanders violated the rules of war by striking civilian
targets,” said Flounders. “Instead, it pointed to the efficacy of
striking the civilian infrastructure of a country, which in the case of
Yugoslavia includes hundreds of schools, dozens of hospitals and
almost every major industry. In effect it advocates new war crimes.”
Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark had drawn up the original
charge sheet against NATO leaders, which added up to 19 charges.
Charge number 9, said Flounders, was “Attacking Objects
Indispensable to the Survival of the Population of Yugoslavia,”
including depriving the population of Yugoslavia of food, water,
electric power, food production, medicines, medical care and other
essentials to their survival, [by engaging] in the systematic
destruction and damage by missiles and aerial bombardment of food
production and storage facilities, drinking water and irrigation works
for agriculture, fertilizer, insecticide, pharmaceutical, hospitals and
health care facilities, among other objects essential to human survival.
“The NATO commanders, fearing the complete failure of their
campaign against the Yugoslav military, concentrated on hitting
civilian targets,” said Flounders. “This is clearly a war crime, and we
will prove this before the world on June 10.”
CONTRIBUTE TO THE PROGRAM JOURNAL FOR THE JUNE 10
INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL ON U.S./NATO WAR CRIMES
A special Program Journal will be produced for the June 10
International Tribunal on U.S./NATO War Crimes in Yugoslavia.
The June 10 International Tribunal is the culmination of a global truth-
telling campaign. Scores of hearings in countries around the world have
collected eyewitness testimony, expert testimony and analysis. All of
this will be presented on June 10.
The Program Journal is a great opportunity for individuals and
organizations to show their commitment to this landmark struggle for
justice. It is the key instrument for defraying the expenses of the
Tribunal.
Please consider contributing to this beautiful commemorative book. A
Display Ad can be a message of solidarity or protest, a greeting, a
remembrance of loved ones, a poem, a book or Web site promotion, or
whatever you find appropriate. You can also be listed as a Sponsor or
Supporter.
You and all those attending the International Tribunal will receive the
program journal. Copies will be sent around the world to all those who
organized hearings, to human rights organizations, schools and
libraries.
DISPLAY AD INFORMATION
Full-page Ad (7.25"wide x 9.75" high) is a $1000 donation.
Half-page Ad (7.25" wide x 4.75" high) is a $500 donation.
Quarter-page Ad (3.5" wide x 4.75" high) is a $250 donation.
Ads can be designed by our Journal staff if requested. Or you can send
in
camera-ready copy by mail or deliver it to the International Action
Center.
Text for a Display Ad can be faxed to 212-675-7869 or mailed.
SPONSOR/SUPPORTER LISTINGS.
You can be listed in the journal as a Sponsor for a $100 donation.
Supporter
listings require a $50 donation. Please indicate how your want your name
listed when you send in your response.
SATURDAY, MAY 20 IS THE DEADLINE FOR ORDERS, AD COPY AND
PAYMENT
HOW TO PLACE YOUR ORDER
You can place your order on-line or through the mail. For on-line
orders, go
to the People’s Rights Fund web site at { HYPERLINK
http://www.peoplesrightsfund.org }www.peoplesri
ghtsfund.org. (This
site was just updated to accept donations for June 10.)
Send mail orders with payment to: International Action Center, 39 W. 14
St.
#206, NY, N.Y. 10011. Write checks to the "People's Rights
Fund/Tribunal."
For Display Ads, include the text for the ad or when and how you are
sending camera-ready copy. For sponsor or supporter listings, indicate
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you wish to be listed. Include your name, address, phone number, e-mail
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Program Journal sent to you because you won't be attending the June 10
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Call 212-633-6646 if you have questions or e-mail iacenter@...
We will not let the history of war crimes be written by the
perpetrators. There
is nothing more important than to tell the truth about U.S.-NATO war
crimes
against Yugoslavia and the horrible reality of the occupation of Kosovo.
We
need your voice, your words and your support now.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the May 18, 2000
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
EDITORIAL: PUT THE WAR CRIMINALS IN THE DOCK
The U.S. and NATO leaders thought they would get away with
the war against Yugoslavia.
They scraped through a 78-day war they had expected to win
in three days. They planned and provoked the war. They
bombed civilian targets. They used outlawed weapons. They
forced the Yugoslav government to draw its army out of its
own province, Kosovo.
And they thought they were home free.
Clinton, Albright, Gen. Wesley Clark, and their
counterparts in Western Europe hoped they had heard the end
of protests against their dirty war against Yugoslavia.
But by last July, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey
Clark and the International Action Center were charging
U.S./NATO leaders with 19 counts of war crimes, crimes
against peace and crimes against humanity.
By October, tens of thousands of people protesting in
Athens made it clear that Clinton was a war criminal and
unwelcome.
Others in 14 countries from Russia to Australia held
popular tribunal hearings that called the NATO political
and military leaders war criminals. These hearings showed
that Washington had planned the war for 10 years. They
showed that the "massacre" charges against the Belgrade
government were lies.
They showed that U.S. and German intelligence agencies
built up the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army--a terrorist
gang. They showed that the so-called Racak massacre was a
provocation by U.S. agent William Walker and the KLA. They
showed that the Rambouillet "Accord" was an ultimatum to
Yugoslavia that no government could accept.
Now these hearings are reaching a climax. In Rome and
Berlin on June 2-3, and in New York on June 10, the
International Tribunals on U.S./NATO War Crimes in
Yugoslavia will take place. The tribunal will prove to the
world and to history that these political and military
leaders are indeed war criminals.
The progressive movement in the United States should give
its full support to this tribunal and make sure that the
June 10 public hearing plays before a packed house.
- END -
(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
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changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
ww@.... For subscription info send message
to: info@.... Web: http://www.workers.org)
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
* 24 MAGGIO: FIRENZE DICE NO AL SUMMIT DELLA NATO
* LA NATO AL DI SOPRA DI OGNI LEGGE? (D. Pavlovic)
---
FLORENCE SAYS NO TO THE NATO SUMMIT!
On the 24 and 25 May, NATO will hold a summit meeting in Florence, a
city declared to be an "Operator for Peace," with a gold medal for its
Resistance against the Nazi/Facists in WW II.
In this highest-level meeting, the NATO Alliance intends to further
define its strategies with regards to various areas of the world (the
Balkans and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa), the
reorganization in a more explicitly offensive way of its military
apparatus, and its expansion to the East.
The NATO military alliance which, as in the past, continues to be an
instrument of aggression against national sovereignty and of
interference in the internal political affairs of member states, as well
as a constant threat to peace, is today in a process of transformation
of its role and its military apparatus to adapt itself to the growing
requirements of capitalist dominion in its contemporary form: "the free
market."
It is in this sense that the Treaty of Washington of April 1999, also
signed by the Italian government, must be understood, in which NATO
formally arrogates to itself the right to intervene everywhere and
anywhere in support of the new world order, as demonstrated in the war
against Yugoslavia.
War is thus established and increasingly reconfirmed as a concrete
possibility, practicable and in fact practiced, as a major and decisive
instrument for the imposition of the "free market."
For this reason there is an evident connection between the struggles
against wars of aggression, against the presence of NATO's military
bases, against militarism, and against the embargoes, with the struggles
in the North and South of the world which are rising up against the
sanctuaries of capitalism (WTO, IMF, World Bank), against temporary
labor and "flexibility", against exploitation and poverty, for social
and citizenship rights, for the right to a decent life and future, for
the liberation of peoples.
The forces organizing this mobilization express their opposition to the
holding of the NATO summit in Florence and call on the entire population
to boycott and mobilize against this unacceptable provocation.
WEDNESDAY 24 MAY
DAY OF MOBILIZATION AGAINST NATO
concluding with a
DEMONSTRATION
meeting point: PIAZZA SAN MARCO
5:30 p.m.
Endorsers: Women in Black, Tuscan Antagonistic Movement, Casa for
Social Rights, Association for Renewal of the Left, CPA Occupied Social
Center, Communist Refoundation Party, Young Communists, Liberazione
newspaper, Forum of the Women of Communist Refoundation, Peace Charter,
Coordinamento of Leftist Students, Political Science Collective,
Programmatic Area of Communists in CGIL trade union, RDB Healthworkers
union (Tuscany), Camera del Lavoro Sociale labor council, Fuori
Binario
newspaper, Peace Tent, Ass. Senza Confine, Missing Links Ass., Ass.
for Defense of Minorities, Movement for the Confederation of Communists,
Cobas school union, Sincobas union, Slai Cobas union (Florence), Cobas
Union Confederation (Florence), Gulf Committee, National Coordinamento
of RSU workplace union councils, National Coord. of Committees Against
the War, Guerre e Pace magazine, Coord. of World March of Women, Coord.
Rete Lilliput (Florence), CSOA il Mulino Occupied Social Center,
National, Ass. AZAD - Freedom for the Kurdish People, Val di Sieve Peace
Committee, ASSOPACE, PMLI, Nuova Unita' newspaper, North Americans
Against War, Coord. University Language Teachers (Florence), 1968
Archives, Forum of Associations Against the Free Market (Milan), Ass.
Village of Peoples, Economy Group "E. Balducci", RACS, Ass. "Friendship"
Rom (Florence), Florence Committee for the Liberation of Mumia
Abu-Jamal, Valdarno Committee Against the War, Ernesto de Martino
Institute, Ass. Chiama Africa, Cultural Ass. Punto Rosso (Massa
Carrara), RSU union council of University of Florence. Mani Tese
(Florence).
---
Above or Beyond the Law
Dragan Pavlovic
Editor in chief, "Dialogue", Paris
____________________________________________________________________
The First World War Has Not Happened Yet
We seem to be dreaming. We look at the world as if it were not much
older
than we can remember. We do not doubt that we have made progress through
history as human beings, and we are proud of it. As children we may not
even have had a bicycle or ridden the train; and now we can have
breakfast
in one part of the world and dinner on the opposite side of our planet
Earth. Basic essential human rights are not an issue any more in this,
our
part of the world; we struggle for even more rights - extra rights are
the
order of the day: homosexual rights, even animal rights, and so on. War?
That is the business of fools, of lower people, they can have wars if
they
wish, but here war is forgotten. If we hear about such things from the
other
side of the world, it all sounds as remote as tales from an old history
book. We have moved beyond ... The new era is on its way; the world has
profoundly changed forever.
But is it so?
If we would shake our heads, open wide our eyes, and look back through
history, we could clearly see how profound an illusion this is. The
reality
is cruel. Conflicts between states have been constant and have all too
often
escalated into bloody wars. This has been an infallible pattern now for
not
only hundreds but many thousands of years. History looks rather like
conflict - war periods randomly distributed over the planet, with
uninhabited areas proportionally less exposed. When it has happened that
some large region remained relatively spared for a fairly long period of
time, then people always, without exception, started to believe that the
time of war was past and gone. However, those exceptional periods always
came to an end and the hopes for lasting peace proved to be in vain.
Today we have no serious reasons to believe that the future will not
resemble the past. The present period of peace in the Western world is
negligibly short, if compared to the sweep of history, and the cycle of
war
and peace periods following endlessly one upon another -- much too short
to
enable us to conclude that the miracle has occurred. Hence, there are
more
wars to come in the future.
The same applies to the frontiers between states. They have been
changing
over the centuries, and the long history of changes only offers the
promise
that there will be more changes to come, the Europe of the future is not
going to resemble the one we know now, and that this is going to happen,
unfortunately, through conflicts and wars.
In the past, the slowness of communications and the restricted range of
deadly weapons resulted in more or less local wars. With the advance of
technology, communications and the world population, people have been
able
to travel faster and attack at greater distance, and wars have been
becoming
more universal. Yet so far, the real World War has not quite been
possible, even though very major wars, particularly in the past century,
were possible. Some of you may still remember what they looked like.
Today at last, thanks to technological progress, truly universal war is
practically at hand. So this is the sort of war we can expect to see
next.
All major wars in the past were fought for a "universal" cause, for
freedom,
for world order, for a prosperous and peaceful future, for improved
humanity, for "high" human ideals. We know today that all without
exception
were ruthless lies and the result of ignoble motives, immoral purposes
and
self-deception. Significantly, it was always the leaders of the most
powerful states, the ones most advanced in military technology, who took
it
for granted that eternal wisdom and utmost humanity went hand in hand
with
power. They believed that their concept of a better world then had to be
imposed - indeed even that failing to impose it would had been highly
immoral and unjust. Thinkers who opposed those attitudes were
marginalised
since the reigning power had their own thinkers, their own philosophers,
own
writers, own wise men, own elite. And so it went on. In short, there
were
many common features to distinguish aggressive states that probably
could be
recognised should they appear again today.
Yet absurd as it may be, in the past, they were seldom identified in
time by
large sections of the populations. Why, I do not know. Perhaps it was
because they were never exactly the same, born in different times and
different places, in different cultural environments; and in spite of
this,
they all displayed these similar features.
Above or Beyond the Law
There is in particular one feature, so systematically present, so well
represented, that always followed sometimes long periods of maturation
of
those so characteristic and yet atypical and unrecognisable ideological
traits that I mention, which is so strong that its appearance should by
itself be able to wake up the most somnolent from their deadly dreams:
THEY
(the states i.e., their leaders) always put themselves above the law,
violating their own laws, the laws of other countries, agreements
between
states, treaties, international conventions. Always. In the earlier
times
those were not the laws in narrow sense but rather customs or frequently
unwritten agreements. In the twentieth century the laws par excellence,
just
borne to assure everlasting peace, were violated. To do this, very
strong
reasons were given, always, without exception. The essence of all
reasons
was that fulfilment of essential human duties had to overcome humanly
made,
imperfect laws. THEY would promote first an untenable thesis that
violence
could be combated by equal or even greater violence. To achieve their
ultimate goals, THEY had to turn upside down the famous Greek argument
of
the justice beyond the law, justice emanating out of human categorical
imperatives, a priory knowledge of right and wrong, our ideal of
justice.
(Antigones' refusal not to bury the body of her brother and to let it be
torn apart by animals; she was convinced that the universal law is
higher
than human made laws and that such a vicious act could not be let
happen).
The ancient Greeks knew that laws couldn't entail the entire human moral
intuition. They knew that we may, in the rare cases, in order to fulfil
that
ideal of justice - the laws steam to and just fall short of - and go
beyond
the law, but only to forgive and to pardon. What a tyrants would do is
that
they would either virtually apply the law but exceeding what it
prescribes,
or go above it and violate it (for the "higher" cause!) punishing more,
oppressing more, destroying and killing, and this makes the "fine"
difference of the moral and immoral.
Here is the famous passage form Sophocles" "Antigone".
CREON. And thou didst indeed dare to transgress that law?
ANTIGONE. Yes; for it was not Zeus that had published me that edict; not
such are the laws set among men by the justice who dwells with the gods
below; nor deemed I that thy decrees were of such force, that a mortal
could
override the unwritten and unfailing statutes of heaven. For their life
is
not of today or yesterday, but from all time, and no man knows when they
were first put forth.
Not through dread of any human pride could I answer to the gods for
breaking
these. Die I must,-I knew that well (how should I not?)-even without thy
edicts. But if I am to die before my time, I count that a gain: for when
any
one lives, as I do, compassed about with evils, can such an one find
aught
but gain in death?
So for me to meet this doom is trifling grief; but if I had suffered my
mother's son to lie in death an unburied corpse, that would have grieved
me;
for this, I am not grieved. And if my present deeds are foolish in thy
sight, it may be that a foolish judge arraigns my folly.
In the other words, Sophocles was saying that we can break the law only
if
in doing this we commit a less violent act, and then we certainly do not
increase the punishment, we diminish it or pardon altogether. Only then
we
may, in some special circumstances, break the human-made and imperfect
human
laws. But what THEY (the states mentioned above i.e., their actual
leaders)
would so systematically do, and we should so easily see it if we just
open
our eyes, is that, contrary to Sophocles - who would break the law only
to
pardon - those states would introduce more cruel, more violent measures,
not
only to impose by force the "utmost human values", but to punish,
repress
and even exterminate. They would do all of this in a simple and clear
way -
with sword and fire. This, and at least this - we must always be able to
recognise at its very beginning. Before the announced (first) world war,
before it is too late.
Morals about Imperatives
I will let the reader discover examples of that pattern in history.
Ancient
Macedonia, the Romans, the Ottomans, Napoleonic France, our colonial
predecessors, Nazi Germany, are some of the most obvious cases. And
there
were others as well. Today, we must be very well aware that quite
recently,
the UN Charter and more then 50 treaties and international conventions,
as
well as a few national Constitutions, were violated.
In politics, not declared desires, promises and bare words, but acts and
results of those acts show what was really wanted. 78 days of bombing of
Yugoslavia, led to NATO occupation of Kosovo and installation of second
huge
military NATO basis in the Balkans (against small Serbia!?), ethnic
cleansing of the totality of Serbs from Kosovo (those who still rest
there
are in the "reserves"), having as a result reinforcement of Belgrade
government, subtotal destruction of the country's industry, death of
couple
of thousands of civilians, pushing the entire population deep in misery.
Those who did it all recognise now (secretly though) their failure and
plan
further (again military) actions to correct it. This will further help
"revive" the history, some were so anxious that was dying.
Again, we should not confuse entire nations with states, actual
governments,
and some political leaders. At the very end of the 20th century, we are
witnessing a dangerous, perhaps deadly, turn, taken by some of our
leaders
of the Western world, with the NATO Alliance at the summit. The pattern
is
easy to recognise, although, some of us have missed to spot it.
Fortunately,
we are the creatures able to learn, and this could be learned. Only
knowledge, under condition that we use it, and this being an imperative
today, could help us, probably, make that future does not resemble the
past.
Yes, not an easy task, but possible.
_____________________________________
Dragan Pavlovic
dragan@...
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
* LA NATO AL DI SOPRA DI OGNI LEGGE? (D. Pavlovic)
---
FLORENCE SAYS NO TO THE NATO SUMMIT!
On the 24 and 25 May, NATO will hold a summit meeting in Florence, a
city declared to be an "Operator for Peace," with a gold medal for its
Resistance against the Nazi/Facists in WW II.
In this highest-level meeting, the NATO Alliance intends to further
define its strategies with regards to various areas of the world (the
Balkans and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa), the
reorganization in a more explicitly offensive way of its military
apparatus, and its expansion to the East.
The NATO military alliance which, as in the past, continues to be an
instrument of aggression against national sovereignty and of
interference in the internal political affairs of member states, as well
as a constant threat to peace, is today in a process of transformation
of its role and its military apparatus to adapt itself to the growing
requirements of capitalist dominion in its contemporary form: "the free
market."
It is in this sense that the Treaty of Washington of April 1999, also
signed by the Italian government, must be understood, in which NATO
formally arrogates to itself the right to intervene everywhere and
anywhere in support of the new world order, as demonstrated in the war
against Yugoslavia.
War is thus established and increasingly reconfirmed as a concrete
possibility, practicable and in fact practiced, as a major and decisive
instrument for the imposition of the "free market."
For this reason there is an evident connection between the struggles
against wars of aggression, against the presence of NATO's military
bases, against militarism, and against the embargoes, with the struggles
in the North and South of the world which are rising up against the
sanctuaries of capitalism (WTO, IMF, World Bank), against temporary
labor and "flexibility", against exploitation and poverty, for social
and citizenship rights, for the right to a decent life and future, for
the liberation of peoples.
The forces organizing this mobilization express their opposition to the
holding of the NATO summit in Florence and call on the entire population
to boycott and mobilize against this unacceptable provocation.
WEDNESDAY 24 MAY
DAY OF MOBILIZATION AGAINST NATO
concluding with a
DEMONSTRATION
meeting point: PIAZZA SAN MARCO
5:30 p.m.
Endorsers: Women in Black, Tuscan Antagonistic Movement, Casa for
Social Rights, Association for Renewal of the Left, CPA Occupied Social
Center, Communist Refoundation Party, Young Communists, Liberazione
newspaper, Forum of the Women of Communist Refoundation, Peace Charter,
Coordinamento of Leftist Students, Political Science Collective,
Programmatic Area of Communists in CGIL trade union, RDB Healthworkers
union (Tuscany), Camera del Lavoro Sociale labor council, Fuori
Binario
newspaper, Peace Tent, Ass. Senza Confine, Missing Links Ass., Ass.
for Defense of Minorities, Movement for the Confederation of Communists,
Cobas school union, Sincobas union, Slai Cobas union (Florence), Cobas
Union Confederation (Florence), Gulf Committee, National Coordinamento
of RSU workplace union councils, National Coord. of Committees Against
the War, Guerre e Pace magazine, Coord. of World March of Women, Coord.
Rete Lilliput (Florence), CSOA il Mulino Occupied Social Center,
National, Ass. AZAD - Freedom for the Kurdish People, Val di Sieve Peace
Committee, ASSOPACE, PMLI, Nuova Unita' newspaper, North Americans
Against War, Coord. University Language Teachers (Florence), 1968
Archives, Forum of Associations Against the Free Market (Milan), Ass.
Village of Peoples, Economy Group "E. Balducci", RACS, Ass. "Friendship"
Rom (Florence), Florence Committee for the Liberation of Mumia
Abu-Jamal, Valdarno Committee Against the War, Ernesto de Martino
Institute, Ass. Chiama Africa, Cultural Ass. Punto Rosso (Massa
Carrara), RSU union council of University of Florence. Mani Tese
(Florence).
---
Above or Beyond the Law
Dragan Pavlovic
Editor in chief, "Dialogue", Paris
____________________________________________________________________
The First World War Has Not Happened Yet
We seem to be dreaming. We look at the world as if it were not much
older
than we can remember. We do not doubt that we have made progress through
history as human beings, and we are proud of it. As children we may not
even have had a bicycle or ridden the train; and now we can have
breakfast
in one part of the world and dinner on the opposite side of our planet
Earth. Basic essential human rights are not an issue any more in this,
our
part of the world; we struggle for even more rights - extra rights are
the
order of the day: homosexual rights, even animal rights, and so on. War?
That is the business of fools, of lower people, they can have wars if
they
wish, but here war is forgotten. If we hear about such things from the
other
side of the world, it all sounds as remote as tales from an old history
book. We have moved beyond ... The new era is on its way; the world has
profoundly changed forever.
But is it so?
If we would shake our heads, open wide our eyes, and look back through
history, we could clearly see how profound an illusion this is. The
reality
is cruel. Conflicts between states have been constant and have all too
often
escalated into bloody wars. This has been an infallible pattern now for
not
only hundreds but many thousands of years. History looks rather like
conflict - war periods randomly distributed over the planet, with
uninhabited areas proportionally less exposed. When it has happened that
some large region remained relatively spared for a fairly long period of
time, then people always, without exception, started to believe that the
time of war was past and gone. However, those exceptional periods always
came to an end and the hopes for lasting peace proved to be in vain.
Today we have no serious reasons to believe that the future will not
resemble the past. The present period of peace in the Western world is
negligibly short, if compared to the sweep of history, and the cycle of
war
and peace periods following endlessly one upon another -- much too short
to
enable us to conclude that the miracle has occurred. Hence, there are
more
wars to come in the future.
The same applies to the frontiers between states. They have been
changing
over the centuries, and the long history of changes only offers the
promise
that there will be more changes to come, the Europe of the future is not
going to resemble the one we know now, and that this is going to happen,
unfortunately, through conflicts and wars.
In the past, the slowness of communications and the restricted range of
deadly weapons resulted in more or less local wars. With the advance of
technology, communications and the world population, people have been
able
to travel faster and attack at greater distance, and wars have been
becoming
more universal. Yet so far, the real World War has not quite been
possible, even though very major wars, particularly in the past century,
were possible. Some of you may still remember what they looked like.
Today at last, thanks to technological progress, truly universal war is
practically at hand. So this is the sort of war we can expect to see
next.
All major wars in the past were fought for a "universal" cause, for
freedom,
for world order, for a prosperous and peaceful future, for improved
humanity, for "high" human ideals. We know today that all without
exception
were ruthless lies and the result of ignoble motives, immoral purposes
and
self-deception. Significantly, it was always the leaders of the most
powerful states, the ones most advanced in military technology, who took
it
for granted that eternal wisdom and utmost humanity went hand in hand
with
power. They believed that their concept of a better world then had to be
imposed - indeed even that failing to impose it would had been highly
immoral and unjust. Thinkers who opposed those attitudes were
marginalised
since the reigning power had their own thinkers, their own philosophers,
own
writers, own wise men, own elite. And so it went on. In short, there
were
many common features to distinguish aggressive states that probably
could be
recognised should they appear again today.
Yet absurd as it may be, in the past, they were seldom identified in
time by
large sections of the populations. Why, I do not know. Perhaps it was
because they were never exactly the same, born in different times and
different places, in different cultural environments; and in spite of
this,
they all displayed these similar features.
Above or Beyond the Law
There is in particular one feature, so systematically present, so well
represented, that always followed sometimes long periods of maturation
of
those so characteristic and yet atypical and unrecognisable ideological
traits that I mention, which is so strong that its appearance should by
itself be able to wake up the most somnolent from their deadly dreams:
THEY
(the states i.e., their leaders) always put themselves above the law,
violating their own laws, the laws of other countries, agreements
between
states, treaties, international conventions. Always. In the earlier
times
those were not the laws in narrow sense but rather customs or frequently
unwritten agreements. In the twentieth century the laws par excellence,
just
borne to assure everlasting peace, were violated. To do this, very
strong
reasons were given, always, without exception. The essence of all
reasons
was that fulfilment of essential human duties had to overcome humanly
made,
imperfect laws. THEY would promote first an untenable thesis that
violence
could be combated by equal or even greater violence. To achieve their
ultimate goals, THEY had to turn upside down the famous Greek argument
of
the justice beyond the law, justice emanating out of human categorical
imperatives, a priory knowledge of right and wrong, our ideal of
justice.
(Antigones' refusal not to bury the body of her brother and to let it be
torn apart by animals; she was convinced that the universal law is
higher
than human made laws and that such a vicious act could not be let
happen).
The ancient Greeks knew that laws couldn't entail the entire human moral
intuition. They knew that we may, in the rare cases, in order to fulfil
that
ideal of justice - the laws steam to and just fall short of - and go
beyond
the law, but only to forgive and to pardon. What a tyrants would do is
that
they would either virtually apply the law but exceeding what it
prescribes,
or go above it and violate it (for the "higher" cause!) punishing more,
oppressing more, destroying and killing, and this makes the "fine"
difference of the moral and immoral.
Here is the famous passage form Sophocles" "Antigone".
CREON. And thou didst indeed dare to transgress that law?
ANTIGONE. Yes; for it was not Zeus that had published me that edict; not
such are the laws set among men by the justice who dwells with the gods
below; nor deemed I that thy decrees were of such force, that a mortal
could
override the unwritten and unfailing statutes of heaven. For their life
is
not of today or yesterday, but from all time, and no man knows when they
were first put forth.
Not through dread of any human pride could I answer to the gods for
breaking
these. Die I must,-I knew that well (how should I not?)-even without thy
edicts. But if I am to die before my time, I count that a gain: for when
any
one lives, as I do, compassed about with evils, can such an one find
aught
but gain in death?
So for me to meet this doom is trifling grief; but if I had suffered my
mother's son to lie in death an unburied corpse, that would have grieved
me;
for this, I am not grieved. And if my present deeds are foolish in thy
sight, it may be that a foolish judge arraigns my folly.
In the other words, Sophocles was saying that we can break the law only
if
in doing this we commit a less violent act, and then we certainly do not
increase the punishment, we diminish it or pardon altogether. Only then
we
may, in some special circumstances, break the human-made and imperfect
human
laws. But what THEY (the states mentioned above i.e., their actual
leaders)
would so systematically do, and we should so easily see it if we just
open
our eyes, is that, contrary to Sophocles - who would break the law only
to
pardon - those states would introduce more cruel, more violent measures,
not
only to impose by force the "utmost human values", but to punish,
repress
and even exterminate. They would do all of this in a simple and clear
way -
with sword and fire. This, and at least this - we must always be able to
recognise at its very beginning. Before the announced (first) world war,
before it is too late.
Morals about Imperatives
I will let the reader discover examples of that pattern in history.
Ancient
Macedonia, the Romans, the Ottomans, Napoleonic France, our colonial
predecessors, Nazi Germany, are some of the most obvious cases. And
there
were others as well. Today, we must be very well aware that quite
recently,
the UN Charter and more then 50 treaties and international conventions,
as
well as a few national Constitutions, were violated.
In politics, not declared desires, promises and bare words, but acts and
results of those acts show what was really wanted. 78 days of bombing of
Yugoslavia, led to NATO occupation of Kosovo and installation of second
huge
military NATO basis in the Balkans (against small Serbia!?), ethnic
cleansing of the totality of Serbs from Kosovo (those who still rest
there
are in the "reserves"), having as a result reinforcement of Belgrade
government, subtotal destruction of the country's industry, death of
couple
of thousands of civilians, pushing the entire population deep in misery.
Those who did it all recognise now (secretly though) their failure and
plan
further (again military) actions to correct it. This will further help
"revive" the history, some were so anxious that was dying.
Again, we should not confuse entire nations with states, actual
governments,
and some political leaders. At the very end of the 20th century, we are
witnessing a dangerous, perhaps deadly, turn, taken by some of our
leaders
of the Western world, with the NATO Alliance at the summit. The pattern
is
easy to recognise, although, some of us have missed to spot it.
Fortunately,
we are the creatures able to learn, and this could be learned. Only
knowledge, under condition that we use it, and this being an imperative
today, could help us, probably, make that future does not resemble the
past.
Yes, not an easy task, but possible.
_____________________________________
Dragan Pavlovic
dragan@...
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
* Arrivarono dalla Germania nazista i proiettili all'uranio impoverito
* La NATO ammette l'uso di armi all'uranio impoverito, l'UNMIK chiede
spiegazioni, la Jugoslavia chiede la riparazione dei danni, i militari
contaminati fanno causa al governo britannico, la denuncia del GAVCI
* Due libri ed un intero sito internet sull'uranio impoverito
* L'uranio impoverito usato dagli USA anche a Portorico
---
Marco Saba wrote:
>
> Arrivarono dalla Germania nazista i proiettili all'uranio impoverito.
>
> 1945: L'uranio delle prime bombe atomiche USA e
> la tecnologia dei proiettili all'uranio impoverito
> ceduti dai gerarchi nazisti in cambio dell'immunità
> (6 maggio 2000)
>
> Il 14 maggio 1945 il sommergibile U-234 XB si arrese alla
> nave americana USS Sutton. Conteneva 560 kg di uranio
> arricchito che sarebbe servito per le prime due bombe
> nucleari (Alamogordo ed Hiroshima) e per alimentare il
> reattore che produsse il plutonio per la bomba di Nagasaki.
>
> Oltre all'uranio c'erano le tecnologie belliche di punta della
> Germania nazista, tra cui il sistema di detonatori per la
> bomba al plutonio e la tecnologia dei proiettili all'uranio
> impoverito. La resa era stata negoziata in cambio
> dell'immunità per Martin Bormann ed Heinrich Müller oltreché
> per gli altri gerarchi nazisti che erano a bordo del
> sommergibile. Tra questi troviamo: Johann Heinrich Fehler,
> Heinz Schlicke, Wolfgang Hirschfeld, Ulrich Kessler, Kay
> Nieschling, il Dr. Walter, Hideo Tomonaga e Genzo Shosi.
>
> Questi ultimi due, giapponesi, vennero eliminati (avvelenati) dai
> nazisti durante l'ultimo viaggio del sommergibile perché
> stavano scoprendo l'intrigo e volevano impedire che quelle
> armi potessero essere usate contro il Giappone.
>
> La tesi del fatto che la tecnologia dei proiettili all'uranio
> impoverito risalisse alla Germania nazista, venne per la prima
> volta avanzata da Dr. Siegwart-Horst Guenther nell'articolo da
> noi precedentemente pubblicato:
> "Uran-Geschosse: Nach Zyklon B, eine neue deutsche Kampf- und
> Massenvernichtungs-Technologie" [Poiettili all'uranio: dopo il
> Zyklon-B, dalla Germania un'altra arma e tecnologia di combattimento]
>
> Il Prof. Guenther è stato arrestato in Germania, violentato in
> prigione e oggetto di due tentativi di omicidio. Al suo
> processo, il Giudice ha chiesto di effettuare una perizia
> psichiatrica per rinchiuderlo in manicomio. Attualmente
> Guenther (76 anni) è agli arresti domiciliari in Austria.
>
> La tesi di Guenther è confermata da decine di documenti
> ufficiali di cui l'Osservatorio è in possesso e dalla
> testimonianza di un esperto americano nostro collaboratore.
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Inviato da:
>
> Marco Saba
> Osservatorio Etico Ambientale
> via F.lli Cervi Res. Idra
> MILANO2 - 20090 Segrate (MI) Italy
> Tel (Italy+) 2 21591373
> GSM (Italy+) 338 5838282
> E-mail: vlario@...
---
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: "Janet M Eaton" <jeaton@...>
> To: mai-not@...
> Subject: NATO Admits To Use Of DU in YU May 5th Article
> Date: Fri, 5 May 2000 14:42:05 +0000
>
> This is a very good article that reviews the attempts to persuade
> NATO to reveal details on DU use during the NATO War vs
> Yugoslavia which is imperative for investigating its impact on
> human health. It also refers to several studies on the health
> consequences of DU which suggest strongly the need for precautions
> for people living and working in the contaminated regions where
> bombing with DU munitions occurred and notes precautions currently
> being taken in the area.
>
> fyi- janet
>
> To: "DU List" <du-list@...>
> From: "Dan Fahey" <mtpdu@...>
> Date sent: Fri, 5 May 2000 11:35:44 -0400
> Send reply to: Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.
> Subject: [du-list] Interesting article on Kosovo
> boundary="----=_NextPart_000_00B2_01BFB686.0CA3D680"
>
> [ Double-click this line for list subscription options ]
>
> The Greenwich Village Gazette
> May 5, 2000
> http://www.nycny.com/columns/guests/hyland05-05.html
> NATO Admits To Use Of Radioactive Munitions in Yugoslavia
> By Julie Hyland
> http://www.wsws.org
>
> NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson has finally provided
> limited details of the Alliance's use of depleted uranium (DU)
> ammunition during its war against Serbia last year. Robertson
> disclosed the information in a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi
> Annan last month-four months after it was first requested.
>
> DU is a waste product of the process used to enrich natural uranium
> ore for use in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. It is 1.7 times
> as dense as lead and is used in the tips of a bullet or a round to
> pierce armor plating. It can also be used in cruise missile nose cones
> and has been used in the armor of tanks.
>
> DU breaks into tiny particles on impact, which can be easily ingested
> and/or inhaled. Numerous studies have linked DU ammunition to the
> increase of cancer in Iraq, following the 1991 Gulf War, and to the
> number of army personnel in the US and the UK suffering from "Gulf War
> Syndrome".
>
> Annan had requested detailed information on NATO's use of DU during
> its 78-day bombardment of Yugoslavia, following a UN investigation by
> the Balkan Task Force (BTF). The results of the BTF
> investigation-which included members from the World Health
> Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Swedish
> Radiation Protection Institute-were reported last October.
> Investigators concentrated on four environmental "hot-spots" in
> Kosovo-Pancevo, Kragujevac, Novi Sad and Bor-but complained that the
> lack of official confirmation from NATO of its use of DU "during the
> Kosovo conflict distorted the prerequisites for the group's work".
>
> The report concluded that whilst the Kosovo conflict did not cause an
> environmental catastrophe for the whole of the Balkan region,
> pollution at the four spots investigated was "serious and poses a
> threat to human health". It urged an investigation into the impact of
> DU ammunition on human health.
>
> Robertson wrote that the United States Air Force A-10 "tankbuster"
> aircraft had concentrated their operations "in an area west of the
> Pec-Dakovica-Prizren highway, in the area surrounding Klina, in the
> area around Prizren, and in an area to the north of a line joining
> Suva Reka and Urosevac". He added, "However, many missions using DU
> also took place outside these areas."
>
> The UN Environmental Programme (UNep) complained that "the information
> provided [by Robertson] is not of sufficient detail to facilitate an
> accurate field assessment of the environmental and human health
> consequences of its use at the present time". This meant it was not
> possible "to comprehensively carry out an objective and scientifically
> based environmental and human health impact assessment in Kosovo".
>
> Whilst claiming that Robertson's admission "should not be a cause of
> widespread alarm", UNep urged that its October 1999 recommendations
> should be followed-including preventing access to all places where
> contamination has been confirmed, informing the local populace of the
> possible risks and taking "appropriate precautionary measures".
>
> The lack of detailed information in Robertson's letter is not
> surprising. NATO pursued a strategy of "carpet-bombing" towns and
> cities across Yugoslavia during its offensive. Some 700 planes flew
> almost 35,000 sorties, destroying large parts of the country's
> industrial and social infrastructure.
>
> During the latter stages of the air campaign, NATO moved to 24-hour
> bombing, targeting industrial plants, airports, electricity and
> telecommunications facilities, railways, bridges and fuel depots,
> schools, health clinics, day care centres, government buildings,
> churches, museums and monasteries.
>
> A comprehensive list of those areas targeted with DU ammunition would
> probably mean declaring much of Serbia and Kosovo contaminated, as
> well as raising serious concerns over the environmental and health
> dangers for surrounding countries.
>
> It is unlikely that a detailed breakdown will be forthcoming.
> Following Robertson's admission, Francois LeBlevenac, a NATO
> spokesman, said that the alliance had "no direct control" over the use
> of DU ammunition during the war. Whilst NATO had overall control of
> the campaign against Serbia, "it had no jurisdiction over the choice
> of armaments used by member nations," LeBlevenac said.
>
> Both the US and the UK were known to have used DU ammunition during
> the war. Whilst both have denied that the weapons posed any
> significant risk to human health, numerous studies have revealed
> significant dangers. The US Army's Environmental Policy Institute
> reported in 1995: "If DU enters the body, it has the potential to
> generate significant medical consequences. The risks associated with
> DU are both chemical and radiological."
>
> UK Ministry of Defense personnel in Kosovo have been warned to stay
> clear of any sites targeted with DU munitions, unless they are wearing
> full radioactive protective clothing. The National Radiological
> Protection Board advises UK nationals visiting or working in Kosovo to
> avoid disturbing areas contaminated with DU. Last April, radiation
> physicists at the University of Maryland submitted evidence to the US
> Department of Energy, recommending that DU never be used in warfare
> because of the health hazards.
>
> Last week German KFOR troops designated an area of approximately 5,000
> square metres in Kosovo-Metohija as radioactive, leading the Defence
> Ministry to promise it would conduct health checks on all its
> personnel in the vicinity.
>
> The consequences of DU munitions have been most clearly revealed in
> Iraq. The US fired almost 944,000 rounds of DU ammunition in Iraq and
> Kuwait during the 1991 war. Congenital birth defects in Iraq are
> reported to have increased to three times their post-war levels and
> there has been a dramatic increase in cancers and childhood leukemia.
> Last year, British experimental biologist Roger Cohill warned that the
> use of DU weapons against Yugoslavia was likely to result in an
> additional 10,000 fatal cancer cases in the region.
>
> As in Iraq, NATO sanctions against Serbia are undermining the medical
> profession's ability to detect and treat the disease. At a public
> meeting convened in London on March 24 to commemorate the first
> anniversary of the NATO bombing, Labour MP's Alice Mahon and Bob
> Marshall-Andrews reported on their recent visit to Yugoslavia as part
> of a campaign to lift western sanctions.
>
> The two reported that they had spoken with refugees from Kosovo,
> Bosnia and Croatia and met patients at the Bazanijska Kosa hospital in
> Belgrade. Cancer experts at the hospital had informed them that
> sanctions were seriously undermining cancer prevention and the quality
> of care. Radiotherapy equipment often does not have all the required
> parts and chemotherapy drugs are unavailable.
>
> Already this has meant that the number of early-detected cancer cases
> has dropped from 35 percent in 1990 to 13 percent. Doctors told them
> that, in comparison to the rest of Europe, Serbia is now bottom of the
> league table for five-year survival rates for lung, breast, colon,
> rectum, prostate, testicular, ovarian,stomach and cervical cancers.
>
> The BTF report is available on the Internet at:
> http://www.grid.unep.ch/btf
>
> This article contributed by http://www.wsws.org
>
>
> --
> For MAI-not (un)subscription information, posting guidelines and
> links to other MAI sites please see http://mai.flora.org/
>
KOSOVO-METOHIJA - UNMIK - DEPLETED-URANIUM AMMUNITION
UNMIK CALLS ON NATO TO SUBMIT DATA ON DEPLETED-URANIUM AMMUNITION
BERLIN, April 19 (Tanjug) - Tom Koenigs of Germany, head of the U.N.
civilian mission to Kosovo and Metohija (UNMIK) section for civilian
administration, on Wednesday urged NATO to submit data on
depleted-uranium
ammunition it had used during its aggression on Yugoslavia last year.
Koenigs told Hamburg's Greenpeace Magazine that UNMIK urgently needed
data
on precise locations where NATO had used radioactive ammunition in order
to
be able to take steps to protect the population in the Yugoslav Republic
of
Serbia's southern province.
Koenigs referred only to Kosovo and Metohija locations, being of the
view
that this ammunition, that could be fatal for the health of civilians
and
troops, had only been used in the Province.
The German Defence Ministry said in March that all German troops
participating in the U.N. peacekeeping force KFOR would be enabled to
come
to Germany for a check-up if they considered to have been exposed to
radioactivity.
NATO admitted as far back as April 1999 that it was using radioactive
ammunition in its aggression on Yugoslavia.
Relevant details were released at a later stage - U.S. troops dropped on
Serbia 31,000 bombs charged with depleted uranium and weighing 10 tons.
They used U.S. A-10 bombers for the purpose.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Diana Johnstone <107764.116@...>
> To: <Blind.Copy.Receiver@...>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2000 12:57 AM
> Subject: Tr: [KDN] Reuters: NATO Accused of Wider Uranium Use
>
> > NATO accused of wider uranium use
> >
> > By Amra Kevic, Reuters, 4/22/2000
> >
> > BELGRADE - Yugoslavia said yesterday that NATO planes had fired
> > depleted uranium shells on eight locations in Yugoslavia, near Kosovo
> > during airstrikes last year.
> >
> > A UN official said last month that NATO had admitted using depleted
> > uranium weapons in Kosovo, exposing civilians, its own troops, and aid
> > workers to health hazards, but that it remained unclear whether they
were
> > used elsewhere.
> >
> > ''Detailed investigation of Yugoslav territory, excluding Kosovo, showed
> that
> > this ammunition was used on eight locations south of the 44th
parallel,''
> said
> > Yugoslav Assistant Defense Minister General Slobodan Petkovic at a news
> > conference.
> >
> > Yugoslav Army teams found depleted uranium shells and fragments in the
> > border regions of Bujanovac and Vranje in southern Serbia, in Uzice,
> Cacak
> > and Kraljevo in western and central Serbia, and on the Montenegrin
> > peninsula of Lustica.
> >
> > ''The degree of contamination ranges from the bottom limit of 200
> > becquerels to 235,000 becquerels per kilogram sample of soil, or 1,000
> > times above the tolerable level,'' Petkovic said. The sites were mainly
> > farmland.
> >
> > ''Measures are now underway to seal off these areas to people and
> animals,''
> > said Petkovic, presenting a government report on the environmental
> > consequences of NATO's bombing campaign from March to June.
> >
> > He did not give the exact locations or details of the size and extent of
> the
> > contamination in each case.
> >
> > Pekka Haavisto, head of the environment task force, in March said NATO
> > was still holding back crucial information on where and how it used the
> > depleted uranium shells.
> >
> > The Yugoslav Army estimated that US jets had fired 50,000 depleted
> > uranium rounds during the 11-week campaign. The United States had
earlier
> > said it had used 31,000 rounds.
> >
> > ''In this way, a very prosperous country can rid itself of its nuclear
> waste
> > cheaply,'' Petkovic said.
> >
> > Kosovo was more exposed since depleted uranium was used on 100
> > locations, mostly around Prizren, Urosevac, Djakovica, Decani, and
> > Djurakovac, Petkovic said, but added that Yugoslav authorities had no
> > access to the region now.
> >
> > He said the Prizren-Djakovica-Pec stretch, where Italian and German
> > peacekeepers are deployed, was targeted the most.
> >
> > Kosovo has been controlled by NATO-led peacekeepers and UN civilian
> > administrators since Serb forces withdrew last June after the bombing.
> >
> > Some specialists believe particles and dust from the dense, heavy metal
> > shells can contaminate land and water sources with toxic, radioactive
> > particles.
> >
> > The Pentagon said last month that the 31,000 rounds of depleted uranium
> > bullets used by US attack jets did not present a significant hazard to
> health
> > or the environment.
> >
> > Yugoslavia called yesterday for international help to remove
contaminated
> > soil to nuclear waste disposal sites.
STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk (Britain)
Sunday Time (UK)
April 16 2000
BRITAIN
Ailing troops sue over Balkan war syndrome
SOLDIERS who served in the former Yugoslavia plan to sue the Ministry of
Defence (MoD)after suffering chronic health problems they believe were
caused by "Balkan war syndrome", writes Lois Rogers.
Doctors link their symptoms to exposure to depleted uranium in anti-tank
missiles used during the Kosovo conflict. Research has shown that the
heavy metal causes health problems leading to cancer, neurological and
immune system defects and reproductive system damage.
Up to 10,500 Britons were sent to Kosovo to assist in peacekeeping
missions and many were exposed to the fine, poisonous dust, which
remains in the atmosphere and pollutes water supplies, after Nato's
bombardment.
However, the MoD said: "We have done considerably more research into
depleted uranium than other nations as it has been raised as a concern
for a number of Gulf war veterans. We have seen no evidence to suggest
it is the cause of any illness among them and we are not aware of any
compensation claims from Kosovo veterans."
Twelve servicemen - 11 of whom are still serving - are preparing to sue.
If the initial claims are successful, they could open the floodgates for
a multi-million-pound group action which could deeply embarrass the
government.
The MoD is still struggling to fend off claims by thousands of Gulf war
veterans, who say they were made seriously ill by a hastily administered
cocktail of vaccines in-tended to protect them from biological warfare
agents.
Belgium, which had troops serving alongside British soldiers in Kosovo,
has already begun a systematic review of the health of the 14,000 troops
it sent to the region. Tests have identified cases of men suffering the
effects of exposure to uranium - even though they were not de-ployed in
high-risk areas.
In Britain, however, the official response has been unequivocal. A
secret memo circulated two weeks ago to army medical staff by the
biological weapons unit at Porton Down has insisted there was no
evidence of risk to British troops who served in Kosovo.
"I don't know how they can say that," said a 27-year-old man still in
the airborne unit he served with in Kosovo. He has been crippled by
fatigue.
"We are expected to do regular five-mile runs as part of our training,
and I just can't make it," he said. "I am dreading my next medical in
June. I am going to be thrown out."
Another 24-year-old, who is also still in the army, re-ported
debilitating fatigue and excruciating joint pain. "People like us just
have no future," he said.
America was the only allied force to use depleted uranium (DU) in its
missiles. So far it has admitted to firing about 10 tons of DU-bearing
missiles from aircraft over Kosovo last year. Requests for details on
missile rounds used in Serbia have been resisted.
Dan Fahey, a DU re-searcher at the Military Toxins Project in
Washington, said: "We know it has been used in many more locations than
we have been led to believe. The biggest danger is to the local
population."
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1999 14:40:19 +0100
From: "G.A.V.C.I. - Segreteria Nazionale" <gavci@...>
Reply-To: pck-armamenti@...
To: "[iso-8859-1] Radio_Città_103" <citta103@...>,
"[iso-8859-1] Radio_Città_del_Capo" <rcdc@...>,
Radio_Kappa_Centrale <radiorkc@...>,
Radio_Bologna_International <rbi@...>,
Radio_Oasi <elio@...>, Piazza_Grande
<pg@...>,
Il_Resto_Del_Carlino_di_Bologna <direttore@...>,
Zero_in_Condotta <mongolfiera@...>,
Volontariato_News <volnews@...>
Cc: Mailing List Pace di Peacelink <pck-pace@...>,
Mailing List Disarmo di Peacelink <pck-armamenti@...>,
Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.
Subject: Follia Militare: armi e radiazioni nucleari, morte di due
soldati sardi
Resent-Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1999 17:19:09 +0100
Resent-From: pck-armamenti@...
Comunicato Stampa
FOLLIA MILITARE: ARMI E RADIAZIONI NUCLEARI
MORTE DI DUE SOLDATI SARDI
A conferma che il rischio nucleare, tutt'altro che scongiurato, ha già
superato i limiti di guardia (allegati 1 e 2), scoppia ora il caso di
due
soldati sardi, morti in condizioni che fanno sospettare di contatti con
materiale radioattivo (allegato 3).
La logica bellica sta arrivando alle estreme conseguenze !
Il 2.000 si avvii e cresca secondo la cultura e la prassi della
NONVIOLENZA
p. Angelo Cavagna
Tutti gli allegati si possono trovare nella sezione "Speciale Nucleare"
del
sito GAVCI alla pagina:
http://www.peacelink.it/users/gavci/news/news.htm
oppure possono essere richiesti alla segreteria (riferimenti nella firma
in
basso)
1) Articolo di p. Angelo pubblicato da: "Settimana" n. 39 del 31 Ottobre
Deterrenza nucleare: "illegale" oltre che "immorale"
2) Rapporto di Giovanni Nifosì dell'Associazione Italiana Giuristi
contro le
Armi Nucleari sull'esito della votazione ONU della NAC - Agenda per un
nuovo
programma
3) Articoli della "Nuova Sardegna", inviati da Antonio Repetto di Pax
Christi Italiana sul caso di Salvatore Vacca, giovane militare sardo,
morto
in circostanze ancora da verificare.
---
Gruppo Autonomo di Volontariato Civile in Italia
Sede Centrale: "Villa Tamba" - Via della Selva Pescarola, 26
40131 Bologna - Italy - Tel. e Fax +39.51.6344671
e-mail: gavci@...
web: http://www.peacelink.it/users/gavci
Appello ai parlamentari su riforma della leva e servizio civile
Sottoscrizioni: http://www.peacelink.it/users/gavci/news/news.htm
---
DUE LIBRI ED UN SITO INTERNET
1.
International Action Center
IL METALLO DEL DISONORE
Che cos'e' l'uranio impoverito
Asterios Editore, Trieste 1999, lire 39000
2.
INTERNATIONAL ACTION CENTER - IL METALLO DEL DISONORE
Lire.15.000
Una documentazione scientifica e militante sull'uso e gli effetti
dell'uranio impoverito dall'estrazione, alla lavorazione fino
all'utilizzo civile e militare nelle ultime guerre di aggressione contro
i popoli irakeno e jugoslavi.
CON LE FOTOGRAFIE DEI CRIMINI DELLA NATO
Per informazioni: Centro di Documentazione Wilhelm Wolff
Piazzale Radaelli n.3 Marghera (Tel/fax:041-930490)
> Aggiornamento articoli aprile DU e RAD su http://www.stop-u238.i.am
>
> [Particolarmente importanti per il Tribunale Internazionale (per
> favore leggeteli e scaricateli):
>
> 1) DU: dalla Yugoslavia arrivano le prime analisi
>
> 2) Effetti a cascata sull'uomo dalla guerra nei Balcani]
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> [Sezione: Uranio-News!]
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> Speciale 14° anniversario di Cernobil (26 aprile 2000)
>
> Cernobil: Commemorazione in USA unisce due chiese
>
> DU: dalla Yugoslavia arrivano le prime analisi
>
> Effetti a cascata sull'uomo dalla guerra nei Balcani
>
> ENEA: risparmiate 500 vite umane in Italia
>
> USA: Sessantatré dimostravano contro il DU: 25 $ di multa
>
> Un grido dall'UNICEF: togliete l'embargo all'Iraq!
>
> Anche in Polonia, sui bambini, gli effetti del dopo Cernobil
>
> Una novella sui villaggi morti intorno a Cernobil
>
> In India parlano dell'appello delle celebrità
>
> Celebrità e Nobel mondiali: no al terrore nucleare !
>
> Novità: Tomahawk al DU sparati in Sudan e RFYu
>
> In Giappone incidente, si spegne un reattore nucleare
>
> BNFL: rapporto allarmante del The Guardian
>
> BNFL: MILIARDI O TRILIARDI PER RIPULIRE UNA ZONA INQUINATA?
>
> Cernobil: scompaiono le renne e il popolo Saami
>
> Cernobil: ancora on-line le balle della OECD-NEA
>
> Miniere d'uranio: il racconto di Cavallo Giallo
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> A Vieques vogliono interrompere le proteste con la forza (25 aprile)
>
> Uranio sparato dalla GIAT a Bourges, in Francia (1 gennaio)
>
> Sneh nega la storia delle mine ai neutroni in Israele... (31 marzo)
>
> Anche il missile AIM-9X contiene uranio impoverito (25 aprile)
>
> Gli USA hanno barato: sparato ancora DU a Vieques! (25 aprile)
>
> I carrarmati all'uranio impoverito usati nel Kosovo (25 aprile)
>
> La BAE del gas nervino fa anche i proiettili all'uranio (22 dicembre
> 1999)
>
> ONU: uno degli effetti dell'accordo IAEA-UNESCO (25 aprile)
>
> Un mare di guai, scaricando le scorie in mare (25 aprile)
>
> Bando DU: In Spagna conferenza internazionale (24 aprile)
>
> Cernobil: preoccupazione per il reattore ancora attivo (23 aprile)
>
> Dal Pakistan: la soluzione migliore è il disarmo (23 aprile)
>
> Vieques: si piange e si prega per evitare i bombardamenti (23 aprile)
>
> Protesta antinucleare: condannata anche una suora (22 aprile)
>
> Radiazioni collegate alla sindrome di Down (22 aprile)
>
> Bilancio mortale a Cernobil, ma Cook insiste... (22 aprile)
>
> Uranio finisce in una discarica: non è la prima volta (22 aprile)
>
> Giappone verso il bando della produzione d'uranio (22 aprile)
>
> Dalla Yugoslavia contro l'uranio nelle armi (22 aprile)
>
> Giorno della Terra: 500 milioni contro il nucleare (22 aprile)
>
> Anche i pesci vittime nucleari (21 aprile)
>
> La Turchia insiste con la centrale nella zona sismica (21 aprile)
>
> SPQB: Sono Pazzi Questi Britannici (21 aprile)
>
> NATO sotto accusa per l'uranio impoverito (21 aprile)
>
> USA e Israele isolati alla conferenza nucleare dell'ONU? (21 aprile)
>
> GreenPeace: ora anche gli USA devono firmare (21 aprile)
>
> Bangkok: Cobalto in una discarica, tre morti (21 aprile)
>
> Anche i piccioni sono radioattivi! (21 aprile)
>
> Chernobil: già tre milioni e mezzo le persone colpite (21 aprile)
>
> Romania, tonnellate di uranio finiscono in un fiume (20 aprile)
>
> USA: ORNL, spruzzato in giro uranio 233 e fluoro (20 aprile)
>
> Alice Stewart: la donna che sapeva troppo (20 aprile)
>
> Secondo incidente in una settimana a Pearl Harbour (19 aprile)
>
> Bobby Kennedy Jr. contro i bombardamenti a Vieques (19 aprile)
>
> Mazzette per la discarica nucleare a Yucca Mountain (19 aprile)
>
> Il giorno della terra: 50 iniziative sul nucleare (19 aprile)
>
> Tegola di Hiroshima regalata a museo italiano (19 aprile)
>
> Chernobil: sta peggiorando la salute degli ucraini (19 aprile)
> --------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Ciao,
>
> Marco Saba
> Osservatorio Etico Ambientale
> via F.lli Cervi Res. Idra
> 20090 Segrate (MI)
> T. 02 21591373
> http://stop-u238.i.am
---
DEPLETED URANIUM IN VIEQUES, PORTORICO
NOTE: This letter was written by Dr. Rocke, who is the former head of
the Pentagon's
Depleted Uranium Project and one of the authors of the Pentagon's
Program for
Environmental Remediation of Formerly Used Defense Sites.
If, as indicated in the following press report that DOD officials are
ready to use force against the residents of Vieques, then the citizens
of
the world must ban together to help the residents of Vieques.
This started because U.S. Marine Corps pilots willfully fired depleted
uranium in violation of laws and regulations, as admitted by U.S. Navy
officials, into Vieques and then a Navy pilot dropped a bomb that killed
one and injured others. The claim has been that the bomb went off
course.
Funny thing about physics and Newtonian mechanics, bombs only go where
you
place them. Therefore the claim that the bomb was errant is pure
rubbish.
The pilot killed that guard and injured the others because he was wrong
and was not careful with the bomb release. That is pure negligence!!!!!
This is also an issue of environmental justice where U.S. Department of
Defense representatives refuse to provide medical care for all exposed
individuals and also complete environmental remediation. U.S. Forces
have
contaminated the island of Vieques for too long causing health and
environmental damage. It must stop now. In a direct quote from:
031-503-1017 Respond to Depleted Uranium/Low level Radioactive Materials
(DULLRAM) Hazards (new) U.S. Army Manual of Common Tasks the Department
of Defense authors state that:
"NOTE: Contamination will make food and water unsafe for consumption."
Seems that Navy officials know that the use of DU causes willful harm
because it is in the required DU training that all DOD personnel must
complete by order and law. Thus disregard of this information probably
violates RCRA (42 CFR 901) and is a crime against humanity.
Next: The U.S. Navy cites that Vieques is needed for training our
forces,
yet, the Navy has advertised to any nation for a fee that Vieques can be
used for as quoted "Mission: consistently provide professional customer
services, conduct real world anti-submarine warfare training for
aircrafts, ships, and submarines of U.S. and foreign navies...Live-fire
capability for most non-conventional weapons inventory...to provide
airspace, surface, and subsurface water space for developmental and
operational testing of new and existing weapons systems."
In case anyone has missed the most important part of this advertisement
it
is that "non-conventional" as cited has historically referred to
nuclear,
biological, and chemical weapons. If that has occurred over the years,
that is why the residents of Vieques are sick. Conventional weapons
residues will also cause health and environmental problems.
It is time for everyone to support the residents of Vieques and demand
that the U.S. Navy withdraw and cease all actions on that island. Just
remember if the Navy willingly fired DU to prepare for battle in Kosovo
then the next preparation with "non-conventional weapons" as advertised
may be for use against you!
Dr. Doug Rokke
FONTE: Seven Stars News Briefs 26-28 April 2000
Bollettino del Partito Socialista Repubblicano Irlandese
IRSP <irsp@...>
IRSCNA@...
---
* La NATO ammette l'uso di armi all'uranio impoverito, l'UNMIK chiede
spiegazioni, la Jugoslavia chiede la riparazione dei danni, i militari
contaminati fanno causa al governo britannico, la denuncia del GAVCI
* Due libri ed un intero sito internet sull'uranio impoverito
* L'uranio impoverito usato dagli USA anche a Portorico
---
Marco Saba wrote:
>
> Arrivarono dalla Germania nazista i proiettili all'uranio impoverito.
>
> 1945: L'uranio delle prime bombe atomiche USA e
> la tecnologia dei proiettili all'uranio impoverito
> ceduti dai gerarchi nazisti in cambio dell'immunità
> (6 maggio 2000)
>
> Il 14 maggio 1945 il sommergibile U-234 XB si arrese alla
> nave americana USS Sutton. Conteneva 560 kg di uranio
> arricchito che sarebbe servito per le prime due bombe
> nucleari (Alamogordo ed Hiroshima) e per alimentare il
> reattore che produsse il plutonio per la bomba di Nagasaki.
>
> Oltre all'uranio c'erano le tecnologie belliche di punta della
> Germania nazista, tra cui il sistema di detonatori per la
> bomba al plutonio e la tecnologia dei proiettili all'uranio
> impoverito. La resa era stata negoziata in cambio
> dell'immunità per Martin Bormann ed Heinrich Müller oltreché
> per gli altri gerarchi nazisti che erano a bordo del
> sommergibile. Tra questi troviamo: Johann Heinrich Fehler,
> Heinz Schlicke, Wolfgang Hirschfeld, Ulrich Kessler, Kay
> Nieschling, il Dr. Walter, Hideo Tomonaga e Genzo Shosi.
>
> Questi ultimi due, giapponesi, vennero eliminati (avvelenati) dai
> nazisti durante l'ultimo viaggio del sommergibile perché
> stavano scoprendo l'intrigo e volevano impedire che quelle
> armi potessero essere usate contro il Giappone.
>
> La tesi del fatto che la tecnologia dei proiettili all'uranio
> impoverito risalisse alla Germania nazista, venne per la prima
> volta avanzata da Dr. Siegwart-Horst Guenther nell'articolo da
> noi precedentemente pubblicato:
> "Uran-Geschosse: Nach Zyklon B, eine neue deutsche Kampf- und
> Massenvernichtungs-Technologie" [Poiettili all'uranio: dopo il
> Zyklon-B, dalla Germania un'altra arma e tecnologia di combattimento]
>
> Il Prof. Guenther è stato arrestato in Germania, violentato in
> prigione e oggetto di due tentativi di omicidio. Al suo
> processo, il Giudice ha chiesto di effettuare una perizia
> psichiatrica per rinchiuderlo in manicomio. Attualmente
> Guenther (76 anni) è agli arresti domiciliari in Austria.
>
> La tesi di Guenther è confermata da decine di documenti
> ufficiali di cui l'Osservatorio è in possesso e dalla
> testimonianza di un esperto americano nostro collaboratore.
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Inviato da:
>
> Marco Saba
> Osservatorio Etico Ambientale
> via F.lli Cervi Res. Idra
> MILANO2 - 20090 Segrate (MI) Italy
> Tel (Italy+) 2 21591373
> GSM (Italy+) 338 5838282
> E-mail: vlario@...
---
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: "Janet M Eaton" <jeaton@...>
> To: mai-not@...
> Subject: NATO Admits To Use Of DU in YU May 5th Article
> Date: Fri, 5 May 2000 14:42:05 +0000
>
> This is a very good article that reviews the attempts to persuade
> NATO to reveal details on DU use during the NATO War vs
> Yugoslavia which is imperative for investigating its impact on
> human health. It also refers to several studies on the health
> consequences of DU which suggest strongly the need for precautions
> for people living and working in the contaminated regions where
> bombing with DU munitions occurred and notes precautions currently
> being taken in the area.
>
> fyi- janet
>
> To: "DU List" <du-list@...>
> From: "Dan Fahey" <mtpdu@...>
> Date sent: Fri, 5 May 2000 11:35:44 -0400
> Send reply to: Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.
> Subject: [du-list] Interesting article on Kosovo
> boundary="----=_NextPart_000_00B2_01BFB686.0CA3D680"
>
> [ Double-click this line for list subscription options ]
>
> The Greenwich Village Gazette
> May 5, 2000
> http://www.nycny.com/columns/guests/hyland05-05.html
> NATO Admits To Use Of Radioactive Munitions in Yugoslavia
> By Julie Hyland
> http://www.wsws.org
>
> NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson has finally provided
> limited details of the Alliance's use of depleted uranium (DU)
> ammunition during its war against Serbia last year. Robertson
> disclosed the information in a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi
> Annan last month-four months after it was first requested.
>
> DU is a waste product of the process used to enrich natural uranium
> ore for use in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. It is 1.7 times
> as dense as lead and is used in the tips of a bullet or a round to
> pierce armor plating. It can also be used in cruise missile nose cones
> and has been used in the armor of tanks.
>
> DU breaks into tiny particles on impact, which can be easily ingested
> and/or inhaled. Numerous studies have linked DU ammunition to the
> increase of cancer in Iraq, following the 1991 Gulf War, and to the
> number of army personnel in the US and the UK suffering from "Gulf War
> Syndrome".
>
> Annan had requested detailed information on NATO's use of DU during
> its 78-day bombardment of Yugoslavia, following a UN investigation by
> the Balkan Task Force (BTF). The results of the BTF
> investigation-which included members from the World Health
> Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Swedish
> Radiation Protection Institute-were reported last October.
> Investigators concentrated on four environmental "hot-spots" in
> Kosovo-Pancevo, Kragujevac, Novi Sad and Bor-but complained that the
> lack of official confirmation from NATO of its use of DU "during the
> Kosovo conflict distorted the prerequisites for the group's work".
>
> The report concluded that whilst the Kosovo conflict did not cause an
> environmental catastrophe for the whole of the Balkan region,
> pollution at the four spots investigated was "serious and poses a
> threat to human health". It urged an investigation into the impact of
> DU ammunition on human health.
>
> Robertson wrote that the United States Air Force A-10 "tankbuster"
> aircraft had concentrated their operations "in an area west of the
> Pec-Dakovica-Prizren highway, in the area surrounding Klina, in the
> area around Prizren, and in an area to the north of a line joining
> Suva Reka and Urosevac". He added, "However, many missions using DU
> also took place outside these areas."
>
> The UN Environmental Programme (UNep) complained that "the information
> provided [by Robertson] is not of sufficient detail to facilitate an
> accurate field assessment of the environmental and human health
> consequences of its use at the present time". This meant it was not
> possible "to comprehensively carry out an objective and scientifically
> based environmental and human health impact assessment in Kosovo".
>
> Whilst claiming that Robertson's admission "should not be a cause of
> widespread alarm", UNep urged that its October 1999 recommendations
> should be followed-including preventing access to all places where
> contamination has been confirmed, informing the local populace of the
> possible risks and taking "appropriate precautionary measures".
>
> The lack of detailed information in Robertson's letter is not
> surprising. NATO pursued a strategy of "carpet-bombing" towns and
> cities across Yugoslavia during its offensive. Some 700 planes flew
> almost 35,000 sorties, destroying large parts of the country's
> industrial and social infrastructure.
>
> During the latter stages of the air campaign, NATO moved to 24-hour
> bombing, targeting industrial plants, airports, electricity and
> telecommunications facilities, railways, bridges and fuel depots,
> schools, health clinics, day care centres, government buildings,
> churches, museums and monasteries.
>
> A comprehensive list of those areas targeted with DU ammunition would
> probably mean declaring much of Serbia and Kosovo contaminated, as
> well as raising serious concerns over the environmental and health
> dangers for surrounding countries.
>
> It is unlikely that a detailed breakdown will be forthcoming.
> Following Robertson's admission, Francois LeBlevenac, a NATO
> spokesman, said that the alliance had "no direct control" over the use
> of DU ammunition during the war. Whilst NATO had overall control of
> the campaign against Serbia, "it had no jurisdiction over the choice
> of armaments used by member nations," LeBlevenac said.
>
> Both the US and the UK were known to have used DU ammunition during
> the war. Whilst both have denied that the weapons posed any
> significant risk to human health, numerous studies have revealed
> significant dangers. The US Army's Environmental Policy Institute
> reported in 1995: "If DU enters the body, it has the potential to
> generate significant medical consequences. The risks associated with
> DU are both chemical and radiological."
>
> UK Ministry of Defense personnel in Kosovo have been warned to stay
> clear of any sites targeted with DU munitions, unless they are wearing
> full radioactive protective clothing. The National Radiological
> Protection Board advises UK nationals visiting or working in Kosovo to
> avoid disturbing areas contaminated with DU. Last April, radiation
> physicists at the University of Maryland submitted evidence to the US
> Department of Energy, recommending that DU never be used in warfare
> because of the health hazards.
>
> Last week German KFOR troops designated an area of approximately 5,000
> square metres in Kosovo-Metohija as radioactive, leading the Defence
> Ministry to promise it would conduct health checks on all its
> personnel in the vicinity.
>
> The consequences of DU munitions have been most clearly revealed in
> Iraq. The US fired almost 944,000 rounds of DU ammunition in Iraq and
> Kuwait during the 1991 war. Congenital birth defects in Iraq are
> reported to have increased to three times their post-war levels and
> there has been a dramatic increase in cancers and childhood leukemia.
> Last year, British experimental biologist Roger Cohill warned that the
> use of DU weapons against Yugoslavia was likely to result in an
> additional 10,000 fatal cancer cases in the region.
>
> As in Iraq, NATO sanctions against Serbia are undermining the medical
> profession's ability to detect and treat the disease. At a public
> meeting convened in London on March 24 to commemorate the first
> anniversary of the NATO bombing, Labour MP's Alice Mahon and Bob
> Marshall-Andrews reported on their recent visit to Yugoslavia as part
> of a campaign to lift western sanctions.
>
> The two reported that they had spoken with refugees from Kosovo,
> Bosnia and Croatia and met patients at the Bazanijska Kosa hospital in
> Belgrade. Cancer experts at the hospital had informed them that
> sanctions were seriously undermining cancer prevention and the quality
> of care. Radiotherapy equipment often does not have all the required
> parts and chemotherapy drugs are unavailable.
>
> Already this has meant that the number of early-detected cancer cases
> has dropped from 35 percent in 1990 to 13 percent. Doctors told them
> that, in comparison to the rest of Europe, Serbia is now bottom of the
> league table for five-year survival rates for lung, breast, colon,
> rectum, prostate, testicular, ovarian,stomach and cervical cancers.
>
> The BTF report is available on the Internet at:
> http://www.grid.unep.ch/btf
>
> This article contributed by http://www.wsws.org
>
>
> --
> For MAI-not (un)subscription information, posting guidelines and
> links to other MAI sites please see http://mai.flora.org/
>
KOSOVO-METOHIJA - UNMIK - DEPLETED-URANIUM AMMUNITION
UNMIK CALLS ON NATO TO SUBMIT DATA ON DEPLETED-URANIUM AMMUNITION
BERLIN, April 19 (Tanjug) - Tom Koenigs of Germany, head of the U.N.
civilian mission to Kosovo and Metohija (UNMIK) section for civilian
administration, on Wednesday urged NATO to submit data on
depleted-uranium
ammunition it had used during its aggression on Yugoslavia last year.
Koenigs told Hamburg's Greenpeace Magazine that UNMIK urgently needed
data
on precise locations where NATO had used radioactive ammunition in order
to
be able to take steps to protect the population in the Yugoslav Republic
of
Serbia's southern province.
Koenigs referred only to Kosovo and Metohija locations, being of the
view
that this ammunition, that could be fatal for the health of civilians
and
troops, had only been used in the Province.
The German Defence Ministry said in March that all German troops
participating in the U.N. peacekeeping force KFOR would be enabled to
come
to Germany for a check-up if they considered to have been exposed to
radioactivity.
NATO admitted as far back as April 1999 that it was using radioactive
ammunition in its aggression on Yugoslavia.
Relevant details were released at a later stage - U.S. troops dropped on
Serbia 31,000 bombs charged with depleted uranium and weighing 10 tons.
They used U.S. A-10 bombers for the purpose.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Diana Johnstone <107764.116@...>
> To: <Blind.Copy.Receiver@...>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2000 12:57 AM
> Subject: Tr: [KDN] Reuters: NATO Accused of Wider Uranium Use
>
> > NATO accused of wider uranium use
> >
> > By Amra Kevic, Reuters, 4/22/2000
> >
> > BELGRADE - Yugoslavia said yesterday that NATO planes had fired
> > depleted uranium shells on eight locations in Yugoslavia, near Kosovo
> > during airstrikes last year.
> >
> > A UN official said last month that NATO had admitted using depleted
> > uranium weapons in Kosovo, exposing civilians, its own troops, and aid
> > workers to health hazards, but that it remained unclear whether they
were
> > used elsewhere.
> >
> > ''Detailed investigation of Yugoslav territory, excluding Kosovo, showed
> that
> > this ammunition was used on eight locations south of the 44th
parallel,''
> said
> > Yugoslav Assistant Defense Minister General Slobodan Petkovic at a news
> > conference.
> >
> > Yugoslav Army teams found depleted uranium shells and fragments in the
> > border regions of Bujanovac and Vranje in southern Serbia, in Uzice,
> Cacak
> > and Kraljevo in western and central Serbia, and on the Montenegrin
> > peninsula of Lustica.
> >
> > ''The degree of contamination ranges from the bottom limit of 200
> > becquerels to 235,000 becquerels per kilogram sample of soil, or 1,000
> > times above the tolerable level,'' Petkovic said. The sites were mainly
> > farmland.
> >
> > ''Measures are now underway to seal off these areas to people and
> animals,''
> > said Petkovic, presenting a government report on the environmental
> > consequences of NATO's bombing campaign from March to June.
> >
> > He did not give the exact locations or details of the size and extent of
> the
> > contamination in each case.
> >
> > Pekka Haavisto, head of the environment task force, in March said NATO
> > was still holding back crucial information on where and how it used the
> > depleted uranium shells.
> >
> > The Yugoslav Army estimated that US jets had fired 50,000 depleted
> > uranium rounds during the 11-week campaign. The United States had
earlier
> > said it had used 31,000 rounds.
> >
> > ''In this way, a very prosperous country can rid itself of its nuclear
> waste
> > cheaply,'' Petkovic said.
> >
> > Kosovo was more exposed since depleted uranium was used on 100
> > locations, mostly around Prizren, Urosevac, Djakovica, Decani, and
> > Djurakovac, Petkovic said, but added that Yugoslav authorities had no
> > access to the region now.
> >
> > He said the Prizren-Djakovica-Pec stretch, where Italian and German
> > peacekeepers are deployed, was targeted the most.
> >
> > Kosovo has been controlled by NATO-led peacekeepers and UN civilian
> > administrators since Serb forces withdrew last June after the bombing.
> >
> > Some specialists believe particles and dust from the dense, heavy metal
> > shells can contaminate land and water sources with toxic, radioactive
> > particles.
> >
> > The Pentagon said last month that the 31,000 rounds of depleted uranium
> > bullets used by US attack jets did not present a significant hazard to
> health
> > or the environment.
> >
> > Yugoslavia called yesterday for international help to remove
contaminated
> > soil to nuclear waste disposal sites.
STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.HOME-PAGE.ORG
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk (Britain)
Sunday Time (UK)
April 16 2000
BRITAIN
Ailing troops sue over Balkan war syndrome
SOLDIERS who served in the former Yugoslavia plan to sue the Ministry of
Defence (MoD)after suffering chronic health problems they believe were
caused by "Balkan war syndrome", writes Lois Rogers.
Doctors link their symptoms to exposure to depleted uranium in anti-tank
missiles used during the Kosovo conflict. Research has shown that the
heavy metal causes health problems leading to cancer, neurological and
immune system defects and reproductive system damage.
Up to 10,500 Britons were sent to Kosovo to assist in peacekeeping
missions and many were exposed to the fine, poisonous dust, which
remains in the atmosphere and pollutes water supplies, after Nato's
bombardment.
However, the MoD said: "We have done considerably more research into
depleted uranium than other nations as it has been raised as a concern
for a number of Gulf war veterans. We have seen no evidence to suggest
it is the cause of any illness among them and we are not aware of any
compensation claims from Kosovo veterans."
Twelve servicemen - 11 of whom are still serving - are preparing to sue.
If the initial claims are successful, they could open the floodgates for
a multi-million-pound group action which could deeply embarrass the
government.
The MoD is still struggling to fend off claims by thousands of Gulf war
veterans, who say they were made seriously ill by a hastily administered
cocktail of vaccines in-tended to protect them from biological warfare
agents.
Belgium, which had troops serving alongside British soldiers in Kosovo,
has already begun a systematic review of the health of the 14,000 troops
it sent to the region. Tests have identified cases of men suffering the
effects of exposure to uranium - even though they were not de-ployed in
high-risk areas.
In Britain, however, the official response has been unequivocal. A
secret memo circulated two weeks ago to army medical staff by the
biological weapons unit at Porton Down has insisted there was no
evidence of risk to British troops who served in Kosovo.
"I don't know how they can say that," said a 27-year-old man still in
the airborne unit he served with in Kosovo. He has been crippled by
fatigue.
"We are expected to do regular five-mile runs as part of our training,
and I just can't make it," he said. "I am dreading my next medical in
June. I am going to be thrown out."
Another 24-year-old, who is also still in the army, re-ported
debilitating fatigue and excruciating joint pain. "People like us just
have no future," he said.
America was the only allied force to use depleted uranium (DU) in its
missiles. So far it has admitted to firing about 10 tons of DU-bearing
missiles from aircraft over Kosovo last year. Requests for details on
missile rounds used in Serbia have been resisted.
Dan Fahey, a DU re-searcher at the Military Toxins Project in
Washington, said: "We know it has been used in many more locations than
we have been led to believe. The biggest danger is to the local
population."
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1999 14:40:19 +0100
From: "G.A.V.C.I. - Segreteria Nazionale" <gavci@...>
Reply-To: pck-armamenti@...
To: "[iso-8859-1] Radio_Città_103" <citta103@...>,
"[iso-8859-1] Radio_Città_del_Capo" <rcdc@...>,
Radio_Kappa_Centrale <radiorkc@...>,
Radio_Bologna_International <rbi@...>,
Radio_Oasi <elio@...>, Piazza_Grande
<pg@...>,
Il_Resto_Del_Carlino_di_Bologna <direttore@...>,
Zero_in_Condotta <mongolfiera@...>,
Volontariato_News <volnews@...>
Cc: Mailing List Pace di Peacelink <pck-pace@...>,
Mailing List Disarmo di Peacelink <pck-armamenti@...>,
Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.
Subject: Follia Militare: armi e radiazioni nucleari, morte di due
soldati sardi
Resent-Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1999 17:19:09 +0100
Resent-From: pck-armamenti@...
Comunicato Stampa
FOLLIA MILITARE: ARMI E RADIAZIONI NUCLEARI
MORTE DI DUE SOLDATI SARDI
A conferma che il rischio nucleare, tutt'altro che scongiurato, ha già
superato i limiti di guardia (allegati 1 e 2), scoppia ora il caso di
due
soldati sardi, morti in condizioni che fanno sospettare di contatti con
materiale radioattivo (allegato 3).
La logica bellica sta arrivando alle estreme conseguenze !
Il 2.000 si avvii e cresca secondo la cultura e la prassi della
NONVIOLENZA
p. Angelo Cavagna
Tutti gli allegati si possono trovare nella sezione "Speciale Nucleare"
del
sito GAVCI alla pagina:
http://www.peacelink.it/users/gavci/news/news.htm
oppure possono essere richiesti alla segreteria (riferimenti nella firma
in
basso)
1) Articolo di p. Angelo pubblicato da: "Settimana" n. 39 del 31 Ottobre
Deterrenza nucleare: "illegale" oltre che "immorale"
2) Rapporto di Giovanni Nifosì dell'Associazione Italiana Giuristi
contro le
Armi Nucleari sull'esito della votazione ONU della NAC - Agenda per un
nuovo
programma
3) Articoli della "Nuova Sardegna", inviati da Antonio Repetto di Pax
Christi Italiana sul caso di Salvatore Vacca, giovane militare sardo,
morto
in circostanze ancora da verificare.
---
Gruppo Autonomo di Volontariato Civile in Italia
Sede Centrale: "Villa Tamba" - Via della Selva Pescarola, 26
40131 Bologna - Italy - Tel. e Fax +39.51.6344671
e-mail: gavci@...
web: http://www.peacelink.it/users/gavci
Appello ai parlamentari su riforma della leva e servizio civile
Sottoscrizioni: http://www.peacelink.it/users/gavci/news/news.htm
---
DUE LIBRI ED UN SITO INTERNET
1.
International Action Center
IL METALLO DEL DISONORE
Che cos'e' l'uranio impoverito
Asterios Editore, Trieste 1999, lire 39000
2.
INTERNATIONAL ACTION CENTER - IL METALLO DEL DISONORE
Lire.15.000
Una documentazione scientifica e militante sull'uso e gli effetti
dell'uranio impoverito dall'estrazione, alla lavorazione fino
all'utilizzo civile e militare nelle ultime guerre di aggressione contro
i popoli irakeno e jugoslavi.
CON LE FOTOGRAFIE DEI CRIMINI DELLA NATO
Per informazioni: Centro di Documentazione Wilhelm Wolff
Piazzale Radaelli n.3 Marghera (Tel/fax:041-930490)
> Aggiornamento articoli aprile DU e RAD su http://www.stop-u238.i.am
>
> [Particolarmente importanti per il Tribunale Internazionale (per
> favore leggeteli e scaricateli):
>
> 1) DU: dalla Yugoslavia arrivano le prime analisi
>
> 2) Effetti a cascata sull'uomo dalla guerra nei Balcani]
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> [Sezione: Uranio-News!]
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> Speciale 14° anniversario di Cernobil (26 aprile 2000)
>
> Cernobil: Commemorazione in USA unisce due chiese
>
> DU: dalla Yugoslavia arrivano le prime analisi
>
> Effetti a cascata sull'uomo dalla guerra nei Balcani
>
> ENEA: risparmiate 500 vite umane in Italia
>
> USA: Sessantatré dimostravano contro il DU: 25 $ di multa
>
> Un grido dall'UNICEF: togliete l'embargo all'Iraq!
>
> Anche in Polonia, sui bambini, gli effetti del dopo Cernobil
>
> Una novella sui villaggi morti intorno a Cernobil
>
> In India parlano dell'appello delle celebrità
>
> Celebrità e Nobel mondiali: no al terrore nucleare !
>
> Novità: Tomahawk al DU sparati in Sudan e RFYu
>
> In Giappone incidente, si spegne un reattore nucleare
>
> BNFL: rapporto allarmante del The Guardian
>
> BNFL: MILIARDI O TRILIARDI PER RIPULIRE UNA ZONA INQUINATA?
>
> Cernobil: scompaiono le renne e il popolo Saami
>
> Cernobil: ancora on-line le balle della OECD-NEA
>
> Miniere d'uranio: il racconto di Cavallo Giallo
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> A Vieques vogliono interrompere le proteste con la forza (25 aprile)
>
> Uranio sparato dalla GIAT a Bourges, in Francia (1 gennaio)
>
> Sneh nega la storia delle mine ai neutroni in Israele... (31 marzo)
>
> Anche il missile AIM-9X contiene uranio impoverito (25 aprile)
>
> Gli USA hanno barato: sparato ancora DU a Vieques! (25 aprile)
>
> I carrarmati all'uranio impoverito usati nel Kosovo (25 aprile)
>
> La BAE del gas nervino fa anche i proiettili all'uranio (22 dicembre
> 1999)
>
> ONU: uno degli effetti dell'accordo IAEA-UNESCO (25 aprile)
>
> Un mare di guai, scaricando le scorie in mare (25 aprile)
>
> Bando DU: In Spagna conferenza internazionale (24 aprile)
>
> Cernobil: preoccupazione per il reattore ancora attivo (23 aprile)
>
> Dal Pakistan: la soluzione migliore è il disarmo (23 aprile)
>
> Vieques: si piange e si prega per evitare i bombardamenti (23 aprile)
>
> Protesta antinucleare: condannata anche una suora (22 aprile)
>
> Radiazioni collegate alla sindrome di Down (22 aprile)
>
> Bilancio mortale a Cernobil, ma Cook insiste... (22 aprile)
>
> Uranio finisce in una discarica: non è la prima volta (22 aprile)
>
> Giappone verso il bando della produzione d'uranio (22 aprile)
>
> Dalla Yugoslavia contro l'uranio nelle armi (22 aprile)
>
> Giorno della Terra: 500 milioni contro il nucleare (22 aprile)
>
> Anche i pesci vittime nucleari (21 aprile)
>
> La Turchia insiste con la centrale nella zona sismica (21 aprile)
>
> SPQB: Sono Pazzi Questi Britannici (21 aprile)
>
> NATO sotto accusa per l'uranio impoverito (21 aprile)
>
> USA e Israele isolati alla conferenza nucleare dell'ONU? (21 aprile)
>
> GreenPeace: ora anche gli USA devono firmare (21 aprile)
>
> Bangkok: Cobalto in una discarica, tre morti (21 aprile)
>
> Anche i piccioni sono radioattivi! (21 aprile)
>
> Chernobil: già tre milioni e mezzo le persone colpite (21 aprile)
>
> Romania, tonnellate di uranio finiscono in un fiume (20 aprile)
>
> USA: ORNL, spruzzato in giro uranio 233 e fluoro (20 aprile)
>
> Alice Stewart: la donna che sapeva troppo (20 aprile)
>
> Secondo incidente in una settimana a Pearl Harbour (19 aprile)
>
> Bobby Kennedy Jr. contro i bombardamenti a Vieques (19 aprile)
>
> Mazzette per la discarica nucleare a Yucca Mountain (19 aprile)
>
> Il giorno della terra: 50 iniziative sul nucleare (19 aprile)
>
> Tegola di Hiroshima regalata a museo italiano (19 aprile)
>
> Chernobil: sta peggiorando la salute degli ucraini (19 aprile)
> --------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Ciao,
>
> Marco Saba
> Osservatorio Etico Ambientale
> via F.lli Cervi Res. Idra
> 20090 Segrate (MI)
> T. 02 21591373
> http://stop-u238.i.am
---
DEPLETED URANIUM IN VIEQUES, PORTORICO
NOTE: This letter was written by Dr. Rocke, who is the former head of
the Pentagon's
Depleted Uranium Project and one of the authors of the Pentagon's
Program for
Environmental Remediation of Formerly Used Defense Sites.
If, as indicated in the following press report that DOD officials are
ready to use force against the residents of Vieques, then the citizens
of
the world must ban together to help the residents of Vieques.
This started because U.S. Marine Corps pilots willfully fired depleted
uranium in violation of laws and regulations, as admitted by U.S. Navy
officials, into Vieques and then a Navy pilot dropped a bomb that killed
one and injured others. The claim has been that the bomb went off
course.
Funny thing about physics and Newtonian mechanics, bombs only go where
you
place them. Therefore the claim that the bomb was errant is pure
rubbish.
The pilot killed that guard and injured the others because he was wrong
and was not careful with the bomb release. That is pure negligence!!!!!
This is also an issue of environmental justice where U.S. Department of
Defense representatives refuse to provide medical care for all exposed
individuals and also complete environmental remediation. U.S. Forces
have
contaminated the island of Vieques for too long causing health and
environmental damage. It must stop now. In a direct quote from:
031-503-1017 Respond to Depleted Uranium/Low level Radioactive Materials
(DULLRAM) Hazards (new) U.S. Army Manual of Common Tasks the Department
of Defense authors state that:
"NOTE: Contamination will make food and water unsafe for consumption."
Seems that Navy officials know that the use of DU causes willful harm
because it is in the required DU training that all DOD personnel must
complete by order and law. Thus disregard of this information probably
violates RCRA (42 CFR 901) and is a crime against humanity.
Next: The U.S. Navy cites that Vieques is needed for training our
forces,
yet, the Navy has advertised to any nation for a fee that Vieques can be
used for as quoted "Mission: consistently provide professional customer
services, conduct real world anti-submarine warfare training for
aircrafts, ships, and submarines of U.S. and foreign navies...Live-fire
capability for most non-conventional weapons inventory...to provide
airspace, surface, and subsurface water space for developmental and
operational testing of new and existing weapons systems."
In case anyone has missed the most important part of this advertisement
it
is that "non-conventional" as cited has historically referred to
nuclear,
biological, and chemical weapons. If that has occurred over the years,
that is why the residents of Vieques are sick. Conventional weapons
residues will also cause health and environmental problems.
It is time for everyone to support the residents of Vieques and demand
that the U.S. Navy withdraw and cease all actions on that island. Just
remember if the Navy willingly fired DU to prepare for battle in Kosovo
then the next preparation with "non-conventional weapons" as advertised
may be for use against you!
Dr. Doug Rokke
FONTE: Seven Stars News Briefs 26-28 April 2000
Bollettino del Partito Socialista Repubblicano Irlandese
IRSP <irsp@...>
IRSCNA@...
---
Rispetto al messaggio che abbiamo girato in lista, sulla origine nazista
dei proiettili all'uranio impoverito
( http://www.egroups.com/message/crj-mailinglist/205?&start=188 )
abbiamo ricevuto le seguenti precisazioni che riteniamo meritevoli di
essere rese note:
(...) Su questa storia dell'uranio
nazista mi sembra che la notizia sul rapporto tra nazisti e bomba di
Hiroshima e Nagasaki sia del tutto priva di fondamento.
In primo luogo, sono gia' completamente noti tutti i dati e la storia
del "Progetto Manahattan", incluso, dove, come e da chi fu arricchito
l'uranio e prodotto il plutonio utilizzati.
In secondo luogo, il dispositivo di innesco fu progettato da Bruno
Rossi, che conoscevo personalmente benissimo (era presidente del
consiglio scientifico dell'IAS quando vi arrivai io) e che ce lo ha
raccontato piu' di una volta, con tale dovizia di particolari (anche a
chi non voleva)
Infine, e' ridicolo pensare che, se i nazi avessero avuto il materiale
fissile e il meccanismo d'innesco non avrebbero usato la bomba, dato che
avevano le V2 che potevano benissimo buttarle su Londra.
F. Polcaro
ricercatore, Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale, Roma
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
dei proiettili all'uranio impoverito
( http://www.egroups.com/message/crj-mailinglist/205?&start=188 )
abbiamo ricevuto le seguenti precisazioni che riteniamo meritevoli di
essere rese note:
(...) Su questa storia dell'uranio
nazista mi sembra che la notizia sul rapporto tra nazisti e bomba di
Hiroshima e Nagasaki sia del tutto priva di fondamento.
In primo luogo, sono gia' completamente noti tutti i dati e la storia
del "Progetto Manahattan", incluso, dove, come e da chi fu arricchito
l'uranio e prodotto il plutonio utilizzati.
In secondo luogo, il dispositivo di innesco fu progettato da Bruno
Rossi, che conoscevo personalmente benissimo (era presidente del
consiglio scientifico dell'IAS quando vi arrivai io) e che ce lo ha
raccontato piu' di una volta, con tale dovizia di particolari (anche a
chi non voleva)
Infine, e' ridicolo pensare che, se i nazi avessero avuto il materiale
fissile e il meccanismo d'innesco non avrebbero usato la bomba, dato che
avevano le V2 che potevano benissimo buttarle su Londra.
F. Polcaro
ricercatore, Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale, Roma
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
