U.S. Experts Respond to Botulism Outbreak

U.S. Army biological weapons specialists are investigating a botulism outbreak in Thailand, the Bangkok Nation reported today (see GSN, Feb. 17).

Almost 150 people in the northern province of Nan have been diagnosed with the disease. The U.S. Army experts are joined by World Health Organization officials, said Thai Disease Control Department chief Thawat Suntharacharn.

All of those affected said they ate a meal containing bamboo shoots.

“This bacterium is among three strains that can be used as a biological warfare agent — the others are anthrax and smallpox,” Suntharacharn said.

Concerns that the outbreak was caused by a biological attack were raised because all of those affected fell ill at the same time (Bangkok Nation, March 20).

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Iraqi Documents Show Attempts at WMD Deception

Documents confiscated by the United States following the invasion of Iraq indicate that Iraqi officials discussed how to deceive U.N. inspectors looking for weapons of mass destruction in the 1990s, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, March 16).

An official identified as “Comrade Husayn” talked with deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and other officials about the best time to lie to U.N. inspectors, according to U.S. translation of the documents.

The official was especially concerned about chemical weapons.

“They have a bigger problem with the chemical program than the biological program,” he said. “We have not told them that we used it on Iran, nor have we told them abut the size or kind of chemical weapons that we produced, and we have not told them the truth about the imported material.”

“We imported a quantity from America and we imported a quantity from Europe. However, we did not come forth with the quantities,” he added.

Of the larger WMD issues, he said, “I must say that it is in our best interest not to uncover it, not only in fear of exposing the technology that we have or that we possess or to hide it for future agendas.”

Clues within the document indicate that the conversation took place around 1997, according to AP.

A second conversation from the mid-1990s shows that Iraqi officials went to Hussein with concerns about weapons inspections.

“On the nuclear file, sir, we are saying we disclosed everything? No, we have uncleared problems in the nuclear field, and I believe that they (the inspectors) know some of them,” said a man referred to as al-Sahhaf. “Some teams work, and no one knows some of them.”

“Everything is over. But, did they know? No, sir, they did not know, not all the methods, not all the means, not all the scientists and not all the places,” he added.

He said that missing equipment that could be used for biological or nuclear weapons would be problematic if the United Nations drafted resolutions against Iraq.

“Really, sir, we must be frank so that the resolution will be straightforward,” he said (Katharine Shrader, Associated Press/Baltimore Sun, March 17).

Other documents show that Hussein ordered plans for a 1987 chemical attack against Kurds in northern Iraq, the Associated Press reported.

The documents are memos between Hussein’s office, the army chief of staff and military intelligence. They do not indicate whether the attack ever happened.

These are the first publicly released documents linking Hussein to the use of chemical weapons, according to AP.

In a letter to military intelligence, Hussein’s office wrote, “The leader Mr. President has ordered that your department study with experts a surprise attack with special ammunition in the areas of Barzani's gangs and the Khomeini Guards.”

Special ammunition was the term Hussein’s regime used to refer to chemical weapons, AP reported.

In a response, the head of military intelligence wrote that particular areas in the north were “considered suitable because they are in a low-lying area, which helps chemical agent sedimentation” (Bassem Mroue, Associated Press/San Diego Union-Tribune, March 19).

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Indonesia Refuses to Join PSI

Indonesia has rejected a U.S. request to join the Proliferation Security Initiative, the Antara news agency reported on Saturday (see GSN, Dec. 15, 2005).

“The U.S. has asked Indonesia to join the PSI but our foreign minister has firmly rejected it,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Desra Percaya said on Friday.

Under the agreement, countries allow snap inspections of one another’s cargo ships in international waters when such vessels are suspected of carrying illicit WMD-related shipments. Jakarta believes implementation of the initiative would challenge Indonesia’s sovereignty and run counter to the 1992 International Convention on the Law of the Sea, Percaya said.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made the request during a visit last week. In a speech, she also expressed U.S. willingness to help Southeast Asian countries secure their waterways.

“Our country is ready to help countries such as Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand to secure the Malacca Strait which is an important trading lane as one-fourth of the world’s oil supply is distributed through the strait,” she said.

Percaya said Rice still planned to dispatch an expert delegation to Indonesia to present PSI details and attempt to persuade the country to join.

“It is a diplomatic step but in principle we will not participate in the PSI and Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayudha has firmly rejected it,” he said (Antara news agency/BBC Monitoring, March 18).

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Security Council Continues Talks on Iran’s Nuclear Program

Top diplomats from six key nations are scheduled to meet today to discuss how the U.N. Security Council will address Iran’s controversial nuclear activities, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, March 17).

Delegates from the five permanent council members — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States — plus Germany will attempt to overcome differences on a statement demanding Iran’s verified compliance with International Atomic Energy Agency resolutions, AP reported.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said today’s meeting “will basically consider the longer range issues, although obviously in the capitals in Moscow and Beijing, certainly, they will now have a look” at the latest draft statement.

Bolton said he hoped agreement on a statement could be reached at tomorrow afternoon’s full-council session (Edith Lederer, Associated Press/CNN.com, March 20).

Russian U.N. Ambassador Andrei Denisov said his country opposes a portion of the draft text mandating that agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei deliver a report on Iran’s compliance in two weeks.

“Let’s just imagine that we adopt it and today we issued that statement — then what happens after two weeks?” Denisov said on Friday. “[At] such a pace, we’ll start bombing in June” (Nick Wadhams, Associated Press/Moscow Times, March 18).

China has raised similar concerns, Agence France-Presse reported on Saturday.

“We must leave sufficient time for diplomacy and for the IAEA to work ... at least four weeks to six weeks,” said Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, March 18).

Bolton, meanwhile, expressed frustration with those positions.

“If I were as near to Iran as Russia is, I’d certainly want to get this resolved quickly,” he said. “I think in the Russian nuclear establishment, I think they know exactly what Iran is doing” (Wadhams, Associated Press, March 18).

“I don’t think there’s really been much support to go beyond a month” for a deadline, he added (Agence France-Presse, March 18).

Meanwhile, pending talks between Iran and the United States over Iraq could yield some movement on the nuclear issue, the Washington Post reported today.

“Although the talks will be over Iraq, these talks would have certain impacts on other regional developments and also on nuclear diplomacy,” said Reza Talainik, head of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign affairs committee.

While no meeting date has been set, Supreme National Security Council chief Ali Larijani’s announcement of the decision on Thursday was pointedly public. Analysts said this indicated that Iran’s ultimate clerical authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supported the move.

Mostafa Tajzadeh, a prominent reformist theoretician, expressed optimism about the talks.

“No time has been more convenient for talks between the two countries. We are less sensitive than at any time since the [1979 Islamic] revolution,” said Tajzadeh.

“The public image the U.S. has made of Iran is a monster,” he added. “They have to do something, at least break a horn” (Karl Vick, Washington Post, March 20).

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India Praises Russia for Uranium Sale

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday praised Russia’s decision to sell uranium to New Delhi, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, March 17).

Russian Premier Mikhail Fradkov approved the transaction, according to Indian officials.

“I would ... like to convey our warm appreciation to the Russian government for responding positively to our request for nuclear fuel supply to Tarapur 1 and 2,” Singh said, referring to Indian nuclear reactors.

The United States, which recently signed a nuclear technology sharing agreement with India, is opposed to the sale. 

Fradkov defended Moscow’s decision to sell the material.

“We have served this issue within international framework and it does not contradict international commitments,” he said. “The sale of uranium is in the interest of both the countries.”

During the joint news conference announcing the deal, neither Singh nor Fradkov mentioned the U.S.-Indian agreement.

New Delhi originally asked Washington for uranium, but was turned down because of U.S. laws forbidding the sale of the material to nations that do not allow international inspections of all their nuclear facilities, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse/Gulf Times, March 17).

Meanwhile, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in a speech to Pakistani soldiers said the U.S.-Indian agreement would upset the balance of power in the region, Pakistani newspaper The News reported Saturday.

According to a spokesperson with Pakistan’s foreign ministry, if the U.S. Congress approves the deal, the consequences for nonproliferation efforts would be severe. 

“The grant of the waiver as a special case will have serious implications for the security environment in South Asia as well as for international nonproliferation efforts,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.

The spokeswoman also argued that the deal would allow India to continue its nuclear weapons program.

“The agreement, which keeps a large number of facilities and reactors including breeder reactors outside safeguards, would only encourage India to continue its weapons program without any constraint or inhibition,” she said.

“On its part Pakistan would not accept any discriminatory treatment,” she added, saying a better approach would have been to offer the technology to both India and Pakistan.

The spokeswoman said Pakistan would avoid an arms race.

“Following the resumption of the composite dialogue in 2004, it remains Pakistan's objective to avoid arms race, promote restraints, reduce risk and maintain the nuclear deterrent at the minimum credible level,” she said (The News, March 18).

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German Nuclear Smuggling Trial Begins

The trial of a German engineer accused of breaking his country’s export laws to assist Libya’s former nuclear weapons program began on Friday, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, March 16).

Gotthard Lerch allegedly acted as a middleman in the black market created by former top Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. Prosecutors dropped a treason charge to secure Lerch’s extradition from Switzerland last year, the Times reported.

“The trial is hugely important in strengthening international attention to the problem of illegal proliferation,” said Goetz Neuneck of the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg. “It would be very good for international nonproliferation if the trial were to provide more details and shine more light on dark corners.”

Attorneys for Lerch, who has entered a not guilty plea, argued on Friday that they had been denied access to key prosecution documents and requested that the six judges hearing the case be replaced. Lerch is expected to seek documents from Western intelligence agencies to support his case, the Times reported.

German authorities investigated Lerch for selling dual-use items to Pakistan in the late 1970s while he worked for a German nuclear technology firm. He was also investigated in the 1980s for allegedly smuggling nuclear blueprints into Switzerland. He was never charged in either instance, according to the Times (Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times, March 9).

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China to Refurbish “Nuclear City”

China has announced that it plans to renovate its “nuclear city” in Qinghai province, home to the country’s first nuclear weapons manufacturing and testing site, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, March 14).

China detonated its first atomic bomb at the installation in 1964 and later a hydrogen bomb. The facility was closed in 1987 and is now known as the town of Xihai, according to AP.

Beijing plans to spend $11.6 million constructing exhibition halls and conserving the surrounding environment, the provincial Cultural Heritage Bureau announced.

“The retired base was expected to become a platform for spurring the patriotic spirit of the general public,” bureau Deputy Director Ma Weimin was quoted by the official Xinhua news agency as saying (Associated Press, March 19).

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North Korea Blasts U.S. For Military Exercise

North Korea said Saturday that the presence of a U.S. aircraft carrier near the Korean Peninsula is a preparation for a pre-emptive strike, Yonhap News Agency reported (see GSN, March 16).

The United States and South Korea are expected to start a large joint military exercise later this week, according to Yonhap.

“The U.S. imperialists are planning to mobilize the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, [USS] Abraham Lincoln, in the large-scale joint military drills to be staged in the South,” Pyongyang’s Korean Central Broadcasting Station said.

The presence of the carrier undermines the U.S. assertion that they are working to prevent nuclear war on the peninsula, according to the broadcast.

The broadcast said the drill was a “rehearsal” for an attack similar to the invasion of Iraq (Yonhap News Agency, March 18).

Meanwhile, the Pyongyang’s state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun attacked U.S. President George W. Bush for his “axis of evil” comment from the 2002 State of the Union address, the Associated Press.

Bush repeated the comment earlier this month.

In a commentary, the paper said the United States is the “ringleader of evil” and said Bush is “the greatest, intolerable insult to us and a vicious political provocation.”

“Bush repeating the ‘axis of evil’ remarks is nothing but an open proclamation that the U.S. imperialists consider us a target of military attack, not a dialogue partner,” the commentary said (Associated Press/New York Times, Mach 20).

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U.S. Urges Japan to Increase Defense Spending

U.S. ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer said Friday that Tokyo needs to spend more on defense, the Asahi Shimbun reported (see GSN, March 16).

“It is sometimes difficult for Americans to understand how Japan will fund programs like missile defense if it continues to adhere to the de facto constraints of the 1 percent cap on defense spending,” he said.

Schieffer was referring to cooperative U.S.-Japanese missile defense efforts, estimated to cost up to $2.7 billion. Japan is expected to pay up to $1.2 billion for the systems.

The ambassador pointed out that the United States spends 10 times as much as Japan on defense.

“In the years ahead, the United States hopes that Japan will recognize this disparity and move to reduce it,” he said (Taro Karasaki, Asahi Shimbun, March 18).

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