United States:  Pentagon Set to Begin Destroying Anniston Stockpile

The U.S. Defense Department is scheduled to begin destroying chemical weapons at Alabama’s Anniston Army Depot soon, possibly as early as the end of July, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, July 9).

Local residents are concerned about a possible accident, and about $140 million has been spent to protect the community.

“If something happens I think we’ll pretty much be dead,” said Anniston child care worker Beverly Carlisle.  “I just don’t feel safe,” she added (Jay Reeves, Associated Press/Columbia State, July 24).

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CWC:  ILO Rules Bustani Improperly Dismissed From OPCW

The U.N. International Labor Organization ruled last week that Jose Mauricio Bustani was wrongly dismissed last year as head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.  Charging him with mismanagement, the United States led the effort to unseat Bustani from the organization, which is responsible for implementing the Chemical Weapons Convention (see GSN, April 23, 2002).

Bustani’s supporters have said the United States removed him because Bustani wanted Iraq to join the treaty, according to the Associated Press, a move that could have made it more difficult for the United States to go to war.

The ILO ruled that Bustani was improperly dismissed and awarded him $56,700, to be paid by the OPCW, AP reported.  The ILO said Bustani was not given a fair opportunity to respond to U.S. charges, according to a copy of the ruling obtained by AP.  The lack of due process in Bustani’s dismissal was “an unacceptable violation of the principle on which international organizations’ activities are founded, by rendering officials vulnerable to pressures and to political change,” the ILO said.

Bustani said the ruling was a “great relief” and that he planned to donate his award to an OPCW international cooperation program (see GSN, Jan. 9; Anthony Deutsch, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, July 21).

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Pakistan:  OPCW Has Cleared Second Pakistani Industrial Site

Inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which oversees the Chemical Weapons Convention, last month approved a Pakistani industrial site after conducting an inspection, the Pakistani newspaper The News reported today (see GSN, May 1).

Last month, OPCW inspectors visited and approved Nobel Wah (Private) Limited, sources said.  OPCW inspectors made their first-ever visit to Pakistan in April.  The Pakistani Foreign Office said last month’s inspection was kept secret because of concerns that the April inspection received unnecessary attention and caused needless alarm (The News/BBC Monitoring, July 18).

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