Winter 1996 - Issue Number 38
Excerpts from the
Legislative Alert Newsletter
produced by:
Women Strike for PeaceResearch and Education Fund, Inc.
110 Maryland Ave., NE., Suite 102
Washington, DC 20002
(202) 543-2660
Peace Walk to End Landmines
Cross-country Peace Walker Ariel Brugger walked 1300 miles in three months to bring to the public's attention the problem of anti-personnel landmines. She arrived at Lafayette Park opposite the White House on July 29. She began the walk from outside the headquarters of Alliant Tech. in Minneapolis, the largest US landmine producer.
Ariel was greeted by a group of supporters including Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) who for many years has championed the cause of an International Landmine Ban in Congress. Sen. Leahy reiterated his call for a total ban in the production of all US anti-personnel landmines including those with self-destruct devices. "People who talk about 'smart' landmines should ask themselves if a smart landmine can distinguish between an innocent child and a soldier? I call on all US manufacturers to get out of the business."
Brugger's Interfaith Pilgrimage has been supported by the US Campaign to Ban Landmines, a coalition of over 100 US organizations including Women Strike for Peace, calling for an immediate end to production, transfer, stockpiling and use of antipersonnel landmines. Over 40 nations have agreed to an immediate ban &emdash; the US is not among them.
Suggested Action:
Write to Pres. Clinton expressing your deep disappointment with his May 16 decision to ban the 'dumb' mines (which the US stopped producing anyway) and to retain the 'smart' mines. Urge him to enact an immediate and permanent ban on the production, use, transfer and stockpiling of all antipersonnel landmines, including those with self-destruct mechanisms.
The CIA in Guatemala
On June 28, the President's Intelligence Oversight Board (IOB) report on Guatemala was released, making available government documents dealing with cases of human rights abuses committed against US citizens. The report reveals that the CIA paid informants who were known human rights violators, thus condoning systematic abuses in Guatemala.
While the released document does not contain the complete classified text, it is surprisingly candid in its admission of human rights abuses committed by CIA funded operatives in Guatemala. Pressure from concerned citizens and activists like Jennifer Harbury and Sister Diana Ortiz rendered a whitewashed report politically impossible.
The IOB report acknowledged that for nine years the US Army trained Latin American military officers at the notorious School of the Americas with a curriculum that "appeared to condoneÉexecutions of guerrillas, extortion, physical abuse, coercion, and false imprisonment." Since its founding fifty years ago, more than 59,000 SOA-trained officers have taken their training home, directing their newly acquired skills against their fellow countrymen. The victims of their wrath are peasants, religious workers, labor organizers and other advocates of social justice. Despite the well-documented horrific deeds committed by SOA graduates, the school at Ft. Benning remains open, thanks to nearly $20 million from the Pentagon.
Suggested Action:
Write to your Congresspeople urging further declassification of documents relating to human rights violations in Guatemala and elsewhere in Latin America; urge the closing of the SOA forever.
Peace or Fortress Israel?
The latest tragic Israeli-Palestinian violence which left 75 people dead (15 Israelis and 60 Palestinians) and more than 500 wounded, was the predictable consequence of the new Likud government's hard-line policy toward the Palestinians. Israel's opening of the tunnel near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, one of the most sacred sites to both Jews and Muslims, was the spark that ignited Palestinian rage and frustration. The pre-dawn secret opening of the tunnel was viewed by the Palestinians as an attempt to impose exclusive Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem&emdash;an issue which was to be negotiated in the context of final status talks.
Since coming to power, Prime Minister Netanyahu has repudiated the land-for-peace principle on which the Middle East peace negotiations were based. He approved a major new building expansion of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and delayed the scheduled withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank city of Hebron as stipulated in the Oslo agreements.
The Washington Post of 9/27/96 stated: "The widespread view in the US government, among diplomats and among independent analysts [is] that Israel provoked a conflict that threatens to sweep away many of the dramatic accomplishments in the peace process in the last three years".
Among many US allies in Europe and the Arab states there is a general condemnation of the Israeli government's provocative action. The UN Security Council Resolution, passed 14 to 0 with the US abstaining, called on both sides to return to peace efforts. While the Israeli public is divided on the implementation of the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords, there is strong indication that the majority believe that their security lies in peaceful co-existence with the Palestinians, not in conflict or subJugation.
We urge the Israeli and Palestinian governments to refrain from the use of violence. We call on President Clinton to encourage and support only peaceful resolution of conflict between the Palestinian and Israeli governments, and to reconsider further aid to Israel as long as Israel continues to build settlements in the Palestinian territories. We urge the Netanyahu government to adhere to all previously signed peace agreements. We believe that the following measures should be taken by the Israeli Government to achieve a lasting peace:
CIA/Contras Linked To Crack
The crack addiction that devastated inner-city neighborhoods across the country in the '80s had its roots in the CIA's efforts to fund the secret contra war against Nicaragua, according to a year long investigative report by Gary Webb of the San Jose Mercury News (8/18-20/96).
Webb presents persuasive evidence (court records and official documents) that Nicaraguan Somoza loyalists smuggled 5 tons of cocaine into the United States, and were the main supplier to the Crips and the Bloods gangs. Somoza loyalist turned informant, Oscar Danilo Blandon testified that "the profit was going to the contra revolution." Blandon has received $166,000 from the Justice Dept. as a DEA agent.
Law enforcement agents told the Mercury News (8/18/96) that the CIA prevented any investigations of the operation in the name of "national security." This is consistent with the U.S. government's policy of turning a blind eye to documented eyewitness accounts of CIA links to contra smuggling.
Sens. Specter (R-PA) and Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) held the first hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Oct. 24. After the hearing, Specter said that "the full scope of the inquiry could go back into the Iran-contra scandal of the Reagan administration" and "that would be a decision for the next Congress." Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) said she and others disturbed by the allegations were "in for the long haul." (Wash. Post 10/24/96).
Suggested Action:
Support Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Sens. Feinstein and Boxer and the Black Congressional Caucus in demanding open Congressional Hearings in the next Congress.
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)-Next Step
After almost three years of negotiations and decades of activist pressure, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly passed the CTBT. President Clinton signed the CTBT on September 24, stating: "By overwhelming global consensus we will make a solemn commitment to end all nuclear tests for all timeÉ This Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty will help prevent the nuclear powers from developing more advanced and dangerous weapons. It will limit the ability of other states to acquire such devices themselves. It points us toward a century in which the roles and risks of nuclear weapons can be further reduced and ultimately eliminated."
To achieve the Treaty's ultimate entry-into-force (become law), the CTBT must be promptly ratified by the U.S. Senate. With a two-thirds majority (67 votes) required, it will be an uphill task. The President needs to submit the CTBT for ratification in early 1997, give it his full support and leadership, and encourage other countries to ratify.
However, the Dept. of Energy's plans to pursue its extensive Stockpile Stewardship and Management (SS&M) Program at a cost of $40 billion (over 10 years) in nuclear weapons labs, could provide weapons scientists with the capability to design and develop new nuclear weapons. The planned subcriticai nuclear experiments are viewed as another way to replace underground nuclear testing with computer-based programs for maintaining and rebuilding nuclear weapons.
These plans will undermine efforts to get other counties to support and ratify the CTBT. India followed by Pakistan have already refused to sign the CTBT and will continue to block its entry-into-force until the U.S. and other nuclear states commit to a firm schedule for total nuclear disarmament.
The U.S. must take the lead in nuclear disarmament if nuclear abolition is to become a reality. Deep reductions in our nuclear arsenals with START II and START III are good ways to get started. The Canberra Commission Report on Elimination of Nuclear Weapons and the World Court ruling on the illegality of nuclear weapons provide a sound basis for discussions about the road to nuclear abolition. The U.S. should support the call for a Convention for nuclear abolition within a timebound framework as called for in Malaysia's Resolution to be introduced at the UN in November. These and other disarmament initiatives will help maintain progress toward disarmament, as well as lay the groundwork for CTBT entry-into-force.
Suggested Action:
Write your Senator and urge his/her support for ratification of the CTBT. Write to the White House: Urge the President to take a leadership role on disarmament initiatives. (Reproduce the enclosed WSP Proxy for Nuclear Disarmament for friends and neighbors and for yourself. - Do we have this or should this be removed)
Chemical Arms Treaty In Peril: The Clock is Ticking
The U.S. was left outside looking in, as a major arms control treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), heads toward completion without U.S. participation. The CWC will be brought into force April 29, 1997, six months after the 65th nation, Hungary, has deposited its ratification documents with the United Nations on October 31. Unless the Senate ratifies the CWC before April 29, the U.S. will be excluded from planning or participating in the system of international inspections and some export sales of U.S. chemicals will be barred.
The Treaty creates an international monitoring and verification regime, including mandatory challenge inspections. These provisions could serve as a model for a future treaty eliminating nuclear weapons, and would set a forceful precedent for strong international oversight.
The Treaty, which places an international ban on the manufacture, possession and use of chemical weapons, was negotiated and signed by President Bush and endorsed by President Clinton. It is supported by the Pentagon, the State Dept. and major U.S. chemical namufacturers, but is strongly opposed by Senate Foreign Comm. Chair Helms and other conservative Republicans including Bob Dole. 160 countries have signed it, 11 NATO allies have ratified it, and now the 65th ratification will bring the CWC into force.
Addressing the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 24, Pres. Clinton stated:
"I deeply regret that the United States Senate has not yet voted on the Convention, but I want to assure you and people around the world that I will not let this treaty die and we will join the ranks of nations determined to prevent the spread of chemical weapons."
Suggested Action:
President Clinton should be thanked for his strong support and encouraged to bring the Chemical Weapons Convention to the Senate promptly after it convenes. Urge your Senators to vote for ratification. Stress the urgency for ratification prior to April 29&emdash;the clock is ticking.
Victory For Cuban Solidarity: Sister-to-Sister Delegation to Cuba
100 activists, including WSP activist Cynthia Johnson and members of Pastors for Peace delivered medical computers to Cuba which are becoming a part of INFORMED, an on-line medical information system that will connect every hospital and clinic in Cuba. The first attempt at delivery in January of 1996 resulted in the confiscation of the computers by the US government; after 94 days of the Pastors for Peace-led "Fast for Life," the US government backed down and permitted the delivery of the computers. The computer delivery received an overwhelming welcome from the Cuban people and the government.
On Dec. 27, 1996 through Jan. 5, 1997, a Sister-to Sister women's working delegation to Cuba is being sponsored by Global Exchange and others to improve US-Cuban relations. The group will work together with Cuban women to produce a working document on how to peacefully resolve the US-Cuba conflict and to ensure a secure future for all children in this hemisphere.
Suggested Action:
For more information and/or to join the Sister-to-Sister trip contact Global Exchange; Tel. (415) 255-7296, Fax (415) 255-7498.
School of the Americas Manuals: Training In Terror
The recent release of training rnanuals used by the School of the Americas (SOA) provides irrefutable evidence that the SOA promoted human rights violations in Latin America. The manuals, used to train Latin American military leaders, recommend use of interrogation techniques like torture, execution, blackmail and arresting the relatives of those being questioned.
The SOA manual entitled "Handling of Sources" says "The Cl [counterintelligence] agent could cause the arrest of the employees [informants] parents, imprison the employee or give him a beating" to gain cooperation. It also uses the words "neutralization" or "neutralizing," which according to a Pentagon official were commonly used at the time as euphemisms for execution or destruction. Responding to the manuals' release, Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy Il (D-Mass.) stated that the manuals "show what we have suspected all along, that taxpayers' money has been used for physical abuse."
Rep. Kennedy is expected to re-introduce his bill HR 2652 in the new Congress. HR 2652 has 80 cosponsors, and calls for closing the school. Kennedy also called on the President to close the school with an executive order.
Suggested Action:
Urge your Rep. to co-sponsor and support Kennedy's bill; write to the President urging closing of the school.
Return to the Index of Synapse 38, Winter 1996