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by Sharon Grimes, W A M M
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Funding for Destabilizing Weapons Blocked
Congress is withholding $32 million requested by the Pentagon for installing conventional warheads on intercontinental missiles until a plan is presented that will eliminate the risk of other countries mistaking them for nuclear missiles and triggering a nuclear war. Congress also blocked the Pentagon’s plan to develop nuclear bunker-busters and mininukes. Senator Jack Reed said, “There is great concern this could be destabilizing in terms of deterrence and nuclear policy. It would be hard to determine if a missile coming out of a Trident submarine is conventional or nuclear.” (Guardian, May 30, 2006)
Japan Pulls Out of Iraq
Japan has decided to withdraw its troops from Iraq, bringing to an end the Japanese military’s riskiest and most ambitious overseas mission since the Second World War.
Tokyo has kept about 550 ground troops in Samawa, southern Iraq, since February, 2004, on a non-combat mission. Japan’s troop dispatch won praise from Washington but was opposed by many at home. The troops have been working on humanitarian and reconstruction projects and have relied heavily on British and Australian forces for protection. Japan’s military activities overseas are limited by its pacifist constitution, although the government has been stretching those restrictions in recent years. (Reuters News Agency)
Budget for Global Threat Reduction Initiative Increased
The House of Representatives voted in May for an arms control amendment that would increase funding for the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI). GTRI’s goal is to “identify, secure, and remove vulnerable nuclear materials” around the world. The funding would increase the program’s budget by 52 percent over last year. Differences between the Senate and House versions need to be worked out in June.
(E-mail: Weapons of Mass Destruction: House Acts to Stop Their Spread—Friends Committee on National Legislation, May 30, 2006, www.fcnl.org/index.htm)
Violence Against Mexican Girls and Women Addressed
The House and Senate passed Concurrent Resolutions condemning the abductions and murders of women and girls in Juarez and Chihuahua, Mexico. The resolution also asks U.S. and Mexican authorities to work together to protect women and girls from violence and prosecute perpetrators. Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, says “the United States Congress rarely passes free-standing resolutions expressing concern about human rights conditions in a friendly country such as Mexico.” He calls it an “extraordinary and historic event.”
(Amnesty International e-mail alert, May 17, 2006; info at www.amnestyusa.org/women/document.do?id=engusa20060505001&tr=y&auid=1674158
Italians Exiting Iraq
Italy planned to withdraw 1,100 of its troops from Iraq in June, reducing its level to 1,600. Almost 1,000 British troops have gone AWOL since the Iraq war started and remain missing. (Star Tribune, May 27 and 30, 2006)
Guantanamo Detainees’ Names Released
The Pentagon finally (in May) released the names of the Guantanamo Bay detainees. According to the Pentagon, 759 have been held, 275 have been released or transferred, and only 10 have been charged with any crime. Meanwhile, the U.N. Committee on Torture released its report, which says Guantanamo should be closed. The report says the United States “should cease to detain any person at Guantanamo Bay and close this detention facility, permit access by the detainees to the judicial process or release them as soon as possible.” The committee also said the United States should ban improper interrogation techniques. (Star Tribune, May 16 and 20, 2006)
Polls Support Universal Health Care
Basic health benefits should be guaranteed for all Americans by 2012, even if it means raising taxes, according to a recommendation by the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group, a 15-member advisory panel appointed by Congress. The president is required to comment and Congress is required to hold hearings on the recommendations. Recent national polls show strong support for guaranteed health insurance as long as it requires raising taxes only “somewhat.” (Star Tribune, June 9, 2006; www.citizenshealthcare.gov)
Carter Center Affirms Fair Palestine Election
The Carter Center sent international observers to the Palestinian parliamentary elections in which Hamas surprised many by winning 74 of 132 seats. The team of 85 observers says the election was “peaceful, competitive, and genuinely democratic.” President Jimmy Carter says, “During this fluid period in the formation of the new government, it is important that Israel and the United States play positive roles.” The two countries have threatened to withhold humanitarian aid to Palestinians, which Carter says would be a mistake because it could alienate the Palestinians, incite violence, and increase Hamas’s domestic influence. (The Carter Center Update, summer 2006)
Organizations Pressure Israeli Government to End Apartheid Policies
Pressure on Israel to end what are called apartheid policies against Palestinians is gaining momentum. Proponents hope tactics such as boycotts and divestment, similar to those used to end apartheid in South Africa, will eventually succeed. In May the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education, Britain’s largest university teachers union, passed a resolution at its annual conference encouraging an academic boycott of Israel. In Canada, Ontario’s largest labor union voted unanimously to boycott Israel “until it recognizes the Palestinians’ right of self-determination” and accepts all United Nations resolutions relating to Palestinians, including the right of return. In the United States, the Presbyterian Church has begun divestment from Israel. |
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© 2006 Women Against Military Madness. All rights reserved.
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Complete July/August 2006 Index - click here
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