Mission & Justice

Editorial: 10/7/08

It is interesting that arguably the most bellicose of US presidents in recent times should now be accusing the Russians of bellicosity. But that is what the Bush administration has resorted to in response to the threat from Moscow that Russia will take “military measures” if Washington pressed ahead with its European missile shield based in the Czech Republic and Poland. Russia does not accept the American argument that the defensive missile installation is there to protect Europe from attack from a nuclear-armed Iran. Nor do many other defense analysts. The Kremlin sees that NATO — created to confront the old Soviet Union and its satellites — is now sitting on its Western borders and now the Georgian government is pressing ahead with its intention to join NATO.

(more…)

8/7/08;  http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/letters/index.php/ theaustralian/comments/us_nerve_gas_tests/
The revelation that the US planned to test nerve gas on Australian soldiers in Queensland during the 1960s (”Answers sought over nerve gas plan”, 7/7) needs further investigation, because the US actually conducted tests like this in the Pacific islands at that time. Under Project Shipboard Hazard and Defense (SHAD), the US navy conducted six tests in the Marshall Islands and off the coast of Hawaii between 1964 and 1968. Pentagon documents released in 2002 show the US defence department sprayed live nerve and biological agents on ships and sailors, and sprayed a germ toxin on Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. These Cold War-era experiments to test the navy’s vulnerability to toxic warfare involved about 4300 US military personnel. Of the six SHAD tests where details are available, three used the nerve agent Sarin or the nerve gas VX, while one used the biological toxin Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B (SEB). Sarin and VX are both highly lethal and the other agents used in the tests included known carcinogens. A 1964 test named Flower Drum Phase I, conducted off the coast of Hawaii, sprayed Sarin and a chemical simulant on to a US navy cargo ship and into its ventilation system while the crew wore various levels of protective gear. Another SHAD test in 1965, code-named “Fearless Johnny”, sprayed VX nerve agent on to the same cargo ship, southwest of Honolulu. The full history of Project SHAD has yet to be declassified, so the Australian Government must call on the US to release further details, to clarify whether any such tests were ever conducted in Queensland. :Nic Maclellan; Brunswick, Vic

Cameron Stewart & Nicola Berkovic; 7/7/08

Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has asked for an “urgent and full briefing” from his department about US plans to drop deadly nerve gas bombs on Diggers in Queensland in the 1960s. The secret US plan to test the effectiveness of nerve gas agents, including sarin gas, in jungle warfare called for the Menzies government to lie to Australians about the nature of the tests to avoid a public backlash. The revelations, which were contained in recently declassified top secret documents held by the National Archives, shocked Mr Fitzgibbon, who asked for an urgent briefing, promising no such tests would be considered today. The documents from 1963 to 1966 show the extreme lengths to which Washington sought to use its close alliance with Australia to further its own military research at the height of the Cold War, even at the possible cost of Australian lives. Under the plan - which is not believed to have been acted upon - 200 Australian combat troops, presumably wearing 1960s-era chemical protection suits, were to be subjected to aerial bombardment in the Iron Range rainforest near Lockhart River in far north Queensland.

(more…)

Osama Al Sharif, 29/6/08

The demolition by North Korea of the 60-foot cooling tower of its main reactor complex in Yongbyon on Friday represents an important breakthrough in dismantling its nuclear programme. It has come after more than five years of international diplomatic efforts aimed at persuading the North Koreans to shelve its nuclear ambitions. Two years ago, the world shuddered when Pyongyang successfully tested a nuclear bomb. A combination of threats, such as sanctions and even the use of force, in addition to rewards and incentives finally persuaded the North Korean regime to embark on a plan to shut down its nuclear facility.

(more…)

Paul Daley; 29/6/08

There’s a weary saying among some top brass at Australia’s Defence headquarters at Canberra’s Russell Hill: “Defence ministers come and go. But we are here to stay.” What they actually mean is: “Defence ministers think they run us. But we run them.” … Fast forward and enter Joel Fitzgibbon, a no-bullshit former auto-electrician from Cessnock in country NSW. … Soon after being sworn in as Defence Minister, Fitzgibbon dressed down one stunned service chief when answers he demanded about the deaths of personnel were not forthcoming. The same (now former) chief got another serve when a multibillion-dollar procurement went off the rails and he couldn’t be contacted. He was on the golf course. His mobile wasn’t. Then, just before Christmas in a closed-door meeting of NATO defence ministers in the shadows of Edinburgh Castle, Fitzgibbon let fly at the organisation’s lack of coherence on Afghanistan.

(more…)

26/6/08

An initial investigation into a Syrian site alleged by the US to have hosted a secret nuclear reactor was inconclusive, a senior UN inspector has said. Olli Heinonen, a deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Wednesday that “work needs to be done” in investigating claims that Damascus was hiding a potential nuclear arms programme. Farouk al-Sharaa, Syria’s vice-president, told the Hezbollah-owned Al Manar TV station that the government permitted the inspectors to visit the site to disprove Washington’s accusations. The site of the alleged reactor in al-Kibar, eastern Syria, was bombed by Israeli warplanes in September.

(more…)

Frank Brennan; 24/6/08

Kevin Rudd visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on his first prime ministerial visit to Japan this month, the first serving Western leader to do so. His critics were outraged. Herald-Sun columnist Andrew Bolt subscribed to the theory that ‘to visit is to encourage the offensive notion that the Japanese were victims of a western crime, and not of their own insane militarism’. The time has come to admit the Japanese were the victims of both. The US response to Japan’s insane militarism was, to quote the Second Vatican Council, ‘a crime against God and man himself’.

(more…)

Mohammed Mar’I, 21/6/08

Israel is attempting to block a $400 million arms deal between the US and Lebanon that would reportedly include hundreds of anti-tank missiles, a report said yesterday. The daily Haaretz said that Israeli authorities have stated that recent events in Lebanon, including Hezbollah’s resurgence in the south, have led them to believe that the arms transfer could pose a security threat, namely if future clashes cause government forces to splinter, possibly causing the arms to fall into the hands of Hezbollah. The report came after Israel expressed Wednesday its interest in opening peace talks with Lebanon. An Israeli official quoted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as telling his security Cabinet: “Just as we started talks with Syria, I would hope it would be possible to start talks with Lebanon.”

(more…)

20/6/08;

The US military has lost hundreds of sensitive nuclear missile components, in the latest embarrassment for the Pentagon, London’s Financial Times reported last night. Citing US officials familiar with a Pentagon report, the British daily newspaper said in an online report that the US air force could not account for many sensitive components in its nuclear inventory. One official put the number at more than 1000.The embarrassing loss comes after blunders in which live nuclear warheads were transported across the US, and an accidental shipment of nuclear triggers was sent to Taiwan. A senior US official said the report had “identified issues about record-keeping” for nuclear missile components. There was no suggestion they could have ended up in countries that should not have received them.

(more…)

Marko Beljac 16/508

It was not widely reported, but in February the Bush Administration enacted what may turn out to be one of the most significant policy decisions it has made in response to 9/11. President Bush signed new presidential guidance that provides an entirely new mission for US nuclear forces. The White House has effectively developed a new policy on the deterrence of nuclear terrorism. The policy was announced in a little-noted closed speech given by Stephen Hadley, President Bush’s national security adviser, at Stanford University. He stated that, ‘as part of this strategy to combat nuclear terrorism, the President has approved a new declaratory policy to help deter terrorists from using weapons of mass destruction against the United States, our friends, and allies’. He also stated that, ‘as many of you know, the United States has made clear for many years that it reserves the right to respond with overwhelming force to the use of weapons of mass destruction against the United States, our people, our forces and our friends and allies’. The phrase ‘overwhelming force’ has always been understood to refer to the employment of nuclear weapons.

(more…)