The Militant (logo) 
Vol.64/No.8      February 28, 2000 
 
 
In Brief  
 
 

Washington finally admits perils of radiation exposure

After nearly six decades of downplaying the dangers of radiation, Washington has admitted that many workers employed in the production of nuclear weapons have died from exposure to it. A government review states that workers at 14 nuclear weapons plants showed elevated rates of a range of cancers. Nearly 600,000 workers were diagnosed that have been employed in nuclear weapons manufacture since the start of World War II. Through a series of studies, overwhelming evidence documents the perils of the processes involved.

Last July, Energy Secretary William Richardson concluded that the government should compensate workers who fell sick while working at private plants manufacturing beryllium. This is yet to be done. The firms filling government contracts have claimed that the link to workers' illnesses and their plants could not be proved. Now the question of compensation for government-employed workers is on the agenda. Federal officials say that tens of millions of dollars might be involved in compensation for hundreds of families.  
 

U.S gov't deposited 1,600 tons of nuke weapons parts in Kentucky

Washington recently admitted that since the 1950s it has stored more than 1,600 tons of nuclear weapons parts at its uranium plant in Paducah, Kentucky. Workers at the plant and the surrounding area were exposed to these hazardous waste products without their knowledge for decades. "I've been angry for about 10 years," stated Ronald Lamb, a farmer who lives two miles from the plant and a nearby contaminated creek. "We never suspected they were doing anything that would harm us. It's a federal facility."  
 

Moratorium on executions urged

Shortly after Illinois governor George Ryan announced that he was suspending executions, the Philadelphia city council on February 10 adopted a resolution urging the Pennsylvania legislature to enact a similar moratorium on executing death row inmates. By a 12-4 vote, Philadelphia becomes the eighth--and largest--municipality to urge a halt to executions. Beside Pennsylvania, other states considering such legislation are Maryland, Alabama, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Washington. More than two-thirds of Pennsylvania's death row inmates are people of color, and more than 90 percent were too poor to afford their own attorney.  
 

Baghdad rejects UN 'inspectors'

The Iraqi government on February 10 rejected demands promoted by Washington that UN "inspectors" be allowed back in the country. Last December the Security Council assigned Hans Blix of Sweden to be its new chief inspector of weapons in Iraq. "There will be no return of the so-called inspection teams" stated Taha Yassin Ramadan, Iraq's vice-president, "We reject the infiltration by spies using such cover." Moscow has sent an envoy to Baghdad in an effort to persuade the government to change its mind.

The Iraqi government halted UN inspection operations in December 1998 as Washington launched a massive bombing assault against the people of Iraq. Since then, the U.S. military has carried out virtually daily bombing of sites in Iraq as part of its enforcement of a "no-fly" zone over northern and southern Iraq. Three people were killed on one such attack February 9, which the U.S. Central Command said was a "measured response" against radar, artillery, and missile sites."  
 

Kosova: U.S. troops investigated

In a sign of growing hostility to the presence of U.S. and other NATO-based troops occupying Kosova, the army brass announced that it was opening an investigation into possible acts of misconduct by its troops. A statement released by the army admits that soldiers "may have been involved in misconduct including improper use of physical force and threats against Kosovar males and inappropriate contact with Kosovar females." The troops under investigation are stationed in the same town where a U.S. soldier was accused of sexually abusing and murdering an 11-year-old Albanian girl in mid-January.  
 

Spain: shipyard workers strike

Hundreds of striking shipyard workers clashed with police in the northern port city of Gijón February 10. The workers were protesting the dismissal of 91 employees – part of a restructuring plan imposed by management at the private Naval de Gijón shipyard. Dockworkers throughout the country have resisted efforts by the shipyard bosses to cut jobs and reduce hours of operation.  
 

Chile: Anger over fuel price rise

Workers who drive trucks, buses, and taxis in Chile are threatening job actions in response to the rising prices they have to pay for petrol and diesel fuel. They are rejecting the decision of the Chilean government to pass this cost along to the workers and consumers. Gas prices increased about 9 percent the first week in February. The price increases come as the price of oil has risen by 16 percent this year to about $28 a barrel. Chile imports about 95 percent of its petroleum supplies.  
 

Tel Aviv bombards Lebanon

In the most massive bombing assault on Lebanon in months, the Israeli military destroyed the transformers that provide electricity for huge sections of the country in Beirut, Tripoli, and Baalbek on February 8. Houses of a number of civilians living in the areas were also destroyed. Tel Aviv claimed that the attack was in response to rocket attacks by Hezbollah that killed six Israeli soldiers stationed in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli regime occupied southern Lebanon in 1978. After withdrawing it carved out a military zone in south Lebanon that it has occupied since 1985. Hezbollah, or Party of God, has been leading the fight to end the Israeli occupation. Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak claims he will pull all Israeli troops out of southern Lebanon by July.

This was the third time in less than four years and the second time in a little more than seven months that Israeli planes have hit the Beirut power plant. After the attack on power plants in June, much of Beirut and its surrounding region was without power for four months. In the town of Baalbek, Ali Jaafar, 56, whose house was among a dozen reduced to rubble by the bombing, told the New York Times, "We don't need bridges. We don't need water. We don't need power. We need to resist."

--BRIAN WILLIAMS  
 
 
Moscow troops level Chechen capital 
 
Photo - see caption below 
Russian troops in early February marching into the downtown area of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. Since Christmas Day, Russian forces had subjected the city to constant bombardment with air and artillery attacks, destroying 80 percent of the buildings in this city which once had a population of about 400,000. "I try not to leave my house these days," said Hamid Gukayev, 72, one of the thousands of residents remaining in Grozny "The moment I go out, the soldiers seize me on the pretext I'm a rebel."

Several thousand Chechen fighters, who put up stiff resistance to the Russian military assault, withdrew to the mountains south of the city vowing to continue the fight. The rebels raided a Russian unit in the town of Duba-Yurt February 10 and carried out attacks on two Russian military trains.  
 
 
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