US deploys destroyers off North Korean coast

In the first step toward erecting a multibillion-dollar shield to protect the United States from foreign missiles, the US Navy will begin deploying state-of-the-art destroyers to patrol the waters off North Korea as early as next week.

The mission, to be conducted in the Sea of Japan by ships assigned to the Navy’s 7th fleet, will help lay the foundation for a system to detect and intercept ballistic missiles launched by “rogue nations.”

The deployment will be the first in a controversial program that is high on President Bush’s defense agenda. Bush cleared the way to build the system two years ago by withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which banned ship-based missile defenses.

The project — likened to hitting a bullet with a bullet, only at three times the speed — is exceedingly complex, prompting many critics to argue that it will never be reliable or effective. It is also expensive, with an estimated price tag of $51 billion over the next five years. (AP)

Taiwanese march in protest of US arms deal

Thousands of protesters marched through Taiwan’s capital on Sept. 25, urging the government to scrap a big US weapons package they said would trigger an arms race with China and squeeze social welfare.

Defending the $18.2 billion deal, Premier Yu Shyi-kun said maintaining strong defense and a military balance with the island’s arch-foe were critical to security.

“If you attack me with 100 missiles, I will at least attack you with 50. If you attack Taipei and Kaohsiung, I will attack Shanghai,” Yu said in a speech before the protest.

“If we have such counter-strike capability today, Taiwan is safe,” he said in comments broadcast on cable news networks.

Protesters disagreed with Yu’s comments.

“President Chen Shui-bian only likes to please the United States to protect his presidency. He wants to die, but we will not follow him,” said a retired soldier, surnamed Chang.

A 40-year-old housewife surnamed Lin, said: “We don’t want any war, especially since both sides are Chinese.”

Holding banners reading “Our money, Your war,” “Want peace, No war,” the protesters, ranging from veterans to unemployed workers and children, joined the march to the presidential palace. (Reuters)

Powell authorizes military funding for Colombia

Secretary of State Colin Powell has concluded that Colombia has met congressional requirements for protection of human rights, thereby freeing $32.5 million in military aid funds, the State Department said Sept. 24.

State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said in a statement that Powell decided this week that the Colombian government and armed forces have met the criteria.

Powell has never found Colombia in violation of the rights requirements. Rights groups invariably have criticized Powell’s findings, contending that he has overlooked serious abuses.

The rights evaluation takes into account, among other criteria, whether the Colombian armed forces are taking action against rights abusers within their ranks or have aided and abetted anti-communist paramilitary organizations.

Powell said he told Colombian President Alvaro Uribe during a Sept. 1 meeting in Panama that he “has to keep his eye on human rights and civil rights, to make sure he is cracking down in a way that is consistent with international human rights standards.”

The United States has spent some $2.5 billion, most of it in military aid and training, since 2000 with the stated objective of helping the Colombian government defeat the rebels and their right-wing paramilitary foes, who both control a large share of Colombia’s cocaine trade. (AP)

Malaysian prime minister: West is fueling terrorism

Western countries have fueled international terrorism through the invasion of Iraq and their stand on the Palestinians, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.

Abdullah, who is chairman of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the 116-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), made the charge Sept. 23 in a two-hour speech to his ruling party’s annual assembly.

He urged Muslims to reject the use of terrorism, saying it contravened the teachings of Islam, while criticizing the West for “the increasing prejudice against Muslims worldwide.”

“We must reject violence that targets innocent civilians. Similarly, violence that is caused by any party, be it nations or militant groups, cannot be accepted,” he said.

“The term ‘jihad’ (struggle) should not be misused and should not be misinterpreted to justify terrorism. Such actions only serve to tarnish the teachings of Islam. Islam does not permit such violence. If unchecked, such cruelty will benefit no one.”

In an obvious reference to the United States, Abdullah said: “There is unease around the world that a single country dominates all the military, economic, political and cultural dimensions of power.”

“Their stand on the Palestinian issue and their actions in contravening international law, such as the invasion of Iraq are factors that fuel acts of terror.” (Agence France Presse)

Indonesia increases intelligence powers

In a move criticized by Indonesian human rights organizations, interim home affairs minister Hari Sabarno announced on Sept. 15 that officers of the National Intelligence Body (BIN), a civilian agency reporting directly to the president, would be given powers of arrest. Under Indonesian law at the moment, only police officers can make arrests.

Sabarno also announced that BIN head Hendropriyono would head up a task-force, and be given power to coordinate all intelligence operations. While BIN was established to bring all intelligence agencies under one umbrella and Hendropriyono was given cabinet rank, the armed forces, the police and the foreign affairs ministry all still have intelligence wings.

Rachland Nashidik, director of the human rights organization, Imparsial, criticized the new extra-judicial powers. Nashidik commented that he thought that Hendropriyono was using the September 9 bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta to revive an earlier law on intelligence agencies that gave BIN the right to make arrests. (Green Left Weekly)

British MPs seek Blair’s impeachment

Tony Blair could be impeached before the House of Lords for misleading Parliament over the basis for military action against Iraq, two leading lawyers said in advice published Sept. 23.

They believe there is a case that the Prime Minister is guilty of a serious breach of constitutional principles.

Rabinder Singh, Queen’s Council (barrister), and Prof Conor Gearty say the ancient procedure, under which MPs initiate criminal proceedings for actions that would otherwise go unprosecuted, can still be used to call ministers to account.

The impeachment process was last used in Britain in 1805.

The presiding judge at Blair’s trial before the House of Lords would be Lord Falconer, the Constitution Secretary, sitting as Lord High Steward. However, all peers would sit as judges of law and fact, voting in turn on whether Blair was guilty.

The 19-page opinion was requested by Phil Shiner, a solicitor acting for a group of MPs led by Adam Price, the Plaid Cymru (Welsh) MP.

Ministers have dismissed the case for impeachment, saying the procedure is “obsolete.” But the decision on whether to hold a debate belongs to Michael Martin, the Speaker, who Price believes is open to argument.

A document provided by Martin explaining the process did not rule out MPs being allowed to debate an impeachment motion. (Daily Telegraph (UK))

New documents detail CIA intervention in Chile

For the first time in forty years, CIA and White House documents on covert political intervention in the 1964 Chilean election were declassified Sept. 24. The documents, which detail U.S. efforts to assure the victory of Christian Democrat Party candidate Eduardo Frei over Socialist leader Salvador Allende, describe the political and operational decisions between January and September 1964 for covert action “directed at the defeat of Salvador Allende” by “increasing the organizational efficiency and campaigning ability of the Christian Democratic Party.”

According to the declassified reports, in December 1963, the CIA’s Western Hemisphere Division first proposed a concrete “political action program in Chile” to bolster the Christian Democrat campaign. At the suggestion of the US ambassador to Santiago and Richard Goodwin, a special advisor to President Kennedy, CIA support to the Christian Democrat Party began in April 1962 with a series of secret payments on “a non-attributable basis”—meaning that the source of the funds was kept a secret from Frei and his party officials. In January 1964, the CIA’s Chief of Western Hemisphere Division, J.C. King, recommended that funds for the campaign “be provided in a fashion causing Frei to infer United States origin of funds and yet permitting plausible denial,” so that the CIA could “achieve a measure of influence over [the] Christian Democratic Party.”(National Security Archive)

Brazil enacts strict anti-gun law

Tough new anti-gun legislation came into force in Brazil on Sept. 22, in a bid to curb what the UN says is the world’s fourth-highest murder rate.

Under the new rules, anyone carrying a gun without a license will face a prison sentence.

Permits will be issued only to police, security guards and others in high-risk professions -- but they must be at least 25 years old.

Anyone else caught carrying a firearm will face up to four years in prison.

The BBC’s Steve Kingstone in Sao Paulo says the law is part of a concerted effort by the Brazilian government to reduce the number of people killed in gun-related incidents -- nearly 40,000 of them during 2003. (BBC)

Canadian police eye cellphones with alarm

Easy access and advances in everyday technology such as cell phones and text-messaging are putting police on the alert, according to an internal Royal Canadian Mounted Police report obtained using Access to Information legislation.

“As a communication device in both voice and electronic text-based format, the cellphone’s ubiquity in the general public becomes a phenomenon to be reckoned with,” says the criminal intelligence brief prepared in March.

In Britain, the report says, police have confiscated mobile phones from people demonstrating against the war in Iraq.

“The (British) police are cracking down on activists who come equipped with mobiles -- and are apparently empowered to do so” under provisions of anti-terrorism laws brought in after the United States terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the report notes.

The RCMP note the use of cellphones and mobile communications by protesters at the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle and other major demonstrations in Canada. Police could have a difficult time cracking down on wireless communications. By next year the industry predicts half of all Canadians will be equipped with wireless devices. (The Canadian Press)