Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 1. November 2005 / Timeline November 1, 2005
Version 3.531. Oktober 2005, 2. November 2005
11/01/2005
Det er nu 30 måneder siden, at USAs præsident Bush
erklærede krigen i Irak for vundet.
11/01/2005
NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of
Defense
DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier
who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sgt. 1st Class Matthew
R. Kading, 32, of Madison, Wis., died at Brooke Army Medical Center
in San Antonio, Texas, on Oct. 31, of injuries sustained near
Tikrit, Iraq, on Oct. 19, when an improvised explosive device
detonated near his convoy vehicle. Kading was assigned to the Army
Reserve's 983rd Engineer Battalion, Monclova, Ohio.
11/01/2005
Civilian contractors in Iraq dying at faster rate as insurgency
grows
By Seth Borenstein
Knight Ridder Newspapers
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/nation/13055180.htm
WASHINGTON - As the nation focused last week on the 2,000th U.S.
soldier who died in Iraq, Gloria Dagit of Jefferson, Iowa, got a
box filled with the belongings of her son, Keven, who was killed
when his convoy of trucks was ambushed in northern Iraq.
Keven Dagit's death Sept. 20 - along with two other truckers -
didn't register on the tally of Iraq deaths broadcast daily. That's
because they were civilians working for U.S. defense
contractors.
As the violence of the protracted war continues and some 75,000
civilian employees struggle to rebuild the war-torn nation and
support the military, contractor casualties mount. Their deaths
have more than tripled in the past 13 months.
As of Monday, 428 civilian contractors had been killed in Iraq and
another 3,963 were injured, according to Department of Labor
insurance-claims statistics obtained by Knight Ridder.
To contact the Internet group for families of civilians in Iraq, go
to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/civiliansiniraq.
11/01/2005
Why Bush Abandoned the Plan for New Nukes
By Lawrence S. Wittner
Confronted with strong opposition from disarmament groups and from
Congress, the Bush administration has abandoned its plan to develop
a nuclear “bunker buster.”
This new weapon, formally known as the Robust Nuclear Earth
Penetrator, became the symbol of the Bush administration’s
plan to build up the U.S. nuclear arsenal and wage nuclear war. The
administration alleged that the bunker buster was necessary to
destroy deeply buried and hardened enemy targets, and
that—thanks to the fact that it would explode
underground—it would produce minimal collateral damage. But
critics charged that, with more than 70 times the destructive power
of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, a single bunker buster might
kill millions of people. This contention was reinforced by an April
2005 report from a National Academy of Sciences panel, which
claimed that such a device, exploded underground, would likely
cause the same number of casualties as a weapon of comparable power
exploded on the earth’s surface.
In addition, building the weapon symbolized the Bush
administration’s flouting of the U.S. government’s
commitments to nuclear arms control and disarmament. Under the
terms of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968, the
nuclear powers—including the United States—agreed to
move toward elimination of their own nuclear arsenals. And, in
fact, after much hesitation, this is what they began to do, through
treaties and unilateral action, over the ensuing years. Therefore,
it came as a shock to the arms control community when the Bush
administration pulled out of the ABM Treaty, opposed ratification
of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and pressed Congress for
funding to build new nuclear weapons, including
“mini-nukes” and bunker busters.
Given the symbolic, high-profile status of the bunker buster,
groups like the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Council for a
Livable World, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, and
Peace Action worked hard to defeat it—mobilizing public
opposition and lobbying fiercely against congressional funding.
Last year, their efforts paid off, when Congress, despite its
Republican majority, refused to support the weapon’s
development. A key opponent was Representative David Hobson, the
Republican chair of the House Energy and Water Appropriations
Committee, who insisted that the U.S. government could hardly
expect other nations to honor their NPT commitments if it ignored
its own.
With the Bush administration determined to secure the new weapon,
bunker buster funding came to the fore again this year. Debate on
the proposal was intense. U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
insisted that building the bunker buster “sends the wrong
signals to the rest of the world by reopening the nuclear door and
beginning the testing and development of a new generation of
nuclear weapons.” Ultimately, both the Senate and the House
rejected the administration measure. The administration’s
only remaining hope lay in pushing through a scaled-back version of
its plan, for $4 million. Championed by U.S. Senator Pete Domenici
(R-NM), long an avid supporter of nuclear weapons development in
his home state, the bill passed the Senate but was again blocked in
the House, where Representative Hobson once more led the way. In
recent months, a House-Senate conference committee grappled with
the legislation, but without making a decision on it.
Finally, on October 25, Senator Domenici pulled the plug on the
funding proposal, announcing that it was being dropped at the
request of the Energy Department. An administration official
explained that a decision had been made to concentrate on a
non-nuclear bunker buster. Naturally, the arms control and
disarmament community was overjoyed. According to Stephen Young, a
senior analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists, “this
is a true victory for a more rational nuclear policy.”
Although the reason for the administration’s abandonment of
its new nuclear weapon program remains unclear, it does appear that
it resulted from public pressure, Democratic opposition, and a
division on the issue among Republicans.
Of course, much more has to be done before the world is safe from
the nuclear menace. Some 30,000 nuclear weapons remain in
existence, with about 10,000 of them in the hands of the U.S.
government.
But the story of the bunker buster’s defeat illustrates that,
even in relatively unpromising circumstances, it is possible to
rein in the nuclear ambitions of government officials.
11/01/2005
JFCC for Space and Global Strike achieves Initial Operational
Capability
http://www.stratcom.mil/Releases/SGS.html
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. – U.S. Strategic Command
officials formally announced that Joint Functional Component
Command for Space and Global Strike, as of November 18, has met
requirements necessary to declare an initial operational capability
following a rigorous test of integrated planning and operational
execution capabilities during Exercise Global Lightning.
Headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., JFCC SGS was
activated by USSTRATCOM in August of this year and is commanded by
Lt. Gen. Kevin P. Chilton.
Declaration of initial operational capability, or IOC, is a key
milestone in the development of a new military organization. The
Joint Functional Component Command concept at USSTRATCOM was
announced in November 2004 and initial manpower and supporting
organizations were established early in 2005.
By May of this year, JFCC SGS had published a concept of operations
and began to develop its day-to-day operational requirements and
integrated planning processes. The command’s performance
during Global Lightning demonstrated its preparedness to execute
its mission of providing integrated space and global strike
capabilities to deter and dissuade aggressors and when directed,
defeat adversaries through decisive joint global effects in support
of USSTRATCOM missions.
Global Lightning is an annual USSTRATCOM-sponsored
command-and-control/field training exercise, held in early
November, designed to test and validate the ability of USSTRATCOM
and its component forces to deter a military attack against the
United States and employ forces as directed.
“The declaration of IOC for the Joint Functional Component
Command for Space and Global Strike marks an important step in the
continued strengthening of the nation’s defense,” said
Chilton.
11/01/2005
“National Stand Down Day” : End The Iraq War -
Demonstrations and Nonviolent Resistance at Recruiting Stations
Across the Country
November 18, 2005
Young Americans sign on to go into harm’s way to defend their
country if necessary, but instead they are being turned into
harm’s ministers in a war that has claimed more then 100,000
Iraqi lives and nearly 2,000 Americans. The President and Congress
have breached a sacred trust with our soldiers and abused their
oath to defend the Constitution by leading young Americans to kill
and die in a war based on lies.
As the Bush Administration refuses to make plans to bring our
troops home, join us for “National Stand Down Day,” as
we halt the machinery that takes young Americans off to this
illegal and endless war in Iraq.
We welcome, and will provide coordination and support as possible,
for all manner of protests and demonstrations at recruiting
centers. We want to especially encourage and assist nonviolent
resistance actions, such as civil resistance or civil disobedience.
As we recognize and support soldiers who take great risks to refuse
fighting in this unjust war, so it is our moral responsibility to
share that risk to the extent that we can, by preventing even more
young Americans from being placed in such jeopardy –
particularly in light of the lies and abusive practices being used
in the recruiting process.
Our violation of these unjust practices is undertaken in a spirit
of nonviolence and love, with compassion and respect for all we
encounter. But our nonviolence will not be mistaken for lack of
resolve: we cannot stand by while our schools and communities are
militarized by the "No Child Left Behind Act,” or as
potential recruits are deceived by clauses that allow the armed
forces to disregard the terms of their contract.
This call is also made in support of the “National ‘Not
Your Soldier’ Youth and Student Day of Action” call for
a youth and student led counter-recruitment day of action on
Thursday, November 17. We encourage everyone who will participate
in National Stand Down Day on November 18 to support the efforts of
local students as well - you can find out more by going to
http://www.nyspc.net/home.php
Please join us as we say NO the war in Iraq, and NO to the
recruitment of our fellow Americans into this war.
If you are interested in joining this nationally coordinated day of
nonviolent action to end the war,
please contact us at http://www.iraqpledge.org
National Stand Down Day is a project of the Iraq Pledge of
Resistance’s National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance.
Endorsers (list in formation):
National Student and Youth Peace Coalition
United for Peace and Justice
War Resister’s League
Code Pink Women for Peace
National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance
Progressive Democrats of America
Peace Action
Student Peace Action Network
Iraq Pledge of Resistance
Democracy Rising
Peace Majority Report
The Catholic Peace Fellowship, New Jersey
Raging Grannies of the Peninsula
N.C. Peace Action
MilitaryFreeZone.Org
 |
 |