Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 12. April 2006 / Time Line April 12, 2006
Version 3.011. April 2006, 13. April 2006
04/12/2006
A CALL TO EUROPE
By GUSH SHALOM
The Israeli Peace Bloc
We, Israeli patriots concerned about the future of our state,
hereby call upon you, the leaders of the European Union and the
heads of European governments:
Stop the blockade on the Palestinian government!
Don't starve a whole people in order to overthrow its elected
government! Only three months ago, European monitors supervised the
Palestinian elections. They confirmed Palestine as the first
democracy in the Arab world (holding its second democratic
elections, the first having been won by the Fatah movement.)
This time, a Parliament with a Hamas majority was elected. Now you
are giving the Palestinians a lesson in democracy: you are telling
them that, unless they overthrow the government they have just
elected, there will be no milk for their children, no medicines for
their sick, no work for their unemployed, no salaries for their
doctors and teachers.
You are fulfilling the cynical prescription of the advisor to our
Prime Minister: "We need to make them lose weight, but not to
die."
This is not only a barbaric policy, it is also a terrible mistake:
no people in the world would submit to such brutal and humiliating
pressure from outside. The inevitable result will be a further
radicalization of Palestinian opinion, and a deepening of the
hatred for Israel and the West in the whole of the Arab and Muslim
world.
That will make the prospect of peace even remoter, the peace we all
need like air to breathe. It will lead to a bloodbath, which will
cost the lives of thousands - Israelis, Palestinians, Europeans and
Americans.
Talk to the Palestinian government!
Start a dialogue with Hamas!
Certainly, they must recognize the State of Israel's right to
exist, just as Israel must recognize the right of the State of
Palestine to exist. But such recognition will grow out of
negotiations, not the other way round.
Certainly, they have to stop violence, just as Israel must do so.
But even at this stage a prolonged armistice can be achieved.
Certainly, they must accept the Two-State solution, and so must
Israel. But their leaders have already hinted that they are ready
for it - and this must be put to the test of negotiations.
We call upon you, leaders of Europe:
It is in the interest of Europe, as it is in the interest of Israel
and Palestine, to achieve peace. Don't succumb to pressure from
outside interests, whose policy has already led to several recent
disasters in the Middle East.
For the sake of all of us: follow an independent line, guided by
wisdom and morality!
04/12/2006
DoD to Set Up Joint Intelligence Operations Centers
Worldwide
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 12, 2006 - The Defense Department is moving to
establish a worldwide group of joint intelligence organizations
designed to rapidly gather, interpret and act on information to
better meet 21st-century military needs, senior military officials
said here today.
On April 3, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld issued a directive
to establish a Joint Intelligence Operations Center at DoD's
Defense Intelligence Agency, at each unified combatant command and
at U.S. Forces Korea, Army Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, deputy
undersecretary of defense for intelligence and warfighting support,
told reporters at a news briefing.
"What we're trying to do is move towards 'operationalizing'
intelligence," Boykin explained. This entails transforming military
intelligence from being a staff function into "both a staff
function, when appropriate, and an operational concept," he
said.
Findings of Capitol Hill and DoD commissions and studies, including
the latest Quadrennial Defense Review, conducted since the Sept.
11, 2001, attacks on the United States recommended the department
integrate and improve the processes it uses to more rapidly gather,
analyze and act on intelligence information, Boykin said.
One of the first changes DoD made to improve its intelligence
structure, Boykin said, was to establish the Office of the
Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence in 2003, headed by
Stephen A. Cambone.
Cambone then directed a study titled "Taking Stock of Defense
Intelligence," which sought present and future warfighting
requirements feedback from combatant commanders and DoD's global
intelligence community, Boykin said.
DoD also conducted a "Reform of Human Intelligence" study at about
the same time, Boykin said.
The two studies were combined into a single program in January
2004, called "Remodeling Defense Intelligence." The JOIC concept
came out of the RDI initiative, Boykin said.
A JOIC that's now operational in Baghdad will serve as a template
for the other new centers, Boykin said...
04/12/2006
CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense
Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Conn., is being awarded a $10,000,000
cost-plus-fixed-fee modification under previously awarded Basic
Ordering Agreement (N00024-05-G-4417) for execution of the USS
Charlotte (SSN 766) depot modernization period and the USS Georgia
(SSBN 729) engineered refueling overhaul. Work will take place in
Norfolk, Va. (99 percent) and Groton, Conn. (1 percent), and is
expected to be completed by September 2006. Contract funds in the
amount of $10,000,000, will expire at the end of the current fiscal
year. Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, Groton,
Conn., is the contracting activity.
Alutiiq Global Solutions, LLC, Anchorage, Alaska, AMEC Earth &
Environmental, Plymouth Meeting Pa., Black & Veatch Special
Projects Corp., Overland Park, Kan., CDM/Cape JV, Cambridge, Mass.,
CH2M Hill Facilities & Infrastructure, Inc., Englewood, Colo.,
Charter Environmental, Inc., Wilmington, Mass., Ellis Environmental
Group, LC, Newberry, Fla., ECC, Burlingame, Calif., Fluor
Entrerprises, Greenville, S.C., Innovative Technical Solutions,
Inc., Walnut Creek, Calif., Jacobs Government Services Co.,
Pasadena, Calif., Laguna Construction Co., Albuquerque, N.M.,
Lakeshore Engineering Services, Inc., Highland park, Mich.,
Parsons, Pasadena, Calif., Perini Corp., Framingham, Mass., PRI/DJI
Construction JV, San Diego, Calif., Shaw Environmental &
Infrastructure, Inc., San Antonio, Texas, TolTest, Inc., Maumee,
Ohio, URS Group Inc., Gaithersburg, Md., Weston Solutions, Inc.,
San Antonio, Texas, is being awarded a $6,000,000,000 firm fixed
price, cost plus fixed fee, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity
contract. Each contract will have a 5-year basic ordering period,
plus three additional 1-year options. Requirements will encompass
the full range of methods and technologies supporting activities
necessary to design and construct new facilities and
infrastructure, and remodel and upgrade existing facilities and
infrastructure. Requirements may include design, construction,
demolition, repair and emergency response tasks. This contract tool
brings several methods of construction together in one contract.
This includes turnkey, design-build, design-build-plus, and
design-bid-build. This set of contracts is not intended to do
stand-alone environmental contracting or stand-alone design, but
the contractor may provide support for environmental work
incidental to construction efforts. At this time $50,000 has been
obligated. Solicitations began August 2005 and negotiations were
completed in April 2006. This work will be complete April 2017.
Headquarters 311th Human Systems Wing, Brooks City-Base, Texas, is
the contracting activity (FA8903-06-D-8502 through FA
8903-06-D-8521).
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