MANHATTAN 911

(Pages A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S)

Reflections conducive to a nonviolent future,
following the massacre of Sept. 11, 2001.

• The first summit of the 16-member Organization for Security and Cooperation in Asia, which was scheduled to take place on 8-20 November, has been postponed until the first half of next year, ITAR-TASS reported on 26 October, quoting a statement by Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 September 1999 and 5 February 2001). The statement said that convening the summit at a time when member states are confronted with the shared problem of fighting terrorism could narrow down the range of issues included on the agenda. LF
     --Radio Free Europe ( 10/29/2001).
  
  
• UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Kenzo Oshima told journalists in Dushanbe on 26 October that he has reached agreement with the Tajik leadership on setting up a joint center for coordinating relief aid to Afghanistan, AP reported. Oshima said 75 percent of that aid will be shipped to northern regions of Afghanistan. Oshima discussed with Tajik Emergency Situations Minister Mirzo Zieev the possibility of transporting relief aid via Tajikistan's Nizhnii Pyandj region. At a second press conference the following day, Oshima estimated the number of Afghan displaced persons in the regions of the country bordering on Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan at 500,000, ITAR-TASS reported. He said at present some 3 million Afghans are in need of humanitarian aid, but that figure could reach 7.5 million by the end of the year. LF
     --Radio Free Europe ( 10/29/2001).
  
  
• By the early 1990's, officials of the Pakistani [I.S.I.] agency became resentful over the change in American policy. In 1990, just one year after the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan, Congress imposed sanctions on Pakistan for its nuclear program.
     --James Risen & Judith Miller (NYTimes 10/29/2001).
  
  
• Saint Dominic's is a Catholic church [in Bahawalpur, Pakistan] but a Protestant service was being held at the time of the attack. The gunmen, who fled, killed 13 in the church and three died later in hospital.
     --Reuters (NYTimes 10/28/2001).
  
  
• But Gaza's embrace of martyrdom did not automatically extend to the Sept. 11 bombers, whose apocalyptic urge to bring America low was a way of cleansing and uniting the whole Arab world. The Palestinians weren't looking to merge into something larger. They just wanted their state. From the perspective of Gaza, there were then two kinds of suicide bombing: those that advanced its cause and those that did not. Or to put it another way: those that could be justified and those that could not.
     --Joseph Lelyveld (NYTimes Magazine 10/28/2001).
  
  
• The ["stimulus"] bill's sponsors claim that the money would be invested and used to create jobs, but it's hard to see why: a potential investment that Texas Utilities or ChevronTexaco wouldn't have made a week ago, because the project won't yield a sufficiently high return, will seem no more profitable after each company gets its $600 million thank-you gift. And there are no strings attached to those gifts: if the companies want to, say, pay huge bonuses to top executives, they can. Republicans have always depended on the kindness of corporations, but this bill takes that faith to extremes.
     --Paul Krugman (NYTimes 10/28/2001).
  
  
• The Democratic response on terrorism has been best symbolized by Senator Tom Daschle's embrace of the president on the night of Mr. Bush's speech about the attacks to a joint session of Congress. The Democrats' watchword has been bipartisanship, which has largely meant, in real terms, acquiescence to the Republican agenda.
     --Jeffrey Toobin (NYTimes 10/28/2001).
  
  
• Due to the horrible acts of terrorism to the United States on 9/11/2001 and subsequently followed by terrorist mailing of the Anthrax virus to unsuspecting people, Bliss industries based in Fremont California has called on it’s Design, process, and manufacturing expertise to create the SafeSorter.
     --Bliss Industries (online).
  
  
• The relationship between the union and management in the efforts to provide secure and safe conditions for employees has met its first test and has survived. Information was received that Morgan Station in New York had been tested as positive for anthrax by the CDC, and local management determined to vacate the floor where the contamination existed and reassign the employees to other locations within the building. I discussed the issue with the postmaster general and conveyed that APWU-represented employees would not work in any building found to be contaminated with anthrax. After serious discussions, it was agreed that the employees would be advised of the possible exposure and it would be left to the employees to decide if they would continue to work in the building.
     --Bill Burns, Exec. VP (APWU Update #57 10/26/2001).
  
  
• The bacteria used for the anthrax attacks in the US is either the strain the US itself used to make anthrax weapons in the 1960s, or close to it. It is not a strain that Iraq, or the former Soviet Union, mass-produced for weapons....
  
  So the analysis could reveal whether the anthrax came from a 50-litre fermenter, such as a small-scale terrorist could obtain, or the huge vats of a state-sponsored bioweapons facility.
     --Debora MacKenzie (New Scientist 10/24/2001).
  
  
• Bacteria causing anthrax form part of the arsenal of biological weapons. The US Food & Drug Authority approved the Bayer antibiotic CIPROBAY as an antidote to anthrax. Even though this may only be a defensive weapon, the chemical multi, in developing CIPROBAY for such a purpose, has entered the arms race and may well accelerate the development of even more deadly instruments of death. Whether BAYER is supplying the armies of western countries with deadly bacteria for military purposes is not known. But the fact that each and every one of the chemical multis refused UN controllers access to their laboratories points clearly to this conclusion. The Bayer group, furthermore, is well-known for its proven experience as army suppliers. This ranges from the First World War to the export of materials suitable for the manufacture of chemical weapons to Iraq.
     --Keycode Bayer (KCB #24 2000:4)
  [Auf Deutsch?].
  
  
• Whilst we do accept that where serious violations are alleged it may be appropriate for the international community to conduct a challenge inspection, improper or unsubstantiated claims of violations must be prevented. Challenge inspections in case of suspected non-compliance must be conducted according to a due process that is based on evidence, permits inspections and at the same time curtails frivolous allegations. Moreover, challenge inspections must strike the proper balance between the need to clarify a substantial claim of non-compliance on the one hand and the legitimate rights of private industry to protect its confidential business information. Therefore, strict managed access must be employed and the inspected site must have the final determination of what is confidential or proprietary information. If no evidence of a violation is found, this must ultimately be reported by the oversight authority.
     --Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (Compliance Protocol)
  
  
  
• In response, the Clinton Administration, taking its lead from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and companies like Bristol-Myers Squibb, Glaxo-Wellcome, and Pfizer, which make the most widely used AIDS drugs, has charged South Africa with violating the World Trade Organization's rules regarding patents and intellectual property. Despite the fact that the WTO explicitly allows members to take such steps in the face of a national emergency or for public non-commercial use, the U.S. has placed South Africa on a "watch" list as a free-trade violator and denied it special tariff breaks on its exports. As co-chair with South African Deputy President Thabo Mbeki of the main U.S.-South Africa trade commission, Vice President Gore has been at the forefront of this push, making the issue of "pharmaceutical patents in particular a central focus of his discussions with Deputy President Mbeki," according to a recent State Department report.
     --Public Campaign (Ouch #25 6/16/1999)
  
  
  
• This is why Ronald Docksai, deputy head of Bayer Corporationïs lobby office in Washington, freely admits, "Everybody knows that we as a corporation would be much happier with a President Bush than a President Gore". To push things in the desired direction, the chemical giant donated $120,000 to Bush in the summer. The Democrats received $40,000 so that if the election results turned out unfavorably for the corporation, it would still be able to carry on in a fair way of business. In the last five years Bayer has handed out more than $600,000 to US politicians - the only German companies more generous in untying their purse strings were Daimler-Chrysler and Heidelberger Zement.
     --Keycode Bayer (KCB #23)
  
  
  
• Pharmacia will provide the Departments of Defense and Health and Human Services (including FDA, The Centers For Disease Control and The National Institutes of Health) with confidential access to our internal scientific information, animal model systems and chemical libraries for potential antimicrobial and antiviral agents.
     --Pharmacia Press Release (10/26/2001).
  
  
• Donald Rumsfeld has been a busy man. After serving as Gerald Ford’s defense secretary in 1977, he joined the private sector as the CEO of G.D. Searle, a pharmaceutical company that’s now a subsidiary of Pharmacia. He was also the CEO of General Instrument, a telecommunications parts supplier that was eventually bought out by Motorola. Lately, though, Rumsfeld has spent his time serving on the boards of several companies: Gilead Sciences, a fledgling biotech company; newspaper giant Tribune Company, which owns the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune; Amylin Pharmaceuticals; Swiss firm Asea Borwn Boveri; and Fortune 500 behemoths, including Kellogg, Sears and Allstate. As a director for Gulfstream Aerospace, his stock in the company reportedly was valued at $11 million when the company was acquired by defense contractor General Dynamics in 1999. But Rumsfeld has scrupulously avoided any direct dealings with defense companies, either serving on boards or purchasing stock, apparently to avoid the appearance of impropriety in case he was asked to fill a defense department post again.
     --Open Secrets (Profile).
  
  
• Pharmacia will donate to the government our antibiotic CLEOCIN HCI® (brand of clindamycin hydrochloride capsules, USP) both to treat diagnosed cases of anthrax (bacillus anthracis) and cases of anthrax exposure that have been deemed appropriate for prophylaxis by the public health authorities. The appropriateness of either use will be determined by federal agencies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). While CLEOCIN is not currently approved by the FDA for use against anthrax, animal studies conducted outside of Pharmacia’s laboratories indicate that CLEOCIN is active against most strains of anthrax. ZYVOX™ (linezolid injection, tablets and for oral suspension) and other Pharmacia antibiotics are in laboratory testing to determine efficacy against anthrax and other potential threatening agents.
     --Pharmacia Press Release (10/26/2001).
  
  
• "Authorized in one country; authorized everywhere": the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) prescribed this (de)regulation on all kinds of goods. Business representatives of Europe and the US meet regularly to conduct bilateral negotiations and are in illustrious com- pany - among the participants is the BAYER chairman of the board Dr. Manfred Schneider. An agreement (Mutual Recognition Agree- ments) on regulating pharmaceuticals, medicine, telecommunication and electronics was reached shortly before the EU summit in Amsterdam. For BAYER, this means that the authorization of a new medication by the American FDA also means authorization on the European market. This not only cuts out the bureaucratic red tape, but could also lead to more Americanized (looser) regulations in the EU for products such as genetically modified pharmaceutical products.
     --Keycode Bayer (KCB #11).
  
  
• The development framework of most biological and traditional drug products is shown in Figure 2. The principal evaluation and research and development phases before a drug is submitted to FDA for approval can take 1 to 3 years. The clinical research and development program (investigational phase), depending on the agent and clinical indication, can take 2 to 10 years. The marketing application review period generally is 2 months to 3 years (average 1 year). Once a product is approved, long-term postmarketing surveillance, inspections, and product testing are performed to ensure the quality, safety, and efficacy of the product, as well as appropriate product labeling. Accelerating product development is important in many situations, including bioterrorism. Mechanisms for advancing medicines through the approval process have been developed for severe and life-threatening illnesses. For drugs and biologic products, these mechanisms include expedited review and fast-track development, as well as accelerated approval and priority review of marketing applications. For a priority product, complete review of marketing applications is 6 months.
     --Kathryn C. Zoon, FDA (Emerging Infectious Diseases CDC 5.4, 1999: Special Issue on Bioterrorism).
  
  
• Just before the turn of the century, Bayer began marketing two notable drugs. In 1898, the company sold diacetylmorphine under the trade name Heroin; in 1899, it sold acetylsalicylic acid under the trade name Aspirin. Other chemists had already synthesized both drugs, but Bayer was the first company to recognize the commercial potential of these compounds. Research continues to reveal benefits of aspirin far beyond the analgesic properties apparent in the early 1900s. Heroin, initially prescribed as a cough suppressant and a cure for addiction to morphine and codeine, was widely recognized as a dangerously addictive drug by 1905.
     --Bayer Profile (The Pharmaceutical Century ACS.ORG).
  
  
• Pharmacia & Upjohn now make Xanax, a treatment for panic disorder; Detrol, for treating overactive bladder; the contraceptive Depo-Provera; and the reverse transcriptase inhibitor Rescriptor, used to treat aids. The company’s nonprescription products include the baldness therapy Rogaine; Nicorette and Nicotrol smoking-cessation products; and Dramamine for motion sickness.
     --Pharmacia & Upjohn Profile (The Pharmaceutical Century ACS.ORG).
  
  
• Photograph of the Shifa Pharmaceutical Plant, Sudan, used by Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen and Gen. Henry H. Shelton, U.S. Army, chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, to brief reporters in the Pentagon on the U.S. military strike on a chemical weapons plant in Sudan and terrorist training camps in Afghanistan on Aug. 20, 1998. (Released)
     --(defenselink).
  
  
• "By all indications, this bust appears to be the first wave of an impending federal crackdown on medical marijuana support groups," said NORML Executive Director Keith Stroup.
     --NORML (10/25/2001).
  
  
• This is an administration that will let its special interests — particularly its high-rolling campaign contributors and its noisiest theocrats of the right — have veto power over public safety, public health and economic prudence in war, it turns out, no less than in peacetime. When anthrax struck, the administration's first impulse was not to secure as much Cipro as speedily as possible to protect Americans, but to protect the right of pharmaceutical companies to profiteer. The White House's faith in tax cuts as a panacea for all national ills has led to such absurdities as this week's House "stimulus" package showering $254 million on Enron, the reeling Houston energy company (now under S.E.C. investigation) that has served as a Bush campaign cash machine.
     --Frank Rich (NYTimes 10/27/2001).
  
  
• The stepped-up American bombing appeared to prompt increased fire from Taliban forces on Northern Alliance positions at Bagram, north of Kabul. Alliance tanks and small arms fired back intermittently....
  
  Somewhere in the decision chain, however, someone forgot to take the Red Cross warehouse complex off the target list, military officials said.
     --Eric Schmitt & David Rohde (NYTimes 10/27/2001).
  
  
• Members of the opposition groups said here today that they see Washington as destroying their country with bombs but failing to make serious efforts to help it come out of the rubble.
     --Jane Perlez (NYTimes 10/27/2001).
  
  
• To hear the United States' most important military allies speak, the hope is not to wrap up the fighting before the Muslim holiday of Ramadan begins in mid-November but to try to prevail before Ramadan 2002.
     --Michael R. Gordon (NYTimes 10/27/2001).
  
  
• Ms. Rice's assessment of the negotiations with Russia's president, Vladimir V. Putin, marks the first time that an administration official of her rank has suggested that Russia is dropping its objections to the Pentagon's proposed testing plans...
  
  Speaking in her corner office in the West Wing, Ms. Rice showed no anxiety about the progress of the war in Afghanistan, the Taliban's survival skills or the spread of anthrax around New York and Washington.
     --David E. Sanger & Tom Shanker (NYTimes 10/27/2001).
  
  
• Secretary Rumsfeld, let's get your reaction first to the reports to the reports in the Japanese press that we are considering the use of tactical nuclear weapons? For those not familiar with the jargon, those are smaller grade nuclear weapons that can be used on tactical targets rather than strategic targets such as large cities.
  
  Rumsfeld: We've not given consideration nor discussion to that particular issue. You're going to hear so many different things about what the United States may or may not do with respect to financial matters, or covert matters, or military matters, and I suspect that most of the people that are offering those suggestions are people who don't know much about what's going on.
     --Tony Snow (Fox 9/21/2001).
  
  
• However, Rumsfeld was more circumspect when he was asked directly on ABC’s This Week whether the United States was considering the use of nuclear weapons against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. “We ought to be very proud of the record of humanity, that we have not used those weapons for 55 years,” he told Sam Donaldson. “And we have to find as many ways as possible to deal with this serious problem of terrorism.”
     --Jeffrey St. Claire (In These Times 10/26/2001).
  
  
• "Intercontinental ballistic missiles continue to provide a reliable, low cost, prompt response capability with a high readiness rate. They also promote stability by ensuring that a potential adversary takes their geographically dispersed capabilities into account if contemplating a disarming first strike. Without a capable ICBM force, the prospect of destroying a significant percentage of America’s strategic infrastructure with a handful of weapons might be tempting to a potential adversary in a crisis."
     --Admiral Richard W. Mies (Carnegie Project 7/11/2001).
  
  
• Senior figures in the Bush administration have been divided on the [Nuclear Test Ban Treaty] issue. Secretary of State Colin Powell has supported the treaty in the past, while Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is against it on the grounds that it will impede U.S. capacity to develop new generations of nuclear weapons as the existing stockpile becomes obsolete. Gen. Shalikashvili addressed such concerns in his report, calling for increased verification measures, enhanced efforts to maintain the U.S. nuclear arsenal and a review of the treaty every 10 years.
     --David Malone & Ramesh Thakur (Globe & Mail 2/8/2001).
  
  
• Rumsfeld discussed the need for deterrence and conflict prevention. He said the United States doesn't want "to win wars, we want to prevent them." The United States wants to be so powerful and forward-looking, he said, "that it is clear to others that they ought not to be damaging their neighbors when it affects our interests, and they ought not to be doing things that are imposing threats and dangers to us."
     --Jacquelyn S. Porth (State Dept. 1/11/2001).
  
  
• The Rumsfeld Commission report was unveiled in July 1998 amid hysterical cries from Gingrich that it was the "most important warning about our national security system since the end of the cold war." Hysteria aside, the report's primary finding was that given enough foreign help, a rogue state like North Korea could acquire a missile capable of reaching the United States within five years of making a decision to do so — one-third to one-half the warning time projected in the CIA's official estimates. The Star Wars lobby finally got what it needed: an official, government-approved statement that could be interpreted as endorsing its own exaggerated view of the Third World missile threat. While the Rumsfeld report drew heavy editorial fire in papers like the Chicago Tribune and the Milwaukee Sentinel, the Wall Street Journal applauded it as a long-overdue clarion call for missile defense, and Washington's newspaper of record, the Post, published a measured response that endorsed the panel's findings as "useful and plausible."
     --William D. Hartung & Michelle Ciarrocca (The Nation 6/19/2000 archived at serendipity).
  
  
• Unconfirmed reports out of China carried by the Japanese media suggested that bin Laden and Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar might have been assassinated by Taliban forces Oct. 16....
  
  "I suspect it's easier to change the Taliban leadership over time than necessarily to simultaneously or before the fact find a specific person," he [Rumsfeld] said. "But we certainly intend to find him [bin Laden]."
     --NewsMax (10/26/2001).
  
  
• On Thursday, September 13 2001, the Federal Communications Commission launched a proceeding designed to eliminate or dramatically weaken two longstanding safeguards designed to ensure greater diversity of media ownership. They include the rule that limits some of the power of the largest cable companies, and a safeguard that prevents one company from controlling both a newspaper and a television station in the same market....
  
  AOL Time Warner and other cable companies are seeking to dramatically overturn the limits on cable system ownership precisely so they can control the key access point for the Internet marketplace. Cable systems offer the most effective way for consumers to receive broadband. AOLTW, Comcast, Charter, and a few others want to gobble up even more cable systems. Because the cable industry has fought off open Internet access rules, they don't have to act in a nondiscriminatory manner, required by law to treat competitors fairly. Removing the cable ownership caps will allow AOLTW and a few others to be in a key position to dominate the digital future.
     --Center for Digital Democracy (CDD).
  
  
• Albader Al-Hazmi, a University of Texas medical resident was detained for a week beginning Sept. 12 before his attorney, Jerry Goldstein of San Antonio, was able to reach him. In the meantime, federal agents brought Al-Hazmi to New York from San Antonio and released him after 12 days without filing charges. "You ought to have some reason given or recourse" to challenge the detention, Mr. Goldstein says.
     --Seth Stern (Christian Science Monitor 10/18/2001 temporary link).
  
  
• The most important thing we can do is to fight fear and prejudice by helping our students to view Arab Americans and Muslims, as people, as members of our communities, and as deserving of the same rights, freedoms and civil liberties as any other citizen.
     --Profs. Devon Brenner Lisa Stooksberry (Missississpi State U 9/11 Resources temporary link).
  
  
• Today, 10.25, there was a planned and organized rally, followed by an unpermitted (we did not have the written permission of the state and government to express our freedoms) march through the streets of Hartford to speak out against the action that our government has taken in revenge of the attacks on America which took place on September 11. The march turned ugly as the protesters forced their message though the traffic of Hartford streets with the police responding in an uncalled for, aggressive manner, which lead to 16 arrests and many other injuries.
     --Ernie Wells (Mad Hatters 10/25/2001).