-Caveat Lector- >From ArabicNews.CoM US announces sanctions changes for Libya, Sudan, Iran Regional, Economics, 4/29/99 The US yesterday announced exemptions on certain products under the US sanctions, which will affect current sanctions imposed against Libya, Sudan, and Iran. "The United States will exempt commercial sales of agricultural commodities and products, as well as medicine and medical equipment from future unilateral Executive Branch economic sanctions regimes, unless he determines that our national interest requires otherwise," a statement from the US White House press secretary said. The statement said that the US may decide to sanction sales of these items in certain instances: "Such extraordinary circumstances might include actual or potential armed conflict involving the United States or its allies; a situation in which a regime is diverting imports of food, medicine, or medical equipment to its armed forces or to its political supporters; or a situation in which the provision of such items would provide unjustified economic benefit to a regime or its officials." US Undersecretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs Stuart Eizenstat said yesterday in a briefing on the change that the change were "implemented as part of our overall approach to sanctions reform, and it is not directed at any specific country." He said that although there is no change in the circumstances that first brought about sanctions, "Sales of food, medicine and other human necessities do not generally enhance a nation's military capabilities or support terrorism. On the contrary, funds spent on agricultural commodities and products are not available for other less desirable uses." Eizenstat said the change does not mean that proposed sales of affected items to sanctioned countries would automatically be approved, but "fully-negotiated contracts" with "non-government entities or to governmental procurement bodies not affiliated with the coercive organs of the state" would be reviewed on an individual basis. "It is also a requirement that there be no US Government funding, financing or guarantees in support of the sales authorized by this changed policy," he added. He said that the change in policy would have no effect on Iraq, as these items come under the boundaries of the oil-for-food program administered by the UN. Eizenstat said that Iran "would become eligible under the circumstances we've laid out for food and medical sales. It was not intended to send a signal to them; it was not intended to send a signal to Libya or to the Sudan. But it will have an effect on them." Eizenstat outlined two negative affects that the current sanctions have: "Unilateral sanctions which contain prohibitions on the sale of humanitarian products, medicines, food, et cetera, tend to have potentially negative impacts. The first is that it can create a counter-reaction in the world community, if it appears that it is punishing innocent people as opposed to dictatorial regimes, and make it more difficult to get the cooperation of even our closest allies for their sanctions." Secondly, he said that the sanctions have have a negative impact on US interests through reducing potential US exports. "When you look at the unilateral sanctions that are now being applied to Iran, Libya and Sudan insofar as they effect food and medicine, it's very difficult to say that they've accomplished the purposes of including those products. The conduct hasn't changed. They simply use it as an argument that we're hurting the average citizen," he said. Eizenstat also said that the timing of the decision had no relation to Libya's recent handing over of the two Libyan suspects in the Lockerbie case for trial by a Scottish court in the Netherlands. Iran: regional security based on coordination between Saudi Arabia and Iran Saudi Arabia, Politics, 4/29/99 Iranian Defense Minister Admiral Ali Shamakhani considered the visit of the Saudi Arabian Defense Minister Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz on Saturday to Tehran as asserting "the Saudi will" to strengthen relations with Iran. The Iranian minister added that the main entrance to establishing a regional security system lies in maintaining Saudi-Iranian coordination. In a statement to the London-based al-Hayat daily issued today, the Iranian defense minister said that, "The Iranian military force following the revolution has not made any attacks and pursued no other policy but just completing its defense capabilities in a way to deter aggressions that might be launched against it following the war with Iraq." The statements made by the Iranian minister came in reply to the concerns shown by the GCC in its periodic statements concerning the Iranian armament. Admiral Shamakhani defended the naval exercises recently carried out near the border with the UAE by Iran saying: "We are making several maneuvers every year, and they [the GCC states] also do the same. We carry out maneuvers in which only our forces take part. In our last military exercises observers from Arab states took part." ~~~~~~~~~~~ <<I consider this of importance and interesting given the reports of Gulf War Syndrome and suggested causes. There is a steep downside for waging wars when the prevailed upon locales have to be occupied or rebuilt. A<>E<>R >> >From Christian Science Monitor THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1999 WORLD A SPECIAL REPORT - THE TRAIL OF A BULLET A rare visit to Iraq's radioactive battlefield Scott Peterson KHARANJ, SOUTHERN IRAQ The men who guard the ruins of the remote Kharanj oil-pumping station near Iraq's border with Saudi Arabia don't wander around much. Destroyed by US air raids during the 1991 Gulf War, parts of this facility remain "hot" - radioactive. So the guards confine themselves to one small building to avoid wreckage contaminated by US bullets made with depleted uranium (DU). STILL 'HOT': Mahmoud Hossein, an official of Iraq's Atomic Energy Commission, checks an Iraqi tank hit by DU bullets near Basra, southern Iraq, and finds it to be radioactive. Some experts say the DU radiation is only mildly dangerous. Others counter that ingestion or inhalation of even a particle of DU carries high risks. (SCOTT PETERSON) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- The wind is a constant companion in this desert, but today it has eased. Driving into the former battlefield, as on a rare visit last year facilitated by Iraqi authorities at the request of The Christian Science Monitor, this reporter passes south through Iraq's rich Rumeila oil fields and along the area near Kuwait, which is pockmarked with rusting tanks and vehicles. These machines were targets of armor-piercing DU "penetrators," the bullet of choice for American tank gunners and pilots during the Gulf War. Pentagon figures show that at least 860,000 DU rounds were fired. Along a side road, a group of falconers are hunting, unaware of the potential risks, while elsewhere two men search for mushrooms. Radiation occurs almost everywhere in nature, at low levels known as "background." But DU is a concentrated form, nuclear scientists say. It is the "tailings" left over from the enrichment process that produces nuclear fuel and bombs. When a DU bullet burns on impact, it turns to particles that emit potentially dangerous radiation. Here, where the guards gingerly carry out their duty at the Kharanj pumping station, clues of radiation are plentiful. The bullets are now spent. The depleted uranium was either turned into dust or broke into fragments that now corrode in the sand. But among the clues is one DU round the size of a thick marker pen that was fired from the sky at a 45-degree angle and grazed a wall. It created an eight-inch-long skid mark of encrusted DU particles. Mahmoud Hossein from Iraq's Atomic Energy Commission handled a radiation detector in a visit to the site observed by the Monitor. Swept over the black specks of DU dust near a bullet-entry hole in a protected doorway, the instrument erupts with staccato chirping. Its meter surges to 35 times background levels, causing Mr. Hossein to appear startled. The fighting that took place on these battlefields seven years ago (see map, page 14) was so intense and released so many pulverized DU particles that the entire area was almost certainly drenched in radioactive and toxic grit. In the midst of the Rumeila north oil field, Iraqi officials examine a destroyed armored vehicle mired in wet sand. The turret had been blown off and sits 50 yards away. It is radioactive, along with the toe of a military boot. But, for some, the danger is easy to ignore or to miss altogether. An Iraqi officer jumps into the rusting hulk, radiation meter in hand, even as DU particles inside makes the instrument sing. A glance behind shows that this site often gets local visitors. On the moist sand, clearly defined, is the fresh imprint of a bare human foot. Before bookmarking this page in your browser, click here. 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