Top GCSB Officials

Observe Waihopai 20 Trial (see page 5)

In this issue:

• The Waihopai 20 have their day in court • Spies "bug" Waihopai 20 trial

THE FACES BEHIND THE SPYING

Bruce Miller (left), Officer in Charge at Waihopai, and Hugh Wolfensohn, Senior Executive Officer in the GCSB, take a break from the Waihopai trial in Blenheim. 21 April 1997.

page

• Black Birch Naval Observatory - What replaced it?

2 5 6 6 7 8

• More Moore hyperbole on Harewood • Government to put the "NZ" back in ANZUS • SISsy Bits • Protest against Tandem Thrust • Asia-Pacific Bases Round-up • The Dirty Dogs of War • Chernobyl nuclear explostion confirmed in US • The cost of Free Trade • CIA File • Sam Day visits Christchurch - Mordechai Vanunu Campaign • Waihopai Warren goes (North) West • Thanks Marty

12 14 16 21 22 24 27 28 28

19 CONVICTED & DISCHARGED - WARREN THOMSON FINED $300

The January 1997 annual protest at the Waihopai spybase involved a number of new features -extremely high media interest, stimulated by Nicky Hager's bombshell 1996 book "Secret Power"; the presence of MPs for the first time; the arrest of the biggest single number - 20 - of any of the protests, stretching back to 1988; and the offer of his services, free of charge, by Peter Williams QC, one of the country's top lawyers and a political progressive in his own right.

All of these features - the media, Nicky Hager, MPs, 20 defendants, and Peter Williams - came together in the Blenheim District Court, on April 21. Plus, of course, a very low key police prosecution team and our old friend, Judge Amazing Grace (who had presided over previous Waihopai cases). And a new feature - very senior spies from the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), which operates Waihopai on behalf of American intelligence, and other member agencies of the UKUSA Agreement (ie UK, US, Australia, Canada and NZ).

On Friday 18th of April, three days before the hearing, the defence of the Waihopai 20 finally came together. We had contacted most of the defendants. Transport and accommodation were arranged. Meetings with the defence lawyers were set up, and Glen Singleton, an American who directs policy and planning at the GCSB, had been subpoenaed (see elsewhere in this issue for more detail on Singleton). We'd canvassed for donations and support, chased up MPs circulated the media, painted banners, sold raffle tickets, made a database of defendants' situations and those few wtth previous convictions, and argued about witnesses and defence strategies amongst people scattered from Chr'lstchurch to Auckland. There was little more we could do.

American Spy Subpoenaed

Singleton's subpoena - delivered to his home by Mark Roach early one morning in Wellington after several unsuccessful efforts - was an interesting but ultimately fruitless attempt to get a senior GCSB official into the witness box. We wanted to see if he would respond to any questions and to explicitly demonstrate the dominating American presence inthe GCSB. Peter Williams QC was not enthusiastic about this. In the end his court knowledge proved

- Warren Thomson & Murray Horton accurate - Judge Grace indicated he would not have accepted the witness. It would have introduced a "political" element, and Grace was determined not to allow his court to be used for "political" purposes. But focussing on Singleton did mean the media received a useful reminder of the insidious US presence within the GCSB.

The presence at court of MPs Rod Donald (Alliance) and Tim Barnelt (Labour) reflected both growing support for opposition to Government spying and developing Parliamentary interest in me proceedings. Both MPs have been active in the issue. Rod Donald has introduced a private members bill to Parliament to scuttle the new (and ineffective by design) Intelligence Agencies Committee (which wasn't apPOinted until nearly a year after the Intelligence and Security Agencies Act was passed) Tim Barnett has been promoting discussion on the GCSB and Security Intelligence Service (SIS) within his party. Rod, along with Labour MP Marian Hobbs, had been refused a visit to the Waihopai base at the time of the January protest (see PR 12 for details), but his efforts in court to explain his concerns about the GCSB were severely curtailed by Grace's inSistence that he was being "political".

Defendants and supporters arrived at the Spring Creek holiday camp, the day before the case, in bright cool sunshine and cautiously positive mood. We discussed arrangements and confirmed witnesses. In the evening we met with the defence lawyers and finalised our defence strategy. Some of us would have preferred a more direct testimonial onslaught on the base than was proposed, but Williams's tactic of emphasising the moral nature of the defence was to prove more viable. (Meanwhile Warren Thomson was launching his own direct onslaught on any to'llet within reach - he contracted severe, but mercifully brief, food poisoning. Be careful of Blenheim hamburgers. You might get Mad Spy Disease).

In the morning the defendants and over 20 supporters paraded in the park opposite the court house. The media gathered. There was a meeting of lawyers and witnesses, then we all filed into the court. The 20 defendants were shepherded into the jury box and the seats along the front of the barrier that divides off the court and the public seating. Two neatly suited gentlemen observed proceedings from the back of the court. They later reluctantly reveale(j

they were Hugh Wolfensohn (now second in command at GCSB) and Waihopai boss Bruce Miller. Towards the end of the trial they rather upset the judge when their cellphone rang and he ordered them out of the court to take the call. Someone audibly joked that it was probably the Prime Minister on the line. You never know. (Mind you, having read about the secret scrambler phone in the office of a very senior police commander at Scotland Yard which kept ringing with orders for pizzas, it could have been anyone.)

This wasn't the only comic moment - during the moming, a door by the judge creaked open, with nobody to be seen. Shortly thereafter, an unearthly yowling filled the court, and the judge's assistant rushed down and put out an inquisitive black cat that had come in for a looksee. A black cat might have been right at home during some of the recent cases arising out of "ritual Satanic child abuse", but it was not required for a case involving a spy agency which is very keen to keep all its cats very firmly in the bag. Decorum was restored, the majesty of the law no more disturbed by furry interlopers).

The court was almost full as the judge appeared and called a roll of defendants. The police gave their evidence, which was very perfunctory. 'They were warned not to cross the (outer, road) fence. They did, so we arrested them for trespass" . The prosecution case was over in minutes. Williams rose to give the opening statement for the defence. He placed his papers on a lectern, then told the judge that we sought a discharge under the judge's discretionary powers under Section 19 of the Criminal Justice Act.

The reason for this was that the defendants had acted on the day in an exemplary fashion and there was no element of "moral turpitude" ie criminality; the defendants were acting in the public good. He proceeded onto a long exposition on the importance of civil disobedience in a "mad" world; one in which progressive reforms had come from those who stood up against the Establishment of the day. Occasionally his peroration wandered, but much was impressive and sometimes moving. He traversed the global history of the protest movement and waved aloft the book of the moment, John Ralston Saul's "The Unconscious Civilization".

No "Politics" In Court

The problems started when Nicky Hager was called as the first witness (and arrived with his five year old daughter in tow. Julia wasn't allowed to accompany Dad into the witness box.). Grace warned Williams he only accepted the tenor of his argurnent to the extent he was showing the motivation of the defendants and would not accept criticism of the base. Nicky began to describe what was in his book and Grace stopped him. Williams rephrased his question once or twice but Nicky seldom got more than a few sentences out before Grace prevented him from continuing. The judge was becoming more hostile and the tension in the court was mounting as Williams continued to try to work the defence. Grace reminded us several times that Nicky's evidence was all hearsay anyway. It seemed possible our defence would stall completely.

Continued next page c::ifiF>

Rob Hanlon and Gwen Struik before the Waihopai trial in Blenheim

Peaee Researcher 13 - August 1997 - Page 3

The judge had agreed to allow showing of the 1996 TV3 20120 documentary on WaihOpai (see PR 12 for details) but it was clear he was antagonistic and made the point strongly that it was just more on Nicky's book. He watched the first part of the 17 minute film then sa! back with his little finger across his mouth and his head lowered. At least the policeman who had been dozing in his chair awoke. For some reason Grace got more interested in the last third of the video and did seem to absorb the content.

He remained adamant that there was to be no "politics" in the courtroom, and Williams had to take Nicky off the stand. Rod Donald MP followed. He managed to get across the point that he was refused admission to the base and that Parliament had lost control over it in between Grace telling him it was "politics". It seems a little beside the point to ask a politician to not talk about "politics". At this stage Grace called a recess. We walked out in the sunshine for a few minutes.

We filed back in. Grace seemed a little better humoured. Williams began to call testimony from the defendants - five designated to represent the 20. Kate McPherson was first. It was a tough situation given Grace's previous disposition and when Kate referred to her notes a few times the judge stopped her. But she spoke clearly and made, with conviction, points about victimisation of the Pacific as she grew in confidence.

Anna Fenwick followed. She'd learnt from the experience and spoke without the notes she'd been nervously writing only a few minutes before. She added more points on the reasons we wanted the base closed, and made an excellent impression. Warren Thomson followed, and pOlitely reminded the judge that he'd been in exactly the same situation a year before (which probably served to remind Grace to later single Warren out for harsher treatment). He outlined the way Waihopai abused civil rights and how assurances of control over the intelligence agencies had been shown to be mistaken.

Hamish Bruce spoke well on the growth of surveillance and its unacceptability. Maire Leadbeater finished our testimony by describing how one could not stand aside while the Western intelligence club contributed to manipulation of the Pacific. Experienced and committed, obviously clear in her mind exactly what she was doing and why she had been at the base. Maire was an effective final witness. When the testimony was completed the atmosphere in the court was much more confident. The Blenheim lawyer read out the background of each defendant, Peter Williams made his closing remarks very briefly, then we went off for lunch.

The Judgement

We retumed to our seats. The judge came back and gave his summation. He went over the events and the evidence. He made one or two small errors. He referred to the political aspects of the defence, the hearsay, and worst of all, his inference that the defence was in part, at least, an attempt to gain publiCity for our cause through the medium of his court (heaven forbid). He did take on board the sincere beliefs of the 20, and reviewed Williams' proposition that such actions are necessary and publicly good. He dismissed this and said that this would not override the basic charge that our protest went beyond the law, and that we would be convicted.

He informed uS that those who had no previous convictions would be treated as one group, that the convictions previously registered had no bearing on the case except those of Warren Thomson, and that he would be treated separately. He then proceeded to go through the other 19 and declare them to be convicted and discharged. People were relieved to find that they were not going to be further punished. He then came back to Warren and fined him $300. It could have been worse.

Media interest in the trial was less than during the protest in January. There were reports in all the major papers although they tended to focus on what happened in court rather than the issue of the GCSB. The Mar/borough Express ran a good story on its front page. But there has been a considerable shift in public awareness over the last year. Most journalists now know about Waihopai and have some idea what we protest about. A number of MPs recognise the issue and are concerned. Awareness of the existence of the base has filtered through to a large number of the public who take an interest in political and social matters.

Probably for the first time since Waihopai spying began nearly ten years ago, the GCSB is having to deploy its defence mechanisms and polish up its damage control. The spooks are still operating behind closed curtains, but lots of people have caught a glimpse of the action inside and the GCSB is going to have a much harder job keeping the curtains drawn.

Thanks to everyone who supported us. The large number of donations, the messages of support, and the phYSical presence of supporters, was hugely encouraging. The campaign continues.

Peace Rcscarcl1cr 13 - August I tJ97 - Page-+

Spies do pretty much what they want to do, with minimal accountability outside the impenetrable security surrounding their own invisible intemational society. The recent Waihopai 20 court trial is a case in point. Glen Singleton, an expatriate American high up in the GCSB, was subpoenaed to appear in the court for the defendants. He didn't appear, and the judge would not have allowed his testimony anyway (see main article on the trial elsewhere in this issue). Thus the 20 defendants failed to get Singleton on the stand. Whatever the reason, that failure illustrates the immunity from public scrutiny enjoyed by intelligence officers. On the other hand, the two chaps shown on the cover of this issue did appear in the courtroom to observe the proceedings. They were uninvited; they simply showed up unannounced.

Who are these three men? We must turn to THE authoritative source to find out about Singleton, and Bruce Miller and Hugh Wolfensohn - to the book "Secret Power" by Nicky Hager. It is worth summarising Nicky's knowledge of them here.

Glen Singleton appeared on the NZ intelligence scene in 1 984. An American intelligence Officer, he held the post of Director of Policy and Plans at the GCSB from 1 984 to 1 987. The NZ government was unaware of that fact at the time. Singleton's office was next to that of the GCSB Director and he had seemingly free access to the director (then Colin Hanson). "One of the many things [Prime Minister DavidJ Lange did not know about the GCSB . . . was that this new officer was not under the control of the New Zealand government at all. Paid in American dollars and living in a house rented for him by the local United States embassy, Singleton was an employee of an organisation called the National Security Agency (NSA)." ("Secret Power", p 21)

This is the man that the 20 Waihopai defendants hoped to subject to questioning through their attorney, Peter Williams, QC. It was not to happen.

During the lunch break in the trial, MP Rod Donald called me across the street from the court house to introduce me to deux eminence grise (yes, men in grey suits), Bruce Miller and Hugh Wolfensohn. It was a short and unrewarding chat. They were pleasant and smiling, but with lips sealed to all but the most superficial chitchat. (In a recent McCormick TV show, Gary McC and Nicky Hager visited the GCSB (unannounced) in the Freyberg Bldg in Wellington. They were met by Wolfensohn outside the blast-proof doors at the GCSB entrance. After failing to get any answer of substance out of

Wolfensohn, Gary said "Obviously you're doing your Job very well. It's a top secret installation. There's been no more secret man than you as far as I'm concemed".) I have the impression that my correspondence with GCSB director Ray Parker in recent months has involved significant dollops of Wolfensohn's legal advice. Nicky Hager describes Wolfensohn as the Senior Executive Officer for legal rnatters. (On McCormick, Wolfensohn introduced himself as the Executive Director - confirmed by Nicky Hager - which puts him close to Parker in the command structure.)

Bruce Miller is the new Officer in Charge of the Waihopai station. He replaced Colin Waite recently. Walte was the original OiC having started at Waihopai in early 1 989. Prior to moving to Waihopai, Miller was the manager of the GCSB SIGINT Collection Unit which "does the preparatory work for the interception at Waihopai and Tangimoana". His code name in that position was "C". Presumably, his new position as an Oi "CO is a step upwards and into the bleak paddocks of the Waihopai Valley.

Colin Waite provides another example of protection of the intelligence establishment from testimony and questioning in our courts of law. He appeared on the stand for the prosecution in the 1 996 Waihopai trial (see PR 9). When I , as a defendant without legal counsel in that trial, tried to cross-examine

Waite on the functions of the Waihopai facility, Judge Grace cut me off. I invite the reader to reflect on the wall of silence around the GCSB that our judicial unwittingly helps to maintain. That was a rare opportunity for us as defendants in a court of law to question a knowledgeable spy first hand in order to establish the facts underpinning our defence against the charges. No hearsay, no rumour, no second­hand reporting - straight from the OiC's mouth. But it was not allowed; it was deemed irrelevant.

Less than one year later, 20 arrestees had their defence cut short by the same judge, this time on the basis of hearsay. The testimony of an internationally acknowledged authority on the GCSB and SIGINT (Nicky Hager) was dismissed as hearsay. And testimony by an elected representative of the people, member of Parliament Rod Donald, was dismissed as political.

Meanwhile the Singletons, Wolfensohns, Millers and their ilk continue spying under domes and behind blast-proof doors. But I think we have dented their armour. They didnllike having their photos taken.

Peace Researcher 13 - August 1997 - Page 5

BLACK BIRCH NAVAL OBSERVATORY What replaced it?

The tiny star representing the fourth foreign base in the ABC letterhead map of NZ has been erased. Black Birch Naval Observatory is kaput (although the buildings are still there on the mountain). A circle­transit telescope was used there for 1 0 years mapping real stars for both civilian and military uses. Peace Researcher published a number of articles on Black Birch over the years (our first article was in 1 984 as observatory construction neared completion). In a 1 989 article (PR 22) we discussed the Hipparcos satellite as the way of the future in star-mapping. (Hipparcos stands for High-Precision Parallax Collecting Satellite.)

The Hipparcos satellite was in fact launched in 1989, but its final orbit was a near disaster because of a failed rocket motor. Instead of a nice stable geostationary orbit, the satellite was placed in a highly elliptical one that came within only 500 km of Earth at its closest approach. The astronomers had to cope with the orbit by rewriting the software for controlling the satellite and using ground stations all around the planet to download data. Despite these formidable problems, the satellite observed over a million stars and mapped their positions until June 1 993 when Hipparcos fell silent. In less than four years of operation it had collected over one trillion (1 012) bytes of data on star positions. The accuracy of the finally published star positions is up to 1 00 times better than that of the old Black Birch data. It took over 3 years of massive number crunching computer power to process the raw data for publication i n comprehensive star catalogues.

- Bob Leonard

This information comes from the magazine New Scientist (21 February 1 997). The article made no mention of the military uses of accurate star maps -the reason behind the fervent opposition to the Black Birch facility by the peace movement. Trident nuclear missiles carried on US nuclear submarines would be guided to their targets by stellar inertial guidance, a system that is totally dependent on the star positiOns generated by observatories like Black Birch and now, Hipparcos.

In case you had forgotten about Trident nuclear missiles the following quote is chilling: "Even with civilians aboard, the subs are on active duty and canry a full stock of weapons". (New Scientist, 2 November 1 996)

That quote is from an article that begins, "The Cold War is over. The nuclear threat has faded. And with a shortage of enemies to play underwater hide-and­seek with, America's admirals can lie back, relax and think about what they can do for science".

Perhaps they also think about what science (civilian astronomers) has done for targeting nuclear warheads.

• MORE MOORE HYPERBOLE ON HAREWOOD

Police Question ABC - Murray Horton

At the height of the 1 980s "ANZUS RoW", when the US was "punishing" NZ for the crime of deciding its own nuclear free destiny, the Tasmanian State government pushed hard to get the Reagan government to transfer the US Navy/Air Force Operation Deep Freeze base from Christchurch Airport to Hobart. It never happened and it appears that not even the Reaganauts seriously considered it.

In response, all manner of national and local worthies ran round plucking figures from the air as to the purported value of Deep Freeze to the local and national economy. These ranged as high as $20 million. Citizens for Demilitarisation of Harewood, ABC's predecessor, asked these politicians to substantiate their claims. Funnily enough, none of

them could (the only attempt at a proper costing came from the Americans themselves).

One of the then Labour government's most excitable proponents of retaining Harewood was Mike Moore (who rose to the giddy heights of Prime Minister for all of eight weeks, in 1 990, when nobody else wanted to lead the hated Rogemaut govemment into inevitable electoral oblivion). Now old Mad Mike's at it again. In the context of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, held in Christchurch in May 1 997, Moore was once again pushing his favourite barrow of having Christchurch become "the capital of Antarctica" or, at least, the site of the yet to be created secretariat for the Antarctic Treaty nations. To back his case, he declaimed: "The Americans are

Peace Researcher 1 3 - August 1997 - Page 6

worth $10m a year to the city' (Press, 30/5/97). Where does he get these figures from and can he substantiate them? If anything, the amount of money spent in Christchurch by the US military will lessen. Why? Because, in 1 998, the US Navy is leaving (to be replaced by the New York Air National Guard, for Antarctic flights) and staff numbers are being cut, for budgetary reasons. But don't expect that to be taken into account by Mike Moore or others of his ilk.

An insight into how these "value of' figures are invented was provided by lan Wishart, the noted journalist and best selling author of "The Paradise Conspiracy" during CAFCA's "Who Owns The News?" seminar, in August 1996. During the 1980s Labour government, Wishart was press secretary to none other than Trade Minister, Mike Moore. Labour wanted to sell the benefits of GA TT to a sceptical nation. Wishart rang round "benefiCiaries" of GA TT. He rang the Dairy Board and asked for a figure. "Haven't got a clue" was the answer. Desperate, Wishart asked for a guess. "Oh, perhaps $3 billion".

Wishart promptly put that into a press release ("industry sources estimate the value of the GA TT Agreement to be $3 billion" or suchlike). That figure has been repeated as gospel ever since. It's as simple as that. Ed.

On the subject of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, ABC (in the person of Murray Horton) was surprised (flattered?) to be viSited by two detectives, inquiring if we were planning any protest action during the Meeting. We could truthfully say no, we'd never even considered any. For the record, our position is that we have no objection to peaceful scientific activity in Antarctica. Antarctica per se is not our issue. But we very definitely are concerned about the logistical support operation for that scientific presence (ie Operation Deep Freeze) being used as a cover for a multi-purpose, medium level US military base. Murray was quite happy to invite the cops into his home to give them a free lecture to that effect. Their visit wasn't entirely a waste - they did bring his milk bottles in for him.

GOVERNMENT TO PUT THE "NZ" BACK INTOANZUS

The Minister of Defence, Paul East, has been kiteflying on the subject of New Zealand returning to ANZUS (from which we have been suspended since 1 986, courtesy of our nuclear free policy). East flew his kite, appropriately, at a regimental dinner at Hobson Air Base. He described the 1 970s and 80s anti-nuclear movement as "irrational" but: "I believe that the extreme anti-nuclear swing may be starting to return to the centre ... How would New Zealand react, for example, to the sudden closure of its trade routes to South East Asia, China and Japan, because of a stoush in the South China Sea? (there's those Spratlys again. Eel). How would we react to a brushfire war in Asia where we perceived our vital interests to be involved? What would we do if there was an attack on Australia's Northern Territory - even a small one? . . . " (Press, 31/5/97).

All this stuff is par for the course for National Ministers, who had a road to Damascus conversion to the anti-nuclear cause prior to the 1 990 election, because they perceived that issue as the one trump card that Labour held over them (the 1 987 election had featured the issue as a key difference between the two parties). Their transparent opportunism means that they would backslide into ANZUS as soon as wink - if the public let them get away with it. East has gone on a PR offensive, for example in a New Zealand Herald article (1 1 /6/97) entitled:

- Murray Horton

"Determined to maintain a credible defence force". He undercuts his own argument by pointing out that, despite our non-ANZUS status, NZ still has 1 40 separate military arrangements with Australia, of which the ANZAC frigates are only a part. East also claims that our ANZUS suspension left us "without the training, intelligence and security assurances that ANZUS offered" (Press, ibid). As far as intelligence goes, that's nonsense, for starters. PElrhaps the Minister of Defence should read "Secret Power". Despite the alleged ban on US intelligence flow to punish NZ during the ANZUS Row, it never stopped at all. And it certainly never stopped flowing from NZ to the US. Waihopai was built as a brand new NZ spybase, serving US intelligence, by Lange's nuclear free Labour government at the height of that row.

But Ministers such as East have never let the facts get in the way of a good story. This kite has been flown periodically over the years by nostalgiC Tories (who contradict their own dogma 'You Can't Turn Back The Clock". Actually you can, i f you're a second hand car dealer, but that's another story). It deserves to be publicly shot down once more. New Zealand is nuclear free and ANZUS free. ABC continues to campaign to make it bases free. Only then will the American military/intelligence chain have been finally broken.

Peace Researcher 13 - August 1997 - Page 7

- Murray Horton

INSPECTOR-GENERAL WHITEWASHES SIS BREAK-IN OF CHRISTCHURCH ACTIVISrS HOME

PR 1 0 & 1 1 gave a detailed account of the July 1 996 bungled SIS break in at the Christchurch home of GATT Watchdog activist, Aziz Choudry, during the Trading With Our Lives Alternative Forum (held to coincide with the APEC Trade Ministers Meeting in Christchurch). The break in was interrupted by fellow activist and University of Canterbury academic, David Small, who had called round to collect some things from Aziz's house. For their pains, both Aziz and David were subjected to police raids on their homes, in connection with a very dubious fake bomb (described in police files as being labelled "APEC bomb"!) left outside the Christchurch City Council building.

It was a very, very murky affair. The State clammed up, confirming public and media speculation that it was indeed the SIS (they can't even do a simple break in). Rather than revisit the issue, we suggest you refresh your memory from the PR back issues. David Small laid a complaint with the Police Complaints Authority, which has yet to be resolved. Both David and Aziz also laid complaints with the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security, the first such case under the 1 996 Intelligence and Security Agencies Act.

The Inspector General, judge Laurie Greig, came to Christchurch in March 1 997, and conducted separate "informal interviews" with both men. In June, he released his report (the unexpurgated version went to the Prime Minister, who is the Minister in Charge of the SIS. Bolger declined to release it). The public version can be summed up in one word - whitewash. "I am satisfied that the NZSIS had no part directly or indirectly in instigating, promoting or providing infomnation to the Police to proceed in any way against the complainants in connection with the hoax bomb, break in or any other event or incident. I am equally satisfied that the NZSIS had no part, directly or indirectly, in the hoax bomb. I accept the assurances of the Director General. Any other conclusion would defy reason and credibility".

The key event was the break in. The report never confimns nor denies that the men found in Aziz's home were SIS agents. But there is one additional fact to be found in the report and it is very revealing. "The Police acted on Dr Small's complaint promptly and efficiently. Within a short while the vehicle had been identified and immobilised. The Police were

ready to take steps to approach and interview the men. Before they did that they were instructed by a senior Police Office at the Criminal I ntelligence Service of the Police headquarters in Christchurch to cease the enquiry. That instruction was given on the basis that no criminal offence had been committed. That enquiry then ended. My conclusions are that the actions and procedures which affected the complainants were lawful, reasonable and justified. No crime or offence was committed ... The instruction from the CIS to cease the inquiry was justified at law and proper". You draw your own conclusions. (Aziz asked the Christchurch POlice for an explanation of their role in all this. They refused to release any information except for the name of the senior officer who ordered the enquiry to cease - he was Detective Senior Sergeant Lyall).

The Inspector General's report concluded: "This is a summary of my investigations and conclusions. It would be improper for me to disclose any further facts or infomnation, whether of an affimnative or negative nature, because to do so might compromise the crime detection security and intelligence gathering functions of the NZSIS or the Police and its Criminal Intelligence Section. In the course of my enquiry into those complaints, I interviewed both Mr Choudry and Dr Small. I was impressed by their forthright cooperation with me. I have no hesitation in expressing my opinion that they were entirely honest in all the matters we discussed .. . lt is right to say that, in my opinion, both Mr Choudry and Dr Small are completely free from blame, responsibility or suspicion of any criminal conduct in any question arising out of the inCident of the hoax bomb. Their characters and reputations remain entirely unaffected and unscathed by anything that occurred in that incident. In the result then, my conclusion was that the complaint could not be upheld. This was not a case for any recommendation of any fomn of redress or other remedy".

Funnily enough, neither Aziz nor David was satisfied by this report. They took it back into the political arena, seeing MPs of several parties and released it to the media. Aziz said it was "totally predictable and thoroughly unsatisfactory. Nothing in the report suggests that the men intercepted on my property by Dr Small were anything other than SIS operatives. It does not even raise the question as to who these men are and what they were doing on my property"

Peace Researcher 13 - August 1997 - Page 8

\

(Press, 20/6/97, "Activist unhappy at break in report", Greg Jackson).

Nicky Hager, author of "Secret Power", also released a statement (20/6/97; "SIS Role In Christchurch Break In Confirmed"). "I have been informed specifically by colleagues of the agents concemed that it was the SIS which arranged the break in of Mr Choudry's home. The story circulating inside the SIS after the agents were caught was that it was not Mr Choudry who was the target, but supposedly some foreigners. This is presumably the story that was given to the Inspector General. However it lacks credibility as there is nothing to link Mr Choudry with dangerous foreigners. This is the kind of convenient excuse that can be advanced to justify any operations against political opponents of the Govemment. A separate SIS source said to me that the real reason for targeting Choudry will have been that the SIS could 'expect a lot of brownie points' from the Govemment and intelligence allies for targeting an anti-free trade activis\...(The Inspector General) is, in effect, accepting that the SIS may well break into other lawful protesters' houses in future and that, if it does, the people would be wasting their time complaining to him. This confirms public fears that (1996's) new intelligence oversight laws were designed to be ineffective . . . lt would have done far more for public confidence if Justice Greig had confirmed the SIS was involved and discussed the serious issue of whether it was acting lawfully".

And who were these "foreigners" who may have been a "legitimate" SIS target?

Aziz was accommodating Alejandro Villamar, who spoke at Trading With Our Lives as a representative of the Mexican Action Network on Free Trade. Immediately after the forum finished, both Alejandro and Aziz left on a speaking tour. They were in the North Island when police raided Aziz's house in connection with the hoax bomb (nobody has ever been charged with that). Maybe the Govemment told the SIS to see if Alejandro was forging links between Mexico's Zapatista guerillas and New Zealand activists, both Maori and pakeha? Dangerous foreigners (it used to be Libyans and Cubans) running guns to Maori radicals used to be a stock in trade of backbench National MPs - Winston Peters cut his teeth on that sort of tripe. But now it's Mexicans, apparently.

The central fact is not that the SIS broke into the house of a political activist. Although it is a new twist that it was not the house of a communist or unionist, but that of someone actively pushing an aHemative to the Govemment's free trade ideology. This is in line with the 1 996 Act empowering the SIS to investigate threats to New Zealand's "economic wellbeing". No, the difference here is that the SIS got caught and identified in the act. It was a cockup. The official channels have performed their time honoured role of covering up and whitewashing the State's covert bungling.

This is far from the end of this saga. The possibility of further legal action is being explored. PR will keep you posted.

'SUNDAY STAR TIMES' EXPOSE ON SIS

That 1 996 SIS cockup in Christchurch inspired an enormous amount of media interest in the SIS (which is unusual). It culminated in a two page expose in the Sunday Star Times (1612197; "Spying on the spies"; Anthony Hubbard), which is an absolute goldmine of information. It drew heavily on the investigative genius of Nicky Hager who, having left the GCSB shivering naked in "Secret Power's" spotlight, decided to turn his attention to the SIS. Nicky was determined to get to the bottom of the Christchurch break in saga.

"After the break in was publicised, says Mr Hager, the SIS told senior politicians that the operation had been aimed not at Mr Choudry and Dr Small, but at possible foreign terrorists. But the only foreigners invited, says Mr Choudry, were reputable people . . .'1f a foreign terrorist came here wanting to throw bombs at APEC ministers', says Mr Hager, . obviously they wouldn't go near avowed anti-APEC protesters'. If this is the case, then the SIS break in appears to be iIIegal...lntelligence sources have now confirmed that the break in was an SIS operation: it was, as one source put it, 'bungled'.

Sources have also confirmed that Amalgamated Office Services (the mysterious Wellington company to which the registration of the Christchurch getaway vehicle was traced. Ed) was a front organisation for the Service ... "

The feature contained mUCh, much more, of both current and historical Significance. It exposed the SIS's bugging and surveillance centre (17 Kaiwharawhara Road, Wellington). Plus some absolute bombshell throwaway details: "And it has never before been publicly revealed that in the 1 980s, the former secretary general of the New Zealand Communist Party, Victor Wilcox, was recruited by the 818 .. ."

This feature is a must read for anyone interested in a critical overview of the 818. If you haven't

seen it, contact us and we'll send you a copy.

-0 Peace Researcher 13 - August 1997 - Page 9

FROM COLD WARFARE TO SOCIAL WELFARE

The first Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, retired High Court Judge Laurie Greig, issued a report, in June 1997, clearing the Department of Social Welfare's utilisation of both the Security Intelligence SeIVice (SIS) and Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB). Complaints had been made about the department calling in the spooks, in 1996, to deal with alleged leaks of information from its employees. The intelligence agencies are supposed to deal with threats to national security but Margaret Bazley, Director General of Social Welfare, wanted them to stop potentially embarrassing material being released by disgruntled DSW employees, specifically to the Alliance. In May 1996, the GCSB swept Bazley's office and the DSW boardroom for electronic bugs. None were found. In September the department sought urgent SIS help, claiming that disgruntled Income Support SeIVice (ISS) staff were systematically leaking information to the Alliance. The SIS briefed senior ISS staff and ran a half day course for staff. The SIS/GCSB involvement became known in November and complaints were laid, centring on legislation which is supposed to prevent either agency from becoming involved in domestic political matters.

Greig asked the leaders of the Parliamentary parties for their views on the subject. Former Labour PM, Mike Moore, called the revelation "a dangerous development.. a fundamental and radical redirection of the SIS's role. The SIS should not be used for internal issues .. .it is wrong that the SIS should be used to protect National Government interests" (Press, 18/11/96).

Jim Tumer, the then Deputy General Secretary of the Public SeIVice Association, wrote in the December 1996 PSA Journal: "The SIS has wide powers, freedom from anything but the most superficial public accountability, a specific goal of national security, and a history of bizarre behaviour ... What do you do in the SIS when approached by a govemment department about domestic political embarrassment? Tell your caller they obviously have the wrong number? Explain that domestic political matters are specifically not your concern? Apparently not. Being short of work, you decide it is appropriate to inteIVene .. ," (It's worth noting that the PSA is the union for the SIS and GCSB spooks. It's further worth noting that the GCSB was used to sweep the room used for post-election coalition negotiations between National and New Zealand First).

Greig's 1997 report said that both agencies acted both properly and lawfully. It endorsed the use of the SIS to advise government departments on security, and the GCSB to electronically protect official information from unauthOrised disclosure. His only critiCism was that DSW management threatened staff that the SIS would track down leaks! Alliance MP, Matt Robson, who had laid the complaint, described the report as outrageous, saying the party had gone from being the complainant to being the target. He said that it set a disturbing precedent that allowed the SIS and GCSB to spy on public seIVants. He was particularly angry that Greig had not approached the Alliance with the allegations that it was encouraging leaks. On the other hand, Labour leader, Helen Clark, said that she didn't think that the spooks had done anything wrong.

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO DO??? Newsflash! The S I S still spies on people! Before the 1996 Act its annual "report' to Parliament only had to reveal how many interception warrants were issued during the year in question. But now it must also add in the number of warrants carried over from the previous year. The 1997 figures are: five issued during the year, and three carried over.

But the Cold War is over (we won, remember). So, presumably all the old SIS spies who used to sit outside the Soviet Embassy all day and night will be redundant now, right? (The May 1997 TV1 McCormick show, with Nicky Hager, showed the SIS sUIVeillance house oppOSite the Embassy, in Wellington's Karori. It was easy to pick, said Nicky. All the trees and bushes had been trimmed to a uniform height to allow a clear line of sight. As for the now Russian Embassy - an affable fellow wandered out and invited both Nicky and Gary McCormick inside).

Wrong. The SIS doesn1 like to think of itself as useless (although everybody else does). So it is running around trying to find activities to justify its' continued existence. One place where it has found a home is the previously unpublicised Combined Law Agen c y Group, made up of the police, customs, immigration, the Serious Fraud Office and the SIS. In that capacity it has twice popped u p in the media -once in connection with a specialist team launching an Asian youth strategy to stop the spread of Asian gangs throughout NZ; and the other in connection with the saga of the Chinese scientist caught trying to smuggle NZ apple tree cuttings out of the country.

But the SIS isn1 completely reduced to spying on Asian malefactors in schoolyards and orchards. There's still the threat of "terrorism'. June saw the three day Exercise Guardian 97 in Wellington. POlice Commissioner Peter Doone said it was part of the annual training cycle for Government agencies that

Peace Researcher 1 3 - August 1997 - Page 10

would jointly deal with a terrorist crisis - the police, military, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the SIS. Hopefully in the event of real terrorism, the country won't have to depend on the SIS - it was absolutely nowhere to be seen when French State terrorists bombed the Rainbow Warrior and killed Femando Pereira, in Auckland in 1 985. They were caught by old fashioned pOlice work.

This merging of spies and police is being seen throughout the Western world, most prominently in the US, where the CIA and FBI are working together much more closely. The reason is the sarne - what are the spies going to do now there's no 'international Communist threat'?

In fairness to the cops, it should be pointed out that, at least at the rank and file level, they have a

longstanding hearty dislike of the SIS. How do we know? Information crops up in the strangest of places. The Christchurch Mail, a twice weekly giveaway, with an utterly reactionary editorial line and Alan Duff columns to match, ran an obituary (8/5/97) entitled: 'S91 Warwick Maloney, a dinkum cop". Among several sidesplitting anecdotes from the early 1 970s (who did put the elephant shit in the desk drawer of the staff senior sergeant?) was this gem: • ... intensive investigation failed to turn up the identity of the ... person who penetrated the local office of the Security I ntelligence Service, run by a failed and gullible ex-cop with master cop aspirations. Whoever it was flooded the office with high grade intelligence, namely that the Russians were planning to destroy the Canterbury wheat crop with a deadly ray and the Japanese and Chinese were plotting to invade Australia and New Zealand simultaneously'.

NEW Spy COMMITTEE NAMED One consequence of the highly controversial 1 996 Intelligence and Security Agencies Act was the creation of a special intelligence and security agencies committee (see previous issues of PR for coverage of the Act, opposition to it, and discussion of the committee). This is not to be confused with a Parliamentary select committee - it can only consist of the hand picked appointees of the Prime Minister (who is Minister in Charge of the SIS). In other words, 'indoctrinated' people. The committee is headed by the PM and the Leader of the Opposition is an automatic member. Bolger nominated Deputy PM, Winston Peters, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Don McKinnon. Helen Clark nominated former Labour PM, Mike Moore. ACT leader Richard Prebble had wanted to nominate former Minister, Peter Dunne, but dipped out.

Prebble, a former Labour senior Minister has no faith in the SIS: 'When the Gulf War was on we got better information from CNN than we did from them. I can't ever remember getting anything that it couldn't have got from Time magazine' (Dominion, 23/5/97). So now we know what SIS agents do all day - they read Time. Funnily enough, in the famous 1 980s episode of the SIS agent who left his briefcase at a Wellington bus stop, it wasn't Time but Penthouse that was found in it. It's a terrible job but somebody's got to do it.

The committee wasn't created until nearly a year after the passage of the ISA Act. Alliance MP, Rod Donald, led a move to get the committee abolished and its functions transferred to a regular select committee. This was defeated, with Labour voting with the Government. Not content to let it rest there, Rod presented his own private Member's Bill to have the committee abolished. Private Members' Bills only make it to the floor of the House by ballot - Rod's

was lucky enough to be picked and had its first reading in June 1 997.

"My bill aims to correct the aberration represented by the Intelligence & Security Committee Act and reassert, in relation to intelligence and security matters, the supremacy of Parliament and its proceedings at all stages. It is remarkable this statutory committee should have been established at the very time when, with the passing of the Cold War era, it can be least justified. It's very existence denigrates Parliament.

"The I&SC Act removed from select committee consideration and/or scrutiny items of business that normally have been referred to a select committee and vested that responsibility in a closed statutory committee, compriSing the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and their nominees. It is highly inappropriate in a democracy such as New Zealand, that the one person who combines the office of Prime Minister and the Minster in Charge of the S/S also chairs a body that ought to be more independently examining the activities of the intelligence and security agencies.

"Not satisfied with this control the Prime Minister also has the power to approve the committee nominees, including that of the Leader of the Opposition. My bill restores to its rightful place parliamentary scrutiny of the activities of the intelligence and security agencies" (Rod Donald, press statement, 1 3/6/97).

What does the new committee do? Well, the public won't find out, because it conducts its business in private. But at its first meeting, on an undisclosed date, it decided to add $546,000 to the SIS's annual

Peace Researcher 13 - August 1997 - Page 1 1

Denis Doherty is the national coordinator of the Australian Anti Bases Campaign Coalition, ABC's Australian counterpart. Due to Australia's continued membership of ANZUS, Denis and co have a lot more to do than us. The AABCC organised protests against the massive US/Australian military exercise, Tandem Thrust, held in central and northern Queensland in March 1997. Courtesy of our nuclear free fall from grace, New Zealand is no longer welcome at these exercises. Too bad. Ed.

Four days of successful protests in Rockhampton against the Tandem Thrust military exercises ended on Saturday, March 1 5. As the date for the protests drew close, tropical Cyclone Justin was deepening off Cairns. Huge seas and heavy winds threatened the war games. Military aircraft and ships headed for safer places.

But the cyclone weakened and the seas subsided. Military authorities declared that "Operation Tandem Thrust is on again", with a few minor adjustments. The amphibious landings were put back a few days. The protests went ahead too.

Vigil

The first event, on Wednesday (March 1 2) , was a vigil at the gates of the Base Administration and Support Centre (BASC) in Rockhampton, the administrative centre for the Tandem Thrust war

"'Continued from previous page ••.

. . . budget of $9,968,000. "To spend on what? We will never know, because the (committee) is not accountable to Parliament..." (ibid). Subsidies and handouts are dirty words to the free market ideologues in power - except when it comes to the spies. Don1 worry if your budget isn1 enough - have some more. Perhaps they need to send their agents on a refresher course on breaking and entering. And in light of one agent's inability to shake off a pursuing academic, the taxpayer had better shout the SIS a gym as well. They're obviously unfit. Too much sitting round reading Time.

Rod's bill was defeated in July, not proceeding past its second reading. The vote was 1 06-13, meaning no MPs other than Alliance ones voted for it. Jim Bolger said, in the debate, that the SIS is necessary because: "Unfortunately there are nasty people in the world" (NZ Herald, 1 017197). He added that the SIS is now saving us from m oney launderers and foreign terrorists disguised as refugees. Ed).

games. BASC was a huge piece of land in the middle of Rockhampton which had been transformed into a massive military base with over 500 tents, hundreds of vehicles, both US and Australian, helicopters and satellite dishes.

As US and Australian personnel anived at or left the base, they passed large banners and placards which messages like "Tandem Thrust practices invasion, not defence" and "Save the reef from war games grief' (the reef being the Great BatTier Reef. Ed). Protesters were courteous to the military, offering them leaflets specially prepared for American and Australian forces.

The fence around the base had been reinforced by masses of barbed wire. This provided a convenient site to display over 200 signed certificates of support for the protests against Tandem Thrust. Australian soldiers brought cordial and biscuits out to the protesters, having first carefully arranged for Channel 9 cameras to be in place to film it.

The military claimed the gesture showed they were tolerant of protest. Demonstrators retorted that Aussie soldiers clearly agreed that they shouldn1 be taking American orders to invade but should be defending our Great Banier Reef.

University Forum

On Wednesday afternoon a forum attended by about 80 people was held at the University of Central Queensland. Despite much thundering against the protests by the Rockhampton Chamber of Commerce, the Mayor and the local National Party State and Federal MPs, all declined to put their views to the students. The Australian military has a policy of refusing to debate with peace activists. All this gave the impression that Tandem Thrust is unsustainable and impossible to support.

As a result, the forum proceeded with only one view put from the platform -- opposition to Tandem Thrust. However, several university staff members who were former members of the Australian and Canadian military had been running a campaign via the university's e-mail to have the forum stopped. They attended and fiercely supported Tandem Thrust from the floor of the forum.

Local environmental activist Pat O'Brien outlined the environmental reasons for stopping Tandem Thrust, and the President of the Rockhampton Democrats, Mrs Fay Lawrence, discussed the nuclear issues

Peace Researcher 13 - August 1997 - Page 12

arising from the presence of a nuclear submarine in Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Denis Doherty of the Anti-Bases Campaign spoke about the political and military reasons for the exercise, stressing that the Tandem Thrust was designed to practice co­operative invasions of Asia-Pacific countries.

Occupation

On Thursday morning, protesters occupied a huge roundabout south of Rockhampton. With US forces approaching from the south after coming ashore in Gladstone, protesters thought both the people of Rockhampton and the military would see all their banners. Roughly three to one of the civilian vehicles passing supported the protesters -- but strangely not one military vehicle was seen. Demonstrators later leamt that police had established a roadblock 40 kms south and diverted all military traffic so they would not pass the protest. Locals were astonished because the road that military traffic was diverted onto is rough and dangerous.

Australian forces were coming from Townsville to the north so protesters moved north to blockade the best road into the Shoalwater Training area. Army helicopters located the protesters and the Australian convoy was diverted onto another road. The military were forced to go over 1 00 kms out of their way, again over rough and dangerous roads.

A combined force of ten men and women "armed" with cloth banners was sufficient to make the might of the US and Australian forces tremble.

Arrests

Friday was planned as a more dramatic day on which protesters directly confronted the military. "We arrived at BASC military base at 7am and proceeded to block the main gate with our banners," protesters report. "The response surprised us. Vehicles stopped immediately and military police directed vehicles to another gate.

"So we proceeded to block another entrance. The same response occurred. Then one soldier took exception to our people and drove through the banner which wrapped itself around the windscreen and forced the driver to stop. He nearly struck the military police and was quickly arrested and led away. This all took place in front of the media's cameras.

"After this two us of walked right into the base and asked to speak to the commander. We waited politely for 40 minutes and then we warned the authorities that we were coming in. We then walked in. They responded with military police, Australian Protective Services (which guard military installations, including Australia's numerous US spybases. Ed.) and the Queensland Police, a force of over 25 massed to arrest just two protesters!"

On Friday evening, a prayer service was held at the gates of the base. The last event was on Saturday morning, a small gathering of all involved and an evaluation of the protests.

A Few Can Do So Much

The general consensus was that the protest was successful, showing how just a few can do so much. Representatives from Brisbane, Sydney, Maitland, Nimbin and Perth travelled to Rockhampton. Two activists from Tahiti were among the demonstrators who withdrew from the protest because they feared being stranded in Rockhampton if the cyclone and floods cut the roads.

Evidence of widespread support for the protests included the many certificates of support that were collected and donations which came from all round the country. In addition, demonstrations were held in other centres in solidarity with the Rockhampton actions.

Perth activists boarded a warship en route for Tandem Thrust and in Brisbane, pickets were staged at the Defence Department on Friday, March 7 and again on March 14. In Sydney on March 4, protesters occupied the foyer of the Defence Department during a lunchtime protest while outside others handed out leaflets and collected petition signatures to a background of banners, placards and cardboard dugongs (an endangered marine mammal, "the cow of the sea". Ed). On March 1 5 , activists took the protest against Tandem Thrust to the waters of Sydney harbour.

We also had a land and water action against the USS Independence when it came into Sydney harbour in April (it is a nuclear capable aircraft carrier that had been involved in Tandem Thrust). It came in 24 hours earlier than expected and with little notice we only managed to get 20 people on land and in the water one yacht, two zodiacs (inflatables) and six kayaks. But we got good media coverage and we got one person onto the warship twice and off again, with no arrests.

The impact of the demonstrations and protests will be that another Tandem Thrust in 1 8 months will be less likely, and if it does happen, much more strongly resisted.

Peace Researcher 13 - August 1997 - Page 1 3

t:lr MILITARY VS. THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

Tandem Thrust was also criticised from another, unexpected, quarter - the Christchurch Press. An editorial entitled "Protecting the reef' (6/5/97) said: • . . . The (Great Barrier) reef is listed as a World Heritage marine park and is protected by an act of Parliament designed to ensure that Its unique qualities are not spoilt. The push to ignore that protection is continuing. The latest offender IS the Australian Department of Defence. It sought to have foreign warships discharge waste at Shoalwater Bay, the site of March's Operation Tandem Thrust, a Jomt military exercise with the United States.

Recent issues of PR have followed the

Shoalwater Bay, near Rockhampton and within the marine park, has for decades been a focus for conservation groups because of its coastal wildemess. During Operation Tandem Thrust, about 4,000 US troops came ashore in the area. The department also told the marine park authority it wanted to use underwater explosives there. Conservationists were aghast. Any extenSive blasting would damage the dugongs, marine turtles and humpback dolphins for which the bay is an important habitat· ...

titanic struggle of the people of Okinawa

�tt�����!

II�I� to rid themselves of an overwhelming ! u L \'-'" US military presence. A struggle which put the entire US/Japan military ff/I: tfll: HJ W

were relocated to Clark, and promptly fell ill with gastrointestinal disorders and skin rashes. Environmentalists blamed it on contaminated water from wells dug in Clark - the relocation site used to be the major motorpool and vehicle maintenance area of the

relationship into jeopardy. It was 1 tI \ \ W � sparked by the 1 995 brutal rape of a 1 2 year old Okinawan schOolgirl by US military personnel. The American military keeps shooting itself in the foot in Japan. The latest crime was that of a US sailor who was arrested at Yokosuka Naval Base, in April 1 997, for allegedly beating his Japanese girlfriend on the base. He pleaded provocation, saying she bit his penis (don't ask). But that same month, the Japanese Government caved in under relentless US pressure (and ignoring massive protests around the country) by renewing the lease on all American bases, including those on Okinawa.

And PR has documented the toxic legacy of nearly a century of US military bases in the Philippines (the only Asian country to have been an American colony). The bases were closed and the US military left, as a consequence of the historic 1 991 Philippines Senate vote not to renew the bases treaty. But the consequences won't go away, and are still hurting people years after the closure.

The gigantic Clark Air Force Base, in central Luzon, was closed by the 1 991 Mt Pinatubo eruption (volcanoes don't wait for Senate votes). The ongoing Pinatubo-related floods and lahar (mudslides) that strike every wet season, killing people and destroying every1hing in their path, are predicted to continue until at least 2006. In 1 994, 1 7,000 displaced families

base. But Bruce Byers, US Embassy press attache in Manila, says the US won't be cleaning up any toxic wastes at Clark, nor does it accept that the former base was the source of any toxic wastes. He said that the US government has "no legal authority· to undertake the clean up after it relinquished its authority to the Philippines government in 1 991 (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 1 6/5/97: ·Not ours: US disowns toxic wastes").

However, there are Filipinos who want to re-establish the US military presence. Several politiCians and generals have been noisily campaigning for the bases to be re-established, under the aegis of the 1 951 Philippines/US Mutual Defense Treaty, which supposedly commits the US to defend the Philippines from extemal aggression. The context for this is the multi-national dispute over the Spratly Islands, in the South China Sea. It gets virtually no coverage in the NZ media (but it would if Tuku Morgan went there), yet has the potential to erupt into a good old fashioned shooting war involving the navies of several rival Asian countries -Philippines, China, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam. The Spratiys are mere rocks - the prize is the expansion of the winners' Exclusive Economic Zone and what lies within it, such as oil. Most recently, the Philippines and China have been spanring over Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Dao to the Chinese), which is right

Peace Researcher 1 3 - August 1997 - Page 14

on the limit of the Philippines' EEZ.. The US has made it clear that it does not regard the Treaty as committing it to defending the Philippines should war break out over the SpraUys or other contested reefs and rocks.

Some Manila columnists have suggested that the US re-establish a naval presence at Subic, but as a port, not as a base. They also claim that China's assertiveness vis a vis contested territory is precisely because the US no longer has a military presence in the Philippines. But Thomas Hubbard, the US Ambassador, has said that it has no interest in re­establishing permanent bases there, because the US is satisfied by the very frequent US Navy visits and joint military exercises. As the Philippine Daily Inquirer editorialised (31/5/97; "An embarrassing invitation: US rebuff'):

"Actually, activists and other attentive observers have long viewed the frequent port calls and joint exercises with suspicion, and have analysed these as violations of the vote that put an end to US military presence here . . . ln this day and age when US military bases are being closed down all over the planet, Senator Francisco Tatad's proposal that the 'difficult and emotional' issue of the return of American presence on Philippine soil be put to 'an informed and enlightened debate' is nothing short of ridiculous. The senator forgets, or perhaps pretends to forget, that the matter was settled on September 16, 1 991 , by 1 2 members of the chamber to which he now belongs. There is absolutely no reason to review it, notwithstanding Chinese incursions into islands being claimed by the Philippines in the SpraUys and in the Scarborough Shoal..."

But the Nuclear Free Philippines Coalition wamed that all the drumbeating about "the Chinese threat" was designed to condition Filipino public opinion into accepting the US military back on its soil, and with an expanded role.

NFPC pointed out that the two countries were negotiating a new Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreement (ACSA) which could allow naval access to 22 Filipino ports. ACSA could also allow the US to establish bases, with no Senate agreement required, because they would be sanctioned by executive agreements. And, in a new move, both govemments are working on a Status of Forces Agreement (the very thing that has caused such bitterness in Japan, especially Okinawa, and South Korea). This would be considerably more far reaching than its previous equivalents, which only applied within Subic and Cl ark. The US has been lobbying hard to prevent criminal cases involving US servicemen being tried in Filipino courts. The Philippines govemment's refusal to grant this led to the cancellation the 1 997 "Balikatan" annual jOint exercise. But Manila is reported to be weakening under US pressure to grant diplomatic immunity to US servicemen taking part in jOint military exercises in the Philippines.

And New Zealand companies, riding the coattails of their Australian Anzac frigate partners in seeking Filipino warship building contracts as part of President Ramos spending $US2 billion over five years to modernise the Filipino military (see PR 1 2 for details), would be well advised to steer clear of getting New Zealand involved in what could very easily become a shooting war between several of our Asian neighbours, allies and trading partners.

Peace Researcher 13 - August 1997 - Page 1 5

The Asia/Pacific region was rocked by the crisis that erupted in Papua New Guinea in March 1 997. General Jerry Singirok, the commander of the country's military, demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister, Sir Julius Chan and two other senior Ministers, and a commission of inquiry into the Government's awarding of a $US36 million contract to a shadowy mercenary transnational corporation (all transnational corporations - TNCs - are mercenary. The only difference was that this one was literally so). Chan responded by firing Singirok, and refusing to go. Singirok, in turn, refused to leave his barracks and insisted that Chan and his colleagues resign. This mutiny from the very top fomented a major popular uprisin g in the capital, Port Moresby (fuelled by a whole raft on other causes, such as institutionalised corruption, coupled with institutionalised poverty and unemployment). There was rioting and looting, and a very near armed confrontation betwee n the Army and the police (who stayed loyal to the Government). The pressure paid off - Chan, and his colleagues, literally surrounded in Parliament, agreed to "stand aside" (but not actually resign). An acting P M was appointed, the demanded commission of inquiry was created, and the crisis subsided. By May, the commission had cleared Chan to the extent that he claimed vindication, and resumed his post, i n time for the June general election. Despite being both fired and replaced, Singirok remained ensconced in his barracks.

Bougainville, Panguna, Rio Tinto

So what was this all about? In a word, Bougainville. The war of murderous suppression and blockade being waged against the people of Bougainville since 1 988 has taken a high human toll - thousands killed; mass illness and starvation caused by the inhuman blockade; and systematic human rights abuses by the undisciplined P N G military - murder, torture, random atrocities. The full gamut of twentieth century counter insurgency horror. Chan had come to power promising peace but had reverted to outright war, manipulated by an out of control military who ran their own unauthorised operations (such as ambushing Bougainville Revolutionary Army [BRA] negotiators retuming home from intemational peace talks). Chan was deeply angered by the military's inability to defeat a ragtag yet extremely effective guerilla army. That too has been the story of the twentieth century. So, within a few short years, Chan

- M urray Horton

went from wouldbe peacemaker to cold blooded warmonger. It bodes ill for any future peace plans that, as Singirok's replacement, Chan appointed Brigadier General Leo Nuia, known as The Butcher of Bougainville for his atrocities there (including using Australian helicopters to dump the bodies of murdered rebel suspects into the sea).

What's so special about Bougainville that it's worth all this terrible cost? Simple - it is blessed/cursed with the Pang una copper mine, one of the world's very biggest and richest mines of any kind. The environmental devastation wrought (including whole rivers destroyed by millions of tonnes of tailings and toxic waste), and the lack of any Significant financial benefit to the Bougainvilleans led to the revolt in the first place. The BRA initially demanded several billion dollars in compensation - when that led to an ironfisted response from faroff Port Moresby, the Bougainvilleans upped the ante and fought for independence (it was only a 1 9th century colonial carveup between Britain and Germany that led to Bougainville being lumped in with PNG. Racially and geographically, n is part of the Solomon Islands, which is only a few kilometres away. The BRA has announced that an independent Bougainville will be renamed Mekamui - "holy").

And Pang una is owned by Bougainville Copper Ltd, which is owned by Conzinc Rio Tinto of Australia (CRA) , which in tum is owned by Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ) of Britain. Most recently, RTZlCRA have merged to become Rio Tinto. This British behemoth is the biggest single mining TNC in the world and one of the very nastiest. In New Zealand, it owns Comalco and its controversial Bluff aluminium smelter. Whole books have been written about Rio Tinto and the definitive one is "Plunder", by Roger Moody (PARTIZANS/CAFCA, London, 1 991). It covers everything you need to know about this company - in Bougainville, New Zealand, and the rest of the world. Panguna has been closed since the war of independence started, and both Rio Tinto and the PNG govemment were loath to see such a major moneyspinner sitting idle. Pang una has been described as "the jewel in Rio Tinto's crown".

The BRA certainly understands the mine's worth as a bargaining chip, and has indicated that it would be prepared to allow it to reopen after talks are held on independence. Francis Ona, the President of the

Peace Researcher 13 - August 1 997 - Page 16

Bougainville Interim Govemment, said: "We truly believe that all of Bougainville is under threat of destruction by these foreign companies of mining ... We are standing for independence because only through independence all these mines will be under control.. .. (Time, 1 0/3/97; "Resolute Rebel"). Francis Ona is fully aware of the advantages of modem technology. Dismissing as "propaganda" PNG claims that he wants to lead Bougainville back to a "Year Zero" a la the Khmer Rouge, he replied: " I am talking to you by mobile phone. Is that Year Zero? It is powered by hydro electric power. We will be a modern country" (NZ Herald, 3/4/97).

Sandline International

By 1 996 the war had reached a stalemate. The PNG military, completely driven from the island at the start of the conflict, was back in large areas. But it was not in control of the island, the BRA was undefeated, and most crucially, Panguna remained closed and firmly in BRA hands. Troops were committing atrocities against civilians, and losing the will to fight. Bougainville had become PNG's Vietnam. So it was time for a new, and desperate, throw of the dice -foreign mercenaries (this seems to be Chan's personal style. He and his family are major shareholders in a security company run by two Australians, which hired and armed Australian police and former anti-terrorist soldiers for two secret para­military operations in PNG).

In 1 996, contact was made with a number of transnational "security companies' (mercenaries to you and me) , and PNG was soon engaged in secret negotiations with Sandline Intemational, which is intimately bound up with Executive Outcomes, both of London (see below for details of who they are, what they do and to whom they do it). It's worth pointing out that General Singirok, who had been wounded on Bougainville, was no angel - he was intimately involved in setting up the mercenary deal (hence the mercenaries' strong sense of betrayal when Singirok turned against them).

And the prize of Panguna was dangled from the outset. Rupert McGowan, an assistant director of TNC broker Jardine Fleming, of Hong Kong, first travelled to PNG to advise the Government how it could buy a stake in Panguna from Rio Tinto. Very soon he was allegedly acting as an intermediary between the Government and Sandline, and transferring money on behalf of the mercenaries. Indeed proof emerged at the commission of inquiry that the mercenaries were paid via Hong Kong. McGowan's role was unmasked at that inquiry and he was suspended by Jardine Fleming, pending investigation.

By the beginning of 1 997, the PNG government and Sandline were ready to come to a secret deal

(presumably Sand line was named by its macho men in honour of President Bush's "line in the sand" that he punished Saddam Hussein for crossing, by invading Kuwait and setting off the Gulf War). Private armies don� come cheap - for the supply of 90 black Angolan/South African warrant officers and 35 white officers, plus helicopter gunships, and a giant Antonov aircraft to transport the whole lot into and around PNG, Sandline charged $US36 million. It actually received $US18 million in advance (and is demanding the rest, despite the "job" not being done). When the PNG military rebelled and kicked out the mercenaries, $US400,OOO in cash was found on the British commander, Lieutenant Colonel Tim Spicer. And the gunships, which would have been the first of their kind in PNG, have never arrived. Australia seized them en route and they continue to

sit at an Australian air force base until their ownership and legality are determined.

One of the most disgraceful things about the whole shabby affair was that the Govemment diverted money from other parts of the economy to pay for it - from

defence, road maintenance, police, education, transport and Intemal Revenue. The Government also secretly siphoned tens of millions from the sale of its mineral and oil interests to pay the hit men. This unbudgeted expense has cost the PNG economy so severely that Ministers have estimated it will take up to six years to recover and has incurred the wrath of both the International Monetary Fund and the Wond Bank, major funding agencies for PNG.

"Repossess The Panguna Mine"

So what services were the mercenaries being contracted to provide? The cover story was that they were simply going to train PNG special forces on how to win what Spicer referred to, in best British Army patronising tone, as "a nasty little war" (NZ Hera/d, 4/3/97). That seemed implausible, so they allowed that, yes, the mercenaries would actually go to Bougainville - but only in a training role. That was rendered equally unbelievable by their request to have hospitals in northern Australia put on standby to treat wounded mercenaries. It soon became obvious that their intended role was to do the actual fighting, theoretically in "surgical strikes" by crippling the BRA (including killing its leadership), in reality by good old fashioned terrorising and killing anyone who got in their way. The closely guarded PNG/Sandline contract (31/1/97), which was exposed when the crisis blew up, was extremely clear on Sandline's job: 'to conduct offensive operations in Bougainville in conjunction with PNG defence forces to render the BRA military ineffective and repossess the Panguna mine".

And Panguna was the prize. Throughout its numerous dirty little wars in Africa, Sandline

Peace Researcher 13 - August 1997 - Page 17

International/Executive Outcomes has been involved in securing control of valuable mines and actually getting a cut of the mineral spoils by way of payment (see below for details). Firstly, Panguna served a strategic military purpose - one proposed Sandhne tactic was to capture it, thus luring the BRA there to fight them, rather than chasing guerillas all over Bougainville. But it was also very much a glittering prize in the usual sense too - and not only for the foreign mercenaries. Whilst secretly setting the stage for the mine's recapture, the Government moved to buy out Rio Tinto's share of Bougainville Copper, the mine's owner (Rio Tinto wasn't that silly). The Government and the mercenaries stood to have a nice little joint venture eamer. In his testimony to the commission of inquiry, Spicer denied that Sandline had shown any interest in the mine - but counsel aSSisting the inquiry produced an August 1 996 letter from him to the PNG Defence Minister suggesting just such a joint venture to "reopen and operate the Bougainville mine once recovered" (Press, 4/4/97).

Despite producing what Herald correspondent Mary­Louise O'Callaghan headlined as a "wishy washy report" (4/6/97) the commissioner, Australian judge Warwick Andrew, had no doubt about the Pang una connection: "Take its section on the suspicious increase in the price and volume of Bougainville Copper shares traded on (one day in February 1 997). This occurred at a time when only the key protagonists knew of the Sandline contract...No reason, other than knowledge of the State's plans to recapture the Panguna mine has been suggested for the demand for BCL shares, the Andrew report states. 'There were relatively few people who knew . . . and amongst those who knew, fewer still who would have had the financial resources to buy large parcels of shares. In these circumstances it stretches credibility to think that the demand for shares ... was unconnected'".

Of course, this murderous little scheme came to nought. It was exposed, there was huge regional and national uproar and a combined military/civilian uprising led to the hired killers being unceremoniously being kicked out of the country. A reality check is necessary - the military did not suddenly endorse Bougainvillean independence and peaceful co-existence. Its sense of honour was offended and there was a widespread belief, amongst both soldiers and civilians, that foreign mercenaries had no place in an internal dispute, that the business of oppressing and killing PNG citizens (albeit ones who vehemently don't want to be) should be left up to PNG. There isn't much of an anti-war, pro­Bougainville independence movement discernible in PNG.

The Government had to blame somebody for the uprising - it left the military well alone and sent police to raid arrest and harass various NGOs.The inquiry found ' nothing amiss, Chan resumed office, and Spicer, back in London, pronounced Sandline ready to finish the job if requested. Sand line went on a PR

offensive to repair the damage - one result was TVNZ's 60 Minutes screening an Australian piece, in June 1 997, depicting Sand line as professional soldiers who clean up the Third World's messes, all to the highest First World military standards, with sympathetic English academics saying that this is the pointer to the future. At its most mawkish it featured Sand line promo clips of its "gentlemen soldiers of forlune" singing karaoke!

Mercenaries - Global Overview

Which brings us to the final question who are these mercenary TNCs and who is behind them? Time (26/5/97; 'Soldiers For Sale") detailed some of them: Executive Outcomes (intimately connected with Sandline) - founded by apartheid

era, former South African military officers, fought in Angola and Sierra Leone; Vinnell Corporation - partly owned by an American merchant bank, whose chairman is a former US Defense Secretary, trains Saudi Arabia's national guard; and Levdan, an Israeli firm which trained troops and bodyguards for the Congolese President, who then spent up large on Israeli weaponry. Notice how trouble follows these guys around - in June 1 997, both Sierra Leone and Congo erupted with coups and civil wars.

The most succinct and revealing study of these hired guns came from Louis Cauchy in the April 1 997 L 'Aut Journa/, of Canada. Some extracts:

'In January 1 993, in the city of Soyo, Angola's most important petrochemical centre that was also right in the middle of an area wracked by war, the Canadian company Ranger Oil spent $C30 million financing a cleanup operation by Executive Outcomes, a South African mercenary army. At the request of the Luanda government and in exchange for important oil concessions in the Soyo region, the Alberta oil company also financed the assassination of members of Jonas Savimbi's UNIT A guerrilla army. The killings were carried out by some 500 former members of the South African armed forces recycled as mercenaries (this is extremely ironic, as UNITA was the creature of South Africa and the West earlier in the interminable Angolan civil war. Ed),

• At a time when the Canadian politico-financial establishment is denouncing any attempt to tie Canadian foreign investment to human rights, a brief look at some of the directors of Ranger Oil is quite revealing. Waming: hold on to your seats, this gets complicated!

'On the board of Ranger Oil we find Edgar M. Bronfman, president and CEO of Seagram and also president of the World Jewish Congress; John A. Rae, executive vice-president of Power Corporation; Simon Reisman, president of Trade and Investment

Peace Researcher 13 - August 1997 - Page 18

Advisory Group Inc.; Lord Colin B. Moynihan, the ex­Under Secretary of Energy in Great Britain during the Thatcher and Major governments who is presently with CMA Associates; not to mention a half dozen other businessmen from Canada and the United States.

"Executive Outcomes, the mercenary company that carried out the Ranger Oil contract, was set up in 1 989. It was incorporated in South Africa by one Eeben Barlow and in England by Anthony Buckingham - who also owns Heritage Oil, a British petroleum company which helped Ranger Oil to finance the Soyo cleanup. This was at the very moment that the apartheid regime was beginning to falter in South Africa (they were planning their future!). Note that Anthony Buckingham is a businessman with close ties to Sir David Steel , the former leader of the British Liberal Party.

"For his parl, Eeben Barlow is a former killer with apartheid's death squads; along with Lafras Luitingh, one of his former colleagues in the South African special forces, he recruited the five hundred mercenaries to satisfy Ranger Oil's needs in Angola.

"The need to guarantee payment from the governments of the 31 countries with which it does business, several of whom are on the verge of bankruptcy, led EO to set up a company called Branch Energy. This company was intended to run the oil installations, gold, copper or diamond mines that cash strapped countries like Angola and Sierra Leone give EO rights to in lieu of hard currency.

The Canadian Connection

"Why am I telling you this? Because Branch Energy, the vampiric camouflage of this private army, has just been purchased by a Canadian company, Carson Gold, which is owned by the Canadian financier

Eric Friedland. Following this purchase Friedland made sure to change Branch Energy's name to Diamond Works, and it was registered as such with the Vancouver Stock Exchange on October 21 st, 1 996 under the acronym DMW. And who should appear on the board of directors of the Canadian company Diamond Works? None other but Anthony Buckingham, along with Branch Energy's former executive director Michael Grundberg and one Beverly Downing. The latter is also in charge of administration and corporate development at Ivanhoe Capital Corporation, which is owned by Robert Friedland, Eric Friedland's brother. In 1 994 Ivanhoe Capital Corporation was called the "poisoner of the Americas" by Multinational Monitor because of the environmentally destructive methods it uses to get gold out of the ground around the world (several people intimately

connected with Sandline's PNG operation are listed on the Vancouver Stock Exchange as having substantial interests in Diamond Works, led by Tim Spicer. Ed).

"It should be noted that Anthony Buckingham - as director of Diamond Works - has been called upon to advise upon how to handle the Native communities who are dealing with this company's planned mining projects in the North-West TerritOries and the Yukon. Now there's a thought to give you goosebumps!

" Ivanhoe Capital Corporation, whose head office is in Singapore, has the same Vancouver address as Diamond Works: 200 Burrard Street. Along with Robert Friedland, Diamond Works has bought a 40% interest in the Lihir project in Papua New Guinea: the largest known unexploited gold deposit outside of South Africa. The Lihir project and Mount Kare project (also in Papua New Guinea) are essential for the economic "recovery" of this former Australian colony.

"They are especially essential for the re-election of Sir Julius Chan (Chan has been dubbed the country's "elected dictator"). So guess who landed in Papua New Guinea at the beginning of March ... Executive Outcomes, that's who! (for the modest fee of $36 million for a three-month cleanup contract!). It is perhaps worth noting that the Diamond Works office in England is located at 535 Kings Road in downtown London, which just happens to be the address of . . . Executive Outcomes!

Executive Outcomes: "Kill Everyone"

"Executive Outcomes is the most important of over 90 private armies presently active in Africa. These armies, whose directors may live in the United States, Belgium or France, are in fierce competition to corner the lucrative market in repression. Their clients include many dictators who, not daring to arm their own people, have let their national armies deteriorate.

"Armies by the name of Saracen International, Stuart Mills International, Shibata Security, Bridge Resources, Corporate Trading International, Alpha Five or Military Professional Resources Incorporated (MPRI), work hard to make themselves key players in areas where, hypocritically, even the United Nations relies on them to do its dirty work.

"And they know how to exploit strategiC interests. For instance, when the peace accords were being signed in Angola, President Clinton threatened to cut off aid if a contract the Angolan State had given to Executive Outcomes was not handed over to an American firm. That's how MPRI landed the contract to train Angola's armed forces (foreign mercenaries were involved in Zaire's 1997 civil war, with Mobutu's undisciplined Serbs committing atrocities against

Peace Researcher 1 3 - August 1997 - Page 19

civilians, before being defeated by Laurent Kabi/a's victorious anny. Ed).

"Around the world, but most notably so in Africa, we are seeing the privatisation of water, electricity, gas and public services followed by the systematic privatisation of violence, the rise of mercenary armies. The most important of these, Executive Outcomes, has on occasion been paid by misused funds from the . . . IMF ($C1 5 million in Sierra Leone) and also by the concession of important deposits of oil, diamonds, copper, etc. In May 1 995 two South African mercenary pilots, Arthur Walker and Carl Alberts, approached a Sierra Leone military commander about their difficulties telling the rebels from the civilians in their air attacks around Freetown, the country's capital.

"'Kill everyone!" was the simple answer. And so that's what they did. This bloody anecdote was reported by the journalist Elizabeth Rubin in the February 1 997 issue of Harpers. It tells a lot about the scorched earth methods used by that band of South African killers in Executive Outcomes. Primarily composed of former members of the assassination and espionage unit set up by the apartheid regime, EO is a veritable privatised murderer's multinational.

"Eeben Barlow, the main director of EO, was formerly in charge of the South African special forces' 32nd battalion. He is also a former agent with the Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB) , which is the euphemism for the death squads who were charged with eliminating apartheid's enemies. Barlow worked for the CCB in Western Europe, trying to discredit the African National Congress and setting up shell companies to get around anti-apartheid sanctions and sell South African arms. Barlow set up Executive Outcomes in 1 989, which enabled him and his cronies to survive the dissolution of the CCB by President F. W. De Klerk in 1 991.

"According to Le Monde Diplomatique (October 1 996), the privatisation of the South African security forces goes back to 1 978, and was inspired by the CIA's strategy of "farming out" intelligence gathering and covert operations to "private" groups in order to maintain the illusion of distance between those who carry out these bloody acts and those who order them. This was exactly the kind of service that multinationals like Ranger Oil, De Beers, Diamond Works, etc. needed to maintain a social calm in those areas where they carry out their savage exploitation of natural resources, areas where often the local population is becoming more and more sensitive to environmental and social concerns . . . Yesterday it was in Angola and Sierra Leone, today in Zaire and Papua New Guinea .. . "

PNG People Show How To Lick LIe

The "renowned strategist and war theoretician" Martin Van Creveld (quoted in the Press, 2712197; "The Diamond Dogs of war - 'peace-keeping' services for hire", Stuart McMillan) has written: "Much of the day to day burden of defending society against the threat of low intensity conflict will be transferred to the booming security business and indeed the time may come when the organisations that comprise that business will, like the condottieri of old (mercenary armies led by military entrepreneurs), take over the State". Which overlooks the point that in conflicts such as Bougainville's, there is no threat to "society" - only to the operations and megaprofits of mining TNCs and the local elite who comprise the client government.

Low Intensity Conflict (LlC) was the post­Vietnam warfare invented by the US to stop its boys having to come home in body bags. Instead it would train and aid the local military, and more importantly, create

paramilitary death squads to fight its "nasty little wars" in countries such as the Philippines. The privatisation of death squads and hit teams, with the global deployment of well paid and heavily armed mercenaries (invariably former professional soldiers), is the logical sequel to that. But the strategy came an almighty gutser in PNG. They were powerless against the angry citizenry of a democracy (however imperfect) who rose up and non-violently threw them out on their ear. And, in the June 1 997 general election, the voters of PNG gave their verdict - after 29 years in politics and two terms as Prime Minister, Sir Julius Chan lost his seat. So did the Defence Minister and the Minister elevated to Acting PM in Chan's temporary absence.

And Bougainville came to New Zealand - literally. In July, dozens of Bougainvilleans, from all sides of the war, were temporarily uplifted from the tropics and deposited in the frozen midwinter setting of Bumham Military Camp, outside Christchurch, for inter­Bougainvillean negotiations hosted by NZ, preparatory to full peace talks with PNG. (And if you think that NZ is an "honest broker", I suggest you re­read "Secret Power's" frequent references to New Zealand spying on Bougainville via Waihopai and Tangimoana and assorted frigates. I guarantee Burnham was thoroughly bugged and every call, fax and e-mail out of those talks intercepted by NZ and Australian intelligence).

The world owes a hearty vote of thanks to the courageous people of PNG. They have shown us the simple answer to this ugly phenomenon, this imported killer virus that breeds and spreads in the tropiCS. In the memorable words of the Rolling Stones' song, "You've got to scrape that shit right off your shoe". PNG showed the rest of us how to do it.

Peace Researcher 1 3 - August 1997 - Page 20

Peace Researcher initiated a letter to the Union of Concerned SCientists (UCS) in the United States to ask their opinion of the nature of the explosions that destroyed one of the Chernobyl nuclear reactors in 1 986. PR-9 contained an article describing substantial evidence that the explosions were nuclear and not chernical or steam explosions. We can confirm that both the UCS and the US government consider that the Chernobyl accident involved at least one nuclear explosion.

The UCS is the leading independent watchdog concerned with safety in the Arnerican nuclear industry. They have a long history of campaigning for nuclear safety and we considered that their evaluation of the articles we reviewed in PR-9 would be of considerable interest. Portions of the UCS response, written by nuclear safety engineer David A. Lochbaum, are quoted here:

"The data presented in the Martinez-Val paper' is consistent with the findings reported in NUREG-1250, 'Report on the Accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station,' the official United States government inquiry into the accident and its domestic implications. For example, Figure 4.3 from NUREG-1250 indicates that integrated energy depOSited into the fuel to be approximately 1 ,400 cal/gm [calories per gram]. For the core loading, this represents approximately 1 ,1 1 2 gigajoules or 0.265 kilotons. These results compare very closely with the values reported by Martinez­Val."

"In your letter, you SOlicited our opinion on the nature of the Chemobyl explosions. I agree with the conclusions presented in the Martines­Val paper. I also hasten to point out that the official US inquiry also pointed to the second explosion being a 'nuclear explosion', although the industry term for such an event is a 'prompt critical excursion'.' Thus, it is officially recognized that Chernobyl was essentially a nuclear explosion." [Emphasis added, ed.]

"Your letter indicated that if the nature of the Chernobyl accident were clearly understood, the implications for the nuclear industry would be substantial. Unfortunately, we have not found that to be the case. The lessons of Chernobyl were largely discounted due to differences between the RUSSian RMBK design and western reactors (e.g., the RMBKs

U.&. - Bob Leonard

have positive reactivity coefficients and lack containments. ") There is no indication in the letter that the UCS attempted to correct the "discounting" by the nuclear Industry that a nuclear explosion in a reactor would destroy any reactor regardless of its design or the existence of a containment. This pOint was strongly made by Amott and Green as described in our article in PR-9: " . . . no containment could . ever survive a nuclear explosion, however ineffiCient the 'bomb' might be". The RUSSian reactor deSigners seem to have accepted the possibility of an uncontrollable nuclear reaction: "The loose-fitting 2000 tonne RBMK pile-cap acted in effect as a 'safety valve' by prematurely terminating the chain reaction. This reduced the energy of the explosion and hence fission product release. It also confined damage to Unit 4, sparing three adjacent reactors and two highly radioactive spent fuel stores".3

Arnott and Green went on to state emphatically that western reactors were also susceptible to nuclear explosions. And on this point David Lochbaum of UCS seems to concur: "There were several invaluable lessons to be learned from Chernobyl. The plant was found to be in non-conformance with several safety regulations . . . . These precursors are found in numerous minor incidents at nuclear power plants in this country [USA], yet our regulators fail to recognize the importance of these warning signals. "

Peace Researcher is disappointed that UCS would state "regulators fail to recognize the importance of these warning signals". It is naive to think US regulators don't know preCisely what they are doing when they whitewash the "containment" issue. Arnot! and Green's conclusion applies equally to the US regulators: " . . . Chernobyl was not enough to jolt the AtomiC Energy Authority into preferring scientific integrity to the vested interests of the nuclear power industry".

1 . Martinez-Val, J.M. et al. 1 990. An analysis of the physical causes of the Chernobyl accident. Nuclear Technology, 90:371-378. 2. The nuclear explosions that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki were also "prompt critical excursions". This is nuclear industry nukespeak at its finest. 3. Arnott, D.G. and R.D.Green. 1 992 Chernobyl: unique safety valve for a reactor nuclear explosion. Proc. of a national conference: "the legacy of Chernobyl - Lesson for the U.K.".

Peace Researcher 13 - August 1 997 - Page 2 1

New Zealand has only ever been graced by one US Presidential visit, that of Lyndon Johnson, way back in the 1 9605. That was in the midst of the Vietnam War and was part of the 'All the way with LBJ" hysteria whipped up by the US and its client governments (such as the Holyoake one here).

Well we're going to get another one. None other than Bill Clinton is coming to Auckland, in November 1 999, as one of those attending the annual APEC Leaders Summit. His visit will coincide with the start of the America's Cup series, being raced off Auckland, so it is expected that he will take in some yachting. It will also be just after New Zealand's next general election, and will be getting into the Last Days of the Second Millenium, so all in all it should be some party.

Clinton is only one of the 1 8 national leaders coming. Security for all of them will be like nothing New Zealand has previously seen. At least 2,000 New Zealand cops will be on 24 hour duty to protect them. But that's not the half of it. All will be bringing their own security entourages who, in the usual manner for Asian autocratic regimes, will be armed and twitchy.

But security around US Presidents is something else again - Clinton's travelling circus is estimated to include more than 330 Secret Service agents. They will provide the biggest test for New Zealand's hallowed rule for visiting VIPs - no guns. The Americans are adamant on their Godgiven, global right to bear arms to protect their President and have already intimated that if New Zealand doesn't come to its senses, then Clinton won't come (thus depriving Bolger, or whoever the Prime Minister is in 1 999, of a wonderful photo opportunity). The betting is that New Zealand will buckle and let the SS boys carry their guns (and thus provide a precedent for the other security entourages who will press for the same right). There is a history of this, most famously during a 1 960s Wellington visit by an American bigwig. An SS agent dropped his pistol in public, in a crowded street, right at the feet of a student leader during an anti-war demo. One can imagine what would have happened if the student had picked it up.

Clinton's 1 996 Australian visit provides some inkling of what is to come. 'In the days before the visit, the Americans flew in two C5 Galaxy transport planes laden with security gear including armoured plated Lincolns, vehicles so heavy they cannot be driven ongrassed surfaces , and as many as six

- M urray Horton

helicopters .. . Motorcade routes were sealed off hours in advance as police teams with metal detectors checked and rechecked culverts, drains, bridges and hedges. Secret Service agents drove around in four wheel drive vehicles, complete with blacked out windows and communications aerials . . . "(New Zealand Herald, 1 3/3/97; 'Big guns may test our security"; John Andrews). The America's Cup shemozzle adds another dimension to the security scenario - Auckland harbour will be home to scores of lUXUry craft, 'some bigger than the Royal New Zealand Navy's frigates" (ibid), which will be bristling with their own anti-pirate armouries, such as machineguns and rocket launchers. Security experts are concerned at the prospect of those waterborne weapons falling into "the wrong hands" and being used against the downtown hotels hosting the APEC leaders. It would make a great movie.

Filipinos describe their traditional politicians as epitomising The Three Gs - guns, goons and gold. Well the 1 999 APEC Summit will see plenty of the guns and goons. What about the gold? How much is this going to cost the New Zealand taxpayer? Including security, the final bill is expected to be $28 mill ion.

Al l this has ramifications for New Zealand political activists of all persuasions. Kiwi cops have already shown, at the 1 995 Asian Development Bank and CHOGM conferences, both in Auckland, that they can be as thuggish as any of their overseas counterparts. Add to the mix a whole raft of other security and intelligence agencies, and they'll be falling over themselves to bludgeon, suveil, intimidate or set up anyone who "threatens" the hallowed event.

The bungled SIS break in at the home of Christchurch activist Aziz Choudry (see elsewhere in this issue) took place in the context of GATT Watchdog organising an alternative forum on free trade to coincide with the July 1 996 APEC Trade Ministers' Meeting. When the 1 999 APEC security details were revealed, GATT Watchdog warned that:

' ... the New Zealand government will use 'dirty tactics' to put down legitimate, lawful dissent against opponents of APEC in Auckland in 1 999. It also warns of massive disruption to the lives of ordinary Aucklanders in order to present a 'false image' of New Zealand society to the international officials and media expected to be present for the APEC meeting.

Peace Researcher 13 - August 1997 - Page 22

..... APEC is anti-democratic, unaccountable and driven by the interests of big business. Anyone who may in any way try to expose the myths of free trade is likely to be labelled a 'threat to national security' by the Government. The kind of stability and security which the Government wants to offer visiting dignitaries to the 1 999 meeting and potential overseas investors is a Clayton's version. It is not based on o pen debate, genuine participatory democracy and equality. It is built on secrecy, economic extremism, and the exclusion of increasing numbers of people from taking part in determining the kind of development that they want for themselves and their children."

"GAIT Watchdog, a non-governmental group which advocates fair trade and lobbies against unrestricted trade and investment liberalisation, is writing to the Minister in Charge of Security and the Minister of Police seeking assurances that people engaged in legitimate protest activity against APEC will not be targeted with anti-democratic tactics by intelligence agencies and the Police.

..... Last year's operations directed against GAIT Watchdog make us believe that the Government is far more concerned about people VOicing alternative views on free trade than it is in 'terrorist' threats. Our only 'crime' was to challenge the APEC agenda as promoting socially unjust and environmentally unsustainable outcomes. New legislation passed last July (1 996) gives the SIS a carte blanche to surveil any group or individual considered to be a threat to 'national security'.

'Security' is now defined as 'the making of a contribution to New Zealand's international well-being or economic well-being; and the protection of New Zealand from acts of espionage, sabotage, terrorism, and subversion, whether or not they are directed from or intended to be committed within New Zealand'. Given that one of the Government's central tenets is a commitment to market refornns and through GAIT and APEC, trade and investment liberalisation, it seems that those who challenge this economic recipe are deemed to be threats to security and fair game for SIS surveillance and harassment. And the heavy-handed tactics of the Police at CHOGM and ADS meetings show that they too are being used to provide the muscle to protect New Zealand's free market economy . . ... (press release, 24/6/97; "The Shape Of Things To Come: 'Unprecedented Security' for 1 999 Auckland APEC Meeting: NZ Government Dirty Tactics Warning").

For those concemed about the broader implications of both APEC and free trade in general, contact GATT Watchdog, Box 1905, Christchurch, NZ, ph (03) 3662803; fax (03) 3668035; e­mail:gattwd@corso.ch.planet.gen.nz. A subscription to its newsletter, The Big Picture, costs $15 per year. The definitive NZ book on the subject is "The Cost Of Free Trade: AotearoalNew Zealand At Risk", by Dennis Small. Send $20 to CAFCA, Box 2258, Christchurch, NZ.

Peace Researcher 13 - August 1 997 - Page 23

- Murray Horton

M OBUTU - "HE MAY BE A SON OF A BITCH BUT HE'S OUR SON OF A B ITCH"

This cynical old adage (first applied by President Roosevelt to particularly repellent American client dictators in Latin A merica) was never truer than with the unlamented President Mobutu Sese Seko, who murdered and looted for over 30 years in his benighted Zaire (now renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo by new leader Laurent Kabila. Whether he will be any better is another story). Along with Presidents Marcos of the Philippines and Suharto of Indonesia, Mobutu personified the staggering kleptocracy that has so bedevilled Third World nations inflicted with dictatorships that serve Western strategic interests.

As Mobutu was forced out of Kinshasa by Kabila's victorious army, Western politicians and media fell over themselves to proclaim how they'd always been opposed to him. But Mobutu had stayed in power so long precisely because he was "our" son of a bitch. When the Cold War got hot in Africa, he was in the thick of it. For example he was heavily involved in the terrible civil war that is still devastating neighbouring Angola. But once the Soviet Union was no more (and the superpowers' proxies, the Cubans and South Africans, pulled their troops out of Angola) he was merely an embarrassment to the West.

Mobutu was a direct creature of the CIA. Some details are given in the New Zealand Herald (31 /5/97; "Heart of Evil"; Paul McGeough; from the Sydney Morning Herald):

"Zaireans looking for somewhere to lay the blame for the Mobutu excesses could try Washington . . . At age 25 Mobutu quit the army with the rank of sergeant m�jor. As a journalist he went to Europe where, in 1 959, he befriended the man who would make him king - CIA operative Lawrence Devlin. These were dangerous times. Washington and Moscow were dug in for the Cold War and the Rightwing Mobutu wanted to challenge the popular Leftist Patrice Lumumba for the post-colonial leadership of Zaire.

"Certain that Zaire was ripe for an East-West stoush, the CIA assigned Devlin to Kinshasa. One of his

early cables was alarmist: 'Embassy and (CIA) station believe Congo experiencing classic Communist effort to take over government. Whether or not Lumumba actually commie or just playing commie game ... anti-West forces rapidly increasing power in Congo .. . may be little time left . . . to avoid another Cuba'.

"Washington fell for it - it made Devlin's advice that Lumumba be replaced an 'urgent and prime objective' and Devlin was given a $US1 00,000 cheque to see that it happened. Mobutu rejoined the army, from where he consolidated the power base he needed to overthrow and murder Lumumba. And so the Cold War came to Zaire, where 70% of the non­Communist world's cobalt and a stash of other minerals were locked in the ground.

"Though he styled his leadership on Nicolae Ceaucescu in Romania and Kim 1 1 Sung in North Korea, Mobutu became the West's main man in post­colonial Africa, which meant there was no international criticism of his excesses; ridiculous amounts of aid money were thrown at him ... "

Lawrence Raymond Devlin fills a page of references in NameBase, the definitive American database on the CIA. His postings included 1 957-60 in Belgium (the woeful colonial power in the Congo), Laos from 1 963-70 (during America's overt and covert war in Indochina), and Zaire, off and on, from 1 960-89. He typifies the operatives who secretly implemented the American policy of installing and maintaining in power any murderous, thieving Third World son of a bitch so long as he was "our" son of a bitch. In the 30 years that Mobutu was in power, the US supplied Zaire with $US1.S billion in economic and military aid, most of which was stolen by Mobutu. Successive US presidents actively helped Mobutu quash provincial seceSSionist rebellions and ignored their own advisors who recommended pressing for democratisation and Mobutu's retirement. The long suffering people of Zaire and neighbouring countries paid with their lives and their wealth because of that policy. Mobutu is gone but that evil legacy will last a

Peace Researcher 13 - August 1997 - Page 24

long time. And you can bet that the CIA will be working hard to ensure that the new leaders do nothing to impede Westem economic or strategic interests.

As for Mobutu, his old mates in Western intelligence agencies looked after him to the end. The South African Secret Service helped him smuggle $NZ58 million in cash, and diamonds plus million more, into South Africa before his downfall. Mind you, by Mobutu's kleptocratic standards, that is chicken feed.

Anthony Lewis wrote, in the New York Times (reprinted in the International Herald Tribune, 26-27/4/97; "Made by the CIA: Mobutu and Other Disasters"):

"'Mobutuism is about to become a creature of history', Mike McCurry, the White House spokesman, said . . . washing America's hands of its SOB at long last. I would like to be around when a presidential spokesman says, 'CIA corruption of other countries' policies is a creature of history'".

Only now is the CIA opening its books a fraction on some of its worst crimes - and then only after more than 40 years. In 1 997, it has declassified 1 ,400 pages (out of 1 80,000) on the coup it engineered in Guatemala in 1 954. That overthrew the nationalist and mildly Leftist Arbenz government and sparked several decades of some of the most brutally repressive regimes anywhere in the world. By the time a negotiated settlement was reached, in 1 996, the Guatemalan military had killed more than 1 00,000 civilians in its dirty war, backed by the US. Even though these files represent less than 1 % of those held on the coup, they still shed light on it - the policy explicitly approved 58 assaSSinations, including that of Arbenz, if necessary (the CIA claims they weren't). The only reason that any Guatemalan coup files were still available to be declassified was because they had been the subject of a 1 982 Freedom of Information Act request. Files on other CIA atrocities from the 1 950s and 60s - such as the Iranian coup that overthrew the Mossadegh government and installed the Shah; secret missions against Sukarno's Indonesia; and a coup against Guyana - have all been destroyed.

SADDAM - ONCE "OUR SON OF A BITCH", H U M I LIATES CIA

When Saddam Hussein was tying u p the revolutionary mullahs of Iran in a particularly bloody war from 1 980 to 1 988, he was the darling of the West (rather like Hitler when he was only slaughtering Communists). He was showered with Western arms and intelligence. But he ceased to be "our" son of a bitch when he invaded Kuwait in 1 990. He then became another sort of blessing for the US -with its military/intelligence empire desperately looking for new enemies with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Saddam fitted the bill exactly. Despite his overwhelming defeat in the Gulf War, he is still Demon of the Month and whenever US presidents feel testosterone defiCient, they fire off a few Cruise missiles at Baghdad so that the American public can shout "Alia boy. Way to go".

Actually Saddam has outwitted the best efforts of the CIA since that war. The most spectacular example of that came in 1 996 when his omnipresent security forces wiped out CIA fostered opposition within the military, and then he sent his tanks into Iraqi Kurdistan and completely eradicated the whole vast apparatus that the CIA had established on Iraqi soil since 1 99 1 . That debacle ended with the American spooks fleeing in panic over the nearest border, with hundreds of I raqi operatives left to their fate (torture and imprisonment at best, instant death at worst) .

"Iraqi intelligence was triumphant. As CIA operatives were evacuated to Guam, the CIA officer in charge (of the operation) in Amman, the Jordanian capital, received a telephone call from Baghdad from a man who asked for him by name. In the conversation

which followed, according to a Washington source familiar with the intelligence world, the caller, presumably an Iraqi security officer, displayed an extensive knowledge of the CIA's plans for a coup in Iraq and the names of those involved. He concluded by suggesting the CIA pack its bags and go back to Langley, its headquarters outside Washington .. ." (Press, 3/5/97: "Saddam, the CIA, and an abortive plot"; Patrick Cockburn, from The Independent).

Despite this fiasco - the worst and most public defeat for the CIA since Vietnam - the US keeps pouring taxpayers' money into covert operations to overthrow Saddam. Responsibility for the 1 996 blood bath rests with George Tenet, who was CIA Deputy Director, and who has risen to be Director in 1 997 (replacing George Deutch; Anthony Lake withdrew his nomination under Republican pressure). The general perception among outside analysts is that Saddam suckered the CIA and that the whole Agency operation was completely penetrated by I raqi intelligence. This view was expressed most succinctly in the New Zealand Herald (1 4/5/97; Close Cover, Jim Hoagland), under the headline " New CIA boss a victim of Saddam sting":

"The CIA has spent six years and $US1 1 0 million trying to overthrow Saddam Hussein in the most expensive sustained failure in Agency history. Iraq is the Bay of Pigs in unending free fall, with fresh humiliation looming around the comer. The Agency could not stop throwing money at the Saddam problem if it wanted to. Refusing to admit defeat, the White House orders this international embarrassment

Peace Researcher 1 3 - August 1997 - Page 25

to avoid being accused of doing nothing about Iraq. This year (1 997) covert operations against Iraq will cost about $US5 million, the price tag for ineffective propaganda broadcasts by clandestine radio stations

in Jordan and Kuwait. Senators who normally line up to rail at executive agencies for wasting taxpayer money have kept quiet on the CIA debacle . . ..

"THE TROUBLE WITH THE CIA"

This was the headline on a particularly insightful and pithy article by John Carlin of The Independent (UK), reproduced in the Press (1 9/4/97). Some quotes:

"Since the devastating revelation in 1 994 that the drunken sybarite Aldrich Ames, a senior CIA officer, had sold secrets to the KGB which led directly to the execution of at least ten CIA informers in Russia, the Agency has been afflicted with one disaster after another. . . . Harold Nicholson, who was more senior than Ames, also confessed to having sold secrets to the Russians (Nicholson was recently sentenced to over 20 years in prison. cd). Before that there were flaps in France and Germany after the CIA's clumsy efforts to branch out into economic espionage. The Agency's links to human rights violations in Honduras and the publication of the CIA's 'torture manual' also hurt (the CIA has recently made public training manuals that it used with at least five Latin American security agencies in the early 1980s. They outlined methods of psychological torture to coerce information. cd). Under interim Director John Deutch, who quit in December (1 996), an efforl was made to clean out the stables. The outcome . . . was that 1 ,000 of the CIA's 3,000 overseas informants have been 'scrubbed' off the books, about 1 00 of them because they had engaged in torture, kidnapping and murder. . .

"Here are the real life words of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the venerable Democratic senator from New York, in a television interview . . . Asked whether he felt the CIA should be abolished, he replied: 'There is a sense in which it has been abolished. There have been seven directors or acting directors in six years. That's not an organisation. That's an institutional collapse' . . .

"David Wise, a Washington author who has written eight non-fiction books about the CIA, (says): 'The Cold War is over but it's not at all clear that the CIA has retooled. The mindset remains fixed on the Cold War Soviet target, now the Russian target. They are not very experienced at dealing with terrorism, organised crime, narcotics traffic or nuclear proliferation, all of which areas they might concentrate on'"

Covert Action Quarterly (# 60, Spring 1 997) has a fascinating article by its Director of Research, Louis Wolf, entitled: "The New National Security Merger: Law Enforcement and Intelligence". Just as NZ's

very own SIS is struggling to stay in business by the joining with the police and other law enforcement agencies (see elsewhere in this issue), the CIA is moving into a convergence with the FBI. The latter is the big winner in this, stealthily building a physical presence in over 20 foreign countries (including Australia, but not NZ), with plans to add another 20+ by 1 999. The former Communist countries of Eastem Europe are the FBI's big growth area, purportedly to battle the Russian and other organised crime mafias that have exploded onto the scene since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. In 1 995 the FBI and State Department opened the Intemational Law Enforcement Training Academy in Budapest, the Hungarian capital. In 1 996 it trained cops from Albania to Ukraine. Wolf concludes:

"The disturbing implications of a growing CIA-FBI marriage are very clear. Moreover it seems clear that the CIA's role has not declined as the FBI's international involvement has grown. The merger of purposes has not led to shrinkage but to expansion. The likely result: More meddling abroad, not less".

Any Consolation?

If it's any consolation to the CIA, it's not the only US intelligence agency to have recently leamed that it employed traitors. In May 1 997, it was revealed that the FBI is investigating six former West Berlin employees of the National Security Agency (NSA, ultimate boss of the NZGCSB, and recipient of Waihopai's output). The KGB allegedly paid them to betray secret NATO internal communications codes, at the end of the Cold War. The Secure Telephone Unit is still used by NATO and German intelligence -the betrayal means that Russian intelligence now has access to NATO's innermost communications. And in June 1 997, Earl Pitts, a former FBI agent, was gaoled for 27 years for selling secrets to Soviet/Russian intelligence from 1 987-96.

Peace Researcher 13 - August 1997 - Page 26

Sam Day is a leading figure in the US Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu. He was in Christchurch in late June to help publicise Vanunu's long isolation in an Israeli prison and to give the New Zealand campaign a boost. Sam spoke in a total of seven centres during his short NZ tour.

In a well-attended public meeting at the WEA Sam gave a moving biography of Mordechai Vanunu, the man who in 1 986 in Sydney quietly spilled the beans about Israel's nuclear weapons capability. He was entrapped and kidnapped shortly thereafter by agents of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, and has been in solitary confinement for over 1 0 years since his trial. He was convicted of espionage, treason and breach of the oath of secrecy that he took when he began work at the Dimona nuclear weapons facility in Israel's Negev desert.

Sam Day himself has been in prison (including a month in solitary -he didn't say why) a number of times in the US for protesting against US nuclear weapons. Sam emphasised the urgency of getting Vanunu released because his years of confinement were taking a toll on his sanity. He is becoming paranoid and less responsive to those dedicated to helping him.

- Bob Leonard

If he is held for his full period of sentence, 1 8 years, he is likely to be hopelessly insane on release. This treatment is inhumane and amounts to torture. Groups in many countries, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are pressuring the Israeli prime minister to release Mordechai Vanunu.

Larry Ross of the Nuclear Free Peacemaking Association organised Sam Day's public address in Christchurch and is helping to form a local group to support Vanunu and press for his release from prison. A goal of the group is to raise funds to send a New Zealand representative to a weeklong mobile vigil in Israel in late September. Sam emphasised the vital importance of having Nuclear Free NZ represented at the vigil at the Dimona weapons facility, at Ashkelon prison where Vanunu is being held, and at the Knesset (Israel's parliament).

If you want to make a donation, volunteer to help or want more information, Larry can be contacted at P.D. Box 18541, Christchurch 9.

About Peace Researcher

Peace Researcher is published quarterly by the Anti-Bases Campaign, Christchurch. The editors are Murray Horton and Bob Leonard (Warren Thomson is on overseas leave). Our journal covers a range of peace issues with emphasis on foreign military bases and intelligence topiCS. Contributed articles will be considered for publication based on subject matter and space requirements. We are particularly interested in reports of original research on peace topics in Aotearoa and the wider region of Australasia and the Pacific. Our address is:

Peace Researcher P.O. Box 2258 Christchurch

Aotearoai New Zealand

Peace Researcher 13 - August 1997 - Page 27

WAIHOPAI WARREN GOES (NORTH) WEST

Yes, it's true. The ABC's very own Warren Thomson, co-editor of Peace Researcher, our Waihopai campaigner, and the man who has singlehandedly saved the Blenheim police station and court from closing down throughout this decade, has buggered off to the Far East. Actually, having removed the ridiculous colonial mentality that afflicts New Zealand, right down to how we describe the world, he's gone to the Near North West. From our end of the planet Asia is certainly neither Far nor East (and what we persist in calling the Middle East is really the Wild West).

To be specific, Warren has gone to Bangkok, to teach English in a business college for nearly a year. He applied for the job, was interviewed in Auckland, got it and flew to Thailand, all in very short order. Getting the job was a surprise to everyone, most of all h imself. He is an experienced teacher, with years in a variety of Christchurch secondary schools, and an expertise in teaching English as a second language. It was all done in such a mad rush that his starring role in the Waihopai court case (see main story in this issue) came less than a fortnight before his departure. Although he was singled out for harsh treatment by Judge Grace, as a Waihopai recidivist,

THANKS, MARTY Since its rebirth in 1 994, Peace Researcher has been laid out by Marty Braithwaite. He worked on it in his own time and for minimal reward. It's thanks to him that it has become such a professional looking newsletter. Unfortunately, the pressure of being a fulltime union official, plus time consuming university work (studying law), has meant that Marty can no longer do it.

Not only has Marty laid out PR for several years, but

Warren was relieved to get only a fine and not something like community service or periodic detention. We made sure that his fine was paid before he fronted up at intemational departures.

What this means for Peace Researcher is that Warren will obviously not be co-editing it. Murray Horton joins Bob Leonard as co-editor while he's away.

What it means for the ABC is that our high profile and indefatigable Waihopai campaigner is sidelined until midway through 1 998. For those of you reading this who received a letter from Warren soliciting money, followed shortly thereafter by his hasty departure for exotic Asian climes, rest assured that the two events are in no way connected. As his last ABC task before leaving, he did a superb job fund raising for the legal costs of the Waihopai 20 (including himself). Any money not used in that will be put towards the ongoing Waihopai campaign.

And to the spies and cops - if you find any testicles dangling on the Waihopai fence in the next 1 2 months, Old Gingemuts has got the perfect alibi.

also Foreign Control Watchdog and the Philippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa's Kapatiran (Solidarity) plus innumerable flyers and leaflets for CAFCA, ABC and related groups.

So he is a great loss, not only to ABC, but to the broader movement. We offer heartfelt thanks for years of a job done extremely well. All that we ask is that you don1 forget us when you're Mr Justice Braithwaite.

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