In this issue:

LaRouche Calls on President Bush To Overturn Ban on DDT

West Nile Virus Spreading Rapidly Across USA; Mosquito Eradication Urgent

Lieberman Calls for Worldwide Ban on DDT, in Midst of Disease Outbreak

Top GOPers Break Ranks with Bush Over Iraq Strategy

George H.W. Bush vs. George W. Bush? Maureen Dowd Thinks So

Rumsfeld Claims a Growing Cruise Missile Threat

Lieberman Wants Gore To Make Up His Mind

Record Drought Ravages Half of U.S. States

First Successful Maglev Test at Virginia's Old Dominion University

Amtrak Cancelled More Than One-Fifth of its Trains in Northeast Corridor

From the Vol.1 No.24 issue of Electronic Intelligence Weekly

UNITED STATES NEWS DIGEST

LaRouche Calls on President Bush To Overturn Ban on DDT

The following statement was released Aug. 16 by LaRouche in 2004, the Presidential campaign committee of Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr.

Lyndon LaRouche, pre-candidate for the Democratic Party Presidential primary in 2004, today called for overturning the ban on DDT, in the public-health fight to repel the West Nile and other mosquito-borne disease vectors.

LaRouche said, "The banning of DDT was always based on scientifically fraudulent assertions. And there's no reason that the President of the United States should not intervene now, to force through measures to re-introduce DDT. Maybe the United States isn't producing it any more, but other countries are. I, personally, call on the President of the United States to take necessary measures to overturn the banning of DDT, taking into account the fact that the argument for banning it was always fraudulent. We can not kill people for the sake of condoning a fraud— as we should have learned from the Enron case."

As of August, 38 of the continental states report the presence of West Nile virus in mosquitoes. The Gulf Coast states are the hardest hit by infection and deaths. Mosquitoes flourish in the Gulf sub-tropics, and, in recent years, health measures have been drastically cut under the budgetary constraints in Louisiana, Mississippi, and nearby states, and by lack of Federal public-health infrastructure.

The use of the pesticide DDT, developed in the 1940s, was banned in the United States in 1972, based on fraudulent claims that it caused harm to the environment. In fact, it is rightly regarded as the most life-saving man-made chemical in history, during the decades of its concerted use. Today, over 200 million new cases a year of malaria occur, in the absence of DDT to fight insect-borne diseases. (A review of the DDT story appeared in "Environmental Hoaxes Kill; Save the Earth with Technology," 21st Century Science & Technology, fall 1992.)

West Nile Virus Spreading Rapidly Across USA; Mosquito Eradication Urgent

With a new case of West Nile virus reported in New York City, and one confirmed in Colorado last week, the total number of states with active West Nile virus is now 38. The Federal Centers for Disease Control's West Nile virus (WNV) expert Lyle Petersen insists mosquito-control efforts could have a "major blunting effect on this epidemic." The LaRouche-affiliated publications EIR, New Federalist, and 21st Century have for years called for eradication of mosquito infestations by restoring the use of DDT spraying, and LaRouche himself has issued an urgent call on President Bush to do so (see above).

As of Aug. 17, the number of deaths from WNV had reached 11, with two new fatalities, one in Louisiana, the epicenter of the outbreak, and the second in Illinois— the first outside the Southern states this year.

CDC's Petersen expects a sharp rise in the number of cases this year. Nationally about 230 cases of the diseases have been reported in 13 states, with 147 cases in Louisiana, and 48 in Mississippi. The Centers for Disease Control says that 1,000 known cases may be expected this year, under current trends. The main reason CDC expects a rise, is because this year's outbreak came three weeks earlier than last year's incidents.

The virus first arrived here in 1999. West Nile is also spreading among animals: On Aug. 16, the Wyoming Department of Health confirmed that a horse who died in the state this year, was sticken by the West Nile virus.

Petersen made it clear that the outbreak is totally unnecessary and due to neglect. "This is a classic case of an ignored problem that has now resurfaced. Over the last few decades, mosquito-borne disease was not thought to be a problem any more." Other mosquito-borne diseases are threatening the U.S. too, including dengue fever.

Lieberman Calls for Worldwide Ban on DDT, in Midst of Disease Outbreak

Senator Joe Lieberman (D-Conn) is actively promoting a renewed effort to have the United Nations oversee a worldwide ban on the use of the pesticide DDT, according to a UPI commentary by Gordon S. Jones, published on Aug. 11.

Lieberman's legislative history reflects the fact that he shares his former running mate Al Gore's genocidal commitment to anti-scientific environmentalism, in which crackpot hoaxes, such as the alleged threat of DDT, are embraced, in the face of incontrovertible evidence that they have led to the death of millions of human beings.

Both Parties Will Take the Hit for Economic Collapse, Come Election Day

Which party will take the hit for the economic collapse, come Election Day? asks an article in the Sunday New York Times "Week in Review" section Aug. 18. And the answer seems to be that both will, the way they are currently operating.

Both parties (counting the Democratic Leadership Council as part of the Democratic Party) thought they'd benefit from the spread in stock ownership, says author Richard Stevenson.

For the Republicans, they face the greatest risk. "Republicans thought the investor class would be their savior," says Marshall Wittmann. "Instead, it's become the bane of their existence."

But, says the author, the market's swoon holds perils for the Democrats as well; "it could recast the boom of the 1990s, during President Bill Clinton's Administration, as more of a speculative bubble than the payoff for prudent policies like balancing the budget."

Clinton's former chief of staff Leon Panetta says that normally the party in power takes the biggest hit, but he then adds that "the question then becomes how do Democrats deal with this issue, and I don't think they have quite figured out any kind of strategy other than to attack the other side."

Top GOPers Break Ranks with Bush Over Iraq Strategy

Leading Republicans are losing faith in the Bush Administration's openly mooted plans for an Iraq war, and speaking out against the Administration, the New York Times wrote Aug. 16. In an extensive summary of the opposition among members of the President's party, the Times says that leading Republicans in Congress, the State Department, and former Administrations "have begun to break ranks with President Bush over his Administration's high-profile planning for war with Iraq." They charge that the Administration "has neither adequately prepared for military action nor made the case that it is needed." These senior Republicans include former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and Chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board Brent Scowcroft, who also served as former President Bush's National Security Adviser. According to the Times, "All say they favor the eventual removal of Saddam Hussein, but some say they are concerned that Mr. Bush is proceeding in a way that risks alienating allies, creating greater instability in the Middle East, and harming long-term American interests. They add that the Administration has not shown that Iraq poses an urgent threat to the United States."

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell reportedly met with Kissinger on Aug. 13, during which meeting it was, according to the Times, decided to "focus international discussion on how Iraq would be governed after Mr. Hussein ... as a way to outflank Administration hawks and slow the rush to war, which many in the Department oppose...."

Meanwhile, Scowcroft penned an op ed for the Aug. 16 Wall Street Journal in which he warned that an attack on Iraq "at this time would seriously jeopardize, if not destroy, the global counter-terrorist campaign we have undertaken."

As the Times notes, Scowcroft is extremely close to the senior Bush, and therefore, his views would tend to have some weight with the President.

Other recent dissenters from the ranks include Lawrence S. Eagleburger, another former member of the Bush I team, and Rep. Dick Armey (R-Texas), the House Majority Leader.

George H.W. Bush vs. George W. Bush? Maureen Dowd Thinks So

It's Bush 41 against Bush 43— at least, that's the picture that columnist Maureen Dowd paints in the New York Times Aug. 18, in her column "Junior Gets a Spanking."

Whereas the line-up warning against a war with Iraq includes Bush I confidante Brent Scowcroft, and Secretary of State Colin Powell (head of the JCS under Bush I), Dowd writes, the man who was supposed to be the younger Bush's surrogate father, Dick Cheney, brought in Donald Rumsfeld, "an old rival of Poppy's" (i.e., the first President Bush). Rumsfeld in turn brought in Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle, whom Dowd terms two of the most belligerent voices in favor of a war.

As for Scowcroft, Dowd says what others have been saying since Scowcroft's op-ed appeared in the Wall Street Journal last week, namely: "No one who knows how close Mr. Scowcroft is to former President Bush believes he didn't check with Poppy first. Did 41 allow his old foreign policy valet to send a message to 43 that he could not bear to impart himself?" While Bush I may not want to impose on his son's prerogatives, he "must be fed up with being his son's political punching bag," taking the hit for failing at everything from tax cuts to Iraq.

As for the split between the "worldly realists" of Bush I and the belligerent ideologues of Bush II, Dowd quotes a Bush I official as saying: "The father and Scowcroft were about tying the coalition and the New World Order with a neat little bow. Wolfowitz and Perle are: 'We're the new sheriff in town. We'll go it alone.' "

Rumsfeld Claims a Growing Cruise Missile Threat

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has sent a classified memo to the White House warning that the spread of cruise missile technology is a growing threat and efforts to defend against them need to be intensified, according to the Washington Post Aug. 18.

Current missile defense programs focus primarily on ballistic missiles, which arc through the sky to high altitudes before coming back down to Earth. Cruise missiles, on the other hand, are much smaller and cheaper, and fly very close to the ground, making them much more difficult to detect. Rumsfeld's memo claims that such weapons, carrying nuclear, chemical, or biological warheads, can pose a direct threat to the United States. Most such weapons, however, are very-short-range anti-ship missiles, and only a few nations possess cruise missiles that can be used against land targets.

What is likely to be the actual agenda comes up only at the end of the Post article, and that is to tighten up the Missile Technology Control Regime, which is supposed to apply to both ballistic and cruise missiles, but has only been enforced with respect to ballistic missiles. This, according to the Post, has allowed countries to hide missile programs behind legitimate aircraft purchases or manufacturing programs.

Lieberman Wants Gore To Make Up His Mind

Former Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Joe Lieberman is growing impatient, waiting for Al Gore to make up his mind whether he will run for President in 2004, or not, Fox News reported Aug. 17. Lieberman had pledged not to run if Gore does, but he is being urged by some supporters to withdraw that promise, and run for the Democratic nomination, regardless of Gore's plans. One of Lieberman's aides told Fox News that "even a Rabbi gave him a Talmudic justification to get out of the pledge."

Record Drought Ravages Half of U.S. States

As of the end of July, 49% of the contiguous states of the Union were in conditions of moderate to extreme drought, according to a July 14 report by the National Climatic Data Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA). The report is based NOAA's Palmer Drought Index, which measures drought severity. Many states are setting records for lack of rain. The last 12 months were the driest on record for four Southeastern states: Georgia, South and North Carolina, and Virginia— and two Rocky Mountain states: Colorado and Wyoming. Many others report their second- or third-driest year ever.

The Agriculture Department reports that more than 75% of range and pasture land in the West is in poor to very poor condition, in five states: Nebraska, Colorado, California, Wyoming, and South Dakota. Wildfires are continuing in many locations in the West; more than 4 million acres had burned in the United States by the end of July. NOAA expects the current El Niño conditions present in the equatorial Pacific to persist through the end of this year, into early 2003.

First Successful Maglev Test at Virginia's Old Dominion University

The first propulsion test of American Maglev Technology, Inc. (AMT), at Old Dominion University in Virginia, was successful, when its test vehicle "levitated, moved forward about 200 feet, stopped, and moved in reverse, several times at a rate of four miles per hour," said an ODU spokeswoman. The test project, operated between AMT, ODU, and Lockheed Martin, has a 45-foot vehicle, is capable of carrying up to 100 people, and will run on a 3,400-foot track. AMT president Tony Morris hopes, eventually, to attract support and investors for AMT to build a 193-mile maglev system between Hampton Roads, Va., and Washington, D.C., which he hopes will make the trip in 90 minutes, and would be completed in the year 2007.

Amtrak Cancelled More Than One-Fifth of its Trains in Northeast Corridor

During the course of the past week, Amtrak cancelled more than 20% of its trains in the Northeast Corridor, reducing the number of train departures from 116 to 92 daily. The reduction stemmed from the discovery of cracks in the yaw damper portion of the shock absorption system of the locomotives in 18 high-speed Acela Express trains, as well as in 15 conventional non-high-speed High Horse Power (HHS) trains. All 33 train sets' locomotives have been taken out of service. Amtrak scrambled to borrow locomotives from New Jersey Transit and from Maryland's MARC train system, but could not come up with sufficient locomotives to run the full menu of trains. Some of Amtrak's 10,000 daily passengers have been stranded, or forced onto slower trains.

The condition of Amtrak is prompting some to see that is essential vastly to upgrade the transportation system. However, improving Amtrak's tracks would cost billions of dollars, and to make the necessary upgrade to a magnetic levitation system— which would transform the productivity of the U.S. economy— would cost more than $100 billion just for the Northeast corridor. Instead, because it is starved for cash, Amtrak has cannibalized its operating subsidy to pay for essential repairs. Amtrak has asked for $1.2-$1.5 billion from the U.S. government for fiscal year 2003 (which starts Oct. 1, 2002) just to make minimal capital investments and keep operating. But the free-marketeers in Congress and the Administration have so far agreed to only $521 million.

To go beyond piecemeal solutions, it is necessary to consider Lyndon LaRouche's proposal to completely rebuild and upgrade the nation's transportation system.

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