Israel Assassinates ~Moussawi;
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Page 2 THE TECH February 18, 1992 WORLD & NATION I Gold Rush Brings Mercury Israel Assassinates ~Moussawi; Poisoning to Amazon W'ASHIJNGTON' POST SANTAREM, BRAZIL Violence Exrpected ;icreaseto Manuel Pereira de Almeida was spry and clear-headed when he retired eight years ago. Today he needs help to walk, cannot always By Daniel Williams Israeli helicopter gunships rocketed had entered into last year's pro- recognize his wife and lives with a never-ending ache in his bones. and Nick B. Williams Jr. their convoy. Eight other Muslims longed hostage bargaining in hopes His doctor says Periera was poisoned by mercury. LOS ANGELES TIMES were killed and 29 wounded in two of gaining his release. Israel let it be Since 1979, the Amazon River basin has been the site of the JERUSALEM waves of raids in southern Lebanon known that it would free more than fastest, wildest gold rush in Brazil's history, on a scale with the Israel's weekend assassination of on Sunday. 200 Shiite Lebanese prisoners it California boom of the last century. In the 1980s, at least 990 tons of the leader of a militant Shiite The funeral procession, orga- holds, plus abducted Hezbollah cler- gold were filtered from riverbeds and scraped from hillsides by wild- Muslim group has starkly highlight- nized by Moussawi's pro-Iranian ic Abdel Kariim Obeid, in exchange cat gold panners called "garimpeiros." Today, Brazil is among the top ed the progression of violence in Hezbollah, passed by tenements for Arad. four gold producers in the world. South Lebanon. draped with black flags of mourning Expectations of Arad's release The Amazon's 650,000 garimpeiros use toxic mercury to concen- Since last spring, Hezbollah, the for the man Israeli officials had were dashed when Lebanese kid- trate gold dust into nuggets. Brazilian biologist Sandra Hacon esti- Iran-backed militant Muslim militia declared a terrorist. nappers freed all American hostages mates that for every pound of gold mined, at least one pound of mer- in south Lebanon, has steadily In Iran, which sponsors after elaborate dealings last year - cury has been released into the Amazon environment in the past stepped up its attacks on the Israeli- Hezbollah, Ayatollah Ali dealings in which Moussawi played decade, a total of nearly 1,000 tons. occupied buffer zone in south Khamanei, the Shiite spiritual a key role. Although Israel recov- Mercury poisoning can damage the nervous system and kidneys Lebanon. and cause birth defects. In its most virulent form, it is known as Israel has responded - not only Minamata disease, after a Japanese bayside town where dozens of with patrols by its own troops and IrOe learned that terror organizations like residents were killed or deformed in the '40s and '50s by mercury an allied Christian militia in the waste from a chemical plant. south, but also by ever more daring Hezbollah only understand one language - the forays north of the zone into Hezbollah-dominated territory. language of force." Sunday's killing of Hezbollah Israel Defense Minister Moshe Arens AFLCI1 Leaders to Meet on leader Abbas Moussawi in an attack by helicopter gunships was the lat- Endorsement (Bal Harbor) est in a series of events. leader, declared, "The United States ered the bodies of three missing ser- THE WASHINGTON POST More confrontations are likely, and the Zionists should know that vicemen, Arad was left out. BAL, HARBOR, FLA. creating the threat of an Israeli clash such crimes do not pave the way for Defense Minister Moshe Arens The AFL-CIO leadership will meet Wednesday to decide whether either with the Lebanese army, their dominance. Nations cannot be deflected concern that Moussawi's to abandon the federation's presidential endorsement process and which is trying to extend its control scared." assassination would end any hopes allow individual member unions to support whomever they like throughout the country, or with Despite the timing of the heli- of recovering Arad. On the contrary, among the Democratic candidates, AFL-CIO President Lane Syria, the military and political copter raid, which at first appeared he suggested, harsh attacks in Kirkland said Monday. steward of Lebanon. to have been meant to retaliate for Lebanon would ease the way for his Faced with the prospect of a victory in Tuesday's New Hampshire Israeli officials are openly threat- an armed Palestinian guerrilla attack release. "We've learned that terror rm primary by former Massachusetts senator Paul E. Tsongas, who has ening more raids. "The liquidation on an army base in Israel, senior organizations like Hezbollah only a little labor support, and no clear front-runner in the campaign, of Abbas Moussawi ... constitutes a Israeli officials affirmed that the understand one language - the lan- w Kirkland - here for the 35-mernmer Ruling Executive Council's first step demonstrating the determni- helicopter attack on Moussawi was guage of force." midwinter meeting - was asked at a news conference whether labor nation of Israel to confront to the only marginally related. was reconsidering its endorsement policy. best of its ability the hostile actions Israel has been warning Israel attributed 60 bombings Two national unions have broken ranks with AFL-CIO leadership of Hezbollah," Uri Lubrani, Hezbollah for months that it would and hit-and-attacks on its soldiers in L. the rl and endorsed a candidate: the International Union of Police Defense Ministry's overseer for react sharply on two counts: First, South Lebanon to Moussawi's 10- Associations backed Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., on Feb. 2 and the south Lebanon, said Monday. that the noticeable increase in guer- month reign as a top Hezbollah International Union of Electrical Workers endorsed Sen. Tom Harkin, In Beirut, seething anger filled rilla attacks in south Lebanon would leader. In the past year, 10 Israeli D-lowa, Sunday. the streets, as Shiite Muslims vowed bring ever harsher retaliation; sec- soldiers have been killed in the Most of the politically active unions appear to favor Harkin, retribution for the Israeli air raid. ond, that the failure of Iran to turn buffer zone and 15 more wounded. although the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Tens of thousands of Shiite men Over a missing Israeli serviceman Ominously, Israeli officials were Employees and the American Federation of Teachers have been marched for three hours in the teem- who is believed to be in the hands of speaking of the Moussawi assassi- working at the local level for Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton. ing southern suburbs of the an Iranian-allied militia would result nation as only a first blow in an Lebanese capital, carrying the in military action. impending war on the organization. F coffins of Moussawi, his wife, and The missing soldier, Ron Arad, "This won't stop here," predicted II Bones Found Reported to Be Haile their 5-year-old son. They were is an air force navigator shot down government spokesman Yossi killed Sunday afternoon when over Lebanon a decade ago. Israel Olmert. U- Selassie's Remains (Addis Ababa) THE WAS11ING TON POST ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA Ethiopian gravediggers Monday exhumed a small skull and IAEA Launches ThrebYear Dnve assorted bones that authorities say are the remains of former emperor Haile Selassie, who was deposed in September 1974 and died a year later amid strong implications that he had been murdered. to Prevent Nuclear Proliferation The gravediggers located Selassie's remains Sunday after three days of digging under former President Mengistu Haile Mariam's office at the Grand Palace, which was also the late emperor's resi- By R. Jeffrey Smith A special nonproliferation treaty is inevitably corrupt the agency's dence. rHE WASHINGTON POST probably needed to dispel deep dis- effectiveness. On Sunday in an Addis Ababa prison yard, workers exhumed the WASHINGTON trust about nuclear ambitions in the Blix said the dual role gives it bodies of 61 senior officials from the emperor's government who The director of the UJ.N. agency Middle East, he added. the leverage to promise peaceful were summarily executed in November 1974, two months after Haile that polices nuclear proliiferation has Blix, who has directed the IAEA nuclear assistance in exchange for Selassie was driven from power. launched a three-year dr*ive for uni- since 1982, recently presented his inspection agreements. During a A group of monarchists and family members allege that Haile versal adherence to treatiies blocking idea in writing to representatives of recent visit to Libya, for example, Selassie was murdered by Mengistu and six army officers, a charge additional countries frorm obtaining the five permanent members of the Blix argued that officials "should that has been repeated by several prominent Ethiopian exiles. nuclear weapons. U.N. Security Council - Britain, invite us" to help dispel foreign sus- Mengistu has always maintained the emperor died of natural causes Swedish diplomat IHans Blix, China, France, Russia, and the picions about any nuclear weapons after recovering from surgery. director of the VierHnna-based United States. He said that in con- work, which would lead to collabo- International Atom icc Energy sultations last week, many nations ration with others. Libya responded Agency, said in New York last indicated it was a feasible and with a press release welcoming for- week that recent movess by North worthwhile goal. eign inspections of nuclear facilities Korea, Argentina, Bra~izil, South Blix said he was particularly anywhere in the country, he said. Africa, and Iran to acce, -pt