War on Terror’ Machinery That Has Saved Miners’ Lives Legitimizes Military Trials, by CINDY JAQUITH PITTSBURGH, July 3—When an Explosion Ripped Through the Sago U.S
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· AUSTRALIA $1.50 · CANADA $1.50 · FRANCE 1.00 EURO · ICELAND KR100 · NEW ZEALAND $1.50 · SWEDEN KR10 · UK £.50 · U.S. $1.00 INSIDE How Chinese, Japanese immigrants resisted discrimination in the U.S. — PAGE 6 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 70/NO. 26 JULY 17, 2006 Lone survivor of Sago disaster: High court ruling ‘We expected to be rescued’ Federal officials, company refused to use aids ‘war on terror’ machinery that has saved miners’ lives Legitimizes military trials, BY CINDY JAQUITH PITTSBURGH, July 3—When an explosion ripped through the Sago U.S. prison at Guantánamo coal mine in West Virginia at 6:26 a.m. on January 2, the miners trapped inside thought it was just a matter of time before they would be rescued. Federal rescue officials and com- pany personnel on the scene, however, did not bring in equipment to pinpoint the location of the trapped workers that had been used successfully to save miners trapped underground in 2002 after the Queecreek mine disaster in Pennsylvania, as the workers trapped at Sago had hoped. These facts became clear from tes- timony made public last week by the sole survivor of the Sago blast. Randal McCloy, a 26-year-old roof Getty Images/Mark Wilson bolter, was the only miner to survive Getty Images/Karen Bleier U.S. troops at U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, watch a prisoner May 9 at Randal McCloy, the sole survivor of Jan. 2 the Sago disaster. Twelve others per- notorious Camp Delta, where Washington holds “enemy combatants” indefinitely. disaster at Sago, where 12 miners died on job, ished. McCloy was interviewed in and his wife Anna at White House June 15. mid-June by state and federal mine BY SAM MANUEL His account of disaster was just made public. Continued on page 4 WASHINGTON—In a June 29 Close U.S. prison ruling the U.S. Supreme Court gave its stamp of approval to the Bush at Guantánamo, Cuba! Socialists Workers launch administration’s plans to conduct military trials of prisoners it has la- Free all the inmates! election campaign in Minnesota beled “enemy combatants,” being held — statement by SWP candidates, p. 9 at the U.S. Naval base at Guantánamo BY CARLOS Bay, Cuba. CACERES The trials may proceed, the court said, they would now seek legislation allowing MINNEAPOLIS, July so long as they conform to the Uniform them to proceed with these trials. 4—Socialist Workers Code of Military Justice and applicable Senate majority leader William Party candidates and their sections of the Geneva Conventions, and Frist announced he would introduce supporters began petition- the administration seeks legislative au- legislation on the tribunals after the ing here and in the adjacent thorization. Administration officials said Continued on page 7 city of St. Paul today to put the SWP ticket on the ballot for the November Puerto Rico: first-ever sales tax elections. They fanned out across the Twin Cities, collecting 760 signatures is harbinger of more austerity in one day. Militant/Tom Baumann BY MARTÍN KOPPEL In May the administration of Gov. Rebecca Williamson, 24, Rebecca Williamson (left), Socialist Workers Party Puerto Rico’s legislature voted in Aníbal Acevedo Vilá organized a a meat packer and member candidate for U.S. Senate in Minnesota, petitions July 4 mid-June to impose the first-ever two-week layoff of 95,000 public em- of United Food and Com- in Minneapolis to put SWP ticket on ballot. consumer sales tax on the island. To- ployees on the grounds that it had run mercial Workers (UFCW) gether with a 38 percent hike in water out of funds. The shutdown of schools Local 789, is heading the socialist ticket. alternative to the Republicans, Demo- rates that went into effect July 1, this and other government agencies, a de She is running for U.S. Senate in the seat crats, and other capitalist parties,” Wil- measure is part of an assault on the facto lockout, was a warning to work- now held by Mark Dayton of the Demo- liamson told the Militant. “Every plank in “welfare state” the U.S. rulers have Continued on page 9 cratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL). the socialist platform is aimed at uniting relied on for decades to cushion the “We are presenting a working-class Continued on page 7 economic effects of their colonial rule in this Caribbean nation. Also Inside: Kentucky miners snap up ‘Militant’ Protesters in Massachussetts BY DAVE FERGUSON coal miners and their families attended. Tel Aviv expands condemn cop attack HARLAN, Kentucky—Four support- One worker there told us he had found on four youth of Asian descent 2 ers of the Militant took part in a team here a copy of the Militant the previous week invasion of Gaza June 23–24 to promote the socialist news- in a Wal-Mart parking lot. He said he BY PAUL PEDERSON Washington, Tokyo renew weekly in Harlan County, Kentucky. had taken it home and read it, and now The Israeli armed forces have expand- threats against north Korea 3 We sold 16 subscriptions and 154 wanted a subscription because he liked ed their military operations in the Gaza copies of the paper in the coal mining the coverage on the struggles of miners Strip, sending tanks and troops into the Families of coal miners communities here over the two days. for safety on the job. area across the northern border July 3. killed on job in Kentucky That brought the total in Harlan County, At a railroad crossing on Route An Israeli armored column entered from demand access to inquiry 4 which has a population of some 32,000, 38—the main road linking many of the south a week earlier. Tel Aviv claims to 31 new subscribers and more than 500 the invasion is aimed at recovering an the mines and mining towns in Harlan Hazleton, Pennsylvania, mayor copies over the last month. County—the widow of one of the five Israeli soldier who was taken prisoner in pushes attacks on immigrants 5 Five of the new readers signed up in miners killed in the May 20 explosion a June 25 raid inside Israel carried out one hour at a bluegrass concert that many Continued on page 4 Continued on page 3 Nat’l Guard troops in New Orleans Defense planned for target working-class neighborhoods Mississippi abortion clinic BY STEVE WARSHELL for the crisis we face in housing, health are also being sent to New Or- NEW ORLEANS—On June 20 care, and jobs,” he said. leans and they are pressing to hundreds of Louisiana National Guard In desert fatigues and matching try more cases under federal troops joined police in launching a Humvee personnel carriers, 300 mili- charges, which come with lon- massive “anti-crime” campaign here, tary police from the Louisiana National ger sentences and less chance targeting several overwhelmingly Black Guard—all armed with rifles and side of pre-trial release, FBI agent working-class neighborhoods. arms with live ammunition—joined James Bernazzani told the lo- Charging there has been an increase nearly five times as many city and state cal media. in homicides in the city over the past cops here in launching the operation. “The system’s weakest month, the mayor and the governor of “They are not here to help us, they links today,” Bernazzini told Louisiana are seeking to set a precedent want people to be afraid,” hotel worker the Houston Chronicle, “are for further use of the military in domes- Simon Gilbert told the Militant, in a judges in state courts who are tic policing operations. They aim to beef June 24 interview downtown across notoriously lenient in releas- MIAMI—At left, anti-abortion protest- up the powers of local cops and further from the National Guard “Command ing suspects.” ers in June outside the Women’s Health chip away at constitutional protections Post” at Loyola and Perdido streets. The facts, however, appear Organization in Jackson, Mississippi. Op- against unreasonable search and sei- “Right now, many of us in the 9th Ward to contradict that assertion. eration Save America, formerly Operation zure, and other civil liberties. try to stay out of trouble by coming back According to the U.S. Bureau Rescue, has called for more protests in July “Right after Katrina it was the Nation- from work and just staying home. Those of Justice Statistics for 2004, to “storm the gates of hell” and shut down al Guard that denied us food and water, guns are going to be aimed at us.” Louisiana led the United the clinic, the only one in the state that they have never made this city safer,” According to the Times-Picayune, States with the highest incar- provides abortions. said Mike Howells, a member of the the National Guard forces “are patrol- ceration rate. The National Organization for Women organization Concern, Community, and ling neighborhoods such as Gentilly, and others that defend a woman’s right to Compassion. He attended a city coun- the Lower 9th Ward and eastern New The National Guard had choose are preparing to counter-mobilize cil meeting June 22 where residents Orleans, where the population is sparse.” as many as 15,000 soldiers July 15–22 at the clinic and have sent out an protested the move. “They are simply Meanwhile, city and state police are set- in the city in the weeks after appeal for volunteers to join “Reproductive here to scapegoat young Black men as ting up a “massive physical presence” in Katrina.