Panama - Ordnance and Chemical Weapons

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Save up to 67% on Omaha Steaks + Get 6 FREE Burgers and a 
FREE Cutlery Set + Cutting Board!
http://click.topica.com/caacvgpaVxieSbnA7rua/OmahaSteaks
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Panama pushing U.S. to remove its old bombs
Panama wants Washington to clean up thousands of unexploded ordnance, 
including chemical weapons, left behind by the U.S. military on firing 
ranges.

BY FRANCES ROBLES
Miami Herald
August 1, 2004

PANAMA CITY, Panama - A dispute that Washington considers closed has 
blown open again as the Panamanian government builds a road through a 
former U.S. artillery range where unexploded munitions lie in the path 
of heavy machinery.

Every now and then, a tractor digs one up.

''If that bomb had gone off, I'd be dead,'' said Alexis Rivas, a 
construction worker who recently cut one of the devices in half with his 
tractor, sparking a small fire.

The road linking the InterAmerican Highway to a bridge crossing the 
Panama Canal has given new life to an old issue here, and renewed 
demands by some sectors that the United States clean up the unexploded 
ordnance left behind during the 80 years that the U.S. military had 
bases in Panama.

The U.S. military left behind at least 105,000 unexploded air bombs and 
artillery rounds in Panama, the country reported to the United Nations 
in 2000, citing U.S. Defense Department studies.

And they're not just conventional munitions.

In a lush island off Panama's Pacific coast, on the Pearl Islands 
archipelago better known for hosting last year's CBS Survivor show, at 
least seven U.S. mustard gas bombs have been verified by the 
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The international 
agency was established in 1997 to enforce the Chemical Weapons Convention.

…

for the entire article
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/front/9292896.htm?1c

--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org

Your free subscription is supported by today's sponsor:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Amazing Diet Patch
The fastest - Easiest way to lose weight! Try it now FREE!
http://click.topica.com/caacvgtaVxieSbnA7ruf/MyDietPatches
-------------------------------------------------------------------

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CPEO: A DECADE OF SUCCESS.  Your generous support will ensure that our 
important work on military and environmental issues will continue.  
Please consider one of our donation options.  Thank you.
http://www.groundspring.org/donate/index.cfm?ID=2086-0|721-0