Bush issues WMD order on N.Korea, Iran, Syria

[maddezmom]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush gave U.S. authorities new powers on Wednesday to block assets of companies believed to be helping North Korea, Iran and Syria pursue nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

The executive order did not mention specific countries, instead saying it applied to "any person or foreign country of proliferation concern." A U.S. official said that, for now, the administration is targeting four entities from Iran, three from North Korea and one from Syria.

The move was another step in U.S. efforts to overhaul intelligence agencies that have been sharply criticized since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks for failing to uncover that plot and faulty prewar judgments that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

"By applying these powers against weapons of mass destruction, we deny proliferators and their supporters access to the U.S. financial system and starve them of funds needed to build deadly weapons and threaten innocents around the globe," U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050629/pl_nm/bush_wmd_order_dc

[DakotaDemocrat]

1. How about Halliburton? n/t

[bullimiami]

2. this is the same asshole that is starting up plutonium production?

and has no international accountability for his massive stockpiles of all sorts of wmd?

nice.

[Massacure]

10. PU-238 cannot be used in bombs.

It's used in Radioistope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) so that it provides a little bit of power over a very long time. If my math is correct, the 150 kilograms of it would probably generate about 7 or 8 kilowatts of power. Perfect for a satalites.

[MGKrebs]

3. I think somebody up there has a defective Caps lock button.

From the White House website:

"Today, President Bush Announced Actions To Implement Recommendations In The WMD Commission s Report To Make America Safer And To Ensure The Intelligence Community Is Prepared To Address The Threats Of The 21st Century. The Administration endorsed 70 of the 74 recommendations of the WMD Commission, and will study further three of the recommendations. A single classified recommendation will not be implemented.

Acting On The Commission's Recommendations Addresses Threats Posed By Terrorists And The Proliferation Of Weapons Of Mass Destruction. These actions build on historic reforms undertaken since September 11, 2001, including the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the Homeland Security Council, the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, the National Counterterrorism Center, the Terrorist Screening Center, and the position of Director of National Intelligence.

President Bush Has Acted On The WMD Commission's Recommendations

President Bush Transformed Government Institutions to Meet New National Security Threats. "

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/06/20050629-3.html

[Oreo]

4. Seize assets of companies where?

Does this mean he gave US suthorities the go ahead to seize assets of companies in sovereign nations? May sound crazy but I wouldn't put it past him. I'd like to see the actual text of the order.

[rwork]

5. How about Pakistan?

Who sold nuclear technology to North Korea.

[H5N1]

6. Dangerous new powers... certain to be abused... often

[sniffa]

7. that's PNACtacuLar!

[Massachusetts]

8. They are becoming DRUNK with power

The SCALES of Democracy are tipping dangerously in the WRONG direction.Don't blink you may miss the retreat of FREEDOM!

[TahitiNut]

9. "believed to be helping"??? Another faith-based initiative, huh?

:eyes: :puke: Such "belief" would be hard to have for big Republican donors, of course.

[LynnTheDem]

11. bush indulges in yet another illegal act of war.

Based, no doubt, on his "DARN GOOD INTELLIGENCE".

[Solly Mack]

12. That fucker is going to get us all killed

[underpants]

13. Does this apply retroactively to ABB?

Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, sat on the board of a company which three years ago sold two light water nuclear reactors to North Korea - a country he now regards as part of the "axis of evil" and which has been targeted for regime change by Washington because of its efforts to build nuclear weapons.
Mr Rumsfeld was a non-executive director of ABB, a European engineering giant based in Zurich, when it won a $200m (£125m) contract to provide the design and key components for the reactors. The current defence secretary sat on the board from 1990 to 2001, earning $190,000 a year. He left to join the Bush administration.

The reactor deal was part of President Bill Clinton's policy of persuading the North Korean regime to positively engage with the west.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/korea/article/0,2763,952289,00.html