President Barack Obama sent a landmark arms-reduction treaty with Russia to the Senate on Thursday for ratification and called for $80 billion in nuclear funding, which could help win opposition support.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the funds, which would be spent over a decade, were needed to "rebuild and sustain America's aging nuclear stockpile."The treaty, which must be ratified by the Senate and Russia's parliament before it goes into force, would reduce the strategic nuclear arsenals deployed by the former Cold War foes by 30 percent within seven years.
Known as the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, it is also seen as a major step toward "resetting" U.S.-Russia relations, which were prickly under the Bush administration.
"The U.S. is far better off with this treaty than without it," Gates, a holdover from the Bush administration, said in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal. "It strengthens the security of the U.S. and our allies and promotes strategic stability between the world's two major nuclear powers."
Gates said the treaty had the unanimous support of America's military leadership.
Obama, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in part for his vision of a nuclear-free world, must get some Republican backing to win the 67 votes needed for Senate approval. Obama's Democrats and their allies have 59 seats in the Senate.Some Senate Republicans previously argued that Obama needed to commit more resources to modernizing the U.S. nuclear weapons complex to convince them the treaty was viable.
"This might be what's necessary to buy the votes for ratification," said Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists.
The White House noted the $80 billion in funding for the nuclear stockpile came on top of more than $100 billion in additional investments in nuclear delivery systems, like nuclear submarines.
READY FOR VOTE BY AUGUST
Obama discussed efforts to ratify the treaty in a telephone conversation with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday.
"The presidents stressed the importance of completing the ratification process in both countries as soon as possible," the White House said in a statement.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by 2004 Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry, aims to get the treaty ready for an eventual full Senate vote before Congress breaks for the summer recess in August, aides said.
Kerry said the $80 billion funding request was the largest since the Cold War.
"It demonstrates the Obama administration's commitment to keeping America's nuclear deterrent safe and effective for a generation to come," Kerry said in a statement.
Kerry's committee is planning to roll out Republican politial heavyweights to testify, including former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and James Baker.
Obama has made nuclear nonproliferation one of the main goals of his presidency and last month unveiled a policy restricting U.S. use of nuclear weapons.
He has also renounced the development of new atomic weapons and in May disclosed for the first time the current size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
Russia said on Wednesday it may lift the veil on its nuclear arsenal after the treaty with the United States comes into force.
If it does, that could raise pressure on other nuclear powers -- such as China, Pakistan, India and Israel -- to disclose their capabilities and potentially put global nuclear stockpiles on a downward trend, analysts say.passion
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Thursday, May 13, 2010
3 Pakistanis arrested in Times Square bomb probe
Three Pakistani men who authorities say supplied funds to Times Square car bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad were arrested Thursday in a series of raids across the Northeast as the FBI followed the money trail in the failed attack.
Investigators said it was not yet clear whether the three men knew how the money was going to be used.
The men — two seized in the Boston area, one in Maine — were arrested as federal authorities searched homes and businesses in a coordinated series of raids centered in the Boston suburbs, on New York's Long Island and in New Jersey.They were arrested on immigration violations — administrative, not criminal, charges. They were not charged with any terrorism-related crimes. Their names were not released.
The raids resulted from evidence gathered in the investigation into the Times Square bomb attempt two weeks ago. FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz gave assurances Thursday that there was "no known immediate threat to the public or any active plot against the United States."
In Washington, Attorney General Eric Holder said investigators believe there is evidence that the men were providing Shahzad, a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen, with money, but they have yet to determine whether the men knew the funds might have been intended for a terrorist act.
A top Massachusetts law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still going on, said investigators are not sure whether the two Boston-area men were witting accomplices or simply moving funds, as is common among people from the Middle East and Central Asia who live in the U.S.
"These people might be completely innocent and not know what they were providing money for," the official cautioned, "but it's clear there's a connection."
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said there was "not a direct tie" between the man arrested in South Portland, Maine, and the Times Square car bomb suspect.
Authorities have been investigating whether Shahzad — who authorities say needed only a few thousand dollars to buy the used SUV and the bomb components used in the attempted May 1 attack — was financed from overseas.
A federal law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity regarding the ongoing investigation, said money was passed to Shahzad through the informal transfer networks known as hawalas.
Muslim immigrants for years have used hawalas, which rely on wire transfers, couriers and overnight mail and are cheaper and quicker than banks, to send cash to their families overseas. But since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, authorities have worked to dismantle the system, fearing it allows terrorists to raise and launder money.Tracking the money to Shahzad through a hawala system will involve interviewing a large number of people and will likely be a more difficult task than would tracing funds through more conventional financial networks, the official said.Two of the men under arrest overstayed their visas and the third is already in removal proceedings, said another law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.Shahzad, 30, has waived his right daily to appear in court since his May 1 arrest on charges he tried to blow up a van packed with a gasoline and propane outside Times Square's busy restaurants and Broadway theaters, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Thursday. He is continuing to provide investigators with information, Bharara said."We are doing exactly what, I think, people want us to do, and that is to make sure we get all the information we can with respect to any associates he may have, and other information that would help us to prevent anything further from happening in the United States," the prosecutor said.Kifyat Ali, a cousin of Shahzad's father, has called Shahzad's detention "a conspiracy so the (Americans) can bomb more Pashtuns," a reference to a major ethnic group in Peshawar and the nearby tribal areas of Pakistan and southwest Afghanistan. He has insisted that Shahzad "was never linked to any political or religious party" in Pakistan.Shahzad, a budget analyst who lives in Bridgeport, Conn., returned to the U.S. in February from five months in Pakistan, where authorities say he claims to have received training in making bombs.A law enforcement official called Thursday's raids "an evidence-gathering operation" and not a search for suspects. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said officials are investigating whether Shahzad got his cash through illegal money transfers.
Authorities raided a home in Watertown and a Mobil gas station and a vehicle in Brookline, another Boston suburb; a condominium in Cherry Hill, N.J.; a print shop in Camden, N.J., and two Long Island homes, law enforcement officials said.
Vinny Lacerra, who lives across the street from the Watertown house, said he was in his living room about 6 a.m. when he heard somebody shout, "FBI! Put your hands up!" and saw 15 to 20 agents with guns drawn surrounding the house.
Ashim Chakraborty, who owns a home raided in Centereach, N.Y., said FBI and police wanted to interview a Pakistani man and an American woman who live in the basement. The woman, who did not identify herself, was still in the basement Thursday afternoon, telling reporters only, "Drop dead. I'm an American."
There was no immediate comment from Pakistan on the raids.
Islamabad has said it was too early to say whether the Pakistani Taliban, which operates from the country's lawless northwest tribal region, was behind the Times Square plot, although the U.S. has said it found a definite link.Pakistan has detained at least four people with alleged connections to Shahzad.I am your sunflower and you are my sunshine
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Investigators said it was not yet clear whether the three men knew how the money was going to be used.
The men — two seized in the Boston area, one in Maine — were arrested as federal authorities searched homes and businesses in a coordinated series of raids centered in the Boston suburbs, on New York's Long Island and in New Jersey.They were arrested on immigration violations — administrative, not criminal, charges. They were not charged with any terrorism-related crimes. Their names were not released.
The raids resulted from evidence gathered in the investigation into the Times Square bomb attempt two weeks ago. FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz gave assurances Thursday that there was "no known immediate threat to the public or any active plot against the United States."
In Washington, Attorney General Eric Holder said investigators believe there is evidence that the men were providing Shahzad, a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen, with money, but they have yet to determine whether the men knew the funds might have been intended for a terrorist act.
A top Massachusetts law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still going on, said investigators are not sure whether the two Boston-area men were witting accomplices or simply moving funds, as is common among people from the Middle East and Central Asia who live in the U.S.
"These people might be completely innocent and not know what they were providing money for," the official cautioned, "but it's clear there's a connection."
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said there was "not a direct tie" between the man arrested in South Portland, Maine, and the Times Square car bomb suspect.
Authorities have been investigating whether Shahzad — who authorities say needed only a few thousand dollars to buy the used SUV and the bomb components used in the attempted May 1 attack — was financed from overseas.
A federal law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity regarding the ongoing investigation, said money was passed to Shahzad through the informal transfer networks known as hawalas.
Muslim immigrants for years have used hawalas, which rely on wire transfers, couriers and overnight mail and are cheaper and quicker than banks, to send cash to their families overseas. But since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, authorities have worked to dismantle the system, fearing it allows terrorists to raise and launder money.Tracking the money to Shahzad through a hawala system will involve interviewing a large number of people and will likely be a more difficult task than would tracing funds through more conventional financial networks, the official said.Two of the men under arrest overstayed their visas and the third is already in removal proceedings, said another law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.Shahzad, 30, has waived his right daily to appear in court since his May 1 arrest on charges he tried to blow up a van packed with a gasoline and propane outside Times Square's busy restaurants and Broadway theaters, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Thursday. He is continuing to provide investigators with information, Bharara said."We are doing exactly what, I think, people want us to do, and that is to make sure we get all the information we can with respect to any associates he may have, and other information that would help us to prevent anything further from happening in the United States," the prosecutor said.Kifyat Ali, a cousin of Shahzad's father, has called Shahzad's detention "a conspiracy so the (Americans) can bomb more Pashtuns," a reference to a major ethnic group in Peshawar and the nearby tribal areas of Pakistan and southwest Afghanistan. He has insisted that Shahzad "was never linked to any political or religious party" in Pakistan.Shahzad, a budget analyst who lives in Bridgeport, Conn., returned to the U.S. in February from five months in Pakistan, where authorities say he claims to have received training in making bombs.A law enforcement official called Thursday's raids "an evidence-gathering operation" and not a search for suspects. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said officials are investigating whether Shahzad got his cash through illegal money transfers.
Authorities raided a home in Watertown and a Mobil gas station and a vehicle in Brookline, another Boston suburb; a condominium in Cherry Hill, N.J.; a print shop in Camden, N.J., and two Long Island homes, law enforcement officials said.
Vinny Lacerra, who lives across the street from the Watertown house, said he was in his living room about 6 a.m. when he heard somebody shout, "FBI! Put your hands up!" and saw 15 to 20 agents with guns drawn surrounding the house.
Ashim Chakraborty, who owns a home raided in Centereach, N.Y., said FBI and police wanted to interview a Pakistani man and an American woman who live in the basement. The woman, who did not identify herself, was still in the basement Thursday afternoon, telling reporters only, "Drop dead. I'm an American."
There was no immediate comment from Pakistan on the raids.
Islamabad has said it was too early to say whether the Pakistani Taliban, which operates from the country's lawless northwest tribal region, was behind the Times Square plot, although the U.S. has said it found a definite link.Pakistan has detained at least four people with alleged connections to Shahzad.I am your sunflower and you are my sunshine
I believe in myself
never say never
dreams will keep me young
never grow old
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