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	Agent Orange: Toxic Legacy of Vietnam still demands Remediation by Reuters / Agence France Presse Vietnam / USA   Feb 2008   US "agent orange" ruling disappoints Vietnamese. (Reuters)   Vietnamese victims of wartime "agent orange" are disappointed by a US court"s dismissal of a lawsuit against chemical companies, but believe they have gathered more support for their cause.   "We anticipated this because it is not easy suing big and powerful US companies on US soil and under the US court system," said Nguyen Trong Nhan, vice chairman of the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin.   Friday"s ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York concluded the plaintiffs could not pursue claims against Dow Chemical Company, Monsanto and nearly 30 other companies.   Toxins left behind from the 1960s and 70s war are a thorn in otherwise friendly ties between the Communist Party government and the US administration, which have been built up around trade and business since 1995. The lawsuit contended agent orange caused ailments, including birth defects and cancer. Studies have shown the compound of dioxin, a component of "agent orange" herbicides sprayed during the war, is still present in so-called "hot spots" at levels hundreds of times higher than would be accepted elsewhere.   The United States has maintained there is no scientifically proved link between the wartime spraying and the claims of dioxin poisoning by more than 3 million people in Vietnam.   The US Government, which claimed sovereign immunity, was not sued.   Mr Nhan, a former health minister, said "outside court we have been telling the international community, including American people and they have shown their support for our cause."   Another Vietnamese official, scientist and dioxin expert, Le Ke Son, said he believed the victims group would now take the matter to the US Supreme Court, the next stage of appeal.   Jan 2008   Agent Orange: Toxic Legacy of Vietnam still Demands Remediation. (AFP)   A US-Vietnamese group said Friday 1.2 million dollars had been spent to contain rainwater run-off from a “dioxin hotspot” at a war-time US airbase that was a depot for the toxic defoliant Agent Orange.   Containment measures at the airport of the central city of Danang aimed to protect nearby residents from further dioxin contamination, visiting members of the US-Vietnam Dialogue Group on Agent Orange/Dioxin told a media briefing.   As part of the project, scientists had tested blood and breast milk samples from residents and workers near the base and found they exceeded safe levels of the most toxic dioxin type TCDD “by a wide margin,” the group said.   A new cement cap had been built over a former Agent Orange loading area, water drains and treatment facilities which now contained run-off, and a downstream lake outside the base had been fenced off to stop people from fishing there.   Under the 1961-71 “Operation Ranch Hand” US forces sprayed about 80 million litres (21 million gallons) of Agent Orange and other herbicides on southern and central Vietnam to deprive "enemies" of forest cover and food crops.   Washington has repeatedly rejected responsibility for the millions of people in Vietnam suffering direct or second-generation disabilities due to Agent Orange, with US officials citing “a lack of mutually agreed data”.   The US Congress last May set aside three million dollars “for environmental remediation of dioxin storage sites and to support health programmes in communities near those sites.” However, the money has not yet to be released,.   The dialogue group said in a statement that “there have been an alarming number of birth defects, cancers and health problems among both American troops and their families and generations of Vietnamese veterans and civilians.”   “Dioxin has had a profound impact on generations of Vietnamese families,” said Ton Nu Thi Ninh, a member of the group, which has received funds for the projects from the non-profit Ford Foundation and the US government.   “It has devastated lives and the environment for decades,” she said. “But the initial progress we’re seeing is heartening. It is a meaningful contribution toward addressing the toxic legacy of the war.”   The group is seeking public and private donors for other projects, including health and education services for disabled children and youths, landscape restoration, and to set up a high-tech laboratory to test for dioxin traces
	Indonesian military chief arrested for murder for Rights Activist by Mark Forbes The Age & agencies Indonesia   June 20, 2008   The former head of the Indonesian military"s special forces and deputy head of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) has been arrested for the murder of the country"s leading human rights activist.   Major-General Muchdi Purwopranjono surrendered to police in Jakarta last night and was charged with the premeditated murder of Munir Thalib.   The poisoning of Mr Munir on a flight to Amsterdam in 2004 has been Indonesia"s most controversial crime, with allegations the murder was sanctioned at the highest level, dogging President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.   Mr Munir angered Indonesia"s military and intelligence elite by exposing widespread corruption and human rights abuses in the provinces of Aceh and Papua.   At the time of the murder, Muchdi was the deputy director of BIN, responsible for covert operations.   Police spokesman Abubakar Nataprawira said Muchdi, now retired, was being held in police custody. He revealed a warrant had been issued for his arrest several days ago, but the former Kopassus commander decided to surrender yesterday.   The arrest is likely to send a shockwave through Indonesia"s corridors of power but will be applauded by human rights organisations, which have described the killing and subsequent cover-ups as one of the blackest marks on Indonesia"s reputation.   Mr Munir was poisoned with arsenic during a transit stopover in Singapore, dying in agony during the flight. A Garuda employee was allegedly seen providing Mr Munir with a drink in an airport coffee shop.   Several investigations into the killing were abandoned, despite the conviction of Garuda Airlines pilot and alleged BIN agent Pollycarpus Priyanto for the murder.   In December 2005 Pollycarpus was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. But in October 2006, his conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court, citing insufficient evidence.   The Supreme Court then re-opened the case for a judicial review and he was sentenced again in January this year, this time to 20 years. BIN denied any links to Pollycarpus or the murder.   Investigators had revealed that 41 telephone calls between Pollycarpus and Muchdi"s phone around the time of Mr Munir"s murder. Muchdi claimed ignorance of the calls.   A fresh investigation ordered by Dr Yudhoyono this year revealed a "smoking gun", with BIN agent Budi Santoso Najubg making a sworn statement that he helped Pollycarpus draft a letter to the head of the national airline Garuda, ordering he be assigned to security duties. The letter enabled Pollycarpus to board the flight to Amsterdam alongside Mr Munir.   "I was often ordered by Muchdi to check on where Pollycarpus was," said Mr Santoso, who was then an operations director with BIN. He also delivered several thousand dollars from Muchdi to Pollycarpus before and after Mr Munir"s murder.   The assignment letter was to be signed by BIN"s deputy chief Mohammad As"ad, according to Mr Santoso. He also said that Pollycarpus was part of BIN"s "network" and in regular contact with General Muchdi.   Human rights groups have said that the evidence proved BIN officials had perjured themselves in several court hearings, but were despairing about the failure to charge more senior officials for their role in the murder.   The former head of Garuda airline was sentenced to a year"s jail in January this year for helping in the murder of Mr Thalib. Indra Setiawan had confessed to assigning Pollycarpus to security duties, which enabled him to board the flight to Amsterdam alongside Mr Munir.   January 26, 2008   Indonesia"s Supreme Court has found a Garuda pilot and alleged intelligence agent murdered leading human rights activist Munir Thalib, overturning a previous decision quashing Pollycarpus Priyanto"s conviction.   The new verdict opens the way for senior officials of Indonesia"s intelligence agency (BIN) to face trial for their roles in poisoning Munir during a flight to Amsterdam in 2004.   A court spokesman last night confirmed Pollycarpus had been sentenced to 20 years for premeditated murder and document forgery. The reasons for the decision have not been issued. In October 2006, the court quashed a lower court"s murder verdict against Pollycarpus. Prosecutors appealed against the decision.   The latest appeal heard new evidence that Munir"s drink was poisoned with arsenic by Pollycarpus during a stopover at Singapore   Several witnesses contradicted Pollycarpus"s claim that he did not accompany Munir at Singapore airport and a BIN agent revealed he had also been asked to plan Munir"s murder. The agent confirmed Pollycarpus was a colleague.   Munir"s murder is Indonesia"s most infamous crime. The pursuit of his killers is seen as a key test of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono"s preparedness to confront the military and intelligence hierarchies.   Munir had angered senior officers by exposing corruption and human rights abuses by the military.   At a separate hearing yesterday prosecutors asked Central Jakarta District Court to impose an 18-month jail sentence on Garuda"s former chief, Indra Setiawan, for assisting the murder. At the request of top BIN officials, Mr Setiawan reassigned Pollycarpus to enable him to travel on Munir"s flight, the court was told. "Indra Setiawan has been proven legally to have facilitated a planned murder," prosecutor Didi Parhan said.   Jan 17, 2008   Jakarta spy agency linked to murder.   Fresh evidence ties Indonesia"s intelligence agency to the poisoning of leading human rights activist Thalib Munir, indicating top officials lied to court hearings over the 2004 murder.   Human rights groups have described a new dossier of evidence from a senior undercover agent, tendered to a hearing in Jakarta, as a "smoking gun". Today they will demand that police prosecute the former deputy director for covert operations, Purwoprandjono Muchdi, for perjury and murder.   In the sworn declaration, agent Budi Santoso says he helped off-duty Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Priyanto draft a letter to the head of the national airline ordering that he be assigned to security duties. The letter enabled Pollycarpus to board a flight to Amsterdam with Mr Munir, then allegedly poisoned him.   The assignment letter was to be signed by intelligence agency BIN"s deputy chief, according to Agent Santoso. He said Pollycarpus was part of the agency"s "network" and in regular contact with Mr Muchdi.   In previous court hearings, Pollycarpus and Mr Muchdi denied knowing each other. Phone records show 41 calls between the pair around the time of the murder, but Mr Muchdi claimed others were using his phone.   Usman Hamid, head of Mr Munir"s human rights organisation Kontras, said he would meet senior police officers today to demand action on the new evidence. "Before now BIN denied having links to Pollycarpus. This disproves that," Mr Hamid said. "Mr Muchdi should be summonsed and charged. He clearly had a role in planning the premeditated murder of Munir."   The about-face by the agency was a result of pressure from police and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, he said.   Mr Munir had angered the intelligence and military establishment by exposing corruption and human rights abuses in Aceh and Papua.
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