Posted on 02/21/2003 1:08:02 PM PST by I Believe It's Not Butter
Donald Rumsfeld, the US secretary of defense, was on the board of technology giant ABB when it won a deal to supply North Korea with two nuclear power plants.
Weapons experts say waste material from the two reactors could be used for so-called “dirty bombs”.
The Swiss-based ABB on Friday told swissinfo that Rumsfeld was involved with the company in early 2000, when it netted a $200 million (SFr270million) contract with Pyongyang.
The ABB contract was to deliver equipment and services for two nuclear power stations at Kumho, on North Korea’s east coast.
Rumsfeld – who is one of the Bush administration’s most strident “hardliners” on North Korea – was a member of ABB’s board between 1990 and February 2001, when he left to take up his current post.
Wolfram Eberhardt, a spokesman for ABB, told swissinfo that Rumsfeld “was at nearly all the board meetings” during his decade-long involvement with the company.
Maybe, maybe not
However, he declined to indicate whether Rumsfeld was made aware of the nuclear contract with North Korea.
“This is a good question, but I couldn’t comment on that because we never disclose the protocols of the board meetings,” Eberhardt said.
“Maybe this was a discussion point of the board, maybe not.”
The defense secretary’s role at ABB during the late 1990s has become a bone of contention in Washington.
The ABB contract was a consequence of a 1994 deal between the US and Pyongyang to allow construction of two reactors in exchange for a freeze on the North’s nuclear weapons programme.
North Korea revealed last year that it had secretly continued its nuclear weapons programme, despite its obligations under the deal with Washington.
The Bush government has repeatedly used the agreement to criticise the former Clinton administration for being too soft on North Korea. Rumsfeld’s deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, has been among the most vocal critics of the 1994 weapons accord.
Dirty bombs
Weapons experts have also speculated that waste material from the two reactors could be used for so-called “dirty bombs”.
Rumsfeld’s position at ABB could prove embarrassing for the Bush administration since while he was a director he was also active on issues of weapons proliferation, chairing the 1998 congressional Ballistic Missile Threat commission.
The commission suggested the Clinton-era deal with Pyongyang gave too much away because “North Korea maintains an active weapons of mass destruction programme, including a nuclear weapons programme”.
From Zurich to Pyongyang
At the same time, Rumsfeld was travelling to Zurich for ABB’s quarterly board-meetings.
Eberhardt said it was possible that the North Korea deal never crossed the ABB boardroom desk.
“At the time, we generated a lot of big orders in the power generation business [worth] around $1 billion…[so] a $200 million contract was, so to speak, a smaller one.”
When asked whether a deal with a country such as North Korea – a communist state with declared nuclear intentions – should have been brought to the ABB board’s attention, Eberhardt told swissinfo:
“Yes, maybe. But so far we haven’t any evidence for that because the protocols were never disclosed. So maybe it was a discussion point, maybe not,” says Eberhardt.
A Pentagon spokeswoman, Victoria Clark, recently told “Newsweek” magazine that “Secretary Rumsfeld does not recall it being brought before the board at any time”.
It was a long time ago
Today, ABB says it no longer has any involvement with the North Korean power plants, due to come on line in 2007 and 2008.
The company finalised the sale of its nuclear business in early 2000 to the British-based BNFL group.
swissinfo, Jacob Greber
Why should any of that mean anything to you? To criticize or question does necessarily mean "anti-Bush" or "anti American" for that matter. Get a grip, and realize that some people hold their elected officials to a higher standard than yourself. Since you, or many of the other people here do not personally know Donald Rumsfeld, its totally approriate to question his past intent in this matter seeing that he presently holds an important position in a government that the people are suppoed to demand accountability and have representation.
Any thread posted on FR that is an obvious commie/liberal hit piece gets appropriately Zotted. Leave that discretion to Jim and the Mods. Your "blacklists" are irrelevant.
Why...because a company he used to work for competed and won a contract for a U.S. approved project? Come on...get a grip. Sure the agreement is coming back to kick us in the butt...but that is Clinton and Carter's fault.
| what are we supposed to conclude from this story? It was written for a purpose, right?
We can question the wisdom of the Clinton/Carter diplomacy on this deal, but when four Western governments agree to procure the damned thing, you assume they have examined the specs and determined that you are selling just the sort of reactor they want the NoKors to have. It's either that or they buy one from Russia or China; this way we have the blueprints and we know exactly what they have. |
Yep, quite new and very, very concerned about how this might damage Rumsfeld's credibility.
After years of waiting for the leftists to send the varsity over here, I'm starting to wonder if they have one.
Rumsfeld – who is one of the Bush administration’s most strident “hardliners” on North Korea – was a member of ABB’s board between 1990 and February 2001, when he left to take up his current post.
The company finalised the sale of its nuclear business in early 2000 to the British-based BNFL group.
So...did ABB have the contract or BNFL? I am sooooo confused...
Everything about the ABB borad is inuendo with no actual charges made. They just say that he was on the board, the board might or might not have known about the sale; therefore, Rumsfeld might or might not have known about it.
Yet, while they are implying that he did know about (and therefore approve of) the sale, they tell you clearly that he, while he was a director at ABB, chaired a commission which disapproved of the Clinton/Pyongyang deal.
So let me get this straight: He sold NK the reactor, but he recommended to congress that he not be allowed to do it.
I wonder what they were snorting with Clinton when they dreamed this one up.
2nd May 2000
BNFL/Westinghouse Complete Acquisition of ABB's Nuclear Businesses
BNFL's Westinghouse Electric Company today announced that it has completed a $485 million acquisition of the commercial nuclear power businesses of ABB. The Company also confirmed that the ABB businesses would be integrated into and operated as part of Westinghouse...< snip>...In addition, the acquisition of ABB includes the company's strong presence in Asia, with operations in Seoul, South Korea and Beijing, China, which include eight Korean Pressurised Water Reactors based on ABB design. Westinghouse Electric Company is wholly owned by BNFL.
Now...did Rummy go to Westinghouse/BNFL or did he stay with ABB? It does make a difference...
I tried throwing "Rumsfeld" into the search, but did not come up with anything significant, a couple of bad links and a couple of links in a foriegn language.
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Yeah, it's a lame hit piece on Rumsfeld. According to the company's press release, the deal was not with North Korea but with something called KEDO, "a consortium formed in 1995 by the governments of the United States, Japan, South Korea and the European Union."