Rumsfeld was on ABB board when it supplied North Korea with nuclear power plants

swissinfo ^ | February 21, 2003 | Jacob Greber

[deport]

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. (huh)

The ABB contract was to deliver equipment and services for two nuclear power stations at Kumho, on North Korea’s east coast.

I'm not sure what this contract was for but I don't think it was for a complete Nuclear Power Plant or reactors, but rather for the steam supply systems based upon my read of the press release announcing the contract..... $200 million sure doesn't buy you two 1,000 MW nuclear power plants by any stretch.

Under the terms of the contracts, ABB will provide engineering, design and components for the two 1,000-megawatt (Mwe) light water nuclear steam supply systems. The systems are an advanced version of ABB’s System 80 design, which is being employed under license in eight reactors in South Korea.

Another bungled job of reporting, but then that may have been the intent all along......

[Cachelot]

So, basically - maybe the matter would have been brought up at a board meeting, but it seems doubtful. And maybe Rumsfeld would have been at that meeting, but it's not certain.

What's your point?

[CyberAnt]

Hey ... just because a person is a member of a board, it does not mean he is in agreement with what the board did. They do things by majority rule - he could have voted against doing any action for N. Korea - but he could have been voted down.

All this stuff is just THE POLITICS OF PERSONAL DESTRUCTION.

If that's the best the DNC can come up with against Rummy, they are really, really, really desperate.

[sam_paine]

...light water nuclear steam supply systems.

Well, a nuclear power plant genreally generates heat from fission that creates steam which drives conventional steam-turbine generators. So the intereting nuke part of a nuke plant would indeed be the "steam supply system."

From your snippets, it appears the Koreans were to integrate their own turbine system for electricity, I guess.

[Benrand]

SOrry to give you this info but ABB is a gigantic company, huge. I wouldn't expect someone on the board to know every contract that that company signs. The CEO and other officers, sure, but a Board member, not significant.

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[faithincowboys]

my point is just because it's legal, doesn't mean it's ethical. do you imagine winston churchill would have been on the board of a firm (pre-ww2) that gave chem/bio weaponry to hitler's germany? can you picture ronald reagan being on a board that gave the north koreans or iranians wmd tech (esp nuclear)? that is no different than loral-- a multi-nat'l firm that puts the bottom line before nat'l security.

[faithincowboys]

yes, i hope that "right" wasn't said with sarcasm.

[sam_paine]

Hey! My dad worked for Loral when Clinton was letting their CEO transfer technology to them. Does that make my dad morally culpable???? Come on. Get realistic.

If Rummy did something knowingly and willingly amoral, then that's bad.

Being on a BOD of a company that sold a position in a business to another company for an agreement approved by a democratically elected government....sounds like you and I both have some culpability in that!

[xm177e2]

This article doesn't use the magic words "light water." These were NOT the nuke plants used to produce/enrich/whatever the plutonium to make nuclear weapons. These plants were involved in no way with nuclear weapons production, because they are incapable of such a thing. "Dirty bombs" are not a terrible threat; compared to nukes, they're harmless. This article is just fearmongering and conspiratorial crap.

[Howlin]

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.

I am positive that deal was APPROVED by the President of the United States at that time, aren't you?

Weapons experts say waste material from the two reactors could be used for so-called “dirty bombs”.

So, did they tell that to the sitting President of the United States?

And if so, why did HE approve the deal?

BTW, have you noticed how many of "our own" are coming out to trash this administration lately?

They are surely doing the work of Clinton and Saddam.

[SuziQ]

“This is a good question, but I couldn’t comment on that because we never disclose the protocols of the board meetings,” Eberhardt said.

I guess they somebody just wanted to drop this out there and get it talked about without giving ANY indication whether or not Donald Rumsfeld actually knew about it. How many board members of large corporations actually know what contracts are being worked on day to day by the companies?

[John Valentine]

You haven't yet cottened on to the fact that the central premise of this article is a lie. This power palnt deal was between ABB and KEDO.

North Korea is not NOT NOT a party to Kedo. But the United States, Japan, South Korea and the European Union are.

NOTHING in the KEDO deal gave nuclear weapons technology to the North Koreans.

This entire article could be generously described as a CROCK.

Please, you are making yourself look silly by believeing any of it.

[faithincowboys]

I'm making myself look silly? well you know that's what people say about dubya (among other things)--I'M IN GOOD COMPANY. don't you think this has the possibility of getting demogogued the hell out of? i must say i haven't had an in depth investigation, but like i said, if true,it is bad news for the bush administration. if you can't realize that, you got a problem not me.

[faithincowboys]

no i never voted for him (clinton) and just because i didn't become an expatriate doesn't mean i am culpable for what he did. however, if rummy knew about the deal (which is publically known) and decided to work for such a firm--that i think that is problematic. don't misunderstand, i absolutely adore rummy, and my contempt for the left and their continual effort to destroy "the bush junta" is as deep as anybody in this forum. and yet not to get personal, but if your father worked for loral ( a company that transferred nuke techology to the chi-coms--that are aimed at our cities and the free people of taiwan) i don't know how he shaves in the morning. no offense.

[faithincowboys]

btw, i am not saying resign as sec. of defense... i was saying he should have resigned from the board-- it's called integrity.

[Orion78]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/833554/posts?page=65#65

[sam_paine]

but if your father worked for loral ( a company that transferred nuke techology to the chi-coms--that are aimed at our cities and the free people of taiwan)

You're way out of line, but I'll give you a pass this time and try to help you out.

You are obviously ignorant of the structure of Loral Corp. then, a huge conglomerate, which at the time of the China deals (98ish), had been primarily involved in buying up and funding aerospace divisions of various companies that were floundering under the Klinton admin.

In 1996 Lockheed Martin offered to buyout all of the serious military aerospace pieces that Loral had collected, such as the Vought Missiles group in Dallas, which builds the new PAC-3 missile defense, primary developer of THAAD protecting troops, developer of the Army ATACMS guided missile, the MLRS artillery rocket system, just about any of the systems protecting our boys in the field (and in Korea and in Taiwan, btw)....and the same company that historically brought you the F-8, first fly-by-wire, A-7 with first FLIR bombing capability, the F-16 from General Dynamics Aerospace, the F-22, etc.etc.

In other words, you obviously have no understanding about the aerospace industry, or how often, during times that the public lets the defense industry wither, that reorganiztions MUST take place to keep them afloat and developing technology to keep your sorry whiny ass safe during times of conflict. That a Democratic rich-bastards like Bernie Schwarz can temporarily infect the industry with their cash when congress is starving them is not a surprise to me. That people like my father have persevered in the trenches to develop the systems through thick-and-thin that protect your sorry freedom to impugne him, that amazes me!

I'm sure he sleeps well knowing that his PAC-3 missiles are protecting many children in Israel and our boys in Turkey, etc....and I guess he doesn't mind protecting you at the same time.

[faithincowboys]

So just because he helped in developing the patriot missile
(which performed in an uninspiring way during the first Gulf War) that mitigates that the Chi-coms now have MIRV technology to put on their nukes that would overwhelm any current missile defense system we have. Great, I'm thrilled. My point is that if you are working in a company that commits treason against its nation-- and you are privy to such knowledge, you bolt the company and use your techical acumen for a company that isn't hellbent on imperiling the United States of America and her citizens. Sorry freedom?? No, I hold my freedom dear and it is a freedom given to me by God not by Loral and protected by our armed forces and if neccessary by my own arms. Incidentally, the men and women of our armed forces take no comfort in the dirty deals that your father's company brokered with the murderous opponents to freedom in Beijing. And if you put your fidelity to multi-national companies before fidelity to country that's your problem, not mine.

[faithincowboys]

You have gotten positively paranoid. I really think the meds might need to be jacked up. We'll see if this resurrects itself at a later date--my point is that it could hurt him and if you refuse to accept reality, ride the way of ignorant bliss. I think your default position must be the fetal position. Let's have a forum of adults. You will do more to alienate people from coming to our side than anybody. It's just this type of reflexive nullification of other opinions that marginally disagree with you (even when those people are firmly on your side) that makes you and others like you look dumb. It is repellant to others who might come to are side. We are conservatives, not cultists and you should figure out the damn difference. I wish our gov't was as skeptical about Mohammed Atta as some of you folks are towards new members.