THE NATION FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2013
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FOREIGN NEWS Pope pulls envoy amid abuse allegations
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ROSECUTORS began a criminal investigation Wednesday into the Vatican’s former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, a day after a local church representative said the pope had recalled the envoy because of child abuse allegations. “We have formally opened an investigation,” Dominican Attorney General Francisco Dominguez Brito told reporters. “Here we have to work with two legal aspects, first national laws and also international laws in his status as a diplomat, which implies other mechanisms of investigation and judgment.” The Vatican confirmed Wednesday that Jozef Wesolowski had been removed from his post and that an investigation is under way but did not say what allegations were made. Wesolowski had been an apostolic nuncio, the Vatican’s official representative in the Dominican Republic. But the pope pulled him from the post last month after an internal church report connected him with child abuse and pedophilia, according to Monsignor Agripino Nunez Collado, the rector of a Catholic university and spokesman for the church in the country. In 2012, when Francis was still Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, he said that when he was asked for advice by another bishop, “I told him to take away the priests’ licenses, not to allow them to exercise the priesthood any more, and to begin a canonical trial in that diocese’s court.” For years, the Catholic Church has faced calls for reform in the wake of scandals involving the sexual abuse of children by priests and allegations of corruption. Shortly after his election to the papacy, Francis told a senior Vatican official to “act decisively” against sexual abuse and carry out “due proceedings against the guilty.” In July, the pope made it a crime to abuse children sexually or physically on Vatican grounds. The acts were already crimes under church law, but are now specifically outlawed within the Vatican city-state, which is home to hundreds of people.
•A cross section of G20 members at St Petersburg, Russia...yesterday
Divided G20 discusses Syria crisis in Russia
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ORLD leaders are locked in a divisive debate over Syria, at the end of the first day of the G20 summit in Russia. Opening the summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed Syria would be discussed at the working dinner, despite not being on the agenda. US President Barack Obama has already talked to Japan’s leader about Syria, and is pushing for support for military strikes against the Damascus regime. In his opening remarks Mr Putin told the leaders, gathered in St Petersburg, that some participants had asked for time to discuss “very acute topics of international politics, in particular the situation around Syria”. Even though the traffic is moving, Damascus is not a normal city. Manufacturing has been badly hit. The way people live has been badly hit. There are two million people displaced in the city. As for the rest of the country, many cities are pretty much in ruins. The whole structure of society in Syria has been fractured by more than two years of fighting. In a sense, looking ahead
to an American attack if it happens, people are saying “look, we’ve been through a lot already, we’re tough, we’re hardened”. But there is something about an attack by the most powerful country in the world that is uniquely alarming. Among Assad supporters, there is a feeling of being more on a war footing, especially for the men who carry guns for the regime. They are concerned that if there is an American attack, there could be follow-up attacks by rebels who are in the suburbs not far from here. “I suggest we do this during dinner so that we... in the first part can discuss the [economic] problems we had gathered here for.” The BBC’s Bridget Kendall in St Petersburg says, in the short-term, the leaders can only hope that their discussion over Syria at dinner does not descend into an even more bitter row than it is already. The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is accused of using chemical weapons against civilians on several occasions during the 30-month conflict. German and US media reports published fur-
ther analysis yesterday both claiming that the gas used in the attack was more potent than expected, and that Syrian forces may have got the mix wrong. UK Prime Minister David Cameron has told the BBC British scientists have uncovered further evidence linking the Damascus attack to the use of chemical weapons. Mr Assad’s government has denied involvement and said the rebels were responsible. On the G20 sidelines, Mr Putin’s spokesman once again dismissed the US intelligence assessment on the Damascus attack. “We can’t accept proof that is a long way from being convincing,” said Dmitry Peskov. Mr Obama, who is trying to build support in the US for military action against the Syrian government, held informal talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over the issue. Mr Obama said Japan and the US had a “joint recognition” that the use of chemical weapons in Syria was a tragedy and a violation of international law. Mr Abe has not stated publicly whether he supports military strikes.
Analysis
What weapons could be used in strikes against Syria?
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S the United States considers military action against Syria in response to a disputed chemical weapons attack on civilians, military analysts profile some of the weapons that may be deployed by both sides in the days ahead. Tomahawk cruise missile The Tomahawk cruise missile has been in service since 1983. These missiles can be launched from ship or submarine. They are equipped with small turbofan engines, similar to commercial airliners, which they use to cruise to their targets. They have a small cross-section, fly at low altitudes and are very difficult to detect. Tomahawks emit little heat so they cannot be picked up by infrared detection. They have a range of about 1,000 miles (1,600km) and fly at a speed of about 550mph (880 km/h). The missile reaches its target by using Terrain Contour Matching software, which works by matching the view on the ground with a map of its route. It carries a warhead of between 1,000lb and 3,000lb (450kg-1,360kg). Destroyer USS Gravely in 2011 The USS Gravely could be
used to launch cruise missiles Arleigh Burke-class destroyer The US has four Arleigh Burkeclass destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean. The ship is 505ft (154m) long and can carry cruise missiles. It is one of the largest and most heavily armed of the US destroyers. It was the first US warship designed with an air-filtration system to protect against nuclear, biological and chemical warfare. USS Nimitz The USS Nimitz, one of two US carriers in the region Aircraft carriers The United States has two aircraft carriers in the region, the USS Harry S Truman and the USS Nimitz. Both of these huge nuclear-powered warships are more than capable of launching air strikes, but if limited action is planned by the Americans then they may not come into use. The carriers are some of the largest in the world, at nearly 1,100ft (330m) long and have a complement of up to 85 aircraft. F-16 fighter/bomber The F-16 has a reputation as one of the most reliable, manoeuvrable and effective mili-
The Pentagon has been developing specific munitions for attacking chemical weapons stores and production facilities. For example a bomb designated “crash pad” is designed to incinerate the target at sufficiently high temperatures to destroy all the chemicals involved tary aircraft in the world. It is a multi-role fighter, with the ability to attack other planes in the air and seek out and destroy targets on the ground. The planes are the backbone of the US Air Force and when first introduced they brought the innovation of fly-by-wire, rather than mechanical cable, controls to fighter planes. It has a range of about 2,000 miles (3,220km), which allows it to remain in combat zones longer than other aircraft. It is armed with an M61 vulcan cannon and the pilot sits in a frameless bubble
canopy for better visibility. F-16s based at Incirlik or Izmir in Turkey, or possibly also operating from Jordan, could be used in any possible strikes against Syria. The F-15 Strike Eagle is a capable, multi-role aircraft F-15 Strike Eagle Another multi-role aircraft, the F-15 was designed for long-range, high-speed ground attacks. The combined thrust from its two engines means it can accelerate even when going straight upwards. F15E Strike Eagles are equipped
with the “Lantirn” navigation and targeting system, which aims to improve the accuracy of attacks by using infrared or laser-guided bombs. It has terrain-following radar, which can be linked to the plane’s autopilot so it can follow the contours of the landscape at a height of just 100ft (30m). Anti-chemical weapon munitions The Pentagon has been developing specific munitions for attacking chemical weapons stores and production facilities. For example a bomb designated “crash pad” is designed to incinerate the target at sufficiently high temperatures to destroy all the chemicals involved. Given the scale of Syria’s chemical weapons infrastructure and the proximity of much of it to heavily populated areas, it is a moot point whether such munitions might be employed in any US strike against Syria. Smaller than the US Nimitz Class carriers, is an impressive ship coming in at 860ft (262m) long. Reuters