8/8/2019 CCT 10-23-2010 -- 'No Peace'

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

ON THE FLOOR OFTHE GULF OF MEXICO Just 20 miles north of where BPs blown-out wellspewed millions of gallonsof oil into the sea, life ap-pears bountiful despite ini-tial fears that crude couldhave wiped out many of

these delicate deepwaterhabitats.Plankton, tiny suspended

particles that form the baseof the oceans food web,float en masse 1 ,400 feetbeneath the surface of theGulf of Mexico, forming asnowy-like underwaterscene as they move withthe currents outside thewindows of a two-man subcreeping a few feet off theseafloor.

Crabs, starfish and otherdeep sea creatures swarmsmall patchesof corals,andtiny sea anemones sproutfrom the sand like minia-ture forests across a lunar-like landscape illuminatedonly by the lights of thesub, otherwise living in adeep, dark environment farfrom the suns reach.

Scientists arecurrently inthe early stages of studyingwhat effects, if any, BPPLCs April 20 oil wellblowout off Louisiana andthe ensuing crude gusherhas had on the delicatedeep sea coral habitats ofthe northern Gulf.

So far, it appears the areadodged a bullet, but moreresearch is needed. Someof the deep sea corals nearthe spill site were only dis-covered just last year.

Originally, when we sawthe trajectory for the oilspill and where it wasgoing, we were very con-cerned that these habitats

would be impacted, saidresearcher Steve Ross othe Center for Marine Sci-ence at the University oNorth Carolina at Wilm-ington.

Ross and others are con-ducting research from aGreenpeace ship in theGulf, using a two-man subas they work to determineif the corals have suffereddamage, or may take a hitfrom long-term impacts,such as stunted reproduc-tion rates.

We thought certainlythat ... we would see signsof damage, Ross said. Andwerevery pleased to say sofar, that in these locations,we havent seen a largescale damage to the coralhabitats. Werestill looking,but so far, its good.

Ross was part of a teamof researchers that studieddeep sea corals in the At-lantic Ocean betweenNorth Carolina andFlorida.The research eventuallyhelped lead to added fed-eral protections for aroughly23,000-square-milenetwork believed to be

among the largest continu-ous distribution of deepwater corals in the world.

Ross and others havenow turned their attentionto the Gulf.

Gulf coralreefs appear

to be healthy

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Page A6, Saturday, October 23, 2010 Carroll County TimeNATION/

WOR

LD

AP PHOTO

Displaced families from Waziristan wait for transportation to carry their food relief provided by theWorld Food Program in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, Thursday. Over the last week, insurgent attackshave killed eight soldiers, while the Pakistani regions 400,000 people will not return until next springat the earliest because of unrest.

No peacePakistan struggles to hold gains against Taliban, U.S. pledges aidASSOCIATED PRESS

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan or Pakistans army, ejecting militantsrom safe havens near the Afghan bor-

der has proven to be the easy part. Theproblems come later: The guerrillascreep back and carry out attacks. Civil-ians never return.

This is especially true in South

Waziristan, where some 30,000 groundtroops launched an offensive a yearago, quickly clearing what had been amajor hub for al-Qaida and the Tal-iban. But over the last week, insurgentattacks have killed eight soldiers, whilethe Pakistani regions 400,000 peoplewill not return until next spring at theearliest.

I want to go back but there is nopeace, said Abdul Karim, a 46-year-old goat and cow herder with threechildren. I would get stuck betweenthe army and the Taliban, Karim saidas he lined up with other refugees fora cash handout in this dusty town closeto South Waziristan.

The problems in South Waziristan similar in many ways to those facingAmerican troops in Afghanistan may help explain Pakistans reluctanceto launch a similar operation in the ad-oining North Waziristan region de-

spite pressure from Washington.Islamabads refusal to move into the

north, where a powerful militant fac-tion behind many of the attacks on U.S.troops in Afghanistan is based, is rais-ing tensions with Washington, whichwants to pressure Afghan insurgentsand create conditions for peace talks toend the 10-year war.

U.S. military leaders have acknowl-edged that the Pakistan army isstretched. But Islamabad is also widelybelieved to be holding back fromNorth Waziristan because the Afghan

aliban factions there are seen as po-tential allies when U.S. troops with-

draw from Afghanistan.The U.S. has praised the armys ef-

forts in the northwest, but a Whiteouse assessment this month con-

tained some blunt criticism. It re-ported that soldiers in South

Waziristan were not attacking mili-tants who were returning from thenorth, where many fled before or dur-ing the offensive.

It said the army had been unable toimplement the hold and build phaseof the offensives in South Waziristanand other tribal regions its forces hadentered over the last 2 years suchas Bajur, Mohmand and Orakzai. Itsinability to overcome those challengescould eventually turn last years oper-ational successes into stalled strategicefforts, the report said.

In a sign of those problems, a bombkilled six soldiers Friday in Orakzai, aregion where just four months ago thearmy chief had declared victory. Hourslater, Pakistani helicopters poundedtargets there and in neighboring Kur-

ram, killing 22 suspected insurgents,government officials said.

In the colonial period, the Britisharmy lost hundreds of soldiers totribesmen in South Waziristan and wasnever able to subdue the mountainousregion, where keeping troops suppliedis a costly and difficult exercise.

Soon after Pakistan launched its of-fensive last year, the Taliban said theywere withdrawing to fight a guerrillawar. An estimated 1 million peoplehave been displaced by Pakistani army

operations against militants in thenorthwest. But unlike many who live incamps, most members of the Mehsudtribe that populates South Waziristanare staying with relatives in the bordertowns of Tank and Dera Ismail Khan.

WASHINGTON The Obamaadministration Friday laid out afive-year, $2 billion military aidpackage for Pakistan as it pressedthe Islamabad government to in-tensify its fight against extremiststhere and in neighboring

Afghanistan.Secretary of State Hillary Rod-

ham Clinton announced the planduring the latest round of U.S.-Pak-istani strategic dialogue. The ad-ministration will ask Congress for$2 billion for Pakistan to purchaseU.S.-made arms, ammunition andaccessories from 2012 to 2016,Clinton said.

The new aid replaces a similarbut less valuable package thatbegan in 2005 and expired on Oct.1. It will complement $7.5 billion incivilian assistance the administra-tion has already committed to Pak-istan over five years, some of

which has been diverted to helpthe country deal with devastatingfloods. The U.S. hopes the an-

nouncement, made by Clinton withPakistani Foreign Minister ShahMahmood Qureshi at her side, willreassure Pakistan of the long-termU.S. commitment to Pakistans mil-itary needs. The money also shouldhelp Pakistan bolster its efforts to

go after Taliban and al-Qaida affili-ates on its territory.

Qureshi said Pakistan appreci-ated the assistance, but he ex-pressed annoyance at the lingeringdoubts. He said nearly 30,000 Pak-istani civilians have died in terroristattacks and nearly 7,000 soldiersand police have been killed fightinga foe that that offers no quarter,obeys no law and holds nothing sa-cred.

Nonetheless, he said, there arestill comments even in this capi-tal, about Pakistans heart beingnot really in this fight.

We do not know what greaterevidence to offer than the blood of

our people, he said.

Associated Press

U.S. BOOSTS PAKISTANI MILITARY AID BY $2B

Currencies center stage at G-20ASSOCIATED PRESS

GYEONGJU, South Korea he U.S. pressed emerging nations

o set targets to reduce their vastrade surpluses with the West, a

lan that could see their curren-ies rise, as a global finance sum-it fumbled for ways to reduce

ensions that threaten to escalatento a trade war.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothyeithners proposals, outlined in a

etter to the Group of 20 major de-eloped and emerging nations,et with immediate resistance on

he opening day of a two-dayeeting of top finance officials.

apans Finance Minister Yoshihikooda Friday called the idea of tar-

ets unrealistic.The gathering of G-20 financeinisters and central bank gover-

ors in the South Korean city ofyeongju comes just two weeks

fter their meeting in Washingtonailed to iron out currency differ-

ences that have led to fears of atrade war that could trigger an-other economic downturn.

In such a scenario, countries de-value their currencies to gain acompetitive advantage in a worldeconomy that has yet to fully re-cover from the global financialmeltdown two years ago. Tradebarriers are erected in response,hitting international commerceand reversing the economic recov-ery.

Nations in Asia and other re-gions have been trying to stemstrength in their currencies amidsustained weakness in the U.S.dollar out of fear their exports willbecome less competitive in worldmarkets. At the same time, Chinascurrency has been effectivelypegged to the dollar, provoking anoutcry that it is being kept artifi-cially low and giving Chinas ex-porters an unfair advantage.

According to officials at thesummit, Geithners idea is to es-

tablish numerical targets for cur-rent account balances, be they sur-pluses or deficits aiming toreduce conflicts over exchangerates by allowing the currencies oftrade surplus countries to rise in

concert. The current account is abroad measure of a countrys totaltrade and investment with the out-side world.

Striving to meet such targetscould over time limit Asias vasttrade surplus with most advancedeconomies but its uncertainwhether specific goals will garnerbroad support within the G-20.

Canadian Finance Minister JimFlaherty said the currency issuemust be addressed and that no onein the G-20 wants to end the meet-ing without an action plan.

If its not, then we know fromhistory the path that we end upgoing down, which is not good forany of us whether were an emerg-

ing economy or a developed econ-omy, he said.

World powers meet in South Korea to discuss global finance

AP PHOTO

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, left, talks with Peo-ples Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan during a dele-

gate reception in the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central BankGovernors meeting in Gyeongju, southeast of Seoul, Friday.

Were stilllooking, but

so far, itsgood.

Steve RossOn research of Gulf

coral reef beds

Teams study effects of spill,

no long-term damage seen