14 O'he Michigan Daily - Tuesday, December 5, 1995 Plan to watch Amazon with radar in jeopardy lAkIrlow/woltILD 0 Brazilian president may void $1.4-billion contract with Mass.-based company The Washington Post BRASILIA, Brazil -Brazil's ambi- t ous surveillance system for the Ama- zon, a $1.4-billion project designed to shield one of the least protected regions in the world, is tangled in a controversy that could have broad consequences for troth the mega-plan itself and its Ameri- can contractor, Raytheon Co. The project is designed to maintain a watch on the tropical rainforest with fixed and airborne radars and other monitoring Devices. Called the Integrated Amazon vigilance System and shortened here to Sivam, it would give Brazil an important imeasure of control over the vast and vulnerable Amazon region in what is seen as a high-tech solution to an age-old concern over national sovereignty. But with questions and accusations emerging daily from two legislative hear- ings, there are signs that the administra- tion of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso may be moving toward voiding the contract with Raytheon because of allegations of influence peddling. The controversy already has forced the resig- nation of three government officials. Some observers here said Cardoso's call for a meeting this week of the National Defense Council, which in- cludes the presidents of the Senate and the lower house of the National Con- gress along with military commanders, could be a step toward voiding the con- tract, a move intended both to save the overall project and to avoid what could be a costly political battle. A U.S. official warned that the project is in "deep trouble politically in the legislature" even though Cardoso per- sonally supports the Raytheon contract. The Massachusetts-based company's system has favorable financing and is viewed by many as the most compre- hensive proposal. It clearly is the most expensive. Any decision to reopen the selection process to intense international competition - as preferred by some legislators -would be a major setback to Raytheon and Brazilian officials. Sivam's proclaimed benefits include eliminating a radar blind spot for com- mercial airlines and the policing of ille- gal drug flights, which are virtually impossible to track now. The sophisti- cated system also could prove an in- valuable environmental tool, capable of monitoring illegal logging and min- ing, forest burning and even incursions into indigenous reserves. But with a price tag of at least $1.4 billion, the project has unleashed all sorts of intriguing machinations. Early on, Sivam created a diplomatic incident when it was revealed that the CIA had information that one of Raytheon's chief rivals, the French defense contractor Thomson - a perennial favorite of the Brazilian armed forces - was offering payments to boost its chances of being awarded the contract. The current crisis began with the re- lease of taped conversations that hint at influence peddling. Although Raytheon's contract cleared the most difficult hurdles when it was ratified by the Brazilian Congress in November 1994, a problem earlier this year with one of the principal .Brazilian subcontractors sent the project back to Congress for another vote. AP PHOTO American lawyer Eric Ross is surrounded by reporters in front of the Naha District Court after the rape trial for three American servicemen resumed yesterday. Tr'ial o3Mrns ijaanresumes WING IT! AT inju±1I~~~1*rd* The Washington Post TOKYO - The wife of one of the three U.S. servicemen on trial for the rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan girl in September apologized to the victim and her parents yesterday, despite her husband's testimony in the same court- room that he is an innocent man whose confession was coerced. "I am very sorry for the behavior of my husband to the Japanese girl, her mother and father, and to the people of Japan and the U.S. Marine Corps," Denitrease Harp told the three-judge panel that will decide the fate of her husband, Marine Corps Pfc. Rodrico Harp, 21. Mrs. Harp, 24, had flown from the United States to be with her husband. She remained composed on the wit- ness stand but began sobbing as she stepped down. Her husband listened to Wife of one accused Marine makes apology to Japanese rape victim 200 Wings $3.25/Pitcher Any Bud Family 1220 S. University _- . 665-7777 her testimony with his head buried in his hands. Mr. Harp pleaded guilty last month to conspiring to rape the girl, but he denied actually raping her. Yesterday in court, he said U.S. military investi- gators who first questioned him about the Sept. 4 incident pressured him into saying that he was guilty, which was "what the Japanese would like to hear." "When I told them what did happen, they pressured me to go in another direction," Harp testified in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, which is part of Japan. Harp's statements to military investigators from the U.S. Naval Crimi- nal Investigative Service were turned over to Japanese police, who said he confessed to the charges against him during their questioning. U.S. Ambassador Walter Mondale, meeting with reporters in Tokyo this morning, said he had no reason to believe that the suspects' confessions were coerced. On the contrary, he said, U.S. military authorities had taken steps to ensure that the suspects' rights are protected. Mondale acknowledged, however, that the suspects did not have a lawyer present during questioning by Japa- nese police. By law, Japanese police may hold and question suspects for up to 23 days with virtually no access to an attorney. Thebrutal attack on the girl, who was on her way home from buying a school notebook when she was abducted and raped, has caused a deep rift between Japan and the United States. Okinawans have long been fed up with hosting more than 29,000 of the 45,000 U.S. troops in Japan. Gov. Masahide Ota and many other Okinawans say that the Americans are a chronic source of crime and that Okinawa bears an inordinate share of the burden of the American military presence in East Asia. Rodrico Harp, of Griffin, Ga.; Ma- rine Corps Pfc. Kendrick Ledet, 20, of Waycross, Ga.; and Navy Seaman Marcus Gill, 22, of Woodville, Texas, all pleaded guilty to involvement in the abduction on the first day of their trial, Nov. 7. tl 304 S. 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