Hot Buttons: Talk show topics

REPORT: BURNING CHEM WEAPONS FEASIBLE

The United States can use incinerators to destroy its stockpile of chemical weapons safely, a new National Research Council report concludes, but critics of incineration challenged that conclusion, United Press international reports.

"None of the events we identified threatened residents beyond the perimeters of the facilities, but they did raise safety concerns among local residents and elected officials," says Charles Kolb, chief executive officer of Aerodyne Research in Billerica, Mass.

"(We) conclude that safe incineration is feasible and should proceed as quickly as possible with continued strict observation of safety precautions," he added

Craig Williams, director the Chemical Weapons Working Group, a coalition of U.S. public-interest organizations located near weapons depots, says the NAS panel has too many close connections with either the Department of Defense or companies directly involved with the incineration plants.

-- How can citizens gauge government or private reports on a potentially damaging situation when either or both parties have a vested interest?

-- If the United States does not incinerate its stockpile of chemical weapons, how should it be destroyed?

(Thanks to UPI's Scott R. Burnell)

WEAPONS IN IRAQ

The White House says it has solid evidence Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction, but for the time being Americans would have to choose whether to believe its government and others or the Iraqi regime, which has a long history of deception.

"Iraq has lied before and they're lying now about whether they possess weapons of mass destruction," says White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

"President Bush has said Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Tony Blair (the British prime minister) has said Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. (Defense Secretary) Donald Rumsfeld has said Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. Richard Butler (the former head of U.N. weapons inspections) has said they do. The United Nations has said they do. The experts have said they do. Iraq says they don't. You can choose who you want to believe," Fleischer says.

About 16 sites have been visited so far, but no evidence of WMD has apparently been found.

-- Should Bush, Blair and Rumsfeld show us the evidence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction?

-- How are inspectors supposed to find a needle in a haystack -- germs like smallpox in a country the size of France?

DRUGGIST WHO DILUTED DRUGS GETS 30 YEARS

A pharmacist who admitted diluting the drugs he mixed for cancer patients was sentenced to 30 years in prison, United Press International reports.

U.S. District Judge Ortie Smith imposed the maximum prison term after hearing from tearful relatives who accused druggist Robert Courtney of robbing them of precious days with their loved ones.

Courtney, 50, pleaded guilty to 20 federal counts of adulterating, misbranding and tampering with medications.

His actions are believed to have involved 98,000 prescriptions for as many as 4,200 patients since 1992.

Courtney's attorneys sought a minimum 17 1/2-year prison sentence but prosecutors filed a 26-page sentencing memo detailing why the maximum should be imposed, contending Courtney's actions led to at least one premature death.

Courtney says he had no "rational explanation" for his actions and that he began diluting medications to pay more than $600,000 in taxes and a $330,000 pledge to his church.

-- Was 30 years a fair sentence?

-- How do we know other pharmacies aren't diluting medication?