VOASE0627_The Making of a Nation

27 June 2007

President Reagan's Main Goal was to Shrink Government. But Budget Deficits Created a Huge National Debt.
President Ronald Reagan was elected to a second term in nineteen-eighty-four. He won fifty-nine percent of the popular vote.

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VOICE ONE:

This is Rich Kleinfeldt.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Warren Scheer with THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.

(MUSIC)

Today, we continue the story of America's fortieth president, Ronald Reagan.

VOICE ONE:

President Ronald Reagan raises his left arm as he is shot while leaving a Washington hotel in 1981.

Soon after Ronald Reagan's presidency began, there was an attempt on his life. A gunman shot him in March, nineteen eighty-one. Doctors removed the bullet. He rested, regained his strength, and returned to the White House in twelve days.

The new president's main goal was to reduce the size of the federal government. He and other conservative Republicans wanted less government interference in the daily lives of Americans.

VOICE TWO:

President Reagan won Congressional approval for his plan to reduce taxes on earnings. Many Americans welcomed the plan. Others were concerned about its affect on the national debt. They saw taxes go down while defense spending went up.

To save money, the Reagan administration decided to cut spending for some social programs. This pleased conservatives. Liberals, however, said it limited poor peoples' chances for good housing, health care, and education.

VOICE ONE:

President Reagan also had to make decisions about using military force in other countries. In nineteen eighty-three, he sent Marines to Lebanon. They joined other peacekeeping troops to help stop fighting among several opposing groups. On October twenty-third, a Muslim extremist exploded a bomb in the building where the Marines were living. Two-hundred forty-one Americans died.

VOICE TWO:

Two days later, Marines led an invasion of the Caribbean island nation of Grenada. Communist forces were rebelling against the government there. Cuban soldiers were guarding the streets. President Reagan said he feared for the safety of American students at Grenada's medical school. He sent the Marines to get them out safely. The Marines quickly defeated the communist forces. Many Americans were pleased. Others were angry. They said Grenada was invaded only to make people forget about what happened in Lebanon.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The next year, Nineteen-Eighty-Four, was another presidential election year. It looked like no one could stop President Reagan. His warm way with people had made him hugely popular. He gained support with the military victory in Grenada. And, by the time the campaign started, inflation was under control. The Republican Party re-nominated Ronald Reagan for president and George Bush for vice president.

VOICE TWO:

There were several candidates for the Democratic Party's nomination. One was the first African American to run for president, Jesse Jackson. He was a Protestant clergyman and a long-time human rights activist.

The candidate who finally won the nomination was Walter Mondale. He had been a senator and had served as vice president under President Jimmy Carter. The vice presidential candidate was Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro. It was the first time a major political party in the United States had nominated a woman for national office.

VOICE ONE:

One of the big issues in the campaign was taxes. Most candidates try not to talk about them. Democrat Mondale did. He said taxes would have to be raised to pay for new government programs. This was a serious political mistake. President Reagan gained even more support as a result.

The two candidates agreed to debate on television. During one debate, President Reagan looked old and tired. He did not seem sure of his answers. Yet his popularity was not damaged. On Election Day, he won fifty-nine percent of the popular vote. On Inauguration Day, the weather was not so kind. It was bitterly cold in Washington. All inaugural activities, including the swearing-in ceremony, were held inside.

VOICE TWO:

President Reagan's first term began with an attempt on his life. Six months after his second term began, he faced another threat. Doctors discovered and removed a large growth from his colon. The growth was cancerous. The president was seventy-four years old. Yet, once again, he quickly regained his strength and returned to work.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

For years, the United States had accused Libyan leader Muammar Kaddafi of supporting international terrorist groups. It said he provided them with weapons and a safe place for their headquarters.

In January, Nineteen-Eighty-Six, the United States announced economic restrictions against Libya. Then it began military training exercises near the Libyan coast. Libya said the Americans were violating its territory and fired missiles at them. The Americans fired back, sinking two ships.

VOICE TWO:

On April Fifth, a bomb destroyed a public dance club in West Berlin. Two people died, including an American soldier. The United States said Libya was responsible. President Reagan ordered bomb attacks against the Libyan cities of Tripoli and Benghazi. Muammar Kaddafi escaped unharmed. But one of his children was killed.

Some Americans said the raid was cruel. Others praised it. President Reagan said the United States did what it had to do.

VOICE ONE:

The president also wanted to intervene in Nicaragua. About fifteen thousand rebel troops, called Contras, were fighting the communist government there. Reagan asked for military aid for the Contras. Congress rejected the request. It banned all aid to the Contras.

At that same time, Muslim terrorists in Lebanon seized several Americans. The Reagan administration looked for ways to gain the hostages' release. It decided to sell missiles and missile parts to Iran in exchange for Iran's help. After the sale, Iran told the terrorists in Lebanon to release a few American hostages.

VOICE TWO:

Not long after, serious charges became public. Reports said that money from the sale of arms to Iran was used to aid the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. Several members of the Reagan administration resigned. It appeared that some had violated the law.

President Reagan said he regretted what had happened. But he said he had not known about it. Investigations and court trials of those involved continued into the Nineteen-Nineties. Several people were found guilty of illegal activities and of lying to Congress. No one went to jail.

VOICE ONE:

Most Americans did not blame President Reagan for the actions of others in his administration. They still supported him and his policies. They especially supported his efforts to deal with the Soviet Union.

At the beginning of his first term, President Reagan called the Soviet Union an "evil empire". To protect the United States against the Soviets, he increased military spending to the highest level in American history. Then, in Nineteen-Eighty-Five, Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union.

VOICE TWO:

The two leaders met in Switzerland, in Iceland, in Washington, and in Moscow. Each agreed to destroy hundreds of nuclear missiles. President Reagan also urged Mister Gorbachev to become more democratic. He spoke about the wall that communists had built to divide the city of Berlin, Germany.

RONALD REAGAN:

President Reagan after his speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, on June 12, 1987.

"No American who sees first-hand can ever again take for granted his or her freedom or the precious gift that is America. That gift of freedom is actually the birthright of all humanity. And that is why, as I stood there, I urged the Soviet leader, Mister Gorbachev, to send a new signal of openness to the world by tearing down that wall."

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Ronald Reagan was president as the American economy grew rapidly. He was president as a new sense of openness was beginning in the Soviet Union. Yet, at the end of his presidency, many Americans were concerned by what he left behind. Increased military spending, together with tax cuts, had made the national debt huge. The United States owed thousands of millions of dollars. The debt would be a political issue for presidents to come.

On our next program, we will discuss some social and cultural issues of the Reagan years.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jeri Watson and produced by Paul Thompson. This is Warren Scheer.

VOICE ONE:

And this is Rich Kleinfeldt. Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.

VOASE0627_Education Report

27 June 2007

School Ends, and So Too Does Our Foreign Student Series
A look at graduation time in America. All 43 reports in our series on US higher education can be found at voaspecialenglish.com.

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This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Summer means the end of another school year in America. May and June are graduation season.

A group of Brown University undergraduates before Brown's graduation ceremony in Providence, Rhode Island.

Centuries of tradition explain the special caps and gowns that students and professors wear at commencement ceremonies. Top members of the class and invited guests offer speeches and advice. Finally the time comes for what everyone has been waiting for: one by one, the names of the students are called.

They go to the front and shake hands with school officials. They might receive their official diploma that day or maybe a few weeks later.

Graduations are always emotional events. But in May, at Fort Hays State University in Kansas, a graduate named Nola Ochs received special attention. Her major area of study was history. Nothing unusual about that. But Nola Ochs is ninety-five years old.

That made her the world's oldest graduate for the keepers of the Guinness World Records. Until now they have recognized a ninety-year-old journalism graduate from the University of Oklahoma in two thousand four.

Nola Ochs' granddaughter graduated with her. One of the commencement speakers told the students to take a lesson from Nola Ochs and never stop trying.

That is good advice on which to end our Foreign Student Series on higher education in the United States. We began in September with the process of applying to an American college or university. We talked about admissions tests, financial aid, online education, student exchange programs, programs for disabled students and a lot more.

All forty-three reports can be found online at voaspecialenglish.com. Many were based on questions from listeners. We invite you to continue writing us with your questions about the American education system. Our Foreign Student Series may be over for now, but we will still try to answer questions on future reports. Our e-mail address is special@voanews.com.

Population experts at the Census Bureau say American colleges and universities will have an estimated eighteen million students this fall. Twenty years ago, there were thirteen million. Today there are not only more college-age Americans, but more going to college, including older people and women. At last report from two years ago, fifty-six percent of undergraduates were women. And women were fifty-nine percent of graduate students.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Steve Ember.

US, NATO Not Changing Procedures for Protecting Afghan Civilians

By Al Pessin Pentagon 26 June 2007

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In the wake of a series of high-profile incidents in which U.S. and NATO attacks have killed Afghan civilians, a senior American officer with responsibility for both forces says allied procedures for avoiding civilian casualties are adequate. The officer blames the Taleban for putting the civilians in danger. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.

Speaking via satellite from Bagram Air Base near Kabul, Brigadier General Joseph Votel says the recent incidents involving large numbers of civilian casualties have not resulted in any new procedures.

"No, there's no particularly new procedures that we are using right now," he said. "We think the procedures we have in place are good. They work. They help us minimize the effects on this."

Canadian soldiers, part of the NATO forces, walk in front of a Chinook helicopter after recapturing Ghorak district from Taleban fighters in Kandahar province, south of Kabul, June 25, 2007

General Votel, the deputy commander for operations in both the U.S.-led coalition and the NATO force in eastern Afghanistan, says NATO and coalition officers use "accepted" procedures and take "extensive measures" to avoid civilian casualties, and succeed in hundreds of operations. He says his forces "absolutely regret" any civilian casualties they cause, but he says Taleban fighters expose civilians to danger by operating in, or fleeing to, populated areas.

"I won't say every instance, but in the large majority of these incidents where we unfortunately do have a civilian injury or death or we cause some damage, in most cases these are caused principally by insurgents who are initiating activities in the direct proximity of villages or where civilians are located," he said.

Hamid Karzai speaks at press conference at in Kabul, 23 Jun 2007

On Saturday, President Karzai accused NATO and U.S. forces of carelessness in their approach to protecting Afghan civilians. He said, "Afghan life is not cheap and should not be treated as such." He said NATO and U.S. forces had killed 90 Afghan civilians during the previous 10 days. He did not provide details, or present figures for Taliban attacks.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Defense Department could not provide figures for the number of Afghan civilians killed in fighting this year. A count by the Associated Press indicates that 203 Afghan civilians died as a result of NATO and coalition operations since January, while Taleban fighters killed 178.

The news agency quotes the United Nations office in Afghanistan as having slightly higher figures, attributing 207 civilian deaths to the foreign forces and 213 to the Taleban. AP also quotes an Afghan group (ABCAR) as counting 230 civilians killed by U.S. and NATO troops, with no figure reported for Taliban killings.

A senior researcher at Human Rights Watch in New York, John Sifton, says it is difficult to know whether civilian casualties in Afghanistan have increased this year because the level of fighting changes from month to month. But he says the fact that Taleban forces put civilians at risk does not justify U.S. or NATO forces unnecessarily endangering those civilians. Still the human rights researcher says it is not reasonable to compare the civilian deaths caused by U.S. and NATO forces to those caused by the Taleban.

"The Taleban is committing violations of the Laws of War in almost everything they do," he said. "NATO and the United States, by contrast, is not setting out to violate the Laws of War across the board. However, they're failing to take precautions in a lot of cases, and may occasionally cross the line and violate the Laws of War themselves."

Sifton says Taleban fighters hide among civilians, and even when they attack military targets they do so in civilian areas and use high explosives that are bound to kill many people. He says NATO and U.S. forces are more careful, but he says they still rely too much on highly-destructive air strikes in populated areas.

"NATO, obviously, does take many precautions to avoid civilian casualties," Sifton said. "There's no doubt about it. The concern that we have, and that many human rights activists on the ground have, is that they're not doing enough."

In one of the most recent incidents, NATO troops tracking a Taleban force fleeing toward the Pakistan border Saturday fired a rocket that local reports say killed at least nine Pakistani civilians. Pakistan criticized the incident, and said all military activity on its side of the border should be done by its own forces. General Votel defended the rocket strike, saying the commander operated within the established Rules of Engagement.

"In this particular situation, the commander on the ground determined that he needed to continue to address that threat until it was eliminated," he said. "And that included firing into areas that were in Pakistan."

The general expressed regret for any civilian casualties in Pakistan and says the results of the attack are being investigated. But he says the Taleban force crossed from Pakistan, attacked a NATO unit and then fled back into Pakistan. General Votel says communications with Pakistani military units are good, and efforts are made to coordinate anti-Taliban operations on both sides of the border.

US Immigration Reform Bill Survives Test Vote in Senate

By Deborah Tate Capitol Hill 26 June 2007

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The U.S. Senate has voted to revive broad legislation to overhaul the nation's immigration system, after the measure was blocked by opponents earlier this month. But the fate of the measure remains uncertain, as VOA's Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.

The Senate Tuesday voted 64 to 35 to revive the bill.

Under Senate rules, at least 60 votes were necessary in the 100-seat chamber to move the bill forward.

The Senate action came shortly after President Bush urged lawmakers to support the legislation.

President Bush makes remarks on comprehensive immigration reform, 26 June 2007

"I view this as an historic opportunity for Congress to act, for Congress to replace a system that is not working with one that we believe will work a lot better," said Mr. Bush.

The measure would tighten border security, create a temporary guest worker program and grant immediate legal status to millions of undocumented workers in the United States.

The bill was crafted by a group of Republican and Democratic senators and the White House after months of negotiations.

President Bush has made immigration reform a top domestic priority. He and his aides have been intensely lobbying fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill to support the bill after Senate opponents blocked it from coming to a vote earlier this month.

The Senate's top Democrat, Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, says Republican support will be crucial to getting the bill passed in the chamber, where Democrats hold a slim majority.

Rep. Harry Reid (16 Feb 2007)

"We have an immigration system that is broken and needs to be fixed," he said. "That is what we are trying to do, is fix this. We would be derelict in our duties if we did not make every effort to get the legislation passed."

But many Republicans question whether the bill will go far enough in securing U.S. borders and they argue it will reward immigrants who came to the United States illegally with the possibility of U.S. citizenship.

Senator Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican, is a leading opponent of the legislation. "The bill is flawed," he said. "It will not work."

Sessions and other opponents say their efforts to scuttle the legislation are gaining momentum.

Prospects for the bill's passage remain unclear, with another test vote scheduled Thursday.

In addition, several proposed amendments, if passed, could alter key parts of the legislation, potentially threatening the fragile coalition supporting the bill.

Among those amendments are Republican-backed measures to toughen certain penalties against illegal immigrants and Democratic-sponsored measures that would emphasize family ties in the new merit-based system proposed for future immigrants.

US First Lady Begins Africa Tour in Senegal

By Kari Barber Dakar 26 June 2007

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United States First Lady Laura Bush started a five-day, four-country tour of Africa with a stop in Dakar, Senegal. Kari Barber reports for VOA from Dakar that Mrs. Bush toured a hospital HIV/AIDS center and met with young women who received a U.S.-government backed scholarship to continue their education.

Mrs. Bush picked vegetables and placed them in a basket as she greeted Steve Bolinger, creator of a garden designed to provide food and income for patients living with HIV/AIDS.

At the Fann Hospital, Mrs. Bush also distributed mosquito nets treated with repellent to HIV/AIDS patients who are highly susceptible to malaria.

"We just eradicated malaria in the United States in about 1950," said Mrs. Bush. "We know malaria can be eradicated, so we stand with you as you try to eradicate malaria in Senegal."

Through her visit, Mrs. Bush is looking at how U.S. aid is being used to fight malaria and HIV/AIDS in Africa and to improve education.

U.S. First Lady Laura Bush (l) is seen with Senegal counterpart Viviane Wade in Dakar, 26 Jun 2007

The first lady met with President Abdoulaye Wade and first lady Viviane Wade at the presidential palace.

She also held audience at Grande Medine grade school where she recognized five female students who won scholarships through the U.S. Africa Education Initiative.

Mrs. Bush talked with one of the winners, named Nango.

"Nango says her scholarship gives her an opportunity few girls in her rural village have ever had. The chance to be educated past primary school." she said. "Now Nango plans to become the first girl in her village to attend a university."

Laura Bush speaks at Grande Medine school in Dakar, 26 Jun 2007

Before a crowd at the school, Mrs. Bush announced the United States will send 800,000 textbooks to Senegal schools before the end of the summer. She also promised more training for teachers and scholarships for young women.

"An investment in education, no matter how significant, is always worth it," said Mrs. Bush. "By investing in education, governments meet their other fundamental obligations to improve opportunities for family's and children, to strengthen their economy and to keep their citizens in good health."

President and Mrs. Bush's daughter Jenna Bush is accompanying her mother on the tour. Mrs. Bush's trip will continue through Friday with stops in Mozambique, Zambia and Mali.

Key Republican Senator Says US Iraq Strategy Not Working

By Deborah Tate Capitol Hill 26 June 2007

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An influential U.S. Senate Republican says President Bush's Iraq policy is not working, and he is calling for a downsizing of U.S. forces in Iraq. The comments by Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana has sparked renewed debate about the war, and prompted a second Senate Republican to back the call for a troop withdrawal from Iraq. VOA's Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.

Senator Richard Lugar is shown in this 2005 file photo

Senator Lugar, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, took aim at President Bush's so-called troop surge strategy in a speech on the Senate floor.

"In my judgment, the costs and risks of continuing down the current path outweigh the potential benefits that might be achieved. Persisting indefinitely with the surge strategy will delay policy adjustments that have a better chance of protecting our vital interests over the long term."

Lugar said current policy is limiting U.S. diplomatic effectiveness around the world and straining U.S. military resources. He urged a draw-down of U.S. troops in Iraq and a redeployment of some of those forces in the region before next year's presidential campaign formally gets under way, when, he says, partisan confrontation would make cooperation on national security nearly impossible.

In making his comments late Monday, Lugar broke with most other congressional Republicans, who have said they would wait to make assessments about Iraq until September, when the top U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, delivers a report to Congress.

But Tuesday, another Republican member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator George Voinovich of Ohio, joined Lugar in calling for a troop withdrawal. Voinovich sent President Bush a letter expressing his belief that the United States must begin to develop a comprehensive plan for gradual military disengagement from Iraq.

Even before word of Voinovich's letter became public, the Senate's top Democrat, Majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Lugar's comments could provide political cover for more Republicans who want to challenge President Bush's Iraq policy.

"When this war comes to an end, and it will come to an end, when the history books are written, and they will be written, I believe that Senator Lugar's words could be remembered as the turning point in this intractable civil war in Iraq," he said.

Next month Reid plans to hold votes on several anti-war related amendments to a defense policy bill, including proposals to cut off money for combat operations, withdraw troops, and revoke the 2002 congressional authorization for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

At the White House, spokesman Tony Snow said Lugar's comments are nothing new, and noted that the senator has had reservations about the surge for some time.

But Lugar told reporters administration officials telephoned him to arrange a meeting with him soon.

VOASE0626_Health Report

26 June 2007

Staying Healthy by Washing Your Hands
Experts have found that greater use of soap and water could save a million lives a year by reducing the spread of infections.

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This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Hand washing is a powerful way to prevent the spread of disease.

The World Bank, the United Nations and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical

Medicine did a study to urge hand washing around the world. They found that one million lives could be saved each year if people washed their hands with soap often. They said that programs to increase hand washing with soap could be among the most effective ways to reduce infectious disease.

Doctors say many diseases can be prevented from spreading by hand washing. These include pinworms, influenza, the common cold, hepatitis A, meningitis and infectious diarrhea.

Hand washing destroys germs from other people, animals or objects a person has touched. When people get bacteria on their hands, they can infect themselves by touching their eyes, nose or mouth. Then these people can infect other people.

The experts say the easiest way to catch a cold is to touch your nose or eyes after someone nearby has sneezed or coughed. Another way to become sick is to eat food prepared by someone whose hands were not clean.

The experts say that hand washing is especially important before and after preparing food, before eating and after using the toilet. People should wash their hands after handling animals or animal waste, and after cleaning a baby. The experts say it is also a good idea to wash your hands after handling money and after sneezing or coughing. And it is important to wash your hands often when someone in your home is sick.

The experts say the most effective way to wash your hands is to rub them together while using soap and warm water. They say you do not have to use special antibacterial soap. Be sure to rub all areas of the hands for about ten to fifteen seconds. The rubbing action helps remove germs. Then rinse the hands with water and dry them.

Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are rubbed into the hands and do not require soap and water. Experts say these products must contain at least sixty percent alcohol to be effective in killing most bacteria and viruses.

Experts also say that people who use public bathrooms and dry their hands with a paper towel should use the towel to turn off the water. Then, before throwing it away, use the same paper to open the bathroom door.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. For more news and information about health, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

VOASE0626_Explorations

26 June 2007

'Mercury 13' Women Followed a Dream but Could Never Live It
The story of a group of female pilots who passed tests to train as astronauts in the 1960s, until NASA decided to keep them grounded.

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VOICE ONE:

I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we tell about a program in the nineteen sixties to train women as astronauts. Today they are known as the Mercury Thirteen. They never reached their goal of spaceflight. But they led the way for other American women to travel into space.

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VOICE ONE:

In nineteen fifty-nine the United States was involved in a space race with the former Soviet Union. The Soviets had surprised the world by launching the first satellite. Sputnik One was launched into orbit on October fourth, nineteen fifty-seven. Suddenly, the United States appeared to be behind in an important area of technology.

As a result, President Dwight Eisenhower formed the National Aeronautics

The Mercury 7 astronauts

and Space Administration in nineteen fifty-eight.

By April seventh, nineteen fifty-nine NASA introduced the first American astronauts. They were Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Virgil Grissom, Walter Shirra, Alan Shepard and Donald Slayton. They were known as the Mercury Seven.

VOICE TWO:

In the fall of that year, William Randolph Lovelace was attending a meeting of the Air Force Association in Miami, Florida. Doctor Lovelace was deeply involved in the effort to put Americans into space. He served on NASA's Special Committee on Life Sciences. Astronaut candidates had been put through tests at his medical center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Doctor Lovelace and Air Force Brigadier General Donald Flickinger wondered if women could be trained as astronauts. General Flickinger had designed the space flight tests for the astronaut candidates. He also knew that the Russians had plans to launch a woman into space.

The two men met with Jerrie Cobb, a twenty-eight year-old pilot. They thought Miz Cobb would make a good female astronaut candidate. They invited her to Doctor Lovelace's medical research center in Albuquerque for tests.

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VOICE ONE:

Jerrie Cobb went to Doctor Lovelace's medical center in February of nineteen sixty. She spent one week receiving the same series of tests that the Mercury Seven astronauts faced.

The tests included a general physical examination and X-rays. Some tests involved electric shock. Other tests pushed the body to its physical limits. Yet another test required freezing the inner ear with ice water to test for the condition of vertigo. The doctors also measured brain waves. They performed a total of seventy-five tests on Jerrie Cobb.

VOICE TWO:

Jerrie Cobb in the MASTIF

Jerrie Cobb had one unusual test on a machine called the Multi-Axis Space Test Inertia Facility, or MASTIF. The MASTIF was in NASA's Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. This special machine could move a person in three different directions almost at the same time. It was designed to test a pilot's ability to control a spacecraft under severe conditions. Jerrie Cobb passed the test.

VOICE ONE:

During her tests, Jerrie Cobb knew that if she failed the first level of astronaut training no other women would be tested. By August, the results of the tests were complete. Doctor Lovelace was fully satisfied that Jerrie Cobb had scored similarly to the Mercury Seven astronauts. He even noted that Miz Cobb required less oxygen than the average male astronaut. Jerrie Cobb's success meant that more female candidates were needed for more tests.

VOICE TWO:

Jerrie Cobb helped Doctor Lovelace and General Flickinger chose female astronaut candidates. She searched among members of the international woman's aviation group, the Ninety-Nines, based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Cobb with a Mercury capsule

Miz Cobb worked hard to develop a list of good candidates by August, nineteen sixty-one. Twenty-five other women pilots were chosen and tested at Doctor Lovelace's research center. Candidates had to have flown an airplane for more than one thousand hours. Generally, they were required to be in their early thirties. And they had to be in good physical health.

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VOICE ONE:

Not all the women invited to Albuquerque passed Doctor Lovelace's tests. After the first level of testing only thirteen remained, including Jerrie Cobb. The youngest among them was twenty-one-year-old Wally Funk who was also a competitive skier. Forty-year-old Jane Hart was the oldest. She was married to Senator Philip Hart of Michigan. She also flew helicopters.

Other members of the group were Myrtle Cagle, twin sisters Jan and Marion Dietrich, Jean Hixson and Gene Nora Stumbough Jessen. Also included were Irene Leverton, Bernice Steadman, Sara Gorelick Ratley, Jerri Sloan Truhill and Rhea Hurrle Woltman.

These women would be known as the Mercury Thirteen. They had passed the first level of tests that the Mercury Seven astronauts faced. They now wanted to progress to the next level.

VOICE TWO:

Not all the Mercury Thirteen women took the next level of testing. For the Mercury Seven male astronauts, psychological and space flight testing took place at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. However, NASA would not permit testing to be done on the women at that base.

Only Jerrie Cobb, Wally Funk and Rhea Woltman would receive special psychiatric testing for space fitness in Oklahoma City.

At the same time, Doctor Lovelace began plans for flight training the candidates. The United States Naval School of Aviation Medicine agreed to test Jerrie Cobb for ten days in Pensacola, Florida.

Jerrie Cobb passed a series of tests meant for Navy pilots and astronauts. She would be the only one of the Mercury Thirteen to successfully complete all the tests that Mercury Seven astronauts took. She would also be the only one who had the chance to do so.

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VOICE ONE:

Doctor Lovelace had made plans to test the other women in the group at Pensacola. After a delay, September eighteenth was chosen as the day for flight-testing to begin. But it never took place. The women received telegram messages saying the tests had been cancelled four days before they were to begin.

The Navy wanted NASA to approve the training. NASA resisted the idea. Jerrie Cobb and Jane Hart immediately tried to get the testing restarted. Their efforts led to a committee hearing in Congress. But the women found little support.

Astronaut John Glenn spoke to the committee. He said: "The fact that women are not in this field is a fact of our social order." Glenn later said that he would not oppose a female astronaut program. But he saw no requirement for one.

VOICE TWO:

After two days of hearings, members of Congress had heard enough. They would do nothing to change NASA's decision not to train women for spaceflight.

But the answer about women in space came less than one year after those congressional hearings. On June sixteenth, nineteen sixty-three, Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. She orbited the Earth forty-eight times and spent almost three days in space.

VOICE ONE:

The Mercury Thirteen women were never officially part of the NASA space program. But their willingness to undergo testing to be astronauts and their performance in those tests showed that women could go into space.

It was not until nineteen eighty-three that Sally Ride became the first American woman in space. Sixteen years later, Eileen Collins became the first woman to command a Space Shuttle mission. She invited the surviving members of the Mercury Thirteen to attend the launch. Seven women were able to attend.

Mercury 13 members, from left, Gene Nora Jessen, Wally Funk, Jerrie Cobb, Jerri Truhill, Sarah Ratley, Myrtle Cagle and Bernice Steadman

On May twelfth, two thousand seven, the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh also honored these women. The university gave honorary Doctor of Science degrees to the eight surviving members of the Mercury thirteen. The university said it was honoring the spirit and efforts of this special group of women.

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VOICE TWO:

This program was written and produced by Mario Ritter. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE ONE:

And I’m Steve Ember. You can read and listen to this program on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for Explorations in VOA Special English.

US, Vietnam to Cooperate on Agent Orange Damage

By Matt Steinglass Hanoi 26 June 2007

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When Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet met United States President George Bush in Washington last week, they announced new efforts to tackle the damage caused by Agent Orange. Although the countries agreed victims of Agent Orange need help, scientists are still arguing over how harmful the chemical defoliant really was. Matt Steinglass has more from Hanoi.

A group of boys play together at a center for Agent Orange victims in Danang, Vietnam (File)

Vietnam claims about three million of its citizens suffer health problems stemming from Agent Orange, which U.S. forces sprayed on Vietnamese jungles during the Vietnam War. The defoliant contained high levels of the toxic chemical dioxin.

For many years, the United States rejected Vietnamese appeals for compensation for these victims, saying claims that diseases were caused by Agent Orange were not supported scientifically.

But recently, the U.S. has increased funding for medical aid to people with disabilities in Vietnam, and the U.S. Congress has appropriated $3 million for cleanup and treatment of dioxin-related illnesses.

Tom Leckinger, Hanoi representative of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, is pleased.

"I've been involved with Agent Orange literally since like the late '70s [1970s]," he said. "It has moved more in the past two years than it had in the entire the decades prior to that."

At a recent workshop in Hanoi, the U.S. Department of Defense presented Vietnam's Defense Ministry with an exhaustive two-year study showing how much Agent Orange had been stored and sprayed, and where.

Nathan Sage, environment officer at the U.S. Agency for International Development in Hanoi, says such cooperation is part of the countries' increasingly friendly relationship.

"The level of cooperation on this issue has never been better," said Sage. "And we will continue to support them because they asked for the assistance."

Leckinger says attitudes began to shift in late 2005, when a study by a chemical analysis firm, Hatfield Consultants, showed high levels of dioxin contamination on former U.S. bases where Agent Orange was stored, but no contamination in the countryside.

"I believe that freed up the Vietnamese government to finally come forward and say, 'Now we have to address this,' without being concerned about export issues, agricultural and seafood exports," he said.

It also reassured the U.S. that assistance could focus on cleaning up dioxin "hot spots" near former U.S. bases.

Although the governments are cooperating, the scientists still often disagree on how much Agent Orange-related dioxin is in Vietnam, and what the health effects are.

U.S. scientist Alvin Young has been studying Agent Orange since the early 1970s. He says the Hatfield data on dioxin in the central Vietnamese city of Danang, is misleading.

He says much of the dioxin, or "TCDD", that Hatfield found might have come from other sources. Young points to Hatfield's discovery of dioxin in the Vietnamese city of Can Tho, which he says probably came from the open-air burning of trash at a municipal dump.

"My conclusion: it is highly unlikely that Hatfield Consultants detected TCDD from Agent Orange," Young said.

Dr. Le Ke Son, head of the Vietnamese Red Cross's Agent Orange victims program, disagrees. He says he has found clusters of birth defects near Agent Orange storage sites.

Son notes that the U.S. government has recently set aside money to help Agent Orange victims. He says Vietnam appreciates this as a sign that the U.S. sees the problem from a new angle.

For three years, a group of Vietnamese Agent Orange victims has been suing the U.S. manufacturers of the defoliant. The suit was dismissed in 2005, but the Vietnamese appealed and argued their case in New York last week.

Leckinger of the Vietnam Veterans Group says that, even if the suit is reinstated, compensation is a long way off.

"I would bet a month's salary we're looking at 10 years before this thing would come even close to a trial," he said. "So to be implying that there's some level of compensation in any near future time-frame is simply raising people's hopes falsely."

Even if some American scientists still do not accept how serious the damage from Agent Orange was, the U.S. and Vietnamese governments are cooperating to help some of those who Vietnam says are victims. For those long involved in the issue, that counts as progress.

US General Warns Against Early Withdrawal from Iraq

By Al Pessin Pentagon 25 June 2007

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A senior American officer involved in training Iraq's new security forces is warning against putting too much responsibility on those forces too quickly, as pressure grows in the United States for the start of a withdrawal of U.S. troops. The officer spoke from Baghdad to reporters at the Pentagon Monday and VOA's Al Pessin reports.

Brigadier General Dana Pittard

As coalition forces move to clear insurgent strongholds like Diyala Province, north of Baghdad, as part of the new 10-day old offensive, the plan is for Iraqi forces to take over and maintain security in those areas. But as he nears the end of a year-long assignment running a training program for the Iraqi Army and police, Brigadier General Dana Pittard issued this warning on Monday.

"It will take time, and we've really got to be careful," the general said.

General Pittard, who was an operational commander in Diyala two years ago, says he was saddened during a visit the provincial capital Baquba, early Monday, when he saw many of the development projects he worked on lying in shambles.

He says that happened, and the province became an insurgent stronghold again, because coalition commanders moved too quickly to withdraw their own forces at the beginning of last year and handed security responsibility to the new, and unprepared, Iraqi forces. The result, he said, is nearly 10,000 U.S. forces are back in the province, working with the Iraqi Army to regain control.

"The lesson learned is, do not move our force structure down too quickly," he said. "Do not draw down too quickly when we think there is a glimmer of success. It will take time. It will take time for the Iraqi security forces to be able to take over from our forces."

Still, General Pittard says the Iraqi forces will eventually be able to take control, if they are given the time to develop the skills, leadership and logistical infrastructure they need. He says that could take "a couple of years" in some areas like Diyala. But he says in many parts of the country Iraqi forces should be able to take responsibility by next spring, as a more senior American general indicated last week.

"Oh, it is realistic in many areas in Iraq," the general said. "But in Diyala Province, the way it is right now it will take some time. It will take a coalition force presence there, partnered with the fifth Iraqi Army division and the Iraqi police to provide lasting stability so that the provincial government can then take control."

General Pittard noted, in particular, progress in the Iraqi National Police, which was heavily infiltrated by militia elements. He says a new national commander replaced several key officers, and entire units were taken out of their stations for a month-long retraining program.

The general says the Iraqi Army is also improving, and has shown a willingness to fight that was not always present in the past. The army has had more training than the police force, but General Pittard says even the army needs "years" to build its capabilities and leadership.

Even next spring is longer than many Americans and members of congress want to wait before starting to withdraw some of the 155,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. The congress is demanding a progress report on the new Iraq security plan by September, and many members want a U.S. troop withdrawal to begin shortly afterward. General Pittard appealed for patience.

VOASE0625_Science In the News

25 June 2007

Safety Concerns Put Pressure on US Food and Drug Officials, Congress
The Senate recently approved a bill that would expand the power of the Food and Drug Administration to enforce drug safety. The House of Representatives is also considering a drug safety bill.

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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. This week, we tell about America's Food and Drug Administration.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the federal government. The agency enforces the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and several other public health laws.

The pain medicine Vioxx was removed from the market in 2004 after a study showed it increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

The F.D.A. is responsible for the safety of most food products and medicines. It guarantees that medical devices and biological products are safe and effective. It also guarantees the safety of beauty products and the country’s blood supply.

The F.D.A. supervises feed and drugs given to animals in the United States. It also is responsible for labeling -- the information included with products. All labels describing substances in a product must be truthful.

VOICE TWO:

The F.D.A. has about nine thousand employees. They supervise the manufacture, import, transport, storage and sale of about one million million dollars worth of products each year. This amount represents one-fourth of all money spent by Americans each year.

The agency makes rules for almost ninety thousand businesses in the United States. F.D.A. investigators inspect more than sixteen thousand manufacturing centers and farms each year. The investigators make sure that products are made correctly and labeled truthfully. Often, they will collect products for label inspections or testing by F.D.A. scientists.

VOICE ONE:

The Food and Drug Administration has several choices if a company is found violating any of the laws the agency enforces. F.D.A. officials can urge the company to correct the problem. Or, they can legally remove, or recall, a bad product from the marketplace.

In addition, F.D.A. investigators will seize products if they appear to fail requirements for public use. About thirty thousand shipments of imported goods are seized at American ports every year.

VOICE TWO:

The federal government has not always been responsible for the quality of food and medicines in the United States. In the nineteenth century, individual states were generally responsible for the safety of locally-made food and drugs.

Then, Americans began pressuring the federal government to protect resources and set safety rules. The Bureau of Chemistry was made responsible for the food and drug supply. The chief chemist at the Bureau was Harvey Wiley. For more than twenty years, he called for a federal law to protect the public from unsafe foods.

VOICE ONE:

Finally, in nineteen-oh-six, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Food and Drugs Act into law. The measure became known as the Wiley Act. It banned the transport and sale of unclean or falsely labeled foods, drinks and drugs.

In nineteen twenty-seven, the Bureau of Chemistry was made into two separate agencies. One was the Food, Drug and Insecticide Administration. Later, its name was changed to the Food and Drug Administration. Today, the F.D.A. is part of the Department of Health and Human Services.

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VOICE TWO:

Since the Wiley Act, Congress has passed other laws to help the Food and Drug Administration carry out its work. Yet, it has become harder for the F.D.A. to control medicines within the past few years. One reason is off-label prescriptions. This is when doctors prescribe, or direct, patients to take medicines for unapproved uses.

For example, some patients have been given antibiotic drugs to treat viruses, or anti-depression medicines for pain. It is not uncommon for a drug to effectively treat more than one health disorder. Yet, the F.D.A. usually approves drugs to treat only one disorder.

VOICE ONE:

A recent study investigated the use of off-label drugs in the United States. The Archives for Internal Medicine reported on the investigation.

Researchers studied information about the drugs most prescribed by American doctors in two thousand one. They found that twenty-one percent of those prescriptions were meant to treat medical conditions for which the drugs lacked F.D.A. approval. About three of every four of the prescriptions were for medical conditions for which there were little evidence of the drug’s safety or effectiveness.

VOICE TWO:

Off-label prescriptions are legal. Yet, they carry unknown risks. Several thousand Americans are believed to become very sick every year after taking drugs for unapproved uses.

Some officials blame drug manufacturers for the rise in off-label prescribing. Sales people representing drug makers give free supplies of their products to doctors. The doctors then give them to patients without knowing all the effects the drugs will have.

VOICE ONE:

The F.D.A. does not directly test drugs before approving them for public use. Instead, it depends on drug manufacturers to prove the safety of their medicines. The manufacturers often negotiate with medical schools or private groups to carry out tests. Drug companies reportedly pay millions of dollars to researchers for their results.

The companies argue that they own the information because they paid for the tests. Yet, drug makers often are accused of only reporting findings that make their medicines look good. That means the public may never know about tests that find a drug useless or even dangerous.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The drug industry gives the Food and Drug Administration millions of dollars every year to speed the approval of medicines. Congress reached this agreement in the nineteen-nineties. Yet, critics say this situation makes it difficult for the F.D.A. to effectively supervise drug companies.

The F.D.A. has also faced trouble with some drugs it approved. In two thousand four, drug maker Merck announced a worldwide withdrawal of its pain medicine Vioxx. Merck acted after a study showed that Vioxx increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

VOICE ONE:

Recently, more questions have been raised about the drug approval process. Researchers in the American state of Ohio reported last month that a drug commonly used to treat diabetes might increase the risk of heart attacks. About seven million people worldwide use the drug, Avandia. Its manufacturer is GlaxoSmithKline.

The report led to a congressional investigation into why the F.D.A. had delayed warnings about Avandia. Officials with the agency had suggested stronger safety warnings for the drug last year. But only recently did the head of the F.D.A. call for stronger warnings for Avandia and a similar diabetes drug, Actos. He also said the agency is examining conflicting studies of Avandia to fully establish its effects on patients.

VOICE TWO:

The Vioxx and Avandia incidents have intensified congressional concerns about the effectiveness of the F.D.A. Last month, the Senate approved a bill that would expand the power of the agency to enforce drug safety.

The bill would give the F.D.A. power to control advertisements and restrict the use of medicines found to increase health risks. The bill would also give the agency power to order changes in labeling. Drug companies currently can delay changes on their labels for months.

VOICE ONE:

The Senate bill would expand the F.D.A.’s ability to require manufacturers to study the safety of medicines after they have been approved. It also would force them to publicly list drug tests and their results. This kind of government-operated list would make it difficult for companies to hide evidence of safety problems.

Parts of the Senate bill are supported in the House of Representatives. Political observers say a drug safety bill is likely to become law later this year.

VOICE TWO:

Some people believe the F.D.A. needs to improve its rules for food safety. Millions of Americans become sick each year after eating unclean food or products containing harmful substances.

Public health concerns increased earlier this year when food products from China sickened and killed some animals in the United States. The products contained an industrial chemical, melamine. Several members of Congress have proposed creation of a single agency responsible for food safety.

VOICE ONE:

These are just some of the issues facing the Food and Drug Administration. The agency is expected to deal with these and other concerns in the months to come.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Jill Moss. Brianna Blake was our producer. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE ONE:

And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again at this time next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

VOASE0625_Agriculture Report

25 June 2007

Growing Rice and a Cholera Vaccine at the Same Time
Researchers experiment with a plant-based way to protect against the intestinal infection and possibly other diseases.

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Someday, rice plants might not only provide food but also a way to prevent cholera and other diseases.

Cholera is a bacterial infection of the intestines. Today it is found mostly in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Current vaccines to protect against cholera must be kept in cold storage. The need for refrigeration limits use in poor countries.

But research in Japan may lead to rice plants that contain a cholera vaccine that does not need to be kept cold. So far, the research has been carried out only on mice. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States published the study earlier this month.

Hiroshi Kiyono of the University of Tokyo and his team experimented with genetic material from the bacterium responsible for cholera. They placed it into the Kitaake rice plant.

Mice ate the genetically changed rice seeds as a powder. The report says the vaccine was not destroyed by stomach acid; instead, the animals developed antibodies against the cholera toxin. The scientists say the vaccine remained active even after being stored at room temperature for more than a year and a half.

People would take the vaccine as a drug that contains the powder.

Cholera is usually spread through water or food, in places where conditions are dirty and drinking water supplies are unsafe. Cholera infections are often mild. But some people develop severe cases. The World Health Organization says half of them will die if they are not treated.

The researchers say the experimental cholera vaccine produced reactions in the immune system and in areas of mucosal tissue. Mucosal surfaces include the mouth, nose and reproductive organs. Cholera as well as viruses like those that cause influenza and AIDS infect these areas.

The scientists have great hopes for rice-based vaccines as a way to protect large populations against mucosal infections. There would be no need for injection, since the vaccine would be taken by mouth.

Yet scientists have tried for some time to make plant-based vaccines. Researchers in the United States have developed one for Newcastle disease in chickens, but so far there are no products for humans. At the same time, scientists have to deal with concerns about genetically engineered plants accidentally mixing with food crops.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson.

VOASE0624_This Is America

24 June 2007

Valerie Wilson Has a Story to Tell and a Book to Sell, if CIA Will Let Her
How the CIA leak case led to a prison sentence for a former top official in the Bush administration. Also, a visit to the Sisterhood of Spies area at the International Spy Museum.

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein. Our subject this week is women in the spy business.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Valerie Wilson before a US congressional committee

Her husband calls her "Jane Bond." Valerie Plame Wilson may not exactly be as famous as the imaginary British secret agent James Bond. But public attention in what became known as the C.I.A. leak case brought an end to her career in the Central Intelligence Agency.

Valerie Wilson has sold her life story for a Hollywood movie project. And she has written a book about her twenty years in the C.I.A. "Fair Game" is supposed to be published in October. But the C.I.A. has moved to block its release.

The agency objects to her listing her dates of service. Officially, they remain classified information even though her employment dates were made public last year by mistake.

VOICE TWO:

At the end of May, Valerie Wilson and her publisher brought a civil action over the issue of the dates. The lawsuit accuses the C.I.A. of violating her constitutional right of free speech. It says the C.I.A. demands that large parts of her work be removed or rewritten to hide her government service before two thousand two.

Valerie Wilson says the issue is politics. The C.I.A. says the issue is national security.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

People have seen the former operative on television, in newspapers and across the pages of magazines. Some people criticize Valerie Wilson and her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, calling them attention-seekers. But it was unwanted attention that "outed" her as a C.I.A. officer.

Newspaper columnist Robert Novak wrote about her in July of two thousand three. It happened a week after her husband criticized the Bush administration over the Iraq war.

VOICE TWO:

Joseph Wilson had written in the New York Times about a trip he made to Niger in two thousand two. The C.I.A. sent the retired diplomat to investigate a British intelligence report that Iraq had tried to buy yellowcake uranium from Africa. The material can be used to make nuclear weapons.

Joseph Wilson said he did not find any evidence. He suggested that some intelligence was misused to overstate the threat from Iraq's nuclear weapons program and justify an invasion.

VOICE ONE:

After his article appeared, officials within the administration told reporters that Valerie Wilson worked for the C.I.A. The C.I.A. says her employment at that time was classified information.

President Bush ordered an investigation into the leak. No one was ever charged with the crime of identifying an undercover operative. But the investigation led to charges against the top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Lewis ''Scooter'' Libby

Lewis Libby, also known as Scooter Libby, resigned when he was charged in October of two thousand five. He said in court that he was not guilty.

But in March of this year, after five weeks of trial, a federal jury found him guilty of lying to investigators in an effort to subvert justice. The jury found that he lied about what he had discussed with three reporters concerning Valerie Wilson's employment at the C.I.A.

VOICE TWO:

On June fifth, Judge Reggie Walton sentenced him to thirty months in prison and a fine of two hundred fifty thousand dollars. The judge later ruled that Lewis Libby cannot remain free while his lawyers appeal the case. He may go to prison in several weeks.

His lawyers say he did not purposely make false statements. They say he could not remember details because he had national security concerns on his mind. Also, his lawyers say they believe that the judge wrongly excluded some of the evidence they wanted to present in his defense.

Supporters of Scooter Libby are urging President Bush to pardon him. Others deplore the idea.

VOICE ONE:

After her identity became known, Valerie Wilson moved to another job at the C.I.A. But she told a congressional hearing that being outed had ended her effectiveness as an operative.

She and her husband have moved away from Washington. They now live in the Southwest. But they still have a civil case against Vice President Cheney and, among others, presidential political adviser Karl Rove. The lawsuit accuses them of violating her privacy rights in an effort to punish Joseph Wilson for his criticisms. A judge is considering arguments to dismiss the case.

(SOUND)

VOICE TWO:

Exactly what Valerie Wilson did in her years at the Central Intelligence Agency is not known. But someplace we can learn more about women in espionage is the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.

In fact, one of the most interesting objects there is a small silver tube like millions of women carry. Instead of lip color, it contained a bullet. This lipstick gun was a tool of the KGB, the intelligence and security agency in the former Soviet Union.

VOICE ONE:

At the spy museum we learn how two women in the C.I.A., Sandy Grimes and Jeanne Vertefeuille, helped catch Aldrich Ames. He was a traitor within the agency.

Aldrich Ames worked for the C.I.A. for many years. In nineteen eighty-five, he began to sell American secrets to the Soviets. He cost the United States most of its intelligence gathering operations against the Soviet Union.

VOICE TWO:

Sandy Grimes describes how the C.I.A. knew it had a traitor and put together a list of one hundred ninety-eight agents. Each person could have been the mole. But she suspected Ames. He had begun to act differently. He seemed more sure of himself. And his expensive new clothing raised a question: Where was he getting the money?

VOICE ONE:

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation spent months on the case. They arrested Aldrich Ames in nineteen ninety-four. He was found guilty of espionage and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

In the Sisterhood of Spies area at the museum, we learn about women in history who spied.

One woman belonged to a team under the command of General George Washington during the American Revolution. She is still known only as Number Three Hundred Fifty-Five. The British caught her in seventeen eighty and she died as a prisoner. Some historians think she came from a family loyal to Britain and probably gathered intelligence at social events.

VOICE ONE:

Belle Boyd is known as the "Cleopatra of the Secession" during the American Civil War in the eighteen sixties. She was a teenager in the South when she started spying for the Confederate states that wanted to leave the Union. She used her beauty to gain secrets from northern soldiers.

As we learn at the spy museum, a Union soldier tried to raise a flag over her family home. Her mother moved to stop him. The soldier pushed her mother and Belle Boyd shot him. A court found her not guilty. After that, she took messages across battle lines to Confederate commanders.

VOICE TWO:

The Union also had its women spies. Sarah Emma Edmonds was an expert at disguise. With different identities, she was able to pass easily through enemy lines to gather information. For example, she dressed like a Union soldier and used the name Frank Thompson. She even fought in battles. But before she could get paid for her war service, she first had to prove that she was Frank Thompson.

VOICE ONE:

Probably the best-known woman spy ever is Mata Hari. Yet the International Spy Museum in Washington says Mata Hari was almost a complete failure as a gatherer of information.

She was born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle in the Netherlands in eighteen seventy-six. She became famous representing herself as an Indian dancer in Paris. Later, when she needed money, European military officers and government officials supported her in return for sex.

Mata Hari decided to spy for Germany during World War One. But she also agreed to spy for its enemy France. The French trapped the double agent and she was executed.

VOICE TWO:

Josephine Baker was a famous African-American dancer who moved to Paris because of racial prejudice at home. After World War Two began, she started working for the French Resistance. She carried orders and maps into German-occupied countries. The orders were written in disappearing ink on the pages of her music. Josephine Baker was never caught. She lived to tell of her life as a secret agent.

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VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Listen again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

VOASE0624_Development Report

24 June 2007

Banks Look to Expand Microfinance Services
A nonprofit group, Women's World Banking, is working with lenders to go beyond just offering loans to start businesses.

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This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Officials from some of the world’s leading banks were in the Netherlands last week for a conference on microfinance lending. The Dutch government and the nonprofit organization Women's World Banking organized the two-day meeting.

Mary Ellen Iskenderian is president of New York-based Women's World Banking. She told us from The Hague that people generally think of microfinance only as credit -- a small loan to start a business. But she says her group has found more and more demand for other kinds of services. The organization is working with banks to offer products like, for example, life insurance policies.

She says the question is not if commercial banks can offer microfinance services in a profitable way. The question is how. The bankers discussed things like the use of mobile phone technology in banking, and the ability of banks to offer services in rural areas. Could people do their banking at the point of sale in a village store, for example?

The meeting brought together representatives of the Global Network for Banking Innovation. Women's World Banking formed this network six years ago. It says the aim is to guarantee responsible lending to poor borrowers.

The network is an alliance of twenty-four major banks and microfinance lenders in fifteen countries. Members include Citigroup in the United States, ING and Triodos Bank of the Netherlands, Equity Bank of Kenya and Banco Azteca of Mexico.

Women's World Banking offers support, advice and training to more than fifty microfinance organizations. The group says it has helped twenty-three million people in forty-three countries receive financial services over the last thirty years. Most but not all of the borrowers are women.

As more commercial banks enter microfinance, Mary Ellen Iskenderian says women must continue to be served, to reduce poverty. She says research has shown that for every dollar a female borrower earns from her business, ninety-eight cents is reinvested.

Women use their earnings to educate their children and to improve their homes and communities, she says. A similar male borrower, she says, will reinvest only sixty cents.

The idea for Women's World Banking came out of the first United Nations Conference on Women, held in Mexico City in nineteen seventy-five.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. You can learn more about women's issues at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Faith Lapidus.