To the Point

US to Sell Arms to India and Pakistan

Since they were formed in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three wars. Three years ago, they barely avoided a fourth. When both countries became nuclear powers in 1998, they were roundly criticized by the United States. Now, times have changed and recently India and Pakistan have been talking peace. Last week, the Bush Administration said it would lift the ban on selling Pakistan F-16's, and offered India the chance to buy fighter planes of its own, as well as missile and radar systems, and help in building nuclear power plants. We consider whether the US fueling an arms race between two nuclear powers and whether that's good for US security and world peace in the long run, with experts from the International Crisis Group, the Institute for Defense Studies, the Brookings Institution, Carnegie Endowment and a veteran of the Reagan State Department. Making News: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Warns about State of the Planet Some 1300 scientists from 95 nations have completed what they call the most comprehensive survey ever on the state of the planet. Their "audit" of nature's economy shows that 60% of the systems that support life on earth are declining. Dr. Walter Reid, Director of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, says the implications reach far beyond environmental concerns to issues of national and international security. Reporter's Notebook: Johnnie Cochran Remembered He became internationally famous for OJ Simpson's acquittal of killing his wife, but in Los Angeles, Johnnie Cochran was well known long before that as a prosecutor and advocate for victims of police abuse. Cochran, who died yesterday of an inoperable brain tumor at the age of 67, said his biggest achievement was overturning the murder conviction of Geronimo Pratt. It took 25 years to prove that the government's case was based on deception and fraud. Friend and colleague Harland Braun offers a remembrance.