The US has had the CIA hard at work 'destabilizing' Sudan, not
politically correct for Wall Street.  But the good news is that
Clinton's effort to appease the corp. media and get them off the 'f'
word in the oval office has worked.  The corp.s have moved the head
job story from first page to tenth.  Bood work Bill.
wcm
>
> For your information . . .
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> CLINTON KNEW TARGET WAS CIVILIAN
>
> American tests showed no trace of nerve gas at 'deadly' Sudan plant. The
> President ordered the attack anyway.  By Ed Vulliamy in Washington, Henry
> McDonald in Belfast, and Shyam Bhatia and Martin Bright in the LONDON
> OBSERVER.
>
> Sunday August 23, 1998:
>
> President Bill Clinton knew he was bombing a civilian target when he
> ordered the United States attack on a Sudan chemical plant. Tests ordered
> by him showed that no nerve gas was on the site and two  British
> professionals who recently worked at the factory said it  clearly had no
> military purpose.
>
> The disclosure will deepen the crisis, following the American attacks on
> Afghanistan and Sudan, in relations between the US and its Muslim allies,
> who have called upon Clinton to produce hard evidence that the attacks had
> a legitimate relevance to the war against international terrorism.
>
> The US claims that the Al-Shifa Pharmaceuticals Industries plant in North
> Khartoum was producing the ingredients for the deadly VX nerve gas. But
> Sudan's assertion that it produced 50 per cent of the country's drug
> requirements is much closer to the truth.
>
> Several vital pieces of evidence point to this conclusion. US forces flew a
> reconnaissance mission to test for traces of gas and reported that there
> were none. Nevertheless Clinton immediately authorised the attack. He was
> also told that the absence of gas would avoid the horrifying spectacle of
> civilian casualties. Sudan has said 10 people were injured, five seriously.
>
> Belfast independent film-maker Irwin Armstrong, who visited the plant last
> year while making a promotional video for the Sudanese ambassador in
> London, said: "The Americans have got this completely wrong.
> "In other parts of the country I encountered heavy security but not here. I
> was allowed to wander about quite freely. This is a perfectly normal
> chemical factory with the things you would expect - stainless steel vats
> and technicians."
>
> Tom Carnaffin, of Hexham, Northumberland, worked as a technical manager
> from 1992 to 1996 for the Baaboud family, who own the plant.
>
> "I have intimate knowledge of that factory and it just does not  lend
> itself to the manufacture of chemical weapons," he said.
>
> "The Americans claimed that the weapons were being manufactured in the
> veterinary part of the factory. I have intimate knowledge of that part of
> the [plant] and unless there have been some radical changes in the last few
> months, it just isn't equipped to cope with the demands of chemical weapon
> manufacturing.
>
> "You need things like airlocks but this factory just has doors leading out
> onto the street. The factory was in the process of being sold to a Saudi
> Arabian. They are allies of the Americans and I don't think it would look
> very good in the prospectus that the factory was also manufacturing weapons
> for Baghdad.
>
> "I have personal knowledge of the need for medicine in Sudan as I almost
> died while working out there. The loss of this factory is a tragedy for the
> rural communities who need those medicines."
>
>
> The engineer, who has said he will be returning to Sudan in the  near
> future to carry out more work for the Baaboud family, condemned  the
> American attack and its resulting loss of life.
>
> "It's a funny feeling to think that I had a cup of tea in that  place and
> the security guard on the gate who used to say hello to me  is very
> probably now dead. The Baabouds are absolutely gutted about  this.
>
> People who they knew personally have been killed - it is very  upsetting."
>
> Meanwhile, an assurance that British targets will not be included in any
> retaliatory strikes has come from sources close to Osama bin Laden, the
> multimillionaire Saudi fundamentalist believed to be behind the twin
> bombings of US embassies in East Africa.
>
> Bin Laden, who survived the American air-strikes on his training camp
> inside Afghanistan, telephoned the editor of the London-based Arabic daily
> newspaper al Quds al Arabi to declare he was only interested in hitting the
> US and Israel.
>
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> This posting is provided to the individual members of this  group without
> permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment,
> scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal
> copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of
> the copyright owner, except for "fair use."
> PQ
>