For your information . . .

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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.


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