Posted on 10/07/2004 8:34:08 PM PDT by wagglebee
United Nations - CIA-Iraq chief weapons inspector Charles Duelfer, whose report cast doubt on Bush administration claims that Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction, was blocked from reaching that same conclusion in 1999-2000 by the Clinton White House.
Before officially joining the CIA weapons hunt earlier this year, Duelfer spent more than 8 years hunting WMD at the United Nations, first for the noted Swede Rolf Ekeus, than the flamboyant Aussie Richard Butler.
Butler, known for his repeated clashes with Iraq officials, was eventually forced out of his U.N. job by the French and Russian ambassadors in June 1999.
Duelfer, succeeded Butler in July 1999, and later resigned in March 2000, when Hans Blix was recruited to carry on the secret Iraqi weapons hunt. During Duelfer's tenure at the U.N., it was the Clinton White House who drove Iraqi policy in the Security Council.
In December 1998, Clinton launched Operation Desert Fox against Iraq. The air attacks against suspected WMD factories and storage facilities grabbed headlines, but in the end, never produced hard evidence that any illegal weapons had been destroyed.
It was at that point, the Clinton White House made a critical decision to "shelve" the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM). UNSCOM was created shortly after Operation Desert Storm in 1991 to uncover Saddam Hussein's secret weapons programs. By 1996, UNSCOM had not only uncovered most of Saddam's hidden programs but had privately come to the conclusion that what else may still remain was not of "signifcant" consequence.
Such a report was being prepared by then UNSCOM chief Rolf Ekeus. But Ekeus, under pressure from the Clinton White House, pulled back and never issued the report. The U.S. felt that if such a report had been sent to the Security Council, the pressure to begin lifting the punishing economic sanctions imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait (August 1990) would markedly increase.
That ran contrary to the Clinton White House policy to "get rid of Saddam Hussein."
It was the same policy that drove the White House to abandon its support of U.N.-Iraq weapons inspector Richard Butler. Butler's aggressive attitude towards Iraq, was too strong for the White House. Butler, like Ekeus, began to suspect that most of Iraq's WMD programs had been "moth-balled."
But under pressure from Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, Butler publicly "hedged" any official assessments.
National Security Adviser Sandy Berger was known to be "uncomfortable" with Butler. U.S. diplomats at the U.N. privately referred to the Aussie diplomat as an "unguided" missile. Eventually, the Russians and French, looking to resume business ties with the Iraqis, forced Butler to the sidelines.
Washington was content to just look on.
The only support the State Department gave Butler was a "going away" party at the U.S./U.N. ambassador's residence at the Waldorf Astoria.
With Butler gone, Clinton and Albright decided to push the Iraq weapons issue to the back-burner. Presidential elections were only a year off, and the White House did not want Iraq to emerge as a major campaign issue.
Duelfer, Butler's deputy, was on loan from the State Department. A veteran of the department of political/military affairs, Duelfer, unlike Butler, could be counted on the maintain a low profile and keep Iraq out of the news. He also had a State Department pension to protect.
From July 1999 through March 2000, Duelfer and his U.N. team were essentially put in cold storage by the Clinton administration. Most U.S. intelligence to UNSCOM stopped. No more satellite surveillance, no more USAF U-2 spy flights over Iraq.
Duelfer and company were relegated to their U.N. offices and spent almost the following year analyzing and re-analyzing materials obtained from year's past.
The situation prompted Duelfer to confess to this reporter hat "UNSCOM was imploding" and that the U.N.'s weapons hunt "was no longer on Washington's radar scope."
Duelfer, like his U.N. predecessors, could also find no convincing proof that Saddam had resurrected his secret WMD programs.
In short, the White House decided the "Iraq" problem was to be put on "indefinite hold." Duelfer, growing increasingly frustrated by the White House's moves, eventually turned over the reins to veteran Swedish diplomat Hans Blix, in March 2000.
Blix also became frustrated by the White House's Iraq policy, but then came the 2000 elections and the attacks of 9/11.
"That changed everything," Blix once confided.
What it did not change was one important fact: Saddam no longer had any significant WMD and hadn't for almost 10 years. A fact known to senior officials of the Clinton White House but never publicly acknowledged.
I thought that was informative on the politics behind Butler's removal, too. That Oil for Food scam sure seems to have a lot of layers to it.
Christie, thought you might be interested in this thread as well.
I had always respected Butler for some time, and was more than surprised to see that he was relieved of his duties.
It seemed that he was being blamed for something at the time, and of course with the state of the old media, and no FR (!) to get behind the story, it was confusing to me, so now I'm pleased to see that he was in fact the decent man I thought all along.
Just can't wait to see what else we find out down the road about this percolating scandal.
Thanks. Bookmark to read later.
"Just can't wait to see what else we find out down the road about this percolating scandal."
Piecing the big picture together would probably be very enlightening. One line of thought I have: if it was the Iraqis, Russians, and French putting the pressure on the Clinton administration to remove Butler and lift sanctions, was the removal of Butler rewarded with Iraqi, Russian, and French bribe money? Did the Oil for Food bribery involve a sort of Iraqi version of Chinagate with bribes from these nations being laundered to the DNC (possibly via McDermott) in exchange for the favor of removing Butler? On that note, one thing that strikes me as odd in the Oil for Food scandal is, why McDermott?--why not bribe somebody more influential? Or did it go to someone more influential with McDermott (and others) playing the middleman?
MARCH 1998 : (RUSSIAN COMPANY SIGNS CONTRACT WITH LIBYA FOR PARTIAL OVERHAUL OF TAJURA NUCLEAR RESEARCH CENTER)The Russian Atomenergoeksport company signs an $8 million contract with Libya for the partial overhaul of the Tajura nuclear research center. —Joseph Cirincione with Jon B. Wolfsthal and Miriam Rajkumar, Deadly Arsenals, Tracking Weapons of Mass Destruction (Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2002), p. 307. via "LIBYA TIMELINE: Key events in the lead up to and the aftermath of the Iraq war," http://www.iraqwatch.org/roundtables/RT4/Libya-Timeline.htm as retrieved on Jun 30, 2004 22:01:38 GMT.
APRIL 1998 : (RUSSIA : N KOREAN CAUGHT PASSING COUNTERFEIT MONEY) - April 1998, Vladivostok, Kil Chae-Gong the Deputy Director for International Affairs of the Workers Party and the secretary managing secret funds for Kim Jong Il, was caught exchanging $30,000 of counterfeit money.- " North Korea: A Continuing Threat," Testimony before The House Committee on International Relations " by James R. Lilley, Resident Fellow, the American Enterprise Institute, Wednesday, March 24, 1999 see : http://www.aei.org/ct/ctlilley2.htm. Click here for an index of Testimony. APRIL 1998 : (IRAN AGREES TO RELEASE PRISONERS FROM IRAN IRAQ WAR) Iran agrees to the release of 5,584 Iraqi POW's in April 1998, and news organizations reported intermittent meetings throughout the remainder of the year between Iranian and Iraqi government officials toward reaching a final agreement on the remaining POW's held by each side.The Iranian government pledged to settle the remaining POW issues with Iraq in 1999. And joint Iran-Iraq search operations were initiated to identify remains of those missing in action.
APRIL 1998 : (IRAN-IRAQ WAR : POW ISSUE : IRAQ BELATEDLY RELEASES SOME IRANIAN POWS) The Iraqi regime has proven that, while it has no respect for human life, it values hostages that can be used as bargaining chips. There is already a well-established pattern of holding prisoners yet denying their existence, only to produce them when it benefits the regime. This was demonstrated in April 1998, when Iraq freed 319 soldiers who had been captured in fighting in March 1991, as well as 3 Iranians who had been imprisoned since the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) and were believed to be dead. - "The Plight of Kuwait's POWs", www.kuwait-info.org/pows.html
APRIL 3, 1998 : (UN INSPECTORS COMPLETE INITIAL SEARCH OF PRESIDENTIAL PALACE SITES IN IRAQ) Inspectors complete their initial search of the eight presidential sites with a visit to President Saddam Hussein's main palace in Baghdad. Initial searches end - TIMELINE OF THE IRAQI CRISIS 1997-1998
APRIL 6, 1998 : (USF, PROFESSOR SAMI AL-ARIAN) USF Engineering Dean Michael Kovac notifies Computer Science and Engineering Chairman Abraham Kandel that Professor Sami Al-Arian can resume his regular faculty duties in fall 1998.
APRIL 6, 1998 : (PAKISTAN'S KRL FACILITY TESTS MISSILE) Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) in Kahuta is in charge of the Ghauri missile program, which conducted the first flight test of the 900-mile-range Ghauri missile April 6
APRIL 9, 1998 : (UN REPORT SAYS IRAQ STILL HOLDING BACK INFO ON BIOWARFARE PROGRAM) A UN report claims Iraq is continuing to hold back information about its germ warfare programme. Iraq still holding back on weapons- TIMELINE OF THE IRAQI CRISIS 1997-1998
APRIL 13, 1998 : (IRAQI MUKHABARAT NOTE IS MADE ON THIS DATE SAYS IRAQI INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS HAD BEEN GiVEN PERMISSION TO PAY BILL FOR AL QAEDA REPRESENTATIVE'S HOTEL STAY IN BAGHDAD)
"We have been informed by Saudi section chief [of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, the Mukhabarat] that we get permission to send the amount and the permission is sent to directorate accountant."
- 'We'll pay all expenses to gain the knowledge from bin Laden and convey a message back,' (Transcipts of documents linking Iraq to Bin Laden ) The Sunday Telegraph, April 27, 2003
APRIL 17, 1998 : (UN INSPECTORS REPORT NO PROGRESS) UN inspectors say they have made no progress in verifying whether Iraq has destroyed its weapons of mass destruction. - TIMELINE OF THE IRAQI CRISIS 1997-1998
APRIL 18, 1998 : (IRAQ DISMISSES UN REPORT) The Iraqi Foreign Minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf describes UN inspectors report as "baseless and boring" and calls for a time limit to be set on inspections. Iraq calls for time limit- TIMELINE OF THE IRAQI CRISIS 1997-1998
APRIL 1998 : (AL QAEDA DELEGATION ATTENDS HUSSEIN'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS, WHERE ARRANGEMENTS WERE MADE TO HAVE IRAQ TRAIN BIN LADEN RECRUITS; THESE RECRUITS FOUND THEMSELVES UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF UDAY; BIN LADEN WOULD REPAY THE REGIME BY DISPATCHING 400 'AFGHAN ARABS' aka MUJAHADEEN, TO FIGHT ANTI-REGIME KURDS IN IRAQ) That [Ayman Zawahiri's dinner with Iraqi VP Taha Yasin Ramadan in early 1998] was such a success that a delegation from al-Qaeda attended Saddam’s birthday celebrations that April, and it was during this trip that arrangements were made for bin Laden recruits to receive the sort of advanced weapons training they could not get in their camps in Afghanistan. The hand-picked bin Laden agents found themselves under the supervision of Saddam’s violent son, Uday, who wanted to conscript some of bin Laden’s skilled fighters into his own militia. Bin Laden reciprocated by dispatching “400 Afghan Arabs” to Iraq to fight Kurds. - "Hijacker 'given anthrax flask by Iraqi agent'," by DANIEL MCGRORY, The London Times, SATURDAY OCTOBER 27 2001, Additional reporting by Roger Boyes in Berlin; Richard Owen in Rome and Andrew Finkel in Istanbul
APRIL 1998 : (US PLACES SANCTIONS ON PAKISTAN) Two weeks after Pakistan tested its Ghauri missile, the State Department quietly announced it was imposing sanctions on KRL and a North Korean missile manufacturer for violating U.S. export laws related to the Missile Technology Control Regime, an international export control accord.
APRIL 21 - MAY 1, 1998 : (IRAQ : AL QAEDA COMMANDERS ABU-ISLAM & QASSIM VISIT SADDAM HUSSEIN'S SON QUSAY IN BAGHDAD) Two of bin-Laden’s senior military commanders, Muhammad Abu-Islam and Abdallah Qassim visited Baghdad for discussions with Saddam Hussein’s son – Qusay Hussein – the “czar” of all Iraqi intelligence matters in this period. -Youssef Bodansky, “Bin Laden; The Man Who Declared War on America,” Prima Publishing, Roseville, CA, 2001, page 324
APRIL 25, 1998 : (SUDANESE LEADER AL-TURABI ACTS AS MEDIATOR BETWEEN IRAQ & AL QAEDA) Spring 1998, Sudanese leader Hassan Al-Turabi again acts as mediator between Baghdad and Al Queda. Iraqi Intelligence leaders meet with Al Queda's Mohammed Abu-Islam and Abdullah Qassim (sometime between April 25, 1998 and Mmay 1, 1998). --- "PRE-BUSH timeline/list of Iraq's Ties To Al Queda," by Sam Pender-author of Iraq's Smoking Gun and other books on the matter , 6/12/04
APRIL 25 - MAY 1, 1998 : (AL QAEDA'S ABU-ISLAM & QASSIM MEET WITH QUSAY HUSSEIN IN IRAQ; ALSO IRAQI AGENTS MET WITH AL QAEDA IN AFGHANISTAN) Between April 25 and May 1, 1998, two of bin Laden’s senior military commanders, Muhammad Abu-Islam and Abdullah Qassim, visited Baghdad for discussions with Saddam Hussein’s son -- Qusay Hussein -- the “czar” of Iraqi intelligence. Qusay Hussein’s participation in those meetings highlights the importance of the talks in both symbolic and practical terms. Upon information and belief, as a direct result of these meetings, Iraq again made commitments to provide training, intelligence, clandestine Saudi border crossings, financial support and weapons and explosives to al Qaeda. Iraqi intelligence officials met with bin Laden in Afghanistan several more times. A second group of bin Laden and al Qaeda operatives from Saudi Arabia were then trained by Iraqi intelligence in Iraq to smuggle weapons and explosives into Saudi Arabia and other countries, which they later accomplished in an effort to carry out future terrorist acts of violence. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda
APRIL 25, 1998 : (AL QAEDA'S ABU-ISLAM & QASSIM MEET WITH QUSAY HUSSEIN) Al Queda's Mohammed Abu-Islam and Abdullah Qassim meet with Qusay Hussein-then responsible for all Iraqi Intelligence matters. Both sides are satisified with negotiations regarding cooperation and a possible shift of Al Queda operations from Afghanistan to Iraq. --- "PRE-BUSH timeline/list of Iraq's Ties To Al Queda," by Sam Pender-author of Iraq's Smoking Gun and other books on the matter , 6/12/04
APRIL 28, 1998 : (UN DECIDES IT IS TOO SOON TO LIFT SANCTIONS ON IRAQ & RENEWS EMBARGO FOR ANOTHER 6 MONTHS) UN decides that it is too early to lift sanctions against Iraq, renewing the embargo for another six months. But the US acknowledges progress in the access to presidential and sensitive sites. Iraq sanctions stay - TIMELINE OF THE IRAQI CRISIS 1997-1998
APRIL 1998 : (FATHER JEAN-MARIE BENJAMIN CROSSES IRAQ, MAKING A "DOCUMENTARY" CALLED "IRAQ : THE BIRTH OF TIME") crossing Iraq with a camera crew (covering over 3000 kilometres), he [Father Jean-Marie Benjamin] produced a documentary entitled "Iraq: the birth of time" (RAI UNO).---- Source : http://www.benjaminforiraq.org/homeGB.htm
(* My note: I wonder who paid his expenses- more oil vouchers from Hussein?)
1998 summer : (UNSCOM, IRAQ) Effective inspections were essentially over, and the talents of a first-rate team of international arms experts put on hold. - "Years have been lost, and it isn't all Saddam's fault - The undoing of arms inspections in Iraq," by Barbara Crossette, International Herald Tribune , October 1, 2002
1998 : (AMR ELGINDY'S FATHER, IBRAHIM ELGINDY, LEADS A PROTEST ON BEHALF OF MUHAMMAD A SALAH- WHO IS LINKED TO HAMAS) Mr. [Anthony] Elgindy's father and brother are also active in Arab and Muslim causes. His father, Ibrahim Elgindy, founded an umbrella group of Muslim organizations in Chicago and led a 1998 protest on behalf of Muhammad A. Salah, whose assets were seized that year after the United States government linked Mr. Salah to Hamas, the radical Palestinian group. -- "Stock Adviser Knew About 9/11 Attacks, U.S. Suggests," by ALEX BERENSON, The New York Times, 05/25/2002
MAY 1998 : (IRAQ, CYNTHIA MCKINNEY, KHALED ELGINDY, AAI, IRAQ TRIP) Khaled Elgindy joins a delegation of Arab-American activists on a humanitarian mission to Iraq and to observe the effects of sanctions first hand. Khaled previously served as Press Secretary to Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), who at the time became the first member of Congress to oppose military action against Iraq and has since called for the lifting of sanctions against the Iraqi people.
Khaled Elgindy is in 2002, the National Coordinator for Political Action at the Arab American Institute in Washington, DC. Khaled represents AAI on a number of national coalitions, including the National Iraq Network, and is responsible for mobilizing Arab-American action on various legislative issues.e has a master's degree from Georgetown University's school of foreign service and a bachelor's degree in Poli-Sci from Indiana U. May be relative of Amr I. ``Tony'' Elgindy, arrested on charges related to stock dealing around 9/11/2002
MAY 1998 : (IRAN, CUBA, BIOTERROR) Secretary of Defense William Cohen testified in Congress that Cuba possesses advanced biotechnology and is capable of mass-producing agents for biological warfare. Cohen stated in May 1998 that: "Cuba’s current scientific facilities could support an offensive biological warfare program in at least the research and development stage. " The Iran-Cuba link has long worried intelligence and security analysts in the US.
Soviet Colonel Ken Alibek, formerly second-in-command of the USSR’s bacteriological arms development program, has long insisted that the Castro regime has such weapons at its disposal. In his book Biohazard, Alibek quotes his former boss, General Yuri T. Kalinin, as having told him that Cuba had an active bacteriological arms program.
MAY 1998 : (CUBA : WMD : BIOTECH) Secretary of Defense William Cohen testified before Congress that Cuba possesses advanced biotechnology and is capable of mass-producing agents for biological warfare. High-level Cuban defectors as well as Col. Ken Alibek, former deputy chief of the ex-Soviet Union's biological warfare program and author of "Biohazard," support that assessment; others have described his secret labs in detail..- "Castro's Connections," Paul Crespo, Sunday, May 12, 2002
MAY 1998 : (PAKISTAN ANNOUNCES IT HAS TESTED NUKES) Later in the month [after India announced its underground nuclear tests], Pakistan announces that it has also exploded nuclear devices.- Sources: Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies; Council for a Livable World Education Fund; The Associated Press
MAY 1998 : (INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC FRONT IS UNVEILED IN KHOST, AFGHANISTAN BY BIN LADEN)
MAY 1998 : (IRAQ OBTAINS KIDNEY MACHINES TO GET PRECISION SWITCHES) Iraq ordered six “lithotripter” machines, saying they would be used to treat kidney stones. Each machine contains a high-precision electronic switch which triggers atomic bombs. It ordered six extra switches.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
MAY 1998 : (SAMI AL ARIAN CASE : WISE, HAMDI DELIVERS SATELLITE PHONE TO BIN LADEN) Tarik Hamdi, a WISE board member, "personally delivered a satellite telephone and battery pack" to bin Laden in May 1998, Emerson reports. WISE, a non-profit organization supposedly dedicated to scholarly pursuits, had a formal affiliation with the University of South Florida. - "FOURTH ESTATE COVERS FOR FIFTH COLUMN" by Reed Ervine, AIM.org
MAY 1998 : (OSAMA BIN LADEN IS INTERVIEWED BY ABC REPORTER JOHN MILLER; COMMENTS UPON HOW AMERICAN WEAKNESS ENCOURAGED HIS MEN IN SOMALIA & REMARKS ON IRAQ, CLINTON) In the first part of this interview which occurred in May 1998, a little over two months before the U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, Osama bin Laden answers questions posed to him by some of his followers at his mountaintop camp in southern Afghanistan. In the latter part of the interview, ABC reporter John Miller is asking the questions.
Miller : "Describe the situation when your men took down the American forces in Somalia. "- (Source: via Mia T of FreeRepublic, thanks)Osama bin Laden : "After our victory in Afghanistan and the defeat of the oppressors who had killed millions of Muslims, the legend about the invincibility of the superpowers vanished. Our boys no longer viewed America as a superpower. So, when they left Afghanistan, they went to Somalia and prepared themselves carefully for a long war. They had thought that the Americans were like the Russians, so they trained and prepared. They were stunned when they discovered how low was the morale of the American soldier. America had entered with 30,000 soldiers in addition to thousands of soldiers from different countries in the world. As I said, our boys were shocked by the low morale of the American soldier and they realized that the American soldier was just a paper tiger. He was unable to endure the strikes that were dealt to his army, so he fled, and America had to stop all its bragging and all that noise it was making in the press after the Gulf War in which it destroyed the infrastructure and the milk and dairy industry that was vital for the infants and the children and the civilians and blew up dams which were necessary for the crops people grew to feed their families.
Proud of this destruction, America assumed the titles of world leader and master of the new world order. After a few blows, it forgot all about those titles and rushed out of Somalia in shame and disgrace, dragging the bodies of its soldiers. America stopped calling itself world leader and master of the new world order, and its politicians realized that those titles were too big for them and that they were unworthy of them.
I was in Sudan when this happened. I was very happy to learn of that great defeat that America suffered, so was every Muslim...."Miller : "The American people, by and large, do not know the name bin Laden, but they soon likely will. Do you have a message for the American people?"
Osama bin Laden : "I say to them that they have put themselves at the mercy of a disloyal government, and this is most evident in Clinton's administration...."
MAY - JULY 1998 : (PORTLAND GROUP MEMBER FORD INTERNS IN THE PORTLAND MAYOR'S OFFICE) Patrice Lumumba Ford is an intern in Portland, OR Mayor Vera Katz's office.- "Terror suspect worked at Mayor Katz's office," story.asp-ID=50869 katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=50869
MAY 1998 : (AFGHANISTAN, BIN LADEN THREAT) Bin Laden stated at a press conference in Afghanistan that we would see the results of his threats "in a few weeks."
(* My note: Forewarning of the US embassy attacks in Africa in August?)
1998 : (COLUMBIA: EGYPTIAN TERRORIST FROM AL-GAMAL AL-ISLAMIYA ENTERS COLUMBIA ILLEGALLY TO HOLD TALKS WITH FARC) An Egyptian terrorist belonging to al-Gamal al-Islamiya entered Colombia illegally in 1998 to hold talks with FARC and was arrested and turned over to U.S. authorities. — He was wanted in connection with the 1997 massacre of 80 Western tourists near Cairo.
MAY 1, 1998 : (IRAQ THREATENS "GRAVE CONSEQUENCES" IF SANCTIONS ARE NOT LIFTED) In an open letter to the Security Council, Iraq warns of grave consequences if UN sanctions against it are not lifted. - TIMELINE OF THE IRAQI CRISIS 1997-1998
MAY 5, 1998 : (NATIONWIDE FBI MANHUNT BEGINS FOR ERIC RUDOLPH, ALLEGED ABORTION/CENTENNIAL OLYMPIC PARK BOMBER) The FBI launches a nationwide manhunt for Eric Robert Rudolph, accused of the deadly 1998 bombing of a Birmingham, Alabama, clinic that performed abortions, the 1996 bombing of the Centennial Olympic Park that killed one person in Atlanta, Georgia, and the 1997 bombings of a nightclub and a women's clinic in the Atlanta area. Rudolph was put on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List but remains at large.
MAY 11, 1998 : (INDIA ANNOUNCES IT HAS CONDUCTED UNDERGROUND NUCLEAR TESTS) India announces it has conducted a series of successful underground nuclear tests, the country's first in 24 years. The event breaks an international de facto moratorium on nuclear testing.- Sources: Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies; Council for a Livable World Education Fund; The Associated Press
MAY 20, 1998 : (IRAQ : UN WEAPONS INSPECTORS TRY TO RESUME WORK) Weapons inspectors resume their search for Iraqi chemical warheads. - TIMELINE OF THE IRAQI CRISIS 1997-1998
MAY 26, 1998 : (US ANNOUNCES IT IS CUTTING ITS FORCES IN THE PERSIAN GULF ON THE SAME DAY UNSCOM HEAD BUTLER SAYS HE INTENDS TO DRAW UP A LIST OF REQUIREMENTS IRAQ MUST MEET TO HAVE SANCTIONS LIFTED- US UNDERMINES EFFORT TO PRESSURE IRAQ INTO COMPLIANCE?) Richard Butler says he intends to draw up a list of outstanding issues that must be addressed by Baghdad to see sanctions lifted by October. On the same day the US announces it is to cut its forces in the Gulf. Official sets out sanctions 'road map' US cuts Gulf forces- TIMELINE OF THE IRAQI CRISIS 1997-1998
MAY 2, 1998 : (SHAKIR ALKHAFAJI DONATION TO 'KNOLLENBERG FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEE') ALKHAFAJI, SHAKIR 5/2/1998 $1,000.00; WEST BLOOMFIELD, MI 48322; -[Contribution]; KNOLLENBERG FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEE - From FEC Info via Freeper 78 posted on 04/21/2004 10:21:41 AM PDT by esarlls3
MAY 2, 1998 : (SHAKIR ALKHAFAJI DONATION TO 'BONIOR FOR CONGRESS') ALKHAFAJI, SHAKIR; 5/2/1998 $500.00; DETROIT, MI 48322; DEVELOPER -[Contribution]; BONIOR FOR CONGRESS - From FEC Info via Freeper 78 posted on 04/21/2004 10:21:41 AM PDT by esarlls3
MAY 1998 : (IRAQ OBTAINS KIDNEY MACHINES TO GET PRECISION SWITCHES) Iraq ordered six “lithotripter” machines, saying they would be used to treat kidney stones. Each machine contains a high-precision electronic switch which triggers atomic bombs. It ordered six extra switches.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
MAY 1998 : (IRAQ, CYNTHIA MCKINNEY, KHALED ELGINDY, AAI, IRAQ TRIP) Khaled Elgindy joins a delegation of Arab-American activists on a humanitarian mission to Iraq and to observe the effects of sanctions first hand. Khaled previously served as Press Secretary to Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), who at the time became the first member of Congress to oppose military action against Iraq and has since called for the lifting of sanctions against the Iraqi people. Khaled Elgindy is in 2002, the National Coordinator for Political Action at the Arab American Institute in Washington, DC. Khaled represents AAI on a number of national coalitions, including the National Iraq Network, and is responsible for mobilizing Arab-American action on various legislative issues.e has a master's degree from Georgetown University's school of foreign service and a bachelor's degree in Poli-Sci from Indiana U. May be relative of Amr I. ``Tony'' Elgindy, arrested on charges related to stock dealing around 9/11/2002
JUNE 1998 : (PAKISTAN, NORTH KOREA MISSILE CONTRACTS) North Korea's No Dong missile is operational and has a range of about 1,000 kilometers. Pakistan and the DPRK had ballistic missile contracts, engineers and advisors from both countries worked on Iranian missile programs. - Reports from Ken Bacon at the Pentagon
JUNE 1998 : (PAKISTAN RECIEVES WEAPONS MATERIAL FROM N. KOREA) "North Korea delivered several shipments of weapons material to Pakistan this summer, including warhead canisters for the new Ghauri medium-range missile, The Washington Times has learned. Pakistan's premier nuclear weapons development center, Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) in Kahuta, received the shipments in mid-June, according to U.S. officials familiar with secret intelligence reports circulated to senior Clinton administration officials last month. The reports highlight the close cooperation between North Korea and Pakistan on missiles and raise new worries among U.S. officials that Pakistan is developing nuclear warheads for the Ghauri missile. Other reports indicate Pakistan is moving ahead rapidly with plans to develop weapons-grade fuel for nuclear weapons from several facilities.The KRL facility is in charge of the Ghauri missile program, which conducted the first flight test of the 900-mile-range missile April 6. Two weeks later, the State Department quietly announced it was imposing sanctions on KRL and a North Korean missile manufacturer for violating U.S. export laws related to the Missile Technology Control Regime, an international export control accord. - Washington Times Bill Gertz 9/14/98
JUNE 1998 : (AAADC, AAI, KHALED ELGINDY, CONYERS, BISHOP GUMBLETON) The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee sponsors a congressional briefing to publicize the letter. Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit spoke at the briefing and described the deplorable health conditions he found during his recent visit to Iraq. In July, the Arab American Institute (AAI) sponsored a similar congressional briefing, at which Khaled Elgindy of the AAI showed slides of his visit to Iraq and Carl LeVan of Representative Conyers’ office described the letter in detail and urged the staff members in attendance to encourage their congressmen to sign on. LeVan said that the letter will probably not be sent until October, so as to get as many signatures as possible. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/695883/posts?page=70
JUNE 1998 : (SUDANESE OFFER TO ALLOW THE US TO LOOK FOR TERRORISM) FBI declines Sudanese offer to allow US officials to have free reign to look for terrorism activities in Sudan.
JUNE 9, 1998 (CHANG, DNC, MCAULIFFE, TORICELLI) Mr. Chang and Audrey Yu attend state dinner for President Kim Dae Jung of South Korea.
JUNE 11, 1998 : (PAKISTANI MISSILE PROGRAM, CLINTON COVER-UP) Former CIA Nonproliferation Center chief Gordon Oehler told a Senate hearing June 11 that Pakistan since 1992 has shifted from buying missile systems to producing its own. Mr. Oehler testified that the Clinton administration covered up evidence indicating China had sold M-11 short-range missiles to Pakistan to avoid having to impose sanctions under U.S. export laws. State Department and Pentagon spokesmen denied at the time that any M-11s were in Pakistan, noting that the U.S. government had not determined yet whether the missiles were present." - Washington Times Bill Gertz 9/14/98
JUNE 1998 (CHANG, DNC, MCAULIFFE, TORICELLI : CHANG DONATIONS TO THE DNC) Mr. Chang donates $50,000 to the Democratic National Committee and $50,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
JUNE 1998 (mid month) : (IRAQ : AL QAEDA OPERATIVES ATTEND 4 WEEK SESSIONS AT AL-NASIRIYAH TRAINING CAMP TAUGHT BY IRAQI INTELLIGENCE & MILITARY; TRAINING INVOLVES RECON & TARGETING AMERICAN INSTALLATIONS, COVERS WEAPONS SMUGGLING INTO SAUDI ARABIA) Bin-Laden’s operatives were at the al-Nasiriyah training camp, receiving a four week course of instruction from the Iraqi intelligence and military on reconnaissance and targeting American facilities and installations for terrorist attacks. Another group was organized and trained for smuggling weapons and explosives into Saudi Arabia – and used their return to the kingdom as the first (successful) operation. A third group of bin-Laden’s Saudi operatives received a month of sophisticated guerrilla operations training later in the Summer of 1998. - Youssef Bodansky, “Bin Laden; The Man Who Declared War on America,” Prima Publishing, Roseville, CA, 2001, page 324
JUNE 22, 1998 : (NORTH KOREA COMMANDOES CAUGHT BY SOUTH KOREA) Nine North Korean commandos found dead aboard a mini-sub caught in fishing nets, off Sokcho on the east coat of South Korea. http://asia.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/06/29/korea.navy.timeline.reut/
JUNE 1998 : (CHINA, US, TAIWAN ISSUE - CLINTON ADMINISTRATION'S "THREE NOS POLICY" OUTLINED) Bill Clinton stated the 'Three Nos' in Shanghai in June 1998 (no support for Taiwan independence, no support for "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan" and no support for Taiwan's membership in international organizations where statehood is required).
JUNE 26, 1998 : (FATHER BENJAMIN'S DOCUMENTARY "IRAQ SOLIDARITY ACTION" IS SCREENED; IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO THE VATICAN AL ZAHAWIE ATTENDS THE SCREENING) VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- A new 20-minute documentary film, produced in Iraq by Father Jean-Marie Benjamin, describes the damages brought upon that country's people by the 7-year-old embargo. The film will be screened for the press in Rome tomorrow. Father Benjamin and his film crew traveled extensively across Iraq-- visiting Mosul, Basra, Samra, Baghdad, and Babylon-- to gather footage for their documentary, which is entitled "Iraq solidarity action." The film denounces the "atrocity of these inhuman sanctions which, each month, cause the death of more than 6,000 children," according to a press release from the producers. Father Benjamin, a French-born priest now serving in the Rome diocese, has previously overseen the production of films on Padre Pio and St. Francis of Assisi. He also accompanied the late Cardinal Agostino Casaroli on many of his diplomatic missions Send reply to: ADC Iraq Task Force adc-itf@leb.net - "DOCUMENTARY FILM RIPS EMBARGO ON IRAQ," 25 June 1998, http://www.iacenter.org/film625.htm
JUNE 19, 1998 : (UN SECURITY COUNCIL) The Security Council approves a resolution allowing Iraq to spend $300m on importing spare parts to improve its oil facilities. UN approves Iraqi oil spend Iraq warms to oil offer - TIMELINE OF THE IRAQI CRISIS 1997-1998
JUNE 22, 1998 : (NORTH KOREA COMMANDOES CAUGHT BY SOUTH KOREA) Nine North Korean commandos found dead aboard a mini-sub caught in fishing nets, off Sokcho on the east coat of South Korea. http://asia.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/06/29/korea.navy.timeline.reut/
JULY 23, 1998 : (IRAN TEST FIRES N KOREAN MISSILE) The Islamic Nation of Iran test fired a medium range missile purchased from North Korea on July 23, 1998 - "A Short History of World War IIIA Lesson of the Future.," by Sal Rosken, The Partial Observer , 2 March 2003
JUNE 24, 1988 : (SPAIN : HIJACKING) Spanish Boeing 727 airliner hijacked on internal flight, with 130 people onboard. All eventually freed unharmed after the single hijacker gave himself up.
JUNE 24, 1998 : (IRAQ CAUGHT IN A LIE : VX NERVE GAS HAD BEEN FOUND IN IRAQI MISSILE FRAGMENTS) Richard Butler confirms reports that traces of the nerve gas VX has been found in Iraqi missile fragments. Iraq had always insisted it had not weaponised VX. UN confirms nerve gas reports Iraq rejects nerve gas claims - TIMELINE OF THE IRAQI CRISIS 1997-1998
JUNE 24, 1998 : (SUDAN & CLINTON ADMINISTRATION) Theoretically, the February Sudanese offer to the FBI should have been evaluated on merits that did not take the Clinton administration's political viewpoint on Sudan into consideration, particularly since it differed from President Bashir's April offer at a political level, in that it was made at an intelligence-to-intelligence level.
After all, the U.S. executive branch is not supposed to interfere with the FBI's job. Or so we thought. On June 24, Williams finally replied to al-Mahdi "… I am not currently in a position to accept your kind invitation. I am hopeful that future circumstances might allow me to visit with you…." Future circumstances was code, as I found out later from career officials at State involved in the discussions at the time, for a point at which the politicizing that had come to characterize Clinton administration terrorism policies would end. Blockages created by State's East Africa department under Rice, and by Berger at the National Security Council, remained as both vehemently argued against allowing FBI delegations to visit Khartoum under any circumstances.
U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed six weeks later. Cruise-missile attacks against Sudan and Afghanistan, based on faulty and inaccurate intelligence, followed and ignited the fires burning inside radical Islam's criminal core. As we now know, planning for the September 11 attacks on America began soon thereafter. - "The Clinton Intel Record Deeper failures revealed. ," by Mansoor Ijaz, National Review Online, 4-29-2003
JUNE 25, 1998 : (FATHER BENJAMIN'S DOCUMENTARY "IRAQ SOLIDARITY ACTION" WILL BE SCREENED TOMORROW; IRAQI AMBASSADOR TO THE VATICAN AL ZAHAWIE WILL ATTEND THE SCREENING) VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- A new 20-minute documentary film, produced in Iraq by Father Jean-Marie Benjamin, describes the damages brought upon that country's people by the 7-year-old embargo. The film will be screened for the press in Rome tomorrow. Father Benjamin and his film crew traveled extensively across Iraq-- visiting Mosul, Basra, Samra, Baghdad, and Babylon-- to gather footage for their documentary, which is entitled "Iraq solidarity action."
The film denounces the "atrocity of these inhuman sanctions which, each month, cause the death of more than 6,000 children," according to a press release from the producers. Father Benjamin, a French-born priest now serving in the Rome diocese, has previously overseen the production of films on Padre Pio and St. Francis of Assisi. He also accompanied the late Cardinal Agostino Casaroli on many of his diplomatic missions Send reply to: ADC Iraq Task Force adc-itf@leb.net - "DOCUMENTARY FILM RIPS EMBARGO ON IRAQ," 25 June 1998, http://www.iacenter.org/film625.htm
JUNE 26, 1998 : (IRAQI ENVOY TO THE HOLY SEE, AL ZAHAWIE, ATTENDS SCREENING OF LEFTWING PRIEST BENJAMIN'S DOCUMENTARY; MEANWHILE, THE VATICAN'S ENVOY IN BAGHDAD, ARCHBISHOP LAZZAROTTO, ISSUES A STATEMENT TO BE PLAYED AT THE SCREENING CONDEMNING THE EMBARGO ON IRAQ; THE ARCHBISHOP ENCOURAGES CHRISTIANS TO BREAK THE INTERNATIONAL EMBARGO) VATICAN (CWNews.com - Catholic World News) -- The Vatican's envoy in Baghdad has once again lashed out against the international embargo on Iraq. In a video message, played at the screening of a new documentary on the effects of that embargo, Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto called upon Christian to show their solidarity with the people of Iraq. The documentary film, "Iraq Solidarity Action," was produced by Father Jean-Marie Benjamin, a French-born priest serving the diocese of Rome. It was screened today in the presence of the Iraqi ambassador to the Holy See, Wissam Chawket al-Zahawie.
In his video message to the film audience, Archbishop Lazzarotto urged all Christians to "multiple their gestures of solidarity," in order to break through "the isolation created by the embargo." Those who travel to Iraq, he said, would find their a rich culture which deserves understanding and preservation.
The practical effects of the embargo, the papal nuncio continued, have not been changes in government policy, but rather the death of the society's most vulnerable people. As a result, he reported, people are losing their confidence in the future. The best hope for the Iraqi people, he said, would lie in a return to the normal life they enjoyed before the Persian Gulf War. - "Vatican envoy in Iraq denounces embargo again,"
JUNE 30, 1998 : (IRAQ) An American fighter plane opens fire on an Iraqi missile site. The US Defence Department says the action was taken after four British Tornado military jets were illuminated by Iraqi radar. US plane targets Iraqi missile site Iraq condemns 'US aggression'- TIMELINE OF THE IRAQI CRISIS 1997-1998
JULY 1998 : (IN EGYPT, N KOREAN DIPLOMATS CAUGHT SMUGGLING RHYPNOL) Two North Korean diplomats passing through Egypt were discovered carrying 506,000 tablets of Rhypnol - a sedative used as a "date rape drug." This has been the largest seizure of Rhypnol so far.- " North Korea: A Continuing Threat," Testimony before The House Committee on International Relations " by James R. Lilley, Resident Fellow, the American Enterprise Institute, Wednesday, March 24, 1999 see : http://www.aei.org/ct/ctlilley2.htm. Click here for an index of Testimony.
JULY 1998 : (AFGHANISTAN: TALIBAN, AL-QEADA DISPUTE) report stored in the Kabul computer later recovered by a Wall Street Journal reporter in 2001 details what seems to have been a near rupture in relations between Afghanistan’s then leaders and bin Laden’s network. Addressed to Ayman — apparently Zawahri — the report describes an angry meeting between the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, and “Abu Abdullah.” This could be a reference to bin Laden, since that was one of his aliases. The report blames the quarrel on a “bankrupt failure to achieve any real external victory.” It warns that Arabs operating in Afghanistan risk losing access to their training camps, just as they were earlier expelled from Sudan, bin Laden’s main base until 1996. There was also a note on the computer that Islamic militants in Egypt, meanwhile, were grilled over their 1998 decision to declare a truce with the government in Cairo and give up violence. Several files on the computer focus on this quarrel over strategy. “Noble brother, I hesitated in writing this letter when it was announced that you had called for a stop to all military operations,” reads a letter from Zawahri to a leader of Egypt’s Islamic Group. “Does that position apply to inciting people to perform jihad against Americans? And does it apply to Israel as well?”
JULY 1998 : (TANZANIA, AL-QEADA, US EMBASSY BOMB PLOT, GHAILANI, SWEDAN) A Nissan Atlas truck was purchased in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, by al-Qaida operatives Ahmed Khfaklan Ghailani and Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan.
JULY 1998 : (RUMSFELD CONGRESSIONAL PANEL REPORT CONCERNING NORTH KOREA IS ISSUED) The Congressional panel headed by former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, however, appeared more candid. The panel's report issued in July 1998 states: "The commission judges that the No Dong was operationally deployed long before the US government recognized that fact. There is ample evidence that North Korea has created a sizable missile production infrastructure, and therefore it is highly likely that considerable numbers of No Dongs have been produced." Because of the Intelligence Community's failure to assess both the scope and pace of the No Dong development, the Rumsfeld commission warned that "the United States may have very little warning prior to deployment of the Taepo Dong 2"--the missile that can target the United States. - Air Force Magazine 1/2000 Bill Gertz
JULY 11, 1998 : (NORTH KOREA RANT AGAINST THE USA) "North Korea yesterday blasted the United States for saying its troops should remain in South Korea and demanded the immediate withdrawal of its forces. .." - Hong Kong Standard 7/11/98
JULY 12, 1998 : (N. KOREAN FROGMAN FOUND DEAD) One North Korean frogman found dead on a beach at Donghae on South Korea's east coast. http://asia.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/06/29/korea.navy.timeline.reut/
JULY 14, 1998 (CHANG, DNC, MCAULIFFE, TORICELLI) Mr. Chang attends White House movie nightwith President Clinton.
JULY 1998 (mid month) : (BIN LADEN SENDS AL-ZAWAHIRI TO MEET WITH IRAQI VP & OTHER OFFICIALS) Bin-Laden sent Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian co-founder of al-Qaeda to Iraq to meet with senior Iraqi officials, including Iraqi vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan, to discuss and plan a joint strategy for an anti-US jihad. Baghdad pledged their full support and cooperation, on the condition that bin-Laden not incite the Iraqi Muslim Brotherhood against Saddam Hussein’s reign. Zawahiri was taken to tour a potential site for bin-Laden’s new headquarters near al-Fallujah, and to observe training at terrorist camps run by Iraqi intelligence, to include the training conducted at al-Nasiriyah to bin-Laden’s Saudi operatives. Zawahiri assumed responsibility for the al-Nasiriyah training camp in the name of Osama bin-Laden, as part of Iraq’s recognition of bin-Laden as the “local authority” in the jihad against the United States.- Youssef Bodansky, “Bin Laden; The Man Who Declared War on America,” Prima Publishing, Roseville, CA, 2001, page 324-325.
JULY 1998 mid : (AL ZAWAHIRI MEETS WITH IRAQI VICE PRESIDENT RAMADAN IN IRAQ) Despite philosophical and religious differences with Saddam Hussein, bin Laden continually sought to strengthen and reinforce the support he and al Qaeda received from Iraq. In mid-July 1998, bin Laden sent Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian co-founder of al-Qaeda, to Iraq to meet with senior Iraqi officials, including Iraqi vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan. Upon information and belief, the purpose of this meeting was to discuss and plan a joint strategy for a terrorist campaign against the United States. During the July 1998 visit Zawahiri toured an Iraqi military base and nuclear and chemical weapons facility near al-Fallujah in Iraq and upon information and belief, observed training by Iraqi intelligence officials of al Qaeda operatives at the al-Nasiriyah military and chemical weapons facility in Iraq. - Findlaw, Ashton, et al. v. al Qaeda
JULY 1998 : (AFGHANISTAN, TALIBAN, AL-QEADA DISPUTE) report stored in the Kabul computer later recovered by a Wall Street Journal reporter in 2001 details what seems to have been a near rupture in relations between Afghanistan’s then leaders and bin Laden’s network. Addressed to Ayman — apparently Zawahri — the report describes an angry meeting between the Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, and “Abu Abdullah.” This could be a reference to bin Laden, since that was one of his aliases. The report blames the quarrel on a “bankrupt failure to achieve any real external victory.” It warns that Arabs operating in Afghanistan risk losing access to their training camps, just as they were earlier expelled from Sudan, bin Laden’s main base until 1996. There was also a note on the computer that Islamic militants in Egypt, meanwhile, were grilled over their 1998 decision to declare a truce with the government in Cairo and give up violence. Several files on the computer focus on this quarrel over strategy. “Noble brother, I hesitated in writing this letter when it was announced that you had called for a stop to all military operations,” reads a letter from Zawahri to a leader of Egypt’s Islamic Group. “Does that position apply to inciting people to perform jihad against Americans? And does it apply to Israel as well?”
JULY 25, 1998 Saturday : (REPORTS OF DISCOVERY OF NORTH KOREAN TUNNELS) "South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported on Saturday, July 25, that the South Korean military is currently attempting to uncover at least two of seven identified North Korean infiltration tunnels. The agency cited military investigators as saying that North Korea was digging 21 tunnels along the Military Demarcation Line, and that the army has roughly located seven tunnels with the assistance of a defected North Korean soldier, aerial reconnaissance photographs, and examination of explosions recorded along the border. The more than two-meter wide tunnels can reportedly handle the passage of 15,000 soldiers per hour. Yonhap reported that South Korean forces are drilling test holes in the areas of the seven suspected tunnels, and military authorities allegedly expect to confirm two of the tunnels by the end of the year." - StratFor Intelligence Briefing 7/28/98
JULY 30, 1998 : (IRAQ THREATENS ACTION UNLESS UN EMBARGO LIFTED : AL QAEDA?) Iraq warns that it will take unspecified action unless the UN embargo is lifted. A statement issued after a meeting of Iraqi leaders said the visit by Richard Butler the following week would be crucial. - TIMELINE OF THE IRAQI CRISIS 1997-1998
(*My note : this was right after al Qaeda's al Zawahiri met with Iraqi VP and before the US embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya in early August.)
JULY 31, 1998 : (RUMSFELD, NORTH KOREA) The Washington Times Ralph Hallow "The Rumsfeld Commission report found that North Korea, Iran and other countries are hiding their ballistic missile development programs from U.S. satellites. It said these countries are using huge underground laboratories and factories to make and test missiles. Mr. Nicholson, who has been touting a missile shield on radio and in signed opinion columns in newspapers, said Democrats are filibustering a bill that would begin development of such a shield. - by Ralph Hallow, Washington Times
* "U.S. Intelligence agencies have detected a huge secret underground complex in North Korea that they believe is the centerpiece of an effort to revive the country's frozen nuclear weapons program, according to officials who have been briefed on the intelligence information. The finding has alarmed officials at the White House and the Pentagon, who fear that the complex may represent an effort to break out of a 4-year-old agreement in which North Korea pledged to give up its nuclear weapons program in exchange for billions of dollars in Western aid. The finding also follows a string of provocations by the North, including missile sales to Pakistan and the incursion of a small North Korean submarine carrying nine commandos off the South Korean coast this year.." -NY Times David Sanger 8/17/98
* ".Intelligence reports focusing on a huge nuclear site about 25 miles northeast of Yongbyon find that most of the activity is taking place underground-and that more than 15,000 North Koreans have been deployed to keep carving out the ground so prying, spying silicon eyes can't see it from above. "You can't miss the deployment aspect of this," a North Korean defector confided to us. "(North Korean President) Kim Jong ll knows it's a good way to keep his military busy-construction. His father once told him that the real reason for the pyramids in Egypt was so the Pharoahs had something for idle, restless slave hands to do, other than revolt."."Extensive construction of huge underground aircraft support facilities as well as hardened hangarettes and revetments has taken place," says one Defense Intelligence Agency estimate, classified "Secret."
It adds: "Virtually all major air bases have hardened or underground facilities, or both. The North Korean navy is equally well protected. At most of its "principal naval installations, according to another classified DIA report, the North Koreans have "constructed underground naval facilities," including "underground (or sheltered) berthing" for the country's fleet.."- Marshfield Mail 10/7/98 Jack Anderson and Jan Moller
Real smart move on Clinton's part, naming an operation after the nickname of a famous Nazi General, Erwin Rommel.
On another issue, UNMOVIC said advanced testing and analysis had indicated that the strain of anthrax found on R400 bombs that Iraq declared that it unilaterally destroyed was the same strain that it had earlier declared to have weaponized.
Source: USA Today... 12/3/2003
Maybe if they looked in IRAQ or SYRIA, they would have a better chance of success.
Well, Well Well--- am I supposed to presume that Russia, Germany, France and multiple other countries were all receiving oil vouchers/money from Saddam Hussein and No One In The Clinton Administration Did??? B.S!!! Bill Clinton and his sycophants had their hands in that till just like the rest of them, and some investigative journalist should write a book about this while he's still alive, for gods sake.
LOL!
http://www.husseinandterror.com
the information is lengthy but speks to Hussein and terrorism and Albright saying there was no connection and etc.....
AUGUST 1998 : (FLORIDA, USF PROFESSOR SAMI AL-ARIAN) USF Professor Sami Al-Arian resumes his regular faculty duties.
AUGUST 1998 (early) : (AL-QAEDA, KENYA : US EMBASSY BOMBING PLOT MEETING) operatives of al-Qaida gathered in #43 New Runda Estates, Nairobi to execute the bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.
AUGUST 1998 : (MSNBC REPORTS ON THE PENTAGON'S "TERROR 2000" REPORT - IT WAS NOT RELEASED TO CONGRESS OR TO THE PUBLIC FOR FEAR OF "SCARING THE HELL OUT OF THE GENERAL PUBLIC" IMHO, FOR FEAR OF UPSETTING THE CLINTON ECONOMY) "Five years ago, the Pentagon commissioned a report that predicted an onslaught of terrorist attacks against the United States, but it kept the study secret. NBC News obtained a copy of the classified forecast, titled Terror 2000, and its predictions have come true. DRAFTED BY 41 terrorism experts, the report was considered so disturbing by Pentagon officials that they refused to release it to Congress or the public. "They said: This is outrageous, this is crazy," said Marvin Cetron, an author of the report, explaining the feelings of fellow participants. "They felt it was too far out and it would scare the hell out of the general public."." - MSNBC Jim Miklaszewski 8/11/98 via - ALAMO-GIRL'S DOWNSIDE LEGACY AT TWO DEGREES OF PRESIDENT CLINTON ; SECTION: BREACH OF TRUST; SUBSECTION: TERROR; Revised 1/8/01
AUGUST 1998 : (REAL IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY BOMBING) Considered responsible for the Aug.1998 car bombing in Omagh, Northern Ireland, and attacks on the British mainland.
AUGUST 1998 : (FLORIDA, USF PROFESSOR SAMI AL-ARIAN RETURNS TO WORK AS USUAL) USF Professor Sami Al-Arian resumes his regular faculty duties.
AUGUST 1998 : (US DISCOVERS THAT NORTH KOREA WAS CONSTRUCTING AN UNDERGROUND NUCLEAR INSTALLATION) Clinton administration claims of success in its "engagement" policy towards North Korea were in doubt due to the revelations. (Two weeks before a North Korean taepodong missile test of August 31, 1998.) U.S. intelligence findings say that North Korea was constructing underground an apparent nuclear installation. --- http://www.nyu.edu/globalbeat/asia/Niksch020599.html
AUGUST 3, 1998 : (UNSCOM CHAIRMAN BUTLER ARRIVES IN BAGHDAD, IRAQ) On Aug. 3, 1998, Unscom chairman Richard Butler arrived in Baghdad. The Iraqis demanded that he declare Iraq in compliance or leave immediately. - "The Iraqi Connection: Did Osama bin Laden act alone? Not likely. ," BY LAURIE MYLROIE, Thursday, September 13, 2001 12:01 a.m. EDT http://opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=95001120
AUGUST 4, 1998 : (UNSCOM INSPECTOR BUTLER LEAVES IRAQ) Richard Butler leaves Baghdad after talks collapse on proposals designed to ensure Iraq is fulfilling its committments to destroy weapons of mass destruction. Tariq Aziz said it was pointless becoming involved in an unending process to prove what the Iraqis had already shown. Iraq arms talks collapse - TIMELINE OF THE IRAQI CRISIS 1997-1998
AUGUST 4, 1998 : (UNSCOM CHAIRMAN BUTLER LEAVES IRAQ AFTER REFUSING TO DECLARE IRAQ IN COMPLIANCE) On Aug. 3, 1998, Unscom chairman Richard Butler arrived in Baghdad. The Iraqis demanded that he declare Iraq in compliance or leave immediately. Mr. Butler departed the next day.- "The Iraqi Connection: Did Osama bin Laden act alone? Not likely. ," BY LAURIE MYLROIE, Thursday, September 13, 2001 12:01 a.m. EDT http://opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=95001120
AUGUST 5, 1998 : (UNSCOM, IRAQ BALKS) Iraq has refused since August 5 to work with the UN Special Commission (Unscom) set up to ensure that it dismantles any weapons of mass destruction in its possession. Baghdad has demanded that the UN body be re-structured, its alleged US influence reduced, and its headquarters moved from New York to Europe. - "Ritter: Baghdad 'possesses three nuclear bombs,'" by Christopher Walker, Times of London, 9/10/98
AUGUST 5, 1998 : (IRAQ BARS UNSCOM INSPECTIONS FROM NEW FACILITIES) Iraq says it will no longer allow UNSCOM to inspect new facilities- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
AUGUST 5, 1998 : (IRAQ REFUSES TO WORK WITH UNSCOM) Iraq has refused since August 5, 1998 to work with the UN Special Commission (UNSCom) set up to ensure that it dismantles any weapons of mass destruction in its possession. Baghdad has demanded that the UN body be re-structured, its alleged US influence reduced, and its headquarters moved from New York to Europe.- "Ritter: Baghdad 'possesses three nuclear bombs' ," by Christopher Walker, Times of London, 9/10/98
AUGUST 5, 1998 : (IRAQ : HUSSEIN HALTS COOPERATION WITH UNSCOM & THE IAEA COMPLETELY, LEADING TO THEIR WITHDRAWAL IN DECEMBER) In June 1996, Saddam slammed the door shut to UNSCOM's inspection of any "concealment mechanisms." On Aug. 5, 1998, [Iraq] halted cooperation with UNSCOM and the IAEA completely, and they withdrew on Dec. 16, 1998.- "Russian Collusion in Iraq," By Ion Mihai Pacepa, Washington Times , August 22, 2003
AUGUST 5, 1998 : (IRAQ : BAGHDAD DECLARES 'SUSPENSION DAY" AND ISSUES MORE THREATS) On Aug. 3, 1998, Unscom chairman Richard Butler arrived in Baghdad. The Iraqis demanded that he declare Iraq in compliance or leave immediately. Mr. Butler departed the next day. The following day, Aug. 5, Baghdad declared "suspension day"--that is, the suspension of weapons inspections. It restated its previous threats, affirming, "To those against whom war is made, permission is given to fight." Two days later, the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed simultaneously. - "The Iraqi Connection: Did Osama bin Laden act alone? Not likely. ," BY LAURIE MYLROIE, Thursday, September 13, 2001 12:01 a.m. EDT http://opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=95001120
AUGUST 6, 1998 : (HOUSE GOVERNMENT REFORM AND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE VOTES TO CITE JANET RENO FOR CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS) The House Government Reform and Oversight Committee voted to cite Attorney General Janet Reno for contempt of Congress for her refusal to turn over reports recommending that she seek an independent counsel to investigate campaign fund-raising.
AUGUST 6, 1998 : (LEWINSKI TESTIMONY) Lewinsky Testifies Before Starr Grand Jury http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/955407/posts
AUGUST 7, 1998 : (AFRICA: TANZANIA & KENYA US EMBASSY BOMBINGS) Terrorists Bomb U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/955407/posts
AUGUST 1998 : (TERRORISTS ATTACK US EMBASSIES IN KENYA & TANZANIA) 224 American dead at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998
AUGUST 7, 1998 : (KENYA & TANZANIA US EMBASSY BOMBINGS - IN LIGHT OF IRAQ'S AUGUST 5 STATEMENTS, US EMBASSY BOMBINGS LOOK LINKED TO IRAQ, BUT ADMINISTRATION CHOOSES TO FOCUS PUBLICLY ONLY ON BIN LADEN) Administration officials read Iraq's Aug 5 statements, just as the readers of "Iraq News" did [see "Iraq News," Aug 6]. And when, two days later, simultaneous bombings occurred at US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, they could draw the obvious conclusion. They are not so much mentally defective, as morally so. But they do not want to say that Iraq looks to have been behind those bombs, for a variety of reasons, including how they dealt with the Trade Center bombing. So, already the day of the bombing, they grabbed on to the straw Baghdad had offered them and said Osama Bin Laden is our main suspect. And two weeks later, on Aug 20, they hit him and hit Iraq as well. - "More Criticism; Sudan and Iraq," By Laurie Mylroie , Iraq News, SEPTEMBER 2, 1998
AUGUST 7, 1998 : (KENYA, US EMBASSY BOMBING, ASSAM, AL'OWALI) Assam, a Saudi national and al-Qaida operative, drove the Toyota truck (with a large bomb in back) to the US embassy in Nairobi. Also in the truck was Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al 'Owali, another Saudi who by his own confession was an al-Qaida operative, who from about 1996 had been trained in al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan in explosives, hijacking, kidknapping, assasination and intelligence techniques. With Usama bin Laden's express permission, he fought alongside the Taleban in Afghanistan.
He had met Usama bin Laden personally in 1996 and asked for another 'mission.' Usama sent him to East Africa after extensive specialized training at camps in Afghanistan. As the truck approached the US embassy, Al 'Owali got out and threw a stun grenade at a security guard. Assam drove the truck up to the rear of the embassy, got out, and then detonated the bomb, which demolished a multi-storey secretarial college and severely damaged the US embassy and the Cooperative Bank building. The bomb killed 213 people and injured 4500. Assam was killed in the explosion.
Al 'Owali expected the mission to end in his death. He had been willing to die for al-Qaida, but at the last minute he ran away from the bomb truck and survived He had no money, passport or plan to escape after the mission because he had expected to die. Another person arrested in connection with the Nairobi bombing was Mohammed Sadeek Odeh. He admitted to his involvement. He identified the principal participants in the bombing. He named three other persons, all of whom were Al-Qaida or Egyptian Islamic Jihad members.
AUGUST 7, 1998 : (TANZANIA. US EMBASSY BOMBING ) In Dar es Salaam at about the same time as the bombing at the US embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, operatives of al-Qaida detonated a bomb at the US embassy, killing 11 people. The al-Qaida operatives involved included Mustafa Mohamed Fadhil and Khaflan Khamis Mohamed. The bomb was carried in a Nissan Atlas truck, which Ahmed Khfaklan Ghailani and Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, two al-Qaida operatives, had purchased in July 1998 in Dar es Salaam. Khaflan Khamis Mohamed was arrested for the bombing. He admitted membership in al-Qaida and implicated other members of al-Qaida in the bombing.
AUGUST 7, 1998 : (KENYA, TANZANIA, AL-QEADA, US EMBASSY BOMBINGS) Terrorists bomb U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in Africa, killing 224 people including 12 Americans and injuring thousands. U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania bombed by terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden.Terrorist bombing of US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, 7 August 1998 Marine security guard Sgt. Jesse Aliganga killed, one Marine guarded wounded
AUGUST 7, 1998 : (KENYA, TANZANIA, AL-QEADA, US EMBASSY BOMBINGS) Car bomb explodes outside US embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. A few hours later, explosion at US embassy in Dar es Salaam, capital of Tanzania. In both attacks, 224 people were killed and almost 5,000 were injured. (Later, a suspect was arrested and he said he was a member of al Qaeda. The US DOJ indicted 17 member of al Qaeda, including bin Laden, for the two embassy bombings. 4 of the 17 were later arrested and convicted; 13 remained at large.)
AUGUST 7, 1998 : (KENYA & TANZANIA : US EMBASSIES BOMBED; SPECULATION FOCUSED ON IRAQ UNTIL MUHAMMAD ODEH WAS CAUGHT BY PAKISTAN ON A BOGUS PASSPORT- SINCE ODEH COULD BE TRACED TO AL QAEDA, IRAQI LINKS WERE OVERLOOKED) U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed simultaneously. Initial media speculation focused on Iraq, but as luck would have it, one of those involved in the bombing, Muhammad Sadek Odeh, was already in the custody of Pakistani authorities. He had flown into Karachi on a false passport that was so ill-suited to his likeness that he was detained at the airport and subject to a harsh interrogation. U.S. authorities soon had critical evidence linking bin Laden to the attacks.
Yet that information did not address the question of whether Iraq might also have been involved, as its harsh threats and the crisis over Unscom had seemed to suggest.
Indeed, the possibility of Iraqi involvement was probably a line of inquiry that the Clinton White House was not interested in pursuing--although it could have been legitimately asked whether bin Laden alone really had the capability to carry out simultaneous bombings of two major U.S. targets. - "The Iraqi Connection: Did Osama bin Laden act alone? Not likely. ," BY LAURIE MYLROIE, Thursday, September 13, 2001 12:01 a.m. EDT http://opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=95001120
AUGUST 7+? , 1998 : (KENYA, TANZANIA, AL-QEADA, US EMBASSY BOMBINGS, AL'OWALI CALLS TELEPHONE NUMBER IN YEMEN) A few days after the embassy bombing in Nairobi, Kenya, surviving terrorist Al 'Owali called a telephone number in Yemen to have money transferred to him in Kenya. The numer he rang in Yemen was contacted by bin Laden's phone on the same day as Al 'Owali was arranging to get the money.
Additional evidence of al-qaida involvement in the East African embassy bombings came from a search conducted in London of several residences and businesses belonging to al-Qaida and Egyptian Islamic Jihad members. In those searches a number of documents were found including claims of responsibility for the bombings in the name of a fictitious group, the 'Islamic Army for the liberation of the Holy Places.' Al O'wali, the would-be suicide bomber, admitted he was told to make a video tape of himself using the name of the same fictitious group.
AUGUST 1998 : (O'NIELL SUPERVISES INVESTIGATION OF THE US EMBASSY BOMBINGS IN KENYA & TANZANIA) John P. O'Neill is the FBI's top terrorist expert - "Body of FBI Terrorist Fighter Found in Wreckage of Trade Center," The Associated Press Published: Sep 21, 2001
(* My note : O'Niell was reportedly killed in the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center)
AUGUST 9, 1998 : (SUDAN OFFERS TO EXTRADITE EMBASSY BOMBING SUSPECTS) (two days after the Tanzanian and Kenyan embassy bombings), Sudanese authorities detained two bin Laden operatives thought to be complicit in the attacks. FBI Director Louis Freeh wanted them extradited. Maddy Albright nixed the deal. )Three days later, Bill Clinton leveled a pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum and blasted a tent camp in Afghanistan with cruise missiles. But that’s not all. The article said that after the embassy bombings the Mukhabarat, Sudan's Intelligence Service, cabled the FBI in Washington, offering to turn over two Pakistani men who it believed played a role in the attack. Before the exchange could be made, however, U.S. military forces bombed a Sudanese factory, at which point the Khartoum regime sent the men to Pakistan instead. Rice said it is "completely implausible" that FBI officials, who were on the ground in the region immediately after the embassy bombings, would not have quickly seized upon such an offer if it had been made. According to the article, among the people involved in the effort to pass along Mukhabarat's information was Mansoor Ijaz, a Pakistani-American businessman who it said was a major donor to the Democratic Party and was on personal terms with Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and National Security Adviser Sandy Berger.
AUGUST 10, 1998 : (OSAMA BIN LADEN'S THREAT OF HOLY WAR - QUOTES FROM ALBRIGHT, COHEN & SANDY BERGER) Saudi Arabian militant Osama bin Laden has been mentioned as a possible suspect after threatening a holy war by Islamic fighters against US troops in Saudi Arabia and Americans elsewhere.
Ms Albright said: "Clearly he is someone who has been involved in sponsoring terrorism."
US Defence Secretary William Cohen agreed it was important to establish whether a nation was involved in either sponsoring or harbouring the bombers. He said: "It was well co-ordinated. We are looking at all possibilities."
The US National Security Adviser, Sandy Berger, indicated investigators have some clues to work with. He said: "There is information to work with but, obviously, I think it would be not wise to discuss specific information." from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/148167.stm, 10 Aug 1998 , via 187 posted on 07/19/2004 5:53:40 PM PDT by Atilla_the_Hun
AUGUST 1998 : (AFGHANISTAN, CLINTON, TALIBAN) The Clinton administration did not begin seriously pressing the Taliban for bin Laden's expulsion until the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans, and injured 4,600. The bombings were "a seminal moment," changing Washington's view of the Taliban, an administration official said. The attacks convinced U.S. policymakers that Omar was no longer simply interested in conquering Afghanistan, but that his protection was allowing bin Laden, a longtime friend, to engage in terrorist ventures abroad. U.S. officials launched a two-pronged policy to pressure the Taliban into handing over bin Laden. On the one hand, the US used the UN and the threat of sanctions. On the other, it began a hard-nosed dialogue. Within days of the embassy bombings, State Department officer Michael Malinowski began telephoning Taliban officials. On one occasion, Malinowski, lounging on the deck of his Washington home, spoke by telephone with Omar. "I would say, 'Hey, give up bin Laden,' and they would say, 'No. . . . Show us the evidence,' " Malinowski said. Taliban leaders argued they could not expel a guest, and Malinowski responded, "It is not all right if this visitor goes up to the roof of your house and shoots his gun at his neighbors."
AUGUST 12, 1998 : (CLINTON, SUDAN STRIKE PLANNING) The "small group" met with President Clinton in the Oval Office. Gen. Hugh Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave him a list of targets in Sudan. The best one, all agreed, was Al Shifa. The president approved an attack on the plant two days later. Shortly after investigators linked Osama bin Laden, the Saudi exile, to the bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa, six of President Clinton's most senior advisers convened in the White House situation room to plot a counterattack with cruise missiles. Few national security issues in Clinton's presidency were handled with greater secrecy or by a smaller group of people. The administration was determined to avoid leaks, and that meant limiting deliberations to the "small group," the president's innermost circle. *
(* My note : Interestingly, this article appeared at a convenient time; since the US retaliatory attack on Sudan, which if I remember right Clinton allegedly ordered on his own with little heed of input from others- this article appears years later to explain away why the admin didn't include certain people in the planning, )
AUGUST 14, 1998 : (US SENATE DECLARES IRAQ IS IN BREACH) US Senate passes a motion declaring Iraq to be in “material breach” of its obligations.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
AUGUST 14, 1998 : (CLINTON, SUDAN STRIKE PLANS APPROVED) Clinton approves plans to hit Sudanese pharmaceutical plant
AUGUST 15, 1998 : (NORTHERN IRELAND : REAL-IRA BOMB ON CENTER OF OMAGH) 24 dead and 220 injured when large car bomb destroys centre of Omagh, Northern Ireland. Breakaway Republican group, the Real IRA, claims responsibility.
AUGUST 17, 1998 : (CLINTON APPEARS BEFORE A FEDERAL GRAND JURY) On August 17, 1998, Clinton appeared before a federal grand jury to testify about his perjury, abuse of power, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering. Later that night, he delivered the worst speech by a president in this Century in which he inflamed even members of his own party by his continued denials and arrogance. As a result numerous Democratic senators took to the Senate floor to strongly denounce Clinton. Journal of Constitutional and Political Studies 12/17/98 George Landrith , via Alamo-Girl's Downside Legacy at Two Degrees of President Clinton
AUGUST 17, 1998 : (CLINTON SPEECH "BOMBS") ".On August 17, 1998, Clinton appeared before a federal grand jury to testify about his perjury, abuse of power, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering. Later that night, he delivered the worst speech by a president in this Century in which he inflamed even members of his own party by his continued denials and arrogance. As a result numerous Democratic senators took to the Senate floor to strongly denounce Clinton. And on August 20, 1998, Monica Lewinsky testified before the federal grand jury and described how the president had encouraged her to continue denying the relationship and to submit a false affidavit. Later that day, on August 20, 1998, Clinton ordered the attack on "terrorist facilities" in Sudan and Afghanistan. It now turns out that most of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were not consulted in any meaningful way prior to the attack and that the sites that Clinton ordered bombed were probably not "terrorist facilities" at all. It is now abundantly clear that the attack was poorly planned and based on weak evidence thrown together quite hastily.. " Journal of Constitutional and Political Studies 12/17/98 George Landrith , via Alamo-Girl's Downside Legacy at Two Degrees of President Clinton
AUGUST 17, 1998 : (CLINTON LEWINSKI SPEECH) Clinton makes televised admission concerning Lewinsky http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/955407/posts
AUGUST 18, 1998 : (CHARLEY REESE POINTS OUT THAT TERRORISM IS NOT A MERE CRIMINAL ACT) "Contrary to the rhetoric of the Clinton administration and the Beltway Babblers, terrorism is not a criminal act in the ordinary sense. Terrorism is a political act, a response to U.S. foreign policy. It is an act of war waged by people too weak to have a conventional army or one large enough to take on the United States. Therefore, capturing an individual terrorist does not even address the problem. People who execute terrorist actions are expendable, replaceable soldiers. Catch one, kill one, and two will take his place. Because the terrorism is political, so, too, is the solution. One ends terrorism by ending the policies that create it.. The Clinton administration perpetuates this wrong evaluation of reality by implying that terrorists are evil and mad, like some demons, who, for no rational reason, strike out at the innocent. They like to say, as if they were heroic defenders en route to liberate France, ``We will not be deterred.'' Notice, however, that they never say what we will not be deterred from doing. " - Charley Reese, Orlando Sentinel, 8/18/98 via ALAMO-GIRL'S DOWNSIDE LEGACY AT TWO DEGREES OF PRESIDENT CLINTON ; SECTION: BREACH OF TRUST; SUBSECTION: TERROR; Revised 1/8/01
AUGUST 20, 1998 : (MONICA LEWINSKI TESTIFIES BEFORE A FEDERAL GRAND JURY; CLINTON ORDERS STRIKES ON AFGHANISTAN & SUDAN) And on August 20, 1998, Monica Lewinsky testified before the federal grand jury and described how the president had encouraged her to continue denying the relationship and to submit a false affidavit. Later that day, on August 20, 1998, Clinton ordered the attack on "terrorist facilities" in Sudan and Afghanistan. It now turns out that most of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were not consulted in any meaningful way prior to the attack and that the sites that Clinton ordered bombed were probably not "terrorist facilities" at all. It is now abundantly clear that the attack was poorly planned and based on weak evidence thrown together quite hastily.. " Journal of Constitutional and Political Studies 12/17/98 George Landrith , via Alamo-Girl's Downside Legacy at Two Degrees of President Clinton
AUGUST 20, 1998 : (CLINTON ORDERS ATTACKS ON SUSPECT SUDANESE FACILITY) Later that day, on August 20, 1998, Clinton ordered the attack on "terrorist facilities" in Sudan and Afghanistan. It now turns out that most of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were not consulted in any meaningful way prior to the attack and that the sites that Clinton ordered bombed were probably not "terrorist facilities" at all. It is now abundantly clear that the attack was poorly planned and based on weak evidence thrown together quite hastily.. " Journal of Constitutional and Political Studies 12/17/98 George Landrith , via Alamo-Girl's Downside Legacy at Two Degrees of President Clinton
AUGUST 20, 1998 : (CLINTON, BIN LADEN, BLOCKED ASSETS) President Clinton amended Executive Order 12947 to add Usama Bin Laden and his key associates to the list of terrorists, thus blocking their US assets--including property and bank accounts--and prohibiting all US financial transactions with them. Bin Laden remained in Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban, an ultra-conservative Islamic militia that controls most of that country.
AUGUST 20, 1998 : (AFGHANISTAN, US RETALIATION FOR EMBASSY BOMBINGS "OPERATION INFINITE REACH," SUDAN PHARMACEUTICAL STRIKE) 13 days after the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, U.S. bombarded several locations in Khost, Afghanistan, and one location in Sudan, with Tomahawk missiles. The attacks were announced on the same day by President Clinton during televised press briefing. (* My note : This is rare- usually presidents wait a day or two to make such announcements) Clinton identified bin Laden and the training camp as a target in Khost. Bin Laden survived by leaving the camp in Afghanistan shortly before the attack.
One of the missiles launched into Sudan destroyed the country's major pharmaceutical factory warehouse in Khartoum, which the US government asserted to be in use as a terrorist weapons warehouse. Washington claimed that nerve gas precursors were found in soil samples taken there and the CIA stands by those claims. Sudan denied the charges and it emerged later that at least some of the U.S. evidence was very thin. Senior national security advisers described Al Shifa as a secret chemical weapons factory financed by bin Laden. But a month after the attack, those same officials concede they had no evidence directly linking bin Laden to the factory at the time the president ordered the strike. Nor are they certain whether their soil sample proves that Empta, the suspected precursor chemical for VX, was made at Al Shifa or was just stored or shipped through there. Intelligence officials said they had found financial transactions between bin Laden and Sudan's government-run Military Industrial Corp., which they say was the organization overseeing chemical weapons development. Even though the intelligence officials did not know who owned the plant at the time of the attack, they now say its nominal owner, Salih Idris, is a front man for bin Laden. But his lawyer says Idris, an adviser to Saudi Arabia's largest bank, has never met bin Laden. The C.I.A. has been told that Osman Sulayman, the general manager of the plant, was deported from Saudi Arabia around 1995 for his suspected ties to bin Laden. Another senior official said: "Al Shifa was to one degree or another involved in chemical weapons production. I can't tell you whether the VX precursor was produced or stored there. But the plant is tied to Sudan's military-industrial complex, which is tied to bin Laden." Other administration officials still doubt their own government's explanations. One said: "The decision to target Al Shifa continues a tradition of operating on inadequate intelligence about Sudan." That pattern of policies shaped by questionable intelligence reports about Sudan, these skeptical officials say, is at least three years old.
AUGUST 20, 1998 around 2 PM : (CLINTON STATEMENT ON US MISSILES STRIKES ON AFGHANISTAN & SUDAN) Statement by President Clinton "Today, I ordered our armed forces to strike at terrorist-related facilities in Afghanistan and Sudan because of the threat they present to our national security. I have said many times that terrorism is one of the greatest dangers we face in this new global era. We saw its twisted mentality at work last week in the embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, which took the lives of innocent Americans and Africans and injured thousands more. Today, we have struck back. The United States launched an attack this morning on one of the most active terrorist bases in the world. It is located in Afghanistan and operated by groups affiliated with Osama bin Laden, a network not sponsored by any state but as dangerous as any we face. We also struck a chemical weapons-related facility in Sudan. Our target was the terrorists' base of operation and infrastructure. Our objective was to damage their capacity to strike at Americans and other innocent people.." - AP 8/20/98, via Alamo-Girl's Downside Legacy at Two Degrees of President Clinton
AUGUST 1998 : (TALIBAN MASSACRE THOUSANDS) The Taliban government of Afghanistan had massacred thousands of people near Mazar-i-Sharif
AUGUST 20, 1998 : (W BUSH SAYS TO GIVE CLINTON THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT ON CRUISE MISSILE STRIKES) "I think you give the commander in chief the benefit of the doubt," said George W. Bush, governor of Texas, on August 20, 1998, the same day as the U.S. counterstrikes. "This is a foreign policy matter. I'm confident he's working on the best intelligence available, and I hope it's successful."
AUGUST 21, 1998 : (SUPPORT FOR SR-71) The support for an SR-71 operational capability did not dissipate with Richard Cheney's 1990 memo. Proposals were made to reinstate an operational SR-71 capability during the Gulf War and later. All such efforts failed, and this letter from [position] to members of Congress represented one more rejection of such a proposal. Letter, William J. Lynn to Members of Congress, August 21, 1998.
AUGUST 1998 late , on a Sunday : (SUDAN : UN OFFICIALS VISIT SITE OF PHARMACEUTICAL PLANT) "United Nations officials visited the site of a former pharmaceutical plant in Sudan Sunday to investigate whether it was involved in making chemical and biological weapons. The Sudanese government insists that the factory struck by U.S. missiles last week was not involved in making such weapons or linked to alleged terrorist Osama bin Laden.." Msnbc, 8/23/98, via Alamo-Girl's Downside Legacy at Two Degrees of President Clinton
AUGUST 24, 1998 : (WHITE HOUSE SAID PLANNING FOR THE STRIKES BEGAN ALMOST TWO WEEKS AGO) Here's the scenario: A U.S. president, troubled by a sex scandal, decides to create a media diversion in a distant land. To deflect the public's attention from his woes, the president brings in a famous political spin doctor and a Hollywood producer. Working together, they concoct a fictitious overseas conflict - including phony TV footage. Sound familiar? It should. It's the plot of ''Wag the Dog,'' a movie released in '97. But on Thursday, as U.S. forces launched attacks on terrorist camps in Afghanistan and the Sudan, many pondered the eerie parallels between that satirical movie and President Clinton's travails. Was this President Clinton's ''Wag the Dog'' scenario? The timing of the president's bold action to take out a terrorist base in Afghanistan and a chemical plant in the Sudan raised even deeper questions in the minds of many..The White House said planning for the strikes started nearly two weeks ago. Did the president really need to take action on Thursday, barely 72 hours after his publicly televised admission of marital infidelity? .''This is a sharp break in U.S. policy,'' said David Kay, director of the Center for Counterterrorism at Science Applications International Corp., a high-tech research and development firm. - Investor's Business Daily News Analysis, 8/24/98, via Alamo-Girl's Downside Legacy at Two Degrees of President Clinton*
(* My note : David Kay would again become big news after the US invasion of Iraq, when he beame top WMD-hunter in Iraq in 2003)
AUGUST 1998 late : (SUDAN TV REPORTS THAT IRAQI VICE PRESIDENT RAMADAN TOURED THE BOMBED SUDANESE PHARMACEUTICAL PLANT) Finally, Iraqi Vice President, Taha Yasin Ramadan, stopped in Khartoum on his way to the Non-Aligned summit in South Africa. As Sudan TV, Aug 31, reported, he toured the bombed factory and said, "The important thing is that we . . . know, and our people know, the intention of the American administration, which is spurred on by Zionists and serves Zionist aims, and what it is seeking by hitting specified areas and specific regions . . . It is up to us to make our people understand, and make them aware, and prepare for other similar situations so that we can choose the best means to confront this great injustice being directed by the United States at the world today." - via "More Criticism; Sudan and Iraq," By Laurie Mylroie , Iraq News, SEPTEMBER 2, 1998
AUGUST 25, 1998 : (ISLAMIC BOMBING OF PLANET HOLLYWOOD IN SOUTH AFRICA ) Three people killed and 25 injured in bomb attack on Planet Hollywood restaurant in Cape Town, South Africa. Muslims Against Global Oppression claims responsibility.
AUGUST 26, 1998 : (UNSCOM INSPECTOR RITTER RESIGNS) According to Mr Schiff's report on the claims by Mr Ritter, the longest-serving American weapons inspector, Unscom knows where the three nearly complete nuclear bombs are hidden. The UN team is also said by Mr Ritter to have information on the method used to conceal the bombs, the units and officers responsible for guarding them, and the types of vehicle employed to transport them in the game of cat and mouse between Saddam and the UN experts. Mr Ritter claimed that, despite the information available, no order was given to the team to conduct a surprise inspection of the site. He claimed that the Security Council and the Clinton Administration had blocked the work of the inspectors just as they were "on the doorstep" of uncovering Iraq's hidden non-conventional weapons of mass destruction. His revelation about the existence of the three bombs has again heightened tensions in the Middle East and raised the stakes in any new confrontation between Iraq and the West. Israel has long believed that it would be the first target of any Iraqi nuclear strike. - "Ritter: Baghdad 'possesses three nuclear bombs,'" by Christopher Walker, Times of London, 9/10/98
AUGUST 1998 : (RITTER SAYS HE IS LEAVING UNSCOM) August 1998, he said his departure should serve as a "wake-up call" about the United Nation's abandonment of the goal of eliminating Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. In a blistering letter to UNSCOM chief Richard Butler, Mr. Ritter sharply criticized the Clinton administration and the U.N. Security Council for not being vigorous enough about insisting that Iraqi mass-destruction weapons be destroyed. He also accused U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan of serving as a "sounding board" for Iraqi complaints aimed at impeding UNSCOM's work. -"The Bizarre Odyssey of Scott Ritter," editorial, The Washington Times, September 18, 2002
AUGUST 25, 1998 : (MARK HALPERIN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT) Wall Street Journal 8/25/98 Letter to the President from Mark Helprin ".Certainly it is now permissible to be as blunt with you as you were with the American people when you squared your jaw, pointed your finger and, in intimidating fashion as if you were our sergeant, headmaster, or jailer, commanded us to listen.
Even had you not, by your own admission, lied thereafter, this was unforgivable. Presidents do not speak to Americans with such seething disrespect.. For six years you shied away from this--despite the World Trade Center bombings, the CIA shootings, the Somalia massacre, Khobar Towers, etc.--and now, mirabile dictu, you have embraced it. Pray tell, what accounts for your change of heart? Pray tell, why did you do it as you did, sticking the stick into the hornets' nest just enough to stir them up but not enough to shock or discourage them into inaction? Had you mounted a real raid, taken out Mr. bin Laden and his entire apparatus, struck harder, more widely, and at supportive governments as well, committing troops, actually gutting infrastructure, your message would have been less like an effete slap with a soft glove. What options were presented to you by your military advisers? How many levels of more vigorous response did you reject? In the language of war, Mr. President, you have sent an invitation. A war against terrorism would captivate the country and the world, and its timing would be coincident with your battle to remain in office.. Although your advisers already have hinted that they will sexually blackmail selected members of Congress (the 900 FBI files?) it's too late. For too long your defense has been that the charges against you are frivolous.
What will you do, then, when the charges move beyond mere perjury, witness and evidence tampering, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice? What will you do when they expand to other instances of perjury, to fraud, conversion of government property, misuse of FBI files, influence peddling, illegal fund-raising, coverup and obstruction of justice, and, most importantly, the solicitation and reception of funds from agents of a foreign power in exchange for favorable consideration? The heart of the matter, Mr. President, is your conduct in regard to China.
It is not technically treason, for we are not at war with the Chinese, but it is an isotope of treason, a metaphor of treason, a semblance of treason, the spitting image of treason. For good reason your Justice Department suppresses the facts of this case more even than it suppresses the facts of the others. But what will you do if and when Congress awakens--as it must--merely to honor its most elementary obligations, and with the power entrusted to it by the Constitution breaks open the stiff shell of obstruction you and your surrogates have secreted?
What will you do when the data are made public, the hearings are held, the witnesses abandon the Fifth and come back from abroad? What will you do when your promise to the American people that nothing is amiss other than Miss Lewinsky is seen to be yet another lie? What will you do when the truth proves to have been indestructible? What will you do when you yourself begin to realize that you have betrayed your family, your party, and your country? What will you do? I will tell you, sir, what you will do. You will resign." , via Alamo-Girl's Downside Legacy at Two Degrees of President Clinton
AUGUST 1998 : (CLINTON IRAQ POLICY QUESTIONED AFTER RITTER RESIGNS; CALLS FOR HEARINGS) The Boston Globe, as printed in the San Diego Union Tribune, Aug 28, [BOSTON GLOBE, US HAS GONE SOFT ON IRAQ INSPECTIONS, AUG 28, 1998] reported more detail on congressional opposition to Clinton's Iraq policy, as precipitated by Scott Ritter's revelations and resignation. Sen. John McCain, [R, AZ] of the Armed Services committee, in a letter last week to committee chairman, Sen. Strom Thurmond [R, SC], called for holding hearings after the Congressional recess ends. McCain wrote, "The hearings should examine whether the administration has thwarted Iraq's development of chemical and biological weapons or whether it has sought merely to avoid another inconvenient crisis in the Persian Gulf."
Sen. James Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Readiness Subcommittee, said "It is evident that our policy on Iraq is becoming unglued."- "More Criticism; Sudan and Iraq," Iraq News, SEPTEMBER 2, 1998, By Laurie Mylroie (inc sources : I. BOSTON GLOBE, US HAS GONE SOFT ON IRAQ INSPECTIONS, AUG 28 [1998]; II. JOHN BOLTON, CLINTON/ALBRIGHT'S DECEIT, WEEKLY STANDARD, SEPT 7; III. IRAQI VICE PRESIDENT TOURS SUDAN'S SHIFA FACTORY, SUDAN TV, AUG 31)
AUGUST 26, 1998 : (NY TIMES REPORTS THAT ARMS INSPECTORS IN IRAQ SUSPECT IRAQ MAY HAVE TRANSFERRED SOME OF ITS CHEMICAL WEAPONS RESEARCH AND PRODUCTION TO SUDAN) The NYT, Aug 26, explained, "UN weapons inspectors who were charged after the 1991 Persian Gulf War with dismantling Iraq's chemical arms program have for months believed that the Iraqi government might have transferred some of its research and production capacity to Sudan.
Their interest, however, focused not on the plant that was attacked, but on a smaller more heavily fortified facility in Khartoum. . . Other indications of Iraq's involvement include the presence of Iraqi officials at the plant for its 'grand opening' in 1996, the US official said. One of the Iraqis believed to have visited the plant was Emad Atti, described as the father of the Iraqi chemical arms program." - "More Criticism; Sudan and Iraq," By Laurie Mylroie , Iraq News, SEPTEMBER 2, 1998
AUGUST 26, 1998 : (NY TIMES REPORTS THAT EMAD ATTI, FATHER OF THE IRAQI CHEMICAL WEAPONS PROGRAM, VISITED A SUDANESE PLANT FOR ITS GRAND OPENING IN 1996) The NYT, Aug 26, [of 98] explained, "UN weapons inspectors who were charged after the 1991 Persian Gulf War with dismantling Iraq's chemical arms program have for months believed that the Iraqi government might have transferred some of its research and production capacity to Sudan.
Their interest, however, focused not on the plant that was attacked, but on a smaller more heavily fortified facility in Khartoum. . . Other indications of Iraq's involvement include the presence of Iraqi officials at the plant for its 'grand opening' in 1996, the US official said. One of the Iraqis believed to have visited the plant was Emad Atti, described as the father of the Iraqi chemical arms program."
As one reader, a former USG official, remarked, "It raises some serious questions about the dissembling of the administration, like did we forget to tell John Q. Public that Iraqi chemical weapons officials visited a chemical weapons plant while we were saying Saddam was in his box?" Another reader, also a former USG official, asked how long has the administration known about Iraqi cw activity in Sudan and what has it done about it? - "More Criticism; Sudan and Iraq," By Laurie Mylroie , Iraq News, SEPTEMBER 2, 1998
AUGUST 27, 1998 : (ISRAEL: BOMBING ) 18 injured in Tel Aviv bombing.
AUGUST 27, 1998 : (RITTER SAYS IRAQ IS NOT DISARMING) "Iraq is not disarming," Mr. Ritter said on Aug. 27, 1998. Baghdad's failure to do so "means that Iraq will, in effect, win the Gulf War." -"The Bizarre Odyssey of Scott Ritter," editorial, The Washington Times, September 18, 2002
AUGUST 28, 1998 : (BOSTON GLOBE QUOTES MCCAIN & INHOFE ON CLINTON'S IRAQ POLICY) The Boston Globe, as printed in the San Diego Union Tribune, Aug 28, reported more detail on congressional opposition to Clinton's Iraq policy, as precipitated by Scott Ritter's revelations and resignation.
Sen. John McCain, [R, AZ] of the Armed Services committee, in a letter last week to committee chairman, Sen. Strom Thurmond [R, SC], called for holding hearings after the Congressional recess ends. McCain wrote, "The hearings should examine whether the administration has thwarted Iraq's development of chemical and biological weapons or whether it has sought merely to avoid another inconvenient crisis in the Persian Gulf." Sen. James Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Readiness Subcommittee, said "It is evident that our policy on Iraq is becoming unglued." - "More Criticism; Sudan and Iraq," By Laurie Mylroie , Iraq News, SEPTEMBER 2, 1998
AUGUST 28, 1998 : (SUPPORT FOR STRIKES IN AFGHANITAN & SUDAN) New York Times 8/28/98 Editorial "Americans of both parties rallied around President Clinton's decision to launch military strikes against alleged terrorist installations in Afghanistan and the Sudan. But the Administration's refusal to share more information about its choice of targets and timing is disturbing. By its excessive secrecy, Washington only increases skepticism about its claim that the Shifa chemical factory in the Sudan was really producing nerve gas ingredients and thus had to be destroyed to prevent new terrorist attacks." , via Alamo-Girl's Downside Legacy at Two Degrees of President Clinton
AUGUST 30, 1998 : (HARAKAT UL ANSAR) "PICTURES purporting to show the ruins of mosques and burnt pages from the Koran in Afghan camps raided by the United States 10 days ago are being used by Islamic zealots to whip up anti-American fervour in the Muslim world. The photographs, circulated in Pakistan by supporters of a guerrilla group fighting Indian rule in Kashmir and described as the first depicting the damage, show the ruins of two buildings said to be mosques pulverised by American missiles. Fragments of the Koran are scattered about.."America has desecrated our mosques and holy books," said a member of Harakat-ul-Ansar, a guerrilla organisation whose exploits include the kidnap and presumed murder of British tourists in Kashmir and, more recently, the establishment of an alliance with Bin Laden. "President Bill Clinton will be hanged for this." - by Stephen Grey, Islamabad and Matthew Campbell , Sunday Times, London 8/30/98 , via Alamo-Girl's Downside Legacy at Two Degrees of President Clinton
AUGUST 31, 1998 : (NORTH KOREAN MISSILE TEST; MISSILE LANDS NEAR ALASKA; MISSILE DEPLOYMENT SITES, POTENTIAL RANGE ENOUGH TO REACH US SOON) North Korea's test of a three stage "Taepodong" missile on August 31, 1998, halted the Clinton Administration's escalating claims in 1998 of success in its "engagement" policy towards North Korea. A development came later in the form of reported U.S. intelligence assessments regarding the missile test. These findings are that: 1) the third stage of the missile, claimed as a satellite by North Korea, traveled over 3,000 miles and landed in waters near Alaska. 2) North Korea will have a missile capable of striking Alaska and Hawaii by 2002, for practical purposes an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). 3) North Korea is constructing underground sites to deploy these missiles (which suggests deployment as early as 2000). 4) North Korea will have a longer-range ICBM capable of striking the U.S. west coast and other parts of the continental United States within five years. ----- http://www.nyu.edu/globalbeat/asia/Niksch020599.html
AUGUST 31, 1998 : (NORTH KOREAN MISSILE TEST) 8/31/98 Reuters/MSNBC/AP "Catching military analysts off guard, North Korea test fired a new ballistic missile into open seas between Russia and northwestern Japan on Monday.
Japan's Defense Agency, quoting unidentified U.S. military officials, said the missile was fired around noon (midnight ET Sunday). `The Defense Department feels it is a serious development and will be evaluating the situation.' - JIM KOUT spokesman, U.S. Defense Department
THE MISSILE was "confirmed to be a brand-new `Daepodong I' with a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles)," the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement. That range is twice as long as the North's previous staple "Rodong" series missiles.It was believed to have landed in waters about 190 miles southeast of Vladivostok, Russia.."
* "The Clinton Administration is reportedly poised to unveil its first substantive response to Sunday's demonstration by North Korea of its ability to attack U.S. forces and bases and allied population centers through out much of Northeast Asia: It is considering canceling the Army's most mature, ground-based theater missile defense program, the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system Were this response not so inappropriate, so ill-advised and so likely to translate into both the loss of American lives and increased costs to the taxpayer, this absurd proposal would be hysterical.." - Center for Security Policy 9/3/98
* Reuters 9/1/98 "Amid all the questions swirling around North Korea's shock missile test flight, one of the knottiest appears to be whether the missile actually entered Japanese sovereign territory or not. One part of the two-stage ballistic missile apparently landed in the Pacific Ocean off northern Japan, traveling more than 1,300 km (780 miles) from North Korea. But on Tuesday, Japan's government was still wrestling with the dilemma of whether this was, in legal terms, a violation of Japanese territory or merely a flyover."
* AP Yuri Kageyama 9/1/98 "Tokyo issued a formal protest today against North Korea for firing a missile over Japan and sent military ships to the spot in the Pacific Ocean where it was believed to have landed..Numata (Government Spokesman) also said Japan has frozen the $1 billion it had committed to a project with the United States, South Korea and Europe to supply North Korea with two nuclear energy reactors. And sending food aid to the reclusive communist state was now more difficult, he acknowledged.."
*STRATFOR Systems Inc. 9/9/98 Bob Evans "North Korea's successful launch, on August 31, of a two-stage "Taepodong" missile, which overflew the northern end of the Japanese island of Honshu, has given the Japanese grounds for reconsidering the constitutional limitations on their military. Japan's constitution, drawn up in the aftermath of World War Two, declares that the Japanese "renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation, and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes."." Washington Times William Taylor Jr. 9/14/98
"Despite the Clinton administration's strong defense of the 1994 nuclear Agreed Framework with the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) over the past four years, the document is worse than worthless. It represents both naivete about the N. Korean threat and complacency in dealing with the world's last total, Stalinist dictatorship. Former U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. William Shalikashvili got it just right last year when he said "First and most threatening is the unpredictable regime in Pyongyang which poses a major threat on the Korean Peninsula and in the surrounding area." That multifaceted threat to South Korea and Japan and roughly 163,000 Americans in both countries was underlined by North Korea's recent test-firing of a long-range missile, one part of which flew through Japan's sovereign airspace. North Korean missiles can be armed with high explosive, chemical, biological and, eventually, nuclear warheads. There are no missile defenses of Seoul and Tokyo; they are naked, and it is naive to think a paper agreement changes the threat.."
AUGUST 31, 1998 : (CLINTON ADMINSTRATION DEFEAT ON UN'S RESOLUTION ON IRAQ : IT SETTLES FOR A WATERED-DOWN UN RESOLUTION AGAINST IRAQ WHICH DROPS THE TERM "SEVEREST CONSEQUENCES" ) "Knowing Clinton, one is tempted to say that if Osama bin Laden thought these missile attacks were bad, wait till Kenneth Starr's report comes out. Might be a good time for bin Laden to go on vacation. Temptation aside, however, it is clear that bombing bin Laden was no Wag the Dog. Defense Secretary William Cohen and Gen. Hugh Shelton would never lend themselves to an air raid whose purpose was to deflect attention from a domestic scandal. Nonetheless, there was an extrinsic force driving the Afghan and Sudanese bombings: the collapse of Iraqi policy. The air raid served to compensate for the total surrender of the Clinton administration in the face of Saddam's determination to rebuild his weapons of mass destruction. On the very same day the Tomahawk missiles went out, the United States was forced to support a humiliating Security Council statement that pitiably called Saddam's expulsion of inspectors "totally unacceptable" while pointedly dropping previous warnings of "severest consequences" if Saddam did not reverse himself. Philadelphia Inquirer Charles Krauthammer ,8/31/98 , via Alamo-Girl
1998 : (CHINA, OSAMA BIN LADEN, US CRUISE MISSILES) Chinese nationals visited Osama bin Laden terrorist camps in Afghanistan after a U.S. cruise missile attack there in 1998 and paid for the right to study and remove unexploded missiles, according to a conversation between two alleged veterans of the camps that was secretly taped by Italian police....(Washington Post, 20 Oct 01) http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A23933-2001Oct19¬Found=true
AUGUST 1998 late : (SUDAN : IRAQI VP RAMADAN VISITS KHARTOUM ON HIS WAY TO NON-ALIGNED SUMMIT IN SOUTH AFRICA ) Finally, Iraqi Vice President, Taha Yasin Ramadan, stopped in Khartoum on his way to the Non-Aligned summit in South Africa. As Sudan TV, Aug 31, reported, he toured the bombed factory and said, "The important thing is that we . . . know, and our people know, the intention of the American administration, which is spurred on by Zionists and serves Zionist aims, and what it is seeking by hitting specified areas and specific regions . . . It is up to us to make our people understand, and make them aware, and prepare for other similar situations so that we can choose the best means to confront this great injustice being directed by the United States at the world today." - "More Criticism; Sudan and Iraq," Iraq News, SEPTEMBER 2, 1998, By Laurie Mylroie (inc sources : I. BOSTON GLOBE, US HAS GONE SOFT ON IRAQ INSPECTIONS, AUG 28 [1998]; II. JOHN BOLTON, CLINTON/ALBRIGHT'S DECEIT, WEEKLY STANDARD, SEPT 7; III. IRAQI VICE PRESIDENT TOURS SUDAN'S SHIFA FACTORY, SUDAN TV, AUG 31), via http://www.fas.org/news/iraq/1998/09/980902-in.htm.
1998 : (BOLTON SAYS ALBRIGHT IS AVOIDING MENTIONING THAT IRAQ MAY BE USING SUDAN AS A BASE FOR PRODUCING CHEMICAL WEAPONS TO HIDE PRODUCTION FROM UNSCOM EFFORTS) Regarding the Aug 20 US strikes in Afghanistan and Sudan, Bolton wrote, "One wonders about the administration's real objective. Thus, in explaining the strike in Sudan, Albright and her colleagues assiduously avoid mentioning that Iraq may be producing chemical weapons in Sudan in an attempt to evade the UNSCOM inspection regime." Indeed, following the strike, when the US was challenged, because the Khartoum plant produced pharmaceuticals, in addition to whatever else it may have produced, the administration revealed more than it had apparently first intended. Osama bin Ladin's purported link to the plant faded into the background, while US officials explained that Iraq had ties to the plant. - "More Criticism; Sudan and Iraq," By Laurie Mylroie , Iraq News, SEPTEMBER 2, 1998
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