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
AUGUST 1998 : (IRAQ : WEAPONS SCIENTISTS ARE ORDERED TO RETURN TO DUTY) Scientists who had previously worked on the weapons programme were made to return to their duties in August 1998, four months before Saddam expelled the inspectors, ...according to Salman Yassin Zweir, a design engineer who was employed by the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission for 13 years, the instruction came in a document marked "top secret" which identified a research centre on Al-Jadriya Street, Baghdad, as the headqarters of the new operation. .....Zweir was arrested and tortured after refusing to go back to the programme. He later escaped to Jordan where he would be reunited with his wife who was also tortured and their children. - Source : Times of London 12/23/00
AUGUST 1998 : (REPORT BY DAVID PHINNEY CONCERNING BIN LADEN & IRAQ SHARING OF WEAPONS?) Sharing Efforts in Weapons? (bin Laden and Iraq) By David Phinney 8/98