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U.S. Bombing of Sudan Chemical Plant Could Be a Mistake
WASHINGTON, August 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The owner of a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan that was destroyed by the United States in 1998 is suing the U.S. government to pay for rebuilding it, news agencies reported Sunday.
The Sudanese man contends his demolished factory produced genuine pharmaceuticals, not chemical weapons as the U.S. charged. But, the United States is still contesting the suit and not admitting error.
On August 20, 1998, the United States bombed El-Shifa (recovery) plant in Sudan in retaliation for the bombing of its two embassies in Africa. It simultaneously struck alleged "terrorist" training camps in Afghanistan and the Sudanese pharmaceutical plant, which it claimed was producing chemical weapons.
In both cases, say critics, the linkage turned out to be tenuous. In the case of the Sudanese plant, they cite mounting evidence that it was producing only pharmaceuticals for a needy people, the U.S. Voice of America (VOA) reported.
That is also the conclusion of a detailed analysis by the California-based Center for Nonproliferation Studies, the radio said.
Its author, Michael Barletta, told VOA that U.S. outrage was understandable. "Two U.S. embassies had just been attacked. Many innocent people had been killed, and there was a sense among the President's senior advisers that they needed to take some forceful action in response," he says.
But, the U.S. President and his advisers acted too hastily, says Barletta, according to VOA. Trying to maintain secrecy and prevent leaks, they failed to consider all the available intelligence.
"The U.S. government is a very large, complicated and not always very well connected group of individuals, and different offices and agencies," Barletta says. "What I was able to do and others were able to do is to piece together evidence based on the best information available within the U.S. government and outside the U.S. government after the fact."
After the bombing, the U.S. assets of the bombed plant's owner, Salah Idris, were frozen. They have now been reportedly released to him, but the U.S. government balks at paying to rebuild the plant.
Various U.S. officials will not comment on the matter since the suit is pending, and they are admitting no error, VOA added. They claim that, in a warlike situation, collateral damage is possible.
U.S. Representative, Dana Rohrabacher, has introduced a bill in Congress to reimburse Idris, but its fate is uncertain.
Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at Washington's Cato Institute, has closely examined the plant bombing. "We are dealing with a country we really do not like - Sudan," he openly admitted.
"So I think there is a certain hesitancy to help this guy, even though he is innocent, simply because he is Sudanese," VOA quoted Bandow as saying.
"This is one of those moments where America really has to decide. Is it willing to admit that it makes a mistake? I think, in the long term, that gives us more credibility in the international arena. We have a decision, which Congress and the administration will face," he added.
Bandow noted the United States made similar mistakes before - when it shot down an Iranian airliner and destroyed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the Kosovo conflict. In both cases, the U.S. was forced to pay compensation.
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