The Bitter Anniversary: The 20th of August (2)

Last Monday the twentieth day of August 2012 witnessed the bitter 14th anniversary of the destruction of Al-Shifa Pharmaceutical Factory by an unsolicited American aggression in 1998.
The White House claimed The Aug. 20, 1998, cruise missile attack, was in retaliation for terrorist attacks on two U.S. embassies in Africa, which as USA officials said was carried by Al Qaeda of Osama Bin Laden. The White House also claimed al-Shifa factory owners had connections with Al Qaeda, and the plant was used to develop chemical weapons. Clinton administration officials conceded that the hardest evidence used to justify striking the plant was a single soil sample that seemed to indicate the presence of a chemical used in making VX gas, as media reports said.
The following lines will trace some of the criticism directed to the Clinton Administration and the falsehood of its claims:
First Politically:
Outspoken Clinton critic Christopher Hitchens wrote that the factory “could not have been folded like a tent and spirited away in a day or so. And the United States has diplomatic relations with Sudan. … Well then, what was the hurry? … There is really only one possible answer to that question. Clinton needed to look ‘presidential’ for a day…”
Senator John McCain, who was asked his opinion on the matter of the bombings, said “It’s entirely appropriate for us to examine whether they were well-motivated and whether the national interest was clearly served;” … “I still have some major questions. One, the factory: Why did it have to be struck exactly then? The factory was not going to go away. It was not going to launch a missile. What was the rationale for saying this has to be done now?”
Other critics said the strikes were being motivated to deflect attention from domestic, political troubles. Here they were referring to the fact that the attack came three days after President Clinton’s appearance before a federal grand jury investigating his immoral scandalous relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
A lawyer, Mr. Salem, partner at the Washington law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, said the United States had poor intelligence from Sudan and relied on operatives from other countries, whose data was wrong. He said “But I am concerned about the awesome power of a few individuals to make these kinds of decisions in a vacuum…Because of the unique circumstances of the White House at the time, which was under political siege, hawks were able to convince otherwise cautious people to act.”
(Will be continued next, Insha Allah)

By A. S. Alkoronki

Arabic Forum