Right up his ass, eh? So very manly - quite masculinist for a feminist.
What the media and the state calls terrorism are generally powerful acts by
powerless people. Terrorism by the state itself is a much more dangerous
business. Count the dead - hundreds killed by the so-called terrorist
groups without state sanction; hundreds of millions killed by the U.S.,
other western gov'ts, and their puppet dictators in East Timor, Guatemala,
Nicaragua, Argentina, Chile...oh the list is endless. Anyway, here's some
news about the pharmaceutical plant, from the London Guardian...
***
American tests showed no trace of nerve gas at 'deadly' Sudan plant. The
President ordered the attack anyway
By Ed Vulliamy in Washington, Henry McDonald in Belfast , and Shyam Bhatia
and Martin Bright
Sunday August 23, 1998
President Bill Clinton knew he was bombing a civilian target when he
ordered the United States attack on a Sudan chemical plant. Tests ordered
by him showed that no nerve gas was on the site and two British
professionals who recently worked at the factory said it clearly had no
military purpose.
The disclosure will deepen the crisis, following the American attacks on
Afghanistan and Sudan, in relations between the US and its Muslim allies,
who have called upon Clinton to produce hard evidence that the attacks had
a legitimate relevance to the war against international terrorism.
The US claims that the Al-Shifa Pharmaceuticals Industries plant in North
Khartoum was producing the ingredients for the deadly VX nerve gas. But
Sudan's assertion that it produced 50 per cent of the country's drug
requirements is much closer to the truth.
Several vital pieces of evidence point to this conclusion. US forces flew
a reconnaissance mission to test for traces of gas and reported that there
were none. Nevertheless Clinton immediately authorised the attack. He was
also told that the absence of gas would avoid the horrifying spectacle of
civilian casualties. Sudan has said 10 people were injured, five
seriously.
Belfast independent film-maker Irwin Armstrong, who visited the plant last
year while making a promotional video for the Sudanese ambassador in
London, said: "The Americans have got this completely wrong.
"In other parts of the country I encountered heavy security but not here.
I was allowed to wander about quite freely. This is a perfectly normal
chemical factory with the things you would expect - stainless steel vats
and technicians."
Tom Carnaffin, of Hexham, Northumberland, worked as a technical manager
from 1992 to 1996 for the Baaboud family, who own the plant.
"I have intimate knowledge of that factory and it just does not lend
itself to the manufacture of chemical weapons," he said.
"The Americans claimed that the weapons were being manufactured in the
veterinary part of the factory. I have intimate knowledge of that part of
the [plant] and unless there have been some radical changes in the last
few months, it just isn't equipped to cope with the demands of chemical
weapon manufacturing. You need things like airlocks but this factory just
has doors leading out onto the street.
"I have personal knowledge of the need for medicine in Sudan as I almost
died while working out there. The loss of this factory is a tragedy for
the rural communities who need those medicines."
