Sudan revisited

[Carl Remick]

Just off the ticker:
White House Rejects Sudan Probe
Filed at 1:53 p.m. EDT 
By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Clinton administration defended its decision to
attack a suspected chemical weapons factory in Sudan last month and
rejected a call by former President Carter to investigate whether the
plant really had a terrorism connection. 
``We had overwhelming grounds to strike this facility,'' Sandy Berger,
the national security adviser to President Clinton, told reporters
Friday when asked about Carter's statements. ``For us to have not struck
that plant I think would have been irresponsible.'' 
Carter said a technical team should take samples of soil and building
materials at the factory site. 
``If the evidence shows that the Sudanese are guilty, they should be
condemned for lying and for contributing to terrorist activities,''
Carter said Thursday. ``Otherwise, we should admit our error and make
amends to those who have suffered loss or injury.'' 
Berger's spokesman, David Leavy, said the Clinton administration opposes
an investigation such as Carter recommended. ``We don't think it's
necessary,'' Leavy said. 
Berger said Clinton would renew his plea for international cooperation
in fighting terrorism when he addresses the opening of the U.N. General
Assembly on Monday. In justifying the Aug. 20 missile strike at the
factory in Sudan's capital, Clinton has said it was linked to an
international terrorist ring led by Osama bin Laden. 
``He wants to make it clear to the international community that the
fight against terrorism is not a clash of civilizations or cultures,''
Berger said. ``The dividing line is between those who in practice
support and tolerate terror and those who understand that terrorism is
plain and simple murder.'' 
Berger said that while the Sudanese plant did make legitimate medical
products such as penicillin, there was no reason to doubt that it also
produced EMPTA, a precursor compound that Berger said has no use other
than in chemical weapons, particularly VX nerve agents. 
``I have even more certainty about this than I did at the time that we
struck it based upon subsequent information,'' Berger said. ``It is part
of a military-industrial corporation with which Osama bin Laden is
associated. He seeks chemical weapons for the purpose of using them for
terrorist actions. I think the case was very strong.'' 
Berger criticized the Sudanese government for complaining about the U.S.
attack. 
``The compassion for the humanitarian instincts of the Sudanese
government here is a little bit disingenuous,'' he said. ``This is a
government that is one of the principle state sponsors of terrorism in
the world,'' that has stood in the way of international efforts to ease
food shortages in southern and western Sudan and that has harbored
terrorists. 
``So I'm sure,'' Berger said sarcastically, ``that they're deeply
concerned about the penicillin that they may have lost in this plant.''