Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East

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US Attack on Alleged VX Precursor Production Plant in Khartoum, Sudan

On 20 August 1998, the United States launched a cruise missile attack that destroyed the al-Shifa Pharmaceutical Factory in Khartoum, Sudan. U.S. officials assert that the facility was used to produce precursor chemicals for the deadly nerve agent VX. Sudan denies the allegation. Several independent investigations, including a joint effort by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) & WGBH' FRONTLINE and New York Times, have amassed a substantial body of evidence contradicting the U.S. rationale for the attack on al-Shifa.

FRONTLINE/New York Times Special Report: "The Terrorist and the Superpower"

This site focuses on Osama Bin Laden and his supporters, alleged perpetrators of the 7 August 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the U.S. campaign against them. It provides historical background, contemporary analysis, interviews, video clips, and excerpts from key documents.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/

See especially Oriana Zil, "The Controversial U.S. Retaliatory Missile Strikes," Raymond Close, "Hard Target: We Can't Defeat Terrorism With Bombs and Bombast," and Tim Weiner and James Risen, "Decision to Strike Factory in Sudan Based Partly on Surmise."
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/bombings/retaliation.html

See also interviews with Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir, President, Republic of Sudan; Milton Bearden, former CIA chief of station in Sudan; Samuel R. Berger, U.S. National Security Advisor; Larry C. Johnson, former deputy director U.S. State Department Office of Counter-Terrorism; and Thomas Pickering, U.S. Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/binladen/interviews/

United States Statements and Policies

Concise official statement of U.S. rationale for attack (U.S. Department of State)
http://www.usia.gov/topical/pol/terror/98082112.htm

U.S. statements & documents on the attack (United States Information Agency-USIA)
http://www.usia.gov/topical/pol/terror/strikes.htm

Declassified 1992 memorandum on chemical weapons allegations in the Sudan (US State Department)
00002167.pdf		(This document requires the free Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in.)

U.S. economic sanctions on the Sudan (Federal Bulletin Board Online via GPO Access)
ftp://fedbbs.access.gpo.gov/gpo_bbs/fac_bro/sudan.txt

U.S. chemical & biological weapons sanctions legislation (U.S. Code Title 22, Chapter 65, Sections 5601-5606)
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/22/ch65.html

Sudanese News and Background

Official Sudanese government statement on the U.S. attack on al-Shifa, 29 September 1998 (United Nations General Assembly Press Release #9457)

Chemical weapons allegations in Global Trade, Local Impact: Arms Transfers to All Sides in the Civil War in Sudan (Human Rights Watch)
http://www.hrw.org/reports98/sudan/Sudarm988-04.htm#Chemical

Letter to President Clinton urging technical inspection of al-Shifa (Human Rights Watch)
http://www.hrw.org/hrw/press98/sept/sudan915.htm

Sudanese reactions, news, and other links (Sudan.Net)
http://www.sudan.net/

Links to news about the Sudan (Africa News Online)
http://www.africanews.org/east/sudan/

Maps of the Sudan (Perry-Castañeda Library, University of Texas at Austin)
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/sudan.html

The International Community

World media reactions to U.S. attacks, 21 August (USIA)
http://www.usia.gov/admin/005/wwwh8821.html

World media reactions to U.S. attacks, 24 August (USIA)
http://www.usia.gov/admin/005/wwwh8824.html

World media reactions to U.S. attacks, 1 September (USIA)
http://www.usia.gov/admin/005/wwwh8901.html

United Nations Security Council's 1996 resolutions 1044, 1054, 1070 on the Sudan (UN)
http://www.un.org/Docs/sc.htm

Full Members and Signatories of the Chemical Weapons Convention (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons)
http://www.opcw.nl/

Background on Chemical Weapons and Terrorism

Jonathan B. Tucker, "National Health and Medical Services Response to Incidents of Chemical and Biological Terrorism," JAMA 278(5), August 6, 1997.
http://www.ama-assn.org/sci-pubs/journals/archive/jama/vol_278/no_5/pp71006a.htm

Fact sheet on chemistry and toxicity of VX nerve gas (Mitretek Systems)
http://www.mitretek.org/offer/energy/cw_page/vx.html

Fact sheet on VX nerve gas hazards and handling (U.S. Army)
http://www.apgea.army.mil/RDA/erdec/risk/safety/msds/vx1.html

Handbook on medical effects and treatment for nerve agents (U.S. Army)
http://chemdef.apgea.army.mil/fm8-9/part_iii/index.htm (see Part III, Chapter II)

Fact sheet on nerve gas agents (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons)
http://www.opcw.nl/chemhaz/nerve.htm

Michael Barletta, Erik Jorgensen, and Jason Pate. April 1999.
© Center for Nonproliferation Studies,
Monterey Institute of International Studies.