White House rejects call for investigation of Sudan attack
1.51 p.m. ET (1752 GMT) September 18, 1998
By Robert Burns, 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.''
In previewing Clinton's terrorism speech at U.N. headquarters, Berger said the president also will meet separately with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi on Sunday evening and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday.
Berger said a decision will be made within a few weeks on whether Clinton will visit Pakistan and India - as was planned before the two nations tested nuclear devices in May in defiance of U.S. urgings to abandon their nuclear ambitions. He said the United States is insisting both countries sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and take other concrete steps to get "back on track'' to reducing regional tensions.
"I think there has been some movement, but I think so far it's been insufficient'' to justify a Clinton visit, Berger said.
Clinton also will meet Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi of Japan on Tuesday in Tarrytown, N.Y., to urge quick action to repair Japan's troubled economy and clean up its debt-laden banks.
Japan is suffering its longest recession in a half a century.
"If that down drag continues from Japan, it will have quite a devastating effect on not only the economies of Asia, but the security of Asia,'' Berger said.
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