 | Operation Desert Fox: Encyclopedia II - Operation Desert Fox - Background
Operation Desert Fox - Background
While speaking at the Pentagon on February 17, 1998, President Bill Clinton warned of the "reckless acts of outlaw nations and an unholy axis of terrorists, drug traffickers and organized international criminals." These "predators of the twenty-first century," he said "will be all the more lethal if we allow them to build arsenals of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and missiles to deliver them. We simply cannot allow that to happen. There is no more clear example of this threat than Saddam Hussein's Iraq." [1]
On August 5, 1998 Iraq ceased all cooperation with UN weapons inspectors (UNSCOM) and threatened to end all monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The Clinton Administration was concerned Saddam Hussein may provide weapons of mass destruction to terrorist organizations with global reach, such as al-Qaeda. Some of Iraq's efforts in this area were outside the borders of Iraq. In the months preceding Operation Desert Fox, the U.S. had been watching construction of a dual-use manufacturing plant in Khartoum, Sudan designed to make or handle chemical weapons and pharmaceuticals called Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory. William Cohen testified:
"The al-Shifa facility had been under surveillance for some time because of a variety of intelligence reports, including HUMINT reports identifying it as a WMD-related facility, indirect links between the facility and Bin Laden and the Iraqi chemical weapons program, and extraordinary security – including surface-to-air missiles – used to protect it during its construction. The direct physical evidence from the scene obtained at that time convinced the U.S. intelligence community that their suspicions were correct about the facility’s chemical weapons role and that there was a risk of chemical agents getting into the hands of al Qaeda, whose interest in obtaining such weapons was clear." (Page 9) (PDF)
The 9/11 Commission Report noted that a passage regarding this plant caused Richard A. Clarke "who for years had read intelligence reports on Iraqi-Sudanese cooperation on chemical weapons, to speculate to Berger that a large Iraqi presence at chemical facilities in Khartoum was 'probably a direct result of the Iraq–Al Qida agreement.'" (page 128) (PDF) "This language about al Qaeda's "understanding" with Iraq had been dropped, however, when a superseding indictment was filed in November 1998." [2]
The Clinton Administration attacked the al-Shifa plant with cruise missiles on August 20, 1998.
President Clinton announced a new policy toward Iraq of "regime change." On October 31, 1998 the president signed into law H.R. 4655, the "Iraq Liberation Act." [3] [4] The new Act appropriated funds to Iraqi opposition groups in the hope of removing Saddam Hussein from power and replacing his regime with a democracy.
The Act also said that "Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize or otherwise speak to the use of United States Armed Forces," except in direct aid to an active Iraqi rebellion.
Other related archives1998, 1999, 21 December, 9/11 Commission Report, Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory, August 20, August 5, Australian, Bill Clinton, December 16, December 18, February 17, France, George H.W. Bush, International Atomic Energy Agency, Iraq Liberation Act, Iraq disarmament crisis, Iraq disarmament crisis timeline 1997-2000, January 11, January 31, October 31, People's Republic of China, Richard A. Clarke, Richard Butler, Russia, Saddam Hussein, UN Security Council, UNSCOM, United Kingdom, United States, al-Qaeda, cruise missile, diplomat, military, weapons of mass destruction
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Background", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
