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Jewish World Review / August 24, 1998 / 2 Elul, 5758
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A U.N. delegation, bottom left, at a pharmaceutical factory that was targeted by American missiles. |
Clinton Sent Right Message
With Those Missiles . . .
THE SUPERCYNICS who insist Bill
Clinton ordered Thursday's
anti-terrorist attacks to draw attention
away from Monicagate are dead
wrong. But for the sake of argument,
if it took a little dog wagging to get the Clinton
administration to finally take firm defensive action
against terrorists, then so be it.
The tough lessons our missile force delivered in
Afghanistan and Sudan were long overdue.
Terrorists understand only one language:
toughness. What's more, as Secretary of State
Albright succinctly put it, these criminals "have to
learn that while they can hide, they can't escape."
To be sure, the host countries the U.S. targeted are
busily moaning and groaning. But neither has
grounds for complaint.
Afghanistan's extremist Taliban leaders — who
specialize in oppressing women, and whom we
once supported when they fought the Soviets —
have been warned for months to stop giving
anti-American terrorists sanctuary. That includes
not only Osama Bin Laden's gangs, but other
fanatics who target Americans.
Sudan, which still tolerates the slave trade and
savagely oppresses its black Christian population,
has prided itself on being one of the world's
primary centers for terrorist training. Recent guest
lists in Africa's largest country read like a veritable
terrorists' Who's Who.
To name a few: the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for
the Liberation of Palestine, the Iranian-backed
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the outlawed Algerian
Islamic Salvation Front, Tunisia's Nahda, Yemen's
al-Islaq and Egypt's Gma'at Islamiya. Remember
them? They bombed the World Trade Center and
targeted other New York landmarks. What's more,
their leader, blind cleric Sheik Omar
Abdel-Rahman, entered the U.S. from Sudan and
now is serving time in a U.S. prison.
All these groups have used training camps
maintained by Sudan's Popular Defense Forces.
That's the kind of activity that once helped Sudan
win the dubious honor of joining Cuba, Iran, Iraq,
Libya and Syria on the U.S. government's list of
nations sponsoring international terrorism.
Then, of course, there's Osama Bin Laden himself.
The Saudi megamillionaire terrorist took refuge in
Sudan in the early 1990s when his own country
tossed him out.
It took a lot of pressure from the United States to
get the Khartoum government to finally invite him
to leave in 1996. But he still has considerable
holdings in Sudan — and a financial hold over
some important Sudanese officials (his closest
political ties are with Sudan's de facto leader,
Islamic extremist Hassan al-Turabi).
Intelligence sources tell me that while Bin Laden's
fortune is spread among banks and front
corporations from Switzerland to the gulf states, he
still keeps major accounts in Sudan's Al Shimali
Bank, using them to line the pockets of some
Sudanese officials.
What happens now? There's no doubt terrorists
plan new retaliatory attacks — possibly on
American soil. But that only means showing
tougher resolve to battle them.
One way was shown on Thursday. Another is to
cut off their financial support by getting nations
and banks to freeze their assets. It also means new
pressure on all countries that harbor terrorists.
That includes Iran and Syria, where Palestinian
terrorists who have murdered scores of people in
recent years — including 13 Americans, like New
Jersey student Alisa Flatow — still operate and get
support. Let them and their hosts learn they can
hide, but they can't
By Richard Z. Chesnoff
JWR contributor and veteran journalist
Richard Z. Chesnoff is a senior correspondent at US News
And World Report and a columnist at the NY Daily News.
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