Note that the Syrian chemical weapons experiments on the human

guinea pigs in Darfur are alleged to have come in conjunction with a

military exercise between Syria and Sudan. Why is this worth bearing in

mind? Remember the retaliatory strikes after the 1998 embassy

bombings? One of the targets we hit was Sudan’s al Shifa pharmaceutical

plant: because it was believed, based on intelligence, that bin Laden

was underwriting chemical weapons production there, which was being

carried out, with Sudan’s approval, by Saddam Hussein’s experts. In the

9/11 Commission investigation, President Clinton, Nat’l Security Adviser

Berger and Defense Sec’y Cohen continued to stand by that intelligence

– although, of course, the Commission did not find a meaningful

relationship to exist between Iraq and al Qaeda. In any event, the role

of Sudanese in the menace we’re fighting continues to be profound and

understated. Recall, as the UN and the “international community”

continue impotently to plead with them to stop the genocide in Darfur,

that this spring the State Department took them off the terrorist black

list.