American Strikes against Sudan and Afghanistan

Aliran condemns the American air strikes against Sudan and Afghanistan just as we deplore the terrorist bombings of the United States’ embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

The US’ aerial attacks smack of military arrogance and deliberate contempt for international laws and national sovereignty. Moreover, this “wild, wild West” behaviour cannot be justified especially when the investigation into the embassy bombings has been inconclusive.

Just as we abhor the deliberate destruction of innocent lives by terrorist groups - be they in Africa or Northern Ireland - we also detest the US’ unnecessary flaunting of its military muscles in foreign lands. Two wrongs, as the old adage goes, do not make a right.

In addition, the timing of the US military action also makes one wonder whether it is a desperate attempt by the Clinton administration to improve the tarnished image of the US president following the Lewinsky scandal.  It certainly looks like Clinton is seeking a “foreign solution” to his domestic - and personal - problems.

Aliran is uneasy about the United Nation’s role in letting the US off lightly. We support Sudan’s call for an urgent Security Council meeting and an independent UN inquiry into the US air-strike that destroyed a pharmaceutical plant near Khartoum. Such an inquiry is all the more pressing especially after a British engineer who had worked at the plant refuted a US claim that the plant was capable of producing chemicals for nerve gas.
 

Executive Committee
25 August 1998