http://cnn.com:80/US/9902/05/AM-US-Sudan.ap/index.html - Plant owner to sue U.S. over Sudan missile attack February 5, 1999 Web posted at: 7:38 PM EST (0038 GMT) WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Saudi businessman who claims to own the pharmaceutical plant in Sudan destroyed in a missile attack last August is preparing to sue the United States for damages, his American lawyer said Friday. Salah Idris, whose lawyer says he owned the El-Shifa factory near the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, will sue in a U.S. court unless the Clinton administration agrees to compensate him and unfreeze his assets in American banks, said attorney John Scanlon. Scanlon said Idris, who lives in Jeddah and London, is seeking $30 million in damages. The administration accuses Idris of having business ties with Osama bin Laden, whom U.S. officials blame for terrorist bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa. Idris denies any connection with bin Laden, also a Saudi. After the bombing, a presidential order froze about $28 million Idris has in American banks overseas, Scanlon said. "Legal action is under consideration, we are preparing a case if need be but we'd be delighted to settle this calmly and rationally without moving forward legally," he said. Idris' lawyers say he purchased the plant in March 1998. President Clinton ordered the attack in retaliation for the terrorist bombing, earlier in August, of the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. A suspected stronghold in Afghanistan of bin Laden also was struck at the same time. CIA Director George Tenet declared in subsequent Senate testimony that soil samples collected at the site of the El-Shifa plant had been found to contain a chemical used as a key ingredient in nerve gas. Tenet's claim was ridiculed by Jordanian and British engineers who built and operated the plant, who said it lacked the sophisticated equipment needed to handle chemical warfare agents. Diplomats and journalists who toured the factory after the missile strike also reported no apparent evidence of chemical weapons. The Sudanese government said the plant's products were antibiotics and drugs to treat malaria and tuberculosis. But in Washington, National Security Council spokesman P.J. Crowley reiterated on Friday that the administration stood by the original CIA findings. Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] *********************************************************************** BIOWAR-L Biowar/Bioterrorism/Toxins Mailing List To unsubscribe or subscribe: send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following text: unsubscribe BIOWAR-L or subscribe BIOWAR-L. Post to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. Archive: <http://www.sonic.net/~west/digest.htm>. BIOWAR Web site: <http://www.sonic.net/~west/biowar.htm>. -Wes Thomas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
