Bush Administration Allied With Sudan Despite Role in Darfur Genocide

[bloom]

Story on Democracy NOW! today:

In the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush issued an ultimatum to the world: "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." Three and half years later, it has been revealed that the Bush administration has allied itself with a government listed as a state sponsor of terrorism and one that the administration has accused of committing genocide against its own people - Sudan.

A major expose in the Los Angeles Times on Friday revealed that the U.S. has quietly forged a close intelligence partnership with Sudan despite the government's role in the mass killings in Darfur. The Sudanese government has since publicly confirmed it is working with the Bush administration and the CIA.

Eight months ago, former Secretary of State Colin Powell accused the Sudanese of carrying out a genocide in Darfur. Already 180,000 have died in the region from fighting or hunger. But relations appear to have since changed -- for the better. One senior Sudanese official the LA Times that the country had achieved "complete normalization" of relations with the CIA.
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/05/03/1357228


LA Times Story:

Official Pariah Sudan Valuable to America's War on Terrorism

Despite once harboring Bin Laden, Khartoum regime has supplied key intelligence, officials say.

April 29, 2005

By Ken Silverstein, Times Staff Writer


KHARTOUM, Sudan — The Bush administration has forged a close intelligence partnership with the Islamic regime that once welcomed Osama bin Laden here, even though Sudan continues to come under harsh U.S. and international criticism for human rights violations.

The Sudanese government, an unlikely ally in the U.S. fight against terror, remains on the most recent U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. At the same time, however, it has been providing access to terrorism suspects and sharing intelligence data with the United States.

Last week, the CIA sent an executive jet here to ferry the chief of Sudan's intelligence agency to Washington for secret meetings sealing Khartoum's sensitive and previously veiled partnership with the administration, U.S. government officials confirmed.

A decade ago Bin Laden and his fledgling Al Qaeda network were based in Khartoum. After they left for Afghanistan, the regime of Sudanese strongman Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir retained ties with other groups the U.S. accuses of terrorism.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-fg-sudan29apr29,1,2464174.story

[Tux]

1. Why am I not surprised?

[bloom]

2. in case you missed it...

[JPZenger]

3. Only One Official Cared About Sudanese People

There was only one U.S. official who tried to do something about the genocide in the Sudan - Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Danforth. He was the most qualified Republican to be Secretary of State. However, when he was passed over for that position in favor of loyalty-above-all-else Condi Rice, Danforth resigned.

[agincourt]

4. I can't resist saying it again,

The government of Sudan's fictitious statements about handing Bin Laden over to Bill Clinton, was raw material for GOP pundit swine over here for a long time. Many people still swear up and down it happened. When you help GWBs political power you get rewarded. No matter who you are or what you do. Can you imagine Clinton accommodating a genocide and not being ripped daily? I can't.