Michael Moore TV - Inside 9/11: They Were Inside Us TV - Maisson Hassan - Jan Egeland - Timothy Noah - Christopher Hitchens - Gus Casely-Hayford TV - Exterminate All the Brutes TV -
Three years ago, in response to embassy bombings, America attacked a pharmaceutical factory in one of the poorest countries in the world. The Clinton administration said that the Sudanese factory was linked to Osama bin Laden and involved in the production of chemical weapons.
In the following months, that justification fell apart. Although it was not widely reported, it appears that our leaders reacted too hastily, with tragic results. While there were few injuries from the bombing itself, the people of Sudan have suffered enormously as a result of losing this crucial source of medicine.
Please, let’s not let that happen again. Jeff Kandt
1998: Clinton bombs ‘weapons factories’ in Sudan. Factory turns out to be making Aspirin. Michael Moore, Bowling for Columbine, 2002
Khartoum, Sudan: April 1991: Osama bin Laden moves with his four wives, numerous children and a core group of supporters here to this poor capital city in East Africa. Bin Laden is now living in exile from his native Saudi Arabia. He cuts a deal with the radical Islamic government of Sudan: Al Qaeda provides money and weapons in return for sanctuary. Inside 9/11: They Were Among Us
Many Sudanese young people are well educated. But the economy is unstable, so everyone is affected, educated and not educated. You find the drivers of tuk-tuk [taxis] are engineers, accountants, very educated people – but they cannot find jobs and they need to boost their income any way they can. Maisson Hassan
We are also assisting the refugees who have fled across the border to Chad. As many of them have been subject to attacks by militia crossing from Sudan, UNHCR is mounting a major logistical operation to establish camps and transfer refugees away from the border zone. Jan Egeland
The Sudan bombing is a blot on the Clinton presidency, and a blot it ought to remain. Timothy Noah
What should have been charged against the president … was the abuse of power … He did use Cruise missiles against the Sudan on a target that was evidently bogus in the week of Ms Lewinsky’s return to the Grand Jury. Christopher Hitchens
Africa: Where the human race began. Nearly a billion people live here. It’s a continent with an incredible diversity of communities and cultures. Yet we know less of its history than almost anywhere else on Earth. Gus Casely-Hayford, Lost Kingdoms of Africa s1e1: Nubia, BBC 2010
The far north of the continent in what is now known as Sudan. I’m looking for the legendary kingdom of Nubia. Nubia is the traditional name for the northern part of Sudan near the Egyptian border. For thousands of years a civilisation dominated the area there in what’s now eastern Sahara … A source of slaves and treasure, dancing girls and wrestlers … These people were conquerors in their own right. ibid.
There are more pyramids here than there are in Egypt. ibid.
Water was the key to this Nubian kingdom. ibid.
They [Egyptians] clearly regarded them as inferior. ibid.
They’d even developed writing. ibid.
The desert continued its relentless incursion. ibid.
Sudan 1898 colonials wars. In Omdurman in 1989 the whole European arsenal was tested against a numerically superior and very determined enemy. One of the most cheerful depicters of war was Winston Churchill, later Nobel winner for Prize for literature. Was the war correspondent of the Morning Post. ‘Nothing like the battle of Obdurman will ever be seen again’, wrote Churchill in a book published after the experience. Exterminate All the Brutes s1e3: Killing at a Distance or … How I Thoroughly Enjoyed the Outing *****
An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan by Winston Spencer Churchill: ‘They were a condensed mass: 2,800 yards from the 32nd field battery and the gunboats. The ranges were known. It was a matter of machinery. The mind was fascinated by the impending horror. I could see it coming. In a few seconds swift destruction would rush on these brave men … It was based on a fatal underestimation of the effectiveness of modern weapons. Within the space of five hours, the strongest best armed and savage army yet arrayed against a modern European power had been destroyed and dispersed with hardly any difficulty, comparatively small risk and insignificant loss to the victors. Thus ended the Battle of Omdurman, the most striking triumph ever gained by the arms of science against barbarians … only a sporting element in a splendid game’. ibid.