Report: CIA Calls Sudan to Deny Role in Arms Factory Bombing
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al-intiba American diplomats David Petraeus hamas hamas smuggling route israel Israel airstrikes Khartoum Saleh A-Tayeb Sudan U.S.- Israel weapons factory
David Petraeus Press Briefing, 2007. Photo: Wikipedia.
A Sudanese newspaper is reporting that CIA chief David Petraeus called Sudanese deputy intelligence head Saleh A-Tayeb to deny any U.S. involvement in an airstrike that destroyed an arms factory in Khartoum late last week.
According to the report that appeared in the local Sudanese paper “al-Intiba,” after Sudanese officials placed blame on Israel for the strike U.S. officials attempted to reach out to their Sudanese counterparts to deny reports that the U.S. was involved or had prior knowledge of the attack.
Shortly after the strike the U.S. embassy in Khartoum closed, raising speculation that U.S. officials knew of the strike. However, according to the article this was merely a precautionary measure taken by the U.S. to protect embassy staff. According to the official quoted in the “al-Intiba” article, the US asked that Sudan guarantee the safety of American diplomats currently based in Khartoum.
Shortly after the attack last week a Sudanese minister said that the factory’s destruction was the result of an operation carried out by four military planes.
Analysts say Sudan is used as an arms smuggling route by Hamas. Similar air-strikes in the past have also led Sudan to blame Israel, but the Jewish state has maintained a policy of ambiguity in response.
4:14 am
These types of denials are a matter of routine course and have always been made before. There is nothing unique about it now.
2:49 pm
This smacks of blatant anti-Israel policy by the Obama Administration. Lets look at this logically: If the US was involved in the bombing would Petraeus call and admit it? Of course not, he would still deny it. So if that is the case, why is he bothering to deny it now, when Sudan looks like it still isn’t believing it? It is because the US wants the world to understand that it no longer stands alongside Israel and hopes that after enough times of denying what Israel might be forced to undertake herself (including the bombing of Iran) that the world will finally get the message that Israel indeed stands alone. When Obama publicy apologized for the anti-Muslim video a few weeks ago it amounted to more of the same type of appeasment. The administration is all but publicly admitting that it has abandoned Israel (or intends to if it is re-elected) and that it is now firmly in the corner of the Islamists. Petraeus’s actions greatly assist that inference.