Sudanese Drug Firm Can't Sue U.S. Over 1998 Clinton Attack

A federal appeals court dismissed on  Wednesday a lawsuit seeking $50 million in damages as  compensation for the U.S. military's destruction in 1998 of a  Sudanese pharmaceutical plant in retaliation for al Qaeda's  bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa. The appeals court ruled the case presented a political  question involving then-President Bill Clinton's order to the  military authorizing the missile strikes and that under the  U.S. Constitution it could not be reviewed by the judiciary. Clinton said the plant was being used to produce chemical  weapons. The company has said it used the plant to supply drugs  needed by impoverished people living in the country. The plant was destroyed by cruise missiles launched from  U.S. Navy ships. Clinton blamed Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda  network for the embassy bombings and said the factory was  associated with the network and produced an ingredient  essential for nerve gas.
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