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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