Infinite Just Us      Excerpt of a broadly distributed letter from MIT Professor Noam Chomsky, "Chomsky Replies to Hitchens" around 9-30-2001.
 

Noam Chomsky describes the repercussions of the 1998 U.S. bombing of the al-Shifa pharmaceuticals factory in Sudan.

This excerpt of Chomsky's letter (see note below) starts with three cited quotations from the mainstream press:

  A year after the attack "without the lifesaving medicine [the destroyed facilities] produced, Sudan's death toll from the bombing has continued, quietly, to rise... Thus, tens of thousands of people -- many of them children -- have suffered and died from malaria, tuberculosis, and other treatable diseases... [The factory] provided affordable medicine for humans and all the locally available veterinary medicine in Sudan. It produced 90 percent of Sudan's major pharmaceutical products... Sanctions against Sudan make it impossible to import adequate amounts of medicines required to cover the serious gap left by the plant's destruction.... [T]he action taken by Washington on Aug. 20, 1998, continues to deprive the people of Sudan of needed medicine. Millions must wonder how the International Court of Justice in The Hague will celebrate this anniversary" [Jonathan Belke, Boston Globe, Aug. 22, 1999].

"[T]he loss of this factory is a tragedy for the rural communities who need these medicines" [Tom Carnaffin, technical manager with intimate knowledge of the destroyed plant, Ed Vulliamy et al., London Observer, 23 Aug. 1998].

The plant "provided 50 percent of Sudan's medicines, and its destruction has left the country with no supplies of chloroquine, the standard treatment for malaria," but months later, the British Labour government refused requests "to resupply chloroquine in emergency relief until such time as the Sudanese can rebuild their pharmaceutical production" [Patrick Wintour, Observer, 20 Dec. 1998].

And much more.

  

Some
Background
Information
 

See
link to
Chomsky
interview
audio
program,
below

Chomsky continues ...

Proportional to population, this is as if the bin Laden network, in a single attack on the U.S., caused "hundreds of thousands of people -- many of them children -- to suffer and die from easily treatable diseases," though the analogy is unfair because a rich country, not under sanctions and denied aid, can easily replenish its stocks and respond appropriately to such an atrocity -- which, I presume, would not have passed so lightly. ... [This shocking crime] ... is one for which we are responsible: as taxpayers, for failing to provide massive reparations, for granting refuge and immunity to the perpetrators, and for allowing the terrible facts to be sunk so deep in the memory hole that some, at least, seem unaware of them.

This only scratches the surface. The U.S. bombing "appears to have shattered the slowly evolving move towards compromise between Sudan's warring sides" and terminated promising steps towards a peace agreement to end the civil war that had left 1.5 million dead since 1981, which might have also led to "peace in Uganda and the entire Nile Basin." The attack apparently "shattered...the expected benefits of a political shift at the heart of Sudan's Islamist government" towards a "pragmatic engagement with the outside world," along with efforts to address Sudan's domestic crises," to end support for terrorism, and to reduce the influence of radical Islamists.  [Mark Huband, Financial Times, Sept. 8, 1998]

In this respect, we may compare the crime in the Sudan to the assassination of Lumumba, which helped plunge the Congo into decades of slaughter, still continuing; or the overthrow of the democratic government of Guatemala in 1954, which led to 40 years of hideous atrocities; and all too many others like it.

One can scarcely try to estimate the colossal toll of the Sudan bombing, even apart from the probable tens of thousands of immediate Sudanese victims. The complete toll is attributable to the single act of terror -- at least, if we have the honesty to adopt the standards we properly apply to official enemies.

See also: The Noam Chomsky Archive on ZNET

Hear also RealAudio Program (hosted on Free Speech TV) -- September 20, 2001 Noam Chomsky interview with David Barsamian, Alternative Radio.
   

Note from "Infinite Just Us" editor:

After some reluctance to respond to Christopher Hitchens' prior comments, Chomsky expresses regret in choosing to finally, partially respond (with the letter from which the above excerpt is taken.)  Chomsky writes, "This is no proper context for addressing serious issues relating to the Sept. 11 atrocities."

The complete discussion is published on The Nation website: The Roots of the September 11 Terrorist Attacks.
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