Word: binning
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...insufficient considering that when Arafat thinks of Jerusalem, he ceases to see himself as a politician. Instead he envisions himself emblazoned across the pages of history with the only two Islamic leaders to stride victorious into Jerusalem, securing the holy city for the Muslim faithful. Caliph Omar bin Khattab won the city for Islam in the seventh century. Saladin liberated it from Christian Crusaders 550 years later. The Palestinian leader can compromise on refugees, on territory, even on the parameters of statehood. But Arafat sees Jerusalem as his chance to transcend politics and enter the pantheon of great Islamic heroes...
...Having discovered only after the strike that Mr. Idris was the owner of the plant, some U.S. officials alleged he was linked with Bin Laden and other terrorist groups. But despite these claims, Idris was never added to the State Department's terrorist watch list, for which he'd have been an obvious candidate if the link was strong enough to justify bombing a factory. And last year Washington quietly released his assets in U.S. financial institutions, which had been frozen following the raid. The Wall Street Journal characterized Idris as "a Westernized Saudi Arabian banker" with no known ties...
...Shifa produced chemical weapons components; Al Shifa was connected with Bin Laden and owned by Sudan's Military Industrial Corporation; and Al Shifa was heavily guarded by the Sudanese military and produced no pharmaceuticals...
...Idris's efforts to seek redress, however, the Clinton administration is sticking to its guns. "We stand by the decision to bomb this target in the Sudan," National Security Council spokesman P.J. Crowley told TIME.com Friday. "We stand by the information that we had at the time that Osama Bin Laden was seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction, and we were able to link a compound used in the making of chemical weapons to the Al Shifa factory. There's nothing that we've found out since that changes our view that we made the right decision...
...course, the U.S. doesn't glibly fire cruise missiles at a factory in a far-off country. The decision was taken against the backdrop of the pressure to retaliate for the embassy strike, very real concerns that Bin Laden might be planning further attacks using chemical weapons, Sudan's history as a haven for terrorists (including Bin Laden) and evidence that Bin Laden had sought to develop chemical weapons there. All of that, and a soil sample showing traces of a nerve gas building block. The administration's position was summed up a month after the missile strike by National...