Official Pariah Sudan Valuable to America's War on Terrorism

LA Times ^ | 29 April 2005 | Ken Silverstein

[Lorianne]

The Bush administration has forged a close intelligence partnership with the Islamic regime that once welcomed Osama bin Laden here, even though Sudan continues to come under harsh U.S. and international criticism for human rights violations.

The Sudanese government, an unlikely ally in the U.S. fight against terror, remains on the most recent U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. At the same time, however, it has been providing access to terrorism suspects and sharing intelligence data with the United States.

Last week, the CIA sent an executive jet here to ferry the chief of Sudan's intelligence agency to Washington for secret meetings sealing Khartoum's sensitive and previously veiled partnership with the administration, U.S. government officials confirmed.

In exchange for the collaboration, which has been Official acknowledgment of the relationship by Washington could also create a political backlash in the U.S.

Sudan's government has been accused of large-scale human rights violations, and the administration has been one of its leading global critics. In Congress, allies of human rights advocates share strong anti-Sudanese sentiment with supporters of conservative Christian groups that have been sympathetic to Christian and animist rebels in southern Sudan, where a peace deal has taken hold.

Concern that the White House might soften its policy toward Sudan on the Darfur issue to encourage intelligence assistance was raised in an October report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. It said Gosh and other Sudanese officials had played "key roles in directing … attacks against civilians" and noted that the administration was "concerned that going after these individuals could disrupt cooperation on counter-terrorism."

[Lorianne]

I don't like this close relationship with Sudan's Khartoum government. Don't trust them.

[the anti-liberal]

"Keep your enemies close"