Operation Infinite Reach

rdf:langString Operation Infinite Reach

rdf:langString Operation Infinite Reach

rdf:langString bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, rapid escalation in Al-Qaeda operations.

rdf:langString left

rdf:langString An Al-Qaeda training camp in Zhawar Kili Al-Badr, Afghanistan

rdf:langString None

rdf:langString Lashkar-e-Taiba

rdf:langString al-Qaeda

rdf:langString Harkat-ul-Mujahideen

rdf:langString Bill Clinton

rdf:langString Osama bin Laden

rdf:langString Omar al-Bashir

rdf:langString Anthony Zinni

rdf:langString Fazlur Rehman Khalil

rdf:langString Operation Infinite Reach

rdf:langString Khost Province, Afghanistan, and Khartoum, Sudan

rdf:langString [Bin Laden] had been shot at by a high-tech superpower and the superpower missed ... The missile strikes were his biggest publicity payoff to date.

rdf:langString Strikes hit targets but failed objectives * Al-Qaeda suffers casualties and material damage, but its senior leaders survive * Al-Shifa pharmaceutical plant destroyed * Al-Qaeda propaganda victory

rdf:langString —Steve Coll

rdf:langString Up to 600 militants at Zhawar Kili Al-Badr

rdf:langString Operation Infinite Reach was the codename for American cruise missile strikes on Al-Qaeda bases in Khost Province, Afghanistan, and the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum, Sudan, on August 20, 1998. The attacks, launched by the U.S. Navy, were ordered by President Bill Clinton in retaliation for al-Qaeda's August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people (including 12 Americans) and injured over 4,000 others. Operation Infinite Reach was the first time the United States acknowledged a preemptive strike against a violent non-state actor. U.S. intelligence wrongly suggested financial ties between the Al-Shifa plant, which produced over half of Sudan's pharmaceuticals, and Osama bin Laden, and a soil sample collected from Al-Shifa allegedly contained a chemical used in VX nerve gas manufacturing. Suspecting that Al-Shifa was linked to, and producing chemical weapons for, bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network, the U.S. destroyed the facility with cruise missiles, killing or wounding 11 Sudanese. The strike on Al-Shifa proved controversial; after the attacks, the U.S. evidence and rationale were criticized as faulty, and academics Max Taylor and Mohamed Elbushra cite "a broad acceptance that this plant was not involved in the production of any chemical weapons." The missile strikes on al-Qaeda's Afghan training camps, aimed at preempting more attacks and killing bin Laden, damaged the installations and inflicted an uncertain number of casualties; however, bin Laden was not present at the time. Following the attacks, the ruling Taliban allegedly reneged on a promise to Saudi intelligence chief Turki al-Faisal to hand over bin Laden, and the regime instead strengthened its ties with the al-Qaeda chief. Operation Infinite Reach, the largest U.S. action in response to a terrorist attack since the 1986 bombing of Libya, was met with a mixed international response: U.S. allies and most of the American public supported the strikes, but the targeted countries and other nations in the Middle East strongly opposed them. The failure of the attacks to kill bin Laden also enhanced his public image in the Muslim world. Further strikes were planned but not executed; as a 2002 congressional inquiry noted, Operation Infinite Reach was "the only instance ... in which the CIA or U.S. military carried out an operation directly against Bin Laden before September 11."