Mansoor Ijaz/Sudan

In mid-August 1993 the U.S. government designated the Government of Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism. In its annual review of terrorism for 1993 the U.S. Department of State wrote that "while there is no evidence that the Government of Sudan--or the National Islamic Front, the power broker in the country--has been a direct sponsor of terrorism, it has willingly harbored elements of several notorious terrorist groups, including the Abu Nidal organization, Egypt's IG, and Hizballah." 

Sudan's growing diplomatic isolation
Following the attempted assassination of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on June 26, 1995, while he was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia further pressure was brought to bear on the government of Sudan. In late 1995 the Organization of African Unity (OAU) passed resolutions urging the the government of Sudan to extradite three men suspected of involvement in the assassination plot to Ethiopia. In 1996 the United Nations Security Council passed three resolutions also urging the government of Sudan to extradite the three men.

In 1996, Mansoor Ijaz had a series of meetings with Sudan's president, Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan Bashir and the Islamic leader, Hassan Turabi as well as Clinton administration officials including Sandy Berger. Ijaz argued the U.S. should adopt a policy of "constructive engagement" with Sudan. 

In June 1997, Ijaz appeared before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime Hearing on the "Prohibition on Financial Transactions With Countries Supporting Terrorism Act". Ijaz urged the need to enlist "Sudan's Islamic movement to help us in our fight against global extremism" and in particular stressed "the value of Sudan's relationships going forward with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Afghanistan and other countries that are now and will be in the not-so-distant future vital to our economic interests." 

A few months earlier, Washington Post journalist David B. Ottaway wrote that, based on an interview Ijaz "acknowledged his commercial interests in effecting a reconciliation between the United States and Sudan. As chairman of Crescent Investment Management LLC, a New York firm that he said handles a $ 2.7 billion investment portfolio—much of it on behalf of Middle East governments—Ijaz said he is particularly interested in new oil field development. Sudan, with moderate reserves estimated at 3.5 billion barrels, is expected to become a petroleum exporter soon and Ijaz said he hopes to manage some of Khartoum's foreign investment of oil profits." 

In November 1997, the New York Times noted that Ijaz's access and advocacy had came to little. "Last week," the Times Jill Abramson wrote, "the State Department announced stiffer sanctions against Sudan for sponsoring international terrorism." 

In a December 2001 op-ed column in the Los Angeles Times Ijaz wrote that between "1996 to 1998, I opened unofficial channels between Sudan and the Clinton administration. I met with officials in both countries, including Clinton, U.S. National Security Advisor Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger and Sudan's president and intelligence chief. President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, who wanted terrorism sanctions against Sudan lifted, offered the arrest and extradition of Bin Laden and detailed intelligence data about the global networks constructed by Egypt's Islamic Jihad, Iran's Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas." 

"Among those in the networks were the two hijackers who piloted commercial airliners into the World Trade Center. The silence of the Clinton administration in responding to these offers was deafening," he wrote. 

In particular, he recounted that in February 1996 Bashir "offered to arrest Bin Laden and extradite him to Saudi Arabia or, barring that, to 'baby-sit' him--monitoring all his activities and associates." Ijaz wrote that with Saudi Arabia not interested in having bin Laden back, "the Sudanese capitulated to U.S. pressure and asked Bin Laden to leave, despite their feeling that he could be monitored better in Sudan than elsewhere." 

Ijaz wrote that he was involved in another attempt in July 2000 in which an unspecified Arab country offered to entice Bin Laden and then facilitate his extradition to the U.S. All it required, he wrote, was that "Clinton make a state visit there to personally request Bin Laden's extradition". 

This story telescoped through the right-wing press to lay blame on Clinton et al. for having failed to fight terrorism and prevent the devastating September 11 attacks.

United Nations Security Council Resolutions on Sudan & Terrorism

 * "Resolution 1044", January 31, 1996.
 * "Resolution 1054", April 26, 1996.
 * "Resolution 1070 August 16, 1996.

U.S. State Department Reports and Notes on Counter-Terrorism and Sanctions

 * Office of the Secretary and Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, "Patterns of Global Terrorism, 1993", U.S. Department of State, April 1994.
 * U.S. State Department, "1996 Patterns of Global Terrorism Report: Overview of State-Sponsored Terrorism", 1996.
 * U.S. State Department, "Patterns of Global Terrorism Report: Overview of State-Sponsored Terrorism", 1998.
 * U.S. State Department, "1998 Patterns of Global Terrorism Report: Overview of State-Sponsored Terrorism", April 1999.
 * U.S. State Department, "Sudan: Militant Training Camps", Office of the Spokesman Washington, DC April 23, 2002. (Question taken at April 23, 2002 Daily Press Briefing).
 * U.S. State Department,, "Sanctions Against Sudan", Office of the Spokesman Washington, DC May 22, 2003. (Question Taken at Daily Briefing of May 21, 2003 re 1997 sanctions on investment in oil re U.S. businesses and individuals).
 * President George W. Bush, "Message to the Congress of the United States", The White House, October 29, 2003.
 * US Department of State Bureau of African Affairs, "Background Note: Sudan", January 2006.

1997 News Stories

 * Mansoor Ijaz, "A Dangerous Foreign-Policy Vacuum", Wall Street Journal, March 11, 1997.
 * Arakis Energy Corporation, "Arakis Energy Announces Material Change", Business Wire, April 25, 1997. ("Arakis also announced the appointment of two members to an advisory committee to the Board, Mr. Mansoor Ijaz and Mr. Abdel Rahim Hamdi. Mr. Ijaz is the founder and chairman of Crescent Investment Management L.P., a New York based global investment advisor and hedge fund manager overseeing several billion dollars in global fixed income and equity investments. Mr. Hamdi is the former Finance Minister of the Republic of Sudan, a former international banker and is currently a director of Faisal Islamic Bank of Saudi Arabia.")
 * David B. Ottaway, "Democratic Fund-Raiser Pursues Agenda on Sudan," Washington Post (SurvivorRightsInternational.org), April 29, 1997. ("Ijaz is not registered with the Justice Department as a lobbyist for Sudan and said he has received no compensation from the Khartoum regime. He acknowledged that the congressional ban, as originally devised, would have impinged on his business aspirations in Sudan. But his larger ambition, he said, is to parlay his Democratic connections into a powerful Muslim American lobby with influence on U.S. foreign policy.")
 * Testimony of Mansoor Ijaz, Chairman, Crescent Investment Management, LP, House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime Hearing on H.R. 748: "Prohibition on Financial Transactions With Countries Supporting Terrorism Act", June 10, 1997 (published on Federation of American Scientists website). Also see House Documents with Ijaz's testimony beginning on pages 98, 121, 125, 129, and 131.
 * Mansoor Ijaz, "Renewed Ties With Sudan - a Shrewd Move by Albright", Opinion, Christian Science Monitor, October 1, 1997, Page 19.
 * Jill Abramson, "Money Buys a Lot More Than Access", New York Times, November 9, 1997, Sunday, section 4, page 4. (Got to pay for access for this NYT article too.)

1998 News Stories

 * Mansoor Ijaz, "Is Islamic Democracy Possible?", Christian Science Monitor, May 13, 1998.
 * Mansoor Ijaz and James A. Abrahamson, "Let Muslims Help Combat Terrorism", San Jose Mercury News, November 8, 1998, page 7P
 * Mansoor Ijaz and Haifa El Hajj, "What's to protest in 'Siege'?", Christian Science Monitor, November 17, 1998.

1999 News Stories
Was 'Totally Wrong'", The Independent, London, 15 February 1999.
 * Andrew Marshall,, "U.S. Evidence of Terror Links to Blitzed Medicine Factory
 * "No Trace of Nerve Gas Precursor Found at Bombed Sudan Plant", Chemical & Engineering News, 15 February 1999.

2001 News Stories

 * R. James Woolsey and Mansoor Ijaz, "Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold", Los Angeles Times, September 12, 2001. (This is a re-post on a blog - you have to scroll down a bit).
 * David Rose, "Spy blunder: Resentful west spurned Sudan's key terror files", Observer (UK), September 30, 2001.
 * Barton Gellman, "U.S. Was Foiled Multiple Times in Efforts To Capture Bin Laden or Have Him Killed: Sudan's Offer to Arrest Militant Fell Through After Saudis Said No", Washington Post, October 3, 2001.
 * Bob Woodward and Thomas E. Ricks, "CIA Trained Pakistanis to Nab Terrorist But Military Coup Put an End to 1999 Plot", Washington Post, October 3, 2001. (Pulitzer prize website mirror)
 * Richard Miniter, "Sudan's Angle: How Clinton passed up an opportunity to stop Osama bin Laden", Opinion, Wall Street Journal, October 8, 2001.
 * S. Mitra Kalita, "Missed Chance: Sources: U.S. ignored Sudan's overtures on bin Laden", Newsday, December 2, 2001, page A03
 * Mansoor Ijaz, "Clinton Let Bin Laden Slip Away and Metastasize", Los Angeles Times, December 5, 2001. ("Sudan offered up the terrorist and data on his network. The then-president and his advisors didn't respond President Clinton and his national security team ignored several opportunities to capture Osama bin Laden and his terrorist associates, including one as late as last year.")
 * "Clinton's Boredom", Investor's Business Daily, December 7, 2001, section A, page 18.
 * David Rose, "The Osama Files", Vanity Fair, December 2001 Issue No. 497, pages 50-56.
 * Jen McCaffery, "Did Clinton Miss Shot at bin Laden? Former Christiansberg Resident Stirs Up Controversy", The Roanoke Times (Virginia), December 9, 2001, page A1.

2002 News Stories

 * "US missed three chances to seize Bin Laden", Sunday Times (U.K.) January 6, 2002.
 * Jen McCaffery, "Private Diplomat Acts on International Stage", The Roanoke Times, April 28, 2002. (Pay per view).
 * Timothy Carney and Mansoor Ijaz, "Intelligence Failure? Let's Go Back to Sudan," Washington Post, June 30, 2002.
 * Samuel R. Berger, "Skeptical About Sudan", Washington Post, July 13, 2002, page A19.

2003 News Stories

 * Mansoor Ijaz, "The Clinton Intel Record: Deeper failures revealed", National Review Online, April 28, 2003.
 * "Avoiding Clinton's Mistakes", Editorial, Washington Times'', October 23, 2003.
 * Peter Bergen, "Blind Eyes; Did U.S. officials let a terrorist slip through their hands?", Book World, Washington Post, November 9, 2003, page T08. (This is a review of Richard Miniter's book Losing bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror, Regnery Publishing, ISBN 0895260743.

2004 News Stories

 * Mansoor Ijaz, "Politicized Intelligence... To What End?", Washington Times, March 23, 2004.
 * Mansoor Ijaz, "A Dick Clarke Top Seven Questions for commissioners", National Review Online, March 23, 2004.
 * Mansoor Ijaz, "Politicized Intelligence: The 9-11 Commission's Achilles Heel", National Review Online, April 15, 2004.
 * "Hannity repeated lie that Sudan offered bin Laden to Clinton; Lanny Davis to Hannity: 'That's a lie'", Media Matters for America, July 22, 2004.
 * "Hannity again falsely claimed Sudan offered bin Laden to Clinton", Media Matters for America, July 23, 2004.
 * Steve Rendall and Julie Hollar, "Still Failing the "Fair & Balanced" Test: Special Report leans right, white, Republican & male", Extra!, July/August 2004. (Has a section on Ijaz/Sudan debate).

Other SourceWatch resources

 * Sudan
 * Sudan's oil industry

Links to Articles By And About Ijaz

 * Articles & Commentary by Mansoor Ijaz
 * Articles & Commentary about Mansoor Ijaz - Includes links to biographical profiles.