President Bill Clinton was looking to retaliate against bin Laden and al Qaeda following the August 7, 1998, African embassy bombings. “On August 17, 1998, CIA director [George] Tenet presented the White House with evidence that the al Shifa pharmaceutical plant on the outskirts of Khartoum [Sudan] was involved in the production of VX nerve gas. On August 20, 1998, sixty-six Tomahawk missiles slammed into an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan, and another thirteen hit the al Shifa plant. The Afghanistan strike was thought to have targeted a terrorist summit scheduled for that day. But the gathering had been postponed, and top al Qaeda leaders had left the camp days earlier.”
– Stephen F. Hayes, The Connection, Page 106