Sudan: Where's the Chemistry?

Chemical weapons or pharmaceuticals? Sudan has asked the United Nations to step in and resolve the question of what was being produced at the Khartoum factory hit by U.S. missiles last week. The Security Council will informally discuss the complaint on Monday and will decide later this week whether to appoint experts to test the remains of the wrecked site.

The U.N. deliberations comes amid signs that the missile strikes have increased hostility toward the U.S. in the Islamic world: "Muslims from Morocco to Indonesia who'd never even heard of Osama bin Laden before are now being told in mosques around the world that he's a true Islamic hero," says TIME New Delhi bureau chief Tim McGirk. The 22-member Arab League, many of whose members are pro-Western governments, urged the U.S. to refrain from further actions "which may arouse public outrage." Unless Washington has firm evidence of chemical-weapons production at the Khartoum factory, U.N. scrutiny of the attack is unlikely to help America turn the tide of Islamic world opinion.