So, Did Saddam Hussein Try to Kill Bush's Dad?

[G_j]

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/justify/2004/1019plot.htm

So, Did Saddam Hussein Try to Kill Bush's Dad?

By Jim Lobe
Inter Press Service
October 19, 2004

Now that President George W. Bush's allegations about former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's ties to al-Qaeda and ambitious weapons programmes have been thoroughly discredited, another outstanding charge remains to be resolved.

During a campaign speech in September 2002, Bush cited a number of reasons -- in addition to alleged terrorist links and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) about why Saddam was so dangerous to the U.S., noting, in particular that, ''After all, this is the guy who tired to kill my dad.'' He was referring, of course, to an alleged plot by Iraqi intelligence to assassinate Bush's father, former president George H.W. Bush, during his triumphal visit to Kuwait in April, 1993, 25 months after U.S.-led forces chased Iraqi troops out of Kuwait in the first Gulf War and three months after Bush Sr. surrendered the White House to Bill Clinton.

Although he did not name his father, Bush Jr. also cited the assassination attempt in his September 2002 address at the United Nations General Assembly where he called on the U.N. Security Council to approve a tough resolution demanding that Saddam fully give up his (non-existent) WMD weapons and programmes. While the alleged plot was never cited officially as a cause for going to war, some pundits -- including Maureen Dowd of the 'New York Times'-- have speculated that revenge or some oedipal desire to show up his father may indeed have been one of the factors that drove him to Baghdad -- as the sign of one demonstrator suggested in a big anti-war march here just before the war: ''I love my dad, too, but come on!''

The circumstances of the alleged plot, which ended in a trial and conviction of 11 Iraqis and three Kuwaitis, have always evoked scepticism, although Clinton himself was apparently sufficiently convinced after receiving reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to order a missile strike on the Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad that killed six civilians in June, 1993. But a closer look at the 11-year-old plot, particularly in light of the findings by the Iraq Survey Group (ISG), the special team of experts that spent 15 months investigating Baghdad's WMD programmes, that they were all dismantled in 1991, shortly after the end of the Gulf War, may now be warranted, especially if Bush is still labouring under the impression that Saddam ''tried to kill (his) dad''.

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[Bluzmann57]

1. I believe that Saddam did attempt to have Bush, Sr. killed

But I think President Bill Clinton sent in the United States military to put a stop to the plot. Notice I said Bill Clinton. I don't recall the details of this right now, but I am sure that it was discussed about 1993 or so and the military effectively shut down Saddam's weapons making capabilities.

[Dangerman]

4. I don't believe Saddam tried to kill W's dad.

This is a crazy rumor. Don't believe everything Chimpy says.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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[Benhurst]

2. If you can't trust the Kuwaiti criminal justice system,

what can you trust?

[riverwalker]

3. so did Japanese Imperial Navy

during WW2

[karlrschneider]

5. I thought it was BS when it was first "reported". Still do.

:eyes:

[Maeve]

6. well...he had the thought of making plans to discuss the idea of maybe

seeing if a plan was feasible...and that's good enough for Dubya!

[Briar]

7. So, does it matter?

Surely grudge matches between ruling families should have gone out when democracy came in.