News

ACCESSION NUMBER:291422

FILE ID:TXT101

DATE:06/28/93

TITLE:U.S. MILITARY ACTION AGAINST IRAQI TERRORISM (06/28/93)

TEXT:*93062801.TXT

U.S. MILITARY ACTION AGAINST IRAQI TERRORISM



(Text:  U.S. government fact sheet)  (660)

(The U.S. government presented to the U.N. Security Council June 27 the

following background fact sheet entitled "United States June 26, 1993

Military Action Against Iraqi Terrorism.")



On April 14, 1993, while former President George Bush was beginning a

three-day visit to Kuwait City, Kuwaiti authorities thwarted a terrorist

plot, seizing a powerful car bomb and other explosives and arresting 16

suspects, led by two Iraqi nationals.



In the succeeding two months, U.S. investigative teams from the FBI and the

intelligence community have conducted a thorough investigation of this

operation.  Based upon that review, the Department of Justice and the

Central Intelligence Agency have concluded that Iraq planned, equipped, and

ran the terrorist operation that threatened the life of President Bush in

Kuwait City in April.  Further, it is the firm judgment of our intelligence

community, from all sources of evidence available to it, that this

assassination plot was directed and pursued by the Iraqi Intelligence

Service (IIS).



The evidence that forms the basis for these conclusions includes the

following:



A.  FORENSICS

1.  A car bomb, hidden in a Toyota Landcruiser, was smuggled across the

Iraq-Kuwait border by the suspects during the night of April 13, 1993.

This bomb, and the other explosives that were seized, have been directly

examined by FBI forensic experts.  In the judgment of these experts, key

components, including the remote-control firing device, the plastic

explosives, the blasting cap, the integrated circuitry, and the wiring were

built by the same person or persons who built bombs previously recovered

from the Iraqis.  Certain aspects of these devices have been found only in

devices linked to Iraq and not in devices used by any other terrorist

groups.



2.  According to the forensic experts, other explosives seized in this plot,

including "cube bombs," contained components built by the same person or

persons who built similar devices recovered in the past from the Iraqis.



3.  The car bomb itself possessed devastating power.  It was a sophisticated

device, involving a complicated manufacturing process, and was well-hidden

in the vehicle.  It contained approximately 80 kilograms of explosives.  It

was constructed to allow detonation by remote control, by a timer or

manually.  The forensic experts have concluded that this bomb had the power

to kill people within a radius of 400 yards.



B.  THE SUSPECTS

1.  The FBI conducted extensive interviews of the 16 suspects now on

trail in Kuwait.  The two main suspects -- Ra'ad al-Asadi and Wali

al-Ghazali -- are Iraqi nationals.  They told the FBI that they had been

recruited and received orders in Basra, Iraq, from individuals they

believed to be associated with the Iraqi intelligence Service.



2.  These suspects told the FBI that their Iraqi recruiters provided them

with the car bomb and other explosives in Basra on April 10, 1993.



3.  One of the suspects, al-Ghazali, told the FBI that he was recruited for

1he specific purpose of assassinating President Bush in Kuwait City.



4.  The other main suspect, al-Asadi, told the FBI that his task was to

guide al-Ghazali and the car bomb to Kuwait University (where President

Bush and the Emir of Kuwait were scheduled to appear) and to plant smaller

explosives elsewhere in Kuwait.



C.  INTELLIGENCE ASSESSMENTS

1.  During and immediately after the Persian Gulf War, Saddam -- through

his controlled media -- indicated that President Bush would be held

personally responsible for the war and would be hunted down and punished,

even after he left office.  Various classified intelligence sources support

the conclusion that the Iraqi government ordered this attack against

President Bush.



2.  From all the evidence available to it, the CIA is highly confident that

the Iraqi government, at the highest levels, directed its intelligence

service to assassinate former President Bush during his visit to Kuwait on

April 14-16, 1993.



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