
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 8, 1993                   TAG: 9305080050
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

IRAQ LINKED TO PLOT TO KILL BUSH

The Clinton administration has obtained what it regards as credible evidence that the government of Iraq tried to assassinate former President George Bush three weeks ago, and the president's top advisers are divided on how to respond, administration officials disclosed Friday.

President Clinton, who has been briefed on the evidence, dispatched a team of Secret Service and FBI counterterrorist investigators early this week to Kuwait City, where Bush made a triumphal visit April 14-16 to celebrate the allied victory in the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

During the visit and afterward, the Kuwaiti government arrested 16 people, including 11 Iraqi nationals, and seized hundreds of pounds of explosives and what it described as "special technical equipment." The 16 suspects and another Iraqi still at large have been charged with conspiracy to kill Bush and execute other "acts of terrorism, sabotage, infiltration and robbery."

They never came close to the American entourage, and it is unclear what led to their arrest.

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Defense has charged that the plotters intended to try three times, if necessary, to kill the former president: first with a remote-controlled car bomb as he arrived at Kuwait City's airport; then with a second car bomb near a theater in Hawalli where Bush received an honorary doctorate; and finally with a suicide attack by a man who planned to wrap himself in explosives and detonate them next to Bush.

The emerging links to the Baghdad government, which are not considered definitive, were disclosed by a U.S. official who said he favors stern reprisals against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and fears that the administration will be distracted by its domestic agenda and the competing demands of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

White House Communications Director George Stephanopoulos issued the following statement in response to an inquiry late Friday: "We take these allegations very seriously. If we determine Iraq was involved in state-sponsored terrorism, the United States will take appropriate action against Iraq."

Other sources said the administration is split. Some Justice Department officials, they said, are urging that the suspects be extradited to the United States to face criminal charges. Other officials - who are said to include deputy national security adviser Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger, defense undersecretary-designate Frank G. Wisner and CIA Director R. James Woolsey - are arguing that an attempt on a former president's life requires direct retribution.

by CNB