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. NNNN .