Cruise missile strikes on Iraq (1993)

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The cruise missiles strike on Iraq in June 1993 were ordered by U.S. President Bill Clinton as both a retaliation and a warning triggered by the attempted assassination by Iraqi agents on former U.S. President George H. W. Bush while on a visit to Kuwait in April 14–16, 1993.[1]

Background

On the night of April 13, 1993, a day before George H. W. Bush was scheduled to visit Kuwait City to commemorate an Allied victory against Iraq in the Persian Gulf War, Kuwaiti authorities arrested 17 persons suspected in the plot to kill Bush using explosives hidden in a Toyota Landcruiser.

The Kuwaitis recovered the Landcruiser, which contained between 80 and 90 kilograms of plastic explosives connected to a detonator (the Bush device or Bush explosive device). They also recovered ten cube-shaped plastic explosive devices with detonators (the cube-bombs) from the Landcruiser.[2]

Clinton was convinced the attack was masterminded by the Iraqi Intelligence Service by three compelling pieces of evidence. First, the suspects in the plot made detailed confessions to FBI agents in Kuwait, largely verifying that the Iraqi Intelligence Service was behind the attack.[3]

Second, FBI and CIA bomb experts linked the captured car bombs to the same explosives made in Iraq, including a 175-pound car bomb found in Kuwait City on April 14.[4]

Third, intelligence reports confirmed that Saddam had been plotting to assassinate the former President for some time.[5][6]

Cruise missile attack on Baghdad

Between 1AM and 2AM local time on June 26/June 27, 1993, 23 Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched by two U.S. warships into downtown Baghdad.These hit a building which was believed to be the headquarters of the Iraqi Intelligence Service in the Al Mansur district of Baghdad. Iraq claimed that nine civilians were killed in the attack and three civilian houses destroyed. The missiles were fired from the destroyer USS Peterson in the Red Sea and the cruiser USS Chancellorsville in the Persian Gulf.[7]

Mission objective

Secretary of Defense, Les Aspin, stated in an interview with the Washington Post, June 27, 1993, the following:[8]

"What we're doing is sending a message against the people who were responsible for planning this operation. . . . {If} anybody asks the same people to do it again, they will remember this message."

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ U.S. Strikes Iraq for Plot to Kill Bush
  6. ↑ Saddam Tried to Kill Bush I
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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