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

DATE: THURSDAY, May 20, 1993                   TAG: 9305200269
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO NOTEI: BELOW 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

IRAQI TELLS FBI HE LED PLOT TO KILL BUSH

FBI agents have been told by an Iraqi being held in Kuwait that he led an attempt to assassinate former President Bush last month for the Iraqi government, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

The officials said the man had admitted to working with the Iraqi intelligence service, and said other members of the 10-member team had admitted from jail to having received Iraqi government assistance.

Some of the suspects denied knowing that Bush was the target of the plot, the officials said. But they said the leader and some others had identified Bush as the intended victim.

The officials were the first to describe the extensive jailhouse interviews since they began a week ago. While the FBI is not yet satisfied that it has established absolute proof, the officials said the initial findings from the investigation had strengthened the view within the Clinton administration that the Iraqi government was behind the plot.

None of the suspects ever got near Bush or his party during their three-day visit to Kuwait last month, a trip to commemorate the allied victory in the Persian Gulf War. But during the visit and afterward, the Kuwaiti government arrested 16 people, including 11 Iraqi nationals; seized hundreds of pounds of explosives, including a car bomb; and announced that it had uncovered an Iraqi plot to assassinate Bush.

by CNB