Kamikaze Pilot Attacks Saddam’s Palace

The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas wrote with reference to Iraqi sources that there was an attempt on Saddam Hussein’s life. According to the newspaper, the attempt was allegedly made by an Iraqi military pilot.

The mentioned newspaper wrote that the pilot tried to hit the presidential palace where Saddam was staying. The Kuwaiti newspaper reported that the attempt was made last week. The pilot is reportedly dead. Full details of the incident are not yet known.

Official Iraqi sources have not confirmed the information. This attempt to kill Saddam is not the first. There have been several of them in the past, and all of them have failed, including this one. The CIA tried to knock off the Iraqi leader during the Gulf War, but the operation failed as well.

After that, Saddam increased the number of his security guards and also provided himself with three doubles. A former chief of the Iraqi secret police said in an interview to German journalists that Hussein’s doubles have been used for official meetings with foreign guests. This has prevented several real attempts on the Iraqi leader’s life. Bullets meant for him were shot into two Iraqi men who were unlucky enough to look like Saddam.

The Iraqi opposition has tried to kill Saddam as well. Three acts of terrorism have been performed against Hussein over the recent couple of years. However, Saddam survived all of them. A stupid accident stopped the Iraqi opposition at the end of 1997. Colonel Ali Assamarrai, one of the organizers of the assassination, was driving his car at a high speed when a wheel of his car broke. The vehicle flipped over. This occured on the very same day that it was planned to kill Saddam. Security services examined the car and found several suspicious documents. They cross-examined the colonel, and he eventually pleaded guilty, betraying his accomplices. All of them – 14 people –were arrested and executed on September 30.

The Iraqi opposition also tried to arrange an armed ambush along the way of Saddam’s procession in January of 2000. The subversive act should have taken place on January 6th: Iraqi Army Day. Hussein was going to decorate a group of Iraqi soldiers. However, the conspiracy was unveiled. All of its participants – 38 people – were executed without trial or an investigation.

Dmitry Litvinovich
PRAVDA.Ru