Didn't know George Bush was president in 1993 ;)

If, in fact, there has been incontrovertable proof that Hijazi was indeed one who had played a key role in Bush Sr.'s assassination attempt, why isn't he dead yet?

How is it that someone walking out in the open, a proven assassin, defying international law, should be allowed to walk free?

I don't get it.

didn't know there were commercial jets flying out of iraq yet

On assassination:

Here's an interesting article that shows the jury is till out on assassination.

http://www.terrorismanswers.com/policy/assassination2.html

My sense that if assassination was well planned, didn't employ large ballistic weapons, and was used judiciously, and consistently, to kill the worst international thugs, you would see a change in behavior on the part of would-be Saddam Hussein's.

It makes no sense to "wait around and see" if we -or anyone else - can ameliorate a gross offender of human and international rights.

There is one, and only one, thing a thug understands...fear. I can almost guarantee that a well-thought-out campaign of assassination, organized by a coalition of the willing, and brought against *only* those heads-of-state (that's right, go right to the top) who consistently violate the tenets of human decency (after haveing been warned), would be effective in curtailing the wanton destruction and human misery that political thugs cause.

GIve me a good argument against this. I would like to hear one.

Why do you think saddam used so many doubles, and for the most part, stayed hidden?

he is so good at it, we still don't really know where he is

Ben Noah...

Bush (41) wasn't the president when he made the trip to Kuwait. The article explained that when the plot was uncovered, Clinton launched tomahawk missles at Iraq in retaliation.

Opine...

There are a great many bad men that are still alive and in hiding. Dontcha know? Eventually, we'll get 'em all!!

Flew...

The article doesn't say that Faruq Hijazi flew OUT of Iraq, only that he flew INTO Damascus and was spotted.

There is one, and only one, thing a thug understands...fear. I can almost guarantee that a well-thought-out campaign of assassination, organized by a coalition of the willing, and brought against *only* those heads-of-state (that's right, go right to the top) who consistently violate the tenets of human decency (after haveing been warned), would be effective in curtailing the wanton destruction and human misery that political thugs cause.

GIve me a good argument against this. I would like to hear one.

Its largely a technology problem. If you make the threat, then you have to be able to carry through with it.

As the recent experience is Iraq has shown, we are still aways from being able to react in real-time.

I suspect some very smart people are working on this problem. Its not that hard. All you need is to be able to acurately locate people and Iraq has proven this can be done, and then be able to drop a large bomb within a short delay. Its the second part that has proved problematic.

Long loiter-time UAVs armed with JDAMs or similar should fix the problem.

I think this is one of things where the threat is more important than the substance. All we need is nice clear cut object lesson. I suspect it will occur in Syria.

TvF:

"A suspected high-ranking operative of the Iraqi intelligence service who is believed to have played a key role in a 1993 plot to assassinate then-US president George Bush has been spotted in Syria."

That's all I read, maybe its poorly written, but it does read as if they are implying 41 was in office in 1993.. Maybe its one of those funky journalism ways of writing..

They are so talented these days.. :)

George H. W. Bush was in office for the first 19 1/2 days of 1993. The assassination attempt was soon after he left office, when it was still 1993. The story is poorly written, but maybe they mean that the plot started while he was still in office. More likely, they're just confused, but no more so than those who think he wasn't president in 1993.