Iraqi bomb in Turkey matched one intended for Bush

[SID BALMAN Jr.]

WASHINGTON (UPI) -- FBI agents investigating the Iraqi assasination
attempt against George Bush travelled from Kuwait to Turkey where they
examined what proved to be a key piece of evidence linking Baghdad to
the foiled plot, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
Investigators, who were interrogating suspects and collecting
evidence in Kuwait last month, examined an Iraqi bomb in Turkey that was
discovered near the Syrian border during the Persian Gulf war, they
said.
Ankara allowed U.S. fighter aircraft to launch strikes against Iraq
from Incirlik Air Base in the southeast part of the country and was
therefore subject to numerous terrorist attacks during the war.
U.S. officials and analysts said investigators compared that
undetonated bomb to ones discovered in Kuwait and concluded that they
were an ``exact match.''
Similarities in the devices were explained ``in some detail'' to
President Clinton by CIA and FBI experts and proved to be ``one of the
main pieces of evidence'' that convinced him to launch a retalliatory
missile strike against Saddam Hussein's intelligence headquarters, they
said.
``They compared the car bomb found in Turkey, which was of Iraqi
origin, to the bombs in Kuwait and found their circuit boards, shape and
general make up to be nearly indistinguishable,'' a senior U.S. official
close to the investigation said under conditions of anonymity.
``It was presented to President Clinton and I am told he was quite
convinced,'' the official said.
Investigators also compared the Kuwait bomb with one determined to be
of Iraqi origin that was discovered in the Philippines, officials said.
Those two bombs also had ``distinctive similarities,'' they said.
Kuwaiti security forces foiled an Iraqi plot to assassinate Bush
during the former president's visit there in April.