Whenever discussing how awful Saddam Hussein is (something few if any people disagree with), George W. Bush has included the charge that Hussein tried to assassinate George H.W. Bush, former president and father of the George W. Some have even speculated that this played a role in his decision to invade Iraq. But is the charge true? Maybe... but maybe not.

Jim Lobe writes for Asia Times:

For one thing, Saddam, according to the report, was convinced that the CIA had thoroughly penetrated his regime and thus would know not only that he had dismantled his WMD (which the CIA apparently did not), but also would know about his plans for important intelligence operations. Under those circumstances, it is hard to understand why he would then order an assassination attempt on the former US president.

Even more interesting, according to the report, was Saddam's "complicated" view of the United States. While he derived "prestige" from being an enemy of the US, he also considered it to be "equally prestigious for him to be an ally of the United States - and regular entreaties were made during the last decade to explore this alternative". Indeed, beginning already in 1991, according to the report, "very senior Iraqis close to the president made proposals through intermediaries for dialogue with Washington".

"Baghdad offered flexibility on many issues, including offers to assist in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Moreover, in informal discussions, senior officials allowed that, if Iraq had a security relationship with the United States, it might be inclined to dispense with WMD programs and/or ambitions," it added.

Lobe cites other arguments against the charge and they do seem sufficient to at least cast serious doubt upon it. There is no question that Saddam Hussein was a brutal ruler who was easily capable of such an action, but there is some question about whether he had enough of a motive and whether the actual evidence is sufficient to warrant any more than a very, very weak belief

Read More:

• War on Terrorism
• Religion in Iraq
• George W. Bush