The Israeli army planned an assassination attempt against Saddam Hussein in 1992 - a scheme that would have involved landing commandos in Iraq and firing sophisticated missiles at him during a funeral, an Israeli newspaper reported Tuesday.
The attempt was reportedly called off after an accident during a training exercise for the mission ended in the deaths of five elite soldiers.
The Maariv daily reported that with the capture of Saddam, Israeli military censors lifted a ban on publication of the full story.
The Israeli military put together the plan to kill Saddam in retaliation for Iraq's firing of 39 Scud missiles at Israel during the 1991 Gulf War. However, the plan was never brought before the government for final approval, the newspaper said.
It also said soldiers from the army's top commando unit, "Sayeret Matkal", were to carry out the mission.
Israeli military intelligence determined that Saddam himself, and not one of his doubles, would attend the funeral of his father-in-law in Saddam's home town, and the assassination could be carried out there, Maariv said.
The commandos would set up a few kilometers from the cemetery and fire two specially designed missiles that would home in on Saddam. The custom-made missiles were named "Obelisk," the paper said.
After the assassination, the commandos were to be flown out of Iraq on an Israeli plane that would take off from a temporary airfield built in Iraq, the paper said.
The training mishap occurred during one of the final practices on Nov. 5, 1992, at a large training base in the southern part of Israel.
Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan voiced his hope Monday that Saddam Hussein's capture would accelerate reconciliation among Iraqis, but he said the United Nations could not support bringing the ex-president before a tribunal that might sentence him to death.
The capture "is a positive development because Saddam Hussein has cast a rather long shadow over developments and over the transition process," Annan said. "With his capture, that shadow has been removed."
Annan noted that any trial for Saddam must meet international norms and standards and he reiterated the United Nations' longstanding opposition to the death penalty in any U.N.-sanctioned tribunal. "As secretary-general, as the U.N., as an organization, we are not going to now turn around and support the death penalty," he said, according to The AP. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
