Т е к с т № для устного перевода с листа

BUSH REVEALS HIS PERSONAL GRUDGE AGAINST SADDAM

President Bush exposed the deep personal animosity below the surface of his Iraq policy yesterday, describing President Saddam Hussein as “the guy who tried to kill my Dad.”

Until now Mr Bush has largely avoided referring to his father and Saddam in the same context, anxious not to been as motivated by “unfinished business”.

But speaking on his home turf in Texas, Mr Bush used the 1993 Iraqi attempt to assassinate his father to explain why Saddam posed a threat to the US.

Other countries were also at risk from the Iraq dictator, he said. “But there’s no doubt he can’t stand us. After all, this is the guy who tried to kill my Dad at one time.”

Mr Bush delivered the rare flash of personal drive while speaking before Republicans at a fundraising dinner in Houston. It followed an equally frank revelation from Mr Bush Sr last week, who said that he had “nothing but hatred in my heart” for Saddam.

The plot to kill the first President Bush on a victory lap of the Gulf shortly after leaving office was foiled by Kuwaiti security. A CIA investigation subsequently blamed Saddam for the car-bomb plot. In response, President Clinton unleashed cruise missiles on Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad.

However, the Bush Administration tried to make clear yesterday that the aim of its Iraq policy was not necessarily Saddam’s head. Donald Rumsfield, the Defence Secretary, said that the object of military action would be to depose Saddam, not to kill him. “If he’s on the run, he is not governing Iraq,” Mr Rumsfield said.

THE TIMES, Sept. 28, 2002