Iraqi Aggression Undermined CIA Attempt to Oust Hussein, Paper Says
A covert CIA operation aimed at overthrowing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was undermined by last weekend’s Iraqi incursion into its Kurdish north, the New York Times reported in today’s editions.
CIA officers who were secretly overseeing the operation in northern Iraq left the country last week as Iraqi forces moved in, the newspaper said.
Quoting unidentified senior administration officials, the newspaper said that President Clinton had expanded the operation in January, directing the CIA to provide weapons, organize military training and install intelligence-gathering equipment for groups trying to overthrown Hussein.
CIA spokesman Dennis Boxx would neither deny nor confirm the report.
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