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Earlier today, I ordered American forces to strike Iraq.

All through the 90s, there was considerable attention on Saddam Hussein and Iraq, and there were numerous strikes, usually using Tomahawk missiles.

These are missiles fired from U.S. naval ships.

Our missiles sent the following message to Saddam Hussein.

When you abuse your own people or threaten your neighbors, you must pay a price.

And it starts out in Bill Clinton's first year.

So previously, right before he became president, Bush had ordered a strike against Saddam Hussein for violation of sanctions. And then in June, Bill Clinton will order his own strike. And the reason

was in effect to show that he had his predecessors back. After U.S. intelligence concluded that Saddam Hussein

plotted to assassinate former President George H.W. Bush. Bush had been on a visit to Kuwait

in April 1993. Under the claim of self-defense, Clinton authorized a launch of 23 Tomahawk

cruise missiles from Navy ships in the Persian Gulf, targeting Iraq intelligence

service headquarters in Baghdad.

Before the strike, Clinton calls Bush to inform him of the action.

Bush expressed polite acknowledgement, but avoided any public praise.

The Clinton administration, at least, to hear the account of George Stephanopoulos,

the press officer in the early going in the administration,

they would have appreciated a bit more from Bush.

Some accounts suggest he was uneasy about the political optics of a military action framed as defending his honor.

According to AIDS, off the record, Bush worried that if he embraced the strike, if he said thank you, President Clinton, or if he issued any public statement, it might make it seem that he had

pressured Clinton into it. There's an additional problem. It's 1993, and we don't have the kind

of technology then that you have now. And at first, the administration's not clear if anything

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