30 Facts About the Rise and Fall of Saddam Hussein, the Butcher of Baghdad

3. The CIA Had Previously Tried to Assassinate Him

President Bill Clinton ordered frequent airstrikes in Iraq throughout the 1990s and hoped that internal dissidents in Iraq would overthrow Saddam. CIA operative Robert Baer reported that in 1995, the CIA had attempted to assassinate him after trying for a decade to initiate an Iraqi-led coup against him.