Bush Corrects Himself After Mixing Up Names Of Terrorists

LATROBE, Pennsylvania, Sept 22 (AFP) - President George W. Bush corrected himself Wednesday after mixing up the names of terrorists Abu Nidal and Abu Abbas during several recent campaign speeches.
Saddam Hussein "harbored Abu Nidal the leader of a terrorist organization that carried out attacks in Europe and Asia, we knew Saddam harbored Abu Abbas who found refuge in Baghdad after he killed American Leon Klinghoffer," Bush told an audience here during a campaign stop.
On Monday during a speech in New York, and in subsequent speeches, Bush had confused the two men, and incorrectly attributed Klinghoffer's slaying to Abu Nidal instead of Abu Abbas.
Both men are now dead: Abu Nidal is reported to have committed suicide in August 2002 in Baghdad during the last year of Saddam's rule although a cloud of mystery hangs over his death.
Abu Abbas died in a US prison in Iraq in March after being captured by US troops. His autopsy said he died as a result of natural causes.
Abu Abbas was considered to have been the brains behind the taking of hostages on the Achille Lauro cruise ship in 1985 which resulted in the death of an American Jew and quadriplegic, Leon Klinghoffer, who was shot and thrown into the sea in his wheelchair.