HOUSTON, Texas, September 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Saying, "This is the guy who tried to kill my dad," U.S. President George W. Bush late Thursday, September 26, personalized the conflict with Baghdad, making war against sanction-hit Iraq a "uniquely American issue."

"Other countries of course, bear the same risk. But there's no doubt his hatred is mainly directed at us," said the American President at a political fundraiser in Houston. "After all this is the guy who tried to kill my dad."

As Bush's father, former president George Bush, traveled to Kuwait in April 1993, officials there disrupted a car-bomb plot they claimed they traced back to Saddam. The plot was aimed at Kuwait's emir and the former president, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Then-U.S. president Bill Clinton cited the plot as justification for a June 1993 U.S. missile attack on Baghdad's intelligence headquarters.

Bush had also referred to that U.S. charge in his September 12 address to the U.N. General Assembly, but had deliberately referred only to "a former American president."

In his speech in Houston, Bush again said Washington would act alone if the United Nations does not take "strong action" against Iraq.

"If the United Nations won't act, if he [Saddam] doesn't disarm, the United States will lead a coalition to make sure he does," he said. "It's an American issue, a uniquely American issue."

Bush, who has struggled to rally U.S. allies in Europe as well as Russia behind his hard-line stance on Iraq, said the September 11, 2001, terrorist strikes had made clear Saddam poses a special threat to the United States, AFP said. There is no evidence whatsoever of any link between 9/11 and Iraq.

"I say uniquely American issue because I truly believe that now that the war has changed, now that we are a battlefield this man poses a much greater threat that anybody could possibly imagine," Bush insisted.

The American President frequently makes unfounded claims that the Iraqi President will team up with unidentified terrorists and equip them with weapons of mass destruction that could then be used to attack the United States or its interests abroad.

Bush did not produce any evidence supporting his claims, says AFP.

Earlier, his Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed the United States has what he then described as solid information about top-level contacts between Al-Qaeda militants and Iraq going back a decade, including possible chemical weapons training. The so-called solid information has never been in the open ever since the allegations were made.

"We do have solid evidence of the presence in Iraq of Al-Qaeda members, including some that have been in Baghdad," claimed Rumsfeld.

"We have what we believe to be credible information that Iraq and Al-Qaeda have discussed safe-haven opportunities in Iraq and reciprocal non-aggression discussions."

But again Rumsfeld’s allegations were not supported with proofs or documents, AFP said, which confirms observers’ view that the Unites States is only looking for a pretext to justify its upcoming war on 12-year-sanction-hit Iraq.

Meanwhile, three U.S. Congressmen opposed to war against Iraq arrived in Baghdad Friday, September 27, on a Jordanian plane, an AFP correspondent witnessed.

David Bonior (Michigan, north), Michael Thompson (California, west) and Jim McDermott (Washington, north-west), all Democrats, left the airport immediately for the Al-Mansur hotel in central Baghdad.

It was the second such visit to Iraq by anti-war U.S. lawmakers, Nick Rahall (West Virginia, north-east) having visited earlier this month.

U.S. Congressmen have been divided over how swiftly to approve the use of U.S. force against Baghdad, with many Democrats insisting the United Nations be given a chance to secure movement from Iraq first.