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Who killed Gerald Bull?

Dr. Gerald Bull was like a figure in a spy novel, designing arms for some of the world's harshest regimes. With no shortage of possible enemies, he died at the hands of an unknown assassin. But the Canadian-born artillery expert was also a brilliant scientist with a dream: to launch a satellite with a giant gun.

It has been two weeks since Gerald Bull's assassination, and the questions are piling up. Who was this mysterious Canadian businessman and scientist? Who was he working for and what was he making for them? Who killed him and why? Reporter Kevin Tibbles files a report on Gerald Bull's background, then The Journal's Barbara Frum has questions for British journalist Alan George.
. Bull started working for Iraq in 1988, designing two new types of guns and ballistic missiles for them. Iraq believed that it had to be able to make its own weapons in the event of an arms cut-off.
. The Iraqis were also interested in launching a satellite, and Bull saw it as a chance to revive the dream he had lost with HARP. In 1989, plans for an Iraqi supergun — code-named Project Babylon — were born.

. Immediate suspicions about who sponsored Gerald Bull's murder focused on Israel. As one of Iraq's greatest enemies, Israel would likely take steps to ensure Iraq didn't develop weapons that could be a threat.
. Another suspect was Iran, which had just ended a bloody war with Iraq and was probably second in a list of Iraq's enemies.

. A 1992 book says Bull's family believes he was killed by the Americans. Their theory was that he had uncovered proof of a CIA conspiracy against him while trying to obtain a pardon for his weapons-smuggling conviction. He was an obsessive memo-taker — and keeper — and he'd been working on the pardon for years. However, his family found no evidence of it among his personal papers.
Medium: Television
Program: The Journal
Broadcast Date: April 5, 1990
Guest(s): Alan George
Host: Barbara Frum
Reporter: Kevin Tibbles
Duration: 7:20

Last updated: February 7, 2012

Page consulted on March 28, 2013

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