http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi? file=/chronicle/archive/2002/06/26/MN227037.DTL Arafat paid bombers, U.S. says New York Times Wednesday, June 26, 2002 Washington -- President Bush decided to call for Yasser Arafat's removal after receiving intelligence information showing that the Palestinian leader had authorized a $20,000 payment to a group that claimed responsibility for the most recent suicide attack in Jerusalem, senior administration officials said Tuesday.
Intelligence reports received last week showed that Arafat continued to finance Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the group that claimed responsibility for a bus-stop bombing that killed six people, even as he said he was cracking down on terror in response to U.S. demands, officials said. That information, they stressed, hardened Bush's resolve to replace him.
"That was a key," one senior official said. "It sealed it."