NationStates Jolt Archive

I know its from the Daily Fail, but I have been hearing a lot about this tonight.

Anyways, it looks as if Ol' saddam was willing to step down...for a billion dollars, and the chance to go into exile. If this was so, should the US have done it?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=484162

Saddam asked Bush for $1bn to go into exile
By DAVID GARDNER - More by this author » Last updated at 23:45pm on 26th September 2007

Saddam Hussein offered to step down and go into exile one month before the invasion of Iraq, it was claimed last night.

Fearing defeat, Saddam was prepared to go peacefully in return for £500million ($1billion).

The extraordinary offer was revealed yesterday in a transcript of talks in February 2003 between George Bush and the then Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar at the President's Texas ranch.

The White House refused to comment on the report last night.

But, if verified, it is certain to raise questions in Washington and London over whether the costly four-year war could have been averted.

Only yesterday, the Bush administration asked Congress for another £100billion to finance the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.


The total war bill for British taxpayers is expected to reach £7billion by next year.

More than 3,800 American service personnel have lost their lives in Iraq, along with 170 Britons and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians.

However, according to the tapes, one month before he launched the invasion Mr Bush appeared convinced that Saddam was serious about going into exile.

"The Eqyptians are speaking to Saddam Hussein," said Mr Bush.

"It seems he's indicated he would be prepared to go into exile if he's allowed to take $1billion and all the information he wants about weapons of mass destruction."

Asked by the Spanish premier whether Saddam - who was executed in December last year - could really leave, the President replied: "Yes, that possibility exists. Or he might even be assassinated."

But he added that whatever happened: "We'll be in Baghdad by the end of March."

Mr Bush went on to refer optimistically to the rebuilding or Iraq.

The transcript - which was published yesterday in the Spanish newspaper El Pais - was said to have been recorded by a diplomat at the meeting in Crawford, Texas, on February 22, 2003.

Mr Bush was dismissive of the then French President Jacques Chirac, saying he "thinks he's Mr Arab".

Referring to his relationship with Downing Street, he said: "I don't mind being the bad cop if Blair is the good cop."

The President added: "Saddam won't change and he'll keep on playing games.

"The time has come to get rid of him. That's the way it is."

Days before the invasion began on March 22, 2003, the United Arab Emirates proposed to a summit of Arab leaders that Saddam and his henchmen should go into exile.

It was the first time the plan had been officially voiced but it was drowned out in the drumbeat of war.

A spokesman for Mr Aznar's foundation had no comment on its authenticity.

Bomb attacks killed 57 people in Iraq yesterday.

This presidency keeps getting more and more fucked up by the minute.

Saudi Arabia and Egypt were negotiating with Saddam and the possibility of him stepping down and leaving Iraq was not off the table. The U.S. wasn't willing to wait until all diplomatic channels were exhausted. They had to get in there and get those Weapons of Mass Distraction!

...Oops. Did I say Distraction? Typo. ;)

Saudi Arabia and Egypt were negotiating with Saddam and the possibility of him stepping down and leaving Iraq was not off the table. The U.S. wasn't willing to wait until all diplomatic channels were exhausted. They had to get in there and get those Weapons of Mass Distraction!

...Oops. Did I say Distraction? Typo. ;)

So, the US is like the eager teenager that wants to get laid for the first time, and rushes in with out putting on a condom, and ends up screwed in the end, right? :p

The sub-group of humanity known as politicians isn´t known for being rational.
And then people wonder where the Neanderthales disappeared.

http://missionxp.webblogg.se/images/george_w_bush_1144693403.jpg = http://mp082.k12.sd.us/Neanderthal.jpg

Now we know.:D

Remember though, the War on Iraq wasnt just about toppling Sadaam. It was also about scouring the country for non-existent weapons of mass destruction, and rebuilding Iraq. Merely making Sadaam leave would have made a power vacuum, and another ambitious future Sadaam could have easily taken his place, and then that leader may well have still had the non-existent WMDs.

Then there's also the issue of Iraqi oil, or more to the point any other motives they may have had to enter the war. This war was not at all just about sadaam.

Saddam was not the target but one of the excuses.

There are countless people on the globe that are worse than Saddam but nobody is touching them. No, this doesn't make Saddam look like Bambi.

The war was needed. Like it or not.

Those, merely US, soldiers are risking their life every day, so that we can consume oil at a reasonable price the next two decades.

Without the oil factor, there would be not one US soldier in Iraq.

I’m still wondering why a very intelligent human being as Colin Powell sold his soul to the Bush administration.

Why he allowed that they used him in the UN – remember the cartoon ‘proof’ pieces…

I’m wondering if this guy (and others) is still sleeping well at night…

So, the US is like the eager teenager that wants to get laid for the first time, and rushes in with out putting on a condom, and ends up screwed in the end, right? :p

Winner.

This presidency keeps getting more and more fucked up by the minute.No, it was fucked up from the beginning, and yet the US voters chose to keep it that way. And there was a wave of warmongering and "patriotism" and a lot of retards eager to demonstrate US military superiority to the world. The responsibility for the mess in Iraq lies with the entire US population, not just the presidency.

So, the US is like the eager teenager that wants to get laid for the first time, and rushes in with out putting on a condom, and ends up screwed in the end, right? :pWell it's normally the girl who ends up worst because of the guy's idiocy.

I don't believe this for a second. Perhaps they offered him 1 billion to go into exile, but I sincerely doubt he would have offered it. Saddam was a hero and would never leave his country to any invading force. After all, if Saddam were to go into exile and leave, why didn't he during the Iranian invasion in the 1980s (especially during Operation Karbala, when Iran was just outside of Basra) or during the 30-nations War when the US and their allies surrounded Iraq from all sides and moved to restore the Kuwaiti monarch? Perhaps though, he could have done more from exile to aid his people in Resistance, but it doesn't matter now, he was martyred and command is now in ad-Douri's hands.

I don't believe this for a second. Perhaps they offered him 1 billion to go into exile, but I sincerely doubt he would have offered it. Saddam was a hero and would never leave his country to any invading force. After all, if Saddam were to go into exile and leave, why didn't he during the Iranian invasion in the 1980s (especially during Operation Karbala, when Iran was just outside of Basra) or during the 30-nations War when the US and their allies surrounded Iraq from all sides and moved to restore the Kuwaiti monarch? Perhaps though, he could have done more from exile to aid his people in Resistance, but it doesn't matter now, he was martyred and command is now in ad-Douri's hands.Saddam was no hero, he was an opportunist. And since he was very close to the US before the Kuwait invasion I can very well imagine that he would have made such an offer. This man had no emotional attachment to "his" country.

I think the main problem Bush faced would have been who would succeed Saddam. After all, his sons weren't exactly model citizens. However if not this was a terrible mistake, nice one you stupid dixiecrat.:mad:

Nonsense, Saddam was also close to the Soviet Union. Iraq stayed neutral during the Saddam years of the Cold War, they had few enemies at all.

The only real opportunists are the US, who used Saddam as the excuse to try and show American military might in the Post-Cold War era, and are now trapped against the Iraqi Resistance. The US now is scared of Iran and Iran's imperial ambitions, but they probably should have thought about that before they destroyed Iraq.

Saddam was an Arab hero, He was the only Arab leader since Nasser to make people feel proud. He fought the Persian invasion and at the same time, aided the Arabs of Lebanon. He was the only Arab leader to never sell out and the only Arab leader to support the Palestinean cause at all times. Why does the US claim to want to spread Democracy? They call Saddam a dictator, yet the King of Saudi Arabia and the Kings of Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar are not dictators? Egypt is not a military dictatorship? These countries are dictatorships of the worst kind, the people have little and are deeply oppressed. In Iraq, during Saddam's time, women were highly literate and represented in Congress more than in any other Arab country, they had equal rights, as guaranteed by the Constitution. In Saudi Arabia, women cannot legally drive cars.

Why do Arabs still support Saddam? If he was such an opportunist and bad guy? In Bethleham and the rest of Palestine his picture is still up and many families have portraits of him in their houses, in Jordan people still march in support of his regime. In Libya, they are building a statue monument to him and Omar al-Mukhtar. The Arab world considers him a hero, more than that, he is still largely popular in the rest of the Third World. It is only amongst the US, Persia, the Zionist entity and parts of Europe that he is really disliked.

Karuchea, look you evedently haven't experianced what it is like to live a democracy and a dictatorship if you did you would know that they are very different things. Oh and the Zionist entity is actally the soverign state of Israil. As someone with Kurdish blood (my grandmother was Kurdish) I find it offensive that you would call a man who murdered thousands of my people a hero. Finnaly the country with the most civil rights in the middle east is not and has never been Iraq, it is infact Israil (even muslims are treated well in Israil, relitive to the region at least)

Nonsense, Saddam was also close to the Soviet Union. Iraq stayed neutral during the Saddam years of the Cold War, they had few enemies at all.

The only real opportunists are the US, who used Saddam as the excuse to try and show American military might in the Post-Cold War era, and are now trapped against the Iraqi Resistance. The US now is scared of Iran and Iran's imperial ambitions, but they probably should have thought about that before they destroyed Iraq.

Saddam was an Arab hero, He was the only Arab leader since Nasser to make people feel proud. He fought the Persian invasion and at the same time, aided the Arabs of Lebanon. He was the only Arab leader to never sell out and the only Arab leader to support the Palestinean cause at all times. Why does the US claim to want to spread Democracy? They call Saddam a dictator, yet the King of Saudi Arabia and the Kings of Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar are not dictators? Egypt is not a military dictatorship? These countries are dictatorships of the worst kind, the people have little and are deeply oppressed. In Iraq, during Saddam's time, women were highly literate and represented in Congress more than in any other Arab country, they had equal rights, as guaranteed by the Constitution. In Saudi Arabia, women cannot legally drive cars.

Why do Arabs still support Saddam? If he was such an opportunist and bad guy? In Bethleham and the rest of Palestine his picture is still up and many families have portraits of him in their houses, in Jordan people still march in support of his regime. In Libya, they are building a statue monument to him and Omar al-Mukhtar. The Arab world considers him a hero, more than that, he is still largely popular in the rest of the Third World. It is only amongst the US, Persia, the Zionist entity and parts of Europe that he is really disliked.

Good luck supporting a dead guy.

Good luck supporting a dead guy.

Eh, Jesus and Mohammad have been dead for thousands of years. Lots of people still support them. Or at least they claim to.

You don't have to be alive to have a fan club.

Saddam was brought to trial under the Iraqi interim government set up by U.S.-led forces. On November 5, 2006, he was convicted of charges related to the executions of 148 Iraqi Shi'ites suspected of planning an assassination attempt against him, and was sentenced to death by hanging. Saddam was executed on December 30, 2006.

What a hero.

Some Italian fascist made it possible that the trains were on time. Wow, what a good man!

Saddam is indeed still popular by countless people in the Arab world. What one forget to add is that the majority of those people are somehow backward. They don't have access to the news as we do. And in general they are ruled by their own dictator. They are used to such creatures.


Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam

I'd go into exile for less than a billion, maybe they should pay off the whole of Iraq just for giggles

but then if you was Saddam Hussian where would you go :confused:

Some Italian fascist made it possible that the trains were on time. Wow, what a good man!

I thought he just took credit for that.....

I'd go into exile for less than a billion, maybe they should pay off the whole of Iraq just for giggles

but then if you was Saddam Hussian where would you go :confused:

France, just like the Ayatollah Khomeini. Or Switzerland, where they don't give a Switz how bad you were back home, they're neutral. I'd like to be skeptical about this, but the story has surfaced before. It sure looks like there was no option in the administration's agenda than to have tanks rolling through Baghdad, and have lots of photojournalists snapping photos, to give Dubya his victory in '04.