Saddam wanted out. Bush lied about it.

[destruction]

Bush thought Saddam was prepared to flee: report

By Jason Webb

Reuters

Wednesday, September 26, 2007; 12:07 PM

MADRID (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein was prepared to take $1 billion and go into exile before the Iraq war, according to a transcript of talks between U.S. President George W. Bush and an ally, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Wednesday.

During a meeting at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, on February 22, 2003, Bush told former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar that Saddam could also be assassinated, according to the transcript published in El Pais in Spanish.

In Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe declined to comment on the report.

"The Egyptians are speaking to Saddam Hussein. It seems he's indicated he would be prepared to go into exile if he's allowed to take $1 billion and all the information he wants about weapons of mass destruction," Bush was quoted as saying at the meeting one month before the U.S.-led invasion.

Asked by Aznar whether Saddam could really leave, Bush replied: "Yes, that possibility exists. Or he might even be assassinated."

A spokesman for Aznar's private foundation had no comment on the transcript or its authenticity. El Pais, which was critical of the Iraq war and of Aznar's government, did not say how it obtained the transcript which it said was made by a Spanish diplomat who attended the meeting.

In it, Bush spoke openly about pressuring countries who were members of the United Nations Security Council at the time to support a resolution authorizing force, but that, whatever happened: "We'll be in Baghdad by the end of March."

"(Former Chilean President Ricardo) Lagos should know that the Free Trade Agreement with Chile still has to be approved by the Senate, and that a negative attitude on this could endanger its approval," he said, adding aid to Angola also depended on U.N. support.

"And (Russian President Vladimir) Putin should know that his attitude is endangering Russia's relations with the United States," he was quoted as saying.

BAD COP

"For my part, I'll try as of now to use the most subtle rhetoric possible, while we try to get the resolution approved."

Bush was dismissive about former French President Jacques Chirac, who he said "thinks he's Mr. Arab" and described the United States as playing a game of "good cop, bad cop" with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"I don't mind being the bad cop if Blair is the good cop," Bush said.

The U.S. president referred optimistically to the reconstruction of Iraq which he thought "could be organized into a federation."

In case the war endangered energy supplies, "the Saudis would help us and put all the oil necessary into the market," said Bush, who considered Europeans to be complacent about Saddam.

"Maybe it's because he's dark-skinned, far away and Muslim, lots of Europeans think everything's okay with him," he said.

"Saddam Hussein 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," Bush said.

In March 2003, days before the war, the United Arab Emirates proposed to a summit of Arab leaders that Saddam and his top aides should step down and go into exile. It was the first time an Arab state had made an official call of this kind.

In a communique issued after the summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Arab leaders said they opposed any attack on Iraq and made no reference to the UAE's proposal.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/26/AR2007092601024_pf.html

Bush backs Saddam exile plans

By Stewart Powell in Washington

February 1 2003

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For the first time President George Bush has publicly endorsed efforts by Arab leaders to negotiate exile for President Saddam Hussein, to avoid a United States-led attack on Iraq.

Mr Bush expressed his support at the White House on Thursday shortly before a private meeting with the Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal. The prince is the architect of moves by a coalition of Arab nations to offer Saddam asylum and exemption from war crimes charges.

Mr Bush said he hoped international pressure would convince Saddam to relinquish power. "Should he choose to leave the country, along with a lot of the other henchmen ... we would welcome that, of course."

But Mr Bush said his aim remained to disarm Iraq, regardless of who was the leader.

The White House press secretary, Ari Fleischer, declined to estimate how many Iraqi officials or members of Saddam's family would have to step aside to satisfy the US demand for a complete regime change in Iraq.

Arab officials say their plan involves an agreement, perhaps through the United Nations Security Council, to exempt from prosecution all but about 100 of Saddam's top military and political aides. It was hoped that would encourage some Iraqi generals to overthrow Saddam without fears of facing war crimes prosecutions at a later date.

But Saddam is said to have told a senior Arab diplomat, who visited Baghdad two weeks ago, that he would not accept a Saudi offer of exile.

The unidentified diplomat said in New York on Thursday that the Iraqi leader was in high spirits and remained confident his forces could prevail.

The diplomat also confirmed that a senior Saudi intelligence official and several aides visited Baghdad in December, and met Saddam's younger son, Qusai, to discuss exile proposals for Saddam and his inner circle.

The diplomat said Qusai promised to relay the offers to his father, but it was unlikely they would be accepted.

Prince Saud and Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar, insisted after meeting Mr Bush that they had not discussed the Arab plan for Saddam's exile. But Prince Saud said he remained "committed to seeking a "diplomatic solution to the situation in Iraq" and was "hopeful that there will be a way to do so".

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Bush Administration officials have encouraged the Turkish Prime Minister, Abdullah Gul, to make the case for exile to Saddam during a visit to Baghdad.

"Certainly we think it would be an option that Saddam Hussein should take," Mr Boucher said. "I don't think we've taken a passive attitude for it. We've encouraged it."

To sweeten exile, the Bush Administration has delayed any decision on war crimes charges against Saddam, leaving open the possibility that he could avoid a war crimes prosecution similar to former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.

But Mr Fleischer said war crimes charges against Saddam was "not a matter for the Americans to decide". "It would be something that would be discussed in concert with friends and allies," he said.

Hearst Newspapers, Newsday, Associated Press

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/31/1043804520559.html

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[artful]

Be that as it may, Saddam is not the problem; he's just an excuse. They would have used another figurehead if he wasn't around. The only important thing was the war itself and Bush getting his hands on that oil.