El Pais & The Daily Mail & Reuters – 2007-09-27 22:53:31
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=484162
Saddam Asked Bush $1 Billion to Go into Exile
LONDON: Saddam Hussein offered to step down and go into exile peacefully just one month before the invasion of Iraq in return for $1 billion.
The offer has been revealed in a transcript of talks between US President George W Bush and the then Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar at the former’s Texas ranch. According to the transcript published by Spanish daily ‘El Pais’, Bush told Aznar in February 2003 that the Iraqi dictator had made the exile offer via the Eygptian government.
“The Eqyptians 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 said.
When asked by the then Spanish Premier whether Saddam — who was executed last December — could really leave, the President replied: “Yes, that possibility exists. Or he might even be assassinated.” Bush 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. We’ll be in Baghdad by the end of March.” The confidential transcript was recorded by the then Spanish Ambassador to the US, Javier Ruperez, at the meeting between the two leaders at Crawford in Texas on February 22, 2003, the daily claimed.
According to the tapes, Bush was also dismissive of the then French President Jacques Chirac, saying he “thinks he’s Mr Arab”. The US President referred to his relationship with Downing Street, saying, “I don’t mind being the bad cop if (former British Prime Minister) Tony Blair is the good cop.” The White House has declined to comment on the transcript.
Saddam Asked Bush for $1 Billion to Go into Exile
David Gardner / The Daily Mail
LONDON (September 26, 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.
Bush thought Saddam Was Prepared to Flee-El Pais
Jason Webb / Reuters
MADRID, Sept 26 (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 Feb. 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 US-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 authorising 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 organised 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.
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