turning down the deal of the century: Saddam asked Bush for $1bn to go into exile

[metalman]

Saddam asked Bush for $1bn to go into exile


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.




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let's see. $1b vs a $100s of billions, not to mention thousands of lives and injuries.

talk about a lousy deal maker. stupid?

no one is that friggin stupid.

[GRG55]

Re: turning down the deal of the century: Saddam asked Bush for $1bn to go into exil

Saddam asked Bush for $1bn to go into exile


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.




---



let's see. $1b vs a $100s of billions, not to mention thousands of lives and injuries.

talk about a lousy deal maker. stupid?

no one is that friggin stupid.

metalman: I wouldn't put a lot of credence in this story. A billion dollars is a truly insignificant sum for the ruler of any of the countries in this region, including Saddam. Given the importance of honour (and revenge) in Islam, it stretches the imagination to believe that Saddam would dishonour himself in front of his fellow Arabs for something as grubby as money, and such a trivial sum at that.

The Gulf sheikhdoms did everything they could to find a way to avoid this war. I am not at liberty to divulge the details of the relationship but someone involved closely in my business met personally several times with Bush, Cheney, Powell et. al. in the months before the war as a sr. member of the delegations from his GCC country (he has a military background, trained in the USA). Among other things, the US Administration was warned repeatedly that Shiite-Sunni killings would be one consequence of destabilizing Iraq - I distinctly remember him telling me about this during a nocturnal coffee session in the weeks before the war started.

Late in the day the Qatari Foreign Minister went to Baghdad to meet with Saddam in a last ditch effort to convince him to go into exile (likely in Saudi Arabia). You can be certain the Gulf countries he was representing collectively offered Saddam compensation far, far beyond a billion dollars. Saddam showed him the door, and the die was cast...