Iraq Made 11th-Hour Appeal to Avert War, Intermediaries Say

New York Times ^ | 11-05-03

[MJY1288]

Here is something interesting

el Hage

[MJY1288]

From the link.... "One such company was Anhar Trading, of which El-Hage was managing director, and whose business cards bore the address of the Hamburg flat Darkazanli shares with his German-born wife."

I wonder if this is the same guy

[Miss Marple]

I just got in a little while ago from a dinner party, so I am behind the curve on this one.

How does this last ditch effort square with the report that France and Russia had assured Hussein that we wouldn't attack? If that was so, why would this effort have been necessary?

And has anyone verified the reliability of the guy who was the broker? There were lots of people who offered deals in February and March, including Jesse Jackson.

This is the "get Rumsfeld" effort which Charlie Rangel was spouting off about this afternoon. It is a coordinated attempt between the Rats and the media.

[livius]

I wouldn't be surprised. Great research.

I also have a vague feeling that I've seen Hage's name before in relation to similar matters. Anybody else know anything about this guy?

Ping to MM.

[MJY1288]

I'm sure the democrats are trying to make the case that Saddam is a victim of the "Gang Leader" George W. Bush and his neo-con friends.

The moral of the stroy is that Saddam can be trusted, but not George W. Bush. The left is really going down in flames if they think the American people are going to swallow this garbage.

The proper headline for this leftist screed should be...

"POOR SADDAM: Along with France and Germany, Saddam tried to stop the NEO-CONS from waging an uneccessary War"

[browardchad]

I'll do some research on Mr. Hage and get back to you.

See John Galt's posts #19 and 20 on this thread with the original ABC story:

Hint: Mr. Hage/Haje is in trouble concerning gun-running to Liberia, as is Maloof, who ABC describes as "on administrative leave because of an unrelated personal matter."

Personal?

[Let's Roll]

I thought Richard Perle was a hawk? No?

If this happened, you can be sure that Saddam's demands were so outrageous as to be unworthy of consideration. Or is this some kind of sting to lure in the whacko anti-war, anti-America left, media, 9 dwarves etc.

[Let's Roll]

You're right about ABC. Jennings was gleeful on ABC radio this afternoon.

[MJY1288]

All this is, is despiration at it's best.

The Nickelodeon leftist are grasping at straws, they have been losing on every front and now it's time for some 'Hail Mary" passes

[cyncooper]

This was the lead article on ABC radio news all day (not a word about the rat memo). They made it sound as if war could have been avoided because of it.

You heard it the way I did. Brian Ross was the reporter.

[MJY1288]

Thank you, That helps shed some light into who ABC is puting their hopes on. They must quote the guy 40 times, they even put some quotations around some of the things that were said to Mr. Hage by a third party. Where I come from we call that hearsay

[Steve_Seattle]

"Hail Mary passes"

The fact that this is coming out now, rather than months ago, gives creedence to your analogy. Seems like they're digging deep into the playbook for this one.

[Brian S]

The Associated Press has now picked up the story...which also means that it will be present in most all newsprint editions tomorrow.

---

Baghdad made last minute overture to U.S. as war approached, reports say

Wednesday, November 5, 2003

---

(11-05) 19:55 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --

Just days before U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq, officials claiming to speak for a frantic Iraqi regime made a last-ditch effort to avert the war, but U.S. officials rebuffed the overture, according to news reports.

An influential adviser to the Pentagon received a secret message from a Lebanese-American businessman indicating that Saddam Hussein wanted to make a deal, ABC News and The New York Times reported Wednesday evening.

The chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service and other Iraqi officials had told the businessman that they wanted Washington to know that Iraq no longer had weapons of mass destruction and offered to let American troops and experts do an independent search, the Times said. The Iraqi officials also offered to hand over a man accused of being involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing who was being held in Baghdad.

Messages from Baghdad, first relayed by the businessman in February to an analyst in the office of Douglas Feith, the undersecretary of defense for policy and planning, were part of an attempt by Iraqi officers to persuade the Bush administration to open talks through a clandestine channel, people involved in the discussion told the Times.

The attempts were portrayed by Iraqi officials as having Saddam's endorsement, but it was not clear if American officials viewed them as legitimate.

In early March, Richard Perle, an adviser to top Pentagon officials, reportedly met in London with the Lebanese-American businessman, Imad Hage. According to both men, Hage laid out the Iraqis' position and pressed the Iraqi request for a direct meeting with Perle or other U.S. representatives.

Perle said the CIA authorized his meeting with the Iraqis, but he said CIA officials eventually told him they didn't want to pursue the channel.

The Times quoted internal Pentagon e-mails from Mike Maloof, the analyst in Feith's office, to an aide to Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, outlining the Iraqi overtures. It was unclear, however, if top officials at the Pentagon pursued the matter. Maloof, who lost his security clearance over another issue, is on paid administrative leave from the Pentagon.

Hage previously lived in suburban Washington, where he started an insurance company. He moved to Lebanon in the 1990s and has been trying for 10 years to break into politics there but so far with little success.

He could not be reached immediately in Lebanon for comment.

[Brian S]

You're right about ABC. Jennings was gleeful on ABC radio this afternoon.

I'm wondering now if this might be the "Nightline" topic this pm?

[MJY1288]

Well, What are we to believe? That Saddam was making every effort to avoid war? That even the "Hawk" Richard Perle was trying to stop the evil ones in the White House and the DOD?

What I believe is that this is just one of the many stories we will see posted on the NET, and in print media that try to paint this administration as war mongers that had absolutely no reason to go into Iraq and that between Rumsfeld, Cheney and Wolfowitz, they call the shots and George W. Bush is just a mindless puppet who takes his orders from the shadow government run by Cheney.

This is the same CRAP we heard about Reagan.

TOTAL NONSENSE

[Dog]

Look at the link in post 66....

[cyncooper]

ABC radio credited the story to their investigative reporter

Brian Ross.

[MJY1288]

I will bet you're correct. That leftist Troll, Ted Koppel will probably play this one up tonight

[Dog]

The Times quoted internal Pentagon e-mails from Mike Maloof, the analyst in Feith's office, to an aide to Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, outlining the Iraqi overtures.

They have the internal Pentagon emails...

Who gave the Times the internal memos......can we say Senate Intelligence Committee.

[Miss Marple]

OK...obviously no one trusted this guy as a legitimate arbiter. Perle should be given credit for going the extra mile, rather than somehow being smeared with this story.

And how come everyone is after Rumsfeld, when, if this story is to be believed, it was the CIA who nixed it?