Mr. Perle said he found it "puzzling" that the Iraqis would use such a complicated series of contacts to communicate "a quite astonishing proposal" to the Bush administration. But former American intelligence officials with extensive experience in the Middle East say that many Arab leaders like Mr. Hussein have traditionally placed a high value on back channels communications, failing to understand that such informal arrangements are considered suspect in Washington.
Of course if Mr. Hussein really wanted to come clean he could have done so when Dan Rather came to visit.