Saddam may be on his way to an African exile

IOL ^ | 1-17-2003

[blam]

Saddam may be on his way to an African exile

January 17 2003 at 05:32AM

Dubai - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has agreed to leave Iraq and go into exile in an African country if certain conditions are met, three diplomats in the United Arab Emirates were quoted as saying on Thursday.

The diplomats in Dubai - one Western and two Arab - who did not want to be named or reveal their sources, said the Iraqi leader was prepared to accept a deal under which he would leave the country if it was guaranteed that he would not to be prosecuted or persecuted by the United States or any of its European allies.

He would be accompanied by other members of his government and their families, and an African country would be considered for their exile, they said.

According to observers in the region, news of a possible exile for Hussein could be related to recent announcements that Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria were to present a proposal to avoid a new Gulf war in the next few days.

'The timing was not appropriate' The speculations gained pace after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad cancelled a scheduled trip to Teheran on Wednesday and a visit of General Ali Hassan al-Majid to Cairo was postponed.

Egyptian media had first announced that al-Majid, a member of Iraq's Revolutionary Council and a cousin of Hussein, wanted to bring Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak a message from Hussein.

"The timing was not appropriate," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said in Cairo on Thursday.

The three diplomats said further terms for Hussein's departure would be the withdrawal of US troops from the Gulf, the end of United Nations arms inspections and sanctions against Iraq and measures against the production of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

But the US had so far rejected these conditions and Egypt was now trying to persuade Baghdad to accept a compromise, the diplomats said. - Sapa-DPA

[onedoug]

"Roy! Take an editorial.

"If were ever to have law and order in the middle east, the first thing we've got to do is take out all the Arab dictators, and shoot'em down like dogs!"

[Steve Eisenberg]

I would like to read the fine print of any agreement to let him go into exile.

The fine print is in the original article of this thread:

"The three diplomats said further terms for Hussein's departure would be the withdrawal of US troops from the Gulf, the end of United Nations arms inspections and sanctions against Iraq and measures against the production of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."

Get it? Saddam gets a vacation in Africa with a couple of his choicest buddies while the rest of the Saddamites perfect the nukes.

The problem is not one man -- it never is. The problem is the Baathist regime.

[DCPatriot]

They should NOT allow him to escape anywhere.

Bush had better have the video available to the media clearly showing his helicopter or private jet being blown out of the sky.

Then Bush's voice can come over the screen and say, "We will hunt you down anywhere. You can't hide. We will kill you. Who's next?"

I mean, even *THAT* would garner "Great Leader" Kim's attention, in North Korea.

[Steve Eisenberg]

The easy way is for Saddam to go into exile. That never works; they always come back.

Exactly.

[meenie]

This is too ridiculous. Who succeeds him in power? What is done with his other henchmen that help control Iraq? What is done with the WMD's that he is accused of having? This is not a Presidential election. If he left, there would be hundreds of his inner circle left. The political base and structure would be intact.

Regime change should be more than the elimination of one person. There doesn't seem to be much thought given to any problems associated with the end of Sadaam Hussein. Has the world stopped thinking? I think we are in danger of going insane on a worldly scale. Individuals think and use their intelligence to solve their problems, but governments seem to be incapable of solving anything.

[Rockitz]

Seems like it would be pretty easy to get a hitman into an African country that is not traceable to the US, so I say why not?

I really want us to get his cash though and he won't let go of that so easy.

[MonroeDNA]

The most difficult thing to do is the right thing to do.

Those boys didn't get deployed to build nations.

They are deployed to destroy nations.

[Turbodog]

Sheppard just said on the Fox Report that Iraqi diplomats are denying the reports.

[MonroeDNA]

North Korea is a pimple on our butt. Not life threatening, but irritating nontheless.

It will be lanced when the time is right.

[MonroeDNA]

"Individuals think and use their intelligence to solve their problems, but governments seem to be incapable of solving anything."

meenie, meet Dubya. Dubya, meet meenie.

[rface]

I would dance in the streets if Saddam left.

[rface]

Iraqi diplomats are denying the reports.

Well, I wouldn't expect them to confirm the report either......and I do only give reports of "exile" little credence

[DoughtyOne]

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[zarf]

That's "Dear Leader" to you....

[PhiKapMom]

That works for me! You cannot let dictators hang around IMHO!

[PhiKapMom]

This is too ridiculous. Who succeeds him in power? What is done with his other henchmen that help control Iraq? What is done with the WMD's that he is accused of having? This is not a Presidential election. If he left, there would be hundreds of his inner circle left. The political base and structure would be intact.

My sentiments exactly. I don't see how any thinking person could support Sadaam being exile. He has murdered thousands of his own people and needs to meet the same fate along with his close advisors IMHO!

[discostu]

Depends on who gets left in charge. So long as Saddam has nothing to do with picking who takes over. Eventually those things are going to happen, the question is do we have to invade first.

[txhurl]

'Iraqi officials are denying the reports'

What a great pre-war prank to pull on the ^*cker.

No doubt fully 1/3 of the Iraqi GDP goes to hiding that little weasel out. There is an African nation that can afford this? Or were they in on the prank - 'During the transition we have contracted the west wing of The Embassy Suites for your entourage.'

Plus could you see our servicemen? Traipse half-way across the world at Christmas for some friggin' resignation?

[discostu]

And we have to remember that Saddam is no dumby. We shouldn't confuse insanity with stupidity. Nothing is going to stop a march to Bagdhad (however you spell it) this time. He knows that if it comes to war the best he can hope for is a clean round in the head, worst case scenario he gets torn to pieces by the masses, or winds up rotting in some prison like Noriega (how's that for a ignominious end). The single most important part of any military plan is the exit strategy, you've got to know how you're getting out of this if things go bad (or if things go well, permanent occupation sucks). The only exit Saddam has that's any good is to sneak out BEFORE the Stealth Bombers leave the ground.

Korea is a whole different mess. In the end I think we can negotiate out of that one. Remember they've been making a lot of reunification noise lately. The country is starving and nobody can blame sanctions. There's a pic floating around here of the globes electric lights that really shows how bad off North Korea is, there's all these lights in South Korea, and a bunch of lights in China, and North Korea is darker than the Outback. But they have Oriental pride, they won't come around asking for a handout begging to be brought into the 20th century a couple years late. They've got to make it look like (at least to some people) we were FORCED to help them out. Which is fine by me, as long as the end result is one less communist nation and one less international hot spot I really don't care what they tell their people about why it all happened.

[txhurl]

North Korea is Dark

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