UN plan to give Saddam 72 hours to leave Baghdad

Sunday Herald ^ | 3/8/03

[areafiftyone]

SADDAM Hussein and his family are to be given 72 hours on Tuesday to accept an offer of exile, while 50 of Iraq's top military brass will be offered an amnesty in return for full co-operation with the United Nations in a secret plan to be tabled at its New York headquarters. The highly sensitive proposal was tabled by Pakistan during a closed-door meeting of the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council on Friday and was brokered by Saudi Arabia, the Vatican and moderate Arab states. Failure by Saddam to agree to the plan would clear the way for war.

If the proposal, understood to be in the form of a short paragraph, becomes part of a second resolution and is adopted by the Security Council, the UN would oversee the establishment of a post-Saddam government and the UN, not the US, would take stewardship of Iraq's oilfields.

The Iraqi generals and top ranking officers would have to co-operate fully with UN inspectors to oversee the total elimination of any weapons of mass destruction.

Pope John Paul II has dispatched his emissaries to meet all the key parties during the past two weeks. His special envoy and per manent observer at the UN, Archbishop Renato Rafaele Martino, has been discussing the proposal with all the Security Council members.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Pio Laghi, a former Papal Nuncio, met with President George W Bush, while Cardinal Angelo Sodano has met with Tony Blair. Cardinal Roger Etchegaray met with Saddam in Baghdad and discussed the subject of exile, which he said Saddam did not rule out.

American sources have confirmed that the US and Jordan have recently discussed the prospect of using the UN to offer a formal exile and amnesty package to Saddam and his inner circle.

Last month, Saddam rejected informal pleas to choose exile over war. But the US is aware that one of the attractions of an amendment that extends the offer to his family and military leaders is the likelihood it may trigger a coup, leading to his assassination by a member of his inner circle.

It is thought that Saddam's sons, Uday and Qusay, would push for a safe passage out rather than face a cataclysmic end in a Baghdad bunker. 'Uday might be the first to shoot his father if he refused an amnesty,' one senior Jordan official is quoted as saying.

The proposed amendment is still at a low rung on the UN procedural ladder but the non-permanent members believe it represents a last best chance to avert a war. But, from the Security Council's point of view, it offers a compromise that would allow its members to unite and vote for a second resolution.

UN sources have also indicated that a second resolution on Tuesday with the March 17 ultimatum -- incorporating an offer of exile -- would provide an attractive compromise that would let the French to come on board without 'losing face' or appearing to have capitulated to the US.

[TexKat]

Sounds to me like the US has provided the courage, the leadership, and the troups, and at the last second the UN wants to come in and defeat us.

Do you think Dubya and the administration would let this happen? Heard a few minutes ago they (Dubya and part if not all the administration) just had a special called meeting. Don't know what it was about though.

[TexKat]

Bush fully supports exile of Hussein.

At least thats what he says in the media camera.

[Torie]

Practicalities. Both should be in the Gulag and then hung after the usual formalities. But we don't live in a perfect world. Thus some bad guys get their just deserts, and some don't. I won't charge you for that profundity.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

But as an aside, how do the UN and Euroists justify Sadaam in Paradise and Milosevic in the Gulag?

You forgot part ot it. How do they justify Milosevic in the Gulag, Saddam in a Mansion bound exile, and Clinton in charge of the UN?

[185JHP]

I believe W is setting up the UN like a bowling pin.

[fatima]

He will accept and hope he will not be killed in exile.

[Pikachu_Dad]

Finally an offer that makes some sense !!!

Regime change is the top priority. There can be no effective disarmament while the current top dogs are in power.

[frei_staat]

What gets my attention to this is that our military wouldn't get bogged down in the administration, care and feeding of Iraq. That, to me, is more of a concern than prosecuting the war. With US forces not pinned to Iraq, at least four divisions are free to point at the next event.

While there are the models of post-war Germany and Japan, and to some extent S.Korea, I think there is a significant difference to post-war Iraq controlled by the US. At the end of the WWII, most, if not all, of the countries surrounding Germany and Japan were also war torn and destitute. Also, the Allies had liberated most of those countries surrounding Germany and Japan-even those cheese eating surrender monkeys were grateful at the time.

But a post-war Iraq, under US administration, would be surrounded by countries that are not destitute (per se), not war torn and, above all, not so very friendly to the US.

So, let the UN exercise administrative control and give Hans unfettered access to anywhere in the country. And in doing so, make damn sure that every news organization in the world is there to chronical the caches of "non-existant" WMD as well as record the horror stories of the Iraqis people.

But one stipulation should be that the US has military basing rights in Iraq.

I agree that Dubya will let whomever wants, have the credit but at the end of the day we know it was his resolve and that of Tony Blair which forced the rest of the world into action.

[merak]

If the proposal, understood to be in the form of a short paragraph, becomes part of a second resolution and is adopted by the Security Council, the UN would oversee the establishment of a post-Saddam government and the UN, not the US, would take stewardship of Iraq's oilfields.

That would leave about 250,000 seriously bad people in American uniforms sitting there in the middle east in possession of a whole lot of ordinance no longer needed for Iraq, and without a war to fight in Iraq. One COULD view that as an opportunity...

[CyberAnt]

Geeeee ... as a permanent member, can't we VETO that!!

[way-right-of-center]

I am with you on that one. I think he is feeding them just enough rope to hang themselves. My sincere hope is that we have some sort of "smoking gun' irrefutable evidence that will come to light when hostilities officially begin. When it does, GW will then say "NI!" to those who voted against us. Even if he decides not to hold a grudge in public, it will be political ammunition for years to come. Very shrewd, IMHO.

BTW, great login name... thats what i have loaded in my Colt Commander beside the bed 6.1 grns of win 231

[bart99]

I haven't read through all the replies to this yet, but it only would, if accepted, address half the problem. We, the USA, would stilll have to go in and find and destroy all the weapons still hidden. That in itself would constitute a formal occupation of sorts. Doesn't take Iraq out of harms way, even if the 'regime' goes.

[TheLurkerX]

If Bush lets this happen, and the UN gets to control post Saddam Iraq and his oilfields, and they get to say, " I told you so, there was a peaceful way out of this," I will vote Libertarian next time, just to keep from voting for Bush. If he lets the UN appear heroic and obtain validation from this, he doesn't deserve my vote. I'm still praying that he's going to screw the UN, but the waiting is killing me. I can't imagine his people are seriously considering this. It's got to be disinformation.

[way-right-of-center]

I think this amendment has got about as much chance of happening as Chelsae Clinton being voted "Hottest New Employee" at her new consulting firm

[rwfromkansas]

This is a brilliant move. I hope and pray it is wrong.....we would be trumped bigtime and defeated embarrassingly.

[Theresa]

"But I dont see how a formalized exile offer is really different from the informal exile offers out there. Saddam just aint biting,"

And he won't bite because he already has his escape planned anyway. He's not gonna be there when Bagdad falls and neither are his sons and family members. I think he will go into hiding with the protection of BinLaden. That way he will still be able to be a player, even if only behind the scenes. Besides why wouldn't the French want to give Sadamm several months to go into exile? They think he's contained anyway and not an immediate danger. Their attitude is, Saddam is intolerable, but let's tolerate him.

[marajade]

The only thing saving us will be Saddam's pride I think... Maybe that's why Pakistan tabled it...

[JimRed]

A UN-brokered sanctuary for a brutal dictator who murdered tens of thousands of innocent civilians and operates torture chambers for citizens who disagree with his regime sounds about right for the UN.

Hey, he could always have a mysterious "accident" a few months or years down the road....

[Theresa]

"Don't kid yourself. They would turn this into WHY we need the U.N., to reign in "cowboys" like Bush."

Right but then we could say "only the threat of force by Bush made Sadaam leave. " So both sides would have something to crow about.

[185JHP]

Besides other benefits, like not over-penetrating the intended target, the 185 gets out of the barrel faster, so your aim is more true. Great for modifying the behavior of goblins: "I've got 12 little buddies in this. And every one of them can fight better than you!"