Pakistani Newspaper: Saddam offered to resign before invasion

[welshTerrier2]

The US was to be "welcomed as liberators" ... Saddam had killed 100's of thousands of his own people ... he was building WMD and developing nuclear weapons that would lead to mushroom clouds hanging over America's big cities ... he was harboring terrorists and conspiring to attack Israel and the US ... he had to go ... America had no choice ... time had run out on negotiations, weapons inspections, and on Saddam himself ... we had to invade Iraq ...

OR DID WE ??

tucked away in the following article, without any elaboration, came this startling statement from the article's author:

Only time will tell, but the prospects look dim. Indeed, President Bush and his hawks must be ruing the day they allowed themselves to be taken for a ride by their favorite Iraqi exiles. When they did, they let slip a golden opportunity to achieve their true objective without getting stuck in the quagmire they presently find themselves: Iraqi regime change.

As they were flexing their muscles to take over Iraq, Saddam’s intelligence people contacted their American counterparts, offering on his behalf not only intrusive inspections by U.S. weapons experts but also democratization and elections in which Saddam would not participate, even offering to go into exile.

But the Bush White House derisively spurned his offer, which could have spared the Iraqi people their travails and the Americans the severe buffeting of their image and credibility.

read the full article here ...

[samsingh]

1. but then bush couldn't have his little turned big war

[kikiek]

2. Yea needed that for his campaign. Which didn't work and he had to

steal another one anyways.

[samsingh]

11. bush's incompetence and willingness to harm American soldiers

seems to endear him to much of the population

[htuttle]

3. Yes, I remember this -- and it was posted on DU at the time

And yes, I remember the Bush administration stating that it wasn't good enough.

Look in the DU archives for the few weeks before the invasion. Probably a lot of stuff in there that most people never knew about -- or have conveniently forgotten.

[theHandpuppet]

7. I remember this also

But Saddam's resignation wouldn't have served Bush's purpose.

[ComerPerro]

10. I remember that too

but the world is safer now that Saddam is no longer in power

:sarcasm:

[blm]

4. This is EXACTLY what Kerry said for 2 years and the media and their GOP

masters condemned him for it and MOCKED him as a fantasist.

Kerryt had been in contact with Annan, Schroeder and Chirac and KNEW they were close to getting Saddam to agree to leave BEFORE a fullscale invasion. They were just working out the logistics and Bush KNEW it.

But, there's no big money to steal when a regime changes peacefully.

[liberalpragmatist]

5. Where did he say this, blm?

I'm just curious. I don't recall him saying it (doesn't mean he didn't say it), so I'd like to see a link.

[blm]

13. Well, that's how I first heard about this back in 2003 right after the war

was started.

I have been trying to track down links, but all my searches are coming up with nada.

Even the recent revelation that Richard Branson was offering the use of his plane to anywhere Saddam found asylum is coming up with nothing.

I suppose I could spend more time on this, but, I wouldn't doubt there are others who follow Kerry closely who can corroborate. I know it has been posted here at DU quite a few times since Bush invaded.

Very curious, though, about the searches not yielding much beyond antiKerry spewing from the RW. I should probably just start from the last pages and work up. ;)

[welshTerrier2]

6. supporting statement sources?

hi blm ...

do you have any links to Kerry's statements about this ... i'm interested in learning more about "what was known" in the US at the time ...

i think your point about the suck-up media is dead on the money but i think the American people would be much more receptive to hearing this truth NOW ... if we make enough noise about this, and media support or not i think we can, it will tie in nicely with the DSM, the suppression of CIA opposition embodied by the Plame case, and PNAC's goal of establishing a puppet government in Iraq instead of the "democracy" propaganda the neo-cons have been peddling ...

as Kerry said: "Louder" ...

[blm]

14. Just answered lp...I've been searching for quite a time now and

I can't find ANYTHING so far. It's very odd, too, because even the report from last December that Richard Branson was involved offering to fly Saddam to the chosen asylum destination is nowhere to be found.

I first posted about this when it happened and the way I found out about it was through Kerry's mention of it. He was scoffed at repeatedly by the GOP - aiming at his relationship with Chirac, who they were turning into the bad guy.

I will keep trying to go through old posts whenever I can get the time. This story was posted here quite a few times, and I know I always commented on it when it came up.
(no surprise, I know)

[welshTerrier2]

15. no problem, blm ...

please follow-up if you find anything ...

[blm]

16. Frustrating search. I'm starting to feel like Jimmy Stewart in Vertigo.

But, a compadre did locate this from Hardball. Not as specific regarding Saddam's readiness to leave peacefully, but, it's more than I'm getting from google.

Funny thing, is that even my posts on the subject are proving elusive, yet I must have posted on it at least a dozen times.

Well, here's the excerpt from Hardball:

MATTHEWS: To try sharpen your position so we all come out of this room knowing your position. Had you been president earlier this year when they went up against the blank-the stonewall at the U.N.. and the U.N., and the Security Council, the Russians and the French, did not go along with the war, what would you have done differently than the president did? At that point, would you have said another two months I’ll argue with you guys? I’ll try to hold a carrot or a stick out to you and the French and try to get them to board? Or would you have finally said, I’m tired of waiting for the French. We’re going alone in our national interest.

What would you have done?

KERRY: I would have done exactly what I said at the time, which is we should have pursued more diplomacy at the time to exhaust the remedies. And Chris...

MATTHEWS: It’s now October. How-would you still be exhausting the remedies now?

KERRY: Why not?

MATTHEWS: OK. That’s a position. I didn’t know you would go this long.

KERRY: Why not?

MATTHEWS: Would you have gone all these months?

KERRY: Why not? Absolutely. It’s cool in the fall as much as it is in the spring.

MATTHEWS: So you would have waited at least a year.

KERRY: I would have done-no, Chris, I would have done what was necessary to know that you had exhausted the available remedies with the French and the Russians.

MATTHEWS: The French said this week they will not send troop or spend a dollar in Iraq. It’s clear the French don’t go along with this war.

KERRY: And I understand why they won’t right now. And I’m not going to give them a veto, Chris. And I wouldn’t have given them a veto then.

But I talked to Kofi Annan on the Sunday before the president decided to go to war. And I knew at that moment in time that the Russians and the French were prepared to, in fact, make a further offer. And the administration, in fact, informed Kofi Annan, Sorry, the time for diplomacy is over.

Had I been president of the United States, I would have explored what those possibilities were.
>>>>>>>

[welshTerrier2]

17. the only quote i could find ...

Ok ... here's a Kerry quote on the subject i just found: "It appears that with the deadline for exile come and gone, Saddam Hussein has chosen to make military force the ultimate weapons inspections enforcement mechanism". (The Boston Globe, 3/20/03)

just for the record, if Saddam's offer was still on the table, i don't consider Kerry's position (in the above statement) one of using war "only as a last resort" ... he could have said "if Saddam's offer of exile is serious, he has 24 hours to 'get out of Dodge'" ... he's certainly under no obligation to adhere to the principle of war "only as a last resort" ... that is my position though ...

[blm]

21. He didn't talk about the offer that immediately, iirc.

He was probably still not completely apprised at that point of the Globe quote, when all of them were faced with the actuality of military force and the "rallyroundtheflag"crap they're forced into, and i believe that even after the war started there were fervent negotiations STILL in progress.

[welshTerrier2]

19. btw, great Jimmy Stewart quote from "Harvey"

"I wrestled with reality for forty years, and I am happy to state that I finally won out over it" ...

[seabeyond]

8. yep yep yep........ n/t

[paineinthearse]

9. Great find WT2

Searching the obscure sources again?

:thumbsup:

[welshTerrier2]

12. travelling the back roads ...

you meet the most interesting people with the freshest ideas ...

[Cha]

18. I wish we would have known this

3 years ago. To say to all of those who think saddam needed to go..he's such a bad man.


And, Hell No bush didn't want saddam to resign..where's the war machine in that? Where's the Oil in that?

Where's the WAR pretzeldent in that?

Where's the saving of American Soldiers lives in that? Where's the sanctity of Iraqi lives in that?

[starmaker]

20. Like father like son

No war No profit

[LiberalAmerican]

25. I've heard Randi Rhodes mention about Bush Sr

that he was asked to by Saddam to "Approve" the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and responded that the US did not get involved in Arab-Arab affairs, and then used that invasion as the impetus for our own invasion of Iraq.

[welshTerrier2]

26. US "approval" re: Kuwait

welcome to DU, LiberalAmerican !!

here are some details on the Gulf War from DU's own Demopedia:

On 24 July 1990 two Iraqi armoured divisions moved from their bases to take up positions on the Kuwaiti border. Later the same day the US State Department spokeswoman, Margaret Tutwiler, asked whether the US had any military plans to defend Kuwait, replied: ‘We do not have any defense treaties with Kuwait, and there are no special defense or security commitments to Kuwait.’

On July 25th, US ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, met with Saddam Hussein to discuss the coming invasion;

Glaspie: "But we have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait."

"The instruction we had during this period was that we should express no opinion on this issue and that the issue is not associated with America. James Baker has directed our official spokesmen to emphasize this instruction."

On July 31, two days before the invasion, Assistant Secretary of State John Kelly testified before Chairman Lee Hamilton of House Foreign Affairs. Asked repeatedly if we would come to the defense of Kuwait if it were attacked, he insisted there was no obligation on our part to do so.

source: http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/index.php/Invasion_of_Kuwait#Run_up_to_the_Invasion

[LiberalAmerican]

27. thanks, and thanks : )

[Yupster]

22. Remember on the eve of the invasion, Bush went on TV

and demanded that Saddam resign and leave Iraq within 48 hours or the country would be invadad.

If Saddam was willing to leave, he would have gotten on a plane and left.

At the time, while we were debating it on DU, my wrong guess was that at the last minute Saddam would fly to Saudi Arabia and take the villa right next to Idi Amin's.

He didn't.

[BeFree]

23. That proves nothing, yupster

Saddam probably did send word that he was exiting and that the invasion would hardly be contested (as it was).

Who would have told you otherwise? B**h? CNN? You see, what happened was what happened: b**h rushed the invasion all along and got us into a mess that we needn't be in. Saddam did not stand and fight, so he caved, yet the 'Shock and Awe' went ahead as planned and hoped for by the warmongers.

Your efforts to protect b**h are not welcome, eh?

[Yupster]

28. Protect Bush?

I'm just saying if Saddam wanted to leave, he would have gotten on a plane and left.

The buildup to war took about six months.

Then Bush told him to get out of the country in 48 hours or be invaded. If he wanted to leave, he would have left.

That's pretty simple.

Remember Haiti? We told that guy to give up power by the time our troops got there or we'd invade, and he did.

Saddam could have too. He didn't.

[welshTerrier2]

29. "If he wanted to leave, he would have left."

maybe, maybe not ...

suppose bush told him that his plane would be shot down ... suppose bush told him that wherever he went, he would be tracked down and put on trial in the US ...

the fact that bush SAID Saddam was free to go into exile does NOT make it so ... we should not use bush's public statements as an indication of what was communicated to Saddam ...

looking beyond bush's statements, it was very clear that bush and the neo-cons wanted this war from their first day in office ... and remember, it was never about regime change ... it was always about oil, money, and regional control ... the likelihood they would have done anything that might have removed their justification for invasion is close to zero ... it seems extremely unlikely, based on this reasoning, that they would have allowed Saddam to go into exile ...

[Bravo411]

24. Without the War ...

Halliburton couldn't profit.