Think of the trillion dollars that could have been saved, the million lives saved, the tens of thousands of dead and injured U.S. soldiers. It has now been revealed that this could so easily have been averted were it not for the war loving psychopaths in Washington.
Saddam Hussein offered to step down and go into exile one month before the invasion of Iraq, it was claimed last night.
Fearing defeat, Saddam was prepared to go peacefully in return for £500million ($1billion).
The extraordinary offer was revealed yesterday in a transcript of talks in February 2003 between George Bush and the then Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar at the President’s Texas ranch.
I am trying to imagine how, without the benefit of hindsight, $500 million could have been earmarked for and delivered to Saddam Hussein. Knowing what we know now, it would have been a cheap way to dispose of him… but when a war has been planned for that carefully and that long in advance, no-one wants to spoil the party.
Denis
I thought that Saddam offered to leave was common knowledge. The $0.5b is a bit of a surprise though.
In the days before the invasion, G W Bush issued an “ultimatum” to Saddam to leave Iraq, and Bahrain I believe offered him and his family safe haven. It was explicit, however, that the invasion would go ahead regardless.
Think of the billions of $’s the neocon’s buddies in the oil industry have made in profits since the invastion of Iraq. “O” please spare me the shock and orr
Anthony L.:
Thanks for that.
Had heard that the Russians had two aircraft ready to take Saddam Hussein, his family, his henchmen and a swag of loot to very comfortable retirement in a remote part of the Russian Federation. Naturally, they would have needed the protection of a fair few MVD internal security troops to ensure their retirement went undisturbed …. and that it remained retirement.
Denis Wright:
No. The War was not carefully planned at all. The whole deadly farce is probably the worst example in history of a war launched with confused war aims and a befuddled ruler but without co-ordinated planning. For example, Bush launched the invasion of Iraq without a comprehensive Civil Affairs program to prevent the populace turning into insurgents; nor did he plan for the careful demobilization or utilization of Saddam Hussein’s army so that it would not become the mainstay of an organized insurgency. Can you imagine what Europe would have been like after WWII without a Marshall Plan or without the denazification of defeated Nazi German troops? The Americans had the experience and the expertise yet Bush rushed in with whims and fancies as a substitute for careful planning.