The European press was buzzing this week with revelations in taped conversations between the Spanish Prime Minister and George W. Bush in 2003. Apparently, Bush knew that Saddam wanted to go into exile and would have left for £500 million ($1 Billion), less than 1% of what this war has cost us. There would have been no destruction and control of oil would have been in Bush’s and Europe’s hands.
This from the UK Daily Mail:
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.
The White House refused to comment on the report last night.
Not commenting, of course, is the virtual equivalent of saying the report is true. This raises the issue of whether the war could have been averted.
The Bush administration has now asked asked Congress for another $200 billion to finance the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and more than 3,800 American service personnel have lost their lives in Iraq, along with 170 Britons and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians.
However, according to the tapes, one month before he launched the invasion Mr Bush appeared convinced that Saddam was serious about going into exile.
“The Eqyptians are speaking to Saddam Hussein,” said Mr Bush.”It seems he’s indicated he would be prepared to go into exile if he’s allowed to take $1billion and all the information he wants about weapons of mass destruction.”
Asked by the Spanish premier whether Saddam could really leave, the President replied: “Yes, that possibility exists. Or he might even be assassinated.”
But he added that whatever happened: “We’ll be in Baghdad by the end of March.”
Mr Bush went on to refer optimistically to the rebuilding or Iraq.
The transcript of this conversation was published on September 22nd in the Spanish newspaper El Pais and was said to have been recorded by a diplomat at the meeting in Crawford, Texas, on February 22, 2003.
Just days before the invasion began on March 22, 2003, the United Arab Emirates proposed to a summit of Arab leaders that Saddam and his henchmen should go into exile. This plan was never given a chance to move forward as the NeoCons persisted in pushing us into war.
The fact that Bush both knew and believed he could have avoided the war leads to a real question about his motives and lack of concern about the deaths of American soldiers… essentially showing him to have the soul of a mass murderer.
As European news sources are filled with articles about this conversation with the Spanish Prime Minister and the American Press has pretty much submerged it, it hs fallen to blog sources to get the story out. We will have to see what happens next as Bush seeks to attack Iran.