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| Axis of Evil |
| Arab Leaders May Offer Saddam Exile |
| 2002-12-29 |
| Arab leaders looking for a way to avoid a U.S.-Iraq war they fear would ignite their volatile region are considering the possibility of pressing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to step down and go into exile, diplomats say. But the diplomats say the idea has not yet coalesced, and it would be useless to make such an offer until Saddam believes he has no other no option. "There is a strong feeling that the United States is after Saddam and not after weapons of mass destruction and therefore efforts should focus on how to persuade Saddam to leave," one Arab diplomat said on condition of anonymity. While newspapers have carried reports of offers made to Saddam to flee to Egypt or Libya, even Cuba or North Korea, no government has commented officially on the prospect. Last week, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal told reporters that Mideast leaders repeatedly have urged Saddam to try to avert war. But Prince Saud was vague when asked whether Arab leaders — and Saudi Arabia in particular — had urged the Iraqi regime to persuade Saddam to leave power and accept political asylum elsewhere. "Communication is continuing on levels announced and unannounced, but all the Arab countries are involved in preventing any military action against Iraq," he said. Sabah Salman, Saddam's press secretary during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, does not believe the Iraqi leader would ever bow out willingly. Salman, who defected after the 1991 Gulf War, said Saddam in 1982 called his top aides to a meeting to discuss a demand from the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini that Saddam step down in exchange for peace. Salman said that when Minister of Health Riyadh Hussein ventured that Saddam should accept the offer "for tactical reasons to test Khomeini's seriousness," the minister was taken to an adjacent room and shot. "Saddam is keeping the last bullet in his gun for himself," Salman told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his European exile. Here's hoping he gets to use it reasonably soon. The Arabs are stuck with a big problem if he does: if Sammy steps down, the Arabs will have a say in the new government; if the Iraqis dispose of him, they get to have a say. If we dispose of him, we'll say what comes after. It won't be an "Islamic Republic." |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |