sounds like a good plan, no war, madman gone, Iraq liberated.
Rumsfeld and Powell back exile plan
Richard Norton-Taylor and Helena Smith in Larnaca
Monday January 20, 2003
The Guardian
The United States last night offered Saddam Hussein immunity from prosecution if his departure from Baghdad would avert war.
With only seven days to go before weapons inspectors deliver their crucial report to the UN security council, Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary and one of the Bush administration’s leading hawks, dangled the prospect of a peaceful way out, despite the massive military build-up.
“If to avoid a war,” Mr Rumsfeld said in a TV interview, “I would … recommend that some provision be made so that the senior leadership in that country [Iraq] and their families could be provided haven in some other country.”
Hours later, in what appeared to be a series of choreographed interviews, his more doveish rival in the US administration, Colin Powell, backed his remarks. Asked about a reported Saudi initiative to grant amnesty to senior Iraqi leaders, he said: “I would encourage Saddam Hussein, if he is getting any messages of this kind, to listen.”
The hints from Washington added weight to an Arab initiative, backed by Saudi Arabia and others, that would urge the Iraqi leader to go into exile.
Even if the US granted President Saddam immunity from prosecution, the viability of the Arab plan would depend on his willingness to give up power, something many believe he would never contemplate. Allowing the Iraqi leader to avoid a trial for alleged war crimes might also prove controversial. In London, the Foreign Office maintained its view that the main issue was disarming Iraq rather than removing President Saddam.