US May Try to Find Haven For Saddam

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61663-2003Jan29.html

U.S. May Try to Find Haven for Saddam



By Barry Schweid
AP Diplomatic Writer
Wednesday, January 29, 2003; 3:25 PM

WASHINGTON –– The United States would try to help find a haven for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, his family and close aides if he would agree to leave Baghdad, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday.

"That would be one way to try to avoid war," Powell said at a news conference as President Bush, talking tough on Iraq, rejected calls from war opponents to let inspectors deal with Saddam.

Just containing the Iraqi leader could leave that country free to join with terrorists to attack America "and never leave a fingerprint behind," Bush said in Grand Rapids, Mich.

"In my judgment you don't contain Saddam Hussein," Bush said in a speech that focused on his domestic policy agenda. "You don't hope that therapy will somehow change his evil mind."

Powell endorsed exile for Saddam but said it would not be up to the United States alone to determine whether the Iraqi leader should be granted immunity from prosecution as a war criminal.

"If he were to leave the country, and take some of his family members with him, and others in the leading elite that have been responsible for so much trouble during the course of his regime, we would, I'm sure, try to find a place for them to go," Powell said at the State Department.

"That certainly would be one way to avoid war, and we have indicated that before," he said.

Later, the State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, described exile as "an idea floating out there" but not one getting serious consideration.

Bush may dedicate a speech to Iraq sometime after Powell produces the U.S. evidence to "close the loop" on the case the president began to make in the State of the Union address, a senior administration official said.

Another official said two more speeches could be in the offing, one to explain the deadline and another to announce why war is necessary, if he decides that it is. Both officials stressed that no decisions have been made on any future speeches, though considerable thought is being given to them.

Such talk is part of an effort to increase pressure on Saddam with a series of steps, starting with the address and perhaps including another U.N. deadline, another U.N. resolution and another presidential speech. The administration is weighing whether to set a deadline for Iraq's disarmament.

Powell and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld discussed the possibility of Saddam going into exile during briefings on Capitol Hill, said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

DeLay said that "if it's done under the right conditions, I would say they see that as an option. There are still possibilities out there to avoid going to war."

As the administration weighed whether to set a deadline for Saddam's disarmament and prepared to make public next week details about Iraq's weapons programs, Bush called Saddam "a danger not only to the countries in the region."

"Because of al-Qaida connections, because of his history, he's a danger to the American people, and we've got to deal with him before it is too late," the president said.

Bush added that "we must address threats today" before it is too late.

"What's changed for America, besides the fact he's still dangerous (is) there's now a shadowy terror network which he could use as a forward army, attacking his worst enemy and never leaving a fingerprint behind," he said.

Iraq's deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, on Wednesday denied Bush's allegations about a connection with al Qaida, saying "I challenge Bush and his government to produce any evidence of that." He was interviewed on ABC's "Good Morning America."

In releasing information it says it has about Saddam's weapons program, the administration hopes to convince skeptics at home and abroad that Baghdad is defying United Nations' demands.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, who will brief the United Nations next week, said that "I expect to put forward information and evidence which will fill in some of the gaps with respect to what Dr. Blix and Dr. Elabardei discussed early this week about the problems they've had getting Saddam Hussein to participate in the disarmament."

"The information I present, some of it will be an expansion of information that has already been seen, some of it is information that has been given to inspectors and some of it will be new information that was really not relevant to the inspectors work but relevant to making the case with respect to the Hussein regime's possession of weapons of mass destruction," he told reporters Wednesday.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the administration is "now entering the final phase" and only a narrow "diplomatic window" remains open.

Bush has meetings this week with prime ministers Silvio Berlusconi of Italy and Tony Blair of Britain, the closest U.S. ally. One option being considered is to set a final deadline for Saddam to comply with U.N. disarmament resolutions.

Powell and Rumsfeld told House members at a closed-door briefing that the administration was reviewing intelligence to determine what could be released without compromising intelligence sources or methods. The task is complicated by the fact that a photograph that is meaningful to intelligence officers may appear to an untrained observer as simply a bunch of rooftops, a senior official said.

On a new U.N. resolution, the administration takes the position that one is not necessary to use force against Iraq in light of the warning of serious consequences for failure to disarm in an earlier resolution.

But if a fresh resolution would help other governments make the case to their public for using force the Bush administration would consider it, this official said.

U.N. inspectors reported this week that Iraq hasn't provided evidence it dismantled chemical and biological weapons programs and has failed to fully cooperate in the inspection process.

In his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, Bush indirectly acknowledged that he faces a variety of doubters.

"Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent," Bush said. "Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option."

 

well...since libya is the nation chairing the UN Human Rights Commission, that only makes sense!

 

the first line in the article above reads as follows:

The United States would try to help find a haven for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, his family and close aides if he would agree to leave Baghdad, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday.


so he's lying again, right, no worries?? or not telling the whole truth?? or what? didn't you say you actually respected powell? you must be really disappointed since you see lies and conspiracies everywhere.

 

i totally agree that forcing exile would be immensely difficult...it also seems to me to be the best hope of ending this mess without bloodshed...so as hard as it might be, i'm hoping and praying it becomes reality. does that make me less "bushie!??"