Saddam Offered To Leave Without A Fight
One month before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein offered to go into exile in exchange of $1 Billion. Contrast that with the Bush Administration's current request for another $195 Billion to continue the war.
The Evening Standard has the story, which, if confirmed, may be the biggest crime of the whole war. The report comes from a taped conversation between president Bush and then Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar at the President's Crawford, Texas ranch.
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 Egyptians 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 $1 billion and all the information he wants about weapons of mass destruction."
It is possible that Bush took him up on the offer and Saddam reneged; but given the White House's refusal to comment on the story, it is more likely that one of the few remaining justifications for the invasion, the removal of Saddam, may be yet another made-up excuse.
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Saddam Offered to Leave
For the reasons that the U.S. went into Iraq and then botched (and continues to botch) the occupation, I suggest reading "The Shock Doctrine: the Rise of Disaster Capitalism" by Naomi Klein. Although Iraq and Katrina provide us with the most recent and most glaring examples of this doctrine, our boy Bill was not without his "Iraqs": the economic "realignment" of Russia, for example.
I've read many criticisms of how the UAW supposedly caved this week and how the strikers wanted GM to continue health care coverage. This is true, but the main reason that they went on strike was to obtain guarantees that their jobs would not be moved to Mexico or China. I'm amazed that so many people don't understand how NAFTA and China PNTR have drastically weakened any bargaining power unions have in this country. If the next president is an adherent of the Chicago School (this includes Hillary and Obama - check out his economic advisors), we can expect this "shock doctrine" to continue.