Saddam Offered Exile

Saddam Hussein was prepared to take $1BN and to go into exile before the Iraq war, thus preventing the invasion of Iraq and the fiasco that we see the US embroiled in today.

This story is apparently being propagated by none other than President George Bush, who allegedly told José Maria Aznar, the then prime minister of Spain, about it a month before the 2003 invasion.

During a meeting at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, on 22 February 2003, Bush told Mr Aznar that Saddam could also be assassinated, according to a transcript of their talks published yesterday in the Spanish newspaper El Pais.

Bush is quoted as saying:

"The Egyptians are speaking to Saddam Hussein. It seems he's indicated he would be prepared to go into exile if he's allowed to take $1 billion [£500 million] and all the information he wants about weapons of mass destruction."

Asked by Mr Aznar whether the Iraqi dictator could really leave, Bush replied:

"Yes, that possibility exists. Or he might even be assassinated."

Bush talked about pressuring countries that were members of the United Nations Security Council to support a resolution authorising force. Whatever happened, "we'll be in Baghdad by the end of March".

Mission accomplished!

Iran Shuts Some Iraq Borders

Iran closed major border crossings with northeastern Iraq on Monday, to protest against the U.S. detention of Mahmudi Farhadi an Iranian official that the military accuses of weapons smuggling.

Chemical Ali Trial

Ali Hassan al-Majid, aka "Chemical Ali", has today demanded that the trial accusing him and 14 other former regime officials for crimes against humanity be adjourned for a month.

Ali Hassan al-Majid, who is due to be hanged after his conviction for genocide in a separate trial, and his co-defendants are accused of having overseen the killing of up to 100,000 Shiites.

Majid and another defendant Ibrahim Abdul Razzaz said that their lawyers were afraid to attend the court, and had asked for protection from the US military which was refused.

Majid told judge Mohammed al-Khalifah al-Oreibi:

"My brothers here have some demands.

They said they would stop eating and drinking if their lawyers are not back. They need more negotiations (with the US military). I don't think this will take more than one month.

I ask that we adjourn the trial for one month so that we can come up with a solution."

Judge Oreibi noted his comments but then went on to call the first witness of the day, an old man who spoke from behind a curtain.

Quote:

"The tanks started to shell our houses. There were lots of soldiers. I told my family to run away. The soldiers took my two sons.

They were rounding up all the young men of the village. One of the boys resisted so they shot him dead. I saw it with my own eyes. Many houses were destroyed."

The trial continues.

Saddam's Old Friend

Saddam Hussein allegedly told Houston oilman Oscar Wyatt in 1995, that the ranks of Iraq's friends had dwindled so much during the years of economic sanctions he could count them on one hand.

Iraqi-American consultant Samir Vincent told the federal court, trying Wyatt for paying kickbacks to Saddam:

"You are one of them."

Wyatt allegedly replied:

"I appreciate the gesture, Mr. President. I feel the same way about Iraq."

Vincent, appearing for the prosecution, said that he accompanied Wyatt on seven or eight trips to Iraq between 1991 and 1997.

Vincent identified a photograph he said showed Saddam sitting with Wyatt, Vincent and Tariq Aziz, Iraq's former deputy prime minister.

At that time Iraq was under international sanctions, and Americans were barred from spending any money to travel to Iraq without the U.S. government's permission.

Blackwater Given The Boot

The Telegraph reports that Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, has called the Iraqi prime minister to express her regret over a shootout involving a private American security firm (Blackwater) in which at least eight people were killed and 13 wounded.

The Iraqi government has withdrawn the licence from Blackwater, one of the largest foreign security firms working in the country, and says it intends to prosecute the guards after they "opened fire randomly at citizens".

The article notes that Blackwater has more than 1000 staff in Iraq, this figure is a tad misleading.

Balckwater has in fact, according to this article, over 100,000 personnel operating in Iraq.

Why so many?

• The body count figures, reported by the media and Pentagon, exclude the 770 mercenary deaths.



• The mercenaries are unaccountable to public oversight by Congress, re their actions and their costs.



• When Bush announces in the future with great flourish that the US is pulling out of Iraq, the mercenaries will be left there continuing the war.

Has anyone told the Iraqi's exactly how many Blackwater operatives there are in Iraq?

The Elephant in The Room

Alan Greenspan, the ex head of the US Federal Reserve, has clearly identified the elephant in the room wrt the Iraq war; namely that the primary motive for the war was oil.

Greenspan is quited as saying:

"I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."

This view is of course at variance with the official line, proffered by President Bush, namely that the aim was to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction and end Saddam's regime.

How Dumb Can You Be?

A survey conducted by CBS and The New York Times has revealed that nearly one out of every three Americans, 33%, still believes that Saddam Hussein was personally responsible for 9/11.

It beggars belief that a country that is so wealthy and so powerful can be home to such mind numbing ingnorance.

Class Action Filed Against AWB

Australia's main wheat exporter AWB Ltd has stated that a class action has been filed against it, and its United States subsidiary AWB (USA) Ltd, by lawyers acting for Iraqi citizens.

The class action, filed in the Southern District of New York, is being undertaken by victims of crimes perpetrated by the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq from 1996 to 2003, or their surviving immediate family members.

The action, which also names French bank BNP Paribas as a defendant, alleges that the defendants contributed to the injuries and damages sustained by the plaintiffs by giving substantial assistance to the Saddam regime.

AWB was found by an Australian judicial inquiry to have paid kickbacks of $222M to the regime to secure sales.

Failure

Tony Blair's former foreign affairs adviser, Sir David Manning, has claimed that Blair "hoped to avoid" war in Iraq.

Manning then goes on to state, in an interview with the BBC, that "I don't think anybody can see that the immediate post-war situation was anything other than a failure".

The 20/20 vision that hindsight imparts is wondrous to behold!

The Wyatt Trial

Oscar Wyatt, a Texan oil billionaire, is now being tried in the US accused of paying millions of dollars in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's government.

Wyatt, 83, is pleading not guilty. However, if convicted, he faces 74 years in jail.

Assistant US Attorney Stephen Miller opened for the prosecution by stating:

"When the world imposed sanctions on Iraq, Oscar Wyatt stepped up to help them evade sanctions."

Wyatt's lawyers contend that he "did not pay any surcharge to the Iraqis".

Wyatt faces five charges, including engaging in prohibited financial transactions with Iraq.