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" MADRID (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein was prepared to take $1 billion and go into exile before the Iraq war, according to a transcript of talks between U.S. President George W. Bush and an ally, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT During a meeting at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, on February 22, 2003, Bush told former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar that Saddam could also be assassinated, according to the transcript published in El Pais in Spanish. In Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe declined to comment on the report. "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 and all the information he wants about weapons of mass destruction," Bush was quoted as saying at the meeting one month before the U.S.-led invasion. Asked by Aznar whether Saddam could really leave, Bush replied: "Yes, that possibility exists. Or he might even be assassinated." A spokesman for Aznar's private foundation had no comment on the transcript or its authenticity. El Pais, which was critical of the Iraq war and of Aznar's government, did not say how it obtained the transcript which it said was made by a Spanish diplomat who attended the meeting. In it, Bush spoke openly about pressuring countries who were members of the United Nations Security Council at the time to support a resolution authorizing force, but that, whatever happened: "We'll be in Baghdad by the end of March." "(Former Chilean President Ricardo) Lagos should know that the Free Trade Agreement with Chile still has to be approved by the Senate, and that a negative attitude on this could endanger its approval," he said, adding aid to Angola also depended on U.N. support. "And (Russian President Vladimir) Putin should know that his attitude is endangering Russia's relations with the United States," he was quoted as saying. BAD COP "For my part, I'll try as of now to use the most subtle rhetoric possible, while we try to get the resolution approved." Bush was dismissive about former French President Jacques Chirac, who he said "thinks he's Mr. Arab" and described the United States as playing a game of "good cop, bad cop" with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "I don't mind being the bad cop if Blair is the good cop," Bush said. The U.S. president referred optimistically to the reconstruction of Iraq which he thought "could be organized into a federation." In case the war endangered energy supplies, "the Saudis would help us and put all the oil necessary into the market," said Bush, who considered Europeans to be complacent about Saddam. "Maybe it's because he's dark-skinned, far away and Muslim, lots of Europeans think everything's okay with him," he said. "Saddam Hussein won't change and he'll keep on playing games. The time has come to get rid of him. That's the way it is," Bush said. In March 2003, days before the war, the United Arab Emirates proposed to a summit of Arab leaders that Saddam and his top aides should step down and go into exile. It was the first time an Arab state had made an official call of this kind. In a communique issued after the summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Arab leaders said they opposed any attack on Iraq and made no reference to the UAE's proposal."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070926/ts_nm/iraq_bush_spain_dc

Interesting... Do you think we would've paid the $1b? If we were to give that much for Saddam to leave, how come the ransom on bin Laden is only $50m?

9/26/2007 2:18:56 PM

i'm confused. who would have paid him $1 billion? if it was us, i doubt that would've gone over well with the public.

9/26/2007 2:21:34 PM

Bin Laden isn't worth 50x 1 billion.

9/26/2007 2:21:57 PM

The war is costing a hell of a lot more than $1b

9/26/2007 2:36:31 PM

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"I'm confused. who would have paid him $1 billion?"

Saddam had a couple billion in the bank. The speculation was that he would go into exile if he could take his money and secrets with him.

9/26/2007 4:13:56 PM

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"Bin Laden isn't worth 50x 1 billion."

not exactly sure where I said the ransom for bin laden should be $50b...

9/26/2007 4:18:07 PM

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"Interesting... Do you think we would've paid the $1b? If we were to give that much for Saddam to leave, how come the ransom on bin Laden is only $50m?"

considering the war has cost far greater then that in human life both American and Iraqi and not to mention monetary. But i don't think they meant he'd be paid $1Billion. He probably just wanted to take his assets with him like any leader in exile. The king of Egypt did something similar when he was exiled from the country back in the 50's. The royal family now lives in Monte-carlo and gambles their money away now.

9/26/2007 4:29:09 PM

And all he was found with in the spiderhole was a measly $750,000

9/26/2007 4:34:52 PM

He was probably too proud to exile himself and before he could think twice about it, he arrived at the point of no return.

9/26/2007 4:39:35 PM

^ Probably.

However, if I was him, I wouldn't think opposing governments would just accept me living a life of luxury in exile and not try and extradite me or have a couple Special Ops agents show up outside my window late at night.

[Edited on September 26, 2007 at 4:44 PM. Reason : /]

9/26/2007 4:43:48 PM

You would think, but then again there are a lot of countries that offer this type of life style nearly risk-free. And they wouldn't compromise their neutrality over 1 guy.

What really stood out to me was the nonsense spewing from bush's mouth in that transcript lol.

Strong arming other countries into following his meaningless crusade? lol

[Edited on September 26, 2007 at 4:47 PM. Reason : fda]

9/26/2007 4:46:15 PM

looks like the UAE had Bush's back

also lol a peons like all of us acting like we understand much much larger things by much more powerful people

[Edited on September 26, 2007 at 4:50 PM. Reason : .]

9/26/2007 4:49:49 PM

^sounds to me that the UAE didn't have Bush's back (we don't have enough evidence in this article to determine that either way) however, they did seem to take the more intelligent route and suggest something that could prevent destabilizing the region, like a war would. If war is en evadable because Saddam is in power, then the obvious thing to do to prevent this war is asking Saddam to step down. I'm sure any number of Arab countries would have taken him in to prevent the catastrophe that is now Iraq.

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"In March 2003, days before the war, the United Arab Emirates proposed to a summit of Arab leaders that Saddam and his top aides should step down and go into exile. It was the first time an Arab state had made an official call of this kind. "

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" also lol a peons like all of us acting like we understand much much larger things by much more powerful people"

umm what?

[Edited on September 26, 2007 at 4:56 PM. Reason : ?]

9/26/2007 4:56:23 PM

where is there ANY indication that this wouldve prevented the war? In fact Bush says "whatever happened: "We'll be in Baghdad by the end of March.""

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"umm what?"

i said lol at peons like all of us acting like we understand much much larger things by much more powerful people

apparently you didnt lol since you probably actually think you do understand everything thats going on, and that you're not just some peon, but you're special and you actually know all the behind the scenes details

[Edited on September 26, 2007 at 4:59 PM. Reason : .]

9/26/2007 4:58:09 PM

^Meaning, with or without the UN's blessing we'll be in Baghdad....

and 2nd, the whole purpose of the war, or at least what they sold the public on was Saddam Saddam Saddam. Take away Saddam and is there a reason the public will support this war?

its all he said, she said bullshit.....Do you honestly believe Bush has a clue about anything? When a person like him becomes President, he isn't injected with some super human intelligence that helps him understand things. Any human being with intelligence can understand the situation...its not rocket science. You make it sound like they're discussing quantum physics or something.

[Edited on September 26, 2007 at 5:02 PM. Reason : ...]

9/26/2007 5:00:09 PM

i thought it was WMDs WMDs WMDs? even though it was actually 19 UN resolutions they broke

9/26/2007 5:01:37 PM

it was Saddam Saddam Saddam. The whole purpose, which you can clearly see in this article, was to over throw saddam.

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"Saddam Hussein won't change and he'll keep on playing games. The time has come to get rid of him. That's the way it is"

WMD's was just another tall tale to persuade the public on how dangerous Saddam is/was. Obviously now that he's gone the whole WMD's side of things has died down, why? Because there weren't any!

I swear, you turn everything into an argument. You're pulling shit out of your ass thats not mentioned in this article, and forming opinions based on things no where seen in this article. This thread is about this article...not some other article on some other news site.

[Edited on September 26, 2007 at 5:06 PM. Reason : fda]

9/26/2007 5:04:33 PM

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"Do you honestly believe Bush has a clue about anything?"

you must be pretty dumb if such a clueless retarded fuckup like Bush has outsmarted you for 6 years...if his IQ is 20...wow yours must be like 5