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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Saddam accepted pre-war secret exile

Jim Krane Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Saddam Hussein accepted an 11th-hour offer to flee into exile weeks ahead of the U.S.-led 2003 invasion, but Arab League officials scuttled the proposal, officials in this Gulf state claimed.

The exile initiative was spearheaded by the late president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, at an emergency Arab summit held in Egypt in February 2003, Sheik Zayed’s son said in an interview aired by Al-Arabiya TV during a documentary. The U.S.-led coalition invaded March 19 that year.

A top government official confirmed the offer on Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Saddam allegedly accepted the offer to try halt the invasion and bring elections to Iraq within six months, said the official and Sheik Zayed’s son.

“We had the final acceptance of the various parties … the main players in the world and the concerned person, Saddam Hussein,” the son, Sheik Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said.

Sheik Zayed’s initiative would have given Saddam and his family exile and guarantees against prosecution in return for letting Arab League and U.N. experts run Iraq until elections could be held in six months, the official said.

The anonymous Emirates official said Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa did not bring the proposal to the summit’s discussion because Arab foreign ministers had not presented and accepted it as league protocol dictated.

At the time, Arab League leaders said the summit decided not to take up the idea, citing league rules barring interference in members’ domestic affairs.