March 9, 2003
OR THE WAR STARTS ON FRIDAY:
UN plan to give Saddam 72 hours to leave Baghdad: The Pope brokers secret exile deal to avert war (Marion McKeone, 3/09/03, Sunday Herald)SADDAM Hussein and his family are to be given 72 hours on Tuesday to accept an offer of exile, while 50 of Iraq's top military brass will be offered an amnesty in return for full co-operation with the United Nations in a secret plan to be tabled at its New York headquarters.The highly sensitive proposal was tabled by Pakistan during a closed-door meeting of the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council on Friday and was brokered by Saudi Arabia, the Vatican and moderate Arab states. Failure by Saddam to agree to the plan would clear the way for war.
If the proposal, understood to be in the form of a short paragraph, becomes part of a second resolution and is adopted by the Security Council, the UN would oversee the establishment of a post-Saddam government and the UN, not the US, would take stewardship of Iraq's oilfields.
The Iraqi generals and top ranking officers would have to co-operate fully with UN inspectors to oversee the total elimination of any weapons of mass destruction.
Pope John Paul II has dispatched his emissaries to meet all the key parties during the past two weeks. His special envoy and per manent observer at the UN, Archbishop Renato Rafaele Martino, has been discussing the proposal with all the Security Council members.
That's actually a useful proposal so long as it's followed by deBaathification and the arrest of Saddam, wherever he goes, for trial in the U.S..
MORE:
Saddam's Thai gem spree hints at getaway plan (Jon Swain, March 9, 2003, The Sunday Times)
SADDAM HUSSEIN has sent his personal jeweller to Thailand on a secret mission to buy millions of dollars worth of diamonds, prompting speculation that he is preparing to flee or send his family into hiding, writes Jon Swain.Sources with knowledge of the trip revealed that the jeweller travelled from Baghdad to Bangkok via Jordan. They said he bought the gems in the Thai capital in a prearranged deal. "He purchased millions of dollars worth," said one.
This was the jeweller's second recent visit to Bangkok. Three months ago the sources said that Saddam's son Uday had sent him to buy a diamond ring from an American dealer for $750,000. [...]
In a defiant address last week Saddam said he would never desert Iraq or its people in the event of war. He has not left the country since the invasion of Kuwait more than 12 years ago. In an interview with American television last month, he said: "We will die here. We will die in this country and we will maintain our honour - the honour that is required - in front of our people."
The purchase of diamonds suggests he may now be having second thoughts, at least for his family. Saddam may have opted to convert part of his wealth into diamonds because they are easier to hide and transport than banknotes.
Ees eet safe? Posted by Orrin Judd at March 9, 2003 6:36 AM
Could it be problematic for us that the UN would be in charge of Iraq, and in turn means France and Germany are in charge of Iraq? Yes, I don't care by what means Saddam is gone, but the whole Baathist regime is the problem, not just he and his family. This proposal sounds like a bad deal for us, especially considering it is our military build up that would give Saddam the impetus to leave.
Posted by: Buttercup at March 9, 2003 11:31 AMThey'd have to purge the government of Saddam loyalists, but it does shift the costs to others and frees us top deal with N. Korea, Palestine, Syria, S. Lebanon...
Posted by: oj at March 9, 2003 12:08 PMFor us it would be a tolerable deal strategically and a masterful coup politically - the public would love Bush finding a way to oust Saddam without war. For the UN, it would be a godsend. They've been living high off the hog by skimming off expense money from the Iraq oil-for-food fund for a dozen years, and under this proposal they'll see the flow of Iraqi oil money through their hands rise from a few billion per year to a few tens of billions, instead of disappearing as they would in a US conquest.
Posted by: Paul Jaminet at March 9, 2003 12:33 PMYeah, but we'd have to live with a lot of idiots prating about the power of diplomacy trumping the war-mongering of that cowboy Bush, because, you know, military power would have had nothing to do with this.
Posted by: David Cohen at March 9, 2003 12:50 PMDavid:
Which is why it should be followed by a first strike in N. Korea's missile & nuclear facilities.
Dear SIR or MADAM;
I am gem broker in Thailand who has access to a large cache of GEMS (precious stones) that belonged to a recently deceased dictator. To sell these GEMS (precious stones) I must have help from some generous person in another country. With your name, phone number, address and check information I can arrange for transport of these GEMS (precious stones) to your house...