"Saddam could've gone into exile" DOESN'T HAVE LEGS!?!?!

[mrgorth]

I was watching Larry King last night and Bob Woodward says that there was contact made that Hussein could've gone into exile in Egypt, negating the need for war. WHY THE FUCK ISN'T THIS DISCUSSED MORE?!?!?! This is a smoking fucking gun.

[jpgray]

1. We would have gone in anyway

Ari said sometime after the Azores summit that Saddam's exile would still require US troops to come in and oversee the 'disarming' of Iraq and the establishment of 'democracy'. In other words, same thing, maybe with fewer things blowing up initially.

[candy331]

2. I don't trust Woodward

I don't see him as being genuine, more like playing games.

[arcane1]

3. Bush had said before the invasion that if Saddam & Sons stepped down..

there would BE NO INVASION

a year later, all 3 are gone, but now we need 200k troops in there for years

the reason is, of course, something we all know, but I agree that the media should be hammering these ideas

[jpgray]

5. That isn't true--he said that Saddam could 'choose peace'

But US troops would have gone into Iraq anyway, per Ari Fleischer. Found this with a quick Google:

If the Iraqi dictator were to go into exile, there is the hope that coalition forces would be able to enter Iraq peacefully, "because Iraqi military would not be under orders to attack or fire back," White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters.

The President "knows that the chances are slim, that Saddam Hussein will leave," but he continues to hope that he will, Fleischer said.

But whether he leaves or not, "The bottom line is a coalition of the willing will disarm Saddam Hussein's Iraq no matter what," said Fleischer.

http://tokyo.usembassy.gov/e/p/tp-20030319a1.html

[arcane1]

6. well, Bush, that Iraqi military isn't under their orders now!

Bring ours Home!!! :grr:

[jpgray]

10. The point is, this was never about Saddam

If it were, then exile would have stopped the invasion. As Ari said, nothing could have stopped it. This is why the 'we were liberating them from Saddam!' bullshit is so fake--we would have invaded no matter where Saddam was at the time.

[underpants]

11. Didn't the war start inside the 48 hour time limit?

or the 72 hour time limit?

[jpgray]

13. I think it started afterward

But Ari definitely laid out our policy--no matter where Saddam went, US troops were going into Iraq.

[skypilot]

7. Saddam certainly isn't giving any orders now...

...but Iraqis are still attacking and firing back.

[skypilot]

4. That whole "exile" thing had me baffled from the start.

If the Bush administration thought that Saddam was so dangerous and had links to al Qaeda then why the hell would they think that it was a good idea to have him go into exile where we might lose track of him and he could end up planning or doing God knows what? That never made any sense to me.

[leesa]

9. Because they knew he WASN'T a danger. They knew

that what they were selling as evidence was bogus and that Saddam was just a defanged puppet so they weren't worried about that.

[seabeyond]

8. i know

saddam said he would get out, his people would work with bush and take 2b.

but bush wanted to fight, after all he had all his troops over there and was ready to go. i heard it way back then and bushco's were denying it

[underpants]

12. That sorta sounds like what they WERE saying about Zarqawi

Remember his leg amputatioin was PROOF of a Saddam alQaeda connection.