We could've bought Saddam off for ONE LOUSY BILLION??

[annabanana]

I am flabbergasted, gobsmacked.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/26/AR2007092601024.html

For ONE billion dollars, Saddam would've hightailed it out of there into exile. No loss of life, no destruction of the country of Iraq.. 3800 American soldiers still living and breathing and uncounted innocent Iraqis. There would STILL be no "Al-Qaida in Iraq".

One lousy billion. Done.

[rfranklin]

1. Cost effective compared to the one trillion they've spent...

But, then again, we do have the first MBA president.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. And we could have ignored him for free. n/t

[BlooInBloo]

22. Nah. The cost of maintaining no-fly & all makes $1 billion a much better deal.

[grytpype]

3. It's worse than that, he wanted to keep $1B of his own money.

We wouldn't have to pay him anything.

[cali]

5. yep. And this isn't exactly new news

Where has the Post been? I heard this years ago.

[annabanana]

9. Well then.. It's due for a little more "airing", don't you think?

The more people who know about this the better.

[zabet]

4. This is a direct reflection

that chimpy's MBA was purchased not earned. To think that
one billion would cost more than TRILLIONS...:crazy:

[City Lights]

6. But then he couldn't have given trillions of our tax dollars to his pals.

:nuke:

[Jeanette in FL]

8. Bingo! We have our winner

Yep, that is what it all was about.

[Eric J in MN]

15. Exactly. Halliburton wouldn't have gotten as much money...

...without the dollars to provide services to the military.

[Junkdrawer]

7. And this stops Iraq from pumping oil how? Remember the goals of the invasion:

1.) Prevent a flood of Iraqi oil from lowering the price of oil.

2.) Permanent military bases surrounding the oil.

3.) Exclusive oil rights to US/British oil companies.

4.) Swag to the US Military Industrial Complex

[tekisui]

10. More evidence of an Illegal Occupation. WAR CRIMES!

Each day that Fuhrer woke up and was placed with a choice, he chose war. He chose war profits. He chose war pres. He contiues to chose endless war at $500,000/minute. He choses war at 1US soldier dead/10 hours. He choses war.

He is a sick war criminal, and will be tried as such.

[ThomWV]

11. You are leaving off the 2nd half of the deal he wanted - to avoid assignation

He asked for $1 Billion for himself and his family and the assurance that he would not be assassinated in exile. The Bush Administration had no objection to the money, but they would give no guarantee that we wouldn't put a bullet in his head a week after he left Iraq.

[tammywammy]

12. $1 billion + all the info on weapons of mass destruction that he wanted

"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."

[kenny blankenship]

16. Remember though, those are BUSH's words

they may refer to something along the lines of "and take his personal papers with him". Saddam's papers might include notes on Iraq's weapons programs, campaigns against the Kurds rebelling in the North, and/or his unfinished novel. I find Bush's representation of the specific content of the papers Hussein wanted to take with him to be utterly incredible--a bad liar lying badly.

[renate]

13. I never heard this before, and I read DU all the time

This needs to become common knowledge. If public opinion is against the war now, just think how the elections could be affected if it became known that all of this could have been avoided and all of those lives could have been saved for a lousy $1 billion.

[Hissyspit]

24. This stuff was out there, even in some newspapers, around the time of the invasion.

But it was just a blip on the radar and was mostly roundly ignored. DUers knew about it at the time.

[kenny blankenship]

14. I think the billion actually would not even have come from us

Saddam wanted to "take" a billion with him--transfer it to a bank with the assurance that we would allow him to access it while in exile.

It would have cost us absolutely nothing. But then again, the goal was to control Iraq, not simply to remove Saddam.

[DemGa]

17. Sounds criminal to me

Regime change was to be handed to the chimp and he chose death for many instead.

[fenriswolf]

18. dont forget

why saddam was killed before his trial could have been finished and also why he was not allowed exile?

he knew to much about the US dealing in the middle east and had to have been shut up. That plus bush co made a killing on war proffitering, plus they now have a highly paid, highly trained corporate army, plus they were able to put through legislation which vastly increased their power, plus a war pres is an automatic boost in the polls, etc, etc.

[EFerrari]

19. Why do you hate Halliburton?

[Middle finga]

20. If this was a just country Bush and his co conspirators would be in

jail right now.

[Exultant Democracy]

21. You are giving "aid and comfort to our enimies" you should "support our troops."

:puke: The worst part is that they got away with it, BushCo will never be held accountable for anything.

[L. Coyote]

23. Actually, that plan included assassinating Saddam once in exile!

[sandnsea]

25. We do not negotiate with terrorists!!!

I will never forget the dumb little twit on a focus group who was completely gung ho for war and pro Bush - except she admitted if it was HER precious little spawn being held hostage, well yes she would want John Kerry to handle it because he'd be more likely to get the child out alive.

Yep, be all bully and bluster and stand on principle - when it's somebody else's life you're dealing with.

[The Backlash Cometh]

26. I'm with you on this one.

And, we could have counter-offered for less. For one thing, any poker player would have figured out he was bluffing about those weapons of mass destruction, when he took the lower offer.

[Disturbed]

27. "This isn't exactly new news"

Have 250 Million Americans heard about this? How about 150 Million?

[Greyhound]

28. Getting rid of Saddam was never the goal, I though everybody had figured that out

by now. Neither was bringing Democracy or stability to the ME, fighting the "terrorists" or WMDs.

Apparently some of us have forgotten the only agenda arbusto_® has ever had. From his first day of squatting, he and his masters and cronies have been looting the treasury. He turned a $10 billion surplus into a $200 billion deficit before 9/11, killing Saddam was, of course, on the wish list, but the priority was clear from day one, suck the treasury dry, and setup up our friends with fat juicy contracts.

[and-justice-for-all]

29. And if the US Government did not ignore the Japanese

they would not have nuked'em.

[Scriptor Ignotus]

30. I do not support bribing mass murderers

and I can't believe so many DUers seem fine with it. First off, it's unrealistic - no US President would EVER get caught doing this. Bill or Hillary Clinton wouldn't, Edwards wouldn't, Obama wouldn't, and you better believe GWB would never do it. Second, Saddam was an evil, barbaric man. It is immoral to pay him off.

Now, every DUers will try and compare bribing Saddam to the invasion and occupation of Iraq, but that is a false choice. There were other ways to get Saddam out of power. I personally favored assassination.

Third, even if he left, the Baath party infrastructure remained, including Hussein's sons. It isn't clear if they would leave with Saddam in this scenario, but I kind of doubt it.

Saddam's crimes against his own people and Iran's are not fictional Bush Administration propaganda. These things are well documented.