U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday he would favor granting Saddam Hussein and senior Iraqi leaders immunity from possible war crimes prosecution if it would clear the way for their exile.
Rumsfeld said he was always hopeful the Iraqi president would consider living elsewhere, or that Iraqis would topple him. "I think that the people in his country know what a vicious regime he runs, and they may decide to throw him out. He and his family may decide that they've run their string and that they'll leave," Rumsfeld said.
"I just don't know. Certainly, either of those courses would be preferable to the use of force."
Rumsfeld, asked if the United States would be willing to offer Saddam immunity from possible war crimes prosecution, said that was a question for the White House or Justice Department.
"But if to avoid a war, I ... personally would recommend that some provision be made so that the senior leadership in that country and their families could be provided haven in some other country, and I think that that would be a fair trade to avoid a war," Rumsfeld told ABC's "This Week."
"I think war is your last choice. I would be delighted if Saddam Hussein threw in towel and said 'The game's up. The international community has caught me and I'll just leave,'" Rumsfeld said.
On his part, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said he did not know the veracity of reports of a Saudi and Turkish effort to try to force Saddam to step down, with offers such as exile and amnesty.
"If he were to leave and take with him members of his family and the ruling regime, then in effect we would have a different regime" and the chance to avoid war, Powell said.
"So I would encourage Saddam Hussein, if he is getting any messages of this type, to listen to them carefully," Powell told CBS' "Face the Nation."
U.S. President Bush's national security adviser, asked about possible asylum for Saddam, said Sunday it would be a good idea to explore any way to have him out of power.
"I just think that it is unlikely that this man is going to come down in any other way than to be forced," Condoleezza Rice said on NBC's "Meet the Press." (Albawaba.com)
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