News reports on Thursday said just days before the U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq, officials claiming to speak for Saddam Hussein made a last-ditch attempt to avert the war. But, according to these reports, US officials rebuffed the overture.
ABC News and The New York Times said an influential adviser to the Pentagon received a secret message from a Lebanese-American businessman indicating that Saddam Hussein wanted to make a deal. According to The Times, Iraqi officials had told the businessman they wanted Washington to know that Baghdad no longer had weapons of mass destruction. They offered to let American troops and experts do an independent search.
The attempts were portrayed by Iraqi officials as having Saddam's support, but it was not clear if American officials viewed them as legitimate.
Meanwhile, a former Iraqi government official said Saddam fled from a villa in Baghdad's Al-Mansour neighborhood where he was expected to meet four close aides on April 7, only 15 minutes before it was bombed by American forces.
The former Iraqi leader was due to meet with his number two Izzat Ibrahim al-Durri, vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan, defence minister Sultan Hashem and intelligence chief Tahir Jalil al-Habbush al-Takriti, AFP cited the former official as saying.
The source said that Saddam fled because he feared he had been betrayed by his intelligence chief. (Albawaba.com)
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