US Rejected Sadam's Pre-War Overtures

"Just days before the invasion of Iraq US representatives rebuffed a last-ditch attempt to avert the war by officials claiming to represent a frantic Iraqi regime, according to reports.

Richard Perle, an influential adviser to the Pentagon, received a secret message from a Lebanese-American businessman indicating that Saddam wanted to make a deal, ABC News and the New York Times reported last night. . . the Iraqis wanted Washington to know that Iraq no longer had weapons of mass destruction and offered to let American troops and experts do an independent search, the New York Times said. . .Iraq offered to hand over a man accused of being involved in the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing who was being held in Baghdad, as part of their overtures to Washington.

. . .The attempts were portrayed by Iraqi officials as having Saddam's endorsement, but it was not clear if American officials viewed them as legitimate. "

Guardian
November 6,2003

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1079001,00.html

which were proposed by a bunch of low level people.

Except that This guy was being met with by our higher-ups, and he was detained later "on suspicions of trying to move weapons out of the country" (or something to that effect).

The truth is, any last-minute peaceful attempt was doomed to failure because that would derail the "GUNG-HO" war movement, and, (as Rush pointed out about other "news" stories) all those graphics that the networks spent so much money on would go to waste. Oh, and Bush wouldn't have been able to get his re-selection campaign, er, war going.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

snip from Josh:

Newspaper stories see the light of day for all sorts of strange and inscrutable reasons. Often the nominal 'story' is like the calm or slightly rippled surface of a lake in which all sorts of hidden business is taking place beneath.