US, Arabs hatch exile plan in spite of Saddam's defiance

WASHINGTON - The United States and several Arab countries have made plans for the exile of Saddam Hussein to a neutral country.

Planners in the Near East division of the US State Department have looked at various scenarios under which the Iraqi President would cede power to a democratic government and then leave the country. Saddam has angrily dismissed such suggestions.

"We have to look at all scenarios," a senior State Department official said.

The official said US policy called for Saddam to be "brought to justice". But he added that if the exile option could be shown to prevent a massive loss of civilian life as the result of a military operation, and that power was ceded to a truly alternative government, it would be considered. "There would have to be real change. He could not simply hand over to his son."

Which countries would take Saddam is unclear. One US source suggested Algeria or Mauritania might be options. The source added: "North Korea and China might also take him. China might do it just to piss us off."

The Iraqi leader has said he would not agree to such a plan. It is understood that when Qatar's Foreign Minister, Hamad al-Thani, raised the prospect during a meeting in August, Saddam angrily asked him to leave.

Disclosure of the exile plan came as Baghdad rejected the draft United Nations resolution for which Britain and the US are seeking international backing.

Senior officials from the two countries are in Moscow after visiting Paris, looking for approval for a resolution that would set a timetable for the return of weapons inspectors and make clear that military force would be used if Iraq did not fully comply with inspectors' demands.

Iraq's Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan said yesterday: "We have made our position very clear. We have invited back the inspectors under existing UN resolutions. We shall not accept additional proposals which have the aims of harming Iraq and provoking a war."

Iraq announced on September 16 that inspectors could return unconditionally under previous UN resolutions.

Iraqi officials are due to visit Moscow in the next few days in an attempt to ensure President Vladimir Putin and, through him, France, continue to oppose the new resolution. Officials said they were pressing ahead with their meeting with the UN chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, scheduled for today.

Diplomatic sources said that Ramadan and Tariq Aziz, the Deputy Prime Minister, believe privately that war is inevitable.

Yesterday Iraq said Baghdad would stage a fierce defence.

Aziz also said the US would suffer losses "that have not been sustained for decades".

"Any aggression on Iraq will not be a picnic, instead it will be a fierce fight."

Aziz accused "Zionist circles" in Britain and the US of pushing the two nations into war against Iraq to serve Israel, and added, "They [the Americans and the British] are trying to redraw the map of the Arab region in order to control its resources."

The US and British resolution calls on Iraq to reveal all materials relating to weapons of mass destruction and to give UN weapons inspectors unfettered access to presidential sites.

If Saddam failed to comply, the resolution would threaten the use of "all necessary means" against him, US officials said.

French and Russian opposition was "unhelpful" and "disappointing" but "I don't think it's fatal," Australia's Defence Minister Robert Hill said. Australia supports a strong UN resolution being passed promptly.

- AGENCIES

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