More weird speculation

[redbird]

The Shrub has given Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave Iraq.

The obvious question is, even if he wanted to, where would he go. cattitude suggested Paris, and my first thought was a dacha on the Black Sea.

A few more minutes of odd suggestions--Belgium? The Philippines?--and it suddenly hit me who/what country could do this, and pull it off, with Hussein believing he'd be safe, and the US afraid to touch him: the Pope. The Vatican City is tiny, but it is sovereign; the Pope has called for peace, repeatedly; and how much harm could anyone do in a spare apartment in the Vatican?

Comments

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

This would make a great alternate history story. Too bad that's likely where it will stay -- in the realm of fiction.

[avram]

What I'm wondering is why the Bush administration thinks this is a good idea. I mean, let's grant their assumptions -- Iraq has secret weapons of mass fear and loathing, Saddam is evil, etc. So Saddam steps down, his second banana takes over, right? Probably not any more peaceful or enlightened soul than Saddam is, and now having access to all those weapons. How is that an improvement?

[redbird]

In no particular order:

• He actually believes it's personal: this is the guy who dissed his father, and Iraq as a country is irrelevant to his worldview.


• He doesn't, but Tony Blair insisted--perhaps because Blair would love a face-saving out at this point.


• He doesn't think Hussein could accept, because there's nowhere for him to go.


• It sounds good--in a dime-novel way, not a serious diplomacy way--and if he'll break promises to his allies, like Vicente Fox, why would he take a promise to his enemies seriously?

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

Shrub did say that US troops would be entering Iraq regardless. So it doesn't matter if they face a second banana or Hussein himself. We're goin' in. This is a face-saving offer; he doesn't expect it to be accepted.

I like the suggestion on PRI Radio's "Marketplace" that we just *buy* Iraq. It'd cost just as much as we're planning to spend on the war, after all.

wild things

[maryread.livejournal.com]

I wanna know where the Bush babies are. When those girls line up, sign up, and enlist today, I can take their daddy's whole life a whole lot more seriously. Until then I gotta say, hand-to-hand combat between the heads of state would be the real manly man's solution. (Then I feel bad for maligning men with such slurs. So shoot me.) (Er. And another thing, nothing is funny anymore.) (Except, I gotta say, seeing Clinton and Dole debate it on 60 Minutes last night. I had to scream. And I think my fifteen-year-old may have been shocked at what came out of my mouth.)

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

If Bush is really serious about offering an amnesty and promising safe passge, why should't SH move to New York, go on the talk show circuit, and talk about all the useful support that Bush's cabinet cronies gave him during the war with Iran?

He'd probably be shot, but could do a lot of political damage in the interim.

Ha.

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I needed that...

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Paris has great food.

My aunt said he could stay in her spare room. I don't have room in this apartment, really, but I wondered about Carandol's commune, they have a spare room now he's moved out. It would be an OK place if he could drive, it's very pretty around there.

But we have left him no way out, nothing he could do would be enough, we are going in whether they resist or not, and I am ashamed to have let things come to a pass where this can be done in my name.

[stealthpup.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up in a small Utah suburb.

[stealthpup.livejournal.com]

"face-saving", my ass. It's a thinly-veiled CYA that he can point to and claim that, hey, we made a gesture toward peace. Feh.

[webbob.livejournal.com]

You clearly have missed your calling as a diplomat. That is the best and most constructive idea I've seen on this subject.

exile for saddam

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

heck, i'd let him stay here, if it could prevent the war. but the ultimatum is an utter scam anyway. *spit*. (the vatican is an inspired idea though.)

I am ashamed to have let things come to a pass where this can be done in my name.

*nod*. me too. even though my country of birth and my country of residence are not involved in actual fighting and bomb dropping, neither have they put their feet down terribly firmly. wrist slapping works neither with nasty dictators nor with presidents who have delusions of grandeur.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I read this while in Europe, and didn't have the bandwidth to respond.

By now you know that Bahrain offered him assylum, but I'm sure at least a dozen countries would have taken him in. Deposed dictators are living all over the world. Idi Amin is in Saudi Arabia, for example.

B