Claim: Saddam accepted US demands, Bush didn’t accept

A few years ago I was taking photos of a TV screen showing Saddam Hussein for the next morning’s front page. Saddam was responding to a speech by George W. Bush earlier that night that had issued an ultimatum. Back then I wondered out loud, so if Saddam says “we open our borders and I am leaving as dictator” this whole war is off?

Bearing that question in mind I’ll hand this on as is:

A former political adviser to Saddam Hussein’s son said today that Saddam was willing to yield to all American demands before the U.S. invasion of Iraq — but that the Bush administration refused his offers.

The disclosure was made by Hossam Shaltout, a Canadian aerospace engineer, former American pilot, and founder of the peace organization Rights and Freedom International (http://www.rightsandfreedom.com), who said that war could have been averted, but Bush aides blocked his efforts to announce Saddam’s decision.

“Saddam was willing to yield to all American demands, announced and unannounced, to reach peaceful resolution,” said Shaltout, “but the Bush administration, including Elizabeth Cheney, undersecretary of State, David Welch, the U.S. ambassador in Egypt, and Gene Cretz, his political attache, did not respond to his offers.” Yahoo