World Tribune.com: Powell: Top Iraqi ministers preparing flight to Jordan

Top Iraqi ministers preparing escape route to Jordan

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM Friday, February 14, 2003

Leading Iraqi ministers are preparing to flee Iraq before any U.S.-led war to topple the regime of President Saddam Hussein, opposition sources said.

The sources said they have received information from aides to the ministers. They said Jordan appears ready to accept the defectors.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday told the House International Relations Committee that the United States was ready to examine any proposal to grant Saddam asylum. Powell said such an offer could include Saddam's aides and would require the approval of the United Nations, Middle East Newsline reported.

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Over the weekend, the sources said, a leading aide to the son of Saddam fled Iraq. They said Adib Shaaban, a leading press official and aide to Uday Hussein, arrived in Syria over the weekend.

The sources said Uday had demanded that Shaaban return to Baghdad. Shaaban has refused.

Instead, Shaaban plans to seek asylum in a third country. The sources said he fled after a dispute with the mercurial Uday.

The sources said the Saddam regime has clamped restrictions on the transfer of money abroad in an attempt to halt defections. They said Saddam's agents have been deployed throughout the military and in key government offices to help detect plots against the regime.

Several Arab and European Union states have quietly searched for a safe haven for Saddam and his aides in exchange for their exile. Belarus, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are said to have offered to accept Saddam, his family and key aides.

Earlier, the New York Times reported that Jordan has urged the United States to guarantee safe haven to Saddam and some 50 of his top aides in an attempt to sow dissent in the regime. The newspaper said Jordan has concluded that Saddam will dismiss the offer, but the prospect of a safe haven for regime leaders could prompt unrest among those close to the president who fear prosecution for war crimes.

"Uday might be the first to shoot his father if he refused an amnesty," the newspaper quoted a senior Jordanian official as saying.

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