Ex-Hussein political adviser claims Iraq accepted Bush's ultimatum before invasion

Ron Brynaert
Published: Monday October 30, 2006


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Hossam Shaltout, a former political adviser to Saddam Hussein's son, said today that before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March of 2003, Saddam expressed his intent to yield to all American demands, but that the Bush administration refused his offers, according to a press release on Yahoo News.

Shaltout is a Canadian citizen who claims he was beaten repeatedly by U.S. officers while in an Iraqi detention camp, under suspicion of once having been a "right hand man" for Saddam Hussein.

"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."

Shaltout claims that in March of 2003, just as he was to read the Iraqi government's official reply to the Bush ultimatum on Al-Jazeera, the broadcast was interrupted and "the plug was pulled on the transmission." He also maintains that later, when the Americans arrived in Baghdad, he offered his assistance to U.S. military officials, but instead was arrested by Marines who went to his hotel suite and took his documents.

Left unmentioned in the press release are Shaltout's claims that he was tortured and abused during his imprisonment.

In May of 2004, Shaltout told his story to MSNBC's Chris Matthews.

"I was there to convince Saddam Hussein to step down, and I was in the last hours working on this peace agreement," Shaltout said. "And I wanted him to keep the agreement that he agreed to step down only 15 minutes before the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of this ultimatum. That was what I was doing there."

Shaltout claimed that he was beaten and tortured while held in the Iraqi prison in order to extract a false confession that he was once Hussein's "right-hand man."

"They wanted me to confess because they found the speech I was going to say and said that Iâ??m the speechwriter of Saddam Hussein, which I wasn't," Shaltout said. "And they want me to confess I am his right-hand man."

The ACLU has a pdf link which contains Shaltout's written claims to the U.S. Department of the Army.

According to his Web site, Rights And Freedom International, Shaltout is currently running for President of Egypt.

Excerpts from Shaltout's press release:

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

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Shaltout said he was planning to fly from Amman to Baghdad to announce Saddam's decision, but the Royal Jordanian Airlines officials claimed that the US ordered the flight to leave five hours earlier causing him to miss the flight, preventing him from announcing on CNN that Saddam would bow to the Bush ultimatum. Shaltout said he traveled by road to Baghdad, delaying him almost one day, but raced to get the communique approved from Saddam to broadcast over international TV stations broadcasting from Baghdad.

Couple of hours before the expiration of the Bush ultimatum, Saddam ordered Colonel Amer, his strongman, to facilitate Shaltout's broadcast of the communique. Colonel Amer ordered Allaa Mecky, the head of the Iraqi Channel 2 television, to accompany Shaltout and help him broadcast the communique."

It was very late at night and CNN in Baghdad was closed. So they went to al-Jazeera, and Shaltout told al-Jazeera Washington correspondent Hafez Almirazy on the air that he had the Iraqi government's official reply to the Bush ultimatum. Moments after Mirazy asked him for a brief, the plug was pulled on the transmission. Shaltout has a copy of that interrupted broadcast.

Shaltout said that when the Americans arrived in Baghdad, he offered his assistance to U.S. military officials. Instead he was arrested by Marines who went to his hotel suite taking his documents. Shaltout has the videotape of his arrest, and several supporting documents.

This is the same story i saw on 20/20 a while back yes Saddam was going to leave Iraq just before the war but the war criminal bush wanted Iraq and invaded anyway.All this Iraq blood is on Bushes hands and he should be executed by hanging just like Saddam.All these bushies who still love bush should be ashamed of themselves for following a man who is ready to have his own countrymen die for bloody oil.Its a shame 35% of Americans still love him unreal.

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Originally Posted by fishman3811

This is the same story i saw on 20/20 a while back yes Saddam was going to leave Iraq just before the war but the war criminal bush wanted Iraq and invaded anyway.All this Iraq blood is on Bushes hands and he should be executed by hanging just like Saddam.All these bushies who still love bush should be ashamed of themselves for following a man who is ready to have his own countrymen die for bloody oil.Its a shame 35% of Americans still love him unreal.

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"Hossam Shaltout, a former political adviser to Saddam Hussein's son" CLAIMS......

But of course this is fact because it's anti-Bush. What about Saddams calls for a Holy War 16 days before bombing started or his call for Holy War after the bombing started? Where is the Al-Jazeera report stating that the plug was pulled? Why didn't he split with the boys to either Jordan or Syria and have his Al-Jazeera interview? The boys had enough time to fortify themselves into a house and daddy Saddam was making the rounds in the Sunni triangle in order to avoid detection. This assclown found a nation of bleeding hearts with plenty of shoulders to cry on.

None of the FACTS make a bit of difference when your blinded by hate.

Have a good one!:s4:

P4B come on if Saddam was going to leave the country then announce he was ready to surrender.Saddam knew if he tried to leave the country without letting the world know first he would of been targeted by U.S planes missiles whatever.He had billions of dollars stashed away do u think he wanted to die?He knew if he stood and fought he would lose so he tried to make a deal at the last minute and the U.S said sorry bro too late.

Are you trying to say that there is NO WAY he could have made it to Syria? It's not like the Syrian government would have turned him over and as for bombing Syria.........the dems wouldn't have the stomach for it.

Have a good one!:s4:

I dont think he would of made it out of the country alive.The U.S has spy drones patroling the Northern and Southern sections of Iraq before the war and for Saddam to drive out of there would of been very risky.But it would be nice to find some info from a host country to verify the information but i havent seen any yet but i am looking,it took me a long time just to find that article about him leaving or wanting too.But i am looking for other evidence and if i dont find any then that story is more than likely B.S.