The US said today it would help Iraqi President Saddam Hussein find a place to go into exile if he left the country to avoid war.
"If he were to leave the country and take some of his family members with him and others in the leading elite, ... we would I'm sure try to help find a place for them to go," Secretary of State Colin Mr Powell told a news conference.
"That certainly would be one way to avoid war," he added. Mr Powell, speaking after talks with Pakistani Foreign Minister Mian Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri, declined to speculate on whether Saddam and his followers could have immunity from prosecution, saying it was not just a matter for Washington.
"It's not for the US alone to offer that kind of protection. It would have to be a broader forum that might look at such a question," he said.
"I think that's so hypothetical right now that it would be interesting to chat about but not terribly relevant at the moment," he added.
The Bush administration has said it would welcome Saddam's resignation and departure but it has not previously said it would actively help him find somewhere to go.
Media reports have speculated about a number of countries where Saddam might go, including Belarus and Mauritania, but their governments have quickly denied they would take him.
The US has massed tens of thousands of troops around Iraq in preparation for a possible attack, on the grounds that Saddam has weapons of mass destruction and is a threat to the US.
But the Bush administration has failed to muster much support for an unprovoked attack in two key regions, Europe and the Middle East countries around Iraq.
Mr Powell will go to the UN next Wednesday to present more evidence to back the argument that Saddam is hiding materials from UN weapons inspectors.
AFP