On 1 March 2003, at the Sharm el-sheik Summit of the Arab League, Sheik Zayed al-Nahyan, the President of the United Arab Emirates was supposed to share with his colleagues the acceptance from Saddam Hussein to go into exile before the invasion of Iraq in exchange for amnesty and protection. The deal was intended to avert the war. Representatives of the UAE had met with Saddam on four occasions, and he appeared serious about a deal, but demanded that the Arab League back the offer officially before he would commit to it. The item was never discussed as Muammar Gaddafi distrupted the meeting accusing the King of Saudi Arabia of being sold to the U.S. boycotting in this way the possibility for the Arab League to put forward the proposal formally.

• greekembassy.org
• ahram.org.eg
• bbc.co.uk
• nytimes.com