Exit Saddam?

Who could persuade the Iraqi leader to step down?

By Roger Hardy BBC's Middle East analyst

There is growing speculation about a diplomatic initiative to persuade the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to step down and go into exile.

Russian officials say Mr Putin has no plans to go to Baghdad

US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher in Washington has said he should resign to avoid military defeat.

But he said he was not aware of active efforts to promote the idea.

He also made no comment on reports that Arab leaders were planning to urge the Iraqi leader to relinquish power, or that President Putin of Russia might offer him refuge in Moscow.

'Safe haven'

In fact there has been speculation for weeks about who might be best placed to persuade Saddam to step down - and where he might go.

The Saudis and other Arab leaders are thought to have discussed the idea of a last-minute appeal urging him to resign and so spare the region from a potentially catastrophic war.

A group of Arab intellectuals are planning to publish an open letter along these lines in the next few days.

On Thursday an Iranian newspaper claimed that Washington had recruited the help of President Vladimir Putin of Russia, who it said would go to Baghdad and personally offer Saddam a safe haven in Moscow.

Report denied

This was purportedly based on a phone conversation between the German foreign minister and his Iranian counterpart.

The German Foreign Ministry has dismissed the report as an invention, and Russian officials say Mr Putin has no plans to visit Baghdad.

For the US, the main thing is that Saddam should go, whether as the result of resignation, a successful coup or - if all else fails - a US-led invasion.

But Saddam himself may well regard resignation and exile as humiliating, and prefer to enter the history books with one last show of defiance.