If Saddam Decided to Go, Who Would Take Him?

WASHINGTON —  If Iraqi President Saddam Hussein wanted to flee the country, as President Bush has suggested, where would he go?

It’s not clear yet whether Hussein is actually pondering that question, but if the United States keeps up the bombing and launches a massive ground war soon, as U.S. officials say, he may start considering his options.

They aren’t exactly boundless. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria and other Arab states in the allied coalition are unlikely to give Hussein political asylum. And even Libya’s Col. Moammar Kadafi has been cool toward Iraq’s position in the Gulf War.

Yemen, Mauritania and even Communist Cuba have strongly supported Hussein, but their leaders may not want the problems that would come with him. Mauritania, for instance, is relatively primitive, without adequate security to protect Hussein.

Whatever haven Hussein might choose, he would join a long list of toppled heads of government who elected to spend their retirement years abroad.

Haiti’s Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier emigrated hastily to France in 1986. In 1979, deposed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi traveled to Egypt, Morocco, the Bahamas and Panama on an “extended vacation.” He never returned to Iran. And in 1986 Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos went to Honolulu after being ousted in a popular revolution.

To be sure, not every defeated dictator has fled to foreign shores. Adolf Hitler hunkered down in a Berlin bunker, where he committed suicide. Benito Mussolini stayed in Italy, where he was hanged by his heels. And Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo was executed after a war-crimes trial.