[JURIST] Saddam Hussein [JURIST news archive] defense lawyer and former head of the Jordanian Lawyers Association Saleh al-Armouti said Friday that Hussein has claimed that the United States had offered him life in exile "like Napoleon" if he would use his influence to end the Iraq insurgency. Armouti said Hussein made the claim when he visited the ousted Iraqi leader in prison in January. A US military spokesman in Baghdad dismissed Armouti's report as "completely unfounded and, frankly, rather ridiculous," saying the story was a "vain attempt" by his lawyer to "make it look as if Saddam still has some power or authority over people, which he doesn't."

Armouti was one of the defense lawyers thrown out of court [JURIST report] January 29 after arguing with the new chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman. Al Arabiya TV claimed in a fall documentary that Hussein actually accepted a previous offer of exile [JURIST report] extended by the United Arab Emirates before the Iraq war, only to have that fall through when members of the League of Arab States refused to assent to the plan. AP has more.