Did Bush Reject Deal to Have Saddam Leave Iraq?

Disturbing news from blogger Juan Cole that the entire Iraq War could have been avoided.

Cole, a professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan, writes on his Informed Comment blog today (Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007) that Bush told Jose Maria Aznar of Spain that a deal brokered by Egypt before the Iraq invasion called for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq with $1 billion and some documents on weapons of mass destruction.

But Cole writes that Bush rejected the deal without attempting to negotiate, saying,
"Saddam won't change and he'll keep on playing games. The time has come to get rid of him. That's the way it is. We'll be in Baghdad by the end of March."

Cole, who simply has the best blog around regarding Iraq and the mess we've created in the Middle East, has the rest of the story.