UAE official: Hussein was open to exile. UAE deal died at Arab League meeting days before Iraq war DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CNN) — Days before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, Saddam Hussein agreed in principle to accept an offer of exile from the United Arab Emirates, but the deal fell through, a UAE government senior official told CNN. The reported offer came before an emergency Arab League meeting in Egypt in discussions between UAE officials and a Hussein aide, said the senior official, who was then a member of the UAE delegation to the Arab League. The Iraqi president issued conditions, and the proposal went nowhere, the UAE official said. The Hussein aide, Abed Hmoud, is now in jail in Iraq. The UAE official’s account was repeated by another source who attended the Arab League summit and, separately, by a senior UAE government official. ... Continua