Top Bush administration officials said Sunday they would welcome Saddam Hussein seeking exile outside Iraq, saying it could avert military action to topple the Iraqi president. In the meantime, reports of averting war by removing Saddam from Baghdad continued to circulate, and top Bush administration officials encouraged that option.

"To avoid a war, I -personally - would recommend that some provision be made so that the senior leadership in that country and their families could be provided haven in some other country," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said on ABC's "This Week."

"And I think that that would be a fair trade to avoid a war."

On "Fox News Sunday," Rumsfeld said Iraq's Arab neighbors are urging Saddam to step down and go into exile in a bid to prevent war. "It would be a good thing for the world if he left," Rumsfeld said. But Saddam and Iraqi Cabinet ministers have said they would fight to the end.

US Secretary of State, Colin Powell said exile would bring about what the United States has sought since the Clinton administration: a change of leadership in Iraq.

"And the challenge before us then would be to see whether or not that new regime would commit itself to eliminating weapons of mass destruction, satisfying the international community that they are interested in the welfare of their people and not in threatening their own people or threatening their neighbors," Powell said. "And we would have had an entirely new situation presented to the international community, and we might be able to avoid war."

Most of the 15 Security Council members remain opposed to using the military soon, regardless of the contents of a report to the council next Monday by weapons inspectors.

A senior official said Powell was to meet separately with seven ministers, including those of Germany, Mexico and the permanent members China, France and Russia. The official said Powell is trying to agree with his colleagues on a course of action after the Jan. 27 report is in hand.

Anglo-American Jets Bomb Iraq

Also Sunday, American and British planes bombed eight unmanned sites that are part of Iraq's military air defense command and control system, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

The strikes at about 7:10 a.m. EST came after Iraqi air defense forces fired anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missiles at coalition planes patrolling the southern no-fly zone over Iraq, according to the statement. The sites were between Al Kut, about 95 miles southeast of Baghdad, and An Nasiriyah, about 170 miles southeast of the capital.

President Bush's national security adviser, asked about possible asylum for Saddam, said it would be a good idea to explore any way to have him out of power.

Though the officials expressed hope war can be avoided, they did not back down from Bush's insistence that Iraq disarm.
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said Bush had yet to make the case for military action.

He spoke on the second day of anti-war protests in Washington. "As we get closer and closer to the prospect of war, you're going to see more vocal opposition," Daschle said.

While the officials said the inspectors have found no "smoking gun" that proves Iraq still holds weapons of mass destruction, they said the burden is on Iraq to prove it has disarmed.

PHOTO CAPTION

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld speaks about Iraq with George Stephanpoulos on ABC's 'This Week' television news program, Jan. 19, 2003, in Washington. Making the rounds on the Sunday television talk shows, Rumsfeld said he would be 'delighted' if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) went into exile or was stripped of the protection of Iraqis who surround him under a proposal to grant amnesty to top Iraqi officials if they help dislodge him. Photo by Reuters (Handout)