I completely agree about it being a terrible war, one that we were forced into by dishonest leaders with their own agendas, based on vengeance and greed. They continue to lie and misspeak about it all the time, even now, and I no longer believe a word they say. I am pretty much at the stage of disregarding mainstream US media almost entirely, and relying on BBC, alternative radio, blogs, etc. However, that being said, if Saddam had sent any messages, no matter what, he would not have gotten a hearing -- not because the Bushites were determined to go to war no matter what, but more because Saddam had said one thing and done another over and over and over and over again, for so many years, that he was way past the "Cry Wolf" stage; anything he said could pretty much be disregarded, just based on his own record. It doesn't work to try to make Saddam into a peacenik, or into an honest or trustworthy negotiator. He wasn't. He was a liar and a megalomaniac and a creep. But there have been plenty of those, in the recent history of the world, and in the not-so-recent, too, and we can't take on the task of eliminating them all. This was and is a bad war, but not because Saddam really wanted peace.