Saddam Bargaining for Safe Passage?

Who knows whether any of this is true. But London’s Evening Standard claims that Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, Saddam’s recently-captured top aide, had a letter from Saddam in which he offered to surrender. His key demand: safe passage for himself and his family to another Arab country. That was a deal the U.S. was willing to make before the war started, when Saddam still had some bargaining power. It’s too late now.
The Evening Standard also says the Pentagon is “playing down” reports that the convoy struck near last Syria may have included Saddam.