London, Sept.27 : Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who was hanged last December for crimes against humanity, is reported to have offered to step down and go into exile a month before the invasion of Iraq by Allied forces.

Anticipating defeat, Saddam is said to have approached U.S. President George W Bush with the offer that included going away for good in return for 500 million pounds (one billion dollars), the Daily Mail reports.

The extraordinary offer was revealed yesterday in a transcript of talks in February 2003 between George Bush and the then Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar at the President's Texas ranch.

The White House has refused to comment on the report, but, if verified, it is certain to raise questions in Washington and London over whether the costly four-year war could have been averted.

Only yesterday, the Bush administration asked Congress for another 100 billion pounds to finance the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The total war bill for British taxpayers is expected to reach seven billion pounds by next year.

More than 3,800 American service personnel have lost their lives in Iraq, along with 170 Britons and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians.

However, according to the tapes, one month before he launched the invasion, Bush appeared convinced that Saddam was serious about going into exile.

Asked by the Spanish premier whether Saddam - who was executed in December last year - could really leave, the President replied: "Yes, that possibility exists. Or he might even be assassinated."

But he added that whatever happened: "We'll be in Baghdad by the end of March."

A diplomat at the meeting in Crawford, Texas, on February 22, 2003, recorded the transcript -which was published yesterday in the Spanish newspaper El Pais.

According to the transcript, Bush is believed to have said that "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." (With inputs from ANI)