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NATIONAL NEWS

World leaders welcome Saddam's capture

Monday, December 15, 2003

LONDON—AS celebratory gunfire erupted in Baghdad, world leaders welcomed Saddam Hussein’s capture, saying it brought a long-awaited end to the career of a brutal dictator and could mark the beginning of peace in Iraq. The U.S. military announced that a bearded Saddam was detained without resistance in a hole in a farmhouse cellar near his hometown of Tikrit, ending one of the most intense manhunts in history.
"This is very good news for the people of Iraq," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said. "It removes the shadow that has been hanging over them for too long of the nightmare of a return to the Saddam regime." Blair, who braved intense domestic opposition to support the U.S.-led war that ousted Saddam in April, indicated that Saddam could be "tried in Iraqi courts for his crimes against the Iraqi people."
Iraq’s interim government has established a special tribunal to try Saddam and other members of his regime for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Blair added that Saddam’s capture could mark the beginning of better times in Iraq and give the coalition the chance to "take a step forward in Iraq." "We should try now to unite the whole of Iraq in rebuilding the country and offering it a new future," he said.
The Spanish government, another supporter of the war, also hailed the news. "It is a great day for humankind," said Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio. "The horrible shadow of this bloody dictator is going to vanish." France, which has had a rocky relationship with the United States since it led the opposition to the war, said the capture would help stabilize the country and lead to its sovereignty.
"It’s a major event that should strongly contribute to democracy and stability in Iraq and allow the Iraqis to master their destiny in a sovereign Iraq," French President Jacques Chirac said in a statement. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, another foe of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, congratulated President Bush on Saddam’s capture. "With much happiness I learned about the arrest of Saddam Hussein," Schroeder wrote in a letter to Bush released by the German government. "I congratulate you on this successful action."
Japan, Australia and other countries also were quick to applaud the news of Saddam’s capture, as a video showing a bearded Saddam being examined by a doctor was broadcast on news channels. "We’re absolutely thrilled that Saddam Hussein has been captured," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said in a statement. "And his capture has the potential to change the situation on the ground."
News of Saddam’s capture also reverberated among the 500 delegates and other dignitaries at the opening session of Afghanistan’s historic constitutional council, being held in Kabul.