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.
Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said the arrest would
help improve security in Afghanistan by dampening the ability of
militant groups to recruit fighters here.
?
"What happens in Iraq is also something to do with the situation in
Afghanistan. Since the war in Iraq, the terrorist organizations
have tried to open a new front in Afghanistan, so any failure of
terrorism in Iraq is going to effect the situation in
Afghanistan,'' Jalali told The Associated Press.
In San Diego, Alan Zangana, a 48-year-old Kurd who fled Iraq in
1981, said the phone at his Chula Vista home started ringing early
Sunday with people sharing the reports that Saddam had been
captured.
"I have been waiting for this for the last 35 years,'' said
Zangana, director of Kurdish Human Rights Watch in the San Diego
suburb of El Cajon.
Saddam instituted a policy of genocide against the Kurds and
Zangana said oppression in his oil-rich hometown of Kirkuk was
severe.
"Nobody is going to be happy today like the Kurds,'' Zangana
said. "He killed a lot of us.''
The tribunal would cover crimes committed from July 17, 1968 --
the day Saddam's Baath Party came to power -- until May 1, 2003 --
the day President Bush declared major hostilities over, said
Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, the current president of the Iraqi Governing
Council. Saddam became president in 1979 but wielded vast influence
starting from the early 1970s.
(Xinhua News Agency December 15, 2003)