The Hindu : Saddam legacy is over, says Bush

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 24, 2003

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International

Saddam legacy is over, says Bush

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington July 23. The U.S. President, George W Bush, has personally hailed the deaths of the sons of Saddam Hussein as a sign that the "former regime is gone and will not be coming back". It was the President's first remarks on the shootout yesterday in the city of Mosul that killed five prominent Iraqis, including the two sons of Saddam Hussein — Uday and Qusai.

Mr. Bush made remarks in the Rose Garden of the White House and with him were the top American civilian official in Iraq, Paul Bremer, the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers. The President read from a prepared text and did not respond to questions.

"Yesterday, in the city of Mosul, the careers of two of the regime's chief henchmen came to an end. Saddam Hussein's sons were responsible for torture, maiming and murder of countless Iraqis. Now more than ever, all Iraqis can know that the former regime is gone and will not be coming back", Mr. Bush said.

The White House is obviously happy at the turn of events in Iraq and hopes that this will have a positive impact on the ground in and around Baghdad; but the deaths of Uday and Qusai cannot take away the reality that this administration is facing intense questioning on the different aspects of the situation in Iraq.

But the President chose to emphasise what he considered as the positive developments in Iraq including that 19 nations were providing 13,000 troops for the so-called stabilisation of the country and maintaining that "additional forces" will be arriving soon; and that "more than two dozen nations have pledged funds that will go directly towards relief and reconstruction efforts".

Mr. Bush argued that "a few remaining holdouts" in Iraq are trying to prevent the establishment of order and freedom and warned that wherever these people operated they are being "hunted, and they will be defeated".

"Our military forces are on the offensive. They're working with newly free Iraqi people to destroy the remnants of the old regime and their terrorist allies", Mr. Bush said.

Prior to coming to the Rose Garden, Mr. Bush is said to have had an informal meeting of his war council in the Oval office and attending this were the Vice-President, the National Security Advisor, the Defence Secretary and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Mr. Bremer.

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