Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro
de la Prensa-Baszn Özeti
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.Bush says
,problems
'aren't over
for Iraq
But president hails
deaths of Saddam's
sons as reassuring'
By prian Knowlton
WASHINGTON: President George w.
Bush said Wednesday that the deaths of
Saddam Hussein's sons Q.usay and
Uday should reassure Iraqis "that the
former regime is gone and will not be
coming back." . . .
But the president acknowlèdged
continuing problems with armed,hold- .
outs - '''the enemies of Iraq's people,"
he called'them - and he appealed to
•other countries to provide both mili-.
tary ,and financial support to the
.American-led forces. '
• Bush strongly endorsed the progress
made so far in Iraq and said a new plan .
from L Paul Bremer ~rd, the senior
American occupation administrator,
would sharply acceterate progress toward
"full Iraqi sovereignty."
.The president made the remarks in '
solemn tones during a. brief Rose
Garden appearance at the White
House, flanked on one side by Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and General
Richard Myers, the chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staft and on the other
by Bremer.
This was Bush's first public commenton
the. deaths-0fSaddam's BODS
since they were confirmed on Tuesday
by Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez,
the American ground commander
inIraq.
Bush did not dwell on details of the
deaths, but said that in Mosul on Tuesday,
"the careers of two of the regime's
chief henchmen came to an end."
"Saddam Hussein's sons were responsible
for the torture, maiming and
murder of countless Iraqis," he said.
The president did not draw an explicit
link between the sons and the continuing
resistance to the American-led
forces or mention the two latest American
soldiers killed Wednesday.
But those responsible for "killing
new police graduates, shooting at
people who are guarding universities,
power plants and oil facilities," Bush
said, are "the enemies of Iraq's
people."
"They're being hunted, and they will
be defeated," the president s~id, adding
that the Saddam government was "gone
~ Rumst'eldand .Bushlooking toward Bremer, the U.S.administrator in Iraq,
at the White House on Wednesday.' -
forever."
Topersuade skeptical Iraqis of that,
American officials are considerinç releasing
photos of the two bodies, sald to
be badly maimed but recognizable.
Paul Wolfowitz, the. deputy defense
secretary, confirmed this in a Pentagon
briefing Wednesday after returning
. from a visitto Iraq.' ."
While making the. photos public
could bring charges of "scraping over
the past" or possibly shocking or offending
those who see them, he said,
the strongest. argument for releasing
them was "saving the lives of American
men and women who are on the line; it
is directly connected to security." .
Wolfowitz was asked whether he or
Rumsfeld had had a chance to send orders
to the attacking American forces
in Mosul on Thesday to do their best to
capture, rather than kill, the Hussein
sons to question them.
'
Without answering directly, Wolfowitz
said that "speed and secrecy" had
been a key to the military's success in
Iraq, and that local commanders had
the authority to exploit "an opportunity
like yesterday" with "minimal transmission
of information."
"That's the most important thing," he
said. "I'd just hate to be up here asking .
the question,. 'How come it took you .
three hours and they got away?' l'
Wolfowitz said he had found extraordinary
paranoia' in Iraq about the deposed
government, adding, "the pervasive
fear of the old regime is still alive."
In that regard, Wolfowitz said, "Yesterday's
events help enormously."
The White House has been facing
growing pressure from Congress to
seek broader foreign assistance in bear-
!ng the. financial and military burdens .
10 Iraq, and the president appeared to
respond to that Wednesday.
~erica has assumed great responsibilities
for Iraq's future," Bush said,
"yet we do not bear these responsibilities
alone."
. I!e referred to the 19 countries pro-
Vld10g a total of 13,000 troops in support
of the 147,000 Americans on the
gr0!-1nd:,and the "more than two dozen
nation.s that have offered to help pay
for relIef and reconstruction.
But the president also appealed for
even ~ore international support.
S~Y1Oghe was heartened by the reception
~anted th~ee members of the
new ~r~ql Govern1Og Council when
they Vl~ltedthe United Nations Security
Councd on Tuesday, Bush said, ~Now
~t we have reached this important
mdestone, I urge the nations -of the
worl~ to contribute, militarily and financla.lIy,
towa~d fulfilling Security
Councd Resolution 1483's visions of a
free, secure Iraq."
That resolution, passed in May; calls
on a~l United Nations members t~ help
proVlde humanitarian aid and assist in
~e re~onstr~ction of Iraq. Some countnes,
1Oclud1OgFrance, Germany and
India, have said they would consider
s~nding troops only if a new United NatlOns
man~ate was provided, a move
that Amencan officials have said they
, would consider ..
Bu.shstrongly endorsed a plan, newly .
unveded by Bremer, aimed at moving
I~9 as quickly as possible toward stabdlty
and normality.
. According to an advance copy of a
. speech Bremer was to deliver Wednesday
in Washington, the plan sets a 60-
day targe~ for recruiting and training
~)ßeb~ttalIon of ~ new Iraqi Army, creatlng
elght battahons of Ii. new civil defense
force, resuming trials before a
centr~l .criminal court and restoring
electnclty to prewar levels.
. .The plan is intended to answer critlClsm
from some in Congress and else-
~he~e that. the American-led occupation
15 mOVlngtoo slowly to rebuild the
country and put new democratic structures
in place.
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