- SAMARRA -- President George
Bush called last night for Saddam Hussein to face the death penalty, as
fresh violence across Iraq signalled that his capture has by no means stifled
the anti-US insurgency.
-
- Mr Bush told ABC news: "I think he ought to receive
the ultimate penalty ... for what he has done to his people."
-
- He added: "He is a torturer, a murderer, and they
had rape rooms, and this is a disgusting tyrant who deserves justice, the
ultimate justice."
-
- The remarks threaten to provoke a row with European countries
which have warned against executing the former Iraqi dictator. But Mr Bush
stressed that it would be up to Iraqi justice to decide his fate.
-
- Saddam remains at an undisclosed location, with the CIA
now tasked with interrogation. Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary,
characterised his mood as "resigned". In the ABC interview, Mr
Bush said it was too early too say whether the former Iraqi leader was
behind the insurgents.
-
- But two guerrillas told the Guardian in a rare encounter
near Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, that they were not fighting on
behalf of Saddam and were undaunted by his capture. "The operations
that have happened here against the Americans are not by people outside
Samarra," said the first man from the seat of a white BMW, where he
sat with a Kalashnikov assault rifle on his lap and a hand grenade resting
on a shelf by the gear lever. "We are the tribes of Samarra and we
are responsible for the attacks. We are fighting a war against the Americans.
We are fighting because they arrested a lot of people, because they attacked
a lot of houses in the night; they humiliated our sisters."
-
- The second guerrilla, the driver, said he had deserted
from the Iraqi army 11 years earlier. But since the Americans had arrived
in Samarra one of his brothers had been killed and four had been arrested
and were still in detention. "How do they expect us not to take revenge
for this and not to lead operations against them?" he said. "As
long as [US forces] remain inside our city we will continue to seek revenge."
-
- He was speaking after US forces wer caught in a "complex"
ambush at Samarra, in a combination of mortar, grenade and roadside bomb
attacks. In response, the US military said it killed 11 insurgents. Witnesses
disputed their account, however, saying one civilian was killed in Monday's
clash. After the ambush, the US military rounded up around 80 guerrillas,
including one suspected leader of the insurgency, Qais Hattam.
-
- In other unrest yesterday, three Iraqis were shot dead
by US troops during a pro-Saddam protest in Ramadi, while in Mosul an Iraqi
policeman was killed during a similar demonstration. A roadside bomb in
Tikrit, Saddam's hometown, injured three soldiers.
-
- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2003
-
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1108578,00.html
|
