World reacts to son's deaths with relief and optimism

World leaders expressed relief and optimism today at news of the deaths of Saddam Hussein’s sons, and many said it would help speed Iraq’s progress towards democracy.

The American military said Uday and Qusay were killed in a raid on a mansion belonging to one of Saddam’s cousins in the northern city of Mosul yesterday.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair hailed the killings as “a great day for the new Iraq.”

“These particular two people were the head of the regime, which was not just a security threat because of its weapons program but was responsible for the torture and killing of thousands and thousands of innocent Iraqis,” he said.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a staunch supporter of the conflict, said their deaths would bring a measure of stability to post-war Iraq.

“I don’t want to overstate that, but psychologically it is a huge step forward,” he said.

That sentiment was echoed by leaders in Japan and New Zealand.

Japan’s top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, said the killings might help eliminate the pockets of resistance to US forces in Iraq and make it easier to provide reconstruction assistance.

“Hopefully, their removal will assist stability in Iraq, in the interests of facilitating self-determination by the Iraqi people,” said New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff.

In Washington, the White House applauded the action.

“Over the period of many years, these two individuals were responsible for countless atrocities committed against the Iraqi people and they can no longer cast a shadow of hate on Iraq,” it said in a statement.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said “the Iraqi people are safer today. We will pursue the other members of his murderous regime wherever they might be hiding.”

Ahmad Chalabi, a delegate from Iraq’s Governing Council who was at the United Nations, said: “This will contribute significantly to reducing attacks on coalition soldiers.”

In China, the story ran on the front of several major newspapers and led the international news items on TV, but there was no official comment from the government, which had opposed the war as a violation of international law.

Some in the United States had hoped to see the two stand trial.

“I, my children, were ecstatic about the news,” said Qasim Al-Hashimi, 40, watching Arabic news at an Islamic Centre in Michigan. But he added that he would have preferred to see the two taken alive.

“Their crimes need to be exposed to the Iraqi people and to the Arab world,” he said, showing deep scars around his wrists that he said were the result of torture when he was imprisoned for opposing Saddam’s regime.

Reaction in the Iraqi city of Mosul, site of the gunfight, was more divided. About 1,000 people shouted in delight or cursed the Americans outside the mansion of the tribal sheikh Nawaf al-Zaydan Muhhamad, where Uday and Qusay had been holed up. Others stood silently and appeared to be in mourning.

Hours later, gunfire erupted in Baghdad – apparently in celebration as news spread of the sons’ deaths.

US officials said later that the bodies of Uday and Qusay had been taken to Baghdad airport to be flown out of the country. They would not say why they were being taken out of Iraq or where they were going.

Some American troops expressed fears today that the deaths could spark more attacks against them.

“If one of my sons was dead, I’d want somebody to pay for it,” said Sgt Colin Frederick, 23, as he patrolled the dangerous “Sunni Triangle”.

But others were elated: “This is the best thing that can happen to the coalition,” said Army Capt Sean Nowlan, 31. “It deflates their campaign against us.”

The Washington Post said the brothers’ remains were identified by Abid Hamid Mahmud Tikriti, Saddam’s presidential secretary and top security adviser, who was captured on June 16 and remains in US custody.

CIA agents and members of the elite Task Force 20 special forces squad accompanied units from the US army’s 101st Airborne Division on the raid, the newspaper said.

A senior US defence official told the paper the two sons had been living in the house “for some time”, and there were reports that Qusay, Uday, a bodyguard and Qusay’s son Mustafa, 14, had been living there for 23 days.

Several dozen American soldiers relaxed in front of the gutted mansion in Mosul today.

Opposite them a few hundred people chanted: “We sacrifice our blood and souls for you, Saddam” when television cameras arrived. They only began the chant when urged to do so by others in the group.

Asked whether he thought the killings of his sons meant Saddam would soon be caught, Muhammad Khalil, a 36-year-old local businessman, said: “One should be close to the other.”

“They probably came here because it’s safe. People here don’t have any connection with Saddam,” he said.