Barbara Ferguson & Agencies

WASHINGTON, 15 December 2003 — The capture of former dictator Saddam Hussein brought jubilation and relief around the world yesterday both in countries that supported the US-led invasion of Iraq and those that opposed it. Political leaders said they hoped the capture of the 66-year-old Saddam would speed a process of reconciliation and end the deadly series of attacks on the US-led coalition forces and their Iraqi allies.

Many leaders echoed the words of the US civil administrator Paul Bremer, who said it was “a great day in Iraq’s history.”

“The capture of Saddam Hussein should contribute to the stability of the country and to accelerating its reconstruction and democratization,” said Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy supremo.

It’s good for the troops, but it’s definitely a bonanza for the Administration, said Khalil Jahshan, a Washington-based expert on US-Arab relations. “But it also raises a lot of questions.”

“The question of what to do with Saddam Hussein is a very complicated question,” said Jahshan. “It is a lot more complicated, and has more serious implications, than are being indicated. They must decide whether to keep him in American hands, or turn him over to Iraqis, and then decide what to with him. This is a very serious question.”

“Long term, his arrest will have an impact on the Iraqis who were wondering if this is the end of the Saddam era, but it might also have an impact on the internal struggle in Iraq,” said Jahshan. Other experts shared his perspective.

France, which had led diplomatic opposition to the invasion, reacted favorably. President Jacques Chirac was “rejoicing,” spokeswoman Catherine Colonna said. “It is a major event which should strongly contribute to the democratization and stabilization of Iraq.”

Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said, “the page of the Iraqi dictatorship had been turned by this.”

Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, whose popularity has taken a battering as a result of his dogged support for Bush, said the capture was “very good news for the people of Iraq. It removes the shadow that has been hanging over them for too long of the nightmare of a return to the Saddam regime.”

“It also gives an opportunity for Saddam to be tried in Iraqi courts for his crimes against the Iraqi people,” he added.

For other countries that have backed the US-led coalition with troops and practical assistance, and have shared in the risks, the news came as a great relief. It was “a great success for the forces of the coalition,” said Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski. “It allows us to expect a stabilization of the situation in Iraq and a quicker transfer of responsibility for their country to the Iraqis and their elected representatives.”

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the capture “is a decisive blow against the Iraqi guerrillas who are sowing death.”

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the arrest would have repercussions for the entire Middle East. “I rejoiced at the news, I thought of words like peace and reconciliation, democracy and development. I thought of Iraq, but also of Palestine and of Israel,” Berlusconi said, describing Saddam as “the weapon of mass destruction” and his arrest as a “turning point for which the United States and its allies have been working since the day of Baghdad’s liberation.”

Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar of Spain said Saddam’s capture leaves groups that have been sowing terror in Iraq “closer to defeat.”

“This is a good day for everyone. It is a good day for the whole world.” Aznar said, adding that Saddam was “a threat to his people and to the whole world. He is responsible for the deaths of millions of people in the past 30 years. The moment has come for him to pay for his crimes.”

Foreign Minister Teresa Gouveia of Portugal, another country that supported the invasion, said the arrest was “an enormous contribution to the reconciliation and reconstruction of Iraq.”

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder congratulated Bush, and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said: “There is now a chance that the use of force and terror in Iraq can stop.”

Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, who also opposed the unilateral invasion, said it offered a “new impetus” to peace.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said the arrest meant there was no longer any obstacle to the installation of a democratic regime in Iraq.

But nowhere was the rejoicing more heartfelt than in Iraq’s southern neighbor Kuwait, which Saddam invaded in 1990, touching off the first Gulf war with the United States.

Information Minister Mohammed Abulhassan said, “This is the minute we, and the whole world, have been waiting for: to see the arrest of this tyrant who has horrified his own people and many others in the world. Thank God that he has been captured alive, so he can be tried for the heinous crimes he has committed.”

Although Iran, which fought a bitter war with Saddam’s regime from 1980 to 1988, opposed the US-led invasion, Vice President Mohammed Ali Abati said he was “happy they have arrested a criminal, whoever it may be, and I am even more happy because it is a criminal who committed so many crimes against Iranians.”

Russia also opposed the invasion, but Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said the capture would “contribute to the reinforcement of security in Iraq and to the activating of the process of political resolution of the situation in the country under the authority of the United Nations.”

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said he had spoken to Bush who was very happy and told him: “what an enchanting day, a day of relief this is for the Iraqi people.”

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. John Kerry, said the capture of Saddam was “a great opportunity for the president to get it right for the long term,” and urged Bush to “use this as a moment to transform the entire operation in Iraq.”

Democratic Rep. Dick Gephardt, who is also running for president, said, “For many years, we will be confronted with a war on terrorism that is unfinished.”

Aides say Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was the first to deliver the news to the president at around 3:15 p.m. EST (2015 GMT) on Saturday while he was at the presidential retreat of Camp David.

“Mr. President, the first reports are not always accurate,” Rumsfeld warned the president.

But Rumsfeld added that General John Abizaid told him that “he feels confident that we got Saddam Hussein.”

“That is good news,” Bush said in response, according to his spokesman.

Meanwhile, in a freezing, snow-swept New York, Americans woke yesterday to the warming news of Saddam Hussein’s capture, but opinions were mixed on the ramifications for US involvement in Iraq and domestic security.

In Times Square, the news, which came too late for the morning newspapers, was scrolled across giant, electronic screens along with photographs of Iraqis celebrating in Baghdad.

“Now that really is something,” said Eileen Jacob. “There’ve been a lot of lies going around about the situation over there (in Iraq), but this is good, this is real.”