Arab News

LONDON, 30 June 2003 — The chances of capturing toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein are “very high”, Paul Bremer, the top US administrator in Iraq, said yesterday.

“I think the chances of catching Saddam are very high. We will catch him,” Bremer told BBC television.

Bremer’s remarks come amid mounting armed resistance to the US-led coalition forces in Iraq from militiamen still loyal to the former Iraqi president. More than 200 US troops have now been killed in the war to oust Saddam and the campaign to rebuild Iraq. But Bremer said Saddam’s capture would be instrumental in helping US forces bring the still lawless country under control. “I think it is important that we do that, that we capture or kill him (Saddam),” commented Bremer.

“There’s no doubt that the fact that we had not been able to show his face allows these remnants of that Baathist regime to go around in the bazaars and in villages and in towns saying that Saddam will come back and we will come back, so don’t cooperate with the coalition,” he added.

A senior US military official said Saturday that coalition forces had detained more than 900 former loyalists of the Saddam Hussein regime who had been “subverting” US efforts to rebuild Iraq.

Denying that attacks against US troops in Iraq were due to people’s resentment, Bremer said, “There are people out here, particularly remnants of the old regime (...) perhaps even some terrorists from neighboring countries (...) who do not accept the military outcome of the coalition.”

“Unfortunately we will continue to take casualties — such as the tragic attack against the British forces — but there is no strategic threat to the coalition,” he added.

Bremer said US and British troops nevertheless “dominate the scene” and added that they would continue to impose law and order and impose their will on the country. “There is lot of good news that tends to get lost in the noise here”, he said.

Bur Dominic Nutt, spokesman for Christian Aid, told the BBC in a separate interview there had been warnings by local politicians a month ago about possible attacks on British military personnel in Al-Majar Al-Kabir.

He said security was “deteriorating day by day” because of the lack of aid. Bremer’s optimistic view of the humanitarian situation is “unmitigated nonsense”, he said.