World leaders and activists thrilled by news of Saddam's capture

By Beth Gardiner
Associated Press

LONDON — As celebratory gunfire erupted in Baghdad, world leaders and human rights activists said the news of Saddam Hussein's capture would remove the fear hanging over many Iraqis and finally give them a chance to rebuild their country.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the United States' closest ally in the war in Iraq, confirmed that Saddam had been captured last night and indicated that Saddam could be tried in Iraqi courts for human rights abuses.

"It removes the shadow that has been hanging over them for too long of the nightmare of a return to the Saddam regime," Blair said in a statement. "It also gives an opportunity for Saddam to be tried in Iraqi courts for his crimes against the Iraqi people."

"We should try now to unite the whole of Iraq in rebuilding the country and offering it a new future," he said.

The U.S. military confirmed that Saddam was captured in a raid near his hometown of Tikrit.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we got him," L. Paul Bremer said at a news conference.

"It is a great day for humankind. The horrible shadow of this bloody dictator is going to vanish," said Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio, whose country also supported the U.S.-led invasion.

Blair has faced substantial domestic opposition for his decision to commit British troops to the Iraq war and is sure to get a major political boost from the reported capture.

Michael Howard, leader of the opposition Conservative Party, which strongly supported the war, also welcomed the news.

"This is truly excellent news and I congratulate everyone involved in the pursuit and capture of Saddam Hussein," he said. "We must all hope that this will bring real peace in Iraq very much closer."

News of Saddam's capture began filtering among the 500 delegates and other dignitaries at the opening session of Afghanistan's historic constitutional council, being held in Kabul.

Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said the arrest would help improve security in Afghanistan by dampening the ability of militant groups to recruit fighters here.

"What happens in Iraq is also something to do with the situation in Afghanistan. Since the war in Iraq, the terrorist organizations have tried to open a new front in Afghanistan, so any failure of terrorism in Iraq is going to effect the situation in Afghanistan," Jalali told The Associated Press.

In San Diego, Alan Zangana, a Kurd who fled Iraq in 1981, said the phone at his Chula Vista home started ringing early Sunday with people sharing the reports that Saddam had been captured.

"I have been waiting for this for the last 35 years," said Zangana, director of Kurdish Human Rights Watch in the San Diego suburb of El Cajon.

Saddam's arrest could alter the violent resistance to the U.S. presence in Iraq since some insurgents were acting against the coalition out of fear of Saddam, he said.

Zangana, 48, said he was a high school teacher in Iraq and escaped after the Saddam regime began forcing teachers to become members of the ruling Baath party.

"I'm a Kurd and I had nothing to do with the Baath party," he said. "I refused that and thousands of Kurds refused that. So we escaped Iraq. They captured some teachers and some were executed and some were jailed. A bunch of us were lucky to escape Iraq."

Saddam instituted a policy of genocide against the Kurds and Zangana said oppression in his oil-rich hometown of Kirkuk was severe.

"Nobody is going to be happy today like the Kurds," Zangana said. "He killed a lot of us."