WASHINGTON,
April 11 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The White Houses
declared Friday, April 11, the political "death" of Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein’s regime, admitting that the U.S.-led war on
the Arab country is not over yet.
"There
is no question the regime has lost control, and that represents a great
turning point for the people of Iraq as the regime is gone," White
House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters.
He
admitted, however, that U.S. President George W. Bush's joy at toppling
Saddam is muted "because we still have American troops in harm's
way," battling die-hard Iraqi resistance fighters.
Some
of our forces "may be more wounded, there may be more dead,"
said Fleischer.
"There
still are Baath party officials who maintain some loyalty to what is
left of the regime, and therefore there are still dangers ahead,"
he conceded.
"So
the military mission remains underway."
Prodded
by reporters on whether he meant to declare Saddam's regime dead, the
White House spokesman replied: "If you're involved in a firefight
with some of the loyal elements that are left, it hasn't quite
disappeared yet."
But
"from the point of view of a centralized command authority ... the
regime is gone."
Regime
Dead Or Running
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Franks
said Saddam and other Iraqi leaders are "either dead or they
are running like hell."
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Top
U.S. military commander General Tommy Franks said Friday that Saddam and
other symbols of the Iraqi regime were either "dead or running like
hell."
"On
the location of Saddam you could as easily have asked me about any
particular personality and all of you, because you know me, would have
guessed the answer before I gave it and that is: Well, they're either
dead or they are running like hell," Franks, the commander of U.S.
forces in Iraq, told reporters at Bagram Air Base 50 kilometers (30
miles) north of Kabul.
"That
is the case with the leadership of the regime inside Iraq," he
said.
As
U.S.-led forces hunt for Saddam and his cohorts, Franks said the
coalition in Afghanistan was also getting closer to catching al-Qaeda
leader Osama bin Laden.
"If
someone were to ask me, do I think that forces are closer to the
individuals responsible for the problems in Afghanistan or for the
problems in Iraq, then my answer would be 'I suspect we're getting
closer'," he said.
Franks
said a number of lessons learned from the conflict in Afghanistan 18
months ago were being applied in Iraq.
"We
learned here, or we confirmed I guess, in our early operations in
Afghanistan a number of things which we have subsequently used in the
campaign in Iraq," he boasted.
Elaborating,
Franks said those lessons were about the use of "precision
kinetics" (precision bombing), Special Forces and Special Operating
Forces, the provision of humanitarian aid and "greeting people with
smiling faces," he said.
"You're
seeing the beginning of the transformation of the armed forces in our
country," the four-star general said without elaborating.
In
Afghanistan the United States has launched a controversial
civil-military project that has been criticized by relief organizations.
The
third Provisional Reconstruction Team opened in the northern town of
Kunduz on Thursday, April 10, with the aim of bringing stability through
rebuilding programs.
International
aid agencies have hit out at the concept, likely to be applied in Iraq,
for blurring the line between military action and non-military
intervention, which they said would put aid workers at risk of attack by
extremists.
