Sydney, July 23: Australian Prime Minister John Howard expressed the hope today that the deaths of Saddam Hussein's two sons at the hands of us forces would finally bring security to Iraq. Howard, who defied domestic opinion by joining the us-led invasion of Iraq in march, said the killing of Odai and Qusai would ease Iraqis' concerns that the ousted Saddam regime could return to power.
"It does take out of the picture two totally ruthless, cruel, despotic individuals, who were very much part of the apparatus of fear and torture and murder," he said in a television interview. "Impossible though it is for a lot of us to understand, many Iraqi people have still lived in fear of the restoration of the old regime," Howard said.
"The apparent deaths of Saddam's two sons is a huge step towards removing that fear," he said. "It should make a solid contribution to the security situation." US officials said the remains of Odai and Qusai had been positively identified after a six-hour gunbattle in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
An Iraqi source had told US forces that the two men were hiding in a house in the city and the fighting erupted as troops moved in to capture them. Bureau Report