Dailies and periodicals” “

The capture of Saddam Hussein monopolises the attention of the main international dailies . “Bush will leave the Iraqis to determine the fate of Saddam”, is the headline in the Herald Tribune (16/12), which, referring to the press conference given by the US President, reports the first words pronounced by Bush after the arrest of the Iraqi dictator: “What a liberation, the world will be better without you in circulation”. “The Iraqis liberated from Saddam Hussein”, echoes the front-page headline chosen by La Croix (15/12), over an editorial signed by Francois Ernenwein dedicated to the “end of a dictator”. “Ever since the end of the war and during a post-war period even bloodier for the Americans – says the editorial – this capture had become the unavoidable goal of the Bush administration. It had become truly indispensable… Now, the least objectionable aim of the war in Iraq has been achieved”, and this capture eliminates from the horizon “the deadly shadow” of Saddam Hussein and perhaps will also “accelerate” the country’s “political transition”. “The capture of the dictator – writes Elio Maraone in the Italian Catholic daily Avvenire (16/12) – cannot of course wipe out, by itself, the errors committed [during the war], but it may open a new page in the book of history”. “End of Saddam, success of Bush”, is the lapidary comment in Le Monde (16/12), which points out in its editorial: “His capture gives some relief to Bush. After the collapse of the regime of Saddam Hussein, the American occupation forces have lost 200 men in the battle launched against them by a many-sided guerrilla campaign. Saddam Hussein inspired, perhaps, one of the components of this guerrilla war. But not the others, Islamist and nationalist. Bush was right to guard against any form of triumphalism. Saturday’s arrest will not put an end to the violence”. “Post Saddam” is the title of the article by Marwan Bishara in the Spanish daily La Vanguardia ( 16/12), according to whom “the capture of Saddam Hussein does not justify the war nor facilitate the peace process”. What it does is to “mark the end of a dictatorship that lasted a quarter of a century, but it also opens to way to another unpredictable and violent period”. The daily ABC opens its editorial on Iraq with optimism: “We must not renounce optimism: Iraq is a country full of natural and human resources. The opening to democracy may prove successful. The reaction of the ever hypersensitive international markets to the news of Saddam’s capture points in this direction”. The German papers too are dominated by comments on the capture of Saddam Hussein, though with attention also devoted to the summit in Brussels. “ The capture of Saddam Hussein… is a reason for rejoicing, which may finally be shared throughout the world, divided by the war in Iraq… But this day will only become a triumph if the present reign of terror is followed by a new beginning“, observes Peter Münch in the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) (15/12). “ This day will go down in history as a decisive moment for Iraq and its population, for the allies engaged in the fight for greater freedom in post-war Iraq and as the date on which re-election was awarded in advance to George Bush“, writes Jacques Schuster in Die Welt. “ It’s high time the European governments saw Iraq not just as a danger, but also as an opportunity“. “ If an economic boom is not immediately achieved in Iraq, if the population fails to rapidly recover the certainty of a return to material prosperity and national dignity, Saddam Hussein could become the hero he never was“, warns Karl Grobe in the Frankfurter Rundschau (15/12). On the results, or the lack of them, at the EU summit in Brussels, the SZ (15/12) comments: “ The Europe of the pioneer states could lead to schism. Therefore, the possible advance guard of the founding states of the EEC must be open to everyone. The condition for admission is the renunciation of sovereignty“. “ Perhaps the time has come to confess that the Union in a phase of enlargement cannot exist without internal differentiation, that it was illusory to think that enlargement and integration would eternally go hand in hand… We need to recognise, however, that a Europe of the pioneer states is not the “united” Europe claimed in a tremulous voice in Sunday’s speeches“, comments the Faz (16/12).———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1258 N.ro relativo : 88 Data pubblicazione : 19/12/2003