US forces kept up the hunt for former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein yesterday as an Iraqi crowd gloated over an apparent roadside bomb attack that gutted a US truck.
"Destroy America! Destroy it!" yelled one man, as the crowd swung stones to smash the headlights of the military truck, smouldering on the western edge of Baghdad. Locals said the vehicle had hit a tripwire that set off explosives.
There was no word on casualties and the US military had no immediate comment.
Most Iraqis say they are glad Saddam has been removed, but many angrily demand the departure of US-led occupying forces.
Undeterred by postwar insecurity and economic paralysis, a first group of more than 200 Iraqis set foot in their homeland yesterday after 13 years of exile in Saudi Arabia.
"I feel like my soul has returned to my body," said Ali Salman, his eyes swimming with tears at the Umm Qasr border crossing in southern Iraq. "I can't believe I am actually home and that I will see my family again. I just can't believe it."
Like most of the 240 men, women and children who were repatriated by the UN refugee agency, Salman is a Shiite Muslim who fled to Saudi Arabia after a failed 1991 uprising.
Other returnees were former Iraqi soldiers who defected during the 1991 Gulf War.
They were among 5,200 refugees who had lived in physical comfort but psychological distress at the frontier Rafha camp in Saudi Arabia. Their hopes of returning home remained a remote dream until US-led forces ousted Saddam in April.
American troops searched for the former dictator in villages near his hometown of Tikrit after a new message purportedly from Saddam vowed vengeance for the killing of his feared sons.
An audiotape aired by Dubai-based Al Arabiya television said Uday and Qusay Hussein died as martyrs in a jihad, or holy war, that would defeat the occupiers in Iraq.
"If Saddam Hussein had 100 sons, he would have offered them on the same path which is the path of jihad," the message said.
Four other audio tapes said to have been recorded by Saddam have been broadcast in the last few weeks. US officials say the CIA has concluded that at least one of them was genuine.
In Falluja, a restive town in the heart of the "Sunni triangle" from where Saddam drew much of his support, many said the tape showed the deposed leader had not given up the fight.
"Saddam's sons were courageous," said one man, Hussein Muhsin. "His voice was unaffected by his sadness over their death. His speech shows steadfastness, confidence and faith."
Uday and Qusay died last week when US troops stormed their hideout in the city of Mosul. The brothers, along with two others believed to be Uday's bodyguard and Qusay's teenage son Mustafa, fought a last stand with assault rifles but were killed in an onslaught of missile and machinegun fire.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday the noose was probably closing on Saddam after his sons' deaths and the arrest of three Saddam loyalists, including a top bodyguard.
"The most important thing is that he ceases to be an obstacle to progress," Blair told a news conference when asked if he wanted Saddam to be detained or killed.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2