Subjects: Capture of Saddam Hussein.
E&OE…………………………………………………………………………………….
GHIDELLA:
Well joining us now in the studio is the Prime Minister, John Howard. Mr Howard, good morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning.
GHIDELLA:
This is obviously a major boost and a huge relief for the coalition to have Saddam Hussein?
PRIME MINISTER:
It is, it';s a great development for the people of Iraq.
GHIDELLA:
Why do you say that? Do you see that it';s going to stabilise the region a lot more now that Saddam Hussein is in American hands?
PRIME MINISTER:
Iraq has never really enjoyed full freedom and democracy and when you';ve had a dictator brutalising and murdering a population over a 35 year period, until he is finally either killed or taken into captivity there was always the fear he would come back, even though his military had been defeated six or eight months earlier, there was always the worry that he could come back. I believe that this will lift an enormous psychological burden off the Iraqi people, there';ll be a great shadow of fear taken away from them and although I say that, I also caution against the belief that suddenly the fighting is going to stop and that suddenly there';ll be no more terrorist attacks, I think that';s unrealistic. But over time this is the signal most decisive thing that can begin to further improve the situation in Iraq and I know that the world will rejoice with the Iraqi people that this loathsome man has finally been captured.
GHIDELLA:
The world may rejoice, but globally though it';s not going to have that much of an impact is it, the fact that Saddam Hussein has now been captured, he hasn';t been in power for seven months.
PRIME MINISTER:
No but his shadow has been there in Iraq and the possibility of his coming back has always been in the minds of people. I think some people who might otherwise have been more co-operative have been intimidated into silence by the belief that he might come back because so often in his history people have forecast his end, said that he can';t recover, it';s only a matter of time, he could be overthrown and all those sorts of things and yet he survived and there was always that fear because he was still on the loose, out of captivity, that he would somehow or other regather his power and come back.
GHIDELLA:
All right, well let';s personalise this a little bit, how did John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia, hear about the capture of Saddam Hussein?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I was rung by my foreign affairs adviser after dinner last night, I was having a family chat and told that the rumours were around, I put on the television, started to see the cable reports and then I guess about an hour and a half before Paul Bremer made the announcement at what 20 past 11 last night, the American military confirmed, the Pentagon confirmed with General Cosgrove, the head of our defence force, that he';d been taken into captivity and then I was told of that. And then I saw the announcement and then at about half past one this morning President Bush rang me to fill me in on some of the details.
GHIDELLA:
And what did he fill you in on, what exactly did he tell you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well he gave me some of the detail about the events that led up to the capture and the intelligence that had been received. I mean one of the very good things about what';s happened is that it must have been as a result of very good human intelligence on the ground, and that';s a very good sign. And he was naturally pleased but not triumphal, I mean nobody should gloat or be triumphal. The real winners out of this are the Iraqi people and all of us will hope that this creature goes on trial and has to face the justice, as somebody said this morning, he has so long denied to other people.
GHIDELLA:
You were saying it';s not a time for gloating, but this must be a huge relief for George Bush.
PRIME MINISTER:
Of course it';s a relief, and I am so pleased for the American military as well and I congratulated the President, he said he had General Sanchez waiting on the other line and that he would pass on those congratulations because they';ve carried the burden and they';ve suffered a lot of casualties since the war phase ended and I feel pleased for them as well as I do for the Iraqi people and they deserve our congratulations.
GHIDELLA:
Well Mr Howard, you';ve been roundly criticised for sending Australian troops to a war that some people believe was not our war to fight. There';s been no weapons of mass destruction found so far. We';ve now found Saddam Hussein; he';s obviously going to be interrogated. Do you think maybe now we might find these weapons of mass destruction or do they not exist?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don';t know. As far as our decision is concerned I don';t regret that decision for a moment, not for a moment, I think it was the right thing to have done and if the alternative advice had been taken, Saddam Hussein would still be running Iraq, he would still be murdering people, he not only would not be in captivity but he would have others in captivity in Baghdad. So let';s keep a sense of proportion about this. Let us say in relation to the weapons that the jury is still well and truly out on that. There is evidence of the existence of weapons programmes and I think people who say that there';ll never be any evidence discovered to match the very strong intelligence we had some months ago, I think they are being altogether too premature in saying that.
GHIDELLA:
What about Australians troops though, we';ve still got 850 Australian troops over there in Iraq, surely now that we';ve got Saddam Hussein, they';re on the road to recovery as such, or towards democracy, isn';t it time to pull the Australian troops out of Iraq?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I don';t believe so.
GHIDELLA:
Why not?
PRIME MINISTER:
Because the job is not yet done, it';s not completed, we have caught Saddam but that doesn';t mean that overnight…
GHIDELLA:
What';s going to be served by…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well what';s going to be served is that the job is going to be completed. It would be a cruel thing if we had gone this far, we caught Saddam, we got most of the other deck of cards yet we pulled out prematurely and this applies to everybody, not just the Australians, and allowed those who would deny Iraq freedom the opportunity of getting on top again.
GHIDELLA:
All right, in terms of Saddam Hussein, what would you like to see happen now, if the Americans try him, that is not what the Iraqi people are going to want. Do the Americans have to finally say okay, we';ve captured him, but hand him over to perhaps an international tribunal or something like…?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I want him tried in circumstances where he will receive the justice he denied to other people. Obviously there';s a strong case for that to happen in Iraq.
GHIDELLA:
And would you support the death penalty?
PRIME MINISTER:
If it were imposed, absolutely.
GHIDELLA:
So you want him to see him tried in Iraq?
PRIME MINISTER:
My preference would be for him to be tried in Iraq; I';m not particularly attracted to the idea of him being tried say at The Hague, I think it would be better if he were tried in Iraq.
GHIDELLA:
All right, well Mr Howard, that';s all we';ve got time for, thank you very much for that.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ends]