Saddam capture brings chance for a new start

Even left-wing opponents of the Bush administration such as France's Liberation newspaper said that the arrest of America's number-one wanted figure in Iraq could do much to reduce the levels of attacks that its forces have been subject to.

"The inglorious manner in which Saddam was picked up -- without the slightest opposition -- will perhaps finally destroy the myth of Saladin's heir with which he glorified himself and which was perpetuated by his eight months on the run," said Liberation, referring to the 12th-century Muslim warrior to whom the Iraqi leader liked to compare himself.

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The conservative Le Figaro newspaper said the arrest "gives a new authority to the Americans -- and this at a time when their policy is increasingly contested both in Iraq and in capitals around the world."

But will Washington seize the opportunity? it asked.

Greater sceptisim about the effects Saddam's arrest will have on anti-American insurgency was expressed in the British Financial Times, which said there was nothing to show that the war of attrition against the occupation was an attempt to restore Saddam Hussein.

"The common thread of the insurgency -- leaving aside the contributions of Islamic Jihadis drawn to Iraq's target-rich environment -- is the defence of Sunni privileges," it said.

Writing in the British daily the Independent, veteran Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk -- a savage critic of US policy -- said the capture of the former leader would in fact encourage Iraqi resistance, because his remaining at liberty had been the one thing stopping many from taking up arms.

"More and more Iraqis were saying before Saddam's capture that the one reason they would not join the resistance to US occupation was the fear that -- if the Americans withdrew -- Saddam would return to power," Fisk wrote.

"Now that fear has been taken away. So the nightmare is over -- and the nightmare is about to begin. For both the Iraqis and for us," he warned.

In Russia, the opposition Nevasimiya Gazeta said "the capture of the dictator should ease the discontent caused by the arrival of coffins and the struggle in the wings for Iraqi oil." The centrist Izvestia said the joy would "last maybe 10 days. Saddam's arrest will change nothing."

But in Germany there was greater optimism.

"The Americans have achieved a decisive success which will boost confidence in their rule," wrote Die Welt newspaper.