Saddam's regime will never return to Iraq, Bush says

0 Comments | Asian Political News, July 28, 2003

WASHINGTON, July 23 Kyodo

U.S. President George W. Bush said Wednesday the rule of the collapsed government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein will never return as the U.S. military killed his two sons.

''Now more than ever, all Iraqis can know that the former regime is gone and will not be coming back,'' Bush said in a White House appearance.

The U.S. military raided a house in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Tuesday, killing Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay.

''Saddam Hussein's sons were responsible for torture, maiming and murder of countless Iraqis,'' said Bush, who was flanked by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civilian administrator for Iraq, and Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.

Bush pledged to hunt down ''a few remaining holdouts'' loyal to the former Saddam government who are still resisting the U.S. military in Iraq.

''Wherever they operate, they are being hunted, and they will be defeated,'' he said.