Bush asleep when Saddam hanged

CRAWFORD, TEXAS, Dec 30: US President George W Bush learned at 6: 15 pm yesterday (0545 IST today) that Saddam Hussein would be executed in a few hours but was asleep when the ousted dictator was hanged, a spokesman said.

"The president concluded his day knowing that the final phase of bringing Saddam Hussein to justice was underway," said deputy White House press secretary Scott Stanzel.

Asked whether that meant Bush was asleep when Saddam and two former members of his regime were hanged in succession in the early morning hours of Baghdad, Stanzel replied: "That's correct."

Bush, here on his Texas ranch to usher in 2007, would have been awakened "if there had been a departure from the planning" but "the execution went forward as planned," Stanzel told reporters.

White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley briefed Bush by telephone at 6:15 pm yesterday (0545 IST today) on "the entire process" of bringing Saddam to the gallows, said Stanzel.

Hadley had himself learned about from the US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, who had been informed by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki "that the execution would go forward in the next few hours," he said.

The White House put out a statement from Bush after Saddam's execution, but the US president will not speak out in person today said the spokesman. (AGENCIES)

Libya's Khadafi rejects Western pressure over AIDS trial

TRIPOLI, Dec 30: Libya's leader Moamer Khadafi has rejected calls for the release of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death for infecting children with AIDS.

"Those who commit a crime must accept the consequences," he said yesterday at a gathering of Arab and Western diplomats, as well as media and religious dignitaries, held to mark the beginning of Muslim festivities as well as the Christian end of year.

Stressing "the independence of the Libyan judicial system," he rejected "Western intervention and pressure in this affair."

This month's verdict of death by firing squad caused an international outcry, especially in Europe.

The six foreign medics were all found guilty of intentionally injecting the HIV virus that can cause AIDS into more than 400 children at a hospital in the northern coastal city of Benghazi.

In a statement earlier in the day, the foreign ministry had accused the West of pressuring Tripoli to quash "What European countries, the European Union and NATO said showed a lack of disrespect for the judicial systems of other countries".

It accused these parties of working "towards making an independent state, Libya, quash a verdict handed down by a competent tribunal, contrary to the laws of this country".

The ministry also said the death sentences could be revised after an appeal to the supreme court. (AGENCIES)

Vietnam reports first suspected bird flu cases in a year

HANOI, Dec 30: Four members of a family in southern Vietnam have been admitted to a hospital with symptoms of bird flu, a doctor said today.

A 36-year-old woman and her three children aged three to 13 were admitted to Nam Can Hospital in Ca Mau province between Monday to Thursday with fever, coughing, decreased blood white cells and damaged lungs, said Ho Van Van, a doctor at the hospital.

The family had four chickens and five ducks, he said, adding that they ate one of the chickens, which had fallen sick and died, on December 23.

Swab samples from the four patents have been sent to the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City to test for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, Van said. Health officials have disinfected the family's house and neighborhood, he added.

Vietnam has this month reported bird flu in poultry in Ca Mau and two other provinces in the Mekong Delta, in the country's first reported outbreaks in a year.

At least 42 people have died of the H5N1 virus in Vietnam since late 2003, according to the World Health Organization. The country's last human case was reported in November 2005. (AGENCIES)

Vietnamese family in hospital with bird flu symptoms

HANOI, Dec 30: Four members of a Vietnamese family have been hospitalised with symptoms of bird flu after eating sick chickens in the country's south, where the disease re-emerged in poultry earlier this month.

The mother and her three children, aged between three and 13, all suffered from high fever, coughing and lung infection. They are being treated at Nam Can Hospital in the southern province of Ca Mau.

''Their samples have been sent for bird flu tests in Ho Chi Minh City and results should be available soon,'' an official at the Ca Mau Provincial Animal Health Department said today.

Ca Mau, Bac Lieu and Hau Giang are the three Mekong delta provinces where thousands of ducks and chickens have been slaughtered since the latest bird flu outbreaks were first detected on December 11.

Agriculture officials this week said the risk of recurrence elsewhere was high because of migration of wild birds and poultry smuggling.

The government has ordered animal health authorities and police to tighten control of poultry transport, particularly in the provinces bordering China. Officials fear the H5N1 avian flu virus could re-emerge during the Lunar New Year festival when poultry consumption rises.

The latest outbreaks are the first in Vietnam since August.

Bird flu has killed 42 of the 93 people infected in Vietnam.

The Southeast Asian country, which has had no reported human infections since late 2005, has the world's second highest death toll after Indonesia, where 57 people have died, according to the World Health Organisation.

The WHO says bird flu has killed 157 people out of 261 infected globally since late 2003.

(AGENCIES)

Storms ground Denver flights, kill one in Texas

DENVER, Dec 30: Denver's second big snowstorm in a week grounded scores of flights at the United States' fifth busiest airport and spawned tornadoes in Texas that killed one person and forced President George W. Bush to an armored vehicle on his ranch.

At Denver International Airport, the major airlines canceled 15 per cent to 20 per cent of their flights yesterday, nearly 200 departures, to ease congestion during one of the year's busiest travel periods.

Colorado Gov. Bill Owens again declared a statewide disaster, putting the National Guard on standby.

The storm stretched across the Rocky Mountains into the western Plains states, with west Texas preparing for up to 10 inches of snow.

The storm system swept tornadoes across Texas, sending at least a dozen people to hospital and causing the president and first lady Laura Bush to be moved to an armored vehicle, where they sat until the weather cleared, deputy White House press secretary Scott Stanzel said.

About 15,000 customers in North, East and Central Texas lost power, said TXU Electric Delivery spokeswoman Carol Peters.

Last week's Colorado blizzard dumped nearly 2 feet of snow in about 24 hours, making it impossible for airport and highway plows to keep up, stranding 4,700 holiday travelers and delaying flights around the country.

The new snow was expected to be spread out over two or three days, making it easier for snowplows to handle. A foot or more of snow was forecast in Denver through today. (AGENCIES)

Manila bows to US over custody of convicted rapist

MANILA, Dec 30: The Philippines has bowed to pressure from Washington over custody of a US Marine convicted of raping a Filipina, transferring him to the American embassy in Manila.

Police and the US embassy spokesman said Lance Corporal Daniel Smith was taken from a local jail late yesterday.

His case has become a headache for the government, which agrees with Washington that under the terms of a Visiting Forces Agreement he should remain in US custody while he appeals.

On December 4, a local court sent the 21-year-old to a Manila jail, jeopardizing the Philippines' close security alliance with its former colonial master.

Last week, Washington said it was cancelling military exercises with the Philippines next year because of the issue.

''Lance Corporal Smith is now in US military custody and he will remain so until the completion of the judicial proceedings,'' US embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop told GMA 7 television.

He said it was too early to speculate on the prospects of holding military exercises next year following Smith's transfer. Manila is reliant on US military aid and advice to help fight Muslim insurgents and, in addition to the annual war games, has up to 300 US military advisers working with local troops to help them capture militants in the restive south.

The yearly exercises are the centre-piece of a close security alliance and usually involve up to 5,000 US soldiers and around 3,000 Filipino troops over a two-week period.

Smith, who took part in the exercises last year, was found guilty of raping a 23-year-old management accounting graduate in a van in a former US navy base while on shore leave. Three other US Marines were acquitted of rape earlier this month.

Lawyer Evalyn Ursua, counsel of the rape victim given the name Nicole, expressed surprise at the transfer.

Ursua told dzRH radio that the victim's legal team planned to file charges against those behind the transfer, and an impeachment suit against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who she said was the only official who could authorise the transfer.

''This is tantamount to rape of the law and of the Philippine Constitution,'' she said. ''They spirited Smith in the dead of night, commando-style. The guard was not asleep, the guard helped in the escape, and this had the blessings of the president.'' (AGENCIES)

Saddam Hussein in his own words

UNDATED,Dec 30: Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was hanged today for crimes against humanity.

Here are some of his notable statements:

* AT THE START OF GULF WAR - Jan. 1991:

-- ''When the deaths and dead mount for them, the infidels will leave and the flag of Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest) will fly over the mother of all battles.''

* DURING THE GULF WAR - Feb. 1991:

-- ''We will chase [Americans] to every corner at all times. No high tower of steel will protect them against the fire of truth.''

* ON THE 9/11 ATTACKS - September 2001

-- ''The United States is reaping the thorns its rulers have sown in the world.''

* ON US THREATS OF WAR: August 9, 2002

''Darkness shall be defeated.''

''The forces of evil will carry their coffins on their backs, die in disgraceful failure, taking their schemes back with them, or digging their own graves,'' he said.

* MESSAGE TO UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY, Sept 19, 2002

''I hereby declare before you that Iraq is clear of all nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.''

''The US administration wants to destroy Iraq in order to control the Middle East's oil, and consequently control the politics as well as the oil and economic policies of the whole world.''

* ON IMMINENT US ATTACK - Jan 17, 2003

''They will commit suicide on the walls of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities ... The entire nation will rise up in defence of its right to life, of its role and of anything it holds sacred.''

* ON NOT LOSING SLEEP ABOUT WAR - Jan 20, 2003

''Put your minds at ease that I rarely find it difficult to sleep ... I fall asleep as soon as I put my head on the pillow. I don't need sleeping pills, unlike some officials we hear about, and I don't get insomnia like some people do.''

* ON FIRST DAY OF US-LED INVASION - March 20, 2003

''The criminal little Bush has committed a crime against humanity.''

* ON THE US INVASION - March 24, 2003

''After underestimating you ... The enemy is trapped in the sacred land of Iraq which is being defended by its great people and army.''

* SADDAM ON THE RUN - July 2003

Addressing the Iraqi people in an audiotape: ''I urge you to protect the heroic resistance fighters and not to give the infidel invaders or their aides any information or help.''

''Now that all has been revealed, I would like you, Iraqis, to ask the invaders: 'Where are the weapons that you claimed Iraq was hiding and which you used as a pretext to wage war and aggression on our country?'''

* ON HIS CAPTURE - December 2003:

''My name is Saddam Hussein. I am the president of Iraq, and I want to negotiate.''

* DURING HIS TRIAL - December 2005:

''Even if they put me in hellfire, God forgive me, let them put me in fire with the firewood that wanted to burn Abraham and I would say, 'Fine, for the sake of Iraq.' And I will not cry, for my heart is full of belief.''

* DUJAIL TRIAL - March 2006:

During his trial for the killing of 148 Shi'ites from Dujail and the razing of their farmland and mass deportations, Saddam said he acted after an attempt on his life as he drove through the town during a visit in July 1982: ''So where is the crime?''

AHEAD OF EXECUTION - Dec. 2006:

''Here I offer myself in sacrifice. If my soul goes down this path (of martyrdom) it will face God in serenity.'' (AGENCIES)

Ford didn't make his career, US actor Chase says

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 30: US comic actor Chevy Chase, who portrayed Gerald Ford as a klutz on the 1975-76 ''Saturday Night Live'' television shows, says he does not enjoy the renewed attention the ex-president's death brought him.

''I'm just a guy who made some fun of Gerald Ford in 1976 and I prefer to be left alone, really,'' the 63-year-old comedian told Reuters this week from a Colorado ski resort where he had been skiing with his daughter.

Chase, who has starred in many Hollywood film comedies and written for television shows, said he gets upset when people say that Ford ''made'' his career.

''The man who 'made my career' did not do 'Fletch,' did not do 'Caddyshack,' did not write for the 'Smothers Brothers' before he wrote for 'Saturday Night Live,' did not write for 12 years before that and win Writers Guild awards.

''It's that kind of thing that comes out in the press that perpetuates myths about me that are disgusting, that hurt my feelings, that hurt my family's feelings.''

Chase and other original cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' once relished the national publicity that the show's irreverent comedy generated.

But since Ford's death at age 93 on Tuesday, Chase has declined interview requests from the nation's top newspapers and television news programs, which have repeatedly played excerpts of his old skits. Pundits and Internet blogs also have been debating Chase's impact on the Ford presidency.

''He did not make my career,'' said Chase, who spoke to Reuters twice this week by telephone. ''If anything, I took his career and put it in the dumper because I did not want him to be president of this country, that's the way it really should be written.''

Chase said he later became friendly with Ford and called the Republican ''a very, very sweet man.''

''He took my wife and I on a whole lovely trip through Grand Rapids to show us where he had been as a child and what not. We kept in touch and he was just a terrific guy,'' he said. (AGENCIES)

Ford cited friendship in Nixon pardon:Newspaper

WASHINGTON, Dec 30: Memorial services for former President Gerald Ford began as a newly published interview he gave The Washington Post suggested he pardoned Richard Nixon partly to spare his friend the stigma of a criminal conviction over Watergate.

Ford's relatives and close friends gathered in Palm Desert, California, yesterday for a private prayer service and visitation at the church the former president attended for the last three decades of his life. Ford died on Tuesday at age 93.

A casket carrying Ford's remains was carried up the steps of St Margaret's Episcopal Church where his widow, Betty Ford, and his children and grandchildren gathered. They were joined about an hour later by some 300 invited guests.

Ford was expected to lie in repose overnight at the church, attended by a US military honor guard, to allow members of the desert community, where Ford had retired, to pay their final respects.

Today, Ford's remains will be flown to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland and then taken to Washington where his casket will lie in state at the Capitol. A service will be held at the National Cathedral on Tuesday at which President George W Bush will speak.

In his 2005 interview with the Post, Ford went beyond his previous insistence he pardoned Nixon to move the United States beyond the partisan divisions of Watergate.

Nixon, facing impeachment for trying to cover up the scandal, ultimately resigned and handed over power to Ford, whom he had appointed to the vice presidency following Spiro Agnew's resignation in October 1973.

STRONG FRIENDS

''I looked upon him as my personal friend. And I had no hesitancy about granting the pardon because I felt that we had this relationship and I didn't want to see my real friend have the stigma,'' Ford told journalist Bob Woodward in the interview.

Ford had long said he pardoned Nixon because he wanted to mend the divisions of Watergate. In his speech announcing the pardon, he acknowledged his friendship with Nixon but said his concern was for the country and not personal sympathy for the disgraced former US leader.

Woodward was one of the Post reporters who unraveled the Watergate affair after operatives with Republican Party ties broke into the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate hotel and office complex in 1972.

The Post reported yesterday that Nixon and Ford had been strong friends long before Nixon named Ford vice president.

In an earlier interview reported by the Post on Thursday, Ford criticized the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq. Many of those involved in Iraq war decision-making were members of Ford's inner circle.

Bush's first defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, worked as Ford's chief of staff and later defense secretary. Dick Cheney, now vice president, became Ford's chief of staff when Rumsfeld moved to defense.

''Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in justifying going into the war in Iraq. They put the emphasis on weapons of mass destruction,'' Ford said in the interviews.

Cheney and others figure prominently in memorial services for the former president. The vice president will serve as an honorary pallbearer this week and next, will deliver a eulogy at the US Capitol today and will attend a funeral on Wednesday in Michigan. (AGENCIES)

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