Saddam is past, says Iraqi envoy

Gone was the swagger, the anti-imperialism rhetoric, the references to "Our beloved leader, Saddam Hussein" that used to spring so readily to the lips of former Ambassador of Iraq to India, Salah al-Mukhtar.

Instead, at a joint press conference with US Ambassador David Mulford today, the Iraqi Charge d'Affaires, Muayad S Hussein, in reply to a perfectly innocuous question about who would handle Saddam Hussein's trial now that an transitional Iraqi government was about to assume office in Baghdad, said: "Saddam Hussein is from the past. We don't like even to remember his name".

He was asked whether democracy was worth the lives of 100,000 people who had died in the process. "Democracy needs more, many more numbers," said Hussein.

In a preface to the joint press conference, a spokesman of the Iraqi Embassy made it clear that the press conference was only about Iraq elections and "please ask only relevant questions".

There was plenty of relevance at the press conference. The US Ambassador made it clear that questions about the running of Iraq - troop requirements - should be addressed to the Iraqi government.

"President Bush has already said that when the Iraqi Government wants (the multinational) force to leave, it will leave" Mulford said.

He said that till June 30, the US government had been in touch with the Government of India and continued to provide information and brief it. However, now, New Delhi needed to address its queries to the administration in Baghdad.

The Iraqi side made it clear that India's help would be needed in the rebuilding process and utilising of new opportunities in construction, engineering, oil exploration, information technology and other areas.

"In the new Iraqi scenario, there are lots of opportunities for the Indian business community who can re-establish their old position," Hussein said. Indians have long experience in working in that region, he said. Iraq could benefit from their expertise in various fields. "The new Iraq can grow as an important partner in various other fields with India," he said.

The press conference, the first since the US occupation of Iraq, was held at the Iraqi Ambassador's official bungalow, that bore no relics or 'old' Iraq and certainly no pictures of Saddam Hussein.

Those who have visited the residence in the past saw something that would have been an anathema in the old days: the Star and Stripes alongside the Iraqi flag.

Husein said the rights of the minorities - the Kurds (against whom there have been vicious state-initiated pogroms in the past) the Sunnis and others would be protected. He said Iraq would "never be a religious state".

Mulford said the world had heard the message of the Iraqi elections - that freedom and democracy reigned in Iraq.