CRAWFORD, Texas, 10 August 2003 — Saddam Hussein’s legacy cannot be erased in 100 days, US President George W. Bush said yesterday, warning of “difficult and dangerous work ahead” while lauding progress in the effort to rebuild Iraq. “One hundred days is not enough time to undo the terrible legacy of Saddam Hussein. There is difficult and dangerous work ahead that requires time and patience,” Bush said in his weekly radio address, recorded at his Texas ranch, where he is vacationing this month.
“Friday of this week was the 100th day since the end of major combat operations in Iraq,” Bush recalled. “For America and our coalition partners, these have been 100 days of steady progress and decisive action against the last holdouts of the former regime.
“And for the people of Iraq, this has been a period like none other in the country’s history, a time of change and rising hopes after decades of tyranny,” he added.
He lauded “ the remarkable progress in a short time” by coalition partners and Iraqis working to rebuild the shattered country, including the redeployment of an Iraqi police force, the reopening of banks, the imminent launch of new bank notes, minus Saddam Hussein’s image, and the resumption of oil production.
“Every day, Iraq draws closer to the free and functioning society its people were long denied,” Bush said, noting that the 25 US-picked members of the Iraqi Governing Council are “meeting regularly, naming ministers and drawing up a budget for the country.”
As Bush spoke, a hitherto unknown group of Iraqi Islamists called for guerrilla attacks against occupying forces in Iraq, saying in a videotape broadcast yesterday it was the only way to free the country.
The five masked men shown on the tape, which was broadcast by the UAE-based Al Arabiya television, said they belonged to the White Flags, Muslim Youth and Army of Mohammad organizations.
“We want to tell other organizations that guerrilla warfare is the only way to free the country and we want to say that foreign troops who were sent here must be attacked to prove to the world that we are against occupation,” said one of the men.
UN Role: United Nations special representative for Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello said in Cairo yesterday that the world body was contributing to efforts to hold elections in 2004 in the war-battered country.
“We will need to organize free, fair and truly democratic elections in the country sometime in 2004,” he told a press conference after talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher.
“We already have an electoral team in Iraq and very soon we will help Iraqis prepare these elections. Out of these elections, a legitimate, democratic and internationally-recognized government will emerge,” he added.
