FINLAND

FINLAND
Ilta-Sanomat, Helsinki, Dec. 15: The ouster of Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein is the first good news in a long time out of Iraq for the United States and Britain whose governments have drifted into growing domestic political problems caused by the bad security in Iraq and the proven weak grounds for going to war.
The propaganda value of Saddam's capture, however, could vanish if there is no significant improvement in the security situation in Iraq.
The slip
Osama bin Laden managed to give the Americans the slip in Afghanistan and had Saddam done "an Osama" it would have been an additional humiliation for the Americans. It would have led to uncomfortable questions about the relative effectiveness of the world's most efficient war machine.
Saddam's arrest does not change the problematic relations between the various ethnic and religious groups in Iraq. Unless these are solved satisfactorily, there is no hope of a bright future for Iraq.
BRITAIN
The Guardian, London, Dec. 16: Britain has rightly abolished the death penalty; so too have all EU members. Britain has consistently lobbied against continued use of capital punishment in the U.S. and other countries. Yet why is this "abolitionist" government now apparently prepared to countenance the future use of the death penalty in Iraq against Saddam and others?
Justice
It seems content to allow an inexperienced, untested panel of five Iraqi judges, set up under U.S. guidance in Baghdad, to handle what may prove to be the most internationally significant prosecutions since Nuremberg. This is not just about making Saddam pay. It is about delivering justice to a whole nation and, indeed, a whole region, in a spirit not of vengeance, but of impeccable, exemplary legality and legitimacy.
This must be seen to be done right. The last thing Iraq needs is another corpse -- or a martyr.
NORWAY
Bergens Tidende, Bergen, Dec. 16: Reports of the European Union's death are greatly exaggerated, but descriptions of how difficult it is to create an EU ring true. We shouldn't be surprised. As if Americans getting together to create the United States wasn't hard enough, a group of countries tried to get together and create the United States of Europe.
Member countries disagree on the final product, what the EU should be. Every EU county is fighting for its place, its share of EU power.
Big countries faced off with small ones. The proposed constitution caused conflicts in all directions.
Master of flexibility
But it may not be a disaster that the constitutional conflict continues. The EU has proven itself a master of flexibility. In the end, an EU constitution is to be approved in a series of referendums, and it may be better to use the time needed rather than power, yet again, being formed for Europe behind closed doors after midnight.
SWEDEN
Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm, Dec. 16: If the situation in Iraq does not improve, if Americans are killed at a frightening regularity, the Sunday success may be forgotten when the Americans go to the polls next year.
On top of that, the opposition's main arguments are still there.
Still no weapons of mass destruction have been found; one could still say that Osama bin Laden is a bigger threat to the United States than Saddam Hussein ever was; and one could still say that American foreign policy has created unnecessary international tensions.
What the Democrats need to win in November is a candidate who can forward the criticism without being pulled to pieces by his own.
DENMARK
Berlingske Tidende, Copenhagen, Dec. 16: It's not foremost for Saddam Hussein that a lynch-mob mentality trial not be permitted to take place.
But if the peace must be won in Iraq, the international community and the country's new leaders must show all Iraqis that there is a new alternative to the past decades of a terrorist regime. Giving Saddam a fair trial is a strong way of proving that.
Punishment
Besides, if justice is provided, Saddam will, without a doubt, get the punishment he deserves.
BRITAIN
The Times, London, Dec. 16: Saddam's overwhelming interest is to avoid being judged by his people. For him, the best outcome would be a trial under the auspices of the United Nations in The Hague. There, detained in enviable comfort, he might hope, like Slobodan Milosevic, to spin out a defense case that could last for years, masking his crimes against humanity with legalistic arguments on the conduct of war and the political bias of his enemies.
Human rights groups are calling for an international trial to ensure political fairness. This call is as naive and inappropriate, however, as the demand by some American politicians that Saddam be tried in America. Neither would be acceptable to the Iraqis, and both scenarios would be used by nationalists and Islamist extremists to complain that "victors justice" was simply a way of justifying the coalition attack.
Legal framework
The West is in a strong position to help to set in place a proper legal framework, which would allow judges and lawyers free of past taint to conduct proceedings fairly. The coalition must make clear to the Iraqis that only a trial seen to be fair will satisfy world, as well as Iraqi, opinion.
ISRAEL
Jerusalem Post, Dec. 16: We are happy that the European leaders who did their best to block the United States from deposing Saddam are happy at his capture. But if they had had their way, Saddam and his killing machine would still be in power, still racing to develop or acquire nuclear weapons, still training terrorists, and plotting its next act of international aggression.
Europe claims to aspire to a leadership role in the world, or at least the right to comment on global affairs. As we consider the future, two types of days stand out: red-letter days such as Saddam's capture, and the fall of his and the Taliban regimes; and their anti-thesis, such as September 11, 2001.
How does Europe plan to produce more of the good days and fewer of the catastrophic ones?
Ground Zero
After 9/11, the "unlimited solidarity" with the U.S. that Schroeder pledged and Chirac's emotional trip to Ground Zero were quickly forgotten. Similarly, European leaders and publics may soon forget the pictures of celebrating Iraqis expressing unadulterated joy at the capture and humiliation of the tyrant who ruled over them.
The world, including many Americans, will strive to prematurely return to the "normal life" that existed, or seemed to, before 9/11. This would be a tragic mistake.
The lesson of 9/11 is in danger of being forgotten in America, and was never learned in Europe: complacency toward hostile tyrannies bears a terrible price.
There may be alternative methods, but there is no alternative goal to pressing on against the tyrannies that are the major threats to international peace and security. We would like to think that the leaders in Damascus, Teheran, and Pyongyang will get the message and turn their nations into model members of the international community, but the power of example is, so far, not enough. ...
Confronted with "allies" engaged in undisguised efforts to undermine its policy, the time has come for the U.S. to consider playing a similar form of hardball. Let us find out more about the financial relationships between Saddam and some of the governments who now celebrate his capture. Let us see more sunlight on the human rights records of the regimes Europe wants to "engage."
If there was any doubt, Saddam's trial should prove that high moral ground was not occupied by those who wanted to trade with, rather than topple, his regime. The moral high ground must be captured by those who deserve it: the nations that join the fight to advance freedom and defeat terrorism.
JAPAN
Yomiuri Shimbun, Tokyo, Dec. 16: The anxiety that the Saddam regime might be revived, bringing with it another reign of terror, had discouraged Iraqis from making an effort to rebuild their home country. We hope that the Iraqi people, now freed of this fear, will devote themselves to reconstructing their country.
However, it is too early to be complacent about the news of Saddam's arrest.
While one source of horror has been removed, terrorists will continue to seek out chances to ply their dark trade throughout the length and breadth of the vast territory of Iraq. Therefore, it is premature to say that the capture of Saddam will put a complete end to insurgency.
We would like to see an improvement in public order and progress in reconstruction develop and go forth in unison, just like the wheels of a car.
Slow progress
In postwar Iraq, unemployment is high partly because of the slow progress in reconstruction. Observers say the slow improvement in public order is due to the Iraqi people freely voicing their frustration with the Coalition Provisional Authority and other aid organizations. To remedy this, these organizations must do their utmost to increase employment opportunities among other things.