October 2, 2002	Wednesday	Rajab 24, 1423

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WASHINGTON, Oct 1: The White House said on Tuesday that it would “welcome” the assassination of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by one of his own people or his banishment from Iraq, saying both fulfilled US policy.

Repeatedly prodded on whether Washington was urging Iraqis to kill Saddam, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer replied: “Regime change is welcome in whatever form it takes.”

Earlier, in response to a question about how much US military action to disarm and overthrow Saddam would cost, Fleischer said: “the cost of a one-way ticket is substantially less than that. The cost of one bullet the Iraqi people taken on themselves is substantially less than that.”

“There are many options that the president hopes the world and people of Iraq will exercise themselves of that gets rid of the threat,” said the spokesman. US law bars assassinating foreign leaders, and Fleischer said that President Bush was not seeking to rescind that prohibition.—AFP