U.S. plans to put Iraqi rulers on trial

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is building cases against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and more than a dozen members of his inner circle who could be charged with crimes against humanity if the Iraqi government is toppled, the Washington Post reported.

Hussein is at the top of a working list of war crimes suspects, joined by his sons Uday and Qusay, each of whom has a reputation for brutality. Also on the list are Ali Hassan Majeed, known as "Chemical Ali" for his use of chemical weapons against Kurds in northern Iraq, and Izzat Ibrahim, vice chairman of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council.

Those five belong to a core group of about a dozen Iraqis whose actions on behalf of the Iraqi government are deemed by U.S. officials and human rights groups to merit charges of genocide or crimes against humanity. Dozens of other Iraqi officials also are considered badly tainted and could face charges in post-Hussein Iraq after further investigation, the Post said.

The likelihood of U.S.-backed war crimes trials for the Iraqi leadership, if Hussein is overthrown, recalls the Nuremberg prosecutions that followed Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II and the international tribunal now prosecuting former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic in The Hague. The fate of Iraq's leadership cadre is considered crucial to the success of any U.S.-led operation against Hussein, and central to the way Iraqis rebound from three decades of dictatorship.

The administration has not yet decided how deeply to target the Iraqi leadership and who would lead any criminal case. But as U.S. war planning intensifies, so does the urgency of identifying friend and foe in Iraq, the Post said, adding that U.S. military commanders would be required to make swift choices about whom to arrest and whom to welcome as a partner.

"The top people around" Hussein must go, said Undersecretary of State John Bolton. Likening the situation to de-Nazification in postwar Germany, Bolton said the rebirth of Iraq requires the removal of people "who are so fundamentally part of Saddam's entourage that their remaining in power would have the problem persist."

By deciding in advance to stage trials for the Iraqi leadership, however, the administration risks the possibility that high-ranking suspects fearing prosecution would fight to retain power. Debate continues within the administration about how to handle the issue.

The venue for prosecution has not been determined, but U.S. officials say a consensus is forming around establishing courts in post-Hussein Iraq that would be staffed in part by international jurists. Such courts would draw upon ongoing evidence-gathering efforts in other countries, including projects supported in recent years with $10.8-million in U.S. funds.

The International Criminal Court is not an option because it does not have jurisdiction over events that happened before it came into existence on July 1. Nor is Iraq a signatory to the convention that created it.

Two Pentagon lawyers have been assembling evidence in a form that could be useful to prosecutors, according to U.S. officials and people they have contacted. A State Department-supervised working group of about 30 Iraqi exiles and Iraqi Americans is developing plans for transitional justice, including criminal prosecution of a larger array of Iraqis.

The approach contemplates several tiers of prosecutions, with several U.S. officials describing a growing consensus in favor of targeting Hussein and his senior lieutenants and relatives, including a group U.S. officials have referred to since 1993 as "the dirty dozen." The administration favors trials in Iraqi courts staffed in part by international judges and lawyers.

"We'll take the lead in setting the tone. From there, it's hard to say," said Pierre-Richard Prosper, the State Department's war crimes ambassador. "We know that Saddam and his dirty dozen are believed to be the leaders responsible for all the atrocities that have occurred there for well over a decade. We know that over 100,000 people have been killed."

Prosper said of Hussein, "He will be suspect No. 1 brought before a court, any court."

U.S. may work a deal on resolution

WASHINGTON -- Signaling compromise, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday "there may be a way" to bridge remaining differences with France and Russia on a U.N. resolution designed to force Iraq to disarm.

"That's what we are working on, doing intensively today," Powell said as American diplomats at the United Nations privately floated marginal revisions of the tough resolution sought by the United States and Britain.

"We're hard at work and I think we are getting closer," Powell said. "I don't want to give you days or a week, but it certainly isn't much longer than that."

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