Saddam: Trial in Iraq - judged by Iraqis?

Published on Friday, August 1, 2003 by the Boston Globe

US Debates Bid to Kill Hussein and Avoid Trial

by Bryan Bender

WASHINGTON -- Senior Bush administration officials are debating whether to order military commanders to kill rather than capture Saddam Hussein to avoid an unpredictable trial that could stir up nationalist Arab sentiments and embarrass Washington by publicizing past US support for the deposed Iraqi dictator, according to defense and intelligence officials.


One worry is that a host of embarrassing charges might be leveled at the United States. Washington supported Hussein's regime during Iraq's war against Iran between 1980 and 1988 -- including providing satellite images of Iranian military formations -- at a time when Iraqi forces used chemical weapons against troops and civilians.

Trying Hussein before an Iraqi or international criminal court would present an opportunity to hold the Ba'ath Party regime accountable for its repression and murder of thousands of people over the past three decades.

Iraq's new US-backed Governing Council said this week it wants to try Hussein in an Iraqi court, something the occupation authority there has said it supports. The New York Times, citing unnamed State Department officials, reported today that the administration favors creating a tribunal of Iraqi judges to try Hussein for crimes against humanity if he is caught.

But as US troops step up the hunt for Hussein near his hometown of Tikrit, the prospect of an open trial that puts him on a public stage has given pause to some in the administration, according to government officials with knowledge of the high-level meetings. Among those said to have taken part in the discussions are Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. - http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0801-06.htm

He knows too much.

...to hide the relationship between the Reagan/Bush administration and bin Laden and Saddam. They don't want the average American to understand that Reagan/Bush sold Saddam some of the very WMD they now can't seem to find.

- Saddam should be apprehended and then judged and sentenced by his own people.

destroy and get rid of all the incriminating documents and reciepts with kissengers signutes all over them...:grr:

Try the very chemical weapons themselves.