Saddam to be tried by Iraqis, says Bush

THE debate over the fate of Saddam Hussein continued yesterday as US President George W Bush said he would be put on trial in a manner to be determined in conjunction with Iraqis.

The US leader made clear he would have no qualms if, ultimately, Saddam were to be sentenced to death for his crimes.

Asked if the death penalty could be considered, Iraq's Governing Council leader Abdelaziz al-Hakim said: "Yes. Absolutely."

Entifadh Qanbar, spokesman for the council, insisted Saddam would get a fair trial.

He told BBC Breakfast: "Politicians in Iraq and the Iraqi people want to see this trial as an unprecedented thing in the Middle East as a new face for a new Iraq, a new democratic Iraq where leaders will be accountable.

"It will also send the right message to have a trial conducted in Iraq by Iraqis to heal the wounds of those victims or the families of the victims."

But human rights groups say Iraq lacks judges, lawyers and institutions to conduct fair trials without help.

Charges against Saddam could focus on the campaign against Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s; the use of chemical weapons on Iranian troops and Kurdish civilians; the suppression of the Kurdish and Shi'ite uprisings in 1991; the punishment of the Marsh Arabs and the forced expulsions of ethnic minorities in the north.

Both Mr Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair agree that the former tyrant, captured cowering in a dugout, should be handed over to the survivors of his rule.

Mr Blair has made plain Britain would go along with the execution of Saddam only reluctantly.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the United Nations could not support bringing the former Iraqi leader before a tribunal that might sentence him to death.

As the question of Saddam's fate remained unanswered, American officials said his interrogation would focus on getting intelligence about the insurgency.

Although information gleaned from Saddam had been useful, officials in Washington described the former Iraqi leader as "sarcastic and unhelpful" in other areas. He denied Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or ties to the al-Qaida terror network.