Iraqis free to kill Saddam, say Bush, Blair

SADDAM HUSSEIN must await the judgement of the Iraqi people for his crimes against them, US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair made plain tonight — even if that means execution for the way he conducted his brutal regime.

Both Mr Bush and Mr Blair said the former tyrant captured cowering in a dugout should be handed over to the survivors of his rule.

And while Mr Blair made plain Britain would reluctantly go along with the execution of Saddam if an Iraqi court ordered it, Mr Bush hinted his own views were more forthright.

"I have got my own personal views as to how he should be treated, but I'm not an Iraqi citizen," said Mr Bush, the former governor of Texas, the US state with the most executions, 312, since 1976.

"This is a brutal dictator. He's a person who killed a lot of people. But my personal views are not important, what's important are the views of the Iraqi people."

Mr Blair told MPs in the Commons: "This is something which in my view should be determined by the Iraqi government and the Iraqi people."

The Prime Minister's official spokesman underlined Britain's willingness to accept the death penalty, saying: "If he is tried by institutions representing them in Iraq we would obviously have to abide by their rules."

Mr Bush said of Saddam: "He will be detained. We will work with the Iraqis to determine a way to try him that will stand international scrutiny."

But as the now clean-shaven Saddam was being quizzed at a US base in Baghdad yesterday, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council said he would be put on trial soon and executed on July 1 the day after the US is scheduled to hand over control.

Saddam could be tried "in the next few weeks" and could be executed if convicted, said Mouwafak al-Rabii, a Shi'ite member of the Iraqi Governing Council.

"We will get sovereignty on the 30th of June, and I can tell you, he could be executed on the 1st of July." said Mr al-Rabii, a long-time human rights activist.