Questions surround Saddam's war crimes trial

WASHINGTON -- Saddam Hussein can't be tried for war crimes until the Iraqis -- with heavy influence from American officials -- decide a range of tough issues including whether execution should be an option and whether Iran should play a role in the trial.

Any decision to seek the death penalty, in particular, could risk key international support for the process and leave Washington with a bill for hundreds of millions of dollars, American officials and other analysts said Wednesday.

U.S. officials have gone along with the Iraqi plan that Saddam's trial should be conducted by a special Iraqi tribunal that was set up just days before Saddam's capture last weekend. The Americans say they will work with Iraqis on key issues, such as: Should the tribunal try only Saddam and his top aides or go after more Saddam loyalists? How many foreign judges and prosecutors should participate? Should any trial be televised?

And when should it take place?

President Bush said this week he believes Saddam ought to receive "the ultimate penalty," but he added the punishment "will be decided not by the president of the United States but by the citizens of Iraq."

If Iraqi officials retain the death penalty as an option, "that could rule out all of Europe" as a possible source of financial support for the process, said David Scheffer, who was a State Department legal adviser during the Clinton administration. In Europe capital punishment is widely viewed as barbaric.

Expensive proceedings

War crimes tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda have been hugely expensive -- and the Iraqi process will probably be the same, said Scheffer.

Another issue is how big a net the Iraqis should cast in determining which of Saddam's aides face prosecution.

A Bush administration official, citing cost and time considerations, said Washington strongly opposes any suggestion that hundreds of operatives from Saddam's Baath Party be targeted by the special tribunal.

There could be anywhere from a dozen to 50 or so, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The consultations between Iraqi and American officials could produce heated disagreement. U.S. officials believe a fair trial for Saddam would provide a dramatic contrast with the treatment he gave his enemies over the years.

"There is no question that it has to be fair, it has to be transparent and it has to stand up to international scrutiny," Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said Tuesday.

But preparations for a credible proceeding require time, and many Iraqis seem unwilling to wait.

Mouwafak al-Rabii, a human rights activist who was imprisoned under Saddam and now serves on the Iraqi Governing Council, said he wants the trial to begin in weeks.

"We passed the law. We have almost agreed on most of the judges and prosecutors. We're almost there. I can tell you, he (Saddam) is going to be the first," he said.

But the administration official estimated that the pretrial process would take about six months, roughly the same amount of time the American-led coalition has left before turning power over to Iraqis.

Another difficult issue is whether the trials should address the death and destruction Saddam's forces caused during Iraq's wars against Iran and Kuwait. Iran has said it wants to file a war crimes complaint against Saddam.

Assassination attempt

Also unresolved are allegations of a 1993, Saddam-sponsored assassination attempt against President George H. W. Bush -- the current President Bush's father -- during a visit to Kuwait. Under the first President Bush's direction, U.S. forces helped evict the Iraqi army from Kuwait in early 1991.

Another issue is the degree to which Iraqis will want advice and counsel from outsiders. In setting up the tribunal, the Iraqi Governing Council allowed for the possibility of foreign judges, advisers and observers. The rules also permit a foreign defense counsel so long as he is subordinate to an Iraqi counsel.

Aryeh Neier, president of the Open Society Institute, has said Iraqis should recruit legal professionals from other Arab countries. They could thus compensate for the acute shortage of knowledgeable Iraqi professionals -- a product, he notes, of Saddam abuses.

Neier also said the trials should be shown on television throughout the Arab world, Iraq included.

"It's especially important for Iraqis to know about Saddam Hussein's crimes in detail," Neier said. As for the 21 other Arab countries, he says televised proceedings would be illuminating because many people believe that the allegations against Saddam are "Western propaganda."

American officials in Iraq have indicated they favor televised trials.