Bush promises Saddam fair trial
The US said Saddam Hussein offered no resistance
The United States will work with the people of Iraq to ensure the trial of Saddam Hussein will stand international scrutiny, President George W Bush says.
The deposed Iraqi leader will get the justice he denied to millions, Mr Bush told a news conference in Washington.
Saddam Hussein is being questioned after his capture at the weekend, but interrogation has reportedly so far yielded no direct intelligence.
Two car bombs exploded in the Baghdad area on Monday, killing eight people.
"The Iraqis need to be involved," Mr Bush said when asked what will now happen to Saddam Hussein.
"There needs to be a public trial and I'm confident it will be done in a fair way."
As to whether the former Iraqi leader should face the death penalty, Mr Bush replied he had his "own personal views" on the matter, but was up up to the Iraqis to make those decisions.
He also said the work of US-led forces in Iraq remained difficult and would require further sacrifice, but Iraq was on the path to freedom.
These words echoed those of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who warned that what he called "terrorists and Saddam's sympathisers" would continue their operations despite Saddam Hussein's capture.
Hours after the bomb attacks in Baghdad, violence erupted in the flashpoint town of Falluja where pro-Saddam demonstrators stormed the regional government offices.
Journalists at the scene told the French news agency AFP that demonstrators broke into the building, put up portraits of Saddam and set furniture alight.
US officials are continuing to question Saddam Hussein, who is being treated but not defined as a prisoner-of-war under the Geneva Convention.
The US military has said it has identified a militant cell in Baghdad and made a number of arrests of anti-coalition figures in the city on the basis of information "gleaned" from Saddam Hussein's capture.
A couple of key individuals had been seized in Baghdad since Saturday, said spokesman Brigadier General Mark Hertling.
These included a high-ranking former figure from the Saddam government who in turn "gave up a few others," he said.
General Hertling told AP news agency that the arrests had been prompted by the transcript of Saddam Hussein's initial interrogation as well as a briefcase of documents found in his hideout.
The spokesman added that he expected Saddam Hussein to produce "some significant intelligence over the next couple of days".
Time magazine, quoting a US intelligence official, reports that he denied during initial questioning that his country possessed weapons of mass destruction.
"The US dreamed them up itself to have a reason to go to war with us," the magazine quoted the former president as saying.
'I am the president of Iraq'
The whereabouts of the former president is unclear. Reports that he has been moved to a US facility in Qatar have been denied by the Iraqi authorities.
Colonel James Hickey, who led the raid on Saddam Hussein's hideout on Saturday, has revealed that soldiers were seconds away from throwing a hand grenade into the pit where he was hiding before he surrendered.
The operation was launched, Colonel Hickey said, on the basis of information from an individual arrested in Baghdad on Friday who was brought to Tikrit for interrogation on Saturday morning.
It is not known if the Americans intend to pay a $25m reward offered for information about him.
The troops who came across Saddam Hussein on Saturday were offered "negotiations", spokesman Major Brian Reed said on Monday.
"I am Saddam Hussein, I am the president of Iraq and I want to negotiate," the former leader was quoted as saying in English from his pit.
The soldiers, according to Major Reed, replied with the words "President Bush sends his regards".
Calls for trial
Iran has added its voice to calls for Saddam Hussein to be tried for crimes, saying he should be tried in an international court over the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.
SADDAM: POSSIBLE CHARGES
Campaign against the Kurds in the 1980s, including the use of poison gas at Halabja
Suppression of Kurdish and Shia revolts after the first Gulf War
Brutality against the Marsh Arabs
Crimes committed during the wars against Iran and Kuwait
Possible involvement in recent attacks on coalition forces and other targets in Iraq
The US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) has called for him to be tried inside Iraq by Iraqi judges "under the supervision of international experts".
The current president of the IGC, Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, said Monday that Saddam Hussein could face the death penalty if convicted in an Iraqi court.
A special tribunal was set up in Iraq last week to try leading members of the former government.
Charles Heathley, spokesman for the US-led administration in Iraq, said on Monday he expected the new tribunal would charge Saddam Hussein "in due course" and ask the coalition to hand him over.
However, some human rights groups say an international tribunal - without the power to award the death penalty - would be preferable to a trial in Iraq.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said it expects to have access to the captured former president .
There was no fixed time frame for the visit, a spokesman told AP.
"But we expect Saddam Hussein - as any other presumed, real or accepted PoW - will at some stage be visited by the ICRC."
World leaders have welcomed the capture, including some who opposed the war to oust Saddam Hussein such as President Jacques Chirac of France who said it would strongly contribute to democracy and stability in Iraq.
There was also condemnation of his treatment in some parts of the Arab world.
Abdel Azziz Rantissi, a leader of the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas, accused the US of an "ugly and despicable... insult to all Arabs and an insult to Muslims".
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3321983.stm
Thoughts?
The US said Saddam Hussein offered no resistance
The United States will work with the people of Iraq to ensure the trial of Saddam Hussein will stand international scrutiny, President George W Bush says.
The deposed Iraqi leader will get the justice he denied to millions, Mr Bush told a news conference in Washington.
Saddam Hussein is being questioned after his capture at the weekend, but interrogation has reportedly so far yielded no direct intelligence.
Two car bombs exploded in the Baghdad area on Monday, killing eight people.
"The Iraqis need to be involved," Mr Bush said when asked what will now happen to Saddam Hussein.
"There needs to be a public trial and I'm confident it will be done in a fair way."
As to whether the former Iraqi leader should face the death penalty, Mr Bush replied he had his "own personal views" on the matter, but was up up to the Iraqis to make those decisions.
He also said the work of US-led forces in Iraq remained difficult and would require further sacrifice, but Iraq was on the path to freedom.
These words echoed those of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who warned that what he called "terrorists and Saddam's sympathisers" would continue their operations despite Saddam Hussein's capture.
Hours after the bomb attacks in Baghdad, violence erupted in the flashpoint town of Falluja where pro-Saddam demonstrators stormed the regional government offices.
Journalists at the scene told the French news agency AFP that demonstrators broke into the building, put up portraits of Saddam and set furniture alight.
US officials are continuing to question Saddam Hussein, who is being treated but not defined as a prisoner-of-war under the Geneva Convention.
The US military has said it has identified a militant cell in Baghdad and made a number of arrests of anti-coalition figures in the city on the basis of information "gleaned" from Saddam Hussein's capture.
A couple of key individuals had been seized in Baghdad since Saturday, said spokesman Brigadier General Mark Hertling.
These included a high-ranking former figure from the Saddam government who in turn "gave up a few others," he said.
General Hertling told AP news agency that the arrests had been prompted by the transcript of Saddam Hussein's initial interrogation as well as a briefcase of documents found in his hideout.
The spokesman added that he expected Saddam Hussein to produce "some significant intelligence over the next couple of days".
Time magazine, quoting a US intelligence official, reports that he denied during initial questioning that his country possessed weapons of mass destruction.
"The US dreamed them up itself to have a reason to go to war with us," the magazine quoted the former president as saying.
'I am the president of Iraq'
The whereabouts of the former president is unclear. Reports that he has been moved to a US facility in Qatar have been denied by the Iraqi authorities.
Colonel James Hickey, who led the raid on Saddam Hussein's hideout on Saturday, has revealed that soldiers were seconds away from throwing a hand grenade into the pit where he was hiding before he surrendered.
The operation was launched, Colonel Hickey said, on the basis of information from an individual arrested in Baghdad on Friday who was brought to Tikrit for interrogation on Saturday morning.
It is not known if the Americans intend to pay a $25m reward offered for information about him.
The troops who came across Saddam Hussein on Saturday were offered "negotiations", spokesman Major Brian Reed said on Monday.
"I am Saddam Hussein, I am the president of Iraq and I want to negotiate," the former leader was quoted as saying in English from his pit.
The soldiers, according to Major Reed, replied with the words "President Bush sends his regards".
Calls for trial
Iran has added its voice to calls for Saddam Hussein to be tried for crimes, saying he should be tried in an international court over the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.
SADDAM: POSSIBLE CHARGES
Campaign against the Kurds in the 1980s, including the use of poison gas at Halabja
Suppression of Kurdish and Shia revolts after the first Gulf War
Brutality against the Marsh Arabs
Crimes committed during the wars against Iran and Kuwait
Possible involvement in recent attacks on coalition forces and other targets in Iraq
The US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) has called for him to be tried inside Iraq by Iraqi judges "under the supervision of international experts".
The current president of the IGC, Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, said Monday that Saddam Hussein could face the death penalty if convicted in an Iraqi court.
A special tribunal was set up in Iraq last week to try leading members of the former government.
Charles Heathley, spokesman for the US-led administration in Iraq, said on Monday he expected the new tribunal would charge Saddam Hussein "in due course" and ask the coalition to hand him over.
However, some human rights groups say an international tribunal - without the power to award the death penalty - would be preferable to a trial in Iraq.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has said it expects to have access to the captured former president .
There was no fixed time frame for the visit, a spokesman told AP.
"But we expect Saddam Hussein - as any other presumed, real or accepted PoW - will at some stage be visited by the ICRC."
World leaders have welcomed the capture, including some who opposed the war to oust Saddam Hussein such as President Jacques Chirac of France who said it would strongly contribute to democracy and stability in Iraq.
There was also condemnation of his treatment in some parts of the Arab world.
Abdel Azziz Rantissi, a leader of the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas, accused the US of an "ugly and despicable... insult to all Arabs and an insult to Muslims".
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3321983.stm
Thoughts?
