New York: With war seemingly imminent in the Gulf, the US has prepared a list of
several senior Iraqi officials, including Saddam Hussein's two sons, who would be
tried for war crimes or crimes against humanity after an American-led attack on
Iraq, a senior American official was quoted as saying.
In addition to Hussein himself, the list includes members of his inner circle, who
sit atop a hierarchy of 2,000 members of the Iraqi elite who were previously
identified by American intelligence agencies. But only now are the names of the top
group being made public, the 'New York Times' reported.
Administration officials were quoted as saying that they had planned to send the
list of people to Baghdad with a delegation from the Arab League, with hopes of
persuading the men to leave the country with Hussein as a way to avoid a war. But
the league, consumed by internal bickering and a brush-off from the Iraqi
government, called off the trip.
Administration officials said they were making the list public now partly out of
frustration, but also as part of the continuing psychological campaign against the
Iraqi elite.
President Bush and his senior advisers have repeatedly warned Hussein's loyalists
that they have a choice between exile and prosecution.
In addition to Hussein's two sons, Uday and Qusay, the list included Ali Hassan al-
Hamid, who was the governor of Iraqi-occupied Kuwait in 1990-91, and Muhammad Hamza
al-Zubaidi, who the administration says was responsible for atrocities against the
Shiites living in Southern Iraq in early 1991.
PTI
