Washington: Indicating that the US planned to play a major role in crafting the Iraqi tribunal being set up to try captured former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the State Department has said the court may include international advisors and an American ambassador may be sent to Baghdad early next year (2004) to set it up.

The arrangement that the Iraqis are setting up "provides for international advisors. It also provides an opportunity for an international role as judges, prosecutors and other members of the court. So the establishment of that apparatus, that legal apparatus, court structure, in fact, is something that will be taking place in the future," US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday (Dec 15, 2003).

"We'll be working with the Iraqis as they set up the court, and obviously, we'll be consulting with them closely as they make the decisions as we can proceed to some sort of justice for Saddam Hussein," he told reporters.

Boucher said the State Department would send Pierre Richard Prosper, its ambassador at large for war crime issues to Baghdad early next year to work on setting up the court.

The US would be in touch with the Iraqis all along. But exactly the final structure of the court and how some of these decisions will play out, "I can't tell you", he added.

On Saddam's trial, he said the trial must be seen as fair in the international community, and it is something that we will work closely with the Iraqis on as we proceed towards holding Saddam Hussein accountable.

PTI