WASHINGTON, March 16: The US government has identified nine senior Iraqi officials — including Saddam Hussein and his two sons — who would be tried for war crimes or crimes against humanity after an American-led attack on Iraq, the New York Times reported on Sunday.

The list of names, compiled, by US intelligence agencies, has not been published, but the Times reported it includes Saddam’s inner circle, who sit atop a hierarchy of 2,000 members of the Iraqi elite.

Officials from the administration of US President George W. Bush told the Times they had planned to send the list of people to Baghdad with a delegation from the Arab League in hopes of persuading the men to leave the country, along with Saddam Hussein, as a way to avoid a war.

That trip however, planned for Friday, was called off, the Times reported.—AFP