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WASHINGTON: With more than a dozen key Iraqi officials in custody, the United States is debating how best to deal with them and other suspects in what officials and experts said on Monday would be a long and complicated legal process.
Kurds and others oppressed by ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s regime, Kuwaitis with grievances from the 1991 Gulf War and Iranians wanting retribution from the Iran-Iraq war, are among those expected to join the United States in demanding justice.
“The tricky part will be for the Americans to design a legal process which lets everyone have a bite of the apple,” said Paul Williams, a law professor from American University and a former State Department official.
Experts said the most likely scenario was for the United States to try those accused of crimes against US personnel in US military courts while Iraqi-led courts with the help of other Arab countries such as Jordan and Egypt, would handle crimes against Iraqis.
Third-party countries such as Kuwait and Iran would get a chance to prosecute crimes and Truth and Reconciliation Commissions such as those in South Africa might also be used.
United Nations involvement in prosecuting war crimes was an unlikely option as was the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands of which the United States was not a signatory.
The State Department’s war crimes office is devising a plan to deal with those accused of the most egregious crimes against the Iraqi people. Many of those are on the Pentagon’s deck of cards listing the 55 most wanted Iraqis, of whom at least 13 have already been caught.
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last week some of the captive leaders of the toppled Iraqi government could face criminal charges but he said where and how these trials could be conducted had not been decided.
LONG AND COMPLICATED: A State Department official said it could take many months or even longer before a legal system was in place to deal with Iraqis in US custody.
“We have some individuals in custody. We are talking to them, we are scouring over documents, we are looking into suspected mass grave sites. There’s a huge investigative effort going on,” the official said.
One challenge facing US government lawyers was to determine which victims held the greatest stake over where a person should be charged and under what statutes.
“There’s no prohibition in international law on trying one individual in different countries. How that is all going to be worked out and who has the greatest equity will have to be discussed and determined,” the official said.
The State Department has mountains of documents and evidence against Saddam and his lieutenants, drawing from groups such as Human Rights Watch, the Pentagon and extensive US intelligence information.
Several legal experts pointed out it suited the US military to stall on any major legal decision because this gave interrogators more time to draw information out of Iraqis in custody, particularly those on the deck of cards who could provide information on possible weapons of mass destruction.
In addition, some suspects could provide key information but there might not be enough evidence for legal action.
Eugene Fidell of the National Institute of Military Justice, said in the case of arrested former deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz, he might be morally responsible for some abuses but not criminally responsible.—Reuters
