WASHINGTON, Oct 30: The Washington Post reported on Wednesday the Pentagon was collecting evidence for proceedings against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his sons, Uday and Qusay, and Vice President Ezzat Ibrahim.

The main charge would be the use of deadly gases against the Kurd population in the Halabja region of eastern Iraq in March 1988, when thousands of people were said to have been killed.

Asked about the report, Fleischer said Saddam and his deputies would be held accountable for human rights violations.

“The regime and its leaders have clearly committed atrocities and they will be held to account by the Iraqi people and by the international community, appropriately so,” he said.

“Certainly the atrocities that have been commited are serious. I dont think the world is interested in looking the other way.”—AFP