Protesters riot in Iraq streets

BAGHDAD - Supporters of Saddam Hussein rioted in Iraqi cities as it became clear it would be some time before the former dictator was tried for his actions over the past three decades.

US President George W. Bush, when asked if he had a personal message for Saddam, said: "Good riddance. The world is a better place without you ... "

But Bush also warned that "the terrorists in Iraq remain dangerous", shortly after suicide car bombings at Baghdad-area police stations killed the two attackers and seven other people and wounded 30.

US military sources and witnesses said that at least one Iraqi gunman was killed and a US soldier wounded during riots on Monday night in the restive town of Falluja, 50km west of Baghdad.

Witnesses said hundreds of pro-Saddam protesters overran the office of the US-appointed mayor in Falluja and set ablaze the office of a small US-backed political party.

US military sources said gunmen fired at them, wounding one soldier. Soldiers returned fire, killing one gunman and wounding two. Witnesses said three Iraqis died in the clash.

The protest in Falluja was one of several demonstrations by supporters of Saddam in the mainly Sunni Muslim areas of Baghdad and towns to the west and north.

Bush said the United States and Iraq would organise a fair and public trial for the 66-year-old Saddam, but Iraqis would decide whether he would face possible execution.

"We will work with the Iraqis to develop a way to try him that will stand international scrutiny," Bush told a Washington news conference, leaving no room for a United Nations role in judging Saddam.

Saddam was captured by US troops at the weekend after a tip-off led them to a hole on a farm near his hometown of Tikrit, north of Baghdad. He is being held as a prisoner of war.

The present head of Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council, Abdelaziz al-Hakim, said during a visit to Paris that Saddam could be tried by Iraqis in a special court set up by the council last week and could face the death penalty.

Another governing council member who saw Saddam on Sunday said he had found "a very broken man".

"He was, I think, psychologically ruined and very demoralised," Muwaffaq al-Rubaiye said. "He felt safer with the Americans."

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari is expected to present to the UN Security Council today the timetable that the Iraqi Governing Council and the US-led Coalition have devised for a handover of power to a provisional government in June and a constitution and general elections by the end of 2005.

"I think an affirmation or affirmations of support for the political, economic and security development of Iraq would be most welcome indeed, and most appropriate under the circumstances," US Ambassador to the UN John Negroponte said.

The 15-nation council, sharply divided over the war, is considering a report on the UN's future role in Iraq by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who said Saddam's capture removed a "rather long shadow" over the transition process.

Annan said he did not support the death penalty for the former Iraqi leader, ousted in the US-led invasion of Iraq launched on March 20. He added any trial court had to meet international norms and standards.

Britain, Washington's closest ally in the invasion, also said that it would play no part in any trial that might lead to Saddam's execution.

A senior US State Department official who asked not to be named said Washington reserved the right to bring its own charges against Saddam. He did not say how this might be done.

The capture of Saddam has led to the revelation that the Israeli military planned a daring assassination attempt against him in 1992.

The attempt was called off after an accident in a training exercise for the mission ended in the deaths of five soldiers.

The Maariv daily reported that with the capture of Saddam, Israeli military censorship had lifted its ban on publication of the full story.

Labour Party legislator Ephraim Sneh, who was a member of Parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee in 1992, confirmed the Army had been preparing to kill Saddam, but refused to discuss details. The Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, had ordered the operation.

Israel put together the plan in retaliation for Iraq's firing 39 Scud missiles at Israel during the 1991 Gulf war.

- AGENCIES

Herald Feature: Iraq