Reports MSNBC:
The Bush administration has ruled out any role for international courts in trying Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and other Iraqis for war crimes, U.S. officials say, and plan instead to rely on reconstituted Iraqi courts and U.S. military tribunals. Officials at the State and Justice departments now say that two separate tracks will likely be used for war crimes trials, one for violations during the current war and another for past abuses.
… As for calls that the United Nations set up an international tribunal to try Saddam, Iraqi exile groups strongly oppose such an arrangement. “It’s about 20 years too late,” said Sermid al-Sarraf, the California lawyer. “The U.N…had an opportunity to do that on many occasions previously but did nothing,” he said. [April 7, 2003]