Coverage by BBSNews

BBSNews - 2003-08-12 -- HRW: New York, August 12, 2003 - The U.S. government should take Saddam Hussein into custody if at all possible and make him stand trial, rather than killing him, Human Rights Watch said today.

Possible disguised look of Saddam Hussein. Re-touched photo released by US Central Command.

In a letter sent August 8, Human Rights Watch urged U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to state publicly that the United States wants the former Iraqi president to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity before an independent and impartial tribunal. According to media reports, senior U.S. officials, including Secretary Rumsfeld and Vice-President Dick Cheney, have been discussing whether it might be preferable to kill Saddam Hussein rather than capture him alive. Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, has also told journalists that U.S. forces do not want to take Saddam Hussein alive.

"Putting Saddam Hussein on trial will be complicated, but it has to be done," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "You don't build respect for the rule of law by choosing to kill someone, no matter how heinous their crimes, because it's the easier thing to do."

Human Rights Watch said that any decision to kill Saddam Hussein as an alternative to capturing him alive may well violate international humanitarian law.

"Even in an armed confrontation, the United States would have to respect any offer of surrender that Saddam Hussein might make," Roth said.

If it's not a combat situation, then policing rules apply, and U.S. forces can only use lethal force when necessary to avert an imminent threat to the life of themselves or others.

The letter to Rumsfeld can be found at:

http://hrw.org/press/2003/08/us080803.htm