US Debates Bid to Kill Hussein and Avoid Trial:

“Senior Bush administration officials are debating whether to order military commanders to kill rather than capture Saddam Hussein to avoid an unpredictable trial that could stir up nationalist Arab sentiments and embarrass Washington by publicizing past US support for the deposed Iraqi dictator, according to defense and intelligence officials.

One worry is that a host of embarrassing charges might be leveled at the United States. Washington supported Hussein’s regime during Iraq’s war against Iran between 1980 and 1988 — including providing satellite images of Iranian military formations — at a time when Iraqi forces used chemical weapons against troops and civilians.

Trying Hussein before an Iraqi or international criminal court would present an opportunity to hold the Ba’ath Party regime accountable for its repression and murder of thousands of people over the past three decades.

Iraq’s new US-backed Governing Council said this week it wants to try Hussein in an Iraqi court, something the occupation authority there has said it supports. The New York Times, citing unnamed State Department officials, reported today that the administration favors creating a tribunal of Iraqi judges to try Hussein for crimes against humanity if he is caught.

But as US troops step up the hunt for Hussein near his hometown of Tikrit, the prospect of an open trial that puts him on a public stage has given pause to some in the administration, according to government officials with knowledge of the high-level meetings. Among those said to have taken part in the discussions are Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.” Boston Globe [via CommonDreams]

Of course, Saddam trial or not, it is too late to avoid inflaming Arab sentiment Independent/UK.

Also:

Killing Saddam: A Summer Blockbuster: “The inevitable assassination of Saddam Hussein will be a public spectacle intended to reassure an insecure America — but it won’t end the guerrilla war in Iraq.”

The Iraqi people… are seen by the Pentagon as the frightened villagers in The Wizard of Oz. Once they sing “Ding dong, the wicked witch is dead,” they will shake off their fears and sign up for their duties in the new order: to work happily for Bechtel and Halliburton and start policing their malcontents. — Tom Hayden, AlterNet

This, of course, has a relationship to the Administration’s assumption that the American people have a short memory and have all but forgotten our failure to find the last global terrorist villain, Osama bin Laden. The New Yorker