Saddam to sue America for war crimes

That story comming up right after this brief pause to count our dead.

brief pause

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AMMAN (AFP) - Lawyers for ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein announced that they were asking the International Court of Justice to prosecute the United States for war crimes, even though individuals are not allowed to petition the tribunal.

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Defence team spokesman Ziad Khassawneh acknowledged that the petition would have to be signed by a member of the ousted regime as the world court only hears cases forwarded by states and "duly authorised international organs and agencies".

However, like all of Saddam's counsel, Khassawneh insisted that the ousted president remained Iraq 's legitimate head of state, given what he described as the illegal nature of last year's US-led invasion.

"We insist that Saddam is the legitimate president of Iraq and his government is the only government that represents Iraqis, thus any official of his government is able to petition the court," the spokesman said.

There was no immediate reaction from the court's headquarters in The Hague to the potential petition.