WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- The Bush administration is preparing to charge Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his inner circle with crimes against humanity if the Iraqi regime is toppled, The Washington Post reported Wednesday, citing U.S. officials.
Iraqi opposition groups have been urging U.S. officials to build cases more quickly.
The White House has not yet decided how deeply to target the Iraqi leadership and who would lead any criminal case. But Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton said the rebirth of Iraq would require the removal of people "who are so fundamentally part of Saddam's entourage that their remaining in power would have the problem persist."
"We'll take the lead in setting the tone. From there, it's hard to say," Pierre-Richard Prosper, the State Department's war crimes ambassador, told the Post.
"We know that Saddam and his dirty dozen are believed to be the leaders responsible for all the atrocities that have occurred there for well over a decade. We know that over 100,000 people have been killed."
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Monday that former President Bill Clinton's decision to let Saddam "get off lightly," following Iraq's 1993 attempt on the life of former President George H. W. Bush may have emboldened the Iraqi leader.
"We must confront this enormous appetite for revenge and consider also that Saddam Hussein might have concluded from that event that he could risk an extraordinarily dangerous act and get away with it," Wolfowitz told the Association of Old Crows' annual conference.
Wolfowitz was also careful to stress the desire for the United States to act in concert with allies in any military action against Iraq. "We are not a go it alone country, and this is not a go it alone president," he said.
Indeed, he predicted a "very substantial" coalition of countries will be put together if it comes to war.
In common with other U.S. officials recently, Wolfowitz made it clear that Saddam could avoid military action against Iraq, by disarming his regime of weapons of mass destruction.
"His only hope of survival is a complete change of course," Wolfowitz said.
One of the keys to forcing Saddam to disarm, he added, is getting a new U.N. resolution -- no matter how long it takes.
