Several options, but no certainties

The chairman of the US-installed interim governing council told AFP that Saddam would be tried by Iraqi judges in a special court set up to deal with war crimes cases, whose creation was announced just a few days ago.

"Saddam Hussein will be judged by Iraqi judges and the tribunal will work and be situated in Iraq, under the supervision of international experts," Abdel Aziz al-Hakim said after arriving in Paris late Sunday.

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US President George W. Bush vowed earlier that Saddam "will face the justice he denied to millions," without giving precise details of conditions or venue for a trial.

For his part Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Saddam's future would be determined in consultations "at a very high level" with US coalition partners after thorough legal analysis of the situation.

"Those are judgments that will be made by lawyers as we go along," Rumsfeld said on CBS's "60 Minutes" program.

In a US raid Saturday, 66-year-old Saddam was found in a hole under a farmhouse near the northern town of Tikrit. Some 750,000 dollars in cash was found with two AK-47 rifles and a pistol, according to officials.

Several US politicians called for Saddam to be put on trial, but differ in their opinion of how such a trial should occur.

One of the would-be Democratic presidential candidates, Senator John Kerry, said a trial for Saddam could take place either in Iraq or before an international tribunal.

"We have to try Saddam Hussein and he must be held accountable in a way that has recognized world legitimacy. That could happen in Iraq, it could happen at the world court," said Kerry.

Republican Senator John McCain said he favored two trials, first one in Iraq led by an Iraqi government, then another outside Iraqi boundaries.

The Iraqi criminal tribunal would examine crimes committed under the 1968-2003 regime of Saddam Hussein, but likely would not begin work before a new Iraqi government takes over, sometime around July 2004.