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Saddam's defence team to sue Bush, Blair

Baghdad: Saddam Hussein's chief lawyer said on Thursday that the former Iraqi President wants U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair tried on allegations of committing war crimes.

Khalil al-Dulaimi said Mr. Hussein wants to sue both leaders, along with U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for allegedly authorising the use of weapons such as depleted uranium artillery shells, white phosphorous, napalm and cluster bombs.

``We will sue Bush, Blair and Rumsfeld in The Hague for using such weapons of mass destruction,'' Mr. Al-Dulaimi, in Jordan, told the Associated Press in Baghdad during a telephone interview.

No complaint has been filed to the International Criminal Court in The Netherlands, but Mr. Al-Dulaimi said Mr. Hussein's foreign defence team will present it ``very soon.''

Bring to Justice

``President Saddam intends to bring those criminals to justice for their mass killings of Iraqis in Baghdad, Ramadi, Fallujah and Qaim and abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib,'' the lawyer said.

Mr. Hussein also wants all Iraqis who have had relatives killed or had property damaged should receive $500,000 each.

In November, the Pentagon acknowledged that U.S. troops used white phosphorous shells as a weapon against militant strongholds in the same Fallujah battle, adding that they are a standard weapon and not banned by any international weapons convention to which the U.S. is a signatory.

U.S. soldiers have also claimed they have fallen ill after exposure to depleted uranium artillery shells in Iraq, but the Pentagon has said the metal does not cause ailments. — AP

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