Naseer Al-Nahr • Asharq Al-Awsat

BAGHDAD, 16 July 2003 — Iraq’s newly formed governing council yesterday decided to set up a war crimes tribunal to try members of the ousted Saddam Hussein regime as thousands of US soldiers faced an indefinite stay in the country amid fears of increased attacks.

Meanwhile experts told a London conference the rebuilding of Iraq promised to be a long and difficult task, presenting lucrative business opportunities for foreign firms with expertise and money to invest.

But US overseer for Iraq Paul Bremer reiterated yesterday that coalition forces would stay in the country no longer than necessary, saying “our time here is in the hands of the Iraqi people.”

Bremer said the first priority was to draft a constitution to prepare the ground for elections, which are not expected until mid-2004 at the earliest.

The governing council decided to set up a war crimes tribunal to try members of the ousted regime, Ibrahim Bahrul Uloom, son of the Shiite chairman, Mohammed, said.

He said the council had also decreed “the restoration of the rights of Iraqis, victims of oppression” under Saddam, adding that “a committee made up mostly of legal figures will be constituted to put the decisions into operation.”

On the diplomatic front, aides quoted French President Jacques Chirac as saying that Paris could not consider sending troops to Iraq under existing conditions.

The US 3rd Infantry Division was told it would not be leaving Iraq anytime soon, the day after one of its soldiers was killed and a grenade attack targeted the coalition headquarters in Baghdad. “They will tie up their boot straps and continue to move on,” a senior US official said.

— Additional input from Agencies