[NYTr] Bush will be tried just like Saddam Hussein: Khamenei

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP - Sep 14, 2007
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAN_US_IRAQ?SITE=KTVB&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Iran leader: Bush will be tried

By NASSER KARIMI
Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- President Bush and other American officials will
one day face trial just like deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for
"the catastrophes they caused in Iraq," Iran's supreme leader said
Friday.

Speaking to thousands of worshippers during the first Friday prayer of
the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei said that Bush will be called to account for the U.S.-led
invasion.

"A day will come that the current U.S. president and officials will be
tried in an international supreme court for the catastrophes they
caused in Iraq," he said.

"Americans will have to answer for why they don't end occupation of
Iraq and why waves of terrorism and insurgency have overwhelmed the
country," he added. "It will not be like this forever and some day they
will be stopped as happened to Hitler, Saddam and certain other
European leaders."

Bush painted quite a different picture Thursday, describing an Iraq on
the mend.

"One year ago, much of Baghdad was under siege," Bush said in a
televised speech from the Oval Office. "Today, most of Baghdad's
neighborhoods are being patrolled by coalition and Iraqi forces who
live among the people they protect. ... Sectarian killings are down.
And ordinary life is beginning to return."

But Khamenei mocked the U.S., describing the recent congressional
testimony of the top American officials in Iraq as a sign of weakness
and the failure of American policy in the war torn country.

"More than four years have passed since the occupation of Iraq and
today everyone knows that America has failed and is frantically looking
for a way out," he said.

In their testimony Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker
raised allegations - denied by Iran - of Iranian meddling in Iraq by
financial and military support of militias and insurgent groups. They
warned that the U.S. was already embroiled in a proxy war with the
Islamic republic.

Despite U.N. sanctions and efforts to isolate Iran internationally, the
country is flourishing, maintained Khamenei.

"Today we are in a better political position compared to four to five
years ago," he said. "We have moved forward economically and the
spiritual preparedness and happiness of our nation has improved."

"A nation like ours, without an atomic bomb and not as wealthy as these
other powerful governments, has foiled a whole series of their
conspiracies and forced them to give up and withdraw," he added.

The U.S. accuses Iran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons and
has called for further international sanctions against the country.
Iran denies the charge.

Iran and the U.S. have not had diplomatic relations since Washington
cut its ties with Tehran after Iranian students stormed the U.S.
embassy there in 1979.

© 2007 The Associated Press.