"Saddam Hussein's former translator has said the US will not allow the ex-Iraqi president to be tried in public because of potentially damaging revelations.

In his first interview with Middle Eastern media after Saddam was captured, Dr Saman Abd al-Majid told Aljazeera.net that Saddam could implicate the US and Britain in his crimes. "

[....]

"He knows a lot of things that could damage international relations - he knows crucial secrets. I don't think that a public trial is in the interest of any of the countries that launched the war on Iraq.

"And maybe that is why US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld hinted that Saddam is considered a prisoner of war, because international law stipulates that POWs cannot be tried."