As US forces drive towards Baghdad, the generals have a list of up to 50 top Iraqi officials to be detained or killed, with nine to 12 senior Iraqi officials specifically targeted for post-war trial for war crimes or crimes against humanity, writes Conor O'Clery, at the United Nations
The list of names, compiled by US intelligence services and leaked by US officials, was to be taken to Baghdad by a delegation from the Arab League tomorrow to persuade those on it to go into exile, but the trip was called off.
By bringing top Iraqi officials to a war crimes tribunal the Bush administration would seek to reinforce its case that it is conducting a war of liberation rather than an invasion. Ironically the US has refused before now to take part in the International War Crimes tribunal set up by the UN.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his two sons Qusay and Uday top the list for capture, death or prosecution, according to US officials.
It also includes Mr Ali Hassan al-Hamid, the governor of Iraqi-occupied Kuwait in 1990, and Mr Muhammad Hamza Zubeldi, deputy prime minister since 1991, who was allegedly responsible for repressing Shia Muslims in southern Iraq in 1991.
Mr Qusay Hussein, the president's youngest son and heir apparent, is head of the Republican Guard and responsible for Iraq's security forces.
Uday is commander of the Fedayeen paramilitary group in Baghdad, controls most Iraqi media outlets and is president of the national Olympic committee. The Bush administration claims he ordered the torture and rape of dissidents inside Iraq.
Also high on the list for prosecution is Mr Ali Hassan Majid, a cousin of President Saddam known as "Chemical Ali" for his alleged role in the use of mustard and nerve gasses against the Kurdish population in northern Iraq in 1988. He is also said to have personally executed two of Saddam's sons-in-law, who had defected and then returned.
The Iraqi officials at the top of the list, called the "Dirty Dozen" by the US State Department, are all senior members of the ruling Baath Party and mostly from Mr Saddam's tribe, al Bu Nasser.
The US forces also have instructions to seize the Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Tariq Aziz, the only Christian and not an al Bu Nasser tribe member, who recently said US troops would be met with "bullets, not flowers" in Baghdad.
The Pentagon maintains an active dossier on more than 2,000 of Baghdad's leaders, according to the Wall Street Journal. It quoted a Defence Department official as saying: "There's a big debate over how far to go into that list, and it may not be something we settle until after the war begins."
The Pentagon has largely relied on Indict, a non-profit war crimes investigation group in London, which has received substantial funding from the US Government. Indict filed a criminal complaint in Rome against Mr Aziz in an unsuccessful attempt to have him arrested when visiting Pope John Paul II in February.
Also targeted by US forces is Mr Izzat Ibrahim al Douri, vice-chairman of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council, for actions in crushing the Shia uprising in 1991, and Mr Aziz Saleh Numan, who is alleged to have condoned acts of brutality in occupied Kuwait.
US officials will want to interrogate top officials in hope of locating stocks of biological and chemical weapons to prove that Iraq never got rid of all its weapons of mass destruction.
While removing top leaders, the US will also want to keep mid-level administrators in office to keep Iraq functioning under American occupation.