The U.S. is moving ahead with plans to set up a criminal court in Iraq:

Paul Bremer, the top American official in Iraq, told a news conference the new Central Criminal Court would be used for trials of Saddam loyalists who had committed crimes against occupying U.S. and British forces.

"One of the main reasons for my establishing this court is so that we can try people, in particular senior Baathists...who may have committed crimes against the coalition, who are trying to destabilize the situation here, and so we can do it rather quickly," Bremer said. "It could evolve into a tribunal to try people for crimes against humanity. That is a decision that the (future) Iraqi government should make."

The U.S. plans to open the Court next month. It is holding 1,300 prisoners out at the Baghdad airport. The court will try defendants for crimes committed after the start of the war. The court will be run by ten Iraqi judges and three prosecutors. Defendants presumably will be provided with counsel.

But, like everything else about the war with Iraq, the legality of the court is questionable:

The administration says that as the occupying power in Iraq, it has the right to issue orders which carry the force of law, and to try those who attack its forces as criminals.

But the United States has not officially declared the war over, raising potential confusion over whether attacks on occupying troops are governed by international rules of war.