Reuters says that Iraq's government spokesman confirmed today (Sunday 9/4) that Saddam Hussein will go on trial on October 19.  He'll be tried for mass killings in a Shi'ite village in 1982 that were reprisals for an assassination attempt.

The government has decided to try him for this particular crime first because they think it will be easy to show Hussein's direct involvement.  The government spokesman hinted that if Hussein is found guilty of this crime, they might skip any other trials and just carry out the sentence quickly.

The sentence could likely be to hang Hussein, since the Iraqi government reinstituted the death penalty.

Also, it should be noted that the October 19 trial date comes just after the scheduled October 15 date for the referendum on the new Iraqi constitution.