WASHINGTON (AP) – The world has shirked its duty to help prosecute Saddam Hussein, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday.

“The international community’s effective boycott of Saddam’s trial is only harming the Iraqi people, who are now working to secure the hope of justice and freedom that Saddam long denied them,” Rice said.

The top U.S. diplomat also predicted that the Iraqi elections this week would yield the most democratic government “in the entire Middle East.” She did not mention the long-standing democracy in Israel.

The Bush administration has a lot riding on Thursday’s parliamentary elections, which will establish Iraq’s first permanent democratically elected government. If the voting goes well, it will provide a political pivot point for eventual withdrawal of U.S. forces.

Rice, speaking to a friendly audience at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said other nations are starting to do more to help rebuild Iraq and are opening their checkbooks to do it.