Saddam Arraigned, Says Bush is 'Real Criminal'
Insists he's President of Iraq
By Moses Jolayemi with Agency Reports
Defiant and un-deterred, Saddam Hussein, former Iraqi president and the first Arab ruler to appear before a judge to face charges related to abuse of power yesterday lambasted the United States president, George Bush. He described the US president as the "real criminal".
Saddam who was brought into the court-room in handcuffs and chains exhibited no sign of remorse, a total departure from the picture he presented last December when he was captured by the US-led forces.
Insisting yesterday that he was still the president of Iraq, Saddam stoutly defended Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and challenged the court's jurisdiction.
Saddam who was brought to court to hear charges of war crimes and genocide against him bluntly refused to sign legal papers to the effect that he had been read his rights and understood the case against him. He said he wanted his lawyer to be in court.
TV pictures of the hearing were released to international broadcasters shortly after the proceedings finished.
The images - cleared for broadcast by the US military - were the first of Saddam since his capture in December. They showed Iraq's former president looking thin, haggard and with a trimmed, grey beard.
Saddam denounced the proceedings as "theatre" and questioned the validity of the law he was to be tried under.
"I am Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq," he replied when asked to confirm his identity at the hearing, which took place inside one of his former palaces, now a sprawling US base.
Saddam described yesterday an historic moment not only for Iraq but for the entire region.
Ousted Arab rulers were usually either summarily executed or forced to flee the country, he added. None had been brought to face a trial judge.
Seven preliminary charges were read out to Saddam. They include accusations over the campaign against the Kurds in the 1980s, which included the use of chemical weapons in Halabja, and the suppression of Kurdish and Shia uprisings after the 1991 Gulf War.
Hearing the charge relating to Halabja, where about 5,000 Kurdish civilians died in a single day, Saddam said, "Yes, I heard about that."
He became most agitated when he was accused of invading Kuwait in 1990.
"How can you, as an Iraqi, say the 'invasion of Kuwait' when Kuwait is part of Iraq?" he asked the judge, whose face was not shown on the film and whose identity is being kept secret for security reasons.
He said he invaded Kuwait "for the Iraqi people" and referred to Kuwaitis as "dogs", for which he was rebuked by the judge.
He was then taken back to jail, while the charges were read out one-by-one against the 11 other accused.
These include former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and Ali Hasan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali" for his alleged role in poison gas attacks. Saddam's co-accused were formally transferred from US to Iraqi custody on Wednesday.
Saddam's lawyers have already challenged the court's legitimacy.
One member of his 20-strong defence team, Mohammed Rashdan, told the BBC's Today Programme that they had been denied access to their client.
They also alleged that they had received death threats from the Iraqi government.
Iraq's new national security adviser, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, had insisted the process will not be a show trial.
"As an Iraqi interim government, we promise our people and the Arab world and the outside world, we promise that Saddam will stand a fair trial," he said in a BBC interview.
The interim Iraqi government has restored the death penalty, which was suspended by the US-led coalition.
Rubaie said Saddam could face execution if convicted.
The full trials may not get under way until next year as many issues still need to be resolved and could take months or even years.
The BBC's Christian Frasier in Baghdad reported yesterday that there are concerns in Iraq that crucial evidence has not been gathered.
The Coalition's Provisional Authority has identified more than 250 mass graves, but as yet there have been no full forensic exhumations and investigations are being hampered by the lack of security on the ground.
Reports said without a system in place to gather statements and protect those who come forward there are fears that many valuable witnesses will be lost.
But the interim Iraqi government has dismissed such concerns, insisting that the evidence is already overwhelming, as Saddam's regime was meticulous in recording the most minute details of abuses carried out.
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