http://sympatico.msn.cbc.ca/story/news/national/2005/10/19/saddam_051019.html

Saddam defiant as trial begins

Last Updated Wed, 19 Oct 2005 07:18:04 EDT
CBC News

Ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein attacked the legitimacy of the special court trying him for crimes against humanity Wednesday as the trial began at a tightly guarded Baghdad courthouse.


 
Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein appears before a Baghdad court. (AP Photo) 
"I preserve my constitutional rights as the president of Iraq," said Saddam in answer to questions from presiding judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin. "I do not recognize the body that has authorized you and I don't recognize this aggression."

The trial was supposed to begin by 11 a.m. Baghdad time Wednesday, or 4 a.m. ET. Proceedings finally got underway an hour and a half later in the courtroom built out of his former Baathist Party headquarters in the Iraqi capital's heavily defended Green Zone.



The 68-year-old former leader and his co-accused, seven top officers from his regime, sat in three rows in the courtroom, surrounded by a metre-high barred enclosure.

They faced a five-judge panel led by Amin, an ethnic Kurd from northern Iraq.

Saddam was combative as he stood and faced the judge, demanding the right to make a statement, complaining about how he had been treated in jail, and refusing to identify himself in response to Amin's routine request for his name.

Another accused complained that court officials had removed his religious head covering. The judge then allowed four of the defendants to put on their headdresses again.

Saddam and his officers are accused of ordering the execution of 143 men and boys in the mainly Shia village of Dujail in 1982. The massacre followed a failed assassination attempt aimed at Saddam.

If convicted on the murder and torture charges, Amin warned the defendants as the trial began, they face the death penalty.


 
Iraqis hold pictures of people they allege were killed during Saddam Hussein's regime during a demonstration in Dujail, Iraq. (AP Photo) 
Lawyers for Saddam had said Tuesday that they would seek a three-month postponement in the trial because they had not had enough time to prepare his defence.

They also object to the fact that the trial is taking place in an American-controlled part of Baghdad.

Saddam was arrested 22 months ago after U.S. forces involved in the 2003 invasion of Iraq found him hiding in a hole in the ground near his hometown of Tikrit.

Sporadic violence broke out in Iraq Wednesday morning in advance of the scheduled trial:


Three Iraqis, a British soldier and an American soldier were killed by militants.
A bomb toppled a well-known Baghdad statue of the founder of Baghdad, Abu Jaafar Al-Mansour, whom Saddam had often called an inspiration.
Two mortar shells reportedly fell in Baghdad's high-security Green Zone, where the trial is taking place. There was no early confirmation of the extent of injuries or damage.

Awww, poor Saddie!

I love how he's insisting he's still the Big Cheese!

http://www.masslive.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/base/international-26/112972434439360.xml&storylist=international

;D

My prediction...

He will be executed and then sent to Hell, where he will begin a homosexual relationship with Satan, the Prince of Darkness, and then after they break up he'll be thrown out of Hell for killing Satan's new lover, Chris. Satan will then make a deal with God, and Sadaam will be forced to spend eternity in Mormon Heaven, where he will begin work on developing nuclear WMDs in order to once again wreak havoc on the citizens of the free world.

http://www.thecobrasnose.com/images6/spsatan.gif

Witness intimidation is a big problem over there.  The trial's been postponed for weeks now. 
Saddam's lucky they don't string him up by his ankles and fill him full of holes.  Remember what happend to Mussolini?  Ceausescu?
He'll probably get to go play tiddlywinks with Milosevic while this thing drags out ad nauseam!
::)

While I am glad he is going to trial, it will be drawn out and in the end, because Saddam has power and expensive lawyers, it will all be decided in his favour.  ::)

While I am glad he is going to trial, it will be drawn out and in the end, because Saddam has power and expensive lawyers, it will all be decided in his favour.  ::)

So you think they'll let him retire to some gilded villa in an oasis of his choice?  Maybe he'll get to sue the U.S. government in the World Court.  I mean, If this guy's found innocent, anything's possible!
::)

So you think they'll let him retire to some gilded villa in an oasis of his choice?  Maybe he'll get to sue the U.S. government in the World Court.  I mean, If this guy's found innocent, anything's possible!
::)


He's after all Saddam Hussian!  ;D

Remember that actor who made a career out of playing Saddam Hussein in a few movies, most notably "Hot Shots: Part Deux"?  I wonder whatever became of him. 

http://www.jta.org/storage/articleimages/12577.jpg

Jerry Haleva

Live From Baghdad (2002) (TV) .... Saddam Hussein
The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest (2002) (as Jerry M. Haleva) .... Hologram Saddam
Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998) .... Saddam Hussein
... aka Mafia! (USA: short title)
The Big Lebowski (1998) .... Saddam Hussein
Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993) .... Saddam Hussein
... aka Hot Shots! 2 (Australia)
Hot Shots! (1991) .... Saddam Hussein

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0355062/

Jerry Haleva

Live From Baghdad (2002) (TV) .... Saddam Hussein
The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest (2002) (as Jerry M. Haleva) .... Hologram Saddam
Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998) .... Saddam Hussein
... aka Mafia! (USA: short title)
The Big Lebowski (1998) .... Saddam Hussein
Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993) .... Saddam Hussein
... aka Hot Shots! 2 (Australia)
Hot Shots! (1991) .... Saddam Hussein

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0355062/


LOL he's only ever played Saddam.  I guess he'll be unemployable now  ;D

LOL he's only ever played Saddam.  I guess he'll be unemployable now  ;D


;D

LOL he's only ever played Saddam.  I guess he'll be unemployable now  ;D


I read an article about him like 3 years ago....he also does Stalin.