Saddam says: Good morning, I have some questions ("Chemical Ali" Scared, Shaking)

Reuters ^ | 6/30/04 | Michael Georgy

[kattracks]

BAGHDAD, June 30 (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein, who brutalised Iraqis for decades, said good morning and sought to ask some questions when the United States handed him over to Iraqi justice on Wednesday, a witness said.

Saddam, who was captured hiding near his hometown of Tikrit in December, looked in good health as he appeared before an Iraqi judge in the first legal step towards a trial for the cruelties he inflicted during his 35 years of power.

"Saddam said good morning and asked if he could ask some questions," Salem Chalabi, a lawyer leading the work of a tribunal that will try the former dictator, told Reuters.

"He was told he should wait until tomorrow," said Chalabi, who was in the courtroom where Saddam and 11 of his former lieutenants were turned over to Iraqi legal custody.

But many of the other former Iraqi officials were nervous and agitated, said Chalabi, who has received numerous death threats since taking on the task of helping amass evidence against Saddam and preparing a special tribunal to try him.

Saddam, 67, is accused by Iraqis of torturing and killing hundreds of thousands of people with the help of officials in his Baath party. Saddam became president in 1979, but had already been Iraq's strongman since a Baathist coup in 1968.

His former lieutenants appeared nervous and some were hostile as they were told they would be charged on Thursday.

Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali" for his role in poison gas attacks, including one that killed about 5,000 Iraqi Kurds in Halabja in 1988, appeared especially rattled.

"He looked very scared. He was shaking," said Chalabi.

Saddam will remain in the physical custody of U.S. forces. He and the 11 others are to be charged on Thursday.

Saddam fled when U.S. forces entered Baghdad on April 9 last year after making a final defiant public appearance near a mosque in the capital. He was then filmed, looking disoriented, unkempt and with a bushy beard, as U.S. military doctors examined him after his capture on December 13.

Among others to be handed over were former Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz; Barzan Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti, Saddam's half-brother and adviser; Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, his secretary; Sabawi Ibrahim, Saddam's maternal half-brother; Watban Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti, Saddam's half-brother and adviser; and Aziz Salih Numan, Baath Party regional commander and head of the party militia.

These men and others among the 55 most wanted Iraqis on a U.S. list are seen as witnesses who could help prove a chain of command linking Saddam to crimes against humanity.

Saddam will be charged with ordering the 1988 massacres of Kurds, the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, according to Chalabi.

[Redleg Duke]

"Saddam needs to seek a change of venue."

Like maybe Mars?

[Redleg Duke]

Irwin Rommel wasn't among Hilter's "Merry Men".

[Lady Jag]

That's the ticket!

[NormsRevenge]

File photos(clockwise from top left) of former Iraqi officials President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz, military commander Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as 'Chemical Ali', Baath party regional commander Aziz Salih Numan, Saddam's half-brother and adviser Barzan Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti, and presidential secretary Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti. Iraq (news - web sites)'s newly installed government took legal control of Saddam and 11 of his senior lieutenants on June 30, 2004. (Reuters)

[EricT.]

Rommel poisoned himself after he was implicated in an attempt to assassinate Hitler.

[evolved_rage]

Maybe they diagnosed him, wink-wink, with ulcerative colitis, wink-wink, and sewed up his butthole and gave a bag.

[RipSawyer]

Please, no drop, simply pull up on the rope until a single sheet of paper will slide under his heels and leave him like that.

[Conspiracy Guy]

West Coast!

[Conspiracy Guy]

Agreed.

[Denver Ditdat]

It was Hess who defected to Britain in an Me 110 early in the war. He died in Spandau about a decade or so ago of old age.

IIRC, he was strangled with an electrical cord. The death was officially ruled a suicide.

[Denver Ditdat]

Don't be shy - name a few of those you believe to be most culpable.

[Once-Ler]

Saddam needs to seek a change of venue.

How about Kuwait, Iran, or Isreal?

[Conspiracy Guy]

Not good choices for him. California!

[Puppage]

Irwin Rommel wasn't among Hilter's "Merry Men".

What was he..a Boy Scout? Besides, I wasn't the poster who used the phrase "Merry Men", but thanks for fillng me in on the Desert Fox.

[FreeBSD]

There were tens of thousands that helped him invade iran and attack the kurds. I'm sure some were coerced -- in that they would be killed if they didn't. And i'm sure some have the excuse of helping the other side as well. But there's still some people left, and well be able to tell the difference between those who maligned and tried to deter saddam and those who stopped those attempts at deterrence, and arguably rewarded him for his brutality.

Lets hope a sovereign Iraq will be able to try all of the culpable parties.

[Elsie]

ISA is Lord!

[Redleg Duke]

Erwin Rommel was highly regarded by Hitler for his successes in North Africa, and placed in charge of the Western Defenses in France, but was not considered sufficiently loyal. After the attempted assasination attempt on Hitler, he was implicated and offered suicide to protect his good name and his family.

Not hardly one of the Nazi "Merry Men".

[Puppage]

Not hardly one of the Nazi "Merry Men"

I never said he was, Red.

[Flashman_at_the_charge]

The reason they were shaking is that most of them probably probably believed it would be their last day alive.

[Zhangliqun]

"The Grim Reaper is coming for you Chemical Ali....and I hope you die a slow death."

In, say...the gas chamber?