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.

[ClearCase_guy]

Goering took poison after his trial and shortly before his planned execution.
Himmler took poison upon capture.
Rommel shot himself on orders from Hitler.
Goebbels poisoned his six children and then shot himself.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Ivy League University is a good benchmark for the search.

[Lazamataz]

The Admin Moderator is a big meanie.

[georgiadevildog]

"Finding an impartial jury will be heck."

Yeah, there aren't too many people in this world who are Saddam-neutral.

[Conspiracy Guy]

France is building a statue of him now!

[Conspiracy Guy]

I like your party idea. The Despot Party would be a good name.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Hardly any outside the DNC.

[Lazamataz]

I like your party idea. The Despot Party would be a good name.

Naw. Sounds too much like Home Depot.

How about the Death Camp Party?

[7thson]

Perhaps Berkley. He can get an acquittal there!

[Puppage]

while in Allied Custody

I believe you're correct. I was speaking of suicides across the board.

Pete

[Conspiracy Guy]

Home Despots has a ring to it.

Death Camp Party, DCP, hmmmmm

[Conspiracy Guy]

Fer sure. Acquittal and reparations!

[Conspiracy Guy]

Tons of them!

[IamConservative]

To live in constant fear is a fate worse then death.

[Lazamataz]

Home Despots has a ring to it.

Potential!

Death Camp Party, DCP, hmmmmm

You GOTTA love that acronym!

I did briefly consider "Homicidal Freaks Who Want To Put Up Death Camps And Gas Millions Of Innocent Children And Salute Some Tin Plate Penny Ante Madman Dictators", but I couldn't figure out how that would fit on a ballot.

[MJY1288]

Lead poisoning?

[COBOL2Java]

Yes.. obviously he won't get a fair trial in Iraq. They should move him to some place like Oregon.

Yes, I'm sure the 9th US Circuit Court has been working furiously on this.

[sarasota]

Is Chem Ali under arrest? I thought there was a warrant?

[Conspiracy Guy]

Even the acronym is too long.

[TomGuy]

So Chemical Ali is in custody. Somehow, that one slipped past me.

When was he nabbed?

I don't remember either. Several of those guys were 'killed' several times before they were 'captured'.

I do remember that Chemical Ali's house was hit with a missile and raided by Coalition. He was reported killed then, but later that was changed.